Amazon Launches New Kindle
07/April/10 09:43 AM Filed in: eBooks
On April 3, Amazon released a new version of their ebook reader in the US with plans to roll it out worldwide towards the end of April. It’s available in all Apple stores and is of course named the iPad.
The iPad Kindle app makes the iPad Amazon’s best ebook reader to date. Apple’s iBook store has about 60,000 titles at present in the US verses Amazon’s 400,000. So Apple allowing Amazon to jump on board with it’s book store and ebook reader is an interesting move. Steve Jobs would never allow Microsoft to move their Zune music store to the iPad platform so why allow a competitor Amazon?
The bottomline for Apple at the moment is to sell hardware and having an extra 400,000 ebooks available on the hardware platform is good business. I’m sure Amazon thinks that the Kindle app for the iPad is a trojan horse to bring customers over to future Kindle devices and I’m sure Apple knows this too.
But, I bet that once Apple has about the same amount of titles on their bookstore as Amazon, Steve will drop the Kindle app like a sack of potatos.
Early Days of Art Direction on Apple's iPad
06/April/10 09:46 PM Filed in: Art Direction
One of my favourite people in the world, Stephen Fry, sees the first version of Apple’s iPad as a ‘John the Baptist’ in the way it will pave the way for a new niche in computing. A whole new platform if you will, that is finger operated and does away with the cumbersome keyboard and mouse model.
Software will have to be rewritten from the ground up to make the platform jell. This is doubly true for redesigning traditional print based content as content is king on the iPad.
The following is a video by art director and lucky bugger, Brad Colbow as he looks at three new apps for the iPad from magazines publishers Time, GQ and Popular Science...
A lot of the early reviews make a point of saying that the iPad is not for creating content but is for consuming it. There goes my Xmas money...
Software will have to be rewritten from the ground up to make the platform jell. This is doubly true for redesigning traditional print based content as content is king on the iPad.
The following is a video by art director and lucky bugger, Brad Colbow as he looks at three new apps for the iPad from magazines publishers Time, GQ and Popular Science...
A lot of the early reviews make a point of saying that the iPad is not for creating content but is for consuming it. There goes my Xmas money...
Technology Catches Up To Print
05/April/10 05:17 PM Filed in: eBooks
I spent part of the Easter long weekend refreshing my notes for a class I teach on book design. I wanted to include information on Apple’s new iPad and to make sense of how it might change traditional book publishing. My initial thoughts were that it might change newspapers, magazine and textbooks but there would always be a market for printed books like the fantastic range of children’s books I fill my daughter’s library with.
That is until I saw the following video from a presentation by Penguin in the UK...
If my two year old can navigate an iPhone’s pre-school apps with just a finger, imagine how much she would enjoy the larger screen and richer content displayed on the iPad.
It’s going to be a very interesting couple of years for mainstream book publishing.
That is until I saw the following video from a presentation by Penguin in the UK...
If my two year old can navigate an iPhone’s pre-school apps with just a finger, imagine how much she would enjoy the larger screen and richer content displayed on the iPad.
It’s going to be a very interesting couple of years for mainstream book publishing.
A is for Antelope
09/July/09 09:29 AM Filed in: Book Design
Can you tell I’ve just become a father? There’s a pattern emerging.
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich’s Bembo’s Zoo: An Animal ABC Book, is a clever and beautiful children’s book that is illustrated using only letterforms and punctuation from the Bembo family of typefaces.
Check out the online edition here or feel free to buy it here from Amazon.
Handwritten Typographers
06/July/09 09:07 AM Filed in: Typography
Cameron Adams asks:
And answers with handwriting examples from leading type designers. This post is for the hardcore lover of typography so sorry in advance...Do typographers exert some extraordinary control of the pen that laypersons don’t? Does a typographer’s handwriting influence the typefaces they produce?
Me Mobile Pretty One Day
02/July/09 09:46 AM Filed in: Branding
With title apologies to David Sedaris.
