Vootie's blog

So you thought the lingering global economic malaise had crushed out the once-promising global initiative that explored the possibilities for positive change within the intersection of design and the quaint concept of "service to the greater good"? Not so! In fact, this laudable trend seems to be gaining momentum, by what I can judge from the folks at Public Interest Design. They recently posted an infographic profiling 100 of those who are at the leading edge of what they dub "a groundbreaking movement." In the optimistic spirit of a fresh new year, let's hope they're right and that this soon shifts from being a movement to simply how things are done.

Although the pressure was actually on Adobe to add touch-sensitivity to the tablet version of Photoshop, given that this functionality has been provided by more than a few mobile image editing and creation apps for some time now. But better late than never. In the clip below, Terry White shows off the new capabilities.

Von Glitschka is a talented illustrator, with more more than a few well-known names amongst his clients. But times are tough all over. Hence the launch of his recent initiative, 5ive Minute Logo. What’s it all about? In his words: “Why shouldn’t logo design be instantly gratifying? It should be! Life’s too short to waste time on complex and costly logo design projects. I’ve solved this problem while making the whole process fast and easy!” Well, thank goodness for that. Given the bleak economic climate, I guess we should anticipate more initiatives like this in 2013.

That's right, it's time once again for The New Yorker's annual Eustace Tilley Contest, now in its sixth year. The iconic Eustace Tilley character, who returns to grace anniversary issues each year, was drawn by Rea Irvin, the magazine’s first art editor, for the cover of the first issue of The New Yorker in 1925, with readers invited for some years now to contibute Tilley reinterpretations.

Launched in London in 2004, Contagious describes itself as "Operating at the intersection of marketing communications, new technology and consumer behaviour." It's perhaps best known for its flagship magazine, app and online resource but also produces related events and its annual Most Contagious report.

After a wait that has made more than a few MacBook Pro users increasingly restless, Adobe has now released updated versions of Photoshop and Illustrator for both Creative Suite subscribers and perpetual license customers as a free update.

The release came ahead of yesterday's Create Now Live event, which is now available for viewing as a series of videos.

Well, you know how that ends. So you're thinking of canning your day job and going solo? If so, hats off, you are one brave little puppy. But before taking that big leap into the unknown, you might want to visit Patrick Moore's Fly Solo site, which is dedicated to helping designers become entrepreneurs. Because that's what it will take for you to succeed.

By day Chris Gavin creates TV commercials, promos and web films. But in his free time he turns to his own short films, such as TXT Island, described as "A typographical tale of epic misadventure." His current project is The Futura Gold, an animated work created entirely with the Futura typeface. Released as a series of short episodes, story idea suggestions from viewers are welcomed. For the origin of this kind of animation, check out the work of Émile Cohl.

Sculptor Joshua Harker hit a home run with his first Kickstarter project, Crania Anatomica Filigre: Me to You, which he claims is now the site's most-funded sculpture project. The filigreed, 3D printed skull was admittedly not without its charms.

You might want to have the sound turned down a notch before playing this brief video, which provides a tantalizing look at upcoming Photoshop CS6 functionality. It's expected that the features flying by in the clip will form an integral part of the Adobe Create Now Live event scheduled for December 11. The bad news for many Photoshop users is that the new features are expected to be available only for Creative Cloud subscribers.