Nine years ago, I entered college as a journalism major. I quickly learned, however, that a sense of invention and creativity aren’t exactly valued qualities in a respected journalist and switched my major to Visual Communication Design (a fancy way to say ‘graphic design’). At the time, I thought that I had essentially wasted the first two years of my college experience pouring over the written word. I received failing grades when I accidentally spelled a source’s name wrong and sifted through seemingly endless bits of information to craft things they referred to as ‘nut grafs’.

I know now, of course, that time spent while learning should never be thought of as a waste — in fact, time spent specifically learning the ins and outs of the English language is especially valuable to those who consider themselves ‘graphic designers’. We are an industry (and by extension, a world) of appearances — we design and redesign our brochures, websites and posters until they appear to be the best they can possibly be (or in some cases, even better than they actually are).

If, within the span of our career, we expect to encounter even just one written word, we should not only be familiar with how they work individually (i.e. how they are spelled, what they mean), but how they function within a group or series of groups (sentence structure, punctuation, paragraphs, pages, etc.).

I don’t claim to be a grammar expert by any means and I love spell-check menus as much as the next person. I do, however, attempt to take a genuine and proactive interest in every bit of copy that I work with — from client projects, to e-mails and even something as trivial as a Facebook status. Using correct English simply makes you, and by extension your client, appear smart and professional.

Below I’ve compiled a handy guide of what I think are the most common grammatical or spelling mistakes made by designers and their respective solutions.

“Your my very favorite client”

If you’re unsure about when to use the contraction “you’re” vs. the possessive “your”, try substituting in the full phrase: if “You are my favorite client” makes sense and retains your original meaning, then the contraction is correct. If it does not, for example: “You are pants are in my front lawn“, than the possessive “your” is the word you need.

“But its not my job to keep track of your pants”

The same substitution trick works when deciding between its and it’s. It’s is a contraction for “it is“, for example: “But it is not my job to keep track of your pants” is what we are trying to say. If you’re trying to indicate possession, for example: “We are never going to that bar again. Its stools are very uncomfortable,” leave out the apostrophe.

If you’re trying to indicate the plural possessive, their (not thier or there) is your word: “Do you remember those guys we met last night? Their Taz tattoos were awesome.”

“I just really “love” adding “extra” punctuation……. doesn’t it make me look “smart”????”

Punctuation is the work horse of grammar; use it sparingly and only when necessary. Why only use one question mark when seven will do??????? Because it looks sloppy and informal, that’s why.

Use exclamation points only when you want to truly convey (not manufacture) excitement.

An ellipses is used to indicate that information has been removed, or to represent a pause in thought. A true ellipses is always three consecutive periods and many typefaces even have one available — use it, instead of making your own.

Quotation marks are used to enclose an actual quotation and when used incorrectly can make your words seem “suspect” or not “genuine” — the placement of question marks with quotes follows logic. If a question is in quotation marks, the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks, for example “Does anyone remember where I put my baby?” she asked.

Random Bits

• Spell out numbers under 10 (four, two, seven) and use numerals for everything else (427).
• Generally, use “more than” (not then) when referring to numbers (more than 70) and over when referring to distance or measurement (over there).
• Hyphenate compound adjectives, such as four-year-old girl. Unless, of course, you mean to say that you have four, year-old girls or four-year, old girls.
• Effect is a noun, as in “the effect of her new hair was startling.” Affect is a verb, meaning to influence, as in “the new hair color really affected her ability to attract a man.“
• Capitalizing Every Word In Your Sentence Is An Effect To Be Used Sparingly, such as, in a title or subhead. Randomly capitalizing Words that aren’t Proper nouns is Just confusing and wrong.
• Use only ONE space after a period, before beginning a new sentence, unless, of course, you’re still using a typewriter.

Yes, we are designers, not writers, but if we learn about how the Internet works in order to design usable websites, shouldn’t we learn about how the English language works in order to design coherent, readable pieces? As far as I’m concerned, the minute you type a word on your computer or hit send on a e-mail, you’re responsible for the content — image, type or otherwise. The only way to be absolved of responsibility is to never work with a single word and with a degree that so prominently includes the word “communication”, that’s never going to be an option for me.

