Here’s a fun (albeit lengthy) blog post I wrote on the FG SQUARED blog about how design has changed over the last 15 years. Here’s a sample:

Looking at websites in 1994, you saw a lot of default grey backgrounds, Times New Roman and blue underlined links. Any images were dithered 256-color GIFs and typically ugly as hell by today’s standards, not to mention looked different depending on your operating system. Designing for the web back then consisted primarily of fighting tables and compressing graphics as much as possible while retaining some measure of legibility. Aesthetics were a luxury not yet affordable. But that would soon change.

http://www.fg2.com/squaredroot/2009/11/16/the-tumultuous-relationship-of-design-and-the-internet/

Hectic and scary morning when I realized that I had inadvertantly deleted the Wordpress database on my site. I had tested out an install of drupal and after I decided I didn’t need it at the moment, I deleted the database. And all the others as well. Oops.

The worst part is that I didn’t even realize I did it! It has been over a week since I’ve tried to access my site and I kept getting this strange database error. It took me awhile to figure out what I did, and then restore it. Restoring it was quite a messy process, and I have Ethan Russell to thank for helping me out with it. This site would be toast without his rescue effort.

But we’re back, baby. Trism walkthrough is up again, and I really am working on an update to the Coat of Arms Creator. A couple more posts on the way on things I’ve been up to as well.

I created another ambigram, this one for my friend Ethan Russell. He has a site, Fallen Gaia, that needs a logo and wanted an ambigram, and who wouldn’t really? I don’t think his site is live yet, but I’ll try to remember to link it here when it does. (UPDATE: Fallen Gaia)

Ambigrams are fun to make, although frustrating at times. The N, which is seemingly the easiest letter in the world to create an ambigram for, gave me fits, and I’m still not incredibly happy with it. The E/G oozes cool; I’m pretty proud of that form.

I found myself making glossy buttons in Illustrator so often that I finally decided to make a library of graphic styles so i won’t have to do it over and over and over again.

So here it is to share, just in time for the glossy Web 2.0 button trend to come to an end. One would hope.

Download the CS3 file here (150KB zip file)

Here’s a CS2 and CS version (I hope they work, since I can’t actually test them).

Download the CS2 file here (150KB zip file)

Download the CS file here (233KB zip file)

Download and unzip then put the file in Adobe Illustrator CS_ > Presets > Graphic Styles.

Enjoy!

I’m mentioned in an article about Flatstock at SXSW. Check it out, page 40. It was written by Patrick Nichols, who somehow made me sound extra smart. Thanks, Patrick!

I really do love screenprinting. I took a serigraphy class in school and had a blast with it. I was just starting to experiment with using the computer in the process, and that fascinated my prof, Tim High, who was an old-school-do-it-all-by-hand kind of guy. (I mean that in the nicest, most respectful way.)

Wired has a pretty interesting article on ambigrams this month. I’ve always been fascinated by these things. Ages ago I got a John Langdon (he updated his site recently) book from the library and started making my own, which all pretty much sucked.

I’m more confident nowadays though. I created an ambigram for Norah, my daughter (above), and I’m working on one for Julian, my son. These things are really difficult, and I’ve got a ton of respect for those who can create good ones.

Gabriel Martinez Meave is one of the new type gods. He’s an incredible calligrapher, but his type design is really fresh and unlike most everything else out there. He also happens to be a fantastic illustrator and seems to be a good designer, although I’ve seen less of his design to verify. I’m pretty confident the guy can do anything.

I first heard about him when I saw Darka. I’ve been dreaming of designing a book about heraldry using that font. I was in touch with him briefly about purchasing the font a couple of years ago, but decided to wait on his converting it to OpenType. He still hasn’t done it. Sigh.

Let’s see if this new YouTube plugin (Smart YouTube) works as advertised.

Update: Okay it works GREAT! It even loads the HD version if I tell it to. It could also load HQ or SD. Far out.

