Elaine's Blog

Hey!

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:58:00 GMT

I'm still alive, just have been really busy with commuting and house hunting. I'm getting out of Barrie and back to Toronto next month and cannot wait. I am going to launch a new website this summer, I think in Joomla but am still just thinking about the design at this point. And Joomla. I just taught myself Joomla last month and have been creating a monster site for my work, Bang Creative Communications: http://doc.creativitygoesbang.com/index.php . I'm almost done but it has taken so long to create that I am still not confident that this is the way of the future with web design. I could have whipped up the same design in HTML in like a week. This mofo has taken 4 weeks at least. Maybe it will be easier to maintain. I like that people can comment and share content easily. See, I'm torn. Anyways, I am using Twitter a little more these days so if you'd like you can follow me at https://twitter.com/ElaineStam Check back in August for a new, way more awesome site! :)

Interesting article about using black in designs

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:33:00 GMT

Excerpt from article "Black in the Visual Arts" as found on Paul Rand's site: In nature, black and its companion color white are dramatically juxtaposed in the contrast between day and night. The monotony of uninterrupted darkness or light would be intolerable. Black in the trunks of trees subtly sets off the brilliance of green or autumn- colored leaves. Throughout nature we find the equivalent of black and white in shadow and light—there are caves and canyons as well as fields and meadows. Man as a rule does the least violence to nature when he uses either natural materials, such as stone or wood, or black and white for the objects he places out of doors. Natural colors are integrated, white participates by reflecting its environmental color, and black modestly provides perfect background for the riotous nature colors. Certainly those people who observed with pleasure the old-fashioned black steam engine wind its way agreeably through green fields and forests, have watched with a kind of horror the orange or blue streamliner that now streaks garishly across the countryside. http://www.paul-rand.com/index.php/site/thoughts_black/ It occurs to me that I don't really use the colour black with my designs unless I'm using it for a font. I guess I usually think it's too strong. Why not make a statement?!

40 Free Fonts I have never seen before..

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:11:00 GMT

http://www.instantshift.com/2010/03/17/40-fresh-free-fonts-for-your-next-designs/

Halftone vector pack

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:57:00 GMT

Clean and 'grunge' versions. I've been looking for a basic halftone set for a while..

thinkdesignblog.com/free-vectors-28-halftone-vectors-clean-grunge-versions.htm

CSS Javascript Photo Gallery

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:32:00 GMT

I've been stuck in a rut lately using the same CSS 'slider' for many websites so I went digging for something new. This is more suitable for a photo gallery than maybe a home page intro slideshow.

www.puidokas.com/portfolio/frogjs/

Code for images that are JS but not links

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:46:00 GMT

So I have these old school image swaps set up on a page and for style purposes I wanted a black border. Dreamweaver wanted to use a blue border instead but I wasn't having it. Here is what you can do: a:link img{ border-color: #000000 } a:vlink img{ border-color: #000000 } a:alink img{ border-color: #000000 } (This is half a note-to-self) in case it crops up in the future and half an FYI in case anyone else randomly Googles this problem like I did).

Arial is Bullshit

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:10:00 GMT

www.youtube.com/watch

Thanks Jo- yet another reason why PCs are a joke.. messing with the perfection that is Helvetica!

CSS Typography Tips

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:00:00 GMT

I found this article on Smashing Magazine's website about new typography trends and techniques for CSS and found it really useful.

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/01/css-and-the-future-of-text/

Almond Milk

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:56:00 GMT

I've been thinking for quite a long time about drinking a cow's milk and how it's kind of gross (it's meant for a baby cow, not a grown woman) but the bottom line always was that I needed it for my tea or cereal. I know about the warnings of estrogen intake and women (breast cancer) so I didn't want to go the soy milk route. I tried rice milk and the taste was okay but the consistency was too thin for my tea so I tried almond milk last week and now I'm hooked! I've only had the original but I have to imagine the vanilla or chocolate would be pretty tasty.

It's hormone free, tastes awesome, has great consistency and unopened it doesn't need refridgeration so you'll never run out of milk again.

Designer/Programmer?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:25:00 GMT

So I notice more and more job postings lately that are looking for a designer/programmer. I believe that there may be a few individuals out there that are both talented artists and programming wizards but how many, honestly?

Employers figure that they can get the most bang for their buck and request that their employee be experienced in not only print and web design programs, have amazing artistic talent AND know all best coding practices, including PHP and MySQL. I think it's unrealistic. I think it is more sensible to seek out a talented artist who knows their design programs inside and out and who can understand how to effectively design a website. Then why not hire an experienced programmer to work with a few days a week for the issues that come up that are beyond the grasp of your designer. It seems to me the only realistic approach.

I know in larger studios that I have worked at that this is how things are run but I think the small studios need to see this distinction. I used to apply to jobs that I felt were a bit beyond my reach in terms of skills but now I would prefer to work somewhere where they have an understanding of reality and how the mind and talents of a programmer and designer differ.