if ($this->_init && !is_writable($this->settings['path'])) { $this->_init = false; trigger_error(sprintf(__('%s is not writable', true), $this->settings['path']), E_USER_WARNING);
FileEngine::__active() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 267
FileEngine::init() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 94
Cache::_buildEngine() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 166
Cache::config() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 141
include - APP/config/core.php, line 290
Configure::__loadBootstrap() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 392
Configure::getInstance() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 52
include - CORE/cake-1.3.8/bootstrap.php, line 38
[main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 76
Warning (512): /persistent/ is not writable [CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 267]
if ($this->_init && !is_writable($this->settings['path'])) { $this->_init = false; trigger_error(sprintf(__('%s is not writable', true), $this->settings['path']), E_USER_WARNING);
FileEngine::__active() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 267
FileEngine::init() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 94
Cache::_buildEngine() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 166
Cache::config() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 141
Configure::__loadBootstrap() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 421
Configure::getInstance() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 52
include - CORE/cake-1.3.8/bootstrap.php, line 38
[main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 76
Warning (512): /models/ is not writable [CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 267]
if ($this->_init && !is_writable($this->settings['path'])) { $this->_init = false; trigger_error(sprintf(__('%s is not writable', true), $this->settings['path']), E_USER_WARNING);
FileEngine::__active() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 267
FileEngine::init() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache/file.php, line 94
Cache::_buildEngine() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 166
Cache::config() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/cache.php, line 141
Configure::__loadBootstrap() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 428
Configure::getInstance() - CORE/cake-1.3.8/libs/configure.php, line 52
include - CORE/cake-1.3.8/bootstrap.php, line 38
[main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 76
Zastica • Rss
http://www.zastica.com/posts/
RSS FEED en-usOpen Admin Build 1Arguing on the Internet
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/36/arguing-on-the-internet
Tue, 09 Aug 2011 07:37:00 -0700http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/36/arguing-on-the-internet
<p>It’s amazing to me how some people can take a small snippet of code out of it’s context, assume that is the entire context, and conclude that everything you’ve ever said is wrong as a result. It also makes me wonder how old these people are. And if they are just using the anonymity to act however they want.</p>
internetlifemiscThe Traumatic Injury Clause
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/35/the-traumatic-injury-clause
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:00:00 -0700http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/35/the-traumatic-injury-clause
<p>In the last week in Major League Soccer, two teams have had star players receive season ending injuries from hard and violent tackles. Steve Zakuani broke both his tibia and fibula when he was tackled by Brian Mullan, while 2010 <span class="caps">MLS</span> <span class="caps">MVP</span> David Ferreira suffered a broken ankle from a tackle by Jonathan Leathers. The Mullan tackle received a straight red, while the Leathers tackle was not even called a foul. In addition, in February of 2010, Aaron Ramsey was on the receiving end of a tackle that left him with an injury similar to Zakuani’s.</p>
<p>In the case of the Ramsey tackle, Ryan Shawcross received a 3 match ban for the incident. Estimates for Mullan range from 3-5 matches, while Leathers is unlikely to receive significant punishment. To many people, the punishment isn’t sufficient given the extreme result of the incidents. The punishments are in line with <span class="caps">FIFA</span> recommendations. However, <span class="caps">FIFA</span> has never had any rules on the books that address the serious injuries that can end a player’s season or career. Therefore, I believe that <span class="caps">FIFA</span> needs to implement a “Traumatic Injury Clause”.</p>
<p>This clause would cover incidents like Ramsey/Shawcross, or Zakuani/Mullan, and to a lesser extent, Ferreira/Leathers. In essence, for any foul that results in a player being severely injured, the player that committed the foul would automatically be suspended from the league until such time as the other player is deemed fit to return to play.</p>
