For $25 (no I’m not a paid advertiser, I’m a subscriber, I swear!) I’m getting comprehensive video training on…well just about anything. Lynda.com specializes in technology, providing computer software and programming training from many specialties. I’m currently enrolled in PHP Essentials (the plan being to go full-force designing CMS themes). You can also use Lynda.com to keep up to date on the latest versions of software.

Looking for even more online learning resources?

Try these:

Khan Academy: Full college-level courses in video format

OCW Consoritorium: Lecture notes and assignments for college level study

You get creative blocks.
You “cheat” by looking for great designs to inspire you.

I’m always delighted when I find a new resource to keep my creative juices flowing. In fact I came to shed any imagined guilt over being inspired by others. All good ideas are inspired by previous ideas–even the idea of a dragon was a combination of various animals that nature already thought of. Idea sharing makes the world go ’round.

So I’d like to share my newest addiction.

Pinterest is a rapidly growing community of people who “pin” images of things they like onto “boards”. And then we all subscribe to boards we love and ideas flow in this wonderful whirlwind of visual cyber stimuli. I love searching boards for design–and not just graphic design. I find my best inspiration comes from all sorts of designers and artists. But just to share some of the love, I’ll repin right here some of my favorite graphic design items I’ve found and pinned to my own boards.

If you want to start using pinterest, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll send you an invite. monet@lunarfusion.com

Last May I was whisked away for a family trip to Indonesia to visit my brother, who lives there. I learned to say thanks (“Tarima Kasi!”), learned the various greetings (they actually have a phrase for “good noon” and “good night” is a suitable hello, not just a good bye as it is in America). I ate a lot of amazing food. I drank from coconuts. I took pictures.

The people of Indonesia are interesting and amiable. The main land is predominately muslim. Though I never had the feeling that it was iron-fisted in it’s dogma. I walked around in tank tops with my hair down my back. Perhaps half the women there wear head coverings. But they pair them with high heels, tight jeans, and sparkling swinging jewely on the scarves that make you look at them more than you look at a woman with her hair uncovered. I almost wanted to give them a high-five–”Well played, ladies. Take something that many see as oppressive and make it your own, make it beautiful.”

I spent on a couple nights in the large city of Jakarta before traveling south to Yojakarta, where two large temples have become major tourist attractions. Boroburdur is a 1,200 year old mount of ornately carved stone. It was abandoned for hundreds of years, left hidden under many layers of volcanic ash. Then one day a Brit got curious and had it uncovered. It has the appearance of a low step pyramid. Each level has a convenient walk way to view the ornately carved walls and statues.

The next temple was of similar age, but Hindu. Prambanana features several sandcastle-like spires, each dedicated to a diety. Shiva’s rises largest in the center. Flanking him are Vishnu and Brahma, and facing each of them are their steeds. The towers house tiny rooms with tall statues of their inhabitants. Like Boroburdur, the walls are carved with stories of the gods. The whole complex used to have something like 250 spires of various sizes, which are now rubble being meticulously restored by friendly stoneworkers who seem intrigued and happy to see tourists walking by.

On that note, I might also add my surprise at the celebrity treatment at these locations. A pale-faced American girl is a bit exotic to the visitors there. I was all but ambushed at the temples by people–mostly Indonesians–wanting pictures with me.

My favorite part of the trip was Bali. An island south of the main land dominated by Hindu culture, it shared with us a charming lifestyle of family, spirituality, and art. Traditional families live in complexes that look like little temples. Large trees are wrapped in sarongs to honor the spirit inside them. Women walk around with tiny banana leaf baskets to make blessing offerings to everything from tombs to cars. Everyone has an art. If your father carved wood, you grow up learning to do the same. And they are SO good at it.

We went on a 15-mile bike tour of Bali that took us through rice paddies, homes, temples, and finally to the home of our tour guides (http://banyantreebiketours.com/) who fed us a wonderful Indonesian meal. Have I mentioned that these people can cook? Indonesian food is phenomenal.

Needless to say, I strongly recommend Indonesia to any world traveler. It’s a beautiful, friendly, creative place. Expect to see the grime and busy streets of any highly populated place, but expect to have your breath taken away as well. And be prepared to gain several pounds.

One oddity I picked up at the flea market was a tiny crucifix with a clear bead in the center. The bead was about the size of a pin head and when you held it nearly up against your eye, you could read the entire lord’s prayer inside it. Now I know the name of that little trinket: stanhope.

Stanhopes were generally small pieces of jewelry, tools, instruments or other gadgets that had a tiny lens through which you could view an incredibly tiny photograph (perhaps 1-3 millimeters in width). Wikipedia states that they were invented in 1857 by Rene Dagron. For the next hundred or so years they were fairly popular and varied from the religious to the erotic, but declined when Dagron’s factory closed. Today the prayer crosses like I had as a kid are the most common sort.