In addition to typography, heraldry is another of my hobbies. I had this idea for a coat of arms generator. You click a button and you get a randomly generated heraldic shield with blazon. I’m creating it in Flash using Actionscript 3. It’s pretty basic so far, but coming along nicely.

Version 6 features:

• many field divisions
• all of the common tinctures, colors and metals
• several uncommon colors (stains and colors particular to certain countries or regions)
• five furs
• all of the common honorable ordinaries
• all of the above weighted to rarity—for example, common colors appear a certain percentage more often than rare colors
• a blazon for the arms that is working … pretty well

I need to add more charges, but I haven’t quite figured out how to manage multiples of a charge or how to determine whether those charges are within an ordinary or over it, etc. I also need to add subordinates. Sigh … so far this is still fun. The presentation also looks leaves a lot to be desired, but that can be fixed later.

UPDATE!!

I’m posting a functional version 8 on here, even though it isn’t really finished. by not finished, I mean not every design generated will look very good or even be “right” according to the rules of blazoning. the blazon is pretty good except for the stupid a/an article determination. Oh and it doesn’t have a pre-loader, so just be patient.

If you are wondering what happened to version 7, I had added some textures, but it was too much. Version 8 has the proper font embedded and I fixed the ermine texture. Still not happy with the vair however. I think I’m going to start over and do this a little differently and give the user some control, not just randomly generate the arms. I’m working on the flow but it’s kind of a bitch; field divisions, line decorations, ordinaries charged or not, etc. Stay tuned.

Without further ado:

I’ve been obsessed with Trism. More specifically, with one of the game variations in it, Syllogism.

Trism is a really fun app for the iPhone. It’s not new or anything; it has been around awhile apparently. The goal of syllogism is to get rid of all of the triangles in as few moves as possible. A couple of months of this and I’ve gotten it down to as few moves as I can: 14 under par. I can’t see any way to get it lower, but maybe someone else has some suggestions…

Although I’m including my solutions, I encourage you to try it on your own. Use the walkthrough sparingly if you must. I understand how maddening it is when you can’t figure a level out (I’m looking at you, Blackhearted) so if this helps, great. If you have a better solution to a level let me know!

SPOILER ALERT!!

Walkthrough:

Here’s how I completed each of the 30 levels of Syllogism to get to -14 -15 -17!(see comments):

1. DR
2. DL
3. DL – L
4. UL(2) – DR(2) *the number in parens means let the triangles continue to slide after the first group is eliminated
   
5. DR – UR – L
6. DR(4) – DL(4)
7. L(2) – DR – L
8. UR – L
9. R – DR – DL
10. L – UR – DR
11. DL – UL – DL
12. DR – L – UL – UR
13. UR – L – DL
14. UR – DR – DL – UL – UR
15. L – UL – UR – L – DL – DR – UR
16. L – UR – R – UR(2)
17. DR – DL – UR – UL – UR – DR – DL – DR – DL DR – DL – UR – UL – UR(2) – UL – UR – R (thanks Newbie!)
18. L – DL – UL – R – DR(2) – UR
19. UR – UL – DL – DR – R
20. UL – UR – DL – R
21. R – L – DR – DL – R – UR – L – UL
22. DR – DL(2) – R(2) – DR
23. DL – L – UL – UR – R – UL – R – DR – R – DR – UR – DR
24. R(2) – UR(1) – DR *the 1 in parens means DO NOT continue the slide after the blocks are eliminated
25. UR – UL – DL – UL – UR – DR(2) – L
26. DL(2) – DR(1) – DL – DR – UR – UL
27. L – UR(1) – UL(2) – DL(2) – R – DL
28. DL(1) – UL(1) – DL – DR – R – DL
29. L(1) – UR – L – UR(2) – R(2)
30. L – UL – UR – UL – UR – DR(2) – DL – R – UR – L – UR

For whatever reason, 18 was particularly hard for me. It took forever to get past that level. But once I had the solution it seemed really simple. Also, 29 took some work to get it below par. I had it at 7 for the longest time then I stumbled on the 5-step solution almost by accident.