“So long, farewell...” With less than 10 days left in the year, the HOW staff will be spending the rest of 2007 celebrating with family and friends. But come January 2, we’ll be back at the blog, catching you up on any industry news you might have missed. Till then, happy holidays!

Today's New York Times Thursday Styles section has an article about which of the year's interior design trends have passed from Hot to Not. Among the "outs": deer motifs (sorry, Carmen) and cowhide rugs (ewww).

When I first read this release from P22, I was a bit confused. But then I tried it. So cool!

P22 announces the P22 Music Text Composition Generator, a free online music utility that allows any text to be converted into a musical composition. This composition is displayed in musical notation and simultaneously generates a midi music file that is played back on your computer. The P22 MTCG was programmed by designer Colin Kahn from an idea conceived by P22 creative director Richard Kegler.

Posted by Megan

Here at HOW HQ, we're interested in the whole handmade, do-it-yourself thing: not just in design, though it's a huge trend here, but also more generally in pop culture. Several of the HOW gang are avid makers-of-stuff (baked goods, costumes, home decor, holiday gifts, whatever).

New York Times writer Rob Walker (whose "Consumed" column we follow regularly, and you should, too) had a lengthy piece in Sunday's magazine about the whole handmade movement. Interesting stuff. You can read it online via the Times website or, if you're not a registered Times user, you can get to it—plus a bunch of additional links and reference material—though Walker's "murketing" blog.

Walker interviews Etsy co-founder Robert Kalin, whose ideas on the handmade movement seem akin to the Slow Food philosophy: understanding where and from whom the stuff you buy (and eat) comes from. (Like, not from some sweatshop in China.) Walker writes:

If the marketplace today has become alienating and disconnected, then buying something handmade, from another individual, rolls back the clock to an era before factory labor and mass production.

If you love Amy Butler's fabric patterns (like me) but aren't into sewing (like me), she recently launched a new line of paper products through K&Company. Plus she's posted directions for some great paper projects on her site.







via Fly

Posted by Megan

Stop and Start Over, a website devoted to helping recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, began as a Thesis project by Lara McCormick for the School of Visual Arts 'Designer as Author' MFA Design program in 2007. Now that McCormick has won a Sappi Ideas That Matter grant, she'll be expanding her project by working with the non-profit NCADD (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency) to create a campaign based on the current graphics and content of the project. A series of brochures and posters will be produced, then distributed through NCADD’s network of affiliates.

Posted by Megan

Learn to seperate the myths from the realities of digital printing in a free webinar on Monday, December 17 at  2 p.m. (Reservation is required.)

Posted by Megan

This print by illustrator/artist Matte Stephens has a wonderful combination of colors. (It's for sale on Etsy for $35.)

Posted by Megan

Illustrator Bob Staake recently posted an article on his website explaining how he got started illustrating covers for The New Yorker, something he thought would be very difficult to acheive. It offers some great insight into how to establish a relationship with an art director and how early ideas can be transformed into stronger ones later.

Posted by Megan

User experience consultant Paul Boag offers 10 tips for smoothing the web design approval process, but nearly all the tips would apply to print as well. I found #4 particularly interesting and likely to provoke argument.

4. Avoid multiple concepts

Many clients like the idea of having the option to choose between multiple design concepts. However, although on the surface this might appear to be a good idea it can ultimately be counterproductive for design sign off. In a world of limited budgets it is unwise to waste money on producing designs that are ultimately going to be thrown away. The resources would be better spent refining a single design through multiple iterations. What is more, multiple concepts often cause confusion rather than clarity. It is common for a client to request one element from one design and another from the second. As any designer knows this seldom works.

via Swissmiss

Posted by Megan

Jim Krause's latest addition to the Index line of books is out: Color Index 2. The book contains hundreds of different color combinations, each with an accurate formula for both print and web use. You can get a sneak peek of the book here.

Posted by Megan

With Christmas shopping in full swing, you just might need some help figuring out (fortunately, I just finished checking people off my list yesterday!). So, here's a really cool watch from NOOKA that has a neat display (12 dots light up to reflect the hour of day) and comes in a variety of colors (gold being only the obvious choice).

Today must be the day of forwarding along links, because I just got another email about a nifty download you can check out: a free e-book about time management for creatives from Business of Design Online. It's a compilation of a series the site hosted, which equals out to 32 pages full of tips and tidbits about how to prioritize, not have a never-ending to-do list of tasks, and how "doing it tomorrow" can work to your benefit.

A handful of industry news tidbits this week:

• SMART Papers' entire Genesis line of premium uncoated printing and packaging papers has been FSC certified. Genesis also adds several papers with 100% postconsumer waste.

• Worldstudio and AIGA recently announced the winners of their annual scholarship program, including three students who received the Mohawk Paper Award: Sana Ali from University of Texas, Edwin Olivera at University of Memphis and Patrick Anderson from School of Visual Arts all received the top prize, a $2,000 scholarship for the 2007–08 academic year. Six students received $250 scholarships as honorable mention winners: Christopher Lyle, Caroline Park, Emilia Wiles, Tameka Norris, Venice Christina-Marie McCurdy and Marilyn Montufar.

• Corel and ConceptShare recently launched CorelDRAWConceptShare.com, which lets CorelDRAW
users share their work with other designers, colleagues or clients.

• Creative Manager Pro's new version 8.5 includes updates for Mac OS X Leopard and several key features in Flash; a previous update also allowed design managers to use the software on their iPhone or iPod Touch devices.

• Neenah Paper is sponsoring a contest for outstanding design projects printed in part or entirely on its papers; two grand prize winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the 2008 HOW Design Conference in Boston. For more info, go to Neenahpaper.com/HOW.

• PROOF-it-ONLINE is offering a free Pro Premium Proofing Evaluation Bundle to the first 50 companies signing up during the month of December. The package, valued at $800, includes a free two-month online proofing account (up to 250 proofs per month), a phone consultation with ROI analysis, a newly released white paper entitled, “Top 5 Things to Know About Online Proofing that Will Help Your Business Grow” and unlimited access to PROOF-it-ONLINE’s Resource Center.