Goodbye Helvetica. Hello Univers Thin Ultra Condensed!

It looks like the days of web developers beholden to a measly handful of fonts may be nearing an end. With a little help from type utilities such as Suitcase Fusion and CSS, you now can design web sites without the tyrannical constraints placed upon you by HTML. Those who have worked in this field undoubtedly have heard of Suitcase font management software. Suitcase now offers a subscription based service, WebINK, which allows the integration of hundreds of fonts into your web pages without the worry of incompatibility issues. You can now specify any font contained in the WebINK library to match your design. Oh, the glory! Visit WebINK for more information.

I've put together a short podcast regarding this subject. Take a listen and let me know what you think about WebINK and being able to use unconventional fonts in your web design.

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Genious at Work

Here's an account of the graphic design process from a master, Milton Glasser. To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of the 20th century and well worth the 15 minutes of your valuable time to watch this video. While today's designs rely so heavily on computer generated visuals, he was doing it with paste up and rubylith.

Go With the Flow

Ever lay out multiple pages with text and images only to have the client come back with copy edits requiring a repositioning of every image? Here's a quick Indesign tip for making those images flow with the text so that if you have to add or remove strings of text your image positioning is unaffected. Indesign has a feature called Object Anchoring.

The example here is typical of a catalog or brochure where several persons are featured. Editing a single page like this is no big deal, but what if you have 5, 10 or more pages to deal with? There are several ways to anchor an object to text, the easiest being simply pasting or placing an object into text using the Type tool, but if you want to have the text wrap around your object you need to modify the positioning of the anchor. You’ll have the most control over positioning if you choose Custom from the Position pop-up menu in the dialog box. You access this dialog box by choosing Object/Anchored Object/Insert. Click OK, by default the anchored frame will be placed just to the left of the text frame.

You can then drag the graphic with the Selection tool where you’d like it to be positioned. Assign a text wrap to the object. Next, insert the Type Tool anywhere in the story and open it in Story Editor view (Edit/Edit In StoryEditor), and you can view the anchor markers. Drag the anchor marker to the end of the previous paragraph. If you need to adjust the positioning of the object after repositioning the anchor just select the object and use the arrow keys to nudge it.

So True It's Funny

Scott Adams is a genius.

I Aint Got Time to Bleed!

After many years in the trenches of this crazy business I'm still floored by the number of times I come across a fellow designer's project for print, be it an ad, a catalog or a brochure, with no bleeds! I'm not talking about the red, salty stuff that vampires crave. I'm referring to the additional surface of an image that needs to spill beyond the live area of a document in order to achieve a clean edge after the printer has trimmed the document to size. And for any of you still wondering what the hell I'm talking about (I probably had the misfortune to come across one of your files), imagine painting a green wall pink, but not painting all the way to the edges. You'd still see that green border all around your pretty pink wall wouldn't you? So, from now on add bleeds damn it!

The Power of Digital Media

An Egyptian soldier receives a flower from a government protester. 
Chris Hondros / Getty Images

I want to start my blog by honoring the power of digital media. I named my blog Graphic Designosaur because I’ve been in graphic design for almost 20 years. I’ve been able to survive in this highly competitive business in spite of my aversion to the inevitable change from print media towards a digital world where information is no longer bound by the physical constraints of the printed page, or even the spatial constraints of time.  I once thought my sheer passion for this business (and, ahem, my talent) would keep me occupied long into my fortnight. Of course that fantasy didn’t last long, and while circumstances kept me from doing it sooner, I’m now dutifully working towards an AAS degree in Digital Media / Multimedia Design at Broward College. But before I delve into that I want to get back to the real power of digital media. I don’t mean the power to sell a box of laundry detergent or an automobile. I mean the power to change governments. While this is not a political blog, and I won’t dwell into the politics behind the movement, the role that social media has played in the events happening in Egypt and in Tunisia cannot be denied. Consider; after the Egyptian army declared it would not use force against  the protesters, the New York Times had this to say: 

“Those statements, along with the damage to Egypt’s economy, appeared to weaken Mr. Mubarak’s grip on power just two weeks after a group of young political organizers called on Facebook for a day of protest inspired by the ouster of another Arab strongman, in Tunisia.”

Yup, they called on Facebook to start the revolution.

And speaking of the power of digital media, some of the photographs coming out of Egypt are truly amazing. The ability of a still image to capture a moment is unrivaled by any medium, including movies.