Circles, Triangles or Rectangles? has become a recurring question in my design work - both for print and the web. While boxy shapes are usually considered strong and masculine, round forms are commonly associated with soft, aesthetic, female characteristics - just what I think is needed for pleasing, sleek designs that beg to be different from the masses.

As a long-time webdesigner who got his start in the mid 90’s, I grew up with table-based layouts. Not surprisingly, the resulting websites oftentimes followed a rigid/rectangular layout, to the dismay of the aestheticist inside me. These days, I’ll routinely poll my wife on new layout ideas and get her input - tapping into the views of the other half of humankind. The more we talk about design in general, the more I realize that even after all these years, I still haven’t broken free from boxes.

In a recent A List Apart article, CSS/Design-guru Molly Holzschlag is discussing her thoughts on Thinking Outside the Grid.“With today’s technologies and techniques, we are free to create grid designs - or we can choose to break out of grids completely. That such choice can empower a web designer is unquestionable: the true challenge lies in the way we bring ourselves to “lose small mind” and think outside the grid.”

Molly rightly concludes that the “beauty and challenge of working with modern layouts is that (…) we have options. With CSS, we have a means of creating manageable, lightweight, visually rich designs that can be grid designs if we want them to be. But we can also easily deconstruct the grid or dispense with it entirely.”

In my personal work towards new, engaging and unusual designs, it is this freedom to create complex organic layouts that I find most difficult to embrace - requiring me to move from the familiar into uncharted territory, leaving grid-designs behind…

Just as the government has learned to plan for the unthinkable - I oftentimes wonder how friends, family and acquaintances hold it with their preparedness plan. especially when it comes to data backup on their personal computers at home. My suspicion is that very few do backups.

It often starts along the lines of “my computer has been making these strange noises… sounds almost like it’s trying to take off. But now, well, it’s not starting up at all.” After a few minutes of back and forth, we arrive at the conclusion that the harddrive got fried. Ample amounts of hair stuck in the grid of the cooling fan, most likely causing overheating of the computer.

Invariably, the next issue is the fact that there is no backup of any of their documents or digital photos accumulated over the last years - in a particular case not just thousands, but over 20000 of them! As bad as I feel for their loss, I can’t help but think about the old adage: backups might be an annoyance, but they are a must.

In a recent PC Magazine article on Backup and You, Lance Ulanoff took on the part of Cassandra - the greek prophetess who proclaimed calamity. “It’s finally time for consumers to take system backup seriously. Backup has always been important, especially for businesses that store critical documents like contracts, manuscripts, and the like. But it’s really no less important for consumers, and a dynamic shift in the way people use computers is finally driving home the importance of data protection.”

• Computer hardware will fail, and sooner than other electronics. Ulanoff reminded computer users that “your PC is not like your TV. Because a PC has more moving parts and more complex components, it’s far more likely to suffer a breakdown.”
• Hard drives die.
• Backing up to the same drive data is on or even to a separate partition on the same drive is virtually worthless. “Although many large hard drives have separate C:, D:, and even E: partitions, a hardware failure puts all the partitions at risk.”
• Backup is not hard and there are good options. Ulanoff gives several options from software backup, separate physical locations to online options. I can only add another resource: free backup software from download.com, a trustworthy source of all kinds of free/shareware software.

Oh, and before I forget - remember to occasionally unclog your cooling fan’s grid!!

If your mind is tired from working so hard on your current project, take a break for few minutes and surf around the following two sites…

• +81 magazine is a bilingual magazine which introduces the world’s most respected designers and artists. It covers anything from graphic design, fashion, music to motion picture. And if you haven’t figured it out, +81 is the country code for calls to Japan.
• Cool Hunting has been a daily update on stuff from the intersection of design, culture and technology. Designers, consumers and marketers from around the world visit every day to get their dose.

You never know what you may find. Enjoy.

A few blog related numbers came across my desk, so I thought to pass them on.

More Than 100 Million Blogs

The Blog Herald has a brandnew count on the number of blogs worldwide. There are two sets of figures: based on blogs per country, the figure would be around 75 million, which is a patchy figure because it is difficult to count blogs based on the country of origin due to the worldwide phenomenon of people using US companies for hosting their blogs. Based on blogs created at major hosts (a more accurate measure) the figure is actually 134-144 million. So, a round 100 million + blogs figure seems accurate.

The Blog Count is about counting blogs, not active blogs, legitimate blogs (vs spam blogs) or bloggers. Are there a lot of inactive blogs? Yes. Are there a lot of spam blogs? Yes as well. Indeed, maybe 40-50% of every blog on Googles Blogspot domain is a spam blog, but the vast majority of blogs out there aren’t.