<p>For example, it’s easy to determine when broken bones have healed, plus given an acceptable time for recovery a league would be able to determine fairly accurately how long a given suspension would be. Muscle strains or tears are more difficult to handle, and injuries such as <span class="caps">ACL</span>/<span class="caps">MCL</span> tears are a little difficult as well. However, guidelines would have to be established by doctors for each case.</p>
<p>If a player caused an injury in the <span class="caps">MLS</span>, they would be suspended from the <span class="caps">MLS</span> until the other player was able to return. The player wouldn’t be forbidden from playing in another league, such as the Bundesliga or <span class="caps">EPL</span>. This would also mean that if a player committed a foul that resulted in a traumatic injury while on international duty, they would subsequently be suspended from further international duty until the other player was able to return. This may sound like extreme punishment, but the idea is to offer extreme discouragement for extreme circumstances.</p>
<p>Right now, extremely hard tackles are avoided now on a “gentleman’s agreement”. Players try to avoid these incidents simply because each player also knows that the same situation could happen to them. However, there exists a situation where horrifically injuring a player from another team can actually benefit another team, even taking into account the suspension that would result from a violent tackle. For example, one player could take out the opponent’s star player. The player that commits the foul would be suspended anywhere from one to five games, while the player that was injured could potentially miss 30 or more matches in a given season. They could even miss multiple seasons. If a player of medium or minor importance takes out a star player from another team, they ultimately come out ahead given one team suffers a huge loss — one which could cause that team to miss the playoffs.</p>
<p>In the case of Aaron Ramsey, he spent 6 months in recovery before returning to training. (February 27 to mid-October 2010 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Ramsey#Injury">per Wikipedia</a>). However, he didn’t return to Arsenal and make a start until March 19, making it more than a year since receiving the injury. Suspending an offending player for a year or more doesn’t make sense given that pro footballers/soccer players make their living playing the sport.</p>
<p>However the disparity between a 3-5 match suspension they currently receive and the huge amount of time that the injured players lose is hard to reconcile. In the 2009-10 and 10-11 seasons, Ramsey appeared 48 times in all competitions. If you take out appearances made while on load to other teams (for recovery), that number drops to 31. Meanwhile, Shawcross had 69 appearances (even with his suspension) between ‘09 and ‘11 — a difference of 38 or 21.</p>
<p>At this point, no timetables are known for either the recovery of Zakuani or Ferreira. Unofficial estimates put Ferreira’s return around 3 months, while Sounders <span class="caps">FC</span> are “hopeful” that Zakuani will return for the playoffs. Taking into account the Ramsey case, Zakuani probably won’t return until 2012 and Ferreira may miss more than the 3 month estimate. Meanwhile, Mullan and Leathers will undoubtedly be back in action no later than June.</p>
<p>In the end, the Traumatic Injury Clause is about punishment and discouragement. It’s one thing to suspend players for dangerous plays that <strong>could</strong> result in injuries. But, if there is no real consequences for <strong>actual</strong> dangerous plays that <strong>do</strong> result in serious injuries, players will have no real deterrent to avoid serious injuries to other players. As of now, <span class="caps">FIFA</span> doesn’t have any rules on the books that address real situations where players are injured. And frankly for the safety of those players, they need to. Enacting rules for traumatic injuries won’t save Ramsey, Zakuani, or Ferreira from the injuries they’ve already received, but it might make players like Shawcross, Mullan, or others think again before they act rashly, and make sure that their actions aren’t going to cause serious injuries to other players — lest they spend the rest of the season watching their team play on <span class="caps">TV</span>.</p>
essaysoccerSeattle Photostroll
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/34/seattle-photostroll
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/34/seattle-photostroll
<p>At work, we opened a new office in Seattle, but we sorely need art to decorate the walls. Myself and a few other photographers went out yesterday to take a few pictures of some of the Seattle sights. The weather wasn’t great, but we took a some neat photos.</p>
<p><img src="/files/uploads/03c6a395879d18e40251866172e648fe.jpg" class="feature" /></p>
<p>The weather was pretty nasty, and it was pretty much impossible to get any decent kind of contrast out of the sky. I ended up processing most of my shots into black and whites. I’m still not 100% happy with the results of my photos, but I suppose they will have to do.</p>
<div id="photoset-72157626057413805" class="flickr-photoset"></div>
seattlephotographyworkSo you want to start a blog?
