This Blog Life is where my Design columns for MacUser are collected for reference and comment.

These are all written as creative explorations of specific ideas. Many have been inspired by and/or feed back into my design, publishing and production lectures at London College of Communication (University of the Arts London). If you have any questions please leave a comment on the relevant article and I’ll get back to you.

— Keith

Zapfino, the typeface with built-in magic

Presentations, the art of knocking ’em dead

Helvetica: still pulling its weights

Such a (page) imposition!

Big Brother’s evil eye

What is a magazine?

Invisible ink – still lots of fun!

Prints Charming: letterpress meets DTP

Microsoft logo design history

Video vs text? Fight!

Tattoo design

Digital skeuomorphism

Signage design is a creative challenge

Book binding tips, tricks, advice and secrets

Print effects without ink?

White space is not a lazy designer’s excuse

Comic book and showcard fonts

QR codes: enter the matrix!

Walk, Don’t Walk

Creative Design Briefs

Paper Planes: Fly me to the moon…

No natural affordances in iPad mags

Static graphics vs animated media

Type is the clothes our information wears

Preflighting: boring but important

Graffiti creativity

Hanging in the (white) balance

Airline safety card designs

Digital sketch books – can they work?

Design a new character for a typeface

Art Therapy for design block: The CD Cover game

Freelancing and internships

Paper facts and recipes for discerning designers

With resolution, size does matter

Cover design challenges in the digital world

One-trick specialist or flexible expert?

Dazzle and digital camouflage

Color perception: more than meets the eye

Graphic design as visual language

The copyright © symbol

The secret to designing with grids

Paths of desire

Flipback books: new direction or dead end?

Placeholder text and pangrams

Flying the flag for effective branding

ASCII and emoticons

Ampersand, the most attractive character in the font book

Keep managing the projects

Paper sizes: get to know your A, B, C

Understanding profiles and color

Work smarter with DTP style sheets

Variable data printing for the rest of us?

Focoltone: Cut to the chase

Repeat patterns: history and techniques

Olympic logo design hits and misses

Graphic projections and new angles on perspective

Graphic projections from the Renaissance to now

Book covers and how to judge them

Web and print design are parallel disciplines. Embrace both.

Data visualisation can be fun, but remember to convey the information