Blogs starting to make an impression in German Elections

Germany statistically has one of the lowest number of blogs per head of population in Europe according to the last Blog Herald Blog Count in July, and notably lags behind its neighbours France and Poland.

Deutsche Welle reports that Germany is still “in the teething stages when it comes to political online journals” however a number of blogs are now starting to be heard, including kamikaze-demokratie. Read more…

Spammers Infringing Trademarks

The first news item mentioned spam blogs on freely hosted services such as Blogspot and Blogsome. Oftentimes, the spammer leaves no personally identifiable information in any of the profiles or on the blog itself (duh!). Let’s assume for the moment that a spammer infringes your registered trademark, for example by registering “generalmotors.blogspot.com”. Blogger refuses to get involved and remove the infringing site, asking you to contact the spammer directly. Yeah, right. Does anyone have advice on how to proceed?

Macworld writer Dori Smith discussed in the November issue the best blogging tools for the Mac, although I argue that the article is applicable to other platforms (Windows, Linux) as well, since all applications are maintained through a browser interface - hence, it doesn’t matter where you are or what computer you are using.

“According to one recent estimate, a new Weblog is created every second. Everyone from your geeky IT coworker to your Uncle Marvin has one already. So why don’t you? If you’ve got something - anything - you want to share with the rest of the world, a blog is the place to do it. And it’s never been easier to jump on the blogging bandwagon. The tools and services required are inexpensive (and often free) and as simple (or as powerful) as you want.”

“Right now, the blogging tools most popular with Mac users are TypePad and Movable Type, both from Six Apart; Blogspot and Blogger, from Blogger (now part of Google); and WordPress, an open-source tool.”

“These five tools range in power and complexity from simple-but-limited (TypePad, Blogger, and Blogspot) to do-pretty-much-anything-but-may-require-coding (WordPress). Movable Type is somewhere between these two extremes.”

“Two of them—TypePad and Blogspot—also provide the hosting services you need in order to put your blog on the Web. The other three require that you arrange the hosting yourself (though that’s not especially hard to do). (…)”

After discussing all other options, Smith eventually makes it to the premier software tool for blogging and content-management: “WordPress is known for its easy setup. But at the same time, it’s the most powerful of these blogging tools. While WordPress is accessible enough for intermediate bloggers, advanced Web authors will really appreciate it.”

“WordPress is written in PHP and is an open-source app, so its code is freely accessible. And an active developer community works constantly to improve and enhance it. If you want something unusual, there’s a good chance that somebody has already written it (…).”

Read full article…

“Is there a way to secure an archive with a password?” asked Macworld reader Alberto Martinez recently. I had a similar question, especially when it comes to making backup CDs of your data. Ideally, you store those backups in a secure place other than your home. But, what if someone else swipes them and uses them? Encryption of your data would be nice in such a case.

According to Macworld author Christopher Breen, “If you select a file in the Finder and choose File: Create Archive, you won’t see an encryption option. But you can use Apple’s Disk Utility to create encrypted disk-image archives. I ran through the process, and eventually ended up with an error message: “no mountable file system”. So, below are revised instructions on how to get around this.

• Launch Disk Utility and choose Images: New: Blank Image
• In the resulting dialog box, enter a name for the newly created disk image. Select a size for the image (i.e. 4.7 GB DVD-R/DVD-RAM), encryption (AES-128) and format (read/write disk image). Click Create.
• You’ll soon see an Authenticate dialog box. Enter and verify a password for the archive. If you don’t want the image to decrypt automatically when opened from your user account, disable the Remember Password (Add To Keychain) option. (In other words, if other people will operate your Mac while logged in to your user account, disable this option so they’ll need the password to decrypt the archive.)
• Click on OK to create the encrypted and compressed archive. Note that you can use these archives only on a Mac—Windows won’t have a clue what to do with them.
• Add your desired files to this disk image. When the copying is completed, eject disk image.

New technology - the Internet, e-commerce, blogging are but a few examples - has oftentimes the potential to vastly affect how society operates. Just think of how much time we now spend dealing with email - to the point that no one bothers to even walk across the aisle to the next cubicle. At the same time, new technology nicely plays into the hands of evil-doers as PC Magazine’s Erik Larkin reports in a special 5-part series on the Web of Crime.

“Attacks on personal and business PCs aren’t just being committed by amateurs anymore. You - or your business - may be the next target of a new breed of professional Internet criminals, who now apply underworld tactics to the Web. These cybercrooks use malicious software such as viruses and worms to generate illegal profits. One security expert we interviewed called this type of crime the cocaine trade of the new century.” In his five-part series, Erik shows you the global scope of the problem and how innocent PCs are turned into zombie armies used to threaten and extort money from businesses.