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/31/so-you-want-to-start-a-blog
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:00:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/31/so-you-want-to-start-a-blog
<p><strong>7 Questions to ask yourself before starting a new blog</strong></p>
<p>Recently, I was asked to help consult on starting up a blog for a non-profit company I help with. I know that it’s extremely important to figure out a few details before starting up a blog. However, I’d never really thought about it myself, since in my day job I am a developer, and don’t do much planning <span class="amp">&</span> analysis of the “why” side of websites. So, I started thinking, and I came up with a list of questions to ask the client about the strategy of the blog.</p>
<p>So without further ado, here’s a set of questions that you should ask yourself before you start a blog.</p>
<h3>1: Why do you want to start a blog?</h3>
<p>The most important question is, “why”? If you’re thinking that starting a blog will get you instant traffic and notoriety, you’re wrong. Like any site, a blog requires a lot of care and attention to make it successful. There is no <abbr title="magic pill">panacea</abbr> to instant success on the internet. Success comes through hard work and dedication.</p>
<p>Don’t justify it to yourself, because that’s easy. You have to justify your blog to your readers first. Why do they want to come back again and again and read what you have written. Some good answers to this question would be, <em>“I’m an expert in my field, and I want to share what I have learned”</em> or <em>“I would like to make announcements about my product in a way that is quick and easy to maintain and <abbr title="understand">grok</abbr>”</em>. <em>“I want to be able to engage with my users/customers”</em> is also a good answer, as most blogs are informal, and have functionality to allow readers to comment on what you write.</p>
<p>This site would fail this question miserably, since when I started it the answer was “Because I want a website.”</p>
<h3>2: What is going on it?</h3>
<p>The second most important question is, “what are you going to write?” The best blogs and websites tend to have a solid focus. Blogs without focus break down because readers wonder why they should keep coming back. Or you posted one thing they <em>really</em> liked, and haven’t written anything about subject for a few years. If that happens with every single post you make, that’s a bad thing. Pick one area to focus on.</p>
<p>My site would also fail this miserably, because the answer is “Whatever”.</p>
<h3>3: Who is posting?</h3>
<p>This is pretty straightforward. You need to figure out who is posting. Is it you? Who else will post entries? Whatever the answer is, it needs to be made clear to all contributors, and what will happen if they don’t meet the schedule. If it’s just you, the site fails. If it’s a company effort, maybe failure is getting replaced as a contributor.</p>
<h3>4: How often are you going to post?</h3>
<p>How often you post isn’t as important as having a real schedule. <a href="http://alistapart.com">A List Apart</a> publishes two entries at the same time, each month. Blogs like <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/">MakeUseOf</a> or <a href="http://boingboing.net">BoingBoing</a> post several entries each day. All are highly successful blogs. Their secret is simple: Post excellent content on a regular schedule that your readers can count on.</p>
<h3>5: Who are the core commenters? and 6: How will you get them engaged?</h3>
<p>Comments are a core feature of good blogs. They allow regular people to respond to and interact with your message, in a way that normal websites don’t allow. Readers can’t engage with a press release, but they can with a blog. And this kind of power can make your users more loyal to you and your company/brand.</p>
<p>Commenters are different from readers, because not all readers will comment. You want to give people a good reason to respond to you, to get them engaged in your blog. This will likely lead to them being more engaged in other areas. For example, some sites hold contests where they pick a random commenter and give them something cool. If done properly, it can even draw in new readers who haven’t seen your site before.</p>
<h3>7: What are you going to do about the crazy commenters?</h3>
<p>There’s always one. That crazy person who isn’t a robot that keeps coming back and doing weird stuff. How are you going to deal with that situation? Are you going to swing the ban-hammer at them? Are you going to try to reason with them? Have a plan for dealing with the crazy commenters, because if you don’t, their weirdness or negativity can affect the rest of your readers, and turn them away.</p>
<p>However, if someone has a legitimate complaint, don’t silence them, ban them, or ignore them. That will only backfire and make you and your blog look bad. Honesty, transparency, and a thick skin are extremely important.</p>
webNewsletter Usability
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/33/newsletter-usability
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:30:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/33/newsletter-usability
<p>I just spent the last few minutes reasons Jakob Neilsen’s <a href="http://useit.com">Alertbox</a> on <a href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html">newsletter usability</a>. I always find the Alertbox fascinating and insightful, but this one is particularly informative. For me, it put into words exactly how I feel about a few topics in web design, not just newsletters.</p>
<h3>Use good subjects</h3>
<p>Probably the most important part of your newsletter is the subject. It’s the first thing your users see, and you never get a second chance to make a good impression.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But while dashing through their inboxes, people simply don’t have time for word plays, puns, and the like.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Be clear and concise, and avoid wordplay. You might think it’s clever, but your users will treat it like spam and are more prone to ignore the entire newsletter.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In addition to subject lines, users now pay more attention to message previews</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Technical and usability improvements have lead to showing the first few words of an email along with the subject. The first few words of any email are very important to users when they decide whether or not to open the email at all.</p>
