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posted by Ryon

Apr 30, 2012 @ 7:24am

Converge SE 2012: web designers paradise

Friday and Saturday, I attended Converge SE 2012, a web design conference in Columbia, SC. The conference examined the intersection between design, development and marketing and is the brainchild of Gene Crawford and friends from unmatched style.com and Period Three, a local web design firm. This year, the event coincided with Indie Grits, another wildly successful event that started in Columbia just a few years ago. This year, Converge SE sold out in just two days!

Converge SE attracts the design-conscious and the technically-savvy crowd from all over the country from a wide range of industries: education, government, small business, corporate, solo designers, and more. Experts and industry thought leaders conducted workshops and presentations that focused on topics ranging from the practical to the philosophical. Creativity, emerging technology discussions and the encouragement to push the boundaries of web design were common themes this year.

For the workshops, there were four different tracts attendees could participate in: Design; Development; Front-End Development; Marketing and Mobile. I participated in most of the Design workshops which covered everything from typography to design process to prototyping. I also participated in a lecture by J Cornelius who talked about the benefits of using HTML 5 markup language and why it’s so awesome.

And speaking of awesome, Leslie Jensen-Inman from UT-Chatanooga kicked us off Friday morning with an inspirational talk and encouraged everyone to follow their passion and to simply “make awesomeness.” Last year, Leslie spoke at Converge SE and discussed her involvement in CreateAthon On Campus at UT-C and how powerful the experience was for her and her students. Pretty cool to hear about the impact CreateAthon is making in other parts of the country. Yeah, shout out to CreateAthon!

A few notes and sidebars from some of the other speakers that I found interesting:

• From J Cornelius, a software/web developer:

- “IE7 is the new IE6″ (IE6 is a developers’ worst nightmare)

- 4.8 billion people have never seen the web

- HTML5 gives us the ability to do amazing things. Check out www.thisshell.com to see what’s possible.

- In the end, it’s our job {as web designers} to create an “experience” online.

- And lastly, J suggested that we “Go build some cool stuff.”

• Chandler Van De Water discussed typography and how he uses software to create original typeface designs. SIDEBAR: I won a typeface creation app for drawing a lowercase R! I’ll be using it to experiment with a new type family soon!

• Giovanno DiFeterici talked about historical and contemporary art and the psychology behind it. He discussed the importance of collaboration and talked about the process of creating the artwork for this year’s ConvergeSE marketing materials (which is amazing).

• Bermon Painter showed how he successfully eliminates wireframes and excessive documentation and jumps right into rapid prototyping by using sketches and actual content (as opposed to greek copy).

On Saturday, we heard from nine or ten more speakers who discussed topics ranging from mobile testing, building online communities and the importance of customer service, simplicity in design, coding for CSS, importance of social groupings and identity, design process and much more.

Overall, a great conference and a great venue to meet new people and to learn more about web design and development. Way to go Converge SE — I’ll be back next year!

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posted by Apprentices

Apr 20, 2012 @ 7:30am

On Kickstarter.

If you could “back” a project on Kickstarter, which one would it be and why?

Julie Turner
I am going to help fund this one about a group of volunteers who are “trespassing” to take care of the old Detroit Tigers Stadium. The field is all that’s left of the once-hallowed stadium and they refuse to let it get wild and abandoned. Go Navin Fields Grounds Crew!

Kevin Archie
I recently backed Snapstagram, which takes your Instagram photos and turns them into high-quality 4″ by 4″ prints, delivered right to your (or a friend’s) door. I love this project because I completely agree that “it’s time we start getting back to seeing how special a photograph is. A place, a moment, frozen in time.”

Kevin Smith
Quench Artspace — Quench combines contemporary art, a cool gallery space and the need to revitalize an historic New England village. Outstanding fun, and a cool logo.

Teresa Coles
It will be CreateAthon, the newly formed nonprofit that will be building capacity to help CreateAthon grow across the US!

Ryon Edwards
过去的四年里，我们跟随两名中国公民记者——27岁的佐拉和57岁的老虎庙——穿梭于中国大陆等地区，探访了这个飞速发展的国家里那些被遗忘的村庄和城市里被边缘化的群体。本片已从最初的一个小项目发展到如今这个超过600小时原始影音材料的庞大制作。访问到的地区包括北京、广州、重庆、西安、武汉、台北，布加勒斯特（罗马尼亚），以及无数中国农村偏远城市。

Kickstarter is a website that helps turn dreams into realities by connecting people with new ideas to those willing to support them financially. Check out their site to see which project you would back — and then do it!

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posted by Kevin

Apr 18, 2012 @ 7:00am

Design Finds: Best Made Co.

A series devoted to beautifully designed things found in unexpected places.

Last week I bought an axe.

I am no woodsman — though I’d like to be — and I have never cut down a tree. I can’t grow a beard and I only own one flannel shirt (it was on sale at Urban Outfitters). So when I found myself on the Best Made website drooling over hand-painted, individually numbered, luxury axes, I couldn’t help but wonder why. I’m not one to pine over petty lumberjack paraphernalia so I’m not exactly sure how this came to be. Perhaps it was the annual camping trip I’ve taken with friends for the past several years that got my, pardon the expression, fires burning. But that can’t be the reason because despite my boy scout efforts to always be prepared, I never go looking for camping materials more than a day in advance. So I’m left with one conclusion: beautiful design.

Not only is the Best Made website simple and easy to navigate — with sparse typography and all products placed against a stark white background — but the products themselves, aside from being handmade works of art, are utilitarian in nature. Axes that actually cut down trees. Scissors that could last a lifetime. They even sell tweezers designed by an industrial machinist. There are brilliantly curated books, maps turned into art, and even custom-made maple syrup. From the elegant tags that speak to the history of the company to the Best Made packaging tape used on the box, every detail is meticulously considered.

