The Ancient Art of Email Templating

This Ancient Art of Email Templating PDF Guide by MailChimp made me laugh out loud. The intro paragraph says it all:

Take off that beanie and put that Zeldman book down, you hippie. There are no standards in HTML email. Email programs are all over the place in terms of how they render HTML. You will need to think different. Fight different. Yes, you will need to resort to dirty “street” style tactics to make your email designs look consistent. Medieval stuff like:

– Table layout. No CSS Positioning. Not only that, but…
– Embedded Tables (gasp!) Shim-GIFs (double gasp!)
– Videos, Flash, ActionScript, DHTML, Javascript, and all that other fancyschmancy stuff is not going to work. Most anti-virus software block them from working inside email apps.

…

Download The Ancient Art of Email Templating PDF Guide.

A digital Native.

They interact with the peers across the globe: This impacts employers, brands, teachers, parents, as this first generation enters the workforce.

Always online: By age 20, kids will have spent 20,000 hours online –the same amount of time a professional piano player would have spent practicing Urs Gasser, paraphrased
Multiple identities, personal and social, shared online and offline (blurring): Online representation is the same as physical representation: what your clothes, friends, vehicles say about you.
…

Dr. Urs Gasser of Harvard’s Berkman Center coined the term Digital Natives.

Chat Roulette Piano Improv #1

This is hilarious: Chat Roulette Piano Improv #1

On Combining Fonts



Is there a way to know what fonts will work together? Building a palette is an intuitive process, but expanding a typographic duet to three, four, or even five voices can be daunting. Here are four tips for navigating the typographic ocean, all built around H&FJ’s Highly Scientific First Principle of Combining Fonts: keep one thing consistent, and let one thing vary.

Music from a Bonsai

G, don’t be suprrised if I am banging on our Bonsai tonight when you get home: Music from a Bonsai by Diego Stocco.

HOBBY

The guys over at Harvest started a *very* cool monthly event called HOBBY. Every month three fine citizens are invited to talk about their hobbies. Each speaker has 5 minutes to explain their particular recreational pursuit, followed by a 5 minute Q&A with the audience. There will be alcohol, and for one night, the answer to “What do you do?” will not be about your day job. Next event is on Tuesday March 23rd 2010.

Check out some videos from last month’s HOBBY soiree.

Comparing the 100 Largest Sites on the Internet

Infographic of the Day: Comparing the 100 Largest Sites on the Internet. What types of sites get the most traffic?

Dogs as typefaces

Dogs as Typefaces.

Stripes make everything better





The past 3 days we’ve had monsoon rain like down-pour here in NYC. But when you have a little one, you eventually have to brave the weather and go outside, no matter what. They need to run! That’s where the perfect kiddo rain-gear comes in!

I am a firm believer in stripes making everything better! So, I suggest these items from Polarn O. Pyret: Red/White stripey rain boots, Rain Pants, Rain Hat and of course a red Rain Jacket.

Wish we would have had all of these items in Ella and my size yesterday!

BeardMe App

Chris Auyeung and Vijay Mathews, the makers of the BeardMe iPhone App (iTunes link) believe everyone has the right to luxuriant, well-groomed facial hair. BeardMe gives people the chance to put really well-designed, old timey, classy beards and mustaches on themselves and everyone they know. Because really who doesn’t love a Daniel Day-Lewis in “Gangs of New York” mustache on babies or coworkers or pets?! Plus, there really is something about a nice beard or mustache that adds a certain I don’t know what to one’s personality and general outlook on life.

(thank you Anna)

Apply for Wieden + Kennedy 12.7

Wieden + Kennedy, the internal school within the agency, is currently seeking applications for next year’s class.

Made me laugh.

Published in The New Yorker 03/15/2010 by Mick Stevens. Made me laugh. Totally Tilo (our 4 week old son).

The Dreaded Killer Jellyfish of Graphic Design Favors

I posted about this The Dreaded Killer Jellyfish of Graphic Design Favors Poster before. Allan from Core77 just gave me the heads up that the poster is now available for purchase for a mere $20! Read about it over on Core77.

I LEGO N.Y.


The I LEGO N.Y.. Board Book by Christoph Niemann will be my new favorite NYC Book Gift from now on. Absolutely brilliant and hilarious.

(link and images via bookbyitscover)

Classified Ad Crowd-Sourcing

I am participating in a silent auction event with the Type Director’s Club and it’s our task to re-interpret an existing classified ad.

Would you like to submit a classified ad you come across and think would be fun to typographically translate into a poster? If so, please submit your suggestions as a scan/image (link to flickr or similar service) in a comment below or email it to me at [email protected].

If your submission gets picked, you’ll get a mention on the poster! Please note that it needs to be a real existing classifieds ad that I will have to submit alongside with the poster, so please keep it!

Thank you!

Wanted: CreativeMornings Co-Sponsor

Next week’s CreativeMornings is going to be a big one! Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy is our speaker and we have already over 180 rsvp’s for Friday the 19th at the fabulous Galapagos Art space.

As the event is shaping up to be bigger than expected, we are in need of another co-sponsor alongside MailChimp to cover the cost for breakfast. (CreativeMornings are always free of charge!)

