How cool is this!? (It’s a question, not a statement.)
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On Letters
I just spent the evening reading about letters. Really interesting stuff. There’s much more to the design of typefaces and fonts than I had realized.
When we talk about ubiquity in HCI classes, we think of it in terms of computers being in many places, but if you really think about it, letters are objects that are truly ubiquitous. Take a look around you right now. Notice the letters that surround you. There are thousands of letters looking directly at me right now. On mugs, boxes, cd cases, book bindings, computer screens, envelopes, tags…I could go on and on. How about you? Now think about the fact that the typeface for each of those sets of letters was laboriously designed by an individual, a designer whose job it is to instill meaning into a form that goes hugely unnoticed. Though I’d argue that we don’t actually ignore the meaning in typefaces. We take meaning from the typeface, it’s just something that is implied by the design and isn’t meant to call attention to itself.
Behind each typeface, groups of which come together to form fonts, there is probably a long history…filled with stories about guys named Baskerville, Didot, Helvetica, Palatino. And even stories about their lovers, such as Mrs. Eaves (she and ol’ Baskerville had a thing going on).
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that there’s much more to a font than its point size and serif or sans-serif nature. Gripping reading…I look forward to the next chapter, Text.
Hey, did you know that Italics are named as they are because they came originally from Italy? Now you do.
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Sponsor me on Flickr
A fantastic gift for yours truly this holiday season: a Flickr Pro account. Click the link to sponsor me and I’ll love you forever. 🙂
You can see what I’ve done so far with my free account here.
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The essence of a song
I wish I could post the “essence” of a song. You know? It’s not that I need the lyrics, or the singer’s voice, or anything really other than the feeling that comes from listening.
This morning on my drive in to school the radio station played Long December by the Counting Crows and it just felt so right. It’s the first day of December. It was snowing outside…the first real snow of the season. I was tired…feeling a little gloomy. Even though I was already late for my meeting, I couldn’t help but sit in my car as I pulled up to the building and wait for the song to end, belting out every last word. I then calmly went about my day. How do I encapsulate that feeling?
On a similar note, I’ve been listening to some Israeli music that I snagged from Karen and it is also fantastic. I can’t understand a word, but I love this stuff. Rock music with a pleasant mix of acoustic, electric, & violins. I’m a sucker for well executed string instruments.
Anyway, back to work…
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A Little Challenge
Here’s the deal…I have some questions. I’ll pose it, then you should comment on it.
I’m really tired lately! Why is that? How could technology help this problem? Could it possibly be due to all this technology?
Ready? Go!
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My Quiz
I made a Quiz for You on QuizYourFriends.com
CLICK on the link below or PASTE it into your browser.
http://www.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz.php?quizname=051123214837-512833 -
The most most accurate search engine
I’ve thought about this idea for a while. Lots of people seem to think they prefer Google to any other search engine…but I’d say that if you did a blind taste test people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Well, this site’s doing it.
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Chart Junk
This is priceless. Imagine someone presenting this in class. I especially like figure 11.
Why you should continue to date me; a series of charts and graphs.
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New Blog
newWeblog
Originally uploaded by josh.ev9.Look how much brighter by blog is now! Tell me what you think!
I also noticed that the comment functionality has been broken on my last few posts. That should be fixed now…I’ll have to remember not to put quotes or question marks in my titles! Darn movable type! Anyway, if you had anything you were dying to say, you can do so now.
Look for new functionality on my blog soon…and perhaps one day I’ll even get around to writing a nice (read: non default) layout template!
