Toolbox

The Deeply Graphic Design Podcast is a fairly new show from The Deep End Design Studio.

Here is a quick interview I made with Wes McDowell, who leads the podcast.

CB: What prompted you to create this podcast?
I have always been a fan of the talk radio format, and over the last few years I have subscribed to a number of other design-themed podcasts that I really enjoyed. Over the past year, I have noticed that many of them have started going away. I don't know if its because they got too busy to keep putting them out, or if they just weren't getting enough listeners to justify spending the time doing it, but in either case, I thought that I could fill the void left by them. Also, I find myself giving design advice to others in person, or on forums, etc, so it seemed like a natural fit to start a podcast.

Here is a cool poster designed by Julian Hansen that helps you find the right typeface for your project. Click image for a high-res file.

2012 will be the year when most businesses will finally make the move to the cloud. Email, calendars, documents and other files will all reside in the cloud on services like Google Apps.

1. No need to maintain servers or hosting packages, thus everything becomes simpler and cheaper.
2. No need to update software or synchronise data on different devices, therefore less time spent on tech support and more time spent on design.
3. Significantly less spam, thus you not only save time with a leaner inbox you're also safer as you will get less malicious code in email.
4. Collaboration with you colleagues and clients is much easier in the cloud. You can share presentations with your client and they can annotate it live.
5. Most designers do a significant part of their non-design work on mobile devices, which works much better in the cloud. Tablets great work not only for presenting your work, but also to get stuff done while on the road.
6. Easier upgrades and downgrades of the system according to business needs. If you have to hire new team members you can get their accounts ready in minutes.
7. Less chance of losing data due to hardware failure or other disasters like fire or theft. Upload your graphics files to the cloud too, not just documents and presentations. Keep everything safe automatically with services like Insync for Google Apps, Dropbox and Carbonite.

Possible Downsides of the cloud

1. It is possible the cloud is not accessible at certain times, but so far Google and other cloud services demonstrated a very reliable service.
2. If there is no Internet connection, the system may stop working unless you enable offline mode in advance.
3. Theoretically the data in the cloud can be compromised, but the chance of this happening is very low.

Have you already made the switch to the cloud or are you planning to? What is your experience and do you have any advice designers should be aware of?

If you enjoy the sharing capabilities of Google Docs, but want to have a local copy of all the files try the newly released free service Insync.

Insync requires an application to be downloaded to your Mac just like in the case of Dropbox and once it's launched you will need to give it permission to access your Gmail account. After that it immediately downloads all your Google Documents to the ~/Insync folder. If you now edit, delete or add files on Google Docs or locally in this folder the changes will be reflected immediately in the other locations as well. But that's not all that this service does.

You can add more Google accounts, you can sync several computers at the same time and sync any files not just documents. Insync is very much like Dropbox. The only difference is that this service uses the Google disk space, which is significantly cheaper than Dropbox's current offering.

The setup and configuration is very simple. Once you launched the application it creates a menubar icon that provides all the options in a dropdown menu. Enjoy!

Time is finite, but we act as if it were otherwise, assuming that longer hours always lead to increased productivity. But in reality our bodies are designed to pulse and pause - to expend energy and then renew it. In this revelatory talk, energy expert Tony Schwartz debunks common productivity myths and shows us how to regain control over our energy so we can produce great work.

Your business card says a lot about both you and your company. While boring, standard-size cards are the norm, using a unique design can help you make a lasting impression. Here are ten ideas you can implement to make your business cards stand out from the herd!

10) Spoof a Famous Logo. Why go with a boring font? In the example below, 'TedEx' is both memorable and slightly humorous. Using image manipulation software and some creativity, you can create your own custom logo spoof that potential clients are less likely to forget. To avoid legal trouble, spoof a company that has no overlapping clientele. This avoids the issue of misrepresentation.

Data is becoming increasingly important in our highly digitised world. This is painfully apparent when you lose it. As the saying goes: You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

There are many strategies for backups and all of them have their positive and negative aspects.

Last time we organized the logo awards on mediabistro. You can see the 2010 winners here.

From this year we moved the competition to Brands of the World, so we could give a much bigger audience to the participants.

We all know the old saying, “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus”, but are the two sexes really that far apart when it comes to what online advertisements they both view?

Surprisingly, with only a few differentials, both sexes look at various online ads in the same manner, according to EyeTrackShop, creators of the world’s first eye tracking technology.

In a recent study conducted in Norway, EyeTrackShop enlisted 100 participants, over 2 days, using test ads from the H&M website, Reebok and Saab in hopes of finally answering, does gender play a significant role in the way consumers look at ads, packages and other stimuli.

Below, find EyeTrackShop’s visual attention patterns and visual fixation order for the H&M website test. You can draw your own conclusions.

With Google's new Search Image you can explore the web in an entirely new way by beginning your Google search with an image. With this feature you can learn more about images on the web and your own photos.