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WTF Wednesday: Oh, the horror…

I’m fairly certain this needs no explanation. This travesty was brought to my attention by Phil West of Luminaria Media & Public Relations, via Roy Bragg.

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Graphic Designer: 1 Squirrel: 0

This evil squirrel finally gets his due. Mwah-ha-ha… 🙂 , If you can’t view the video above, check out this kamikaze squirrel on YouTube.

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WTF Wednesday: Bless This Mess

Hello and welcome to this week’s special edition of “WTF Wednesday.” What a treat we have for you today! As the saying goes, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.” One of the many charms of this great state is how polite folks can be—even when they’re insulting you to your face. It is in this spirit that I present to you a new feature we like to call, “Well, Bless Your Heart.” And what better way to kick off this inaugural edition than with our favorite state symbol: the Redneck. Enjoy! The sign below is a nice example of descriptive, clear messaging without a lot of extraneous details. (They really mean it when they say “General” Store.) The following photo was taken by my friend, Jen Cunningham. She’s an artist who really appreciates good design. The next image is a brilliant example of reverse psychology. For years, political strategists will attempt to emulate this man’s tactics: Here’s a submission from one of my favorite contributors, David Ingram, proving yet again that “Necessity is the mentally-unstable father of invention.” So that’s all for this week’s special edition of “WTF Wednesday.” Bless your heart!

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WTF Wednesday: Words? We don’t need no stinkin’ words.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is a good thing, because I forgot to write today’s post. So, without further ado, I give you “Wordless WTF Wednesday.” Sometimes there really are no words…

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Tuesday’s Type Tip: Double Trouble

Okay folks, this one’s going to annoy some of you… You must stop double spacing after periods. Period. The practice of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence is a throwback to the days of the typewriter. For those of you born after 1975, this is a typewriter: Most of us over a certain age were taught to type before the days of computers. Back then there wasn’t an easy way to adjust spacing between letters, and every letter had the same amount of space on either side. For example, the letter w would have the same spacing as the letter i, which is wack. This is referred to as monospaced type. The extra space at the end of a sentence was used to visually signal a pause. Most of today’s typefaces are designed with each letter’s spacing proportional to its shape. Therefore, that extra space after a sentence is not only unnecessary—it’s kinda fugly as well. Case in point: Courier is a monospaced typeface. These extra spaces are particularly evident when you’re reading a paragraph or more. Once you become aware of it, you’ll start seeing them everywhere. Sentence after sentence of double spacing will stand out…

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New Feature: “What the hell did I do last night?”

So last night I attended the Statesman/Mashable Social Media Day TeckKaraoke party at the Cedar Door in downtown Austin, Texas. There’s a rumor that my doppelganger made an appearance with the inimitable Kate Buck Jr. to sing “Bust a Move” in front of 300 social media nerds. I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there.

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WTF Wednesday: The Mess with Texas

Howdy folks. I’m writing this post while on a drive back from Houston, Texas—the Dutch oven of our fair state. Don’t worry, I’m not actually doing the driving. I leave that up to Mr. Weenie and Wally the Poodle (whose foot keeps hitting the space bar). As I stare off across picturesque fields of grazing cattle and mattress factories, I’m reminded of a common design practice which dictates that “less is more”—a practice completely disregarded by most advertisers from Katy to La Grange. Let’s face it, everything’s bigger in Texas—trucks, hair, presidential libraries—and typography is no exception. Now, far be it for me to argue with one of the all-time greatest design tips I ever received: “When in doubt, make it big. If still in doubt, make it big and red.” I try to honor this tradition as much as possible, but I think an argument could be made that Texans tend to take this a bit far. Take, for instance, a sign advertising ZDT’s Amusement Park: Correct me if I’m wrong, but if an advertiser has but a few seconds to get his or her message across as I go speeding down the highway at 70mph, wouldn’t it make…

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Graphic Design Nightmare

This past weekend my sister and I headed down to San Antonio for a little R&R. We stayed at the Hyatt on the Riverwalk, where we enjoyed lots of Mexican food, shopping and even a foot massage. The highlight of my trip was coming across the following monstrosity. It’s as if spa management handed over window dressing responsibilities to someone’s 16-year-old niece. Poor, poor  Hyatt Spa…

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The WeenieReview, Part Deux: Which poster sucks less?

Hello again, and welcome to Part 2 of the “Which poster sucks less?” series. Before viewing the video, I must issue a warning: No, I was not in an unfortunate tanning bed incident. While trying to make myself look a little less like the undead, I added a bit too much makeup. Therefore, I shall preface the design critique with a critique of myself: 1. I look like a cross between a clown and a whore. (a clore) 2. I basically say basically too much, basically. 3. I really, really look like a clore. 🙂 So there you have it, straight from the clore’s mouth. Let me know if you have any questions about this review or my brand of blush. If you can’t view the video above, click here to see IleenieWeenie critique her own work on YouTube.

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WTF Wednesday: Seek, and ye shall find.

That’s right—it’s everybody’s favorite day of the week—“WTF Wednesday!” Photo credits: Creative Commons: ecastro, adactio, Clearly Ambiguous

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