Almost every week, I hear of another print publication folding under the immense pressure of the economic pinch. The Rocky Mountain News of Denver and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer just went out of business completely. The Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer have all requested bankruptcy protection. Christian Science Monitor, PC Magazine, and several others are moving to online-only publication. Even iconic publications like Rolling Stone are making major cuts. So is it too late for print media? Can magazines and newspapers weather the storm of declining ad revenues and decreased newsstand sales? Continue reading »
After several weeks of graphic design and back-end development, Keen Graphics has launched a complete website for its client, Grace Requires Understanding Inc (GRU).
Based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, GRU provides services to developmentally challenged individuals and their in-home care providers. They came to Keen with the desire to improve the look and functionality of their existing website. In conjunction with the skills of a talented web coder, we developed a color scheme with the client, recreated an old logo with a slightly updated look, and set to work developing a fully-functional website that would provide GRU with:
- Login permission groups with access to different member services, including announcements, policies blog and downloadable PDF forms
- Secure file management system for confidential records
- CMS system for adding and editing content
Another project completed! To learn more about GRU, or to view the site, visit MyGRU.org.
We all know that web presses (presses that print magazines and newspapers) run in CMYK plates, as opposed to RGB like your local Kinko’s would. Normally we create our design files in CMYK, whether in Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator. It’s almost automatic. But sometimes we all receive the occasional “camera-ready” illustration or ad file that needs to be converted to CMYK. And sometimes this process produces blackbuilds or rich blacks. So let’s try to understand the difference between the two and why/when it is important to use one or the other.
First of all, CMYK is composed of four plates, or process colors. Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Black (K). Standard process black is 100%K, or 0/0/0/100. Visually, 100% Black is a kind of washed-out black, not a deep black like we can obtain through rich black. Rich black combines ink from all four plates to produce a dark, super-saturated black. An example is below, which uses 70/82/90/100.
Rich blacks can be very useful when looking to obtain a deep, dark black over a large field of solid color. However, be aware that utilizing rich blacks can have two negative effects:
1. Super-saturation. Depending on your medium, this can be a real problem. If you are designing for newsprint, using inks in excess of 240% can cause the ink to soak through the page and obscure content on the other side. In the above example of rich black, we would be using ink percentages of 342%. Check with your printer to see what their maximum ink limit is for the medium you are using. You can check overprints in Adobe Acrobats “Output Previewer” option (more on that later). Continue reading »
Everyone is going “green“. Families are assuaging their consciences by replacing their home lighting with CFLs, businesses are buying out of conscience by purchasing carbon offsets, and eco-companies are selling conscience on every imaginable level. Despite the varying motives for this trend, it is one that appears to be sticking around.
- It is important, I think, to differentiate “green” and “sustainable” before we continue. “Green” (eco-friendly, low-impact, etc.) focuses on reducing our impact on the environment. A lofty goal worth working for. “Sustainable” is more of a methodology for innovation that seeks to understand and utilize the complex systems of the environment to better incorporate new technology into it. Thus, successful sustainability would render being “green” unnecessary. -As I was listening to NPR the other day, they broadcast a story on biomimicry. The idea of biomimicry is to derive inspiration and solutions from nature for sustainable innovation. Essentially, when faced with a dilemma, we ask, “What would nature do?” For example, when faced with the dilemma of liquid storage, nature provides us with myriad solutions, ranging from the snail to the banana to lettuce. Lettuce is 98% water, but when punctured, the leaf does not leak. Imagine if we could produce packaging that, instead of employing the traditional method of thicker leakage barriers (and thus excess materials), could utilize the structural matrix of the lettuce leaf to render the vessel leak-proof? Continue reading »