Book Designers Lose Their Heads Jun 16, 2008 @ 6:06 PM
Or, rather, their stock photography images are losing theirs.
I guess, only on "chick-lit" novels, according to Gawker.
Looks like Light Summer Reading just got lighter!
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Gentlemen, Start Your Contests Feb 15, 2008 @ 8:02 AMRight before Spring is another, fifth season: The Season of Creative Contests. I'm not kidding (did you think I would?), AIGA and Communication Arts are opening the floodgates for contestants for their Illustration, Design, and Photography competitions. Starting with AIGA's 365 Design competition: Work in all media that has been designed, produced and used in the marketplace between January 1 and December 31, 2007. (The contest) represents the best work across all disciplines of communication design and strategy and "50 Books/50 Covers" represents the 50 best book covers and 50 best book designs for the given year, both chosen by a jury of industry peers. The contest includes: Brand and identity systems, Corporate communications design, Package design, Editorial design and illustration, Typographic design, Promotional design and advertising, Experience design, Entertainment design, and Information design. Deadline is March 7th. Entry fees are $35 for members, $55 for nonmembers, per individual entry. Details here at the AIGA site. Any Illustration first printed or produced between March 14, 2007 and March 11, 2008 is eligible. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and illustrators, the winning entries will be published in the July 2008 Illustration Annual. Over 70,000 copies of the Illustration Annual will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. As a service to art directors, designers and art buyers, a comprehensive index will carry addresses and telephone numbers of the illustrators represented. Categories include: Advertising, Books, Editorial, For Sale, Institutional, Motion/Animation, Self-Promotion, and Unpublished. Deadline is March 11th. Entry fees are $30 for a single entry, $60 for a series. Details here at the Comm Arts site.
49th Annual Communication Arts Photography Competition Any photograph first printed or produced between March 14, 2007 and March 11, 2008 is eligible. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors and photographers, the winning entries will be published in the August 2008 Photography Annual. Over 70,000 copies of the Photography Annual will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work. As a service to art directors, designers and art buyers, a comprehensive index will carry addresses and telephone numbers of the photographers represented. Categories also include: Advertising, Books, Editorial, For Sale, Institutional, Motion/Animation, Self-Promotion, and Unpublished. (For Sale? Like a picture of your 4x4 Ford F250?) Deadline is March 11th. Entry fees are $30 for a single entry, $60 for a series.
Greening Up Black Friday Nov 23, 2007 @ 8:11 AM
As green as some of us want to be, the hard fact is we're going to part with some cash for consumable gifts for others this holiday season. There's good news, though. Every year the blog Treehugger runs a list of green gifts for their readers and this year they've tagged each item Light Green, Medium Green, or Heavy Green labels based on... well, they don't actually say what it's based on. But I do hope it's good science. They've also grouped each by who you're giving to ("The Yoga Fiend", "The Jet Setter", "The Geek", "The Right Leaning NRA Member"... okay, I added that last one in.) and also included a healthy dose of charitable organizations to support. And, like any good blog on a hot topic, it's chock full of dissenting opinions on the items listed. My favorite, as of today, "Treehugger continues to step farther into hypocricy everyday. Today's stumble: holiday consumerism, part III." Guess who's not getting any figgy pudding? There's a retelling of A Christmas Carol here somewhere. Listed in three different posts: TreeHugger's 2007 Gift Guide Part I Bah humbugedly, Tim 
