Deal

Preview of P22 deck of font playing cards

P22 type foundry, the source of fonts I’ve used in several websites (London Underground has been particularly useful) has released a deck of playing cards.

Back in 2004, P22 produced a specimen deck of cards that featured 52 different fonts on a standard regulation deck of playing cards. These were gobbled up quickly, so we held a contest to have guest designers complete a second deck. Briefly lost in the vortex of too many other things, deck #2 is finally finished with all new designs and, dare we say, it’s even better than the first one!

While supplies last, you can get a deck free with any purchase of $100 or more. Just order anything over $100 and add the free card option to your shopping cart and we will send you the cards!

If you don’t think that’s a good enough excuse to buy a  bunch of fonts, are also offering the decks for sale at $10 each plus shipping. Supplies are limited and as black market prices for the first deck indicate, this is a good price indeed.

For a font fan like me who also happens to collect playing cards, this is very welcome news.

It also gets me thinking that I should design a deck of cards myself — perhaps with cocktail recipes on them. Sounds fun, don’t you think?

Cynthia speaks at Refresh Pittsburgh

We're #1 in "pretty hats"!

Today we’re #1 in "pretty hats"!

The next meeting of Refresh Pittsburgh will at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, February 26 at the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue — and I’ll be speaking. Come listen to me!

"Refresh Pittsburgh is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of Internet developers in the Pittsburgh area."

Cynthia Closkey (that’s me!) from Big Big Design will present “Google-Friendly Blogging in Five Easy Steps.” I’ll talk about basic search engine optimization (SEO) for WordPress — and by extension, for other blog tools as well.

Want your site to be the number one search result in Google for "pretty hats"? I will tell you how I worked my magic.

More importantly, I’ll share some key truths and misconceptions about SEO, and I’ll give five simple steps you can take to improve your site’s search ranking overall, and for your most important searches.

Next, Jeff Hunter, organizer of Devhouse Pittsburgh will present an introduction to Ruby: what it is and why you may want to consider using it for your next project.

Full details are at the Refresh Pittsburgh website. Visit there and RSVP so Jason Head has a good headcount.

 

“Enemy Change His Mind” by Dog Whistle

Cover art meme: "Enemy Change His Mind" by Dog Whistle

Cover art meme: "Enemy Change His Mind" by Dog Whistle, originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey.

I love album cover art. Not-too-secretly, I desire to design things for fun and profit, and I adore the art that surrounds music. So obviously I love this meme:

The CD Cover Meme group has only three rules: (1) The first article title on this random wiki page is the name of your band, (2) the last four words of the very last quote on this random quote page is the title of your album, and (3) the third picture here, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

In reality, it is important to check the copyright settings of the picture you find in step three. Most times, you will find all rights reserved. Backstep, reload, and check again until you find at least some Creative Commons Rights shared.

This is addictive. I went for an easy design this time — in no small part because my Photoshop skills are only passable.

How tempting it is to play around and spend hours coming up with a funky cool design!

I was in fact tempted to play creative director and spec out a design, then assign my brother Anthony to do the real work — he’s so much more fluent with Photoshop. I came to my senses and chose instead to let him continue to work on billable, client projects this Friday afternoon. The meme loses a little because of my decision, but our clients benefit. The company schedule and financial state are better off too.

The web is a dangerous mistress.

(Links and meme thanks to Coudal.)

Pop!

The makings of a very small, very stylish chair

Design Within Reach’s Champagne Chair contest is back.

The annual DWR Champagne Chair Contest™ is simple: Create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two Champagne bottles. Chairs will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the winners will embark on a nation-wide tour. The winning designers will receive DWR Gift Cards.

In the past, one needed to send in the chair one made. The rules have changed and now they’re accepting only digital submissions. The DWR website has all the details. The deadline is 5pm on Monday, January 7, so you’ll have to hurry. Or just drink some champagne and wait to see what crazy designs people submit.