matt.cc

Foursquare has adopted the proposed rel=”logo”...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:20:53 -0500

Foursquare has adopted the proposed rel=”logo” standard. You should too.

Since posting about relogo, a new standard for easy and...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:02:42 -0500

Since posting about relogo, a new standard for easy and automated logo distribution, I’m noticing it’s gotten a little bit of attention. I think the next step is to build a library of example uses, to show it off a bit.

In order to do that, I’m looking for some sites to use as examples. If you are a webmaster, all you have to do it is upload an SVG file of your logo and add this line to your site:

Replace the ‘yourdomain’ url with a link to your logo of course.

If you’ve started using this on your site, please send me a link on twitter, @mattmc, or reblog this post. I’d love to see examples so I can start using them on relogo.org.

link rel="logo"?

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:48:00 -0500

link rel="logo"?:

rel=”logo” or relogo is an idea I’m proposing that uses existing link tags to serve up-to-date/approved logos. The idea is very simple. You paste a small line of code on your site that links to an SVG of your logo. This logo can then be easily pulled from any other site for promotional or editorial use. It also makes verifying correct logo artwork very easy. Since there is no centralized database hosting all the logos, the verification comes from checking the validity of the domain name hosting the SVG.

At the moment, it is surprisingly difficult to gather logos online. Sites like Brands of the World host vector files for many popular brands, but usually they are amateur recreations of existing artwork. Relogo would make it very easy to know that you’re using the correct artwork.

While I’m sure there are some brands that may not want to make their logo publicly available, I think a large percentage would rather host their own artwork than be represented by poorly drawn replacements or even out-of-date versions.

So how do you use it? Just upload your logo and use this line of code (with your own URL of course):

I’ve also set up a simple API on relogo.org that will pull logo artwork from any site that uses the tag. Just go to: http://relogo.org/api/domain.com and replace domain.com with a web address i.e. http://relogo.org/api/relogo.org

I’m interested in getting feedback on this idea, so if you thoughts, please share.

Hasaportfolio Theme Update

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:15:34 -0400

Hasaportfolio Theme Update:

I just posted an update to the hasaportfolio theme. Here’s what’s new:

Added the ability to customize colors for: text, background, thumbnail backgrounds, links, link hovers, and borders
Added lightbox features. Clicking on images in permalink pages now opens a lightbox view of the high res photo.
Photosets are now using native tumblr theme tags so they can support high res images and captions for each photo.
Thumbnails are now showing Captions when you hover over them, as opposed to HTML Safe Photo Alts. This fixes problems with apostrophes and ampersands. Captions have also been added to videos.

Hi Matt, I just installed your hasaportfolio theme for my tumblr page and was wondering if I could remove your "theme created by matt mcinerney" footer. I will be using my tumblr as a professional blog/portfolio and would like to have a professional look to it.
I hope you can give me the approval!

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:10:56 -0400

I appreciate the question, but I really prefer that you keep the credit line on the bottom of the theme. I don’t think it takes away from the professional look of the theme, and I think it’s fair to ask that you keep my link on a theme that I’ve made freely available. The traffic from those links is one of the very few benefits of offering the theme for free.

I know I said I wasn’t going to be updating clipping.us...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:52:00 -0400

I know I said I wasn’t going to be updating clipping.us anytime soon, but I guess I spoke too soon. This morning I added the ability to create permanent links for any piece of text you’ve stored in a clipping.us url. The video above shows you a quick way that you can use this feature to extend the length of a tweet beyond 140 characters by adding a short link to the end of your tweet. Sorry for the distortion in the video by the way, I screen captured in a non-standard format, but I think it’s still easy enough to follow.

The basic idea of a clipping permalink is that you can generate a permanent link for any piece of text in a current clipping URL. This link can’t be edited or deleted, unlike a standard clipping URL. These urls are stored in the subdomain p.clipping.us. Once a permalink is created, a short url is automatically generated so that you can quickly share it twitter. My initial intention was to just give everyone the option of permanently saving a clipping quickly, but after playing with it, I realized it can easily extend the character count of a tweet with just a simple link.

Clipping.us for Copying Reminders to your Phone

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:34:00 -0400

It’s been a little while since I created clipping.us. I don’t update it, because I don’t think it really needs to be updated. It’s a simple web app that I use from time to time and it serves the simple purpose of sharing your clipboard or small bits of text between any device on your network.

Since I haven’t really mentioned it in a while, I thought I’d share one of the ways I find it useful, so that it may get a little more use. This is how I use it for little reminders.

First I pick a unique URL. For the purposes of this, I’m just using clipping.us/reminders, but I actually use something unique to me, since anyone can view or paste anything into any clipping URL at anytime, unless it’s temporarily locked to an IP.