For more information: Numbers vs. Numerals |  Why Two Spaces? |  Hyphens |  Quotation Marks |  More Than vs. Over |  En/Em Dashes |  Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling

Unlike books, an app needs to be quickly found while swiping through pages and also stand out amongst its peers in the App Store/Marketplace. The icon of an app should give a visual indication of quality and contents — therefore, apps can and should be judged by their icon.

So what should you look for? What does an app icon really need to do? Here are a few things worth noting about icons in regards to content, simplicity and technology.

SAY IT UP FRONT:

What does the app do? You should be able to immediately gather basic information about the app, just by glancing at it. With an existing brand, sometimes the logo is enough to know exactly what to expect. There is probably little to no confusion about what these apps do:

What about apps for lesser known brands? Using objects, or an icon representative of your service/genre is key. This way, the user can automatically understand the purpose of the app without having to read the description before downloading.

KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Whatever you do, DO NOT MAKE IT MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT NEEDS TO BE! App icons are small — even with the best resolution and perfect eyesight, these icons can get complicated and messy very fast. There is only so much space — remember that your app will be on a page with other applications (without or without a background) and the more cluttered the space, the more necessary simplicity becomes.

The GOOD

Keeping it simple is one of the most useful ways to make an app stand out. Bright colors and simple details (if any) will always stand out brilliantly. Looking at the Nike+GPS app, there is no confusion that 1. it’s a Nike app and 2. that it involves some sort of GPS or mapping technology.

WebMD Baby uses a wooden toy block with a large B to indicate that this is an app dealing with children-related issues, while the Amtrak app adds a personal touch with a stylized train conductor — ready to assist you with all of your train traveling needs.

The newly re-designed aol instant messenger (aim) icon is the model of simplicity, with enough interest in the typography and coloring to keep it from being boring.

When shown with their full name located below (as they almost always are displayed on your actual device), they present a clear, simple and informative peak into what’s inside, without junking up your screen. Smarter, better, faster, stronger.

The BAD

With as much history and impact as the NFL and NBA logos have, you would think that they would both be strong enough to stand on their own. Unfortunately, the NBA icon forces the title of the app into the icon — did they not realize that it will also appear directly below the icon on the device?

The NBA-DL logo tries to cram in even more words — not to mention how illegible they are due to sizing, color choices and stroke weights.

The NFL logo says NFL 2011 or FANTASY below it. Why bother when the two colors already separate the apps visually? Also, does the icon really need to say NFL twice? Three times if you don’t forget the title below, which all of these app designers seem to have done.

And the UGLY

The Call of Duty Zombie app relies too heavily on the brand and would benefit from some thoughtful editing. Seven words may not seem like a lot, but on a phone screen, it’s a lot to read and the “of” between Call and Duty starts to look like a bullet point, even at the larger size shown above.

The Kindle App starts with a fairly recognizable logotype, but begins to get overly complicated when coupled with a fairly detailed illustration of a person reading by a tree. Keep it simple Amazon, from A to Z.

By trying to cram too much information into a limited space, you may end up with an unnecessarily complicated and ugly icon. Slapping the word “Pro” on the 1password icon, or using the peel effect (like textfree), dilutes the initial impact and negatively effects comprehension.

ADVANCE THE MEDIUM

The glossy, shiny app look is an Apple classic by now. With high resolution screens and new tablet sizes, however, icons can begin to take on a different look — there is more opportunity for variation and indication of depth than ever before.

This is a hands on device, why not create a visual effect that represents a physical aspect of the app? Apps that have a matte finish, or a very subtle texture to them begin to stand out — like the Find My Friend and Project Noah apps. When seen on Apple’s Retina Display, the “stitched” badges have a dimensionality and realistic texture to them that is quite nice.

Similarly, the newly updated Instagram app is instantly recognizable as a vintage, Polaroid camera and iTunes U takes on a formal look when “branded” into “wood”.

As a result, the glossy button apps (like, NASA’s Earth Now, Waze and Trapster) begin to look cheap and uninteresting, especially when compared side-by-side with a textural icon. Even the simple icon for the ESPN Winter X Games begins to feel a little too safe and boring.

Advance the medium by trying new things — with new apps entering the marketplace every day, it becomes that much more important to create a stand out icon. It is oftentimes necessary to judge an app by its icon and and in most cases your first impression won’t fail you.

A well-designed icon must stand out from the crowd and in seconds, convince users to purchase and download your app. As with any design project, apps take time and effort — don’t sell your work short by misrepresenting it or cutting corners. The icon design should be considered from the beginning of the design process, and should never be an afterthought. When you put quality first, you will never be disappointed in the results.