<h3>Newsletters or social media?</h3>
<p>I’ve had a few people ask if they should start a newsletter, or just use facebook. Data from the Neilsen’s study shows that newsletters are vastly more important to loyal customers than social media:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In our latest study, we asked users to “receive updates” from companies. Only 10% elected to do so through Facebook, while 90% opted for a newsletter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Social media should be seen as engaging with potential customers, to entice the to try your business or service whereas newsletter are better for communicating with current customers.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your newsletter subscribers are usually your most loyal customers and fans, so it’s important to treat them better than the more fickle audience on social networks.</p>
<p>But you should also make sure to send out the newsletter announcing, say, sales or new products before tweeting such news.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Video on the web</h3>
<p>I’m quoting a quote here, but this perfectly sums up how I (and I would guess a large number of people) feel about video on the web.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As one study participant said, “I probably wouldn’t watch this. It’s a video, not text. I expected an article, not a video. With video, you have to watch the whole thing. Even if it’s just a minute, I’m not into watching video.”</p>
<p>Users were hesitant to click on videos within newsletters if they weren’t sure what they would get.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s not just newsletters, it’s the web in general. You can’t scan a video, so users have to make he choice to read it or not before seeing any of it. Most of the time, hey choose to not watch. Essentially, users will watch a video only when they know <em>why</em> (for example a friend suggested it) they should watch it in the first place.</p>
usabilitydesign2011 Redesign of zastica
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/32/2011-redesign-of-zastica
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:00:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/32/2011-redesign-of-zastica
<p>Today, I’m happy to launch the new redesign of my site. There were a few major motivators to doing the redesign now, and a few more minor ones.</p>
<p>First, I felt that my previous design was a little too limiting, and wasn’t flexible enough to do everything I wanted to with the site. This new design is much more flexible, using even more <span class="caps">CSS</span> to provide embellishments than before.</p>
<p>Second, I wanted to draw on ideas some other people in the web design and dev community have come up with, and use them on my site. In a way, I’m paying homage to my elders.</p>
<p>Finally, my hard drive crashed twice in the last 6 months, causing me to lose all my old design files, so I needed some new assets. I could continue with minor changes, but as long as I was opening up photoshop and tweaking the images, I figured it was time to redo everything as well.</p>
<p>zastica has changed from this:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/d6af2494c6e2355ab08d01266839c08f.png" style="width: 600px;" /></p>
<p>To this:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/ec462985102f08c94415d74aa1e72541.png" style="width: 600px;" /></p>
<p><em>(Posting static images becuase this design will probably change over time and I want to archive what it looks like now, and what it used to look like)</em></p>
<h3>Inspiration</h3>
<p>The inspiration for this design comes from two primary sources. The first is <a href="http://jasonsantamaria.com">Jason Santa Maria’s site</a>. I’ve always admired his skill as a designer, but only recently come to appreciate the simple power that his site design has. It works extraordinarily well, and I hope to use and learn from what he is doing.</p>
<p>The second major source of my inspiration is <a href="http://mozilla.org">mozilla.org</a>. This is another fantastic site. I like the header especially, and that’s were mine came from. The nuts and bolts (<span class="caps">HTML</span> and <span class="caps">CSS</span>) of their header is actually pretty surprising, and I think I learned a thing or two about creating interesting effects from that site.</p>
<p>I know that these two sites are remarkably similar to my site, and that is something I can potentially see people having an issue with. To anyone that does take offense to that, I say that this design is a first step. I’ve set it up so that hopefully I can pull of major visual changes without much work, and continue to grow and experiment as a designer. If you still take issue, please use info on my <a href="http://www.zastica.com/pages/about">about page</a> to contact me and let me know how you feel.</p>
<h3>What’s changed</h3>
<p>Pretty much everything. The site tagline is gone, the navigation has moved down, the dragon graphic is gone from the main content area. The background is separated from the content container background with the use of a text-shadow. I have wanted to use web fonts, so the header font is League Gothic.</p>
<h3>What’s the same</h3>
<p>The colored bars have moved up into the header. The dragon silhouette has moved from the main content area to the header, and made into a 24bit png so that it will work well with any background. I still have the ability to post hero images for special events, or to display extra bars in the header, for breast cancer awareness for example.</p>
<h3>What’s going to change</h3>
<p>Link colors for one need to change. I’m not sure what treatment to give them yet, but I need a way to make them a little less 1990. Fonts, colors, backgrounds, and even the layout may change at any point. That’s what I really like about this design — it’s very easy with my new tools.</p>
zasticadesigncssFoss High School Closing?
