(click the image to start the presentation. Quicktime is required. You can download Quicktime here)

This presentation was given to LifeScience Alley on Thursday, June 26 2008. It was a great opportunity for us to talk with those in attendance about Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Advertising, and how these strategies influence the biomedical marketplace.

You can also download the presentation in Powerpoint or PDF format.

When working with system fonts, you need to stop and ask yourself, is this something I can even work with? I have selected the top three system fonts based on accessibility, history and functional properties. Don’t get me wrong, I am not head over heels for any of these fonts. But based on my limited selection I have chosen Helvetica, Georgia, and Verdana.

I have not included any of the new Windows Vista fonts because they have not been made accessible to me. In the words of Adam Gedde, the Great, “Don’t rely on anything from Microsoft to be free, available or to work”. I see some of the new Windows Vista fonts have a contemporary look and functional properties. However, I am not willing to pay $299.00 for system fonts when I would rather be spending my cash money on fonts from Emigre, Hoefler & Frere-Jones, 2Rebels, or Under Ware, just to name a few.

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“I am a words person, that is why typography is the obvious extension, it just makes my words visible.” Erik Spiekermann

As a designer, I have a special place tucked away in my heart for fonts. However, I find working with system fonts tragically disappointing. I am faced with this disappointment every day when creating accessible interactive spaces. Spaces that need to be compatible with every operating system and web browser. This is the dilemma, how do you create engaging spaces that are accessible to everyone when there are so many limitations?

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When working with system fonts you need to stop and ask yourself, is this something I can even work with. Some system fonts are absolutely useless but no need to worry I rated each one for you.

Is Arial something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Robin Nicholas and Patricia Sauders in 1982.

Classification: Humanist Sans-Serif

Is Calibri something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Luc(as) de Groot in 2007

Classification: Modern Sans-Serif

Is Cambria something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Ian Koshnick in 1989

Classification: Transitional Serif

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So I thought it was a normal Thursday morning, until I was confronted with the fact that my blog post was weeks overdue.

So I turned to my team for help.

“What should I write about?”, I asked, “just give me a topic and I’ll write about it.”

“You’re only as good as your latest Photoshop filter”, said Charissa, “there you go, get to writing.”

I started thinking to myself, yeah right, as if I know anything to write about Photoshop, that Adobe guy is way smarter than I am. I gave it some time to sink in and started to realize maybe she had just given me a great topic. There seemed to be some inner meaning behind her advice. It was like an inside joke without the joke.

You’re only as good as your latest Photoshop filter, what exactly does that mean? Well, here’s what I think she meant:

You’re only as good as your creativity takes you. If your creativity stops at a Photoshop filter, well, you’ve succeeded in utilizing and learning the tools of the trade. Keep trying. Real creativity goes beyond the obvious tools right in front of you, it requires a significant amount of belief. Belief in yourself that you can not only utilize the tools at hand, but introduce a fresh and unique way to integrate those tools into your concept(s) and approach. That belief then takes you to finding ideal combinations of those tools introducing new techniques into your skill set.

This belief now starts taking you down an avenue of unlimited possibilities. It’s not until you find yourself going this direction that your designs really start to have their own voice and personality. Of course finding this dark, hidden avenue takes a number of years, but when you find it, the work you’ll start producing will blow you away. Now imagine executing your designs with a rock solid creative development team and you just might start considering a change of religion. To Adobeianity to be exact.

So what I really think she was trying to say is, don’t let a Photoshop filter drive your belief in yourself. Those are just tools and pieces of the bigger picture. It’s how you use those tools and then move beyond those tools that really define who you are as a creative.

Thank you Mr. Adobe, it’s now up to the rest of us to advance beyond your latest filters.

Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a weekly series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned each week for more real platform action.

It was just another morning at the office. I was clicking, dragging and typing when I heard muffled gasps down the hall from one my coworker’s offices. Then a shriek. Then a “Holy shit!” and some shocked, cackling type of laughter (Must’ve been Joe). Soon footsteps pattered in my direction, and I was instructed that I needed to look out the window at the platform. Excited, as I always am at these moments of platform drama, I popped up eagerly to look out the window. “What the!”, I exclaimed. This couldn’t be real. But it was very real. Someone had actually driven about 50 feet onto the train track. Not only that, but they had managed to get half the car up on two wheels onto the platform, which is about 2 feet above street level. We all stood gawking, jaws open. Many questions entered my mind…

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