• Quark has released a free booklet, video and online content to help creatives integrate QuarkXPress 8 with Adobe tools including Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. In other Quark news, the company has launched ilovedesign.com, an online community for designers that now has more than 10,000 registered users from around the world. Designers can share their work for comment and critique and chat about design.

• LA-based interactive agency the Groop developed the website for Causecast.org, a social networking site that links charitable organizations with the celebrities who endorse them and the users who support them.

• Users of TimeFox, the online time- and project-tracking system for small creative shops, can download a free Dashboard Widget that allows users to simply and quickly log time spent on projects, without having to access the online tool.

• agefotostock.com is offering a deal: Creatives who purchase a minimum of $500 (before tax) worth of images between now and December 31 are eligible for a 20% discount on online purchases in January. See website for details.

• The October release of Adobe Creative Suite 4 products has also launched a wave of tutorials: Que Publishing has issued books in its "On Demand" series focusing on Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash Pro and other CS4 programs. And O'Reilly has released books in its "Missing Manual" series covering Dreamweaver and Flash CS4.

This short film of two people drawing letters left me with a smile on my face.

Job (my brother) and Gradus (my son just turned 4) both are very ambitious concerning letters. Spontaneous jam sessions in our studio inspired us to make this video about the fun of drawing letters.

via Design Observer

Posted by Megan

Awesome design blog Grain Edit has an interview with designer John Foster about his latest book (published by HOW) called For Sale: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design.

Well, poster design is still my one true love and always will be. However, the point of that book was to curate a collection that would turn the world on to this amazing movement going on under their noses. With “For Sale,” I saw something similar; this amazing wave of packaging design we are experiencing. Only this time the renaissance is so close to the consumer that they don’t even realize it. Selling products in a fragmented marketplace is more and more challenging and I wanted to show the designers who were up to the task.

Posted by Megan

For 22 years, designer Bill Gardner has been creating stunning Christmas cards for his client Aspen Boutique. Read a Q&A with Bill and see his gorgeous work here.

On a monthly basis, someone will find out we design the Aspen cards and they'll tell us they have every single one of them. They also tell us they bring them out each season and line them up on a mantle or a dining room table as decorations. You can not buy that kind of advertising. Really! At times the mailing list has reached 15,000+ cards per year. Customers that have not been to the store in years occasionally are removed from the list and then they throw a fit when their card doesn't arrive. Then they com back to the store to do some shopping to make sure they don't miss out again.

Posted by Megan

Veer offers an interesting selection of antique illustrations that would be fun to play with. My favorite is Art of Anatomy 1513-1879, a collection of 120 classic scientific and artistic studies of the human body. Some of the drawings are king of gross, but beautiful in their own way.

Posted by Megan

You remember the story of the Four Wisemen, right? What? You didn't know about the fourth one? There were four, all right, and if you missed the story of the fourth guy, you'll be interested to read all about it on Art Backwash. Plus, you can download a paper sculpture to print, cut and assemble, so you can share this holiday narrative with your friends and family. Illustrative designer Von Glitschka (who's presenting a HOW webinar, 6 Steps to Better Creative Concepts next week, BTW) created the sculpture and freelance writer Kristin Fischer (who bylined an article in HOW's current Business Annual) wrote the story. Sweet! And thanks to Von for the heads-up (and the image).

Celebrate the season with a festive Daily Monster.

Posted by Megan

Package Designer
Mattel

Tyco R/C is a leader in radio controlled mass-market vehicles. The Tyco R/C division of Mattel, Inc., is looking for a talented graphic designer to join its packaging team. This senior-level designer will bring a great eye, rock-solid technical skills and enthusiasm to the team. Check out www.tycoRC.com!

The ideal candidate will have strong art direction and graphic design skills, with experience in consumer products packaging. A positive attitude, iron-clad work ethic and strong communication/people skills are non-negotiable. This is a 40-hour a week position that is classified as “temporary”, but may lead to full-time employment for a rock-star designer.

Posted by Megan

Want to make a donation as a holiday gift for your clients this year? Check out Tis Best, where you can order gift cards that allow the recipient to choose the charity they want to support. You can even upload your own image to be printed on the cards. I ordered one for my brother, who's all about saving the planet and not eating animals. This way, he can decide exactly where the money will go.

Posted by Megan

The latest HOW book focuses on influential women working in design:

The immense body of work produced by graphic designers around the world is astoundingly varied, rich and widely celebrated. Yet in publications, conferences and other public realms, women designers tend to be outnumbered by their male counterparts whose appearances, work and achievements are constantly in the spotlight. Luckily, it’s a reversing trend. While this book does not attempt to relieve the imbalance, it does bring full attention to the wonderful work, careers and contributions of women designers, writers, teachers and entrepreneurs around the world.

You can get a sneak peak of Women of Design here. And see what other people are saying about it:

This book about women in design turns out to be a great book about design, period, except with fresher, more surprising work, and less bombastic interviews. Highly recommended to 100% of the population.
— Michael Bierut, Partner, Pentagram

Posted by Megan