Vintage Printables

This site is such a treasure, I almost want to keep it to myself...
Public Domain Vintage illustrations lovingly scanned are available at Vintage Printable. Beautiful! (And thank you thank you thank you). >> Read more...

3D animated movies for learning in minutes

From the desktop to the classroom, teachers are dabbling in DIY animation cause, heck, why not. Be it 2D, 3D or stop motion, animations, and the act of animating, can become a central part of learning, even, apparantly, in primary school. One favored tool is xtranormal STATE which turns text into a 3D animated movie and it's completely free. Write your story, pick your characters and get dragging and dropping. Of course, it's only available on Windows. D-oh!
If you're happy with 2D, you can still make instant movies with the web-based GoAnimate which is kind of like playing with color forms online - only now they have dialogue, camera moves, visual effects and celebrity faces. Remember color forms!? (Nostalgic sigh....) >> Read more...

Online Educational Games

Online games for kids that teach skills in math, science and language arts are available for free at arcademicskillbuilders.com. This University of Kansas based initiative also features a plethora of other online teacher resources via 4Teachers.org (just check out the drop down at the top right of the screen). Kudos to the folks at ALTEC, U. of Kansas. >> Read more...

Design Principles Database

Dip into expert knowledge on learning design at the design principles database:
The Design Principles Database (DPD) "is a place for you to learn from the wisdom gained by dozens of researchers who have designed, enacted with students, and studied the use of technology for learning. This wisdom is translated in the DPD into pedagogical Design Principles".

• "browse or search the dpd for design principles exemplified by features from educational technologies."


• "Follow our step by step model to design a new learning environment using the DPD. Your outcome would be a design document and a mock-up of your environment, which you’ll be able to further use for making it come alive."

The DPD is an international effort lead by Yael Kali (Israel Institute of Technology) and Marcia Linn (University of California, Berkley). Yael Kali will be in Australia in 2009, as a Visiting Scholar at the CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney where she'll be furthering her research into design knowledge.

>> Read more...

'Print' magazine - for the thinking designer

As designers, how can we but revel in that glossy eye-candy rich artifact: the design magazine. We're looking for fun, information, inspiration, the new, the bold, the beautiful and a font of fabulous ideas. So is it me, or does it feel like instead we're bombarded with a stream of photoshop tutorials, technology ads, free cds, buzz-word infiltrated articles and layouts that are "so hip" its hard to read the text? There's certainly nothing wrong with tutorials and product reviews, but what about when you're looking for something more? And the conspicuously old boys club approach of some mags I could certainly do without.

After a relentless search (in the area of English-language graphic and digital design) I landed on what I would call the "thinking designer's magazine"...


It's a multiple award winning publication, which is no surprise, as it maintains truly superb journalistic quality (the kind you'd expect from a top news source like the New York Times), and it's not just the new, narrow and fluffy, but the expansive, eclectic, essential and serendipitous. It's the first magazine I want to devour slowly from cover to soft matte cover. It's called "Print - Design Culture Place" and it's certainly not new. Print has been in print since 1940, and in 2008 it's fun, visually satisfying, intelligent and even authentic. It never screams try-hard or self-consciously-trendy, but smart, and the layout is (wait for it) well designed! That means it's literally usable, not just eye-catching. It's comfortable and pleasurable to read and to view.

There are plenty of pictures, but also plenty of content.

With topics as irresistible as "Design under pressure - how conflict influences design" featuring book covers, comics, signage and mural work in Iraq, Northern Ireland, India, and Cuba, it's not exactly that same review of the top 10 UK studios. The June issue featured European design, but again, not the same-old studio tour. This time it's "cute" in Iceland, political cartooning in Turkey and board game design in Germany along with tidbits on fonts, retro movie posters, business comics, album art and even those "Little Golden Books" you remember from childhood. You get the picture - it's not a one-note magazine.

And if you're thinking "but it's print, and I work in digital" don't forget that all that print these days is done digitally and inspiration will always come from everywhere. But they also have a regular segment titled "Desktop" that focuses on animation, flash, software and other digital domains. If you want just website reviews, you will need to look elsewhere, but there is always the web for that. I'm not saying this will be the only design magazine on your shelf, but it could end up being the best one. Although Print is sometimes dubbed "America's graphic design magazine" it takes an extremely international view. Overseas subscriptions are available (take it off your taxes).

HOW is another solid design magazine, and perhaps unsurprisingly, is put out by the same publisher (no, I am not getting any payouts from F+W, unfortunately). HOW focuses more on career and practicalities with loads of information for the freelance designer and art director. I know there are more great design mags out there, so feel free to drop a note on your favorite ones, where they're published, and why they're particularly inspiring.

>> Read more...