Information about Stanhopes:
http://www.stanhopes.info/
Wikipedia

Where to get them:
www.stanhopemicroworks.com/
www.ebay.com
Grand Illusions
www.stanhopejewelry.com

I feel wistful about a time when photographs were thought of as precious objects. They were printed on silver or tin and lined with crushed gemstones and velvet in gold foil frames. I wonder what Rene Dagron was thinking as he created these. Perhaps he imagined one more way to present the photograph as a precious, personal treasure.

The fact is that printing is not so different than it was in letterpress days. Ink coats metal, metal presses onto paper. But due to changing materials and preferences, the 3-d impression that letterpress metal left on paper has been smoothed away.

Fortunately for the nostalgic, most things come around for another good turn. Letterpress has made a comeback as a specialty boutique art form. Thank you, sweet muses for putting the need back in our hearts.

From Boxcar Press

From Gwyneth Paige

From Brandi Powell/

Why do we love letterpress? I think that “in the digital age”, to envoke a cliche, we miss things that are tactile. A printed item that is so real that we can feel the image pressed onto that thick paper speaks to our senses. Not to mention the popularity of retro and antique ornamentation in design. And to think, my design instructors told me to stay away from ornament!

This sort of decor seems to work best when the letters are presented as beautiful objects, as opposed to spelling things out. Spelled out words tend to look cheesy. Letterforms presented for their own sake? Surprising and interesting. It’s no wonder, since English letters mimic the look of buildings and furniture with their stable bases and graceful extensions.

Typography wallpaper from Wall & Deco

Type pillows from Bonjour Mon Cousin

Typography mantel from Real Simple

Type mantel from Little Lovables

Designers are not hired as copywriters. We were never told in school that we’d be coming up with witty headlines and eloquent body copy. But we often get put in the position of writing as well as designing. And you know what? We’re not half bad at it!

Because we look at copy all day while we design, we know the cliches. We know when things sound dull or silly and we develop a knack for finding headlines that correlate with the images and evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. Part of my job is creating spec ads–ads that go into a library for clients to choose from. I’ve been amazed and how many clients leave the dummy copy I’ve written intact and came to realize….well hey, this copy I whipped up ain’t half bad! And even this week we were asked by a client to just come up with a new slogan to slap on her ad (we nailed it).

Designers: study words, love them, learn to write.
Clients: make sure to tell your designer explicitly if you need them to write copy for you. There may be added fees or they may way to consult with you further on the verbal message you are trying to convey.

And now, for some great ads with great copy.

I’ve been working in advertising for several years and it does seem that clients love these things. I like to imagine them all as geeky kids staying up before bedtime with a flashlight and superhero comic, studying the sound effects their heros made.

While my first instinct is to urge them to stay away from these little emblems (or weep and knash my teeth), I see where they are coming from. If you are appealing to people on a budget, which is everyone these days, a starburst might be a way to draw their attention to a special offer. They resemble the little stickers that superstores put on their special sale items and they were probably originally created to mimmic those stickers.

So if you are advertising a budget item or service…what the heck. I’ll indulge your need for starbursts. But for both client and designers, let me make some suggestions.

• Don’t elongate your bursts. It makes them look like warped mistakes.

• Don’t give them too few spikes. It makes them look like an anime character’s hair.

• Don’t give them too many spikes…try the 15-25 spike range.

• Try giving them tasteful borders (simple, in matching colors).

• Include only a few words. If you need to elaborate or add a disclaimer, that can be placed with a * elsewhere on the ad.

• Try dressing them up with minimal effects such as subtle gradients and textures. Don’t overdo this. Make it match the rest of the ad. This will help it look more harmonious instead of how they usually look–like cheap afterthoughts.

Here’s some examples I created today for use in future work.

From Tom Fishburne

From Dilbert

From Business Guys on Business Trips

From XKCD

From So Much Pun

From Loldwell.com

The designer-programmer is a rare and precious breed, and one that needs to become more common. However these two fields are very specialized and take different types of brains. Each field takes ongoing education and expansive knowledge, so we will always have separate professions for design and web development. And that is how it should be–specialization makes better product.

Ideally, I think that each type of professional would educate themselves enough about the other to help us work together. A web programmer needs to know how to use Photoshop and keep elements aligned and harmonious. A web designer needs to know what code can or can’t do, and be able to make minor changes to code without destroying its function.

As a designer who values programming knowledge, I’d like to share some resources.

Tizag
http://www.tizag.com
A great place to learn code, from HTML to PHP. Takes you through the basics step by step in a friendly, conversational tone.

Create a WordPress Theme
http://themeshaper.com/2009/06/22/wordpress-themes-templates-tutorial/#wrapper
This is what I’m currently working on–how to build a wordpress theme from scratch.

P2H
http://www.psd2html.com/
Aka PSD to HTML. A service that takes your design and converts it to HTML. Yes, these services are there and a good resource BUT you should still learn how to code! Otherwise what happens when you need to tweak that site later? You need to know your way around the files that this service provides.

Why Designers Should Learn How to Code
http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/why-designers-should-learn-how-to-code/
Another article on the matter, with good arguments for designers learning to code. Read the comments!