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Filed in: Books, Charity, Ecology, Personal Blogging, Sales, Web/Tech Blogging In The Dark Oct 26, 2007 @ 4:10 PMSo even though I have no idea what an intarsia pattern is, I'm blogging ahead! Chronicle Books is holding a design contest that many of you Designers out there might find interesting. They're putting the finishing touches on their latest knitting book, Picture Perfect Knits by Laura Birek, and they're looking for... "the five most creative, most dream-worthy intarsia knitting patterns. It could be anything, from a jaunty anchor to a geek-chic argyle pattern to a killer alphabet. Whatever pattern you would want to see in a knitting book. Five winners will have their name and pattern printed in the book and be promoted here on our Handmade Thursdays. Winners will also receive a free copy of the book when it comes out next fall." They use as an example this Wonder Woman sweater someone named Practical Polly made. Once again, I am so lost. As a young lad I was told if I took up knitting, hooligans would most likely come by and stab me with my knitting needles. Happily I took up Saturday morning cartoons and never looked back. But if you're an artsy, craftsy, or just hellaciously talented, go to the contest site and give 'em heck! When you win and feel you owe me one, a Snidely Whiplash sweater will do nicely. Thanking you in advance... Book Club! Aug 29, 2007 @ 2:08 PM
Happily my good friend Matt over at the Talent Blog led me to Adaptive Path's Reading List just in time for the Fall Semester. Titles like The Design of Everyday Things,The Architecture of Happiness,and How Buildings Learn. Do also take a look at Matt's post on the Talent Blog, he's quite engaging, if I do say so myself. Now I guess I'll have something to do while I wait for my next Netflix delivery. A Wealth of Information Dec 1, 2006 @ 1:12 PMThings that scare me: The LA Weekly, cable offerings in the 500+ channel range, Leatherman Knives, Russian stacking dolls, and scores by Philip Glass. In other words anything that contains a myriad of other things within it. So many things, in fact, that you may never make it back to whatever you were looking for in the first place. (I know I that I'm describing the Internet and the blogosphere, but these two I can handle under heavy sedation.) You know what I'm talking about, you walk into Costco to buy a loaf of bread and some lunch "fixings" and before you know it, you're trying to shove a 50" plasma TV and a La-Z-Boy recliner into your Mini Cooper. A couple days ago on our other Aquent blog, the talent blog, Matt was exploring the Adobe Labs site and came across a mind-blowing application related to Amazon, called Amaznode. (You need Flash 9 to access.) You just type in a word and it'll pull up tons of tiny pictures of products related to that search, all connected in a web of lines (it looks a lot like the Thinkmap's popular Visual Thesaurus, if you're familiar with that). Click on any of the products and it'll bring up a short description and two buttons, one to add the item to your Amazon cart, the other to go to the Amazon site itself.
I think Matt likes it because of its beauty and great functionality, which I agree with, but it's a little frightening, right? Like Six Degrees of Separation for books, CDs, and toaster ovens. ("I was looking for a good book St. Thomas Aquinas, but I ended up buying 4 on existentialism and becoming an athiest in the process.") Regardless, it is a great application and an amazing use of Flash and ActionScript 3.0. Speaking of overwhelmed (and Flash 9), we have a lot of Flash and Flash ActionScripting jobs open right now. If you have great hands-on skills in both/either, let me know by emailing me your resume and URLs. I'll make sure they get in the right hands! Feeling Bookish? Nov 27, 2006 @ 5:11 PM
Happily, Penguin Books has come up with the perfect gift for the Creative that loves to read: favorite Penguin titles without front cover art. You read that right. The books will come shrink wrapped with blank, art-quality covers that will hold ink, paint, pencil, and glue. The titles in the My Penguin series include The Picture of Dorian Gray, Crime and Punishment, and Magic Tales by those happy Brothers Grimm. (I'm hoping they'll see fit to add The Natural History of Vacant Lots a little later on.) After designing the cover, your fave Creative can send it into to the Penguin gallery and the fine folks there may just post it. Of course, whether or not they post your very special someone's book art has nothing to do with you. You are the muse my friend, the bringer of the gift, after that it's all up to them. If that doesn't drive the Holiday season home, I don't know what does. Typererrific Nov 13, 2006 @ 4:11 PMYou know, anything can be "errific" if you try hard enough (and turn your automatic spell check off). Our friends over at Kernspiracy let us know the perfect gift for the Designer this holiday season (and are perhaps hinting that we buy them some). The Type Selector is like a Pantone color guide for fonts:
