As always, Smashing Mag provides a good round-up of some rad free fonts for you to download.
Ars Technica outlines some of the changes Apple is making to fonts for the release of Snow Leopard.
And lastly, @imjustcreative claims MOO! is awesome for posters and logos. WE SHALL SEE…
No, this isn’t about design, but it’s rad. The Maryland Zoo spent half a mill on a new escape-proof prairie dog exhibit. The little critters were introduced to their new habitat…and escaped 10 minutes later. They had to be rounded up and caught with nets. I’m sure there’s a 90s Saturday morning cartoon show concept in there somewhere…
A really great collection of concept art/background art from the game Henry Hatsworth. Pretty great to get a good look at the art assets as it’s easy to miss them as you’re whipping through a game.
Neat inforgraphic from Good Magazine showcasing the 20 largest bankruptcies in history. His the link for an embiggened version.
Cool twist on the classic game of Memory from Brazilian design studio ps.2. The cards each contain an example of the typeface as well as a bit of history. Over at the official site, you can hit the big yellow button to download a template for a shiny new box for the card set you have no way of ever getting. Neat.
I like gaming. I like Twitter. Therefore it seems natural that I would enjoy the recently-launched Tweet My Gaming. TMG compiles a lot of neat data about games, from total tweets and players to popularity graphs by game. You’ll also spy hilarious tweets, like some girl who was freaking out about the incredible discovery of a town called Megaton in Fallout 3 (hint: it’s the FIRST town you find. You practically trip in the front door.)
Sweet “interactive music video” that pulls some neat flash tricks. Not as interactive as I’d hoped, but not passive by any means.
Scribblenauts is an original and ambitious game from 5th Cell. I’ve been following it since before there were even screens, and it’s neat to finally see it in motion. I’ve read hands-on previews where people have tried to stump the game by writing all sorts of things–even internet memes such as the keyboard cat–and for the most part they all pop up in game. Pretty amazing. Hit the jump for a bit of developer commentary from E3. Read the rest of this entry »
Writer Aniq Rahman has crafted a list of 10 Absolute Nos! for Freelancers. Here’s a sample:
4) Can you copy this site? No.
Now you may think that I answer “No” strictly from a moral standpoint, and although that is true, there are other equally important reasons. First, if they’re copying a site, they have shady ethics themselves and the chances of you getting paid on time and in the full amount are unlikely. Second, doing this type of work reduces you to a monkey, and although some of your work may be like this to pay the bills, why purposely pursue it? Third, if it’s a true copy, the only benefit you may receive is payment – you really won’t get to use it for a portfolio or example work, and furthermore, this type of client is one you do not want work from in the future.
While the article had a good list of things to watch out for, it offers almost nothing in the way of solutions or advice. If someone asks you to work for free, how should you reply to them? What if someone asks for an IM? If someone wrote a follow-up to this article, that would be a great thing.
This awesome image is a “color script” for Pixar’s Up. You can really see how Pixar used color and saturation to set the mood of different points of the story. I won’t spoil anything, but those of you who know the story can pretty clearly see how greatly this is used.
Straw Dog Design is a hub for designer and blue sky day-dreamer Josiah DePaoli. It contains a blog, and a link to a portfolio and resume (you can find those above under "My Stuff"). It will change your life. For more info about this site, check out my About page.
