Archive for category editorials

Helvetica and other typographic nerdiness

Helvetica is a documentary about the typeface of the same name. As both a film lover and a graphic designer, I’m pretty interested in this film. Check it out if you’re the kind of person who knows the difference between Helvetica and Arial and have an opinion about which is better. I’m not a fan of either and prefer Akzidenz Grotesk.

While I’ve got my typographic nerd hat on, Ban Comic Sans is another fun site. It’s dedicated to the banishment of my least favorite font, Comic Sans. I happen to personally think that comic sans is the worst thing to ever happen to desktop publishing and I wish that people would stop using it and start stoning people who do. Anyway, the site’s pretty funny for few seconds of diversion.

Well, that’s enough type snobbery for one post. Feel free to comment with your favorite typographic sites.

Old Vector FAQ

I wrote this piece a few years ago on deviantArt because I got sick of defending and explaining vector, but I really wanted people to know the facts. I’m presenting it here for no apparent reason.

// What does “vector” mean? //

Vector Art is a technique, not a style. Perhaps a better term for the category would be “vector-based art,” meaning art created in a vector-based program. Vector art consists of creating paths and points in a program such as illustrator or freehand. The program keeps track of the relationships between these points and paths. Everytime the image is scaled, the paths are regenerated… this creates images that are infinitely scalable without degradation. Great for illustrations, logos and things that need to be sharp. So vector art is anything that’s created in illustrator, freehand, corel draw, flash or other & quot; vector” illustration programs. (vector programs: Illustrator, Freehand, Flash, Corel Draw…) Read the rest of this entry »