While iPhone owners were busy banging their overpriced first-generation handsets on their foreheads, Apple followers have been fiercely belittling the logo for the new syncing feature, MobileMe. BuzzFeed gathers the links to the best, seemingly endless cheap shots.
On first seeing Apple’s new branding for MobileMe, I was struck by how over engineered it appeared. Do they really need so many elements in the design? Other Macheads are up-in-arms at how similar it looks to the WindowME signature Microsoft rolled out some years ago. Whatever their grievances, I think it’s a bit on the nose and at odds with Apple’s simple and elegant DNA.
'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
01/July/09 08:07 AM Filed in: Typography
While visiting web designer Mark Boulton’s blog over the weekend, I found a link to this video by Job & Roel Wouters.
It’s a wonderfully simple piece. Watching Job draw the letterforms is mesmeric enough, but when his son (?) joins in, I found myself laughing as he tries to imitate his fathers work. This leads to some funny-looking characters (c and d are particular favourites of mine).
I’m particularly jealous of the beautiful free-hand script of Job. It really is a joy to watch.
A video by Job & Roel Wouters recorded in Amsterdam at studio Xelor early 2008
Hand 1: Gradus W. Wouters, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2003 Hand 2: Job Wouters, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1980 Director: Roel Wouters Director of photography: Sal Kroonenberg Music: Rik Elstgeest & Bo Koek Production asst: Ton de Munck
On a bizarre side note, I also see Mark fathered a baby girl named ‘Alys’ on the exact same day my daughter was born. What are the chances of that happening?
It’s a wonderfully simple piece. Watching Job draw the letterforms is mesmeric enough, but when his son (?) joins in, I found myself laughing as he tries to imitate his fathers work. This leads to some funny-looking characters (c and d are particular favourites of mine).
I’m particularly jealous of the beautiful free-hand script of Job. It really is a joy to watch.
A video by Job & Roel Wouters recorded in Amsterdam at studio Xelor early 2008
Hand 1: Gradus W. Wouters, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2003 Hand 2: Job Wouters, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1980 Director: Roel Wouters Director of photography: Sal Kroonenberg Music: Rik Elstgeest & Bo Koek Production asst: Ton de Munck
On a bizarre side note, I also see Mark fathered a baby girl named ‘Alys’ on the exact same day my daughter was born. What are the chances of that happening?
Person or Apple?
11/September/08 09:22 AM Filed in: Branding
Here is the new logo for Woolies from the good folk over at Hulsbosch and aren't they as pleased as punch to have re-branded two iconic Australian companies (Woolworths and Qantas) in the same calendar year. Nice work guys!
But lets be honest, what a sweet account to work on. You could get a two year old with crayons to do a better job than the old 1980’s Safeway hand-me-down. Sorry, I'm just green (and red) with envy.
This is what Hulsbosch had to say about the shape of the new icon:
- "W" for Woolworths
- The icon represents "people," the upper body of a person with outstretched arms – food is energy is life
- The round shapes signify friendliness, humanity, approachability and openness
This is from the Woolworths’ press release:
The new identity introduces a new icon incorporating a stylised 'W' with the addition of an abstract leaf symbol representing fresh food. It is also reminiscent of one of the most famous of all Woolworths logos used in the 1970s and it represents a person — as in "The Fresh Food People" and the Woolworths focus on its customers.
And finally, here is a little video for those who can’t be bothered reading but enjoy brightly coloured lights, on the history of the Woolworths’ brand.
So fair play to them on this clever little logo. I see an apple and if I squint I also can see a person’s arms raised in joy at being a member of ‘the fresh food people’. OK, I ad-libbed.
But as a whole I don’t know whether it works. The logo looks at odds with the brand name and tagline. It looks like they’re speaking two different design languages and were stuck together at the last minute. Also, is it me or does the ‘W’ curl (apple peel) looks weird – as if it’s drawn wrong?
Anyway, to finish off, here are some applications from Hulsbosch on how the new identity will look in real life.
