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Another of my favorite quotes from Eric Karjaluoto and The Design Method:

"The key to design is found in purpose. Never trick yourself into thinking you make things; instead, remember that you help make things happen."

Hope you have a great week.

Chuck

Have you seen my Ideabook?

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

Here > http://www.ideabook.com/the_indesign_ideabook_59.html

For QuarkXPress

Here > http://www.ideabook.com/quarkxpress_templates.html

Another area of interest for graphic designers: Food Truck branding

Design is HUGE these days and getting HUGER. Yet another area of interest is Food Truck branding. I'd love to have an opportunity to design a truck and all of the accouterments. To whet your appetite...

The Food Truck Design page on Pinterest...

Here > https://www.pinterest.com/explore/food-truck-design/

Example 1...

Here > http://www.designwomb.com/work/falasophy-food-truck/

Example 2...

Here > http://gritsandgrids.com/2014/10/smokey-demarks-food-packaging-branding/

Example 3...

Here > http://sandstrompartners.com/media/StG-truck.jpg

Haha... old school

Here > http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/screen-shot-2011-05-14-at-11-53-54-am.jpg

LET'S PUT THIS TO REST: The phrase is, "One picture is worth ten thousand words"

Or is it? There is an idiom that haunts every graphic designer-one that we have heard, ad nauseam, all of our lives. It is:

"A picture is worth a thousand words" or

"One picture is worth a thousand words" or

"One look is worth a thousand words" or

"Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words" or

"One picture is worth ten thousand words" or something like that.

It has been identified as both a Chinese Proverb and the headline of a 1920s printing magazine advertisement.

Yeah, it's not a huge issue, but it's one of those things that I'd like to get right. Like mistaking "champing at the bit" for "chomping at the bit"-or "I couldn't care less" for "I could care less."

Let's put this puppy to rest. From now on, the phrase is: "One picture is worth ten thousand words." Or is it?

By Daryl Hepting: The history of a picture's worth...

Here > http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/research/web/words/history.html

By illustrator John Howe: A Picture's Worth of Words...

Here > http://www.john-howe.com/blog/2009/04/16/a-pictures-worth-of-words/

By William Safire: ON LANGUAGE; Worth a Thousand Words...

Here > http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/07/magazine/on-language-worth-a-thousand-words.html

New research on the mystery search engine: Amazon

If you're a graphic designer you are doubtlessly familiar with the Amazon. Like Google, it has a presence almost everywhere you look. So any information about how to give your client's any kind of edge in complex structure could give you and edge.

Here, from Ripen eCommerce is what they are claiming to be the first comprehensive study to focus on what they're calling "Amazon SEO."

Among the findings:

There is a a strong correlation between Amazon sales rank and the search engine results page (SERP).

As a product's sales rank improves, the number of search queries resulting in that product increases (which is different than traditional SEO).

The second biggest factor in search results appears to be a company's fulfillment relationship with Amazon.

There is no supporting evidence to suggest that a long, keyword-stuffed product title leads to ranking for multiple search queries.

Organic rankings can be - and frequently are - indirectly manipulated by ad spend. (This is another departure from Google's algorithm.)

Here's the report...

From Ripen eCommerce: Amazon Seo Research Study...

Here > http://www.ripenecommerce.com/amazon-seo

Scroll down to the support team photos and roll over them. Interesting idea...

Here > https://www.buildertrend.com/support.aspx

Hot new fonts...

Here > https://www.myfonts.com/hotnewfonts/?refby=ib

Are you doing some innovative direct mail?

If you're doing direct mail that plays up any of the aspects below, you might consider entering the United States Postal Service's Irresistible Mail contest. Entry is free and it could lead to some excellent, nationwide publicity.

Thanks to Karla Humphrey for pointing us to it.

The award entry page...

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/award

Examples and explanations...

Quick Response Codes (QR)?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/qr-codes

Shoppable social experiences?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/buy-now

Near field communication?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/near-field-communication

Varnishes and finishes?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/textures

Video-enhanced prints?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/video

Augmented reality?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/augmented-reality

Analytics (trackable data)?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/analytics

Unique folds and cuts?

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/formats

Variable data printing (VDP)...

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/variable-data-printing

The Irresistible Mail website...

Here > https://www.irresistiblemail.com/#/

You can't fully appreciate the occupation of graphic design until you understand this...

The history of graphic design, until recently, was as much physical as it was intellectual. Today, ink, presses, tools, chemical processes, and such are almost entirely avoidable if a designer chooses to avoid them. But if you so choose, you risk ignorance of the culture your family tree offers.

