Color Inspiration from the Scottish Highlands
The Scottish Highlands are one of the most sparsely populated regions in Europe and are popularly described as the most scenic. The winding roads guide travelers and residents alike through purple-speckled mountain ranges, tall forests, rolling hills and along lake sides.
Like Ireland, the Highlands are lush with green grasses, but also see a number of colorful shrubs. Most commonly purple, heather — a type of perennial shrub — sweeps the area, from mountain tops to roadsides, also appearing in a range from white to pink, and sometimes even red, contrasting with the surrounding green meadows and forests. Although they may brown, the heathers’ flowers don’t necessarily fall. Other shrubs that sweep the Scottish Highlands range from grey to brown and green to yellow, but when the rain comes, the hills are alive with a vivid green.
But it’s not just the plant life that has colour. Carved from thick ice age glaciers, the mountains stand tall, pouring their tumbled grey and brown rocks into the almost purely blue lochs, some of which can even have white sand. The sparse population means that light pollution is minimal, allowing the mountain-crowded sky to feel expansive and blue.
For a land so beauteous, it shouldn’t arrive as a surprise that the mountain top views are breath-taking. Being a land so different from even its lowland counterpart, the Highlands are packed with so many unique views and colour blends.
Color Inspiration from the Scottish Highlands
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TAKEN FROM www.colourlovers.com
30 Delightful Graphic Design Books
I have probed the web for the most highly recommended and best-selling graphic design related books that can inspire and help you as a graphic designer. These books cover many areas of design, including typography, color theory, layout, design theory, web design, business and even search engine optimization and marketing for designers.
These delightful graphic design books will make a great addition to any graphic designer’s library!
1. Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines
This is a book you should not do without. It touches on every topic you need to know about how to be successful as a graphic artist. If you want experienced and practical advice on anything from setting prices for your work on the Internet to how to best manage your client relations – this is the book for you.
2. Sagmeister: Made You Look
Daring designer, Stefan Sagmeister, chronicles almost 40 years of working in this business in this book. Sagmeister conveys his wit and humor into these pages, as he tells you his personal adventures.
3. Make It Bigger
This book caters to designers who work with businesses. Read this to be inspired and benefit from the wisdom of years of experience working in the field of graphic design.
4. About Face: Reviving The Rules Of Typography
Talking about the large topic of typography, About Face, helps you navigate through the world with ease. Many wonderful and successful examples of typography are provided in this book.
5. Typographic Design: Form and Communication
This is the fourth edition of a best-selling book. If you want just one book to help you learn about how to properly typography, it’s this one. Whether you’re interested in the history of this art, or how it can be effectively used in this modern-era, this book is chock full of valuable information for graphic designers.
6. The Elements of Typographic Style
Author, Robert Bringhurst, has written this book, which uses beautiful language to tell the story of how to apply your own artistic sensibility to typography. One treat in this book is the examples of fonts in different languages such as Russian and Greek.
7. The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type
This book’s author, Alexander W. White, is a strong advocate of white space – what you can also call negative space. Many designers feel the need to clutter things up, but less can be more. Learn how to master that idea with this great book.
8. Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop
This book focuses on layout. With it, you can comprehensively learn the elements of layout so that you can better use them in your work.
9. Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography (Designing With Type)
A book that’s been around since 1971, this is something that will introduce you to typography. It offers pointers on how to take into account such things as the feeling of a text, as well as how effectively it is conveyed in different formats.
10. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
This offers a wonderful writing up of the history of graphic design. It may be of interest to both current graphic designers, and general artistic-minded people.
11. Graphic Design: A New History
Own this book and learn about graphic design history in a new light. The book talks in-depth of the different times of history in correlation to what graphic design’s were used.
12. Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Design Briefs)
Author Ellen Lupton has written this wonderful book. The book has three main sections: letter, text, and grid. Learn the history of each, how technology can help you, and then see examples in practice.
