24 Jan 2009
Obama letterpress poster – Update
I have only 45 copies left and I am giving them 20% off!
So, that comes to now US$40, INCLUSIVE of shipping.
If you are interested, get one right now.
19 Jan 2009
YES, WE CAN – Obama Letterpress Posters
There are times when you get so inspired by someone, or something that you end up doing stuff you never imagined you would actually love doing.
In my case, it was both a someone (Barack Obama) and something (Cameron Moll’s beautiful letterpress posters) which inspired me to create these.
These 14” by 20” posters are a product of hours of (fun) labour, letterpressed using one of the very few platen letterpress machines still left in Chennai. I was intent on printing this on letterpress and after days of literally hunting down press after press in some of the most dingiest streets of Chennai, I am glad I finally found one and got it printed.
I would be making a more detailed post on the backstory and the process behind the making of this poster soon. If you fancy it, do grab a copy!
Update:
I have also posted this item on eBay, if that’s your kind of thing (and I know it’s kinda difficult sometimes purchasing things randomly on the web). The price is 5 dollars more, due to the extra charges that eBay imposes.
Added a photo of the (zinc) metal block which is used in the letterpress printing process.
3 Jan 2009
Taking the plunge
We are sometimes our fiercest critic. That can be either a curse, or a blessing. A curse, because we could end up being too judgmental about our own work. On other instances when our self evaluation leads to constructive ideas that have positive effects on the quality of our work, it could be a blessing.
More often than not, we are bogged down by our fear of what others might think. We are afraid of failure, rejection and criticism. We dare to dream, and yet decide not to take the plunge. We write ourselves off, without even giving ourselves a decent chance. After all, inaction can be comforting. But not for long. If you quit just because you were afraid of taking the plunge, then you will not be in peace with yourself. You will carry the burden of an unfulfilled dream.
So, just take the plunge. Do it because you believe in yourself. Do it because you are convinced you can succeed. Taking the plunge means growing a thick shell towards the naysayers. It means raging against the dying of the light. It means being patient and persevering. Above all, it means giving yourself a chance to prove yourself.
Do not judge yourself on the conclusions of others. Do not use someone else’s life as a yardstick to measure yours. Everyone is unique and thus accelerate at different rates and at different times. Evaluate your progress only against your own goals. Even if all goes wrong, you can’t cease to hope. And you definitely can’t stop working.
Dreams translate to hope, which in turn manifests as belief that eventually drives achievement.
27 Dec 2008
The minute details
When it comes to user interfaces, it surprising how sometimes the omission of a minute detail can cause great annoyance and discomfort to the users. I encounter once such experience when using soccernet.com. For most part, Soccernet is a great site, and it’s really user friendly and well navigatable.
One thing that irks me though is these little content teasers that appear on the landing page:
There are typically four to five teasers which rotate periodically (notice the little clock on the top right hand corner). I find it quite irritating that these teasers sometimes change just as I am about to click on one of the links, as a result of which, some other page would open up.
The problem here is not the timer as obviously, to rotate the content you would need it. Perhaps it could have a slightly longer timeout. But I think the real issue is that the timer should be frozen, atleast for a short period, when the user hovers over the link. Simply because, it might indicate that the user’s focus is on the content teaser (yes, not always true, but it’s a reasonable assumption) and he might click on the link any moment.
Another side effect of this quirk is that the the slider actually slides to the next teaser when the user has right clicked on the link to try and open it in a new window (never mind the fact that the “Open in new window” does not work in the first place).
Now, I am not trying to be cynical here by bringing up a small issue, in context of the overall great design and usability of the site. This is just a reminder to myself and everyone in the UI field that the money is in the smallest of details, and how even the smallest of unexpected behavior can irk users significantly.
26 Dec 2008
Perspective
For the past few weeks, everyday has been the same.
For me, because I have been on holidays, and been completely free.
For my brother, because he has had school every single day, including Sundays.