British Pathé is a deep collection of cinema newsreels from (roughly) the 1890s to the 1970s. And among it's 90,000-plus films are some gems regarding printing, typography, illustration, and so on. Here's a start...

Lithography (1940-1949)...

Here > https://youtu.be/PgWoAUb7vO0

Printing wallpaper (1968)...

Here > https://youtu.be/lre_HIVsiAc

The Teleprinter (1932)...

Here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-eFFd5BmpU

The art of etching (1941)...

Here > https://youtu.be/Q3Yx6_SQlNM

An animated illustration (1932)...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/video/wed-time-stories/query/illustrator

Map making (1965)...

Here > https://youtu.be/OEnUNkH7HZw

A designer/illustrator (1972)...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/video/design/query/designer

Making Christmas cards (1948)...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/video/making-xmas-cards

MonoType Portraits (1939)...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/video/mono-type-portraits-monotype-portraits-issue-title

Lino cuts of Nazi crimes (1962)...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/video/lino-cuts-of-nazi-crimes

The British Pathé channel on YouTube...

Here > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGp4u0WHLsK8OAxnvwiTyhA

The British Pathé website...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/

History of British Pathé...

Here > http://www.britishpathe.com/pages/history

Weird, interesting logo... "The new face of healthcare--Zee."

Here > https://www.instagram.com/p/BB5FztglVbn/

From GDUSA: Creative people to watch in 2016

As they explain it GDUSA, "Starts each year by choosing a group of People To Watch who embody the spirit of the creative community. Individuals we have come to know and respect for a combination of talent, leadership, success, newsworthiness and community service. In a field so deep in talent and broad in numbers, this is clearly a subjective process. Still, for five decades, it has seemed to work out pretty well: the roster of past participants is star-studded, to say the least."

Here are the folks they chose for 2016. I always find it interesting and instructive to see whose ideas and opinions are currently capturing the attention of the creative community. Let's do this a little backward-first their network, then the GDUSA's presentation.

Jason Alley...

Here > https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-alley-74537710

Sharyn Belkin Locke...

Here > https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharyn-belkin-locke-9a56005

Jim Bull...

Here > http://www.movingbrands.com/

Lisa Cain...

Here > http://www.lisacaindesign.com/

Susan Chun...

Here > https://twitter.com/schun

John Clifford...

Here > http://thinkstudionyc.com/

Jason B. Cohen...

Here > http://www.ogroup.net/agency

Rodrigo Corral...

Here > http://rodrigocorral.com/

Stewart Devlin...

Here > http://www.stewartdevlin.com/

Megan Flood...

Here > http://www.marinelane.com/

Luis M. Gonzalez, Jr....

Here > https://dribbble.com/luisgonzalez

Dian Holton...

Here > http://dianholton.com/

Michael Lemme...

Here > http://www.duncanchannon.com/people/michael-lemme

Claire Williams Martinez and Charlotte Strick...

Here > https://www.facebook.com/strickandwilliams/

Theresa Mershon...

Here > http://theresamershon.com/

Kirsten Modestow...

Here > http://wearebrigade.com/portfolio

Andres Nicholls...

Here > https://www.prophet.com/about/leadership/nicholls

Ross Patrick...

Here > http://rosspatrickcreative.com/

Kung Pik Liu...

Here > http://www.kungpikliu.com/

Tanja Pohl...

Here > https://twitter.com/indytanja

Mackey Saturday...

Here > https://dribbble.com/mackeysaturday

Martin Schott...

Here > http://martinschott.com/

Matthew Schwartz...

Here > https://constructive.co/about/our-team/matthew-schwartz/

Moonsub Shin...

Here > http://www.moonsubshin.com/

Seth Sirbaugh...

Here > http://www.tribecol.com/

Lisa Smith...

Here > http://www.wolffolins.com/people/100/lisa-smith

Paul Stechmesser...

Here > https://dribbble.com/paulstechmesser

Chad Thompson...

Here > http://www.chadthompson.com/

Tobias Van Schneider...

Here > http://www.vanschneider.com/

Kanan F. Whited IV...

Here > http://kananwhited.com/

GDUSA People to Watch in 2016...

Here > http://gdusa.com/peopletowatch2016/people-to-watch-in-2016

Christoph Niemann on exorcising your creative fears

Illustrator Christoph Niemann talks about the fears creatives face:

1. I'm not good enough

2. My work is irrelevant and soon I'll go broke

3. I'm out of ideas

I like the message. No magic pills, he prescribes instead, a common sense approach.

From 99U: How to overcome the 3 fears every creative faces...

Here > http://99u.com/videos/51180/christoph-niemann-how-to-overcome-the-3-fears-every-creative-faces

Niemann's website...

Here > http://www.christophniemann.com/