Posts by Scott

The above stills are taken from HD video shot with the forthcoming Nikon D90. Nikon has posted some video samples highlighting the video prowess of their new pro-sumer DSLR. Needless to say, they’re incredible; this opens a lot of doors into the world of professional quality video for everyone. I have to admit, at first I too was skeptical of the HD video feature as a mere gimmick. But after seeing these videos I am close to sold. Of course I’d have to reserve final judgement for after I’ve done some hands on testing, but these videos are strong supporting evidence.

I’ve been wanting a new DSLR and want to get my first video camera soon too. The D90 just might kill those 2 birds with one relatively inexpensive stone. The only problem with this whole scenario is that by adding such an alluring feature to the D90 exclusively, Nikon has made it really hard to justify buying their new pro offering, the D700, which lacks the D-Movie feature. I want the added performance of the D700, but getting this level of HD video quality in the significantly cheaper package of the D90 is just about enough reason to ditch any delusions of pro-level-gear-grandeur and make due with the lesser of the Nikon DSLR range, spending the surplus afforded by it on a high end lens.

Head on over to Nikon to view the full videos or Gizmodo for a third party take on the action. The Gizmodo article does make a good point about the sound quality, but for my purposes sound would be irrelevant as most of the stuff I’d be shooting would be set to music with no original live audio. Looks like the race for next-gen DSLR superiority just got a lot more interesting.

My friend turned me on to Google’s entry into the browser market today and I have to say I am pretty impressed. Chrome is a lightweight, search-centric take on the web browser which aims to speed up the browsing experience. So far it’s lived up to that lofty goal for me, all while taking up only 34MB in memory (less than half that of FireFox).  The installer is a svelte 475KB and it even did a seamless import of all my Firefox settings. You can take it for a spin over here. Sorry, but it’s Windows only for the time being; chalk that up as at least a temporary win in the Windows UI/UE column.

Via Steve Kustin

Update: Alex / HDP noted that a nice graphic explanation (pictured below) of the purpose / uses / drawbacks of Chrome can be found here. It all starts to hit home when you read the line "we’re applying the same kind of process isolation you find in modern operating systems". Now, when you consider the overarching concept of web apps (I am now completely dependant on Gmail and Gcal) and the still nascent concept of Instant-On Operating Systems, well, you start to get the big picture: Google is potentially positioning itself as an operating system. If you thought MS had a monopoly, imagine a world where the same company makes the OS, browser, and search technology you use. The only thing missing is the hardware, and who knows, I am sure there is a hardware research division somewhere deep within the sprawling Google campus. Oh, and that’s not even counting the fact that your phone could soon be running a Google OS.

A Pininfarina concept photographed by Benedict Redgrove.

I started out my career in graphic design as an interface architect so I’ve always had a soft spot for GUI’s and user interaction theory. I happened across this post at Teehan+Lax about the GUI for the iPhone. They’ve posted a PSD with most of the assets from the iPhone interface, all in freely-scalable shape layer and PS effect formats. Technically it’s been posted to provide an easy way to create iPhone mock ups but I think it’s a great reference for anyone trying to learn how to create interface graphics in Photoshop (for web or otherwise). Reverse engineering PSDs like this is a great exercise in working with scalable graphics in Photoshop. You can download the PSD from the Teehan+Lax site.

No matter how tasteful or tasteless you think Lamborghinis are (as if it matters what most of us think of them), you have to admit the idea of writing all over one with Sharpie markers is pretty cool. It took Prestige (Lamborghini Miami) about 2 weeks to ink the artwork and seal it up with a layer of clear coat. See more pictures of the car here.

Some random perfection for a Friday morning; a beautiful poster by Georges Huel for Expo67. Can anyone identify that font in the upper right? Very nice. Enjoy the long weekend!

Peter Gabor has posted a Tribute to Herb Lubalin just to remind us all of how inferior our design skills really are. There are 11 pages of Lubalin’s work spanning all the way from his logos and branding up to his more conceptual art and photography. It’s a rather thorough collection and a good starting point if you’re looking for inspiration from one of the original masters of our medium. Link

On a side note, Gabor’s tribute prompted me to brush up on my Herb Lubalin Trivia by going over his Wikipedia entry. I was shocked to find that he passed away at age 63. Maybe seeing another of my design heroes, Wim Crouwel, looking fit and sounding sharp at age 78 in the Helvetica film gave me an unrealistic ideal of longevity, but I always thought of design as the sort of trade you could still be plugging away at and actually producing relevant work well into your 60’s and 70’s (desire permitting, of course). It’s a shame he passed so soon and it’s incredible what he was able to achieve in the relatively short time he had. I wonder what his thoughts on the digital revolution would have been? And perhaps more importantly, how would he have viewed the resurgence and near ubiquity of his famous typeface (Avant Garde) in the past decade of graphic design?

Update: Daniel asked a good question about Avant Garde Alts in the comments. A lot of people have asked the same thing in the past so I thought I would post up the various sources for those character sets. Click here to view the comment

Update: Some more D90 specifics can be found here

The long rumored Nikon D90 is now official and is the first DSLR with HD video recording capabilities. The $999 (body only) 12.3MP camera sports a new image sensor with similar high ISO performance to it’s bigger brothers the D700 and the D3, but at a considerably lower price point. Sounds like a winning package; I currently use a D80 and a lot of the features described would be welcome upgrades to my current rig. But at this point, it wouldn’t be worth it to move over to a camera with such marginal performance increases, I am thinking the recently announced D700 will be my next upgrade (or whichever is their latest at that level when I do take the plunge).

This new Nikon release comes in the wake of Canon’s recent 50D announcement. The 50D is the first pro-sumer level camera with the lauded Digic 4 processor. With the 15.2MP sensor on board, it’s a nice entry point for people not willing to fork over the dough for the 5D. At $1400 (body only) the 50D is considerably cheaper than it’s more robust sibling, but will at least get you in the same performance ballpark as the 5D.

I think these two cameras are a great sign of things to come for us graphic designers. Having a high performance camera in your kit is essential for any serious designer, but it’s hard to justify spending so much on one when photography isn’t your primary occupation. I think the D90 and 50D fill a nice little gap in the DSLR price range, and although the 50D carries a larger price tag (a $400 bump over the D90) it sounds like the extra features make a compelling case for the extra expense. I just don’t know if I can make the move to Canon just yet, I’ll have to see how this plays out.

Some great shots from Benedict Redgrove for Italian car maker Bertone.

Via FFFFOUND

Logitech’s new MX1100 mouse has been getting some glowing reviews and I’m pretty excited to get my hands on one. I have been using an MX Revolution for a couple years now and the battery is failing, so this new model with replaceable batteries will be a welcome addition. The ergonomics on the Logitech mice are great, but the hyperscroll wheel is reason enough to switch (so handy when you’re way zoomed in on a PSD and want to move around quickly). I have tried to make the switch to Wacom pads before without much success. How about everyone else? Do you use a mouse or a tablet, or both? Do you find either is more conducive to design or is it just a simple issue of ergonomics? Let us know in the comments