CRAP: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity. An unfortunate acronym from the four basic principles of graphic design first expounded in Robin Williams’ delightful little book, The Non-Designer’s Design Book. It’s now in its fourth edition, adding 24 pages since the last edition, almost 50 since the 2nd and more than 100
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Scripturient: The Gauche in the Machine
Rudibus ex machina: criticizing Collingwood’s latest newsletter feels a bit like punching a puppy. Or commenting on the sloppy grammar of local bloggers. Both are far too easy, like catching fish in a barrel, and I feel guilty when I even think of doing it. But since your tax dollars
Continue readingArt Threat: Artist says Nope to Stephen Harper (again)
Four years ago, Bob Preston found himself in the same position as millions of Canadians: he desperately wanted to see prime minsiter Stephen Harper turfed from office. Influenced by Shepard Fairey’s iconic
Continue readingcartoon life: Psychic VR Lab Deep Dreams are silly sometimes.
The hallucinogenic cyber intelligences at Psychic VR Lab have been busy this week churning out images from submissions. I sent some images through the web interface knowing they would be challenging, only because the imagery is so graphically unambiguous, leaving little, actually, for the algorithm to imagine. I can hear that
Continue readingcartoon life: Calico on her rocker v.2
Here we go. Final version. Mugs upcoming. Filed under: art, design, drawing, illustration Tagged: calico, Cat, madeWithPaper
Continue readingScripturient: Propaganda?
Last term, when council sent out community newsletters to keep residents informed, the illiterati screamed these were ‘propaganda’ and a waste of tax dollars.* Now this council has done the same thing and these nattering nabobs of negativity have raised their voices and screamed… nothing. Their silence is deafening. Well, they wouldn’t
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Bad Designs
I’m not a graphic designer. I was not formally educated in that art. However, over the years, my jobs in editing and writing for books, newspapers, magazines and publishers have required me to learn the rudiments of layout, typography and design. I am the first to admit my design talent
Continue readingThings Are Good: Harvest Energy From Everyday Activities
Some gyms are capturing the energy created by users to power the TVs in the buildings. But what if we capture energy from our movements throughout the day? That’s what one designer asked and she set out to examine what the future of wearable energy capture would look like. Of
Continue readingArt Threat: Activist pasts, austere presents, queered futures: An interview with Emily Davidson
“Imagine a new relationship to every aspect of everything.” “Capitalism has fallen; Art must be redefined.” “You get to pick your gender when you come of age, but feel free to change your mind.” “Living together is still hard; Art makes it better.” These missives from the Inner City Artists’
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: “Hidden” Design – 25 Logos
Just ask Mystro about designing logos. A great deal of time and effort is involved in making a clean, presentable logo. The next step, making the *right* logo for the task at hand… it could be the definition of time-sink. Some of the logos hidden designs are not particularly
Continue readingThings Are Good: Doctors Say Healthy People Come From Good Urban Design
A new report written by a handful of doctors titled Improving Health Care by Design concludes that in order to have a healthy populace we need cities designed for health. There is nothing startling in the report but it does provide one more reference and tool for people to use
Continue readingcartoon life: The cat responsible for Global Warming
Filed under: art, comment, design, digital, drawing, illustration
Continue readingArt Threat: Transform This: iconic Johnny Cash photo used to protest Saskatchewan university cuts
Things may soon be looking grim for many students and faculty at the University of Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon-based institution is looking to slash up to $25 million from its operating budget. In a restructuring process the administration has branded TransformUS, the UofS is currently determining “university priorities”, after which they
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Hemp Revolution
Hemp has enormous potential to help us build an ecologically sound society. It can replace most uses of tree-derived paper products and lumber, thus saving vast amounts of forests. It can eliminate and replace most uses of synthetic fibres, which are used in clothing, furniture, carpets and textiles, and
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Scientific Approach to Better Urban Design
Urban design is not an easy activity because of the multitude of variables that impact the overall urban experience. There are buildings, traffic (foot and vehicular), landmarks, natural occurrences like rivers, and abstracted economic forces. Space Syntax is a company has set out to make better urban design by using
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Of Type and Typography
Humans have remarkable ability that is shared by – as far as we know – no other animal. We can turn abstract images and symbols into meaning. Words are, of course, the prime example, as old as our history. We can turn a word like dog, tree, table or vacation
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ideas to Get Consumers to Buy Sustainable Products
Every year more sustainably produced products hit store shelves yet consumer uptake on these products isn’t as strong as it should be. Sure, there are increasing sales overall but the amount of people who are buying environmentally-concious products isn’t increasing at a fast enough rate.Over at Fast CoExist a writer
Continue readingThings Are Good: Better Urban Design Can Increase Happiness and Sexiness
Obesity is a growing problem in North America and it looks like this health issue will continue to grow. There are many contributing factors to what’s referred to as an obesity epidemic, and some designers think that we can curb at least one contributing factor: poor urban planning. Not coincidentally,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Building Better Homes for Refugees
Ikea’s charitable arm has used the expertise of the cheap furniture manufacturer to design a better housing unit for refugees with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Hopefully these designs will help people around the world who are living in poor conditions. The Refugee Housing Unit started working on a project
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Socialist TV Typeface Videtur Finally Freed
Socialist TV Typeface Videtur Finally Freed http://ilovetypography.com/2013/04/06/socialist-tv-typeface-videtur-finally-freed/ on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://kersplebedeb.com/posts/socialist-tv-typeface-videtur-finally-freed/
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