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What's wrong with this picture?

Why would you allow your organization to be branded using the initials of its name? To me, when you encourage others to substitute an acronym for the full name of your organization, you surrender the very purpose of a name: to say something about who you are and what you do.

For example, in this press release...
WVEF means Women Vendors' Forum and Exhibition
ITC means International Trade Centre
CI&T means Collaborate. Innovate. Transform.
WOBs means Women-owned businesses

Which will you remember? Which is more informative?

Yes, to a degree, using acronyms make the release easier to read--but the damage is done. You'll spend untold energy and resources interrupting every introduction to explain what it means.

Regards,
Chuck

Countless creative ideas, marketing insights, and over 300 meticulously formatted documents on a dual-format CD-ROM

315 template files in 19 different categories -- Everything from brochures, newsletters, and direct mail to packaging, calendars, and books (one CD works with both Mac and PC). Use two or three files and you'll pay for the entire book and disc...

For Adobe InDesign
For QuarkXPress
A very unusual typeface design...

Print Magazine recently featured the work of Shiva Nallaperumal which includes the a typeface under development with the working title of "Labyrinth".

As Nallaperumal describes it, "The typeface is pseudo artificially intelligent and the design process was equal parts design and programming. For the project I collaborated with and was guided by Tal [Leming], who created the advance opentype features while I designed the system of glyphs. We have been working on it for almost two years now, and [it] will soon be published commercially."

Shiva Nallaperumal's typeface...
He was Print's designer of the week in March of 2015...
Nallaperumal's Tumblr page...
And his Twitter feed...
Affordable offset printing of 4-color magazines and books

I ran across PrintNinja.com a while back and though I have not used them, I've read enough positive press about their services to recommend you take a look.

The nut they crack, in particular, is the 4-color printing of books and magazines that can be case bound (hardcover), perfect bound (softcover), or wire bound-for prices you'd typically have to print in large quantities to get into the reseller range of profitability.

They are, for the most part, a gateway to printing in China. Why China? Because it is affordable. They can deliver a competitively priced, high quality product while they eliminate the complexities of language barriers, customs, quality control, and so on.

About PrintNinja...
Their cost calculation process is simple, straight-forward, and immediate...
Frequently asked questions...
If you do decide to print overseas, be certain to read this...
Need some typography ideas?

Meet illustrator John Dykes

There are other illustrators whose overall style seems similar to Dykes'-but look closely-I feel like you can pinpoint the originals from the also-rans by looking at their body of work. John S. Dykes is an explorer.

Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
John Dykes' website...
Dykes on Illoz.com...
Add another dimension to your design

Years ago I wrote a book exploring the scope of what you could do with a new set of graphics tools referred to as "desktop publishing". Today we've graduated to printing 3-dimensional objects from vector drawings produced using widely available 3D Authoring tools.

Shapeways is, as they describe it, "Giving anyone the ability to quickly and affordably turn ideas from digital designs into real products, Shapeways is fundamentally changing how products are made and by whom."

The process and product...
What people are making...
About creating 3D designs...
3D printing materials...
Supported 3D authoring tools...
Watch the latest TV spots, see who's running them, and find out what's working (and what isn't)

iSpot.tv offers a sophisticated platform for the, "real time tracking of paid TV media and the related earned digital activity across social, search, and video." They score current spots and measure their activity.

Don't care? Then use it to see what everyone else is up by industry categories across 110 broadcast and cable networks.

Browse the current lineup...
Top 10 most engaging tv ads of the week...
How the paid service platform works...
About basic layout principles...

About the graphic design of board games

I've always found this niche particularly interesting. More than a book, the success of a board game is tied directly to the quality its look and feel. Even a superb game idea needs a reasonably successful, understandable visual presentation. And it some cases, I think great style can bring a marginal idea to life.

Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
The center of the board game universe, Board Game Geek...
Are you interested in board game design. Here's a forum and a BIG list of resources...
An interesting article from Quora: What are some underlying principles in designing board games?...
Must have?...
I'm keeping my eye on Medium.com

Wikipedia defines Medium.com as a blog-publishing platform (founded by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone) that has evolved into a hybrid of non-professional contributions and professional, paid contributions-an example of so-called, "social journalism".

I'm keeping my eye on it because some designers who have some excellent insights on UI/UX are using it as a forum for their articles.

Jowita Ziobro on 7 future web design trends...
Rebecca Ussai on The Principles of UX Choreography...
Erik Klimczak on Designing Data-Driven Interfaces...
Check out the Briefing Archive...

About this newsletter

I try to remain as objective as possible about the information I share here. Unless I tell you otherwise, I receive no compensation from the organizations and people mentioned except for occasional product samples. I am an affiliate of Lynda.com and MyFonts.com -- that means, if you purchase something from them, I get a small commission. Comments? Suggestions? Write me at chuckgreen@ideabook.com -- Chuck Green