13. The Designer’s Toolkit: 500 Grids and Style Sheets: 500 Grids and Style Sheets
As you may have already guessed, this book challenges designers to re-think their idea of how to work within a grid. There are 500 grid and style sheets ready for you to produce your work on and see what you like.
14. Looking Closer 5: Critical Writings on Graphic Design
This is the fifth and final installment in a series of wonderful books. Within these pages you will find writing on controversial topics that will encourage you to think outside of the page, or the screen.
15. How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer
Learn what you have in common with other graphic designers who have achieved success. What has helped them overcome obstacles may very well help you as well. This book is full of interviews you will find invaluable.
16. Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design
The title of the book tells you what you’re getting, right off the bat. Michael Bierut writes with whimsy and a critical eye in this book that you are sure to enjoy and be educated from.
17. How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
The work of a graphic designer is not easy, and you probably already know that. Within these160 pages you will discover writing on topics such as how to generate ideas when your mind is void of them. You don’t want to become a slave to mundane tasks and lose your spark, if you feel yourself drifting – reach for this book.
18. LogoLounge 3: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers (LogoLounge)
If you’re crazy for logos then this is the book for you. In this third installment, you will find a myriad of different logos – 2,000 to be exact. Get inspired with this book, and then get designing.
19. Logo Design (Midi Series)
This is a handy reference book on logo design. Students and professionals alike will enjoy this book.
20. Hand Job: A Catalog of Type
Fifty typographers are featured in this book, and what they all have in common is that they reject technology, and design their fonts by hand. While the title at first can seem shocking to anyone, it will stay shocking to a designer. When’s the last time you reached for a pen and paper for your final draft? Maybe next time you will, after reading this book.
21. Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design
Well-written, this book is what it claims to be – 100 ways to enhance, influence, increase, teach – you get the idea. It is easy to understand and follow, and gives you well-researched briefs on a variety of topics that normally you’d have to read about in several different books.
22. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book
Experts that make up the Adobe Creative Team have put together this book for you to easily expand your knowledge of the Adobe Photoshop program. Learn how to do things better and faster, all from reading this book.
23. The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
To have Adobe Photoshop is one thing; to be able to use it is one thing, but to be able to use it well is another. And that is especially true when it comes to digital photography. If you want the best tips and tricks, this book won’t lead you astray.
24. Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book
Master the programs in Adobe Illustrator by using this book as a step-by-stop guide. The Adobe Creative Team will guide you where you need to go.
25. The Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book (WOW!)
If you want to be the best with using Adobe’s Illustrator, you need this book. There are tons of lessons in this book to help you learn new tools. Ever wonder how to take a desaturated image and make it appear to be a color photo? Read and learn.
26. Adobe InDesign CS3 Classroom in a Book
This is a good book for beginners. Make sure to get the second printing, as the first as some typos!
27. HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition (Visual Quickstart Guide)
You should know HTML, and probably XHTML and CSS as well. So learn it here, with this wonderful book! This is not for advanced students.
28. CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
Authors Andy Budd, Simon Collison, and Cameron Moll have written the ultimate guide to CSS! Learn everything you wanted to know, and more – in this book.
29. Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (2nd Edition)
When you build a Web site, you want it to work. This book will help you learn how to get out all of the kinks and bugs from your site so that the widest possible audience can access it without flaws.
30. SEO Book
When you have a Web site, you want traffic. You get that through search engine optimization (SEO). This is the only book you will ever need to master search engine optimization and you can download it!
TAKEN FROM www.youthedesigner.com
US Specs of BMW 1-Series Coupe Arrive Early Too
And so it goes. Details on BMW’s US-bound 1-Series coupe leaked out today, on the heels of the UK version. In American spec, the heralded 135i with the twin-turbo, three-liter six, will get 300 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque at 1,400 rpm. Zero to sixty is still a claimed 5.3 seconds, which could be understated depending on the yet-nondisclosed weight figure. Read more after the jump.
TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com
Mike Rowe Sold Purses Before He Sold Ford F-150 Trucks
Who would have thought the man who shills for the F-150 and doer of other “Dirty Jobs” used to sell purses on QVC? Well, at least Mike Rowe’s “relatively secure in his masculinity.” We wonder if Toby Keith thinks he’s “relatively” secure as well? Although Rowe may have something over Keith due to his love of cartoon women. [Hat tip to Eric]
Spy Photos: 2008 Dodge Challenger
Priddy’s pride of spy photographers have already one-upped the KGP-caught mule from earlier this year — now they’ve caught a production 2008 Dodge Challenger driving on a fast-moving highway. Here’s the rest of what she’s got to say:
“A Hemi V8 was no challenge for our photographer, as he was still able to snag a great shot of the upcoming Dodge Challenger on a fast-moving highway. And even though the pre-production Challenger was wearing a bit of vinyl - one can easily tell that the production model is nearly identical to the concept shown on the auto show circuit.Dodge’s all-new muscle car will be built on the new “LY” RWD platform in Ontario, Canada. Production will start in the spring of 2008 - and the Challenger will go on sale shortly afterwards as a 2008 model. Pricing is expected to start around $31,000, although it’s rumored that the R/T models have all been pre-sold in the 50K range. A convertible is also expected to arrive in the not-so-distant future.
The official debut of the (production) Challenger will be on February 6th at the Chicago Auto Show - just 222 days away.”
Oh, we can already taste the adrenalin from the mere thought of the new era of muscle car wars! High-resolution picture available via the link below and gallery of the approved-for-production concept car below that.
TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com
Creative Urban Furniture: Convertible, Inflatable & Portable Homeless Shelters
Urban centers typically discourage homeless people from sleeping public spaces - without necessarily providing alternatives. However, some activist artists, designers and architects have developed clever innovations that challenge conventional ideas of homelessness and modes of dwelling. Regardless of your view of street dwellers or opinion regarding the best solutions to these problems, suspend your judgment for a moment to take in these extremely cool designs!
The image above depicts typical public urban furniture designed precisely to keep people from lying down on it. It is a lose-lose situation, forcing the homeless to seek shelter in unsafe places and keeping the public in the dark about issues of homeless dwelling.
Convertible: Some artists and activists have found creative, clever and innovative ways to rethink these designs. One such designer, architect Sean Goodsell, has developed a series of urban benches that convert into homeless shelters.
Inflatable: Another designer has proposed a series of inflatable dwellings that run on the waste air of buildings. The creator of ParaSITE, Michael Rakowitz, works on various projects designed to raise public awareness of various urban social issues.
Portable: Industrial, graphic and architectural designer Agustin Otegui has taken things a step further by designing mobile urban furniture for the homeless, doubling as shelter and storage.
Thoughtful: Though less design-intensive, the Salvation Army also presents a simple but effective strategy: blankets that are both practical but also send a clear message and raise public awareness.
Update: Following the lively discussion and mixed comments on this article, a follow-up was created to address other forms of nomadic urbanism from car living to couch surfing. Also be sur to see this somewhat more light-hearted look at urban camping.
TAKEN FROM weburbanist.com
Wayback Machine: Foam Furniture Rises Like Bread, 1970
Here is a thirty-six year old idea for flatpack furniture that needs revisiting. We quote the article:
What goes up and doesn’t come down? A new kind of furniture called “Up.” You buy it flat-as-a-pancake in a vinyl package. Cut open the vinyl and the pancake automatically expands into a modern chair. Once expanded, it cannot be recompressed and cannot be punctured.
It works like this: At the factory in Italy the furniture is molded of poly-urethane foam, and covered with stretch upholstery. Then, in a vacuum chamber, the piece is compressed to force out the air, and sealed in the airtight package. Open the package and the foam absorbs air, expanding to its
designed size and shape.