• Enter the Professionals: “The life that we had with the so-called pranksters instead of the pros is likely to end,” says Shane Coursen, senior virus researcher at Kaspersky Lab, maker of security software. “If you exist as a business on the Internet, you should be greatly concerned.”
• Zombie PC Armies Designed to Suck Your Wallet Dry: Botnets began to emerge as money-making tools when spammers discovered that they could be use them to send e-mail messages that would evade blacklists and other antispam measures.
• Internet Gangs Go Global: In the past, hackers and writers of malicious software (aka malware) were seeking attention and notoriety. Creators of viruses and worms were looking for bragging rights. Now they’re after money - and they’re finding it.
• Internet Sieges Can Cost Businesses a Bundle: Online attacks can be expensive. A 2004 PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey of more than 1000 businesses in the UK found that, on average, companies spent more than $17,000 on their worst security incident that year. For large companies, that amount was closer to $210,000, the study found. For companies of either size, most of the loss was due to the disruption in their ability to do business, with expenses for troubleshooting the incident and actual cash spent responding to it accounting for considerably less.
• Who’s Catching The Cybercrooks?: Despite some success, law enforcement officials say that cybercrime is extremely hard to get a handle on. That’s because it thrives in countries like Russia and China that have weak computer crime laws or lax enforcement. In such cases, catching cybercriminals outside U.S. jurisdiction becomes nearly impossible.

I attended this weekend the Semi-Permanent05 conference at New York’s Lincoln Center. The event was a fantastic gathering of some of the most talented and diverse creative minds - artists who flourish in many different mediums with knowledge and abilities far beyond their specific disciplines. Their versatility and ingenuity makes them stronger designers, and it definitely broadened my horizons and appreciation for their work as illustrators, painters and grafitti artists.

Chicago-based Chuck Anderson appeared as one of the speakers in the Saturday session, giving a pep-talk on how to approach your career. In itself, this probably wouldn’t strike you as an unusual topic at a conference for creative professionals. However, Anderson, at just 20-years old and without a college degree, has landed major gigs with corporate clients such as Absolute and McDonalds.

You gotta give this guy some credit and acknowledge his unique perspective - untarnished by the academic teachings of college. Here’s some of his views, and how I would put it into context:

• “… move forward, take (artistic) risks, it’s sink or swim…” Anderson must have been thinking about competition, or evolution. In today’s world, there are so many mediums to work with, coupled with widely available, inexpensive distribution channels - you really have to make it a point to deliver something new, something unique, to stand out from the masses. His call to “move forward” obviously acknowledges past influences, yet demands unyielding novelty.
• “…work hard, sweat, show some determination…” Ah, how true, for every entrepreneurial opportunity. Another artist, James Jean, commented in an interview for The Royal that “even with the best teachers, improvement and learning has to come from self-study and personal initiative.”
• “…what goes around, comes around. Help people…” Without an artist sacrificing his/her livelihood, Chuck pointed out that it’s always a good idea to collaborate and interact with new people, people that you can learn from, people that open unexpected doors for you. “In business and in life, it’s all about service… Give good service and assist others and you will be rewarded with a healthy business.” (Rev Run)
• “…put yourself out there…” A question on many people’s mind: How do you put yourself out there, and how much publicity is too much publicity? Anderson related how he used to go to book stores and browse through stacks of design, photography and music magazines - in an effort to identify unusual art campaigns and the art directors behind them. His advice was to assemble a continuously updated web-based portfolio, and contact key decision makers.
• “…be patient, cool things will happen…” Another very valid point - Chuck was referring to the need to be prepared, and to set up one’s artistic ventures on a sustainable basis. Things like invoicing, bookkeeping, the legal basis of your company - everything needs to be in place so that once opportunity strikes, you are ready to execute without distractions.
• “…be proud of your work…” Chuck’s last and maybe most important point of the talk dealt with attitude. Unless you stand 100% behind your work, you won’t be taken seriously and you probably won’t invest all the resources necessary to make your artistic career work (see point #2, work hard, sweat)

Read more

• Chuck Anderson’s website (www.nopattern.com)
• Cool Hunting Interview with Chuck

Designers can be found in many fields - from engineering, the arts to architecture. With any new client and project, designers have to evaluate how far they can push the envelope of innovation. Oftentimes, innovation is required to address some unmet needs or to realize financial savings - something concrete that calls for a practical solution, without expending any more efforts than necessary. But practical solutions don’t have to be drab, as a recent article in the Architect’s Newspaper shows.

