12/2008 Article Archive

  • December 31, 2008 in Design Inspiration

    The Confession Project

    In an article a few weeks ago I mentioned that it would be interesting to see how creative design could enhance classic Christian confessions and creeds. Around that time I also happened to be doing a lot of running which can be very dangerous for me. Any time I have extended periods of uninterrupted contemplation, I inevitably launch into a series of non-income-producing projects. Case in point: The Confession Project.

  • December 25, 2008 in Mirificam Press News

    Merry Christmas 2008

    This week I'm taking a blog break for the Christmas holiday, but I wanted to wish all of the Mirificam Press readers a merry Christmas from my family to yours. I'm so thankful that the original designer saw fit to become flesh and blood so that I could be reconciled to God and design to his glory. His name is Emanuel—God with us. He reigns now and of his kingdom there will be no end. Merry Christmas! [Griffin Family Photo]

  • December 19, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (12/19/08 Edition)

    For some time now I've been meaning to write and article about typography on the web. So far, I haven't gotten around to it but you can expect something in the next couple months. In the meantime, though, Web Designer Wall has a great introductory article that discusses some of the ins and outs. If you're only going to read one article on this week's 5 for Friday, I recommend that one. And now, the links:

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  • December 17, 2008 in Web Design Worldview

    WARNING! Pragmatic Designers Keep to the Shallow End

    Our culture is obsessed with practical advice. We have seven habits of this and ten rules for that. Everywhere we look, we're being given steps for how to accomplish something. I don't think I can argue that all practical advice is bad. After all, practical advice is simply the outworking of principles. But while we wallow in the shallow end of practical advice, we would do well to remember that it's the principle shapers in the deep end who are telling us what the rules of the game are. They choose generic words like "effective" and "best" to describe the goals they throw at us. Who wouldn't want to be an effective person or live their best life? But without an object, words like effective and best have no meaning. These words are beach balls intended to focus our effort; to steer us to an end; to bring us to passively accept an someone's idea of what effectiveness and best life are.

  • December 12, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (12/12/08 Edition)

    This was one of those great web blog weeks—one of those weeks where I have a hard time narrowing my favorite articles down to just five. I struggled for awhile over whether or not to leave the web geek Christmas list in there but I just couldn't resist. Sorry if anyone feels cheated. Here this week's 5 for Friday:

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  • December 10, 2008 in Programming & IT

    From iPod to Embed: Building an .M4V Video Player in Flash CS3

    During my first trip to the SXSW interactive conference in 2004 I remember attending a video blog panel put on by the guys (and gal) at RocketBoom.com. They were using QuickTime for video playback, and during the question and answer segment, I raised my hand and asked if they had considered using the "new" Flash video format. They had no idea what I was talking about. Of course, these days Flash video has taken over the world, and apparently RocketBoom.com even got on board with the revolution.The advent of the Flash video format was the last revolution in online video. But now we are faced with a new challenge: .flv files won't play on iPods or in iTunes. And with the popularity of video podcasting growing, it seems that the only solution is to create two versions of every video—one to embed and another to podcast. But that's not the case. In this article I'll show you how to build a simple Flash video player that streams .m4v video files.

  • December 5, 2008 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (12/5/08 Edition)

    I enjoyed discussing the concept of design as interpretation this week. Thanks to everyone who commented on the article Design Interprets. Design Speak. Design Matters. I plan to continue developing those ideas in the future. For now, though, I'd like to welcome Yongfook to the 5 for Friday list. I enjoyed his 10 dirty web development tricks and I'm sure you will as well.

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  • December 2, 2008 in Business & Process

    Design Interprets. Design Speaks. Design Matters.

    A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article featuring various Bible designs and explaining how they serve as an interpretive layer on top of the biblical text. This concept of design as interpretation has deep implications for designers. Our work acts as a series of bridges between raw data, solutions, and people. When one of these bridges has a green wire crossed with a red wire, the whole system may fail to accomplish its task. But how do we get it right? What are the rules? Where are our personal tastes legitimate, and where are they harmful? And how can we best ensure that we are we are both interpreting correctly and that our solution matches our interpretation?