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/30/foss-high-school-closing
Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:30:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/30/foss-high-school-closing
<p>I heard that (due to having a large budget shortfall) Tacoma Public Schools is shutting down Foss <span class="caps">HS</span> (or plan to). Foss is next to Cheney Stadium, and has had a few violence related issues in the last few years. They also won the State Basketball tournament when I was there. Foss is also the only public school in Tacoma that offers the <span class="caps">IB</span> Diploma program. The <span class="caps">IB</span> program is much like Advanced Placement (<span class="caps">AP</span>) classes, except it’s much harder and very competitive.</p>
<p>Students commute into Foss from all around Tacoma; there were even a few students from Vashon Island.</p>
<p>If you think shutting down Foss is a bad idea, tell the Superintendent. Send an email, write a letter, or give them a call.</p>
<p>Superintendent Arthur O. Jarvis<br />
Email: ajarvis@tacoma.k12.wa.us<br />
Phone: 253.571.1000<br />
Address: Central Admin Building, <span class="caps">P.O.</span> Box 1357, Tacoma, <span class="caps">WA</span> 98401</p>
<p>Edit: <a href="http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/15/1503722/foss-high-school-could-close-under.html">Link to The News Tribune’s article on this subject</a></p>
tacomaWelcome to 2011
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/29/welcome-to-2011
Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:00:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/29/welcome-to-2011
<h2>Looking back on 2010</h2>
<p>Despite wanting to write more, I only put out 9 blog entries this last year. January and February were the most active months, with 4 and 3 posts respectively. I didn’t post at all between June and December.</p>
<p>At work, I was especially busy. I increased my interaction with some of our clients, which was both challenging and rewarding. All the pieces to opening our Seattle office came together in December, and we targeted opening the office in January ‘11.</p>
<p>I didn’t do much work at all in the photography area in ‘10. I don’t think I had any published photos, and probably took less than 1000 photos the entire year.</p>
<p>Like I predicted in the <a href="http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/18/welcome-to-2010/">previous annual wrapup post</a>, I moved out of my apartment on Capitol Hill and into my own house. It’s small, but the yard is fantastic, the neighborhood is great, and I was able to take advantage of the tax-credit and a fantastic bank to offset the large initial costs of buying a house.</p>
<p>I didn’t go dancing much at all in 2010. I aim to fix that in 2011, but I’ll need a solid motivator to make that happen more often than last year.</p>
<p>We bought season tickets for the Seattle Sounders last year. With league play, the <span class="caps">CONCACAF</span> and <span class="caps">US</span> Open Cup tournaments, and the World Cup, I estimate that I attended 20-25 games, and watched somewhere around 100 individual soccer matches. The <span class="caps">US</span> Open Cup final was definitely my favorite, and I was able to take a few friends and family to see watch the game with me. The World Cup game between the <span class="caps">USA</span> and Algeria is a close second, and the World Cup final between Holland and Spain came in at 3rd.</p>
<p>I wanted to redesign my site and work on a couple of friends’ sites, but I suffered two hard drive crashes and lost a lot of work. I’ve since setup a good backup system. This site gets a fair amount of spam traffic, but not one spam comment has made it to the public (yet).</p>
<h3>Major Events</h3>
<ul>
<li>I was able to give <a href="http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/23/the-real-rules-of-programming-lecture/">one talk</a> during the year, to <span class="caps">PLU</span>’s senior Computer Science class.</li>
<li>I marched in the St Patrick’s Day parade with <span class="caps">ECS</span></li>
<li>I bought a house in March</li>
<li>I bought a truck to help my commute and haul stuff for my house</li>
<li>June <span class="amp">&</span> July were totally taken up by the World Cup</li>
<li>My grandmother turned 102</li>
<li>I taught Art and Bookmaking to my sister’s class</li>
<li>Finally, I spent <span class="caps">NYE</span> with friends in Olympia</li>
</ul>
<h2>into 2011, and <em>beyond!</em></h2>
<p>My main focus will undoubtedly be on my house. There are updates I want to make, and improvements I’d like to see happen.</p>
<p>I’d like to do more photography, after taking a year long sabbatical, it’s about time to start again.</p>
<p>That will also make writing in this here blog easier. I want to work on more sites for friends and small freelance projects, and document what innovations I make.</p>
