Articles about Design

1177. Another despatch from Electric Logoland. This is a polishing of the KVDO logo we just presented:We've cleaned up the typography quite a bit here, and extended the type treatment into the station's call-sign. The call-letters align with the letterforms TV, leading the eye across and through. The 3 calls attention to itself through sheer size, leading the eye to the type, where we naturally reset to the left end of that string, reading back rightward to encode the information.The majuscule T and V letterforms formed the basis for almost all the rest of the type; the D was created from the stem stroke of the T and a clipped O, which was simply composed of two ellipses. The stem was again borrowed as the basis of the K, and the hairline and leg strokes for the K were kept simple so it could all be augured in by sight.To cap off this trip down Oregon broadcast memory lane, the studio building for KVDO still stands, only, of course, it hasn't been used as a TV studio since the day i

1176. From our headquarters in Electric Logoland, another ZehnKatzen Labs production:Salem's own Channel 3, KVDO TV. KVDO (the VDO meant video, and some locals called it K-Video for a short while) signed on in February 1970 to big capitial city press. It was an independent station that tried to mount its own news operation, and it was a moderate hit in Salem, but no matter how popular such a station is, it always had to operate in the shadow of the Portland stations–a competition which, by 1976, proved too stiff. Independent Channel 3 signed off an became a star in the OPB constellation.In 1976, after KVDO was acquired by OPB and began simulcasting PBS programs, Channel 3 went dark from February to September of that year, when an upset local Salem viewer decided to protest the sale to OPB by cutting down the transmission tower. Eventually the station was moved to Bend, which had no OPB coverage, signing on in 1983 as KOAB-TV.This version of the logo is about 90% faithful to the orig

1174. Because coming up with this was liberating:Also, Snow Patrol is the best band we've heard come along in a hell of a long time.Fun chutzpah-themed Wikipedia trivia snippet: In the early days, the band used to pretend to be members of the Scottish band Belle & Sebastian in order to gain free entry to the Student Union club at the Glasgow School of Art. Tags: album cover art, snow patrol, shut your eyes, 94/7 Sessions, KNRK

1173. A production of ZehnKatzen Labs:Not complete–a few roads are left off, but the map is actually not complete. Oh, yes, and no nomenclature at all; impose your own truths, or none, as you see fit (actually, that's kind of scary, isn't it?).No roads on the Washington side, but nothing personal, Vancouver; VanWA is outside of the bailiwick of the project this map supports. I know you're up there.Adobe® Illustrator CS3, for those who are wondering.Oh, yes, this work is governed by the following license:This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.If you want to nick it, go ahead, just give me credit for it, neh? Tags: Portland, Oregon, Free Maps, digital maps

Well, a new design is being implemented, one that will hopefully help everyone trying to find presale passwords by making the site easier to navigate and less cluttered. One change we have had to make - passwords are no longer displayed in clear text on the page. You will need to click a link to... Visit our blog to get boat-loads of presale passwords - Totally Free.

I am sure that anyone who is an ardent movie buff would like to possess a home theater. Owing one is a good idea but there are a few factors that need to be taken into consideration. Furniture is certainly one of the factors! Once you have made up your mind to include one at home, it is important to decide the location. If you already know that, then it is time to go ahead. Basically there are two parts of a home theater, one is the video and audio equipment and the second the interior d

1172.A rather rough rough. The rose represents on behalf of the Rose City, of course, and was clipped from a lower-res photograph I have here strictly for visualization purposes.The rose graphic might not be completely acceptable for a metropolitan route network–after all, Portland isn't the whole of the Metro area, and other Metro area towns that are not Portland can be somewhat resentful of a Rose-City-centric symbol for a badged route running through thier neighborhoods.But this gets the general gist of the idea across. The pentagonal shield is, of course, the commonly-used county route cutout, and the idea of personalizing the shield with a commonly-recognizable symbol rather than words (such as METRO ROUTE) was inspired by the way Charlotte NC adorns the Charlotte Route 4 sign with the crown from the city's logo. Tags: Portland, pdx, Portland Metro, PDX Metro, Metro Routes

Nada como relembrar a frescura deste post e perceber a vontade de dançar, perceber a vontade de (re)viver, perceber que não podemos passar a vida sós no alto de uma montanha, como vigia de incêndios, sempre atento aos sinais de fogo. Um dia de lá teremos que sair. Hoje chega o tema #29: "You! Me! Dancing!" dos Los Campesinos!, extraído do EP 'Sticking Fingers into Sockets', um dos EPs de 2007!

