beyondwords | a blog for professional writers, editors, and designers

Logorama wins Oscar

Angela Shetler — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:15:46 +0000

The landscape is dotted with Malibu trees and MSN butterflies, and your AOL friends walk down the sidewalks while Michelin Man cops cruise the streets. This is the world of Logorama, the 17-minute film that took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short on Sunday.

Directed by French designers and filmmakers H5, Logorama features approximately 2,500 logos. When Adrian Shaughnessy of Design Observer reviewed the film in January, the heavily branded world depicted in the short caused mixed emotions:

I was struck by how many of the logos on show are rather wonderful — fine examples of the art and craft of graphic design. But this only served to reminded me of the essential conundrum at the heart of being a graphic designer; namely that the job is to create seduction and allure for our clients regardless whether it is a true reflection of reality or not.

Check out the world of Logorama for yourself to see how many of the logos you recognize thanks to our branded reality. It’s currently available for sale on iTunes, and you can also watch a preview on YouTube or Vimeo.

140+ Tweet Feed: Feb. 27-Mar. 5

Angela Shetler — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:02:48 +0000

Job Opportunities & Resources

Hilton Worldwide is hiring a social media manager. This position is responsible for driving the company’s social media communications strategy, including TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Twitter.
Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan has two openings of interest to writers: donation writer and proposal writer.
The Imperial War Museum in London is looking for a Technical Webmaster. The job involves being both a technical manager and a web developer with the experience and knowledge to implement web strategies.
The Book Cover Archive could use an intern to help with web content and submission queries. The blog editors are based in Boston, but you don’t need to be local to apply.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an opening for Associate Web Developer in its Digital Media Department. The position is responsible for all front-end programming and collaborative template design and implementation.
The Motley Fool is hiring an online copy editor to join the creative company. The job involves editing, proofreading, content management, and copywriting.
Leveraging the Information Interview: In this guest blog for msuCatalyst, Professional Writing student Ainsley Elder shares how information interviews can be valuable to people who are unsure of what they want to do or want to get a sense of job realities.

Recommended Reading

What they don’t teach you about identity design in design school: Pentagram Design’s Paula Scher looks at how identity design is taught in school or written about on blogs, and how that differs from real-world logo and branding design.
The “Pros” and Cons of Spec Work: Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design has put together a comprehensive look at what spec work means for both designers and clients.

Publishing

Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book: The New York Times breaks down print vs. digital publishing by the numbers to find out just how much each medium costs.
Condé Nast and the iPad: Publisher Condé Nast is busy getting its biggest magazine titles ready for the iPad release, but some titles lose out on interactivity because of the Apple and Adobe dispute over Flash.
How Penguin Will Reinvent Books With iPad: In iBook demos, Penguin shows how publishers might approach Apple’s tablet with loads of interactive content like videos, live chats, and street maps.

Inspiration

45 Creative Resumes to Seize Attention: If you’ve been looking for a way to break out of the standard resume mold, check out this gallery for design inspiration.
Branding Across Mediums: How do you successfully brand a company from website to wine labels? Fuel Your Creativity showcases brand identities that do just that.

What is 140+ Tweet Feed? It’s where we share our top tweets every week — news, tips, resources, and articles about professional writing, editing, and design — in more than 140 characters. Let us know about other great links on Twitter or in the comments.

Design for Women’s History Month

Angela Shetler — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:03:32 +0000

March is Women’s History Month in the US, and the Design a Poster About Women’s Issues contest from GOOD and The Daily Beast is a great way for designers to get involved.

The goal of the contest is to bring awareness to three critical issues facing women across the globe — human trafficking, childhood marriage, and childhood obesity — through public-awareness campaign posters that use design, photography, illustration, collage, or typography.

All entries must be emailed by midnight (PST) Friday, March 12. Winners will be announced on Monday, March 15 and featured on Good.is and The Daily Beast. For more information, visit GOOD’s contest website.

Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism

Angela Shetler — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:54:15 +0000

AIGA has announced its call for entries for the 5th Annual Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism. A program of AIGA, the Winterhouse Writing Awards provide an opportunity for both professional and student designers. The Awards were founded to recognize excellence in writing about design and to encourage the development of young voices in design writing, commentary, and criticism.

There will be two awards granted, the writing award and the education award. The writing award is open to writers, critics, scholars, historians, journalists and designers and is given for a body of work (three separate works of writing). The education award is open to high school, undergraduate or graduate students and is for a single work of writing about design.

Writing entries can be about any design discipline or form, including architectural, environmental, fashion, graphic, industrial, information, interactive, product, and strategic.

You must be a US citizen and under the age of 40 to submit entries. The submission deadline is June 1. For more information, check out the criteria, submission guidelines, and FAQs.

National Grammar Day

Angela Shetler — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:28:25 +0000

Grammarian, grammar nazi, grammar police—as a professional writer, it’s a safe bet that you either call yourself one of these or know someone who does. I used to joke with a friend that if I ever owned a personalized license plate in Michigan, it would say “GRMR5O”.