Do you agree? What are your favorite apps and/or icons? Any successful, unsuccessful, memorable or innovative icons that we’ve missed?  Let us know on Facebook or Twitter what you think.

In this age of the internet and social networking, human beings have discovered different ways to protest, plan, organize and ultimately stand up for what they believe in. As many of you internet citizens out there may have noticed yesterday, there were protests online in opposition to S.O.P.A (Stop Online Piracy Act) and P.I.P.A. (Protect IP Act) that Congress has proposed.

These have been summarized elsewhere better than I can do here, but ultimately they are threatening the social and interconnected nature of the internet to stop copyright infringement with poorly written legislation that hurts and limits everyone to stop a select few. Bummer right?

As I mentioned, people united to prove one point: DO NOT MESS WITH THE INTERNET!  Many people went to their computers only to find out that some of their favorite websites were involved in a “blackout” as a protest.

• Google marked the occasion with a censored logo and an online petition to contact your local congress person.
• Students cringed as Wikipedia shutdown entirely.
• Reddit went dark and provided outlets for action.
• Your family/classmates/neighbors noticed and added their commentary through statuses, tweets and taking over trending topics worldwide.
• Even celebrities like MC Hammer attended a rally in San Francisco and Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke out.

The information from that day is still being processed, but there is still plenty of it to see for yourself. Propublica has a visualization and charts of the new standings of support and opposition. It was effective too. Google reports that over 4.5 million people signed petitions and emails were sent at a startling rate that crashed the websites of several Congress people and slowed others to a crawl.

By having major websites like Google, Wikipedia and Reddit go down for a day to protest legislation built the foundation for the largest online protest that has ever happened in America. In one 24 hour window of protest, the voice of close to 13 million users seem to have been received by elected officials. Throughout the day many of them took to their elected duties and switched their stance publicly by dropping their support for SOPA & PIPA. Pretty cool right?

The battle isn’t over between Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the government and those who copyright infringe though. There is still more on the horizon. Just don’t stop believing and make sure you tell Congress they can’t touch this.

The artwork usually committed one of the three offenses (or sometimes all three) as follows:

1. Artwork done with no regard to the game inside.
2. A complete and blatant rip off of something else.
3. Done with such lack of artistic skill that you wonder if it was done by a 10-year-old.

MEGA MAN ?

I’ve included a few of my personal favorites, from the ridiculous to the just plain awful. My all time favorite terrible cover in the history of everything is for the U.S. version of Mega Man.  I’m not sure how everything that could have went wrong did, but man did it go wrong.

It could be due to the fact that the artist had no concept of proportions and human anatomy. Or maybe it was a complete lack of the understanding of perspective. I think it could be that the main character is holding a laser gun (he didn’t carry a gun) and he isn’t even the correct color palette as he appears in the game.  Also, it kind of looks like a 8th grader’s first attempt with watercolors. Whoever approved this must have never seen the game, or maybe they couldn’t because they were blind.

SPACE… RIGHT?!

Here’s one guilty of the the first offense: the artwork has nothing to do with the game inside. Phalanx is a space shooter that came out for the Super NES, but wanted to stand out amongst other space shooters. So, instead of putting the expected space ship, lasers, and intergalactic space battle on the cover, they place an old hillbilly playing the banjo.

It’s either the dumbest or smartest marketing move you can make. Sure, maybe it stood out, but having your package reflect what it contains is never a bad thing. I’m pretty sure every 10-year-old they were trying to market to passed this one up in favor of something with a space alien on the front.

JUST MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THIS

I suppose in the 80′s, the world was a nicer place and videogame developers thought they could rip off movie art and characters without resulting legal action? We aren’t even talking inspiration or reference, I’m talking straight blatant carbon copies slapped on the box and called by another name.  I have included my three favorite examples below, including “the source material”:

Contra (1987) box art vs. Predator poster. Arnold is apparently the main character, but in Contra, he wears a headband. Also as a bonus the Alien from Alien also makes an appearance in the background.

The Metal Gear (1987) box art totally rip offs a still from the main character in 1984′s Terminator.

Last but not least is the 1987 game Xenophobe, riding the back of the successful Alien franchise by slapping one on their cover. But I’m sure that was just a coincidence.

