A Srsly Awesome Schedule to Print for the Capitol Hill Block Party

Quick! Who's playing the Capitol Hill Block Party between 7:45 and 8:00 pm on Saturday? What? Having trouble? It isn't you. It's the schedule design.

The Capitol Hill Block Party schedule from The Stranger sucks at information design. Because it is organized by stage, you can't see performance overlaps and tradeoffs. It is designed for someone working the stage logistics. Not you.

What wouldn't suck: a grid schedule just like an all-growed-up music festival. I made one up and I'm sharing it with you, just 'cause I'm nice like that. It includes the Cha Cha lineup too! (You won't find Cha Cha info on The Stranger site at all.) Get J9's Capitol Hill Block Party Grid Schedule.

You decide: wanna mess with stage-centric crap, or use a srsly awesome schedule designed for us normal peeps? Maybe this picture will help.

[get it!]

geeky tech notes:

Print "two pages per sheet" for a one-page pocket reference covering both days.

The file format is MS Excel. Props to anyone who shares a PDF version. (I don't have a PDF writer and the crapola free online PDF writer changed all my fonts. Boo!)

Update: A Three Imaginary Girls blog post has a Goggle Doc version and a PDF version for those who manage to do without Excel. Thanks sparkly friends!

How to Nap (a little critique)

The Boston Globe tells us the right way to nap in a one-page illustrated article How to Nap. (click pic for larger view)

I like that they took an illustrative approach to a topic which gets a lot of ink. However, I'm not crazy about the page layout and definitely put off by the wordiness. Cut half the words and you've got a more focused and effective article.

Additionally, the graphics are close but not spot-on. For example, these clock are a good visual to illustrate the best time to nap for larks and owls.

However, which is for lark, and which is for owl? The audience must read the accompanying text or study both clocks to determine the one that applies. A better approach would be to label each clock "lark" or "owl." We can then focus on the one that fits and ignore the other -- and wouldn't even need the accompanying text to get the point.

Good graphical communication eliminates speed bumps to comprehension, is efficient for the audience, and makes the content more sticky.

Visual math with corporate logos

Continuing on my theme of mashup posts today (band name + book title here), check out the brilliant math and arithmetic behind corporate logos, from Argentinian bloggers La Luna and Javier at LogosLogos. I'm digging this visual math.

Geoff McFetridge at Olympic Sculpture Park

Graphic designer, artist, and director Geoff McFetridge has been kicking it around Seattle the last few days completing the installation of "In a Mind" at the Olympic Sculpture Park pavilion. The installation opens on March 29 and will run through early 2009.



Word on the street was he would be finishing up the installation today between 10am and 3pm, so I took the #8 bus down Denny and arrived around 12:30. Good timing: the installation was still underway. Bad timing: lunch break. We killed some time by wandering around and playing on the eye benches.

Checking back in at the pavilion about 45 minutes later, there was still no activity. So we sat around for a while and took a few pictures; it felt like we were waiting for a play that never started. Finally left around 2 pm. Oh well.

it was a treat to see the nearly complete installation and appreciate it in a quiet setting. Just wish I could have met (or at least seen) Geoff McFetridge.

Maybe the "I'm rocking on your dime" t-shirt I wore scared him off. I'm not a crazy superfan, Geoff. I promise.

Free events for creative types this weekend

The annual ByDesign film series offers a couple of free opportunities in Seattle this week to peek at the latest in digital video and audio art trends. Free is good, yes?

ByDesign kicks off this Thursday, March 6th with an opening reception featuring works exploring the synchronization of color, shape and type with sound. Contributing producers/performers at the opening night reception include UK group Semiconductor Films, and digital music artists Son of Rose and Caro. (8:00 pm, free)

If you miss the opening reception, you can catch the Time Out of Place production from Semiconductor on Saturday, March 8th, showing between the hours of 3:00 pm and 7:15 pm. (free)
On Sunday, March 9th you can soak in four works from Graham Wood, of the acclaimed creative group Tomato. These pieces are described as "haunting, kaleidoscopic animated sequences." (Hmmm. Consider enhancing your visual perception beforehand if you are into that sort of thing.) Showing between the hours of 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm. (free)

The series lineup includes a few additional interesting screenings, but these will cost ya: Entrophy: New Shorts and Music Videos; Helvetica; and History of Computer Graphics in Film. (Tron, anyone?) The Helvetica documentary film received good reviews from Time Out London and Chicago Tribune. Check the ByDesign 08 site for deets.

Minor detour: Helvetica is all the rage these days. MoMA's exhibit "50 Years of Helvetica" is showing through March 31st and highlights the typeface's history, ubiquity, and influence. I caught it back in October and it was surprisingly interesting. Get the catalog on the MoMA website if you are a font-head.

All events are held at the Northwest Film Forum in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. [map]

Travel Posters from '50s and '60s

Hamish Grant, a photographer in Toronto, found a stash of 35mm slides of travel and marketing posters from the '50s and '60s. Peep them for a fascinating retrospective of graphic design trends at that time: color, layout, typeface.
Some are quite amusing. The "Britain Welcomes You" poster features a bagpipe player. As in Scotland. Yeah, I know Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, but c'mon. "Britain" didn't need to borrow culture from their northern neighbor - which if I remember correctly was invaded by the british and absorbed into the borg. "Britain" has their own icons they could have used, right? Stonehenge, anyone?

I haven't looked at all of the posters yet, but a few trends stand out so far. Brown with blue, embracing the 2-D approach to art, minimalist wording, san-serif preferred over serif.

It strikes me that current advertisement is more wordy and dense. I appreciate the simplicity of this older style. I'm sure it is a function the medium and the intent: these are likely posters for travel offices. The intent would have been to draw people in to the storefront office to learn more, and subsequently sell (and upsell) travel packages through personal interaction. That different business model required a different solution than what works in today's market and self-service model. While I do absolutely like having all the facts available and can shop around, sometimes a little simplicity can go a long way.

I'm looking forward to the "calm beauty of Japan at almost the speed of sound" next month. (Via NWA not JAL, however.)

unplug the vampires

The Jan/Feb 08 issue of GOOD magazine includes an informative illustration of what it costs to keep your electronic gadgetry plugged in 24x7 for a year. Reduce your power consumption: unplug the vampires when not in use.

That new plasma TV you’re getting for Christmas? Plan for an electric bill increase of $160/year.

I like the vampire theme. It is memorable and makes the data so much more interesting that a bar chart. Click the pic for a close up view.


Via core77.com