It's a hefty $50, but if you get a Designer one of these, chances are very high that your next logo project will be deeply discounted. (Thanks again to Drea for the pass along.) In YOUR Design!! Nov 6, 2006 @ 4:11 PMSeems like it's been awhile since we've talked about the Quark vs. InDesign debate. Probably because last time we did someone threw a bottle at somebody else. So on this much calmer post we'll be speaking to just those of you who have chosen to work on InDesign. Hello, everyone. You may have heard of InDesign Magazine which they call "The Complete Resource for InDesign Professionals" but could just as easily be referred to as "The Mag for InDesign Livin'". It's produced by the former creativepro.com Editor-in-Chief Terri Stone and Photoshop, Quark, and InDesign Designer (and Author of a number of Peachpit Press books) David Blatner. It's gotten quite a few good reviews from the folks we know who've subscribed, so you may want to check it out. Especially since Terri was kind enough to pass along a special offer to everyone visiting this blog. Instead of the usual 6 issues a year subscription rate of $59.00, you'll get a year for $39 (or 2 years for $69). And don't thank me, thank Kelly, she got the deal for you! We're Looking for People with Flash, Not Flashy People Oct 20, 2006 @ 2:10 PMIf you've been hearing a lot about Flash lately (and hearing and hearing and hearing), that's because it is a very in demand skill these days. Anyone who thinks I'm just making up this stuff as I go along (Mom...), simply go to the Aquent Job Search page, type in "Flash" for keyword and "Southern California" for location and you'll see a ton of Flash positions we're currently recruiting for. (I know, dangling participle.) If you're interested at all in learning Flash, After Effects, or the like, the best place to get hands-on training is through the classes at the Rich Media Institute in Venice, run by our friends R Blank and Markus Almer. Prior classes have been taught by: Flash Bible Author Robert Reinhardt In other words, not B-movie actors looking to pick up extra money. These are cheap ($490) for two-day intensive workshops with really small class sizes. You'll probably pay it off with your first gig! (And don't forget to write me when you're done. We're looking for Flash people.)
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Filed in: Books, Career, Design, Games, Networking, Training, Web/Tech Economists Say the Darndest Things Oct 13, 2006 @ 4:10 PMFirst Steven D. Levitt's book Freakonomics which explores such non-economist subjects as "Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?", now this. Well, it was just a matter of time before other economists start weighing in on subjects like creativity, right? David Galenson, noted economics professor from University of Chicago recently released the book "Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity". (Apparently no one told him that title's a bit long for the average person to remember when trying to mention it at a cocktail party.) He divides creatives into two different camps: "Experimental innovators work by trial and error, and arrive at their major contributions gradually, late in life. In contrast, conceptual innovators make sudden breakthroughs by formulating new ideas, usually at an early age." Read all about it in this recent issue of HOW Magazine. Camps are forming now, so you might want to figure out which one you're in as quickly as possible. Camp Counselor Tim David Letterman is to Blame Sep 6, 2006 @ 4:09 PMOh, the Top 10 List. My friend once asked a writer who worked on Letterman's show why #2 was always funnier than #1. The writer told him they needed a not-so-funny #1 so they could go into commercial break quicker. Now you know the secret. Everyone has at least a Top 5 List, right? Those lists drawn up on notebooks during dull high school classes (Top 5 Classic Rock Ballads, Top 5 Vodka Drinks, Top 5 Most Boring Teachers). With the advent of blogs, MySpace, and Friendster, everyone who visits your site can know your Top 5. But what about those people you'll never see again? Like the checker at Ralph's Supermarket. Wouldn't it be great if she knew you really, really enjoyed Faulkner's Light in August? Now there's a company that can help you out with such things by putting them on a t-shirt for you! T-lists will help you put your Top 5 Films, Top 5 Overrated Bands, and the like on a sweatshop free T. It's like free advertising for your brain! By the way, any thoughts Top 5 Favorite Things about Autumn?
Can't wait to see yours! (Either here or on your T-shirt. You pick.)