Bill & Jerry's Excellent Adventure
12/August/08 03:47 PM Filed in: Media
I’ve made a big investment in Apple products over the years. I adore them. Even my two year old daughter knows when she sees the logo to say ‘Daddy’s puter’. Loving the Mac OS doesn’t mean I hate the Windows OS.
Which brings me to Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign staring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. I admire Bill Gates. He’s probably the only person to get the better of Steve Jobs by getting him to hand Microsoft the keys to the Mac OS code, which they then copied and... well... the rest is history. He’s a generous man too with a social conscience. But what I like most about Gates and what this campaign demonstrates is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Try saying that about Steve Jobs!
Just as Jobs is the face of Apple, McCann Erickson are right in using Gates as the face of Microsoft in these mockumentary TV spots. I’ve become strangely addicted to them. Gates can’t act but neither can Seinfeld so he’s a good ‘straight guy’ to Jerry’s nonsense. I don’t see the first two instalments selling more copies of Vista but I’m sure they’re setting us up for the hard sell down the track. Take a look...
UPDATE: A very nervous Microsoft has fired the ad agency and pulled the pin on the Bill & Jerry Show. The two instalments now stand alone as the first half of a joke that never made it to the punch-line. I’ll miss them.
Which brings me to Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign staring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. I admire Bill Gates. He’s probably the only person to get the better of Steve Jobs by getting him to hand Microsoft the keys to the Mac OS code, which they then copied and... well... the rest is history. He’s a generous man too with a social conscience. But what I like most about Gates and what this campaign demonstrates is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Try saying that about Steve Jobs!
Just as Jobs is the face of Apple, McCann Erickson are right in using Gates as the face of Microsoft in these mockumentary TV spots. I’ve become strangely addicted to them. Gates can’t act but neither can Seinfeld so he’s a good ‘straight guy’ to Jerry’s nonsense. I don’t see the first two instalments selling more copies of Vista but I’m sure they’re setting us up for the hard sell down the track. Take a look...
UPDATE: A very nervous Microsoft has fired the ad agency and pulled the pin on the Bill & Jerry Show. The two instalments now stand alone as the first half of a joke that never made it to the punch-line. I’ll miss them.
Acrobat Version 9
04/July/08 08:53 AM Filed in: Software
Mark Pilgrim on the latest version of Adobe Reader.
Adobe today reminds me a bit of Apple in the mid ’90s when I bought my first Mac. Tremendous engineering and design talent, loyal customer base built over 20 years and a management that just doesn’t get it at all, and seems hell-bent on running the company into the ground.Adobe® Reader® 9 is out. It’s now almost half as fast as Foxit Reader. It lets you embed Flash in PDF and embed PDF in Flash. Adobe supports both kinds of music, country and western. They’ve also “conveniently” bundled Adobe® AIR™ for no apparent reason and added synergistic integration with their cloud, which claims it doesn’t support my browser and then requires both Javascript and Flash to sign up for an Adobe® ID, the use of which is governed by this draconian service agreement, which is a PDF. You can’t make this stuff up. And apparently it gets worse if you try to, you know, actually install it.
NEW: Less Hyphen, More Burst
03/July/08 08:43 AM Filed in: Branding
Walmart (unhyphenated as a single word from now on), one of the largest retailers in the world is launching a new logo. This is what Armin Vit had to say:
They should totally go back to the one they used from 1964-1981. Dress everyone in the stores up in cowboy outfits and sheriff badges, the whole nine yards. Giddy Up!The change to title case helps humanize Walmart with a name that reads more like John, Albert, Sarah or Wilbur; it really looks very different and sets a different tone. The wordmark is nice and friendly and has enough customization to feel more proprietary than out-of-the-box. The new icon, however, is very questionable. It reflects technology start-up or telecommunications company before it does discount retailing that will make anyone live better. Sure, it might represent a flower or a sun, but the execution is too modern and cold to be seen as a natural element.
Why the logo change? Reports in the media all allude to Walmart's continued evolution and progression from its less-than-glamorous reputation and image as an invasive retailer with less-than-desirable employment and environmental practices. And the evasive press release does little to explain anything.