The new Adobe CS6 branding CS6 has just shipped & just like we did in 2010 we'll take a closer look at the design goals of this Creative Suite release. An inside look at how it is to do design work for a big company like Adobe. Each Creative Suite release starts with a list of technical requirements and design goals. Our host is Shawn Cheris, he will guide us through the process just as he did with the CS5 branding. Goals & Requirements Below you'll find what Adobe wanted to accomplish from an experience standpoint: Expressive. Shawn Cheris explains further: Our work is functional and must be optimized for the contexts in which it will be consumed. Legible. Start With Color Below I'll let Shawn Cheris take us through the process of the creation of the new Creative Suite release. Whenever we start thinking about a new Creative Suite release, we like to start with the colors—and by extension—the icons. In terms of value and saturation, prior vintages varied quite a bit. We finally landed on the forms you see below.
Bent by the Sun Essay Azby Brown The characters engraved on this stone basin from Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto comprise a visual pun which can be read "I know what just enough is" ("Ware tada taru wo shiru"). All illustrations by Azby Brown, from Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan. Sometimes a simple investigation can lead us along an unexpected path. I was initially drawn to Japan by its carpentry. The first crucial conversation was about time. The next conversation was about water. The final conversation was about microclimates. From the first conversation I understood that Nishioka and his peers had inherited a cultural tradition that considered centuries and millennia. During the Edo period, from the early 17th to the mid 19th centuries, Japan faced environmental problems similar to ours: large population, fuel scarcity, limited arable land, deforestation, a damaged watershed. Perhaps at this point I should clear up a few potential misperceptions. What about Japan today?
Cat Purr | Your Furry Friend's Noise, Online & Free ♥ Not for nothing, the generator is pretty relaxing. I started using the website for ambient sound to keep me from getting stressed at work. Also, what's cool is when you shift the different controls, the purr begins to sound almost alien. ♥ Combining Furry Friend with Fire Noise makes it sound like I'm sitting by a fireplace with a content kitty nearby and it's amazing. ♥ Nice! ♥ ... a WARRRP-Core ... a big, furry, pulsing WARRRP-Core ... powered by colliding cats and anti-cats ... the most chilling and relaxing position on board is that of an WARRRP-Core engineer ... everything's fine ... everything's good ... no worries ... ♥ THIS makes every music better. ♥ This has to be the best thing I've seen on the web in weeks! ♥ This is really neat! ♥ When I am away at college I miss my furry little baby, when I am home she sleeps with me every single night. ♥ So right after putting this on it immediately got my cat's attention. ♥ Not bad. ♥ Both my cats immediately came over to the computer.
How to Set a Default Fallback Image for WordPress Post Thumbnails WordPress has this very cool post thumbnail feature which was added in version 2.9. This feature basically allows you to add a custom image as a thumbnail that represents that post. This feature has become a standard for theme designers. But often, new bloggers forget to set a post thumbnail (featured image) which causes the template display to break. To utilize the tricks in this post, you have to enable the post thumbnails in your WordPress theme. Adding a Branded Image as the Default Fallback Often when creating a custom site for a client, they may have posts that has absolutely no image. Explanation: The code checks if the post has a specified thumbnail, and if there is, then it will display the post thumbnail. This is the very basic example. Adding the First Post Image as the Default Fallback Often new bloggers add images to the post, but either they forget to specify a post thumbnail, or they simply do not know how to. Source: Snipplr This is just the start.
12 magically meticulous design style guides | Branding This is heading directly into geek territory. But we are self-confessed geeks, particularly when it comes to logo design, typography and pictograms. And that leads us to the meticulously regulated world of brand style manuals... A style manual, or style guide, is a set of standards for the design of documents, signage, and any other form of other brand identifier. The reason for their existence is to ensure complete uniformity in style and formatting wherever the brand is used to ensure no dilution of that brand. We love the obsessive nature of these, and so here we've gathered 12 of the best to inspire you when you create your own brand style guides... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Graphics Standards Manual was created by Danne & Blackburn in 1974 when NASA changed from its original crest-based logo to the 'worm' logotype that we are now familar with. The manual has recently been revived thanks to a Kickstarter campaign to fund its reissue. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07.
Appreciating the Genius of Everyday Objects | Co.Design The star in Vitra Design Museum's upcoming exhibition is the kind of design that might awe even Dieter Rams or Naoto Fukusawa: proven functionality, unfrivolous forms stripped to its basics--not easily improved and in such widespread use as to go unnoticed. Yet, take these things away, and we'd be lost. "Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things" opens next week at the Vitra campus in Weil am Rheim, Germany. It presents 35 design classics from the closet hanger to the paper clip. "There's a new fashion trend called out every year, sometimes every season. One reason is that there's not much modern society needs that hasn't already been invented. "We're trying to put the spotlight on these objects to raise awareness of how great design can endure," he says. Eisenbrand recognizes other "hidden heroes" because of their brand's dominance into the English language. Eisenbrand says they hope to offer a 3-D traveling exhibition and an online component. Lipstick Carabiner Egg Carton
Welcome - Nectarine Demoscene Radio Chipotle: The Scarecrow Mobile Game Trailer With over 3 million views in just a few days, this superb new film from Chipotle, which acts as a companion film for Chipotle’s new mobile game called ‘The Scarecrow’… A bold move, which wouldn’t have come cheap, but placing ‘content’ at the core of their new campaign is perhaps likely to see them back on stage at Cannes in 2014, for the new campaign promoting their stance against other fast food chains that continue to use mass production techniques for their fast food. Not only is the film amazing, it just happens to feature the song “Pure Imagination” performed by Grammy Award® winning artist Fiona Apple to give it that edge. Why a game? Well, it’s all about the content, interaction, education and drive to store. The mobile and tablet app is minimally branded but features fantastic game play as you complete tasks to change the world of mass-produced fast food. Be Sociable, Share!
50 Meticulous Style Guides Every Startup Should See Before Launching All good brands have a great style guide. Creating a simple booklet that catalogues the specific colors, type, logos, imagery, patterns, taglines, etc. of a brand makes sure the brand machine runs smoothly. To prove why you shouldn’t let your style guide go by the wayside, we’re going to take a look at 50 stunning and detailed examples of style guides that are sure to encourage you to begin compiling your own. And when you’re ready to put that style guide to work, trial it the fun way, by designing a branded social media graphic in Canva (click here). 01. Check out this brand manual for Foursquare that gives detailed rundowns for the rules and guides to each of the design elements a brand needs to be consistent. What better way for a designer to prove how detail-oriented they are than by compiling a detail-dense style guide for their own personal branding. 03. A brand manual is a really great chance for a brand’s design team to explain the specific choices made for a brand. 04. 05. 06.
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