Masthead (39k image)
Monday, August 30th

The Nature of Design as a Commodity

Jon
08.30.10 @ 09:47 PM CST
listening to: No Reservations
feeling: Eh. Okay i guess.

For the last couple of years I've been really concerning myself with the idea of design being treated as a commodity, and how the industry can avoid it. To some degree it can't, depending on how you define the design industry.

Today I had an epiphany regarding the graphic design industry and commoditization, and it's this: for most clients, and most designers, it already is a commodity because there's no difference between the way those designers solve problems, and there is no difference between the way those clients will interact with designers.
Entry Continued...
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Wednesday, August 25th

Good looking Bland

Kevin
08.25.10 @ 07:09 AM CST
feeling: apathetic

Have you ever hit a moral crossroads where you were obligated to do your very best at something yet outside forces made it so you were stuck with something bad that you had make look atleast medicore. Keep in mind, if you could use all the information you had/knew about it could be good looking great. But no, here are the 5 blandest images we could think of and we want you to compose them in a manner that makes this seem to be much more than it is. It has been a while since I have felt morally conflicted and in the past I have fought tooth and nail to ween substance from such efforts. But today is different. I have great graphics and a great story but am not permitted to tell them and I am ok with that because in the end I will have far less stress by just making it the way they want it and walking away.
Yet again we are back to the crux of the issue. I refuse to put my name on shotty work so I must therefore make it look better than it really is. Even though it IS better than what they want to show in the first place. Sigh.
[4 Comments]

Wednesday, July 28th

One Monitor to Rule Them All

Jon
07.28.10 @ 09:45 AM CST
listening to: SVA MFA Lectures...I'm a design nerd



Yesterday Apple announced a product that I've been expecting for about 18 months now - a 27", 2560x1440 Cinema Display. It's based on the same LG Panel as the iMac, which is the same panel that Dell uses for one of its monitors. What I didn't expect is that it would be cheap.

Dell sells the monitor that uses the same panel for $1200. I expected Apple to come in about the same...so they'd have a 24" for $799 and the 27" for $1199 or something thereabout.

What they've done instead is announce a 27" CinemaDisplay for $999, and that they are discontinuing the 24" altogether. Why? Simple. If you're already considering spending $800 for a monitor, it's because you need one that has the color gamut of an IPS display like the CinemaDisplay. The extra $200 for the extra 1.6 Million pixels is a no-brainer. That's something like an extra 56% more pixels, and in a business where you need that color fidelity, that equals work space.

I actually currently have monitors with 1920x and 2560x resolutions. Let me tell you, if you can spend $200 more to get a 2560x monitor, it's worth the money over and over and over again.

So, bravo to Apple for discontinuing the 24" CinemaDisplay. It's hard to kill products that someone might buy...but I predict this will be a good move.
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Thursday, July 8th

Congratulations

Jocelyn
07.08.10 @ 10:07 AM CST

Nicole, thats great! Congratulations! I'm ready to celebrate with you when you visit!

Tuesday, July 6th

Moving up!

Nicole
07.06.10 @ 09:07 AM CST
feeling: ok

So the day before we left for Chicago, I signed my 3 recruit! She officially gets started this week and I am so happy for her! blush