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Filed in: Art, Books, Cars, Celebrities, Current Affairs, Design, Ecology, Film, Food and Drink, Movies, Music, Networking, Religion, Science, Web/Tech Cover Me! Aug 18, 2006 @ 9:08 AMBack in March I was posting about book cover designer Chip Kidd, Well if you have an interest in book design (or design itself, for that matter) you should check out the blog Books Covered by Tobias written by designer Christopher Tobias. He's a 10 year design vet whose work has adorned a number of New York Times bestsellers. He posts about different designs on which he's been working (and lets you vote on them), helpful posts like Setting up a Cover File in InDesign, and he has a nice blogroll of design blogs and sights, in case you've been looking to add some to your weekly reading. He is one of TypePad's Featured Blogs who had this to say: Some people say "you can't judge a book by its cover," but most publishers subscribe to the exact opposite opinion. Most believe that a powerful cover can make a world of difference at the sales register. Amen, brother (or sister). Green Eggs and Spam Jun 6, 2006 @ 4:06 PMListening to my son read Green Eggs and Ham to me last night gave me an interesting idea. Instead of it being a book about trying something new, what if it was more of a book where celebrity chefs tried to get the man to eat something he didn't like simply by preparing it in different ways? Sam I Am: Would you like to try Green Eggs and Ham? Bobby Flay: That's because you've never had Green Eggs with Roasted Tomato Ketchup and Tournedos of Ham in Mushroom, Mustard and Red Wine Sauce with Caramelized Onion-Potato Gratin! You get the idea. I'll probably have to work on my rhyme scheme. Okay, You Can Judge a Book by its Cover May 26, 2006 @ 2:05 PMBack when Chip Kidd started at publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, there were some pretty dreary covers in the book world. Chip and his team were probably the first Designers to bring book jackets to the next design level. Actually (and finally) an excellent design level. The Phrase that Pays May 22, 2006 @ 4:05 PMFavorite turns of phrase over the past week: "Minivans are sexy. If nothing else, they are proof positive that you have had successful and productive congress with the opposite sex. Can you say as much for a Corvette? I don't think so." - Dan Neil, auto critic for the LA Times.
There Goes the Rest of the Day May 17, 2006 @ 4:05 PMI mean, dang. How many times a week does someone send you a link that you have to look at? Imagine that times one hundred and you have the Webby Awards Winners site. Not only does it link to each of the Webby Award Winners sites, but the People's Voice Winners (which sounds kind of communist, you know?) and the nominees as well. You may find yourself at 3:30am saying, "Hey, did I miss the Grey's Anatomy season closer?" So start slow. Go right now to Leo Burnett's Big Ideas Come From Big Pencils site and be amazed. That site alone should burn off the rest of the afternoon. See you in the morning!
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Filed in: Art, Books, Career, Celebrities, Design, Marketing, Sports, Television, Web/Tech, Weblogs Aquent Super Store Dec 12, 2005 @ 4:12 PMSo, Barnes & Noble was working with our HQ Events Coordinator, Kim P., and wanted to give us info on their holiday gift guide and pass along their usual 5% for Aquent Staff and Talent. But when I went to the link she sent, I kept being redirected back to their normal store front. No 5%. No free shipping. I finally got in touch with their rep, Howard, and he walked me through the general confusion of B&N's linking system. I think they may be rerouting it through space. Howard was nice, though. The upshot of this saga? When you go to the Aquent specific site you get 10% off everything in stock and free 3 day shipping when you have $25 or more of stuff shipped to the same address. The catch is I'm not going to put the link up here for all to see, because that'd probably tick them off. But if you e-mail me at tdonnelly@aquent.com, I'll gladly send you the details. Fa la la, and all that. Harry Potter Reheated (use popcorn setting) Jul 13, 2005 @ 5:07 PMThe BBC News will have a reviewer picking up his copy of the new Harry Potter book and reviewing it live, via their blog! You can imagine this will be more exciting than actually reading the book itself. I mean the man will be doing a blow-by-blow account of the book. |
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