TGIFree – My Bulletin Board

Looking at this title you might be think, what is she talking about?  Well, I was looking at my newly re-decorated office, that now looks more like an office in a law firm and less like that of a designer, and noticed my bulletin board (that has been banished to the wall behind me because customers won’t see it when they walk into the front office) and realized all that is really left of my ‘creativity’ in decorating as a designer is pinned there.  These great jokes, ‘art’-ifacts and what not have been a great source of interest with the other designers here and myself.  They have had me print out copies for them or email them the images.  So today I’m going to share some great little tidbits of design humor. It’s not great vectors, or photoshop brushes, but a good chuckle can be just as fulfilling as finding that great vector for a project.

1. Periodic Table of Typefaces

A graphic display of 100 “popular, influential, and notorious” fonts in history.  Or as I like to call it:
The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

2. Pixel Humor

A funny little comic that has been passed around through email, blogs, and well it’s just all over the internet. And it’s funny because well who hasn’t experienced this type of situation before.

3. Copy vs New

In a field that is riddled with copycats and those that just flat out steal ideas, this poster is a good reminder to take that extra step to create a new idea or a new twist on a classic idea without just straight copying

4 & 5. Why I am a Designer

The author of Change Order created this color wheel-based design.  I  (like a few others) adapted the design to me.  I mean I’ve never used Bestine so it doesn’t relate.

6. Why I am  Print Designer

Same guy, same concept, different topic.  Once again I work in the printing industry and this make sense to me and my co-workers.  And yes, long press runs can become quite lulling.

7. A little Religion

This Christmas present, with matching tea pot and cup, help to make with those seeming impossible projects, days and customers not so bad.  It reads “Nothing will be impossible for you” – Matthew 17:20 . Short, sweet and helpful advice.

8. Keyboard Short cuts for Designers

Click here to get your own Keyboard Short cuts for Designers from Smashing Magazine and Ilya Birman

9. Kuler Swatches

I have collected a few kuler swatches and printed them out for quick, easy access for when I need inspiration or just a cool color.

10. The Husband

This isn’t the only picture of Husband (I know not a great, creative pet name) in my office but it’s the most recent and was just printed (this morning actually) on the copier.  The other guy is the assistant coach for the BattleWings and one of Jeremy’s new friends.  We (and Papa John’s) are big supporters of the team.

TGIFree – Mac Apps

So last week I was playing catch up on my reader and found a post about 25 Free Mac Apps.  Well I can’t help but pass on the news.  I haven’t downloaded and used all of them yet, but I’ve been researching these for y’all.

1. Name Changer

Rename lists of files, the perfect software to batch change the files your clients are sending to you. It can be good when working with pictures too.

- Used this today and it is amazing.  I often do newsletters and programs so I receive 20 files off a camera that has some random name with numbers and letters.  Well I can go in and tell it to remove the parts of the files names that I don’t like and replace it with something that I can easily identify.

2. Anxiety

Manage simple to-do lists with this lightweight application. Perfect for people who don’t want or need complicated GTD software.

- Couldn’t get this one to open but I wish I could have.  It seems like something that I would use.

3. Cyberduck

FTP software with a nice and usable interface, integrated with several text editors.

We use this at work.  Fugu is another FTP software that is free to use.

4. Adium

Connect to all your messaging accounts in this open-source instant messaging application.

- I didn’t try this one. Let me know what you think.

5. Carbon Copy cloner

Create complete and bootable backups with this easy-to-us utility.

- I don’t have a hard drive at work to back up to, but it looks to be a good tool if you don’t have leopard with time machine.

6. The Unarchiver

Unpacking utility that handles tons of formats.

- Once again I didn’t try this one.

7. AppCleaner

Don’t leave any files on your computer when uninstalling applications with this great little app.

- And this is another one that didn’t work when I tried it.  I use AppZapper. There’s a fee but it’s easy to get around.

8. The Gimp

Image manipulation software, a decent alternative to Photoshop.