Now that I’m on my clipping page, I hover over the Bookmarklet link on the bottom right. I drag that to my bookmarks bar.

There we go, all set there. Now to set up my iPhone.

I’m going to add the same URL that I’ve created a bookmarklet for as a home screen icon on my iPhone. You can do this by browsing to the URL in Safari and clicking the right facing arrow icon on the bottom bar.

I just tap Add to Home Screen.

Then I name it and click Add. The clipboard icon appears automatically.

There we go, now I’ve got my iPhone all set up.

Let’s say it’s later on in the day and I’m looking for a recipe for dinner. I find the recipe I’m looking for, but I need to go buy the ingredients.

I just highlight the recipe on the page I’m viewing and click the Bookmarklet button in my bookmarks bar.

The boomarklet will automatically copy the highlighted text to my clipping page. I’m ready to head out.

Now in the grocery store, I just pull out my iPhone, tap on my clipping icon.

There’s everything I need, formatted nicely for my iPhone. And no need to write anything down, print anything out, or send an email to myself.

Clipping.us is a simple web app that doesn’t require a username or password. Just pick a URL and use it to share any text you’d like. Clipping is completely open for anyone to view though, so be sure not to share sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.

If you find this useful or use clipping.us for anything else interesting let me know. Send me a message with the Ask button in the top right.

One Year Out

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:02:00 -0400

A great post by Kyle Read about your first year as a designer out of college:

In continuation from the last post -and I don’t mean to get all sentimental here- but it has dawned on me that I really have had an interesting year, both personally and as a designer fresh out of school. (last time I reference my feelings on this blog, I promise.) After collecting some of the things I’ve learned as a design student of the world, I’ve compiled a list of some advice I’d give to graduates leaving SCAD, and really any one leaving any school, pertaining to my first year out. I in no way profess to know everything, but these are the things I believe to be truisms and good advice about my first year.

1. Yup, your professors were right. They weren’t crazy, or idealistic, or obsessed with theory only. Design is a profession learned slowly, and through failure. They knew what they said, and I hope you listened. They were right, for the most part, and by that I mean by no fault of their own, they only missed one small thing: you are your own person, and no matter how much you studied, you are now a designer of the early to mid twenty-first century, and theory and studies can only get you so far. Your professors could only be right up unto 2011. It’s up to you to write history now.

2. Plain and Simple. Don’t stop Hustlin. Whether you’re job searching, freelancing, or working to build your life. Hustle. Hustle harder than you’re ever hustled before. No more grades, just personal satisfaction. From now on, no matter how good you were, school was EASY. It’s now gonna be doubly hard to get anywhere. The only thing to do now is hustle, baby.

3. You will. This is a fact. Push through. PUSH THROUGH. I’ve seen it in everyone, me included. It may happen the day after graduation, or on day 364, and it may be for a minute, or a month, but you will, and it’s ok. Stay happy.

4. Ok, this is very similar to number 2…. however, this pertains especially to your professional life. If you don’t have a job yet, see number 2, if you do, your job is not done, it’s literally just beginning. There will be hardships along the way. School preps you great for talking to other people about your profession, and knowing your theory and honing your skills, but it does NOT teach you how to deal with a professional environment. It’s one of those things that can only be learned through experience, and every one is different. Small firm, Big company, freelance, no matter, everyone will have bosses, clients, and coworkers. These relationships can be rocky at first, but keep at it, and get creative on how to survive.

5. I think this is mostly for SCAD students, but DAMN those things were awesome. But no more… So use your free time wisely! It’s up to you!

6. This may be the most important one up here. Your friends are your new lifeline. Your new support group. Your new family. Your new social life, business partners, possible enemies, and possible opportunities. Keep the friends you made, and now make more. If you think you’re being annoying by trying to keep in touch, you’re not. Your friends are your life. They’re your most valuable asset now. (side note, writing a letter is an instant day-maker. I suggest writing letters to ALL of your facebook friends. Do it.)

7. So, in addition to friends… use ALL of the resources available to you. You’ve heard it a million times. It’s true. Milk this world for all it’s willing to give you! There really are so many new recources out there. There are no more campus computer labs, student discounts, instant and easily accessible groups of people and clubs, awesome school libraries or professors for free. BUT, there are still the public libraries, the internet, groupon, old people (my favorite), and countless others. USE THEM.

8. Bawwwww. Yup, it’s true. F#@% money, you’re a graduate of an institution that revered the pursuit of artistic and personal perfection, no reason that should change just because they gave you a piece of paper and a handshake. There’s always more money out there, but do what makes you happy, do what you love. Even if it’s not your day job, find a way to be happy with your free time. It doesn’t stop now, it only begins. (I believe my favorite acronym for SCAD -Sleep Comes After Death- is now even more applicable.) You can do it, this life is yours. Go get it. And if you want a friend to get it with, call me. really. @kyleread.

