Something funny for you on a Monday: This video by the New York-based sketch comedy group Free Love Forum is a much-needed parody of the smug, wonder-filled Apple product launch videos. Listen as they extol the virtues of the year’s hottest design application: Microsoft Paint! addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sessions.edu%2Fnotes-on-design%2Funcategorized%2Fmicrosoft-paint-design-application-of-the-year%2F'; addthis_title = 'Microsoft+Paint%3A+Design+Application+of+the+Year'; addthis_pub...
Chocolate promos? Besides business card and letterhead, have you ever created any kind of promotional mailer piece for yourself as a designer? So much emphasis has been placed on the online portfolio of late that I feel physical, tangible methods of self-promotion have fallen by the wayside among designers entering the industry today. But that’s exactly why a well-done mailer...
(images via BBC) Before and after: a pesky rooftop removed and some boats on a pristine bay added with the help of this algorithm. Speaking, as I was last week, of photo retouching, BBC news has just reported on a new tool that takes image doctoring much further than a little dodge and burn. Developed by James Hays and Alexei...
Redbook cover of Faith Hill; image via Jezebel In case you’ve ever wondered what’s in a day’s work for professional photo retouchers, the folks at fashion blog Jezebel.com have something they’d like you to see. In an effort to debunk fashion editorial mags’ unrealistic standards of feminine beauty, they offered a $10,000.00 reward for the person who could submit the...
Josh Chen We met San Francisco-based Graphic Designer Josh Chen at the HOW design conference, where he made a presentation about using handwork in graphic design. Josh is the founder of Chen Design Associates, and has over twenty years of experience in design, broadcasting, journalism and music. Named one of the “50 People to Watch” by GraphicDesignUSA, Josh is also...
In the midst of pressure for designers to keep technical skills and software repertoire fresh, it is just as important to keep feeding your creativity, and challenging the part of your brain that makes your work unique. However, it can be hard to create projects for yourself and produce them in a vacuum. That’s where a site like Illustration...
I recently came across a fun portrait exchange site by Los Angeles-based illustrator and teacher Rama Hughes via Danny Gregory’s blog. It’s called The Portrait Party, and its purpose is simple and excellent: to get people drawing and sharing their artwork. You and a fellow artist pair up, either in person or using photographs, to draw each other’s...
Don’t let criticism fall-out hold you back. It’s hard enough to take negative feedback, but as a designer you have the even more difficult task of making sure a client’s criticism comes in a form you can use to produce a revision that hits the mark. We’ve all heard clients use hazy negative statements like “I hate it,” “It’s not...
I just got back from attending the HOW design conference in Atlanta, GA and I’m excited to report back on what it was all about. Many designers consider conferences indispensable opportunities to network, get inspired, recharged and invigorated with new ideas. The HOW conference is one of the largest of its kind, drawing over 3,000 designers from all over...
View the full-sized version and click the links to watch some fun ads. History tells us that advertising originated in a pre-competitive state, seeking simply to inform about a product: what it is, what it does, what it costs, where you get it. That was a long, long time ago. Ever since supply has exceeded demand, products have been using...
