Cameron Moll's Blog, page 47

MyFonts Now Selling Webfonts

MyFonts Now Selling Webfonts:

MyFonts is now the latest vendor to enter the font embedding game, with licensing specifications that scale with pageviews. A font that sells for $20, for example, includes 10,000 monthly pageviews. For two times the price ($40), you get ten times the pageviews (100,000). And so forth.

Earlier this morning, details about the licensing specifications, which can found by clicking the blue '+Web' icon next to each font, basically said, "We have no way to monitor the usage, so this is all based on the honor system." They've now removed that text.

Evan Williams Steps Down as Twitter CEO

Evan Williams Steps Down as Twitter CEO:

The Nebraska farm-raised, co-founder of Twitter, in his own words:

I am most satisfied while pushing product direction. Building things is my passion, and I've never been more excited or optimistic about what we have to build.

This is why I have decided to ask our COO, Dick Costolo, to become Twitter's CEO. Starting today, I'll be completely focused on product strategy.

Having also stepped down voluntarily in the past from a management position to one in the trenches, I totally get where he's coming from — often the work at ground level is more fascinating and engaging than at the top.

/via @zeldman

How to Photograph Yourself Flying

How to Photograph Yourself Flying:

Paula Chang:

I had one of those flying dreams, the kind that we all have at one point or another. This one though, felt particularly special, and I felt the need to record it somehow. Words would have failed to capture how I felt, so I decided to illustrate it in a photo.

IBM 'Outcomes' Campaign

IBM 'Outcomes' Campaign:

These print pieces are just brilliant. Objects and negative space combine to produce FedEx arrow-like visuals. Designed by Noma Bar (Dutch Uncle) to promote IBM's "Smarter Planet" initiative.

For related viewing, see Graphic Design Blog's list of logos with hidden messages.

How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity

How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity:

Scott Belsky:

Many admired (and extremely effective) leaders use an analog approach to productivity as a way to stay accountable and feel connected to their decisions around how they spend their energy.

Yes, monotony and routine can be truly wearisome. They transform our colorful, over-stimulated existence into black and white. But a task left undone SHOULD be a burden. If you make your system for productivity too productive, you will become anesthetized to your responsibilities.

While the focus of Scott's article isn't entirely on the topic of routines, allow me to go down that path for a moment. In theory, I despise routines. They rob one of spontaneity and creativity. In principle, if I were to attribute the success I've had in my career to a few key factors, a consistent routine would be on that list. Forcing one's self to repeatedly push through the drudgery of a daily, weekly, or monthly routine does incredible things for productivity.

$20,000 for charity: water

$20,000 for charity: water:

Still cannot believe we made it happen, together.

Browser UI for Photoshop

Browser UI for Photoshop:

How handy is this? Create a browser window around any size document, existing or new, with this Photoshop action by Ben Shoults. Just $3 gets you individual actions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.

And generously, Ben is donating all proceeds to the Authentic Jobs charity: water campaign for the next 5 days.

One

More than a decade ago, I was living in northern Mexico for a period of two years. I met and conversed with wonderful people throughout the states of Coahuila, Durango, and Zacatecas. I spoke fairly fluent Spanish at the time. And I was about as poor financially as I'd ever been.

As a service missionary, I received a monthly allowance of about 350 pesos, or the equivalent of about $50, to cover basic living needs. (And basic they were.) My parents, who faithfully sent letters, would include American currency from time to time in those letters. The exchange rate was 7 pesos to the dollar at the time, so while $5 or $10 wasn't much back in the states, the converted value in Mexican currency was substantial for someone living with an income similar to his neighbors.

I recall a certain week in which I had just 10 pesos to my name and a full week remained before the next allowance would be disbursed. These 10 pesos, equal to $1.42, were to cover two meals a day and any other other essentials during this week. I'm a religious man, yes, but even prayer initially seemed inadequate to get me through the upcoming week with so little in my wallet.

In that wallet, however, was also a one dollar bill. It wasn't much, but converted to 7 pesos, it would almost cover two simple meals.

Pictured above is that same dollar bill. It has remained in my wallet for more than 12 years now. I don't recall all the details, but somehow I made it through that week without having to exchange it. I've kept it since as a reminder that there are others far less fortunate than I who struggle to meet the demands of life every week of their lives, not just one week.

To this end, I am personally requesting your help one final time to contribute to the Authentic Jobs charity: water campaign. Almost a billion people on the planet don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. And it's a necessity so basic, so essential to human life.

Behind the scenes, Greg Storey has championed our campaign quietly, resolutely, and monetarily. Only today has he publicly advocated the cause and complimented the generosity of our community at once. To his remarks, I add my sincere gratitude for those who have made very generous donations: Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners, John Gruber of Daring Fireball, Josh Williams of Gowalla, Rick Ellis of Ellis Labs, Todd Dominey of SlideShowPro, and Grant Hutchinson, Veerle Pieters, Neutron Creations, David Parsons, Ryan Irelan, Kyle Gach, Michael Bester, Ryan Brill, Ben Riege, Chris Peterson and many more of you too numerous to mention here.

Our campaign concludes Monday, October 4 (listed end date is currently incorrect). Give $1 if that's all you have to spare in your wallet, or the $20 you would have spent on a shirt, or $100 or more if your finances are healthy. Please, donate now.

Drink.

Drink.:

Greg Storey:

Somehow, our subset of the industry cares. Whether it's the latest HTML technique, a new CSS hack, or help for a sick pet, I've seen our community come together like Voltron and provide support, fix the problem, or sometimes just collectively laugh or cry. This kind of support is downright rare. Our community strives to improve as a team; even though we're made up of tens of thousands of individuals who will never meet, we'll stop what we're doing to rally together when needed.

As you may know already, our friend Cameron Moll has started a campaign to raise twenty thousand dollars for Charity: Water, an organization that installs fresh water wells in African villages. Twenty thousand dollars is an ambitious goal, of course—but I firmly believe it's attainable if we can combine our online reach and financial resources. While this is Cameron's initiative, I see this as a challenge for everyone in our industry. Let's see what web designers and developers can do here.

Thank you, Greg. And thank you to all those who have (or will have) contributed.

Lessons from the Chewbacca Incident

Lessons from the Chewbacca Incident:

This article recaps the flood of traffic to Michael Heilemann's article, "George Lucas Stole Chewbacca, But It's Okay".

But in my mind, the real lesson to be learned here is that Michael's follow-up article is a textbook example of design, markup, and communication in a single page. Note how negative space, prominence, and color create good visual hierarchy for the layout of the page (headline, graph, body text). The graph is not only compelling but also interactive, and it's rendered entirely in SVG. The copy is engaging and uses column-count to format the text in two columns (WebKit only).

Hat tip to Daring Fireball, whose dominance in sending traffic to sites clearly justifies its weekly $5,000 sponsorship fee.