48 of 365 - bibliophile custom typography by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
48 of 365 – bibliophile custom typography by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Tonight, I just wanted to play a bit with a word: bibliophile. It’s such a beautifully rhythmic word, and while I tend to read more screens than physical pages, I feel like I can align myself with the word.
In Inkscape, I found a good hefty font in Chunk Five, typed out the letters, and converted the word into a path. I ungrouped it, as text to path always groups the letters. Then, using the node tool, I extended the serifs to the left and right wherever they had room to move. Originally, I did not cross over the dots for the i’s but after playing with the serifs going through the dots, I decided I liked it. I hope you did too. 🙂
46 of 365 - factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
46 of 365 – factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Factor of safety is about preparing for unknown flaws in a design, even though the issue may never arise. In the interest of preventing system failure, a designer can make more safety elements than are necessary. In general, it is the act of adding more elements than are strictly necessary in a design to prepare for situations that may or may not happen. In graphic design, you might add restatements of an idea to make more sure of the delivery of the message. In structural design, you might add more beams to the underlying structure. In urban design, more roads and parking, and so on.
I decided to illustrate the most common expression of the factor of safety that I can think of: “belt and suspenders”. In other words, you might say “belt and suspenders” in response to someone bringing a USB key with their materials to a presentation even though the materials available online. In the event that Internet access is down (e.g. the belt breaks) you’d still be able to present via USB (e.g. suspenders).
45 of 365 - minimalism design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
45 of 365 – minimalism design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
One of the most lovely things that I have enjoyed as a part of my design and consulting practice is the ability to stay fairly stress free in the effort. Because of the flexibility afforded by consulting, I am able to step back, look at the entire spectrum of the work, and let it flow. There is a certain kind of joy in doing work that you are good at, enjoy doing, and are compensated well for. I have been lucky enough to have a few jobs like this, mostly longer term positions, and the reasons that I left had more to do with leadership, staff, or situational variables. Never the work. The work is joy. The work is the light of the day. The work is the thing.
In this illustration of the idea, I wanted to focus on a minimalism approach, one in which there is just what is called for and nothing else. I illustrated a quote from the Tao te Ching (the book of the way): Act without doing; Work without effort. It speaks to me as an ideal of work: work that is not work at all.
41 of 365 - teach a man to fish design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
41 of 365 – teach a man to fish design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Teach a Man to Fish
Give a man a fish, he eats today. Teach a man to fish, he eats forever. This rather common phrase is a core part of my philosophy in consulting. This is sort of a stretch as a design principle, and the first time in this series that I am straying away from my sources for design principles, but I use this one in every consulting situation.
Also notable was that this is the earliest known appearance of the analogy, written by Anne Ritchie in Mrs. Dymond in the 1800s. “He certainly doesn’t practise his precepts, but I supposed the Patron meant that if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn.” ~ Give a Man a Fish Phrase – Proverb Meaning and Saying Origins – https://knowyourphrase.com/give-a-man-a-fish
As I said, I use it in my work. For example, if you have consulted with me, we might have started with you asking me to have a seat at (drive) your computer. I likely gently declined. The two positions (driving and guiding) define the difference between repair and teaching. I’d far rather teach, even when repair is involved. By having my clients go through the motions of the issue, research along with me, and act on our findings, they can learn the ways to resolve their own issues at that level. The benefit for me, aside from an enlightened client, is that the next problem we work on will probably be far more interesting for both of us. Also, if we consult over video chat with screen sharing, I will likely ask you to share your screen and guide you. From time to time, I might jump on my browser to resolve an issue, but most of the time, it’s all you, with my help.
It also, strangely, is a big part of why I love open source, the software equivalent of getting a great dish with the recipe, as opposed to just the great dish. So, chances are when we work together, we both work. Unless you just want it taken care of, in which I’m pretty happy to do that too. 🙂
39 of 365 – face-ism ratio design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Consider face-ism ratio when presenting a photo of a human. The theory says that a face that takes up a larger portion of the photo emphasizes the intelligence and persona of the person in the photo, where a photo that shows less of the face, and more of the body, emphasizes the bodily and aesthetic features of the person.
In this illustration, I decided to show myself with a higher and lower face-ism ratio.
Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
An important distinction (Photo credit: lemasney)
Today, I’m presenting on behalf of Library Link NJ on the topics of eBook borrowing and the Basics of Graphic Design.
In this session, we are going to look at using Overdrive to borrow eBooks, a very common method in libraries today. We will spend the rest of the time looking at the basics of Graphic Design concepts, like inspiration, font choice, layout and visual branding. The materials that I am distributing are below.
Using Financial Ratios for Your Small Business
