I drew this comic after spending some quality time with The Elements of Typographic Style  by Robert Bringhurst. It was a engaging an...

Aside from paying very little attention to visual design and not caring about the impact of horrible typography, the big problem with library catalogs is that they are not designed to help people accomplish library tasks. Instead, they’re designed to expose catalog records. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is totally backward—prioritizing the collection, not people, results in a user-hostile interaction design and a poor user experience. Imagine the reverse: a tool that prioritizes helping people accomplish their tasks, whereby bibliographic data exists quietly in the background and is exposed only when useful.

inspiration for library creatives

Adapted from a chapter that I wrote for Library 2020, a book edited by Joseph Janes and published by Rowman & Littlefield (May 2013). The library in 2020 is the last bastion of truth. Sure, you...

One man's endless ranting about book covers and design...

Project Wisconsin is a small group of creatives who share an unhealthy level of state pride and a passion for everything Wisconsin. We're proud that we have more lakes than the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," we roll our eyes at California being called "America's Dairyland," and we love every local supper club and dive bar we meet.

It’s all about user experience. Once you get past whether a book is available on a particular reading platform, the experience is the distinguishing factor. How do you jump back to the table of contents? How do you navigate to …

Methods, Findings, and Implementations with introduction by Nancy Fried Foster October 2012. 85 pp. ISBN 978-1-932326-43-7 CLIR pub155 PDF Download of Report (4.6 MB) >> This is a web-only report-it is not available in print. Participatory design is an approach to building spaces, services, and tools where the people who will use them participate centrally Read More

Jen Bowden: Do you judge a book by its cover? Designers Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan shared their theories on attracting readers – from cute cats to alluring perfume – at the Edinburgh book festival

While truth might not be dependent on typeface, a typeface can subtly influence us to believe something is true.

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