You know what doesn’t get enough credit?  The moon.

Ancient ancestors used to worship it, but today, most people ignore it. Do children even still dream of being astronauts when they grow up? I live daily with the sad fact that celestial bodies just don’t have the appeal they once did before the invention of such mystical things as radio, TV, Teddy Ruxpin, and Gameboys. But you know what I think is cooler than a bear that tells you bedtime stories? That’s right, the moon.

• Some theorize the moon was formed when a giant asteroid smashed into the earth, flung a jillion particles of earth dust into space, and over time it formed into the nice little ball of lunar dust in our night sky.
• It has ancient, long-dead volcanoes on it, which means that at one time the moon  was a giant, active, angry, firey ball of life.
• It has faces AND phases.
• It’s way older than you are. Look at it’s scarred surface, this thing has been hanging in the sky even before dinosaurs were created. It was vintage before vintage was cool.
• No one can ever own the moon thanks to the Outer Space Treaty. Which pretty much also excludes all possibility that it will ever be used as the site of an evil intergalactic military base.
• Anyone could slam dunk on the moon.
• Folklore suggests a full moon may make the crazies come out or worse yet, turn into werewolves.

Oh and also, apparently we landed there and stuff, although I’ll never truly believe that we  set foot on the moon over 40 years ago, yet today we can’t even launch a shuttle without something going wrong.

Unfortunately, we will never be able to physically see its back side. It’s either too embarrassed to show us or it just won’t spin fast enough. The moon will always have an air of mystery about it, no matter how much we learn or think we might know — now that’s cool.

Ice Cream Sandwich style guide

In addition to laying out the building blocks and design principles of Ice Cream Sandwich, this guide offers advice for buildings apps with details on suggested iconography, patterns, colors, typography, and writing styles. This is awesome and will help developers make cooler, better looking apps faster can’t wait to see what they come up with. Read more.

The Wii U

I was excited last year when Nintendo announced the Wii U at E3, but I haven’t heard much about the new system since. Until now that is — Justin Rubio at IGN got the chance to take the Wii U for a test drive and give us some insight on the new system. Read more.

James Bond 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Set

This collection showcases fifty years of Bond packaged into one sleek, collectable box-set featuring all six iconic James Bonds. Produced using the highest possible picture quality and audio presentation, the collection includes all 22 James Bond feature films. You can pre-order now at Amazon and save $100.

For a complete recap of CES 2012 go here and here.

My 2012 NFL playoff predictions.
Wildcard Round
AFC
Broncos vs Steelers – Steelers win  16 – 9
Texans vs Bengals – Bengals win 27 – 20
NFC
Giants vs Falcons – Falcons win 24 – 20
Saints vs Lions – Saints win 45 – 31

Divisional Playoffs
AFC
Patriots vs Steelers – Patriots win 30 – 24
Ravens vs Bengals – Ravens win 21 – 17

NFC
Packers vs Falcons – Packers win 42 – 31
49ers vs Saints – Saints win 31 – 20

Divisional Playoffs
AFC
Patriots vs Ravens – Patriots win 26 – 17
NFC
Packers vs Saints – Saints win 35 – 31

Super Bowl
Patriots vs Saints – Saints win 45 – 38

Click here to view a blank playoff tree.

Web design is an exciting field. Over the last decade, so much has changed for the better. The technology is in a constant state of evolution, shaped by the very people who make websites.

After years of hacks and workarounds, we finally have the tools to build websites that look and function as we desire in a semantic way. It is easier than ever to build more and more complex websites. The following are some of the reasons why:

HTML5 and CSS3

Ever since we started building web pages, we have yearned for more control over their appearance. The paradigm has completely changed multiple times over the last 20 years.  From html tables filled with images and inline styles, to flash, to responsive design, what once was right is now obsolete.

Along the way, in an effort to separate content from style, CSS joined the mix and has made many attempts to replace the old ways with better, more sustainable ways of making websites prettier. At the same time, HTML has evolved to make the web more accessible.

Keeping these two separate is crucial, but only when they work together can they accomplish web nirvana. HTML5 allows for new ways of semantically presenting content, while CSS3 allows us to shape that content in fascinating ways, all in the browser. No first-party technology, no nested tables, just pure function and form working together hand in hand.

