Creative pumpkin carving
October 26, 2007
As we near the end of October it can mean only one thing: Pumpkins and plenty of them. It's also the time of year that Duarte Design displays its employee pumpkin carvings from its legendary Duarte Pumpkin Contest. Duarte added 21 new staff since last year so that have plenty of creative entries again this year. Not your typical jack-o-lanterns, but what do you expect from a group of talented creatives. There's even a "Presentation Zen" entry from one of the employees. Seven weeks before the book is even published it's already inspired someone to make some PZ-pumpkin parody.
Duarte redesigns their website
Speaking of Duarte, checkout Duarte's new website (just launched today). I think this site does a much better job of showing who they are and what they do (and why they kick butt). Take some time to meet the staff behind the name (looks like a fun place to work, doesn't it?). In the portfolio section you can see some good examples of their work. I love how they make their simplicity point right up front on the first page. Below are some screen shots from the site. Go checkout the site when you have some time. Let them know what you think.
Update on the PZ book
I hope to be "done" with the book in two weeks. Before then I have to finish up the design of the last chapter and add a resource section and photo credit section at the back (I'm also writing some more text to give it a better "ending"). Before I am really done there will be more rounds with the proofreaders and production people and finally I'll need to manually adjust some text to make sure there are no rough line breaks, Widows, etc. The print process takes about a month, and it looks like the book will meet the deadline and be ready for sale at least a week before Christmas. Interestingly, pre-sales have already been amazingly good (amazing to me at least). You can order the book now on Amazon and other online sites as well. Thanks so much to all of you who pre-ordered the book!
I get by with a little help...
Mayumi Nakamoto, designer and co-founder of Recette a design shop focused on "food, communication, and culture," has been my assistant on the project since the beginning. I go to her office located in the Graphics Lab building in central Osaka once or twice a week to go over my designs and get InDesign tips. In the photo below we are going over some printed pages and deciding the proper thinkness of borders, color choices, etc. Here we are looking at the front cover wich I designed using a photo from iStock. The cover is done, but Mayumi will use her expertise in typography to kern some letters/adjust tracking, etc. in the "presentationzen" title. It is subtle, but it matters.
Going over the layouts with designer and InDesign guru Mayumi Nakamoto.