Here’s what you’d get: For $500 you will be mentioned and given a shout-out on the CreativeMornings announcement post with a graphic, next to MailChimp. As well as on the Eventbrite site. Plus, we’ll of course thank you the morning of the event and if you’d like you can even have a banner/sign up during the event or hand-our promotional items. Your banner and mention will stay on swissmiss/creativemornings.com indefinitely. Plus, you’ll get 1000 instant karma points!

Interested in reaching out to a big, high-end creative audience in NYC? Email me at [email protected].

UPDATE: We have found a co-sponsor! Will update the CreativeMornings Post shortly. Thank you for everyone reaching out! Your generosity is amazing! Yaaay!

Also, we are looking for someone to help us videotape the event. Unfortunately Roland, who usually tapes the events, will be out of town. Know anyone that might be interested in teaming up?

New York’s Best Coffee

New York’s Best Coffee, an interactive map over at The New York Times.

#VirtuallyAttendingSXSW

Taking care of little 3.5week old Tilo, I am obviously not attending SXSW this year. But hey, I am pretend-tweeting and #VirtuallyAttendingSXSW! Join in on the fun and pretend-live-tweet along with me. We already have quite a crowd. Use hashtag #VirtuallyAttendingSXSW !

A Collection A Day

I admit, I am totally looking forward to my daily A Collection a Day image in my inbox. Today’s is lovely. No?

CreativeMornings with Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of ApartmentTherapy

Hooray for another CreativeMorning, on March 19, 2010, with Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Co-Founder of Apartment Therapy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
“One part interior designer, one part life coach,” Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is the founder of Apartment Therapy, a unique interior design practice in the New York metropolitan area. In April 2004, Maxwell, with his brother Oliver, launched apartmenttherapy.com, now one of the most popular and influential design weblogs in the country. Swissmiss is a huge fan of Apartment Therapy and our loyal readers know we love to link to their fantastic sites. (Tina especially loves unplggd, the Apartment Therapy’s sub-site with everything gadgety!)

HOST
This month’s event will again (!) be hosted by the generous folks over at the amazing Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO. If you are not familiar with the space, get ready for a real treat.

R.S.V.P
Interested in attending? Make sure to get your free ticket over on creativemornings.eventbrite.com quickly as we usually fill up fast. Please tell us your name and what industry you’re in. CreativeMornings start at 8.30am, end at 10am and are FREE of charge. Also, if you did rsvp but can no longer make it, please do send us a note as we usually tend to have a waiting list. Email us at [email protected]!

BREAKFAST SPONSORS

Breakfast will be generously sponsored by our new main sponsor MailChimp and John Boardley this month’s co-sponsor and founder of I Love Typography.


MailChimp is a fantastic service that makes it easy to send email newsletters to your customers, manage your subscriber lists, and track campaign performance. A big yay-hooray to the team over at MailChimp!

Not familiar with I Love Typography? Then hurry up, check the world’s most popular type blog.

Be the first to know when r.s.v.p’s open up, follow CreativeMornings on twitter!

Check out pictures of previous CreativeMornings over at Flickr.

View all the taped CreativeMorning talks we’ve put up on the web so far over at Vimeo.

CreativeMornings? ‘CreativeMornings’ is a monthly morning gathering of creative types. Each event includes a 10 minute lecture, followed by a 20 minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30am with the topic presentation starting at 9:00am. The whole thing closes down at 10am. The events are hosted at studios/gallery spaces in NYC. (We are always looking for potential hosts that are willing to accomodate 50+ people. Please email us if you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring one of our events!)

Pretty Paper Lane

These adorable letter-pressed houses come as a kit by 1canoe2.

Growing Table

Now if this Growing Table isn’t an important looking kid’s desk, I don’t know what is. It has future CEO written all over it. The smart thing about it, you can extend the legs so the desk growths with your kiddo. Brilliant! Somebody has been using their noggin!

Dog Stache

image by dog-milk.com

This is for you Tim: Dog Stache.

(thank you herrt)

♥ / Polarn O. Pyret

I am delighted to announce this week’s RSS Feed sponsor, Polarn O. Pyret. I have posted many of their stylish kid’s clothing items before, for example this Button Down Shirt or the irresistible Ladybug Onesie.

Polarn O. Pyret is Sweden’s leading and most beloved children’s wear brand, known for their love for stripes. (One of my favorite gifts to buy for little ones: Classic Stripe Moccasin.)

While PO.P has only been available in the US for a year, it’s been a Swedish household name for 34 years. The design-driven timelessness of the brand makes it possible to collect pieces for the next child or the next generation. Pattern designs have always been very important for Polarn O. Pyret. Their Landscape prints, where the print covers the entire garment, have become an annual tradition since 2005. This season they have some fun ones depicting Swedish tradition.

And of course, by being Swedish, they believe children should play outside no matter what the weather. “There’s no bad weather, only bad clothing.” So they make some of the best outerwear for children which allows them to be dry and warm and still have a blast at the park. (Check out these awesome Rain Pants!)

The Polar O. Pyret team cannot wait to meet their customers as they open their first set of stores later this year in the NY area. (swissmiss can’t wait to set foot in one of them!)

Polar O. Pyret is offering all swissmiss readers 20% off until Sunday March 14th with code SWISSPOP.

Yay for stripes! Yay for Polarn O. Pyret!