Doing foolish things with enthusiasm

Questionable? Ballsy? You decide...

Looking through portfolio sites for inspiration and useful code (the latter of which I found very little - how do some of these sites function with the SLOPPY code they use, anyway
???), I found one site that raised my eyebrows. OK, on the minus side, the whole site is set up as a table, but at least he included a doctype.

BUT - on his résumé, he included the following:

Awards and Honors
Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year
2006

I mean, really. Yes, you/me/we all were "named" Time Magazine's "Person of the Year," but to put it on a résumé? IMHO, there seems to be a fine - but definite - line between clever and smartass.

I think I'll keep such international recognition to myself - just knowing I've attained such honors is satisfactory ;-)

I'll also acknowledge that my code geekiness increases the further I'm up past my bedtime. Which means April will be scary.

Call for entries - 365: AIGA Design Competition

Be a part of history. 365: AIGA Design Competition deadline: March 2, 2007
Round up your finest design—AIGA’s annual competitions close March 2.

For nearly a century, AIGA’s competitions have been among the most prestigious in the design world. This year, once again, entry forms and payment can be submitted online, streamlining the process and saving you time and paperwork. All selected entries will be placed in the AIGA Design Archives, a growing collection of exemplary design work, and in the permanent archives of American Design History in the Denver Art Museum.

Why enter the AIGA design competitions? They are discriminating and authoritative, so if your work is selected, it becomes history. By means of the competitions, AIGA creates a definitive chronicle of outstanding design solutions, each demonstrating the process of designing, the role of the designer and the value of design.

All 179 selections from this year’s competitions can be seen online at designarchives.aiga.org. Members will receive 365: AIGA Year in Design 27—with this year’s call for entries—by U.S. Mail during the month of February. And until February 23 you can view this year’s selections on display at the AIGA National Design Center gallery in New York City.

Details for “365” and “50 Books/50 Covers”—both close March 2—can be found at competitions.aiga.org after January 5. Don’t miss your chance to show off your best work and become a part of design history.

Aquent, the Official AIGA Sponsor for Career Development, is the Presenting Sponsor of the Information Design category of “365.”

Design initiative for upcoming elections

Another great reason to make sure you go vote on Tuesday: AIGA's Design for Democracy initiative is sponsoring The Polling Place Photo Project,

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that seeks to empower citizens to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action. By documenting their local voting experience on November 7, voters can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

For more information, go to:

http://www.pollingplacephotoproject.org/

If you feel that you don't have enough information about the candidates to vote for any of them, you can go to:

http://www.lwvga.org/resources/guides.html

The League of Women Voters offers comprehensive, nonpartisan information about election issues and candidates.

My A2A Logo (finally!)

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The colors (as you can see) are not finalized, but I think I'm going to go with some sort of blue color scheme. I'd appreciate any comments.

And some of the also-rans:

Signage references

I recently found Corporate ID manuals for the London Underground. They're very detailed, with extensive information about signage (and how they organized them) - I found them inspiring, and I think they might help answer some of the questions posed in Monday's class. Here are the links to the PDFs:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/downloads/pdf/LULColourStandardsLinked.pdf
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/downloads/pdf/LULCorpPublicationsLinked.pdf

And, something fun (and unrelated to the Corp ID project):

http://www.bravia-advert.com/paint/thead/

Cheers!

For the Beltline folks...

Saw this today on www.aiga-atl.org on the Community Blog, in case any of you might be interested (or Stan, if you want to look into this). Ken Haldin is with the Beltline Partnership; the deadline for application (not artwork, just the application) is this Friday.

Atlanta BeltLine

posted by Ken Haldin
at 9/18/2006 9:09:11 AM

The BeltLine Partnership, a non-profit 501(c)(3), is seeking to develop and sustain an enduring identity for the Atlanta BeltLine.
In connection with creating a robust identity and communications program for the BeltLine, we are currently striving to identify Atlanta-based graphics firms that are capable of participating in the development of key identity elements for a civic project of this scope and magnitude.

A PDF of the application guidelines is available through Ken's post, or here. It might be interesting to see how some of our Beltline projects stand up to the "pros."

Speaking of style guides...

Found this link through Design Observer and www.lifeclever.com:

http://www.lifeclever.com/2006/08/31/
a-styleguide-for-people-who-dont-like-styleguides/

Additional links from there to a more corporate style guide (GE) for comparison.

Trains, trains, and well, trains

Here are some useful websites for other U.S. commuter trains:

APTA - American Public Transportation Association: www.apta.com/links/transit_by_mode/commrail.cfm