In the case of the New York Times Company, building a gleaming new headquarters near Central Park, “the architecture and construction teams (…) devised a range of cutting-edge design elements that make the building one of the most technologically progressive in the country. Because the headquarters includes almost no back-office operations and is thus for editorial and higher-level business staff, a premium was placed on innovation.”

“What’s more, much of the original impetus for the innovations came from the newspaper itself, which pushed the architects and engineers to develop new solutions. Here are some of the building’s most notable design elements:

• Facade Lighting: “The facade is lit by an Erco lighting system, with lights installed at various floor levels, giving the building the appearance of being lit from the ground up. This gradation system means that the 250-watt lights consume only 25 percent of the energy normally required for a building this size.” (…)
• Natural Light: “The Times took things one step further by entering a partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, a leader in lighting studies, to evaluate and select a dynamic lighting and daylight harvesting system. “The philosophy is to maximize natural light coming in, maximize the connection to the outdoors, maximize the view, but not cross over into glare,” said Glenn Hughes, director of construction and real estate for the Times. (…) Based on data culled from a mockup [building], the Times expects a 35-percent energy savings from the shading system alone.” (…)
• Interior Lighting: “Only 2 percent of all office space in the United States is dimmable but the Times wanted to take things a step further, to have a system that would respond to incoming daylight and adjust itself automatically (…). According to Pekka Hakkarainen, “as sunlight enters the space, we had a requirement to dim the electric lighting so that the desk illumination is within the target settings in any given department on any given floor.” (…)
• Air Circulation: “Virtually every office building in the United States is equipped with ceiling HVAC systems. But once again, the Times decided to be different and placed the air conditioning in the floor—an idea borrowed from European office buildings, where natural ventilation is more commonly accepted. (…) The project designers realized that they could achieve remarkable energy efficiencies by piping cold air through the floor. (…) The supply air is coming through diffusers in floor, and it picks up heat as it rises. This is more efficient than dropping it from overhead ducts, which require lower temperatures in order to fully circulate the air.The diffusers are then covered with a specially designed carpet piece which has miniscule holes in it for the air.” (…)
• Backup Power: Because a national newspaper can’t stop for things like power failures, the Times required that its new building come with a backup power system capable of running its vital newsroom functions. (…) The solution came in the form of a co-generation plant, running continuously on natural gas and completely isolated from the city power grid. The plant’s two engines generate 1.4 megawatts continually, (enough) to (…) cool the data center and (…) run all of the newsroom.” (…)

Read the full article…

Just as I was scrolling down my favorite blogs the other day, an article by Matt Friedman for Networking Pipeline popped up. In essence, Friedman advocated to think ahead and figure out just how safe your computer network is. Once you have an idea about your level of vulnerability towards viruses, worms and hackers bent on doing harm to your network, you can implement an appropriate solution.

According to Friedman, “every great journey begins with a single step, and even if you only have ten minutes to devote to the project, you can still use that time to get the security ball rolling. “I think the key is not to think about securing your network in ten minutes,” says Jason Hilling, Director of Managed Security Services Product Management at Internet Security Systems, “but to get the whole process started in those ten minutes.” Here are some of Friedman’s key points:

• Evaluate your security policy: “Every organization needs some kind of security policy, but it is often surprising how many do not. The problem, of course, is that network security is often perceived as a technological problem that you can throw money and gadgets at to make better. If things were that simple, then worms and hackers would be a thing of the past.”
• Vulnerability Management: “One of the most important things you can do when you have limited time is to find out where you are vulnerable,” Hilling says. “To a certain extent, everything follows from this.”
• Patch management: “Once you have the process in place to identify vulnerabilities, you then have to ask how you are going to patch them,” Hilling says. “Patching can be the most important thing you can do.”

  I might add: if you don’t know how to do this, let an expert take a look at your network and teach you the basics of patch management. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, but will serve you well.

• Get informed: The best way to stay on top of security vulnerabilities, of course, is to make sure you know about them before they bit you in the tender parts. That means taking the time to scan the latest warnings and maybe even reading your favorite networking or security websites over coffee. It doesn’t take long to stay informed once you are informed but, as with everything else, you have to take the time to start the process.

  “There are a lot of solutions that can bring security intelligence to you,” Hilling says. “If you don’t have the time to address security yourself, any good managed service provider will deliver intelligence to its customers about what’s out there.”

• Go shopping: Even if security is not strictly a technology issue, you need technology to secure your network. It’s probably not a good idea to drop $10,000 on intrusion prevention systems and firewalls in ten minutes — and the board of directors would have your head if you did — but it only takes a few minutes to see what what’s out there.

Read the full article…