Mobile and Responsive Design

The way we use the web is changing. Whether IOS or Android, smartphone or tablet, people are connecting to the web with new devices every day. This creates new opportunities for design and function that are tailored to the user. Regardless of how the user accesses the web, we can provide them a seamless experience, optimized for whatever
size or type of screen they have in front of them.

Web Fonts

Just a couple of years ago, every site I built came in only a handful of font flavors. Now, there are hundreds to choose from, with more foundries joining in all the time.

Yes, inexperienced designers can now go font-crazy just like the early days of desktop publishing, but this will only help make professionally designed sites with carefully selected typography stand out.

Internet Explorer

Believe it or not, I’m thrilled at the current state of Internet Explorer. IE6 recently dropped below 1% usage in the United States and IE7 can’t be far behind.

While we’re stuck with IE8 until the last PC running Windows XP finally kicks the bucket, working around its limitations as a browser is a walk in the park relative to supporting IE6 and IE7.

IE9 has an unprecedented level of support for current web standards, and that is exciting. IE has promised to auto-update its browsers going forward, putting it right on par with the competition. After years of ruining all the fun of web design, IE has made great strides recently toward making the web a better place.

Looking Forward

These are just a few of the most exciting things going on right now on the web. I couldn’t be happier to be a part it. I don’t know of any other field where there is such a community and a desire to share information with one’s peers — it’s hard not to get excited about the progress we are making every day. What we are doing is making a difference. Now that’s inspiring.

You can also count the minutes, but thanks to Jonathon Larson, you don’t have to — in one year there are five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred of them to be exact. Here’s what we did with ours:

We won awards:

In February we won 10 local Addy Awards — 5 gold, 4 silver and the Best Use of Paper and in April, we won 3 additional District Five Addy Awards — 1 gold and 2 silver.

We printed all of the things:

We turned a portion of our photo studio into a silk-screening workshop — officially christened, The Print Lab. We’ve since printed posters, t-shirts and basically anything that will sit still long enough under a screen.

We opened our house:

In April, we celebrated the beginning of our fifth year with our biggest and best open house to date. We had glow-in-the-dark button packs, screen-printed posters and we each built our own robots. Guests dined on moon cheese, astronaut ice cream and posed for a photo booth with custom-made ray guns. Dare we say, the space-themed bash was… out-of-this-world.

We made this site:

In case you didn’t notice, this beautiful (and functional!) site you’re on — it launched in May of this year. We hope you enjoy the weekly blog posts, deep thoughts and portfolio updates, all of which will continue into the new year (and hopefully many years after that).

We made a calendar:

We spent the majority of our summer working with Studio Martone and the good folks at Matco Tools on the 2012 Matco Tools Calendar, a huge project that we’re still (nearly six months later) super excited about. We scouted mulitple locations and ended up shooting at six great ones — DSR Racing in Indiana; Cain BMW in Canton, OH; a replica Mobil Gas Station in Waynesburg, OH; Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana; MAPS Air Museum in North Canton, OH and a picturesque farm in Magnolia, OH.

Look for the final art to be added soon to our print and video sections.

We bought a building:

Somehow, in the midst of the Matco madness, we managed to buy a building. A 58,000 sq foot, cereal factory from the 1890s at 243 Furnace Street. You can read all about the ongoing project here, here and here.

We hired some people:

Over the course of the year, we’ve had two interns (one of which we hired part-time — lookin’ at you, Manders) and hired Sam Karlo and Jameson Campbell on as full-time employees. And we haven’t regretted at least two of these decisions.

We worked hard for the money:

Justin, Amanda and John manned (and wo-manned) the 427 booth at the SEMA show in Vegas this November. They claim that they worked harder than those of us stuck back here in frigid Ohio, but we remain unsympathetic and unconvinced.

And then, we bowled:

To celebrate all 525,600 minutes of our work this year, we had our Christmas party at Stonehenge Family Fun Center last week, where our talents on the lanes ranged from non-existent (ahem, Joe) to inconsistent (hi, Jameson) to why-are-you-wasting-your-talents-working-for-us amazing (Brad “Bad” Hain and Sam “The Hurricane” Karlo). We only managed to get photos of two out of the three ‘teams’, because the third team had already taken their talents to the Ski Ball machines.

Is there a more fitting tribute to a year of great work, hard work and fun work than purple velour jogging suits, two personalized bowling shirts and a little friendly rivalry? We didn’t think so.