I’ve just had a very interesting chat with Neil Blakey-Milner, who is organising Cape Town’s very own StarCamp, and from the line-up that he mentioned it's going to be l33t (yes, yes… I had to drop it in here). During the chat I realised that this is something that really deserves assistance and to do our bit we have decided to supply nifty t-shirts to all the undelegates (P.S. he is also looking for some other help so if you can assist, please give him a call). In true “un” style we thought it would be great if we opened up the t-shirt design to the entire blogosphere. Basically, we are looking for a super creative concept that we can then carefully craft into an award winning t-shirt design. At the last BarCamp we also got involved in helping out and through a similar mechanism we ended up with an awesome t-shirt designed by Mark Forrester which many of the attendees still wear (Rafiq for one). The Brief: Must revolve around the StarCamp unconf

Andrei Alexandrescu,«Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied» Addison-Wesley | ISBN 0201704315 | 352 pages | 2001 Year A text introducing the concept of generic components within all C++ language. Discusses issues that C++ developers deal with on a daily basis, including policy-based design for flexibility, partial template

Database Design Using Entity-Relationship Diagrams Hardcover: 264 pages Publisher: AUERBACH ISBN-10: 0849315484 ISBN-13: 978-0849315480 Entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams are time-tested models for database development well-known for their usefulness in mapping out clear database designs. Also commonly known is how difficult it is to master them. With this comprehensive guide, database

1164. If you've been looking up and forward whilst waiting at any light in the Portland corporate area latterly, you'll have seen a sign bound to the overhead like this:The City is, at last, addressing a real need in road signage. Most other larger towns up and down the valley (and across the Columbia too) have large signs denoting the street name on the traffic signal arm. Any driver who's been saved from having to frantically scan about on the corners to see what street they're crossing don't need to be told how good this is. The standard has seemed to have been set; the iconic representation of the "Portland Rose", the red rose with three green leaves, and a simple representation of the street name at cross. The notation on this particular sign deserves some explanation. For the past several months, a major realignment of the connection between Killingsworth Street and Columbia Boulevard has been becoming reality. The old Columbia Boulevard opening, a two-lane und

1162. One thing not seen often in Oregon are signed county routes. I think this is unfortunate, because having county route numbers are a really nifty way of instilling terrior, a sense of place, and saying "follow Country Route 3" dispenses with all sorts of "go left here ... or was that right ...no, wait, start over" monologue that even I (and you can't get me lost very easily anyhwere in the Valley north of Corvallis) tend to get into (the brain is a funny thing).There is one county in Oregon that implements a badged county road network, and that county is Douglas. It's a little hard to find maps with the route numbers on online–I do have a map of them, but that's off the official Douglas County map of 1990, an illustration of which is at left (click the map to embiggen).The county road shield is a standard one: gold FHWA-style type on blue field, an irregular pentagon taller than wide, with mitred corners on the bottom two points and rounded corners on the top three. I've cre

1161. Posting about Salem street blades got me reminiscing about growing up in Salem, and I remember seeing some of the evolutions of that form. The following comes from memory ...When my fam moved into town, the street blades (inside town, anyway-the Marion County blades were wooden, and standard off-white on green) weren't green-on-white, as detailed two entries back, but rather looked like this:That's m4d Photoshop skillz, yo. The letterforms were slightly different too, but the current editions are close enough that this looks very close to the way they used to be. But this was just an intermediate step in their evolution. Perhaps influenced by styles seen elsewhere, the name blade used to be slenderer–with only room for one line of type, the street name; the block index went on a tab that was riveted to the main blade:I believe this style was current in Salem through the late sixties and was supplanted by the other style as signs needed replacing. Moreover, street blades durin

1160. From the movie listings in The Big O today:Yes, but which one will we go see ... oh, well, when in doubt, see the one that has Jake Gylenhaal in it...what, dude, what ... neither of them have him in it? Oh, my. Tags: design, page layout, funny

