Comments on: Which tools do you use to complete your work?

By: Sander Baumann

Sander Baumann — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:11:53 +0000

Thanks James for your comment, I like to sketch things out on paper, it gives you more creativity than a computer mouse. Do you have some sketches online so we can see them?

By: James Kurtz III

James Kurtz III — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:19:42 +0000

Don’t forget graph paper! Gotta sketch out those ideas.

By: Sander Spek

Sander Spek — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:30:13 +0000

Hi Sander. Yes, I was talking about The Elements of Typographic Design (Robert Bringhurst), Thinking With Type (Ellen Lupton), and The Elements of Graphic Design (Alexander White). All three are great books. When making (slide) presentations, I find the work of Garr Reynolds (book title: Presentation Zen / weblog: presentationzen.com) very inspiring.

And my sketches, hehe, I usually don’t find them really publishable. The last design thing I did where these information posters: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4433&l=6778e&id=300300542 They were a rush job (14 hrs straight), and I think they gave me too much text to stuff onto the posters, but I still kind of like the end result. I will look to see if I still have some sketches of that job at home. (Btw, the fonts used are Gill Sans and Underware’s Bello. They actually wanted me to use Comic Sans, but I refused.)

By: Eftu

Eftu — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:46:44 +0000

Wow, very inspiring. Thanks.

By: Sander Baumann

Sander Baumann — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:34:43 +0000

Leon P — Thank you for sharing your list of items to complete your job as a designer and teacher. How can you survive without Photoshop? For web image publishing I’m using Adobe Fireworks, in my opinion one of the finest programs.

I’ve read in your about you teach about readability, usability and accessibility. To what field is this limited? If you are teaching for print/web I’m interested in what you think implementing these expertises in signage and wayfinding. Just curious.

By: Leon P

Leon P — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:25:03 +0000

I’m trying to be a designer. For websites I use Firefox + web developer + firebug + colorzilla, Notepad++, pen, pencil, paper and Paint.net (for resizing images). No Photoshopping here!

By day I’m a teacher: laptop, projector, interactive white board, computer, pen, paper.

By: Sander Baumann

Sander Baumann — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:01:40 +0000

Sander Spek — Thanks Sander!

Thank you for sharing your list of tools that completes your (research) design job! I love to see some sketches of your work, before (handdrawn) and the final results. And thanks for the mention of Robert Bringhurst, I think you talk about The Elements of Typographic Style, a great booklet.

By: Sander Spek

Sander Spek — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:44:30 +0000

Wow, lovely signage examples! Great work!

My job is in research rather than design, so I mostly just use a computer, my mobile phone, my palm handheld, and lots of Moleskines and Pilot fineliners. When I do (non-professional, mind you) designing, I use the same computer, pens and paper, and also my great typography books (Bringhurst, Lupton, White) and the internet for inspiration.