Whether you find pleasure in spotting misprints in copy or discussing favorite punctuation marks, you’re in luck—March 4 is National Grammar Day.

Founded in 2008 by the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, this year’s Grammar Day is hosted by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl. The Grammar Day site has a variety of fun ways to mark the occasion, including a free e-card and “March Forth: The Grammar Song”.

You can also:

Check out The Oatmeal for comics on how to use a semicolon and how to use an apostrophe.
Browse sites like CafePress and Etsy for grammar gifts.
Find out which punctuation mark you are with a quick quiz from OK Cupid.
Join fellow grammar elitists on Facebook, in groups such as I judge you when you use poor grammar. and Good Grammar Is Hot.

As for me, the grammar 5-O? I will relive my childhood with grammar lessons from Schoolhouse Rock. How will you celebrate Grammar Day?

140+ Tweet Feed: Feb. 20-26

Angela Shetler — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:17:35 +0000

Job Opportunities & Resources

Interested in joining the NPR Digital Media team? They are currently looking for a Programmer to help create and maintain custom applications in Washington, D.C.
The College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University is hiring a Social Media Project Manager. Applicants should be familiar with academic research and current trends relating to social media. (Note: Application deadline has been extended.)
Oakley is looking for a User Interface Designer to join its headquarters in Orange County, CA. Interested candidates should send links to their work.
MyFonts has several openings in Marlborough, MA, including web designer, web developer, and web content editor. Candidates should submit a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements.
LiquidWeb is hiring Senior Software Developers to work in their Lansing, MI or Scottsdale, AZ offices. Candidates should be able to write clean and modular code, communicate effectively with team members, and produce software that delivers end results. There is also an entry-to-intermediate level opening for a Software Developer in the Lansing office.
7 Tips For Creating a Print-Based Design Portfolio: Building a portfolio is about showcasing your work and expressing your personality and design style. These tips and samples from Nubbytwiglet.com help you get inspired to put together your own print portfolio.
How to use Twitter to build a stronger resume: Designer Brian Hoff shares his experience with turning feedback tweets into client testimonials.

Recommended Reading

The Value of Design: This special report from Bloomberg and BusinessWeek examines how and why design matters for every business.

Social Media

Google Analytics for Facebook Fan Pages: London-based web development company WebDigi walks through the necessary steps to make Google Analytics work for your Facebook fan page, including tracking wall visits.
Tufts Now Accepts YouTube Videos as Part of College Application: Tufts University has begun accepting YouTube videos as an application supplement, giving tech-savvy teens the chance to “share their voice” with admission officers.
Reasons Not to Use Social Media: MSU student and PR Start blogger Nick Lucido gives five reasons students should not be using social media “just because”.

Tools & Resources

The Comprehensive Guide to Saving Images for the Web: Six Revisions goes over the basics and best practices for using Photoshop to save images that are optimized for web use.
Training the Butterflies: Scott Berkun, author and professional speaker, shares his tips for public speaking in this interview with A List Apart.

Student perspective: Design jobs

Angela Shetler — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:08:53 +0000

If you are a student or just starting out in your career, then you definitely need to check out the Design Jobs series from Andrea Zagata.

You might remember Andrea as the designer behind the creative leave-behind we featured last fall. Andrea is also a journalism senior at Michigan State University, and she recently shared her perspective on searching for a design job in a four-part series.

First up—putting together a design application packet from cover letter to clips. Need help choosing your best work? Andrea shares how to cut your clips in part two.

Once you’ve sent your application packet to potential employers, it’s time to get ready for interviews. Andrea offers insight from her experiences as both the interviewer and the interviewee.

The series wraps up with a guest blog from MSU alum and freelance graphic designer Daniel Thai on networking, showing how connections made face-to-face and online can lead to freelance work and valuable contacts.

The Design Jobs series offers a lot of valuable advice, even for non-designers, so be sure to check it out along with the rest of Andrea’s I Shot the Serif blog.

Vote for your favorite “Let’s Save Michigan” poster

Angela Shetler — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:18:22 +0000

Voting is now open to the public for the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and Let’s Save Michigan poster contest. The 60 finalists were selected by the DIA and Let’s Save Michigan for best representing the spirit of the contest.

You can vote for multiple posters, but only one vote per poster per day. Voting closes at 11:59pm (EST) on March 15, so vote for your favorites today.

Winners will be announced in March, with a grand prize of $1,000 and a runner-up prize of $250. All finalists’ designs will be on display at a special reception in the spring.

Guest blog: Little Black Dash

Angela Shetler — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:37:38 +0000

beyondwords would like to welcome today’s guest blog author, Rebecca Butcher. Rebecca is a recent graduate of Michigan State University and a new resident of New York. She is the editor of everything from your paragraphs to a generation’s array of emotions and enjoys every second of it. Drawing parallels without drawing conclusions is her second favorite activity. You can contact her, tweet her, and even facebook her with your thoughts in general — communication is what she’s all about.