1158. Latterly, as detailed before in this consciousness stream, we visited Salem to see Fam and overeat generally. Missions both accomplished. But what Yours Truly had in mind was to snap some images of something we don't see often: Salem and Keizer street blades. Lets just cut to the chase, then. The first of the two cities one comes to is, of course, Keizer. Formed in 1982, mostly to keep Salem out, Keizer is one of the two areas where Salem ever got any sprawl on before urban growth boundaries sprang up around Oregon cities back in the day. Here's a typical set of blades in a typical Keizer neighborhood. 14th Avenue NE is notable because it is to greater Salem what Peacock Lane is to Portland–it's the street where all the neighbors go all out every holiday season in a Christmas decoration extravaganza: The block number indexes are notable here. You're looking at the intersection of the 1300 block of Harmony Dr NE and the 5700 block of 14th A

Microprocessor Design Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Language: English ISBN: 0071459510 Paperback: 408 pages Data: Apr 2006 Format: PDF This unique step-by-step guide is a complete introduction to modern microprocessor design, explained in simple nontechnical language without complex mathematics. An ideal primer for those working in or studying the semiconductor industry, Microprocessor

1156. And now, a song of Channel Threes. This post is in fond memoriam of KVDO Channel 3, Salem, which broadcast from 14 Feb 1970 to 19 Feb 1976 as Salem's local independent TV station (after Feb 1976 it was broacasting OPB content, and we're including that period when that disgruntled viewer cut down the Channel 3 transmission tower). So, after a brief 30-second (or 60-second, if you can afford it) pause to reflect, we'll move on.There. You know, it just occurred to me–does anyone have any KVDO ephemera? If you scan it and send it here, I'll be happy to post that. Anyway, without further ado ... Let's tune in across the country to Channel 3 ...On Cable Channel 3 in Longmont, Colorado–The Longmont Channel:I thought it was cool the way someone did a little design job just for their local cable channel.Acadiana's News Channel, KATC, Lafayette, LA:KBTX, Channel 3, College Station/Bryan Texas. They sure do know how to work that Lone Star down there:KCRA, Channel 3, Sacramento. Th

1155. Ever wonder what thier Channel 2 looks like?So did I. Here's what I found (dialup warning–metric buttload of images follow):Well, all of you who are Painfully Portland (like me) already know this one:Here's KBCI Channel 2, Boise (before and after the recent rebranding):KCBS, Channel 2, Los Angeles:KDKA, Channel 2, Pittsburgh (a "K" station east of the Mississippi):KGAN Channel 2, Cedar Rapids Iowa:KHON Channel 2, Honolulu:KJRH Channel 2, Tulsa:KPRC Channel 2, Houston (aren't they perky?):... although that fellow on the far left pretty much defines the phrase gimlet-eyed gaze.KTUU Channel 2, Anchorage:KTVI Channel 2, Saint Louis:KTVN Channel 2, Reno:KTVU Channel 2, San Francisco:KUTV Channel 2, Salt Lake City:KWGN, Channel 2, Denver:TPT (Twin Cities Public Television), Minnesota. Has Channel 2 and 17:WBAY, Channel 2, Green Bay and Fox River Valley, Wisconsin:WBBM, Chicago's Legendary CBS O&O Channel 2:WCBD, Channel 2, Charleston South Carolina:WCBS, Channel 2, New York C

1154. The history of Portland television is, in a way, the history of Channel 12, KPTV. It's also kind of a history of styles and fashion, which is truthfully the way I relate to it on a gut-response level. The current logo portrays the KPTV-that-is-now; Portland's FOX affiliate–slick, mature, serious. It was a long growing-up. History will recall that Portland's own KPTV was the first TV station in Portland, and may well be the first commercial UHF TV station in the world (the award for first UHF station proper going to a Bridgeport, CN trasmitter (KC2XAK) that was an experimental effort). Ironically, the first owners of KPTV–Empire Coil–bought the transmission equipment for KC2XAK, shipped it cross country, and assembled it on Council Crest ... as KPTV's first transmitter. It signed on as KPTV-Channel 27 in September of 1952 carrying all four then-major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont), and, as commercial television exploded in Stumptown from 1952 throu