Last month, I challenged myself to publish a blog post every day from the 1st through the 30th. It was fun, exhilarating, even mind-numbing—and I posted 34 times in 30 days. While I’ve achieved many goals over the years, I was rather surprised Continue reading
In mid-April, I purchased my very first iPhone. The weather app that came with it was barely functional and looked like a mid-’90s NetScape refugee. I needed something that worked well and matched the sleek, efficient design of my iPhone. Why not the Weather Channel’s new (and free) iPhone app?
While I’d read some high praise for TWC’s new and improved iPhone app, I was still suspicious. Their far-too-busy local forecast page, another recent redesign, had me thinking the app would be a disaster. Thank goodness I was wrong!
Well, mostly wrong. Continue reading
This classic Sesame Street sketch aired in late 1974, when small children automatically would have known what the funny-looking black plastic object was. (Would today’s preschoolers know? Hmm.)
In case you haven’t seen this recurring skit, Continue reading
If you’ve ever wondered why freelance writers seem to charge a lot for a relatively short online article, take a look at this. (Hat tip to Red Robot via Skande for the link, and to Expand2Web for the original infographic.)
As with many things in life, you get what you pay for.
Source: skande.com via Red Robot Media on Pinterest
A couple months ago, I posted about the wonderfully fun Tagxedo word cloud generator. At that point, I hadn’t been posting regularly to either of my blogs, nor had I been Tweeting very much. The results were cute, but a little sad. Neither blog had enough variation to make a really interesting word cloud.
So I made a mental note to Tagxedo them again after another couple dozen posts. Both sites look a little better now, but could still use some improvement. Below is the word cloud for my gardening/architectural history/local history/amateur botanical private eye blog, Forgotten Plants & Places. Continue reading
Working from home is a special treat for many of us. We don’t have to leave the house or fight traffic or even get dressed when we work at home. However, some people find this freedom overwhelming, and wind up working in circles all day long. Continue reading
Typefaces grab my attention at the strangest times. One of the last places a person would have type on the brain would be at the pharmacy—you’d think so, anyway. But a couple months ago, I happened upon a nicely designed logotype at Walgreens. No, really.
Continue reading
Several weeks ago, my tech comm classmates and I had a long discussion about logotypes. Which logotype would we recognize anywhere? To what did we ascribe its power? Was it designed well? Or just ubiquitous?
At first, I had a hard time thinking of a well-known, instantly-recognizable font. Irony of ironies! Finally, though, it came to me:
Figure 1: The old Wal-Mart logo, discontinued in 2008, still appears on the store's plastic bags in some markets.
Well, why not? Continue reading