When I delved further into the Best Made brand, I was not surprised to find that their founder, Peter Buchanan-Smith, was a graphic designer. Best Made, through simple design and an awareness of its core values (courage, compassion, grace, fortitude) has successfully made a tool once exclusive to woodsmen and loggers into a work of art coveted by nerdy designers like me, who will use it once, maybe twice, for fear of scuffing the logo. In this way, we see that design can be used as a tool to reveal new interests to an audience formerly uninterested.

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posted by Apprentices

Apr 13, 2012 @ 7:00am

On spring break.

It’s spring break for some students this week — what would you do if you had the week off?

Jody Piland
I would be relaxing on a cruise in the Caribbean.

Cathy Monetti
lie on a beach. any beach.

Julie Turner
I would plan to do nothing at all and then within two hours have a long list of projects to do.

Kevin Archie
I would go out into some woods with some friends and watch the sun rise and swim in a river and cook food over a fire and percolate hot black coffee and not check email or Facebook or Twitter but read a book and follow a trail and stare at the sky until the sun turned into the moon.

Teresa Coles
I would be parked at Edisto with everyone else in Lexington County who’s there, including my daughter!

Will Weatherly
Sleep late (9am), then go play outside (rollerblade, mountain bike, tennis, soccer).

What would you do?

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posted by Ryon

Apr 09, 2012 @ 7:00am

The Golden Ratio: where design and mathematics coincide

The golden ratio (also known as the golden mean, golden section or divine proportion) is a height to width ratio that measures 0.618 and manifests itself in nature, art and architecture. The Parthenon in Greece incorporates the ratio, but it’s unknown whether or not the designers actually used the principle. The human form has this same basic geometric relationship — DaVinci studied this and created drawings that illustrated the proportion in his Vitruvian Man (below). Piet Mondrian used the golden ratio in much of his work in the 1920′s. Even Twitter uses the golden ratio principle for it’s screen design.

The Golden Ratio looks like this:

And is defined as the ratio between two segments such that the smaller (bc) segment is to the larger segment (ab) is to the sum of the two segments (ac), or bc/ab = ab/ac = 0.618.

And can be calculated like this (adding 1 to the ratio is phi, yielding the same basic geometric relationship):

More examples of the Golden Ratio:

Fascinating! Is it an inherent aesthetic preference or is it a design technique turned tradition? How do you explain the proportion found in nature? However you decide to answer those questions, it’s hard to argue that it has had an enormous impact on art and design over the years and continues to influence design today. Next time you see something that just “feels” right, or that you just can’t take your eyes off of, take a look at the proportions and remember – Ahh, it must be the 0.618!

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posted by Kevin

Jan 16, 2012 @ 3:00pm

Métro Signage

The Métropolitain – Paris’ rapid transit metro system – has 245 different stations within 34 square miles of Paris, many of them exhibiting unique interiors that set them apart from the rest. I had the opportunity to witness this firsthand on a recent trip to Paris several weeks ago.

Abbesses – Its chipped tiled type contrasts well with these round yellow chairs that could have been pulled straight from a Herman Miller catalog.

Concorde – A 100+ year old stop with a grid of letters spelling out the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a fundamental document of the French Revolution (wall of type=revolutionary idea).

The Métro signs at each entrance also differed from each other at different stops. These variations were not nearly as widespread, however, and their usage seemed random and non-specific to location. I did some research to find out why.

This is one of the 83 original surviving art nouveau entrances and is seen as an iconic symbol of Paris. It was designed by Hector Guimard in 1900 and its style caused much surprise and controversy. This is the primary stop we used on our trip (Abbesses) and it’s also one of the three remaining entrances with a more elaborate glass canopy.

This simpler version, a metal balustrade accompanying a “Métro” sign crowned by a spherical lamp, could be found in early stations around 1910.

This one has a similar type treatment to the previous, but is simplified even more with its stronger sans serif lettering placed onto a stone wall.

Signposts with just an “M” have become the norm since the 1970′s to present.

To see more pictures from the trip, check out my Flickr feed.

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posted by Ryon

Jan 11, 2012 @ 9:29am

Type Observed: HOBO

I see the typeface “Hobo” in a lot of different places — labels, signs, posters, logos – the list goes on. I once thought that this was one of the ugliest type designs out there, but I now realize that it’s not the design itself, or even the terrible name — it’s mostly because of how it’s used and misused. Of all the type crimes out there (thank you Ellen Lupton: http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/contents/extras/#Type_Crimes), you’ll often find Hobo as a nearby accomplice. And I’ve certainly made my jokes about this “awful” typeface over the years, but once I studied the origin and the history of this design, I’ve become much less critical.

Stylistically, Hobo looks like something crafted from 1970′s, but was actually designed in 1910 towards the end of the Art Noveau Movement. It was designed by Morris Fuller Benton, one of America’s most prolific typeface designers. After closer examination, the letters are actually well-proportioned (when typeset properly) — every part of each letter is curved, which gives it a decorative effect, but with a modern twist. It’s lowercase letters are unique — descenders that do not drop below the baseline. Yeah, it’s weird — but it’s designed to be a display type. Fairly progressive for 1910, considering that most typography from that period was very decorative and ornate.

So I’m no longer a Hobo-hater. I just hate seeing it being misused.

Note: If you’ve seen examples of Hobo type out there (good or bad), please send some pics my way – I’m starting a collection of images and would love to include yours! Thanks.