iA has made available its entire 17-page (paid) pitch document for the redesign of Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger in a detailed article discussing the proposed solution. The UX-led approach, while conceptually and aesthetically strong, ultimately failed to win over the client. Some beautiful typography (Frutiger New and Frutiger Serif) and bold ideas in there though: I quite like the concept of article keywords highlighted in blue for easy scanning of the paper’s title page. (via Inky)
Jina Bolton updates Sushi & Robots. Exquisite right down to the strict baseline typography grid. (via Chris Bowler)
The über-talented Meagan Fisher is now Owltastic. Pretty much every inch of this site is crafted to perfection.
Grids put control of our designs firmly in the hands of our users and their browsing habits. They’ve also utterly failed to seize the imagination of web designers.
— Ethan Marcotte writes on Fluid Grids for A List Apart, referencing in part the work he did at Airbag Industries for the W3C redesign.
“The Book Cover Archive, for the appreciation and categorization of excellence in book cover design.” An impressive catalog of work, presented in a clean, flexible, grid.
The Vignelli Canon (PDF)
Antonio Carusone at Aisle One:
Massimo Vignelli has published an amazing 96-page book on better understanding typography in graphic design, according to him. The book gives specific details on Vignelli’s methodology and approach as well as how he decides on paper sizes, typefaces and other tangibles. There is also a nice section of grids.
It’s a free download from Vignelli’s site, in PDF format.
The number of pixels separating elements in an interface plays a critical and frequently underestimated role in the orderliness of that interface.
— Khoi Vinh revises Gmail’s spacing to “dramatically improve [its] overall elegance”.
