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Tuesday’s Type Tip: Tracking vs. Kerning

It’s not that Tracking and Kerning have it out for each other; they’re just different breeds of the same species. While kerning refers to the adjustment of space between two specific letters, tracking deals with space between multiple letters in a word, line or paragraph of text. Tracking is the drunk sorority girl of typography, with the paradoxical ability to be either dense or spacey.  It can change the look and legibility of a block of text or create graphic impact for a specific word or headline. Tracking covers a lot of ground and usually won’t vomit on your shoes at the end of the evening. Occasionally tracking is used to squeeze more characters onto a line of type, but I generally recommend against using it for this purpose. While it might prevent a word or two from carrying over to another page or column, it may also cause changes in the flow of text, hyphenation issues, awkward spacing and the dry heaves. Whereas tracking is more popular and easy to do (see “drunk sorority girl”); kerning is like a surgeon, but with more friends and better social skills. A refined and delicate process, kerning is the adjustment of space…

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The Weenie Review: Which poster sucks less?

Howdy folks! IleenieWeenie here. I’m still practicing this video thing, so please excuse the amateurish presentation that follows. I haven’t learned how to edit or use an external microphone, which will become crystal clear momentarily. This post is dedicated to two of my favorite followers, “Newbie” and “Mom.” (No really–my mom.) Newbie is an online friend with whom I consult from time to time as he becomes a professional graphic designer. I’ve given him constructive criticism that I hope has helped him move forward with his work. He’s been an excellent sport and has inspired me to produce more instructional content on my website. My good friend Lani suggested I show my face on the videos, so I gave it a try. This was clearly a mistake. I look like a zombie having a bad hair day. Anyway, here you go… If you can’t see the embedded box above, click here to see IleenieWeenie critique her own work on YouTube.

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WeenieFiles: Part 2

Good news everyone! I learned an important lesson while making my first graphic design video, and it is this: The video camera is not an iPhone; turning it sideways only annoys the viewer. Also, I used a tripod this time, which helps with the motion sickness. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do for the nausea one might encounter as they view my early design work. Like my first video, this one is a little long (4 min), but someday I’ll learn how to edit. Let me know what you think. If you can’t see the embedded box below, click here to view IleenieWeenie’s latest graphic design video on YouTube.

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WTF Wednesday: Danger, A Head

It’s Wednesday again, and you know what that means… WTF? Today’s signs are meant for our safety. I can’t fathom how many lives were saved by such clear messaging.

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Tuesday’s Type Tip: Stacking lowercase type is a bad idea.

Check out this sign on an apartment building in my neighborhood. It sucks. It’s not that stacked type is in and of itself a bad thing, but stacking lowercase type is criminal. Don’t do it. The end.

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Weenie’s 1st Video!

Okay, I clearly have no idea what I’m doing, but here’s my first video. It’s beyond rough—it’s like sandpaper. It kinda hurts to watch it. Note the groovy turn of the camera as if my Zi8 is an iPhone. Weenie = Moron. I’ve been going through old work from early in my career as a graphic designer, and I just had to share the nausea with my friends. There are even some projects from my days as a student at The University of Texas. It’s some pretty embarrassing stuff, so of course I had to share, because if there’s one thing we know about IleenieWeenie it’s that she lacks the “this is too humiliating to share” gene. If you can’t see the embedded box below, click here to view IleenieWeenie’s not-so-bitchin’ first video on YouTube. 🙂

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WTF Wednesday: Does your toilet have a bad attitude?

Welcome to this week’s edition of “WTF Wednesday,” where we dissect and discuss the higher art of signage design. Sometimes a hand-drawn message is the best option for temporary signage. In this case, the designer has elegantly captured the drama of the moment: It takes great skill to create beautiful bilingual signage. The challenge is to make a pleasing design that doesn’t send mixed messages. Nothing gets lost in translation in the sign below, which is an excellent example of minimalist design combined with clarity of message: The combination of signs below creates clear directions for what could potentially become a very confusing situation. Fortunately in this case, crisis has been avoided thanks to good, solid graphic design: As we draw to the close of this week’s edition, I’d like to remind you to keep your eyes open for more examples of signs that make you say, “WTF??”  Now get out there and make things pretty.

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WTF Wednesday: Pretty green foliage can’t hide your stupid sign.

Welcome to another edition of “WTF Wednesday.” Today’s examples show us how to clearly define an audience. Our first sign appeals to bargain shoppers trying to form a basketball team for the year 2029: The next two signs are aimed at hikers: Well, that’s all for this week’s “WTF Wednesday.” Feel free to submit your samples which could be featured in a future post!

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20 Ways to Tell Your Designer is Over 40

The year is 1987, and the giant-haired version of myself is a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin. Disillusioned and uninspired as only a 20 year old can be, I find myself hiking across campus to that bastion of black jeans and unfiltered cigarettes, The Art Department. I have found my people. More importantly, I have found my new major. And so begins my life as a graphic designer. My parents/financiers have no idea what that means, and I fear my funding may soon be in jeopardy. My classrooms contain drafting tables and easels. The supply list includes paintbrushes and razor blades. Am I taking a class or remodeling a house? A laptop is where you put your napkin, a mouse is a small rodent, and Adobe Acrobat is a gymnast from New Mexico… The year is 1987. In case you are wondering how to identify the illusive “Outstandingly Long-lived Designer” (O.L.D.), here are a few clues: Missing tips of two or more fingers Has worked with cameras larger than most one bedroom apartments Understands that zips and floppies aren’t the latest drug fad First computer was a MacPlus or SE Knows the difference between tracking and kerning…

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WTF Wednesday: Potty Humor

Welcome to this week’s edition of WTF Wednesday. Today’s first submission comes from everybody’s current or soon-to-be favorite fitness trainer, Christine Tusa, with Tusa Fitness. Welcome to the classy side of the river: Here we have a few signs that are welcome, if entirely unexpected:

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