Also available for Windows.

- There was something that wasn’t on my computer at work for this to work.  Who knows. That computer is a little out of date and has been messed with over the years from what a hear.

9. Skype

Voip service to make free computer to computer calls, or cheap computer to phone calls.

Also available for Windows.

- Didn’t try it

10. Firefox

Free and open source web browser, customizable with tons of great addons.

Also available for Windows.

- Who doesn’t use this?  I don’t use anything else.

11. Caffeine

Don’t let your Mac go to sleep, keep it caffeinated.

- I don’t like caffeine.

12. Burn

Advanced CD and DVD burning on Mac.

- Didn’t try either

13. Handbrake

DVD to Mpeg converter, useful for recovering data on DVD.

Also available for Windows.

- Don’t really have a need for this one.

14. Audacity

Open source software for recording and editing sounds.

Also available for Windows.

- Once again, no need.

15. Smultron

Free and powerful text editor for Mac.

- A better looking Text Edit, but I still have Office and I use Stickies for the simple stuff

16. InkScape

Open source vector drawing editor, a decent alternative to Illustrator.

Also available for Windows.

- Don’t have Leopard, and couldn’t use it.

17. Freemind

Mind mapping software, my favourite way to organize my thoughts.

Also available for Windows.

- It is a weird program but it is a good program if you need to make cloud maps of thought and projects and what not.

18. Disk Inventory X

Disk usage utility for Mac OS X, quickly see what’s taking space on your system.

- Didn’t try

Windows alternative

19. Colloquy

Advanced IRC client, chatting with a nice interface.

- Not even sure what that it.

20. Neo Office

Open Source office suite for Mac, a great alternative to Word & Excel.

- It looks similar to Word and has some of the same functions.

21. QuickSilver

Application launcher and much more, a real productivity booster.

- I had a hard time with the interface.  I”m sure if I were to use it a lot I might be able to use it as it was intended.

22. NetNewsWire

My favourite RSS reader, opened every morning while having a coffee.

-  Didn’t try.

23. DeepVacuum

Download full websites or web pages with this software through http or ftp protocol.

- Didn’t try

24. HyperDither

Batch image resizing utility, time-saving if you don’t want to use Photoshop actions.

- It creates bitmap images using a dither filter.  For a screen-printer it might be a great tool in the tool box.

25. Transmission

Filesharing made easy with this simple BitTorrent client.

- Didn’t try

I want to add a couple of Apps I’ve found over the years.

1. Disktracker

It’s a great program for keeping up with files on cds and dvds.  Just drop the cd/dvd icon into Disktracker and files names are stored in a database.  It’s easy to search for the file names and then find the cd/dvd without having to search each cd/dvd individually.

2. Boomerang

Have you ever accidentally deleated a file that you didn’t mean to and then it was gone forever.  Well fret no more as this is a program that will recover files for you.  It’s only a free trial but it works!

TGIFree – Business Cards

I saw this on the blog You the Designer (I copied the info straight from their blog) and had to share. It’s great for the college students that need to have business cards ready to hand to every professional they meet at a very low price – FREE!

UPrinting has been providing great printing services to the design community for many years and now they are taking it one step further. They are offering 1,000 Free Business Cards to any creative.

This is an amazing offer that you would be crazy not to take advantage of. They have several stocks you can choose from including an eco-friendly 13pt cover uncoated stock and you can see more detailed specs about the Free Business Cards below. So if you are looking for some free cards during these tight economic times than today is your lucky day, but don’t wait too long cause the offer ends on 3/31/09.

Business Card Specs

* From 2×2″ to 4×4″ (0.25″ increments)
* 14 pt. & 13 pt. Cover Stocks (SFI Certified)
* Includes AQ Coating (Gloss and Dull)

Get Your Free Business Cards Now!

http://www.uprinting.com/Free-Business-Cards-KickStart09/

http://www.youthedesigner.com/