Dec 13, 20076
Jelly!
Has it really been more than two months since my last post! Goodness, where does the time go? Well, since launching I Love Typography, things have been pretty hectic. Its success has come as something of a surprise, but it has thus far been quite an incredible journey, and one which I'm thoroughly enjoying.
Anyway, enough of my excuses. Though I won't be posting here daily, I will try my very best to post something each week.
I want to tell you about Jelly. Yes, I love it, but not as much as I love workatjelly.com. It's a truly inspired idea, that ... [more]
Smashing Magazine has compiled another one of it's great "Best Of..." lists. This time it's 45 Excellent Blog Designs. And, as usual it's a great source of inspiration. A couple of my favourites are in there, including Shaun Inman's. If Blogs could be eaten, then you'd want his for dinner. Wonderful use of white (orange in his case) or negative space, perfect layout, great typography, and attention to even the smallest of details.
This Smashing Magazine Post is definitely one to Bookmark.
Ground breaking, irreverent, boundary-ignorant, esoteric, new wave, alien, an historical milestone,... all terms used to describe the Graphic Design Magazine Emigre. First published in 1984, it was one of the first publications to use the new(!) Macintosh computer.
At the time of its publication, many Graphic Designers and commentators were quite scathing in their attacks. The Design writer and critic Steven Heller was one of those critics, confidently predicting--In his 1993 Cult of the Ugly--that Emigre would be nothing more than a "blip in the continuum." Emigre continued to be published for another 12 years.
I had pretty much forgotten about it ... 
If you've never read the Adobe Magazine, then do. A great source of inspiration.
We've reinvented Proxy magazine to create the all-new Adobe Magazine for Creative Professionals. Subscribe to this free, online quarterly, and discover fresh insight and tutorials from the wide world of visual communications. You'll see work that's breaking new ground, get an insider's perspective on how it was created, and find new ideas and tools to enhance your own projects.
Being from Adobe they sometimes tie-in articles with Adobe products, but always in a way that's useful. I use numerous Adobe products, so I'm happy to learn new ways ... 
Tara over at the Graphic Design blog in a recent post, Graphic Design Cookbook, suggested,
Maybe there is a way we could all start a shared design elements gallery on Flickr or similar image gallery (cool headings, navigation, folios etc) ?...or do you prefer to have your own personal resource? What do you think?
And, as Randa Clay is not one to hang about, she kindly set-up the Flick Inspir Group, a place to share your own Graphic Design, and a forum for discussion.
I'm also considering taking-up on Tara's suggestion, and creating a web site devoted to this; not to replace the ... 
A topic inspired by a comment by Lauren Marie, and melded into a post by Tara over at the Graphic Design Blog, entitled "When Do You Consider Yourself a Successful Designer?"
How did you get started in the business?
I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school. I was torn between so may disparate career aspirations, that I pretty much flipped a coin to decide. The coin chose a course in "Design--Technical Illustration", which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then worked freelance as an Architectural Illustrator (before the days of CAD!). After a few years at that, ... 
When I come across something on-line that really grabs my attention, I make a note of it with Google Notebook -- I almost feel embarrassed to "promote" a Google product, but it really has helped me to keep track of and organise my web likes.
I began using it after one day scrolling through -- for what seemed like an eternity -- my Bookmarks; kind of defeated the whole purpose. My bookmarks list had become so big, that even after adding a few more folders, taking out the trash and reorganising, it was still too big and cumbersome to be of ... 
Every now and then I come across a web site, that almost brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy, that is. I was over at CSS Beauty and found a link to Jesus Rodriguez Velasco's web site, designed by Miguel Ripoll, and I wept.
May not be to everyone's taste, but this site I love with a 72 point "L".
Do you have a site that elicits the same emotions? 
During a brief respite in a busy day, I unlocked the shackles that tie me to my Mac and made myself a coffee. I could ogle that espresso machine all day long: beautiful proportions, great colour (my favourite), nice detailing, uncluttered design and oh so easy to use; and, to boot, it makes great coffee.
And that got me thinking about the design within my own environment, the objects, gadgets et al that I see just about every day. The objects you feel comfortable with, those things which, no matter how often you see them, give you a little ... 