The foam in this furniture is very heavy, and dense enough to fully support you when you sit. The chair below, for example, weighs 90 pounds-packed. Price? A child’s chair costs $63; the armchair below costs $588.
TAKEN FROM www.treehugger.com
Closer-To-Production Lexus LF-A Nürburgring Spy Shots (*Updated*)
Lexus continues to hammer away at its LF-A supercar, as these new KGP Photography spy shots from the Nürburgring attest.
While Toyota’s upscale moniker still has yet to officially confirm the car for production, it’s obvious that Lexus is poised to get a serious performance halo car very shortly. The front end on this mule looks different than others we’ve seen, with different hood vents and a revised front splitter than the prototypes spotted late last year. Out back, the mule retains the 2007 show car’s mid-mounted triple exhaust and oversized vents beneath the taillamps.
The front-mid-engined coupe is expected to be powered by a 500+ horsepower V-10, and looks set to bring the fight to Honda’s next Acura NSX, as well as Audi’s sparkling R8 and the usual sacred Italian cows (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, etc.). A hybrid variant also appears to be a possibility.
Enough spy shots… bring it on, already.
(Click on the thumbnails below to launch a high-resolution gallery or through to the jump for *thoughts from KGP*)
Lexus has hit the Nordschleife with its cleanest prototype yet for its LF-A supercar. LF-A prototypes first hit the ‘Ring in 2005, and have seen a number of alterations over the last two years. In that time, two concepts have also hit the auto show circuit, and while they were clearly related in overall shape, they differed drastically in their surface development. The 2005 concept was a rather simple wedge shape, while the 2007 iteration was more rounded, with more nuanced, almost fussy detailing.
It seems that this newest prototype, which appears nearly free of
camouflage, falls somewhere in between the two LF-A concept cars.
The prototype’s lower side vents and front air-intakes come quite close to the ‘07 concept, but the air scoops around the test car’s C- pillar are more simplistic like the ‘05 concept. With its large mesh air extractors and triple exhaust tips, the prototype’s rear-end design once again borrows from both cars, but ultimately goes its own way in the details. With the temporary, function-only tail-lights that are tacked on, it’s clear that this prototype doesn’t reveal the car’s finished styling.The headlights on the prototype still appear to be simple, angular shapes, not unlike those of modern Lamborghinis, but the ‘07 concept has strange lamps with a distinctive LED strip running down the front bumper. Whether elements of the latest design study will end up on the final production cars is still unknown.
Lexus is obviously approaching the LF-A with great care and extensive development–both mechanically, dynamically, and stylistically. At this point, it seems that Lexus designers are still fine-tuning the LF-A’s shape.
taken from news.windingroad.com
Master photoshopper makes futuristic flying cars
At Aviary, we like to ask the hard-hitting questions most journalists shy away from. Most importantly: We can put man on the moon, but we don’t have frigging flying cars yet?!
Luckily, we don’t just identify the problems - we also solve them.
This time around Aviary’s resident industrial designer Meowza has drawn up a plan to unclog the world’s highways and put flying metal projectiles in the hands of every man, woman and child.
View the sources and full layered file
Sources:
We had so much fun playing with industrial car design, that we made another video as well:
Here’s another example of Meowza changing an already sleek design by Ben Messmer of our friends at Local Motors.
View the sources and full layered file
Sources:
These works made heavy use of color adjustments, blend modes, painting, transforming and sourcing.
Kudos to Parliament and Arcade Fire for the musical accompaniments!
Standard disclaimer: For those of you new to this blog, this was not created in Photoshop. It was created in Aviary, a suite of online web applications. You can sign up for the current beta at http://a.viary.com.
taken from a.viary.com
Golden beaches of India
If you ever thought about visiting something other than your usual summer destination, do avoid the following beaches. These places in India are not what would consider a vacation spot. And, among all the residue and trash, people fish there.
