It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted anything on here. I’ve been pretty busy with all of life’s demands, which isn’t bad, but I haven’t written very much.

Part of the reason for my lack of writing is because ever since I put together my previous design, I haven’t really been pleased with it. I had a variety of goals for it that I felt weren’t really acheived. In the mean time, though, I thing I’ve put together a design that I feel a little bit better about. Here are some things you might notice:

• More thorough typographical consideration. I really love and care about my type. In the previous iteration, though, I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked working it out. I think this version is much better.
• Use of Clarendon. For better or for worse I’m a huge fan of Clarendon. I discovered Clarendon while in school and really began to love it then. My type professor, however, really hated it. Therefore, my love for it grew. (wink, wink). I have had intentions of using it in public work for a while, but haven’t done so till now. How did I do it? Next point…
• Use of typeface-js. Typeface-js is a javascript solution to embedding typefaces on your website. I won’t go in to detail as to how it works, but I will say I am pretty pleased with how easy it was to install and configure. I have previously used sIFR, but I am glad to leave flash behind for this. (I am aware that Cufón might be a more mature project that works similarly, but I found this one first and like it… I might change later if there is significant reason to do so.)

Some things you probably won’t notice without significant digging, but that I’d like to mention:

• One reason I was able to build this theme quickly (by the way, I was able to build this quickly) was because I found a really helpful, stripped-down WordPress theme that serves as an excellent blank canvass for starting new template developments. It’s called Starkers and it was made by Elliot Jay Stocks.
• I used less javascript. I really like javascript. I really dislike, though, features on sites that don’t significantly contribute to the overall user experience but that still take time to load. Therefore, I cut out some javascript effects I used on the previous iteration of this design. (The only javascript I am using is for the earlier mentioned font embedding.)
• This hardly merits mentioning, but in this iteration I didn’t even bother trying to get things to appear right in IE 6. Very few people view this site and a negligable number use IE. It’s simply not worthy my time or effort.

That’s all. Please let me know what you think of the update. If you notice anything that doesn’t look quite right, let me know–I probably missed some stuff.

Rock on,

Rewdy

Cool Business Cards from Inspiredology.

Logopond Awards some of these are better than others.

Here’s a portfolio from a design group in Ukraine. There are a bunch of hand lettered pieces drawn on napkins that really get me going. Gorgeous. (via ilovetypography.com)

Finally, The Journal of Urban Typography is a tumble log with a bunch of urban type examples. Many are quirky, some are lovely, all are enjoyable.

That’s all for now.

(A little side note: when I made this theme I did it very quickly and forgot to include the RSS feed. It should show up automatically in your browser now, so feel free to subscribe if you’re interested. It’s here, by the way.)

It would be cool if I worked for a little design shop where every project was an opportunity to revolutionize the web, but I don’t–and get this: I’m fine with it for now.

Now, don’t get me wrong. While what I’ve just written may sound like a rant, it’s not. I find all that stuff very cool, I respect those designers/writers greatly, and I’d love to be where a lot of those guys are, but it’s just not a reality for me right now.

To me, in the place where I’m at, the biggest concerns for me are how not to be burnt out by demoralizing demands, how to be creative when I’m given very little creative license, and how to design efficiently within larger process that isn’t always that efficient.

So, thus, I will be writing for the little guy like me. I will attempt to address the above issues and more as time goes on. If you have ideas or comments about this, please share.

My first post will be on how to avoid creative desserts in the midst of a fast-pased, low-variety workload. You can look for that later this week.

I really hope you enjoy.

I have a new vision accompanied by some new passion. Hopefully I will be able to start writing some interesting things on here in the near future. Keep your eyes pealed.