A truly beautiful website

I just found the Original Source website via an awards nomination. For me this is a truly beautiful site which sets the tone for sites based solely on design and experience. This would be rubbish for Search Engine Optimisation but that's not the point.

Designer's Repulic closes it doors

Just checked my email and I truly gutted that Designer's Republic has closed. Growing up in Sheffield it was difficult to miss their influence. From nightclub flyers, I still have my full set of flyers from the opening of Republic nightclub. To the covers of Pulp records, Designers Republic was the place to work for a creative, just wish I'd been good enough.

Goodbye Designers Republic

Duarte Design Annual Pumkin contest

Duarte Design, revered by Garr Reynolds on Presentation Zen, each year have a Halloween Lantern Competition. The designs get better and better each year. Truly creative companies always run these type of annual events. Does your business, group of friends, family do something similar? If not why not? Accountants, tree surgeons, builders, bin men and all use their creative skills shouldn't you be encouraging them?

People who can use their whole brain are more productive and are more likely to give your company the edge which will make a difference in these time the media are calling a recession.

What can you do to stimulate your team/friends/life.

What ever it is do it today!

Great design makes all the difference

I'm a sucker for great design for it's own sake. If a great design helps to sell products then even better. Most of the time it does.

It's part of the intagible bit of marketing that most of the public think they can't see because they're "not designers or artists". The thing about great design and art is that the man/woman on the street instinctivley knows good design, they just never trained themselves how to recognise it or describe it.

This is a great site I've just found which has some of the best product and packaging design I've ever seen. The examples are clear and work wonderfully, enjoy.

Happy Birthday Helvetica

Yesterday was the 50th birthday of the typeface Helvetica. On last night's Imagine on BBC1 they celebrated this great typeface. Helvetica is all around you, so much so you probably don't even notice.

One sad note for me is that Helvetica has no been overtaken in usage by the far less elegant Arial. The reason this far less well constructed typeface has beaten this design classic is down to that old demon - Microsoft.

Helevetica has copyright and design issues. Clearly Microsoft loved the typeface but didn't want to stomach the costs so they invented Arial. In last night's show designers said that Helvetica is the default. And if you own any DTP programmes I know you'll agree.

But for the rest of the world who only use Word and Excel then the default is Arial.

If only Helvetica had been designed when the new rules of spreading ideas and designs had been around then your word files and presentations would be just that little bit more elegant.