11/11/2009

Screenshot of Typekit
Tonight I decided to give the new font service Typekit a try on my website. The service uses your browsers inherent ability to link fonts, and has worked out licensing with a number of font houses so you can link these fonts with no fear of legal action. The quote from Typekit below basically says it all.
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9/11/2009

Screenshot of the the USA Today jobs growth forecast visualization
USA Today created a nice visualization of jobs growth between 2010 – 2013. It’s interesting to see the varience in different states, cities and job sectors.
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8/11/2009

This is a sample page created by noted typographer Erik Spiekermann using WOFF versions of FF Meta and FF Meta Serif displayed in Firefox 3.6 beta.
In my opinion the web open font format could be one of the biggest additions to web design in many years. Imagine being able to design for the web with hundreds of new fonts. Mozilla and several type foundries are already onboard. For now we’ll just have to wait and see how many other browsers adopt this wonderful new standard.
Efforts to bring advanced typography to the Web have reached an important milestone. Type designers Tal Leming and Erik van Blokland, who had been working to developing the .webfont format, combined forces with Mozilla’s Jonathan Kew, who had been working independently on a similar format. The result of the collaboration is called Web Open Font Format (WOFF), and it has the backing of a wide array of type designers and type foundries. Mozilla will also include support for it in Firefox 3.6.
WOFF combines the work of Leming and Blokland had done on embedding a variety of useful font metadata with the font resource compression that Kew had developed. The end result is a format that includes optimized compression that reduces the download time needed to load font resources while incorporating information about the font’s origin and licensing. The format doesn’t include any encryption or DRM, so it should be universally accepted by browser vendors—this should also qualify it for adoption by the W3C.
From: Ars Technica and EmilyChang
2/11/2009

This is one of the best creative quotes I’ve ever read, and directly relates to my own creative process.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photos, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
- Jim Jarmusch
1/11/2009

If you love great design do yourself a favor and visit the Luxirare website.
“Luxirare is a weekly webzine dedicated to clothing and cuisine. At Luxirare, the typical notion of a seasonal fashion show or seasonal “menu” does not exist. Styles and recipes are presented as individual pieces that do not follow a strict theme but rather a flow of ideas. The Luxirare principle is to use the unique mobility of the internet to develop an enticing, unorthodox presentation”.
Visit the Luxirare website