There’s much more I could say, but I feel I’ve already been long winded. See you out there grads.

Celebrating 100 Years at the New York Public Library I worked on...

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:53:07 -0400

Celebrating 100 Years at the New York Public Library

I worked on this exhibition for about a year. It’s now up at the New York Public Library until December 31st. Find more information at the Pentagram blog.

Your hasaportfolio theme is amazing. Love it! I was just wondering if it would be possible to have more post type options. Like the text post option? Would that work?

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:31:08 -0400

I’ve gotten this question quite a bit. I’ve specifically designed hasaportfolio to work with just photos and videos to keep the appearance of a clean visual portfolio. You’re welcome to modify the theme to include text posts, but I have no plans of adding this functionality into the theme.

what are some of your themes i really like the robo turner.

Fri, 20 May 2011 22:19:59 -0400

The most recent tumblr theme I’ve designed is a portfolio theme called hasaportfolio. You can find it at http://hasaportfolio.com. I plan to work on more soon as well. Follow my blog to find out when they’re available.

Can you do me a favor? :))) Please Can you make me a Tumblr Layouts? :)))

Fri, 20 May 2011 22:17:59 -0400

I do design custom tumblr themes when I have time for new freelance projects. If you’re interested, you can get in touch with me for a price quote.

hasaportfolio: I’ve just finished the latest version of the...

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:08:00 -0400

hasaportfolio:

I’ve just finished the latest version of the hasaportfolio theme. You can go download the text file and install it or take a look at the example portfolio to see what’s changed.

This version is a bit different than the last. It now supports any number of projects, all on one page thanks to infinite scrolling. You can also use the new tumblr Pages feature.

The post types are still the same: photo, video, and photosets. You can also still upload your own image.

Finally, I’ve created a new request form to make requesting a subdomain a bit easier.

Now that you’ve got a chance to check out the new theme and hasaportfolio website, what do you think?

The Trustworthiness of Beards infographic made imgur’s...

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:26:41 -0500

The Trustworthiness of Beards infographic made imgur’s Best Images of 2010 list with over 1,250,000 views.

It’s been a few weeks the launch of the new Big Ten...

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:21:00 -0500

It’s been a few weeks the launch of the new Big Ten identity. I wanted to let the initial reactions settle before posting, but I really wanted to post something. It’s the biggest identity project I’ve gotten a chance to work on at Pentagram, and it’s something that I’m very proud to be a part of. It’s gotten more attention than I would have imagined (including some hate mail from passionate fans…) Brand New summed up the rebrand and reaction pretty well. Fast Company have also written a very in depth article about the new logo.

Despite initial negative reactions, I do think time will be kind to this logo. I’m very happy that the final look avoids sport logo cliches in favor of a clever idea, executed with strong simple geometric type.

How do get the background to change random colors at http://roboturner.tumblr.com? I really want that on my page.

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 10:51:00 -0500

It’s just a little javascript:

Enter a few hex codes into the bgcolorlist Array and the script with randomly cycle through them every time your page loads

Your profile theme is available?

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:27:00 -0400

I’ve answered this question before on my blog: My theme is not available. If you’d like to use a theme I’ve designed, I’ve made a couple freely available. I’d prefer if you’d use those rather than use the code and images from my own blog.

hi matt, I some how stumbled among your tumblr and thought it was brilliant, and so is your personal work. I graduated 2 yrs ago with an hons degree in interactive media design, so do everything along the same lines as yourself. anyway I just wanted to say that your work is pretty inspriational and its brilliant,hope your well,
random follower ha

Patrick

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:21:12 -0400

Not much to answer so I’ll just say thanks. It’s always nice to get a message like this one.

I haven’t had a ton of time to post much recently, but I...

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:37:00 -0400

I haven’t had a ton of time to post much recently, but I did want to take a moment to post a custom wordmark and website I designed for photographer Alison Weick. The wordmark features a custom slab-serif, and accompanying sans for the stacked version, both based on my typeface Raleway.

Will you provide some details on how you made clipping.us? I'm very curious.

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:33:00 -0400

I built clipping.us using a very simple LAMP setup. Every time you visit a clipping url (i.e. clipping.us/test) a new row is created in a MySQL table. Anytime you hit save, the text you entered is saved into that same row. Anyone has the ability to modify or delete any row in that table unless someone has temporarily locked that url. Locking a url binds that url to the users IP address (meaning no one can modify or delete it) for the period of time they’ve selected. Once the lock time expires, anyone can again modify or delete that row/url.

There’s a little bit of javascript for pieces of the interface or the ‘select all’ button, but for the most part, it’s a super lightweight php app.