Book Content
Below is all my book content for my 'speaking from experience' publication on how to build a rock-solid routine, a list of blogs, definitions of our blogs, what is a crit? as well as a graphic design glossary.
Building a rock-solid routine
Great work before everything else
Do your most meaningful creative work at the beginning of your day, and leave ‘reactive work’ – like responding to emails, blogging for later on in the day.
Jump-start your creativity
Establish ‘associative triggers’ – such as listening to the same music or arranging your desk in a certain way- that tell your mind it’s time to get down to work.
Feel the frequency
Commit to working on your project at consistent intervals – ideally everyday- to build creative muscle and momentum over time.
Pulse and pause
Move rhythmically between spending and renewing your energy by working in ninety-minute bursts and then taking a break.
Get Lonely
Make a point of spending some time alone each day. It’s a way to observe unproductive habits and thought processes, and to calm your mind.
Don't wait for moods
Show up, whether you feel inspired or not.
Useful Blogs
Aisle One www.aisleone.net
Behance www.behance.net
Creative Bloq www.creativebloq.com
Creative Review www.creativereview.co.uk
Designspiration www.designspiration.net
Design Milk www.designmilk.com
Experimental Jetset www.experimentaljetset.net
Font Smith www.fontsmith.com
It’s Nice That www.itsnicethat.com
I Love Typography www.ilovetypography.com
Infographics www.loveinfographics.com
Information is beautiful www.informationisbeautiful.net
Typography Served www.typographyserved.com
Typographica www.typographica.org
Our blogs
PPP
PPP is everything to do with your Personal and Professional Practice, which is everything from PPP tasks through to module and project evaluations, exhibitions visits, networking, work experience etc.
Design Context Blog
Design Context is any/all the research you do for a brief. This is the place to post other designers work to analyse. It is also where you blog your lecture notes and Context of Practice tasks.
Design Practice Blog
This blog is dedicated entirely to your own work and group work. Anything you have produced or is your own goes onto this blog.
What is a crit?
A crit is where you present your work to your group in order to receive helpful feedback, and any suggestions on improving your design work. There are two types of crit:
Interim Crit
An interim crit is halfway between briefing and the deadline. You don’t need a final idea or outcome. Just bring along thumbnail sketches and perhaps a rough mock-up of your idea. The interim crit allows you to present current thoughts and ideas, and receive helpful feedback on which idea to go with.
Final Crit
The final crit is where you present your finished outcome, so make sure your prepared! It is absolutely essential to bring your final outcome with you and that it fits in the guidelines of the brief. Unlike the interim crit, you will be receiving feedback on your final outcome and the development behind it.
Glossary
Alignment
A term used to refer to the proper positioning of all typefaces and size variations along an imaginary reference line.
Ascender
The part of a lowercase letter, which rises above the main body, as in the letters “b”, “d”, “h”, and “k”.
Baseline
An invisible horizontal line on which the feet of all characters on a line of type are set, used for proper alignment of type.
Bleed
A printed image that extends beyond one or more of the finished page margins and is later trimmed so that the image “bleeds” off the edge of the sheet.
Body Text
The main portion of a book or other document, excluding front matter and back matter
Cap-Height
In typography, the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.
Character
Any letter, figure, punctuation, symbol or space.
Colour swatch
A sample of a specific colour, either printed or stored digitally, used to describe a particular printing ink or combination of printing ink colours.
Crop-Marks
Lines drawn or printed on a photograph, overlay, or printed product to indicate the proper cropping of the image or print in question.
Font
In typography, a set of all characters in a typeface.
Gutter
In typography, the term refers to the space between columns of type, usually determined by the number and width of columns and the overall width of the area to be filled.
Kerning
In typography, the reduction of letter-spacing between certain character combinations in order to reduce the space between them, performed for aesthetic reasons.
Negative Space
In design, the space not occupied by the text or images.
Palette
The collection of colours or shades available or used in a project, graphic system, or program.
Pantone
A brand-name for a popular colour matching system, or series of printed colour swatches used to match, specify, identify, and display specific colours or coloured ink,
ombinations
Pixel
Shorthand term for picture element, or the smallest point or dot on a computer monitor.
Sans-serif
In typography, characters (or typefaces) without serifs, which are lines crossing the free end of the stroke. “Sans serif” means “without serif”.
Serif
In typography, an all-inclusive term for characters that have a line crossing the free end of a stroke. The term serif refers to both that finishing line and to characters and typefaces that have them.
Tracking
In typography, the adjusting of the letter-spacing throughout a piece of typeset copy.
Typeface
In typography, a specific variation within a type family, such as roman, italic, bold, etc.
Weight
In typography, the lightness or darkness in print of a particular typeface, based upon its design and thickness of line.