I’ve used and abused em dashes since high school. Every theme paper I wrote was peppered with dashes, and I began to view the illustrious em dash as pepper-punctuation to spice up my otherwise formulaic essay. I had a teacher ask why I chose to use em dashes instead of the more frequently abused comma, but my only reason was that I liked them—they seemed to fit in with my sentences well. Punctuation personality quizzes tell me I’m an em dash. I have, in my course as a writer, editor, tweeter, and Facebook-er, decided that the em dash is the punctuation world’s equivalent of the little black dress.

To clarify before I continue, there are three dashes in all English usage: the en dash (–), the em dash (—), and the 3-em dash (———). Try to think of them as hemlines.

The en dash appears frequently, but has a specific purpose, like, say, a miniskirt. It’s shorter than our little black dash—the length of the letter n. The job of an en dash is to show a range, be it of numbers, amounts, dates, scores—safely anything else that may otherwise require the word to between values. It is a preemptable piece of punctuation, so if a range is proceeded by a preposition like between or from, use the words to, from, or through in place of the dash. It is also a stand-in for the hyphen to avoid ambiguity when connecting hyphenated terms and open compounds. In other words, let the user beware of the en dash; it is difficult to pull off.

The 3-em dash is long and unusual like an evening gown, and you use it only on very formal occasions; that is, in certain types of bibliographic systems when you reference the same author but a different work. Sometimes, too, you use a 3-em dash in place of omitted words, like the black bars over bodies when the person has omitted clothing.

An em dash is a beautiful, functional piece of punctuation, perfectly balanced for all of your writing needs—like the LBD. It can arrest attention in the middle of a word party, exemplify good taste in relating a list, and is appropriate for even the most solemn of written occasions, even showing one overcome—with—emotion—. Its length is just right. The eye slides across the dash and focuses immediately on the words after it. You can see the space it creates, its slim line coming at you from a paragraph away.

The em dash is the most versatile—and not surprisingly, the most common—of all the dashes. Its foremost use is to set off digressions or descriptions within text a little more than normal. With these functions, a pair of em dashes make an interesting alternative to commas, colons, semicolons, and parentheses when used correctly. But be careful—too many will make your text feel breathless, much like how you’d feel wearing a little black dress in a wrestling match.

It’s true that some textual stylists conclude that the em dash is overused and should be avoided unless there are no other options for punctuation. However, it is more likely that they are tired of seeing such a staple misused and mistaken. Either way, the little black dash is one of those things you should always have hanging on your keyboard, a little piece that can do you and your writing so much good.

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140+ Tweet Feed: Feb. 13-19

Angela Shetler — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:06:20 +0000

Job Opportunities & Resources

Radio Flyer is looking for a social media coordinator in Chicago. Applicants should have knowledge and passion for working with social media and strong written and verbal communications skills.
McKinney|Chicago has an opening for a full-time web designer. The ideal candidate will have at least two years of experience, be able to hand code clean HTML and CSS, and have an online portfolio.
Want to join the Threadless team? The Chicago-based company is looking for a User Experience Director, an Interactive Designer, and a Marketing Director.
Design Jobs Part 3: Interviews: In part three of her design jobs series, Andrea Zagata talks about interviewing and offers valuable insight from her experiences as both the interviewer and the interviewee.

Recommended Reading

Web designers who can’t code: Designer and illustrator Elliot Jay Stocks sparked an industry-wide discussion last week when he said on Twitter that web designers should know how to code their own designs. Check out his full reasoning behind the tweet, as well as what other designers are saying.
Group Interview: Expert Advice For Students and Young Web Designers: Smashing Magazine sat down with industry leaders to find out what words of wisdom they have to share with students and those just starting out. They gave advice on what to study, how to show value to employers, and whether to work for an agency or go freelance, just to name a few.

Social Media

A new Buzz start-up experience based on feedback: The launch of Google Buzz set off a frenzy of concerns about privacy. Google listened and made changes that allow more control over sharing options.
Facebook directs more online users than Google: A new web analytic report revealed that Facebook has passed Google in online traffic, causing some to say social media could become the next search engine.

Publishing

Turf War at the New York Times: The print circulation and digital teams at the New York Times are at odds over who will have internal control of the price of digital content for the iPad.
Young More Likely to Pay for Web Content: A recent Nielsen study revealed that young people (20 and under) are more likely to pay for web content. The study also showed that people are most willing to pay for movies, music, and games, and less willing to pay for magazines.

Inspiration

A new global visual language for BBC’s digital services: BBC reveals the process behind the new look for its global digital services, including its use of grids, typography, and color palettes.
Processed Identity: Looking for some branding inspiration? Check out Processed Identity, a site that explores the creative processes used to develop visual brands.