ASK Design Blog

Top 11 Typography Books

askdesign — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:15:59 +0000

This was originally a “Top 10″ list when I first wrote it in the summer of 2009. I was preparing to teach a Typography 2 class, updating my bibliography list, and thinking about which books are must-haves and/or classics. There are many great ones out there, and I’d love to hear what your favorites are. [...]

QuarkXpress to InDesign

askdesign — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:24:18 +0000

QuarkXpress was the industry-standard and my exclusive page layout program for a long, long time. Around 2007, I began the migration from Quark to InDesign CS3. Among the many reasons for the change was the seamless integration of InDesign with the other Adobe products I use, notably Photoshop and Illustrator. Once I made the full [...]

InDesign Saving Back to Earlier Versions

askdesign — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:52:52 +0000

There is a way to “save back” an InDesign CS5 file to an earlier version. But, it’s not the powerful and flexible “SAVE AS” technique that you use in Photoshop and Illustrator. Instead, you must export the InDesign file using the InDesign Markup format, or IDML. It will be saved with the same name as [...]

Painting Delicate Arch

askdesign — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:24:25 +0000

My trip to the Southwest in the fall of 1995 included a visit to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. There are unusual sandstone formations, turrets, and arches there, many of enormous size. One of the more memorable ones is Delicate Arch. We began our hike to Delicate Arch in mid-morning, a bit of a [...]

2011 Poem Design Winners — Lasell Typography II Students

askdesign — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:20:09 +0000

I divided the students in my Typography II class into 3 groups, and assigned each group a different poem for individuals to design. They were encouraged to express the meaning of the poem typographically, yet they were allowed to use images. Once the final designs were complete, everyone voted and selected what they considered to [...]

Walter Kopec: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

askdesign — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:21:47 +0000

Last night, I attended the opening reception for Walter Kopec’s solo art show You Can’t Make This Stuff Up. It was well-attended and for good reason. He is an incredibly intelligent, thinking artist who observes and gathers in the world each day. His influences are many and his art is the creative expression of his [...]

My Thanks to Steve Jobs and His Vision

askdesign — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:20:15 +0000

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. When I first heard the news, I reacted much the same way I did when I first learned that John Lennon had died. I knew Jobs had been battling cancer and had stepped down from his CEO position at Apple just this past August. Yet, the loss was still stunning [...]

Art at the Market: Kids Love It!

askdesign — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:43:07 +0000

On August 4, we held our 3rd annual Art at the Market, at the Belmont Farmers’ Market. It’s become a popular activity that kids and parents alike look forward to. Jeanne Mooney and her daughter, Frances, found last year’s supplies in their basement (thank goodness!) and, once again, set up everything. The 3 of us [...]

Top 10 Favorite Places to Visit

askdesign — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:20:54 +0000

I’ve traveled a fair amount and a friend once asked me what my favorite places in the world were. Traveling teaches me so much about people, the land, and how diverse we are. Much of my inspiration comes from traveling, too. Here’s my top 10 list of favorite places: Hawaii — Hawaii is the most [...]

Image File Formats: print vs. web

askdesign — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:06:10 +0000

There are 2 basic categories of file formats for images, and they relate to end-use: print and web. The key differences between print and web images are resolution measurement and color mode. Within the 2 categories are 2 core types of images: raster and vector. Raster images are composed of dots (pixels), otherwise known as continuous [...]