Design Educator

Are you a team player?

xtine — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:13:30 +0000

Roz Goldfarb provides four reasons creatives should strengthen their verbal, interpersonal communication skills in his recent article, “Measuring Up.” The next time you find yourself looking for one more course to add to your semester, consider taking a public speaking or interpersonal communications class. Oral and written skills may make the difference between you and other creatives on the job market.

Using Photoshop Actions to Make a Flipbook

xtine — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:12:13 +0000

Earlier this year, I posted a version of this article on Design Educator. Now you can read the full-length article with screen shots on the Peachpit.com website.

Create a PDF Portfolio using Illustrator

xtine — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:48:14 +0000

Every semester, students ask how to assemble a PDF version of their portfolio to print or to email a potential employer. I used to teach Communications students the basics of InDesign just for this purpose. However, Adobe Illustrator’s capacity for multiple Artboards provides a much-appreciated alternative to learning a new application for this one, important task.

Before you start, you have to take stock of your resources. Resize and save all of your portfolio images in one folder. Keeping your images consistently sized will result in a continuous viewing experience of your portfolio. I recommend using one set of dimensions for horizontally oriented images, and one set of dimensions for vertically oriented images. This may require you to assess all of your images to determine dimensions that will work for you. Sometimes the smallest image size limits the dimensions within your portfolio. You can also stack images next to each other in order to use a larger amount of space on one page.

Figure out how many pages you want to include in your portfolio and draw a general plan on paper. Some people recommend that portfolios only include the top ten pieces, while others encourage up to twenty images showing a diversity of samples. Most designers and employers will agree that you should put your best work and your second best work on the first and last pages of your portfolio (though some reverse this order, where the second best work is on page one, and the best image is saved for last).

When you have a plan and a single folder containing all of your images, follow the steps using Adobe Illustrator that I demonstrate in the following video.

Words (and images)

xtine — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:03:58 +0000

I found this by surfing on ">Bobulate today. I plan to show it in class after the title plays to see how long it takes before students understand the concept of the short video. Without the title (a sure giveaway), I found myself getting sucked into the rhythm of the music and the even pacing between video edits. I was jolted back to meaning-making during one of the “blow” clips.

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

Eric Gill on “norms”

xtine — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:00:49 +0000

Eric Gill, from An Essay on Typography:

It is clear that for any letter there is some sort of norm. To discover this norm is obviously the first thing to be done.

I have always thought of rhythm and repetition as the fundamental principles governing typography. When I read this quote by Eric Gill I nodded to myself. To discover “the norm” of a type face is to learn the rhythm of its alphabet.

Still, I couldn’t help but snicker at Eric Gill’s (a man who was infamous for sexual indiscretions that would make headline news today) use of the word, “norm.”

Mashable’s interview with Jesse Thomas

xtine — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:05:25 +0000

If you’re interested in web design, user interface design, social media, or what it’s like to work for any type of design agency, you should read the interview with Jesse Thomas that Jolie O’Dell published on Mashable, “Inside the Mind of One of the Web’s Hottest Designers.” Thomas comes across sounding as you might expect a 28 year-old at the top of his game to sound, but I suppose he’s earned his attitude. Some of his best advice is that agencies feel like boot camp because you are supposed to be learning on the job, and that working 24/7/365 with a tempered social life will help you get ahead in your career.

Summer Reading (for students)

xtine — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:16:40 +0000

Earlier this summer I suggested Richard Russo’s book, That Old Cape Magic as a must-read for educators. For students, I always suggest Chip Kidd’s The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel In Two Semesters. If you have ever taken a design class, or you are about to enroll in art school, this book will resonate with your experience. It’s extra therapeutic if you just graduated. If you haven’t been introduced to Chip Kidd’s work, you can see some of it on his website, Good is Dead.

Design + Humor = 27B/6

xtine — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:40:51 +0000

This is not a math problem. Instead, the funniest article I’ve read on the web in a while lives at 27bslash6.com. “Missing Missy” is a hilarious exchange between designer David Thorne and Shannon, who recently lost her cat. Shannon wants David to design a poster for her neighborhood telephone poles, and David is willing to make the poster for free as long as he controls the layout. Is this real or a fictitious exchange that all designers would love to have with their clients? Who cares! Reading the email exchange between designer and client is completely satisfying.

Meet Ada Lovelace

xtine — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:37:05 +0000

Information Pioneers is a new series developed by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, where five figures central to computing as we know it today are documented with a high energy host and cute graphics. Here is an excerpt from the Ada Lovelace video. On the BCS website you can watch all five videos and vote for your favorite pioneer.

Ada Lovelace from Information Pioneers on Vimeo.

Hello, Portland

xtine — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:00:01 +0000

Santiago Uceda's identity for Portland, OR

I am currently attending the Visual Communication 24th annual conference in Portland, Oregon, a beautiful, friendly, and accessible city. Since being here has afforded me a personal relationship with the city, I am better able to understand just how well Santiago Uceda’s city identity fits the feeling of being in Portland. Loads of city dwellers ride their bikes around a place where making, doing, and living in harmony with nature are respectable modes of operation.

See more city identities and learn how you can design an identity for your hometown from Maria Popova’s post, CitID: A typeface for every city in the world.