I am putting the blog on hiatus for a while.
I’m knee deep in projects, and can’t offer the quality that I’m used to.
BBL.
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Tell me faster:
contortgroup consults companies that do business on the web (especially startups) on product design, enrollment practice, positioning strategy, & outsourcing remediation.
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January 26th
Hiatus
December 14th
20 signs you don’t want that web design project
Hitting the nail on the head: Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : 20 signs you don’t want that web design project December 12th
kuler.adobe.com/
I’m consulting on a build where the site is a child product from a larger enterprise. So, the brand had to be similar, but almost completely different and driven by the new purpose and utility. Dreaming up the color palette was reasonably tough. This tool has been blogged to death, and I never used it til now, but it was really indispensable. For all you non-designers out there, it’s still fun to play with. December 4th
Free Plaxico Burress
Some truth in this. Still, guns + common sense are a winning combination. Free Plaxico Burress - WSJ.com Note: Sweatpants? Can’t buy classy like that for $35 million. Previously: And, most importantly, and seriously: How Helvetica Took Over the Subway
Good primer on all sorts of NYC Subway typography: How Helvetica Took Over the Subway Related, and obviously: Massimo Vignelli’s New York Subway Map: Tech: mensvogue.com Massimo Vignelli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia November 21st
Subliminal Footie
November 20th
Sunset Park Brooklyn Street Gangs 1970’s-1980’s
Record Shopping / Changed Times
Check out this archived Times article: The Pop Life, NY Times, August 29, 1996 How many of these places are still open here in NYC? With the changes in the industry, and dated quotes like this, makes me wonder: People who live outside New York City can order records by letter or telephone from all of these shops except Adult Crash, which is working to remedy the situation.
By letter? This article pre-dates mainstream email use, and predates mainstream mp3 use. Cursory examination reveals that the following shops are still in business. This is true about most of the survivors (and probably the reason why). Their employees are usually familiar with all the merchandise and willing to play records, make recommendations and order music they don’t carry.
Jammyland Kinokuniya Other Music They ensured their future by making the hop to digital mp3 sales on their website. JS-909
This is a pretty cool thing. Yes, 808-style sequencers/machines are a dime a dozen. Probably like $.02 a dozen. But most are developed in Flash. Some use a bit of javascript, but mp3s or Flash for the sounds. Raw audio data. This one, all javascript, and to boot, doesn’t use libraries like Prototype, or jQuery. November 19th
Data Visualization
I’ve been hopping around researching data visualization methods, techniques, etc. and came across this great article: Cotton Picking Correlates to President Picking The more red a county is, the stronger the support for John McCain and similar for Barack Obama and blue. Below is cotton production in 1860. Each dot represent 2,000 bales. That’s some strong correlation.
Cotton Picking Correlates to President Picking Updated: My pal Lionel showed me this. I guess it’s all beating a dead horse, the dead horse of the racist south, but why not visualize it: The Racist Vote |