Paper Tips

The Giving Back with Design webinar really struck a chord. But that doesn’t surprise me.

At the end of each PaperSpecs Gallery Inspiration video, I repeat the sentiment, “Go out and make this world a better place through great design and outstanding paper choices.”

Our special webinar speaker, Michael Osborne, showed us just how that’s done. In the case of Joey’s Corner, through pro bono design work.

From the attendance and the …

By Ilene Strizver

Quotation marks: one of the most misused (and misunderstood) typographic elements in today’s world of digital typography.

Do you use of straight typewriter quotation marks (“dumb” quotes) instead of true typographer’s quotes (“smart” quotes)?

Whether it be for print, the Web, ibooks and tablets, motion graphics, or other media, this type crime should be avoided whenever possible.

Quotation marks
Smart quotes (sometimes called “curly” quotes although they are not always curly) are …

By Sabine Lenz

“Unfortunately, due to the economy, we can no longer support Specification Sales Representatives.” The letter from the paper merchant was friendly enough, but …

Sadly, spec reps have been disappearing from the paper landscape. The few that remain usually have multiple roles, with sales taking over the majority of their time.

“There are practically no “traditional” spec reps left in the field,” confirmed a merchant friend of mine who shall stay …

More business execs are realizing the importance of good design to the financial success of their organizations. But they want to know that the money they’re about to spend will pay off. So they’re asking designers for more than an aesthetic rationale.

That’s where design research comes in. And that’s where a book like “A Designer’s Research Manual” by Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady becomes an invaluable resource. It provides designers with …

By Alan Rosenspan

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…” Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Let Me Reveal A Secret
As a creative person, you …

By Anne-Marie Concepcion

Do you ever get multiple copies of the same catalog in the mail? Or three or four copies of the same HTML email from the same company? The problem here is a dirty list: Someone forgot to check for duplicate entries.

When you’re doing any sort of mail merging or database publishing, it’s important to start with a clean, “de-duped” list before you import the data, because they’re often impossible …