Arteliance

A Flickr set featuring ‘The End’ of old movies.

via: SERIF

Visible Earth A catalog of NASA images

via: Presentation Zen

A week ago I wrote “Google has a more up-to-date image of where I live now but taken from straight overhead all the coulees appear flattened out.” And now they’ve come out with a terrain view for their maps. (maybe I should’ve asked sooner?) It’s not very detailed yet but still pretty interesting.

via Google Maps: Google Maps Adds Terrains

Armin Vit (before he was so soundly trounced by Marian Bantjes in Layer Tennis) started a worthwhile and far-reaching debate on what makes a web design great:

Speak Up › Landmark Web Sites, Where Art Thou?

Design solutions that, in their consistent use as exemplary cases of execution, concept and process, don’t even need to be shown anymore and that, for better or worse, (almost) everyone acknowledges as being seminal works that reflect the goals that graphic design strives for: A visual solution that not only enables, but also transcends, the message to become memorable in the eyes and minds of viewers. Whether these projects are indeed as amazing, relevant and enviable as we have built them up to be is cause for a separate discussion but it’s safe to say that, as far as designs recognized around the profession, there are a certain few that invariably make the list, usually without question. Myself, I could list projects in every category from logos, to annual reports, to magazine covers, to packaging, to typefaces, to opening titles that could be considered landmark projects… But when it comes to web sites, I can’t think of a single www that could be comparable — in gravitas, praise, or memorability — as any of the few projects I just mentioned. Could this be?

To which some really thoughtful responses have been posted:

• Do Canonical Web Designs Exist? - Bokardo
• Subtraction: Something’s Missing in Web Design
• A List Apart: Articles: Understanding Web Design

By injecting the idea of an historical perspective into a field noted for its lack of history, Armin gives web design the very things he questions—gravitas, praise and memorability.

On the home stretch of NaBloPoMo a little graphic (no, not that kind of graphic) fun:

NaBloPoMo graphic textorized using text from from my NaBloPoMo entries…

…and a picture of myself textorized with text from my blog (sort of appropriate don’t you think?).

Textorizer - vectorise a picture using text strings

I am a big fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and like most people from the “Rider Nation,” I will be watching and hoping for them to win their third Grey Cup today.

Update: We won!

I’m trying to direct folks to view ‘design’ in the sense of something much grander—an approach to framing problems and devising solutions. An approach that works with imperfect data and produces multiple options. An approach that shows empathy for people involved. Design is about so much more than ‘making things look pretty. poetpainter: In Defense of Eye Candy

I am often taken aback by the number of business people who are completely unable to think strategically. That is, to figure out what they want to say, why they want to say it, who they want to say it to, and how they want to say it. As designers we take our own ability to do this for granted, assume “everyone can do that”, and sell ourselves short in the process.

CKUA Radio Network

The CKUA Radio Network was founded in 1927 on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton. CKUA is Canada’s first educational broadcaster and Canada’s first public broadcaster.

Since its inception, CKUA has grown from a one room, low wattage radio station staffed by exceptionally dedicated amateur radio enthusiasts, into a full fledged radio and Internet broadcast network staffed by world class broadcast and business professionals.

CKUA has evolved from a government of Alberta operation to a public not-for-profit foundation, with a limited commercial license. CKUA currently enjoys over 160,000 weekly listeners and is financially supported by listener donations, program sponsorships, subscriptions, and through corporate partnership.

… On February 29, 1996 CKUA became the first radio station in Canada to go online, carrying its entertaining message of life long learning to people everywhere.

CKUA is also a supporter of the Medicine Hat Folk Club Tongue on the Post Folk Fest.

My observations so far:

• It’s a good idea to write everyday; not a good idea to post everyday. Quality counts.
• It takes more time than I thought it would.
• I’d always been suspicious of blogging—thinking it might be egotistical. Now that I’m doing it everyday I see it’s the opposite—it’s not about what I can get—it’s about what I can share.