<p>At work, I hope to start working in Seattle soon. We have an awesome office almost ready to use up there. I hope to be able to take on more leadership and planning responsibilities, but still be able to be creative.</p>
<p>I am also starting to volunteer for a theatre near me. I am currently creating programs for them, and I hope to expand that into building a solid website, incorporating more marketing, and expand their visibility.</p>
<p>I hope to redesign this site in the next couple months, but I’ve got some other work to do before that. I also might start tracking how many spam comments I get, because I get a little pleasure out of seeing spammers try and fail to get through my filters.</p>
lifeTacoma Typographical Map
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/28/tacoma-typographical-map
Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:30:00 -0800http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/28/tacoma-typographical-map
<p><del>Today</del> Yesterday, I stumbled on a post by someone on <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/eoome/i_hope_nonone_sees_this_as_spamming_but_i_made/">reddit/r/seattle</a> about a map of north tacoma that he made, using typography to draw out the map. Typographic maps are not a new thing, but can be very beautiful when done properly. For some examples, check out <a href="http://www.axismaps.com/typographic.php">http://www.axismaps.com/typographic.php</a>.</p>
<p>This is what the big map looks like:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/211c1b1cf4ba8dce2ef3b1a1550ca4a3.jpg" width="600" /></p>
<p>It’s pretty incredible. Here’s a couple more close crops:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/dbc9ff6aa6514fcaba0c2fae3521e20b.jpg" width="300" />
<img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/4cba74553effed5bd2cf6098d9760323.jpg" width="300" /></p>
<p>This poster is available on zazzle.com to purchase, in multiple sizes. Prices start at $18 for a small version, and go all the way up to $63 for a massive 52”×33” poster. I’m planning on getting one for myself, because it’s just too cool to pass up.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/tacoma_typographical_map_poster-228225497705229270">Purchase link</a></p>
<p><strong>Edit</strong>: Also, since yesterday, I noticed the author signed up on <a href="http://feedtacoma.com">feedtacoma.com</a> and started a discussion about this project <a href="http://feedtacoma.com/forum/art-culture/tacoma-typographic-map-design/">here</a></p>
<p>Full disclosure: I have no affiliation with the author, nor do I receive any kickbacks from zazzle, I just think this is double-plus awesome.</p>
printmakingdesigntypographytacomaartNew Launch: LessaLamb.com
http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/24/new-launch-lessalamb-com
Fri, 21 May 2010 11:00:00 -0700http://www.zastica.com/posts/view/24/new-launch-lessalamb-com
<p>A couple months ago I finished up a website design for Lessa Lamb, a friend of mine who was looking for a website to publicize her artist modeling business. The site is a one page layout with some examples of art that other people have created about her, with a lightbox to display larger images. The design uses a bookmark effect for the navigation as well as headings. It also has subtle text effects to make it feel a little more engaging.</p>
<p>According to Lessa,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Working with Dave was an incredibly positive experience for me. He listened to
my input about what I liked and didn’t like visually, and ultimately I think
what we came up with is visually attractive, easily navigable, and
contains all the information it needs to have… except for the information
I haven’t given him yet.</p>
<p>I would recommend working with Dave to anyone who needs an expert eye, a
knowledge of possibilities, and someone who can stay on target, even
when your time and energy are else-where.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here’s a couple screenshots of the site:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/1c332c8bcf2dc8fe937ff64b83889311.png" alt="lessa lamb screenshot 1" /></p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/1e1da2b44bf357526153807d6eba2644.png" alt="lessa lamb screenshot 2" /></p>
<p>And just for fun, here’s a couple of concepts that didn’t get used:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/1ffd9e753c8054cc61456ac7fac1ac89.png" alt="lessa unused 1" /> <img src="http://www.zastica.com/files/uploads/af413b52e441584d15571213951cc1cd.png" alt="lessa unused 2" /></p>
<p>Overall, the project was very interesting to work on, as well as challenging. Lessa wanted a simple, elegant design, but she still needed it to be a little trendy and attractive to engage and encourage visitors that they should hire her to model for their art sessions. The final version of the site sets a standard for what other artist model sites can look like.</p>
<p><a href="http://lessalamb.com/muse/">See the site: LessaLamb.com</a></p>
clientsdesignlaunchesconcepts