kuler is Adobe’s spanking new web-app for exploring, creating and sharing color themes for your next design project. Or just for fun.

If you’re color-challenged like me, you’ll find inspiration in kuler’s growing library of user-submitted themes. Better yet, you can create your own themes for others to rate, download, and critique.

A well-designed interface of color wheels, swatches, and sliders makes it easy and joyous to make perfect color combinations. Once done, you can download your theme as an Adobe Swatch Exchange files (.ASE) to use in your Adobe apps.

Like many new web-apps, kuler is a “technology preview” (beta), so beware of bugs and downtime. Adobe implies it may charge for using the tool later. If Adobe wants the love of designers and color enthusiasts, it’d better keep it free.

Thanks to Mark Roudebush for sending this to me.

Posted in: Adobe, Color, Design, Lifehacks, Tools

What do great blogs like 43 Folders, Boing Boing, Dooce, and Uncrate have in common?

They’re all part of Federated Media, an author-driven advertising network created by John Battelle, founding editor of Wired Magazine. Today, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve accepted an invitation to join this wonderful network of blogs. I’m now an official member of Federated Media!

This means FM will be handling most of the sales and promotion of ad space on this site. I can now worry less about business and more about creating great content.

Before they can start, I need as many LifeClever readers to fill out a short survey. This will help Federated Media make better matches between advertisers and readers. More importantly, it’ll help me improve the content on this site while keeping it free.

I’d like to personally thank Mr. Merlin Mann of 43Folders for recommending LifeClever to FM. It is truly an honor.

Take the survey

Information from the survey will be used for demographic purposes only. Individual information will not be used for marketing directly to the user, or sold to another party.

Posted in: Advertising, Blogs, Federated-Media

Think traffic jams are an unbeatable force?

Bill Beaty, an electrical engineer and “traffic physics” enthusiast, doesn’t think so.

After conducting his own experiments, Bill’s discovered a simple trick anyone can do to relieve two common types of traffic jams: the “merging-traffic jam” and the “traffic wave”

The strategy is to simply maintain a large space in front of you instead of instinctively speeding up to close any gaps. It’s counter-intuitive, but according to his own experiments, it works. Here’s what he says:

Traffic jams on highways are often triggered where two lanes must merge into one. Lanes of cars cannot merge if there are no large gaps between cars. Therefore, drivers who create large gaps between cars will ease this type of traffic jam.

Bill backs this up with thorough explanations and animated diagrams of his experiments. He also responds to a lenghthy list of frequently asked questions.

I find the idea of one driver being able to beat Goliath-like traffic jams fascinating. But I must confess. I don’t know how to drive and can’t test this out personally. So if any LifeClever reader would like to test this out, please share your results!

Links:
A cure for waves & jams
Merging-Lane Traffic Jams, A Simple Cure

Thanks to Hugh Dubberly for sending this my way.

Posted in: Driving, Lifehacks, Traffic-Jams

Need a quick way to pick and convert color values without opening Photoshop?

Check out the free widget with funny British spelling, ColourMod. This handy widget lets you pick colors and automatic convert their values into CYMK, RGB, HSV, and Hex. All at a glance.

It’s available for both Dashboard (Mac) and Yahoo! Widget Engine, formerly known as Konfabulator (PC & Mac).

Despite the hideous renaming of Konfabulator, it’s still worth the download:

ColourMod (Mac)
ColourMod (PC & Mac, requires Yahoo! Widget Engine)

Posted in: Color, Design, Lifehacks, Mac OS X, Tools, Widget, Windows

A convenient and often forgotten feature of Mac OS X is its built-in ability to create zip archives.

Just select any file or folder, go to the File Menu and select Create Archive. Voila! Instant .zip archive. No third-party software needed.

Make this even better by attaching a custom keyboard shortcut to the menu item—another handy but easy-to-miss feature. Here’s how:

Click to continue

Posted in: Compression, Lifehacks, Mac OS X, Shortcuts

In 1999, a legendary graphic design program died.

This program, Armin Hofmann’s Advanced Class for Graphic Design at the Basel School, was famous for its disciplined approach and emphasis on foundation courses. The program attracted students from around the world and later partnered with the Yale School of Design.

Beginning 2007, the program lives again in a new form.

In response to the dearth of rigorous foundation courses in design schools, Basel is reincarnating the spirit of Armin Hofmann’s original program into a new program called, Basics in Design. It lasts one to two semesters. Current students might be able to arrange a study abroad program with their existing schools. The program will admit only 18 students.

While most of the design masters of the original have sadly passed away, a new breed of teachers will be leading classic courses in:

• Color
• Drawing
• 3D-design (not on a computer)
• Letterform
• Image
• Form and concept
• Art and Design

Notice the lack of computer-based courses. Most exciting of all is an option to attend a couple of two-week workshops on typography and layout taught by renowned typographer, Wolfgang Weingart.

For more information, check out the program’s website.

If you don’t have time or money for the full program, you can also attend Weingart’s shorter summer program, Basics in Design and Typography.

Now, if only there was also a Basics in Interaction Design program…

(via my friend and Basel graduate, Jim Faris.)

With a gazillion typefaces available, how do you find the right one?

After eight long years, FontBook, the “largest type reference in the world,” is back with a spanking new edition. This “big yellow book” helps you choose typefaces by showing samples of 32,000 typefaces from 90 major and independant type foundries around the world.

The new edition promises less clutter with more font specimens, cross-references, and foundries. It sells for $99 bucks. At the time I bought the last version, they had a student discount, so be sure to ask.

Here’s the publisher’s description:

“FontBook is the only guide that compiles original, digital typefaces from multiple manufacturers and presents them in a systematic way.

FontBook is all-inclusive, with typefaces both old and new. It contains all the classics of the art of printing, insofar as they are available digitally, as well as the latest font releases and extensions.

FontBook is a type encyclopedia with an abundance of carefully researched notes on type designers, year of publication, similar fonts, and additional language versions.”

And some PDF samples:

• Introduction (English) (1.5MB PDF)
• Introduction (German) (1.1MB PDF)
• Samples from Each Chapter (2.1MB PDF)

I’ve had a copy of the old edition since my sleepless college days. It’s now thoroughly abused and battered with a cover that’s hanging on for dear life. Since used versions are going for $185 on Amazon, I think it’s time to save up get the new version.

Update (Nov. 16): Also check out the FontBook fighting game at FontBook.com.. (Designed by Punchcut)

FontBook: Digital Typeface Compendium

Posted in: Books, Design, Typography

I love WordPress. It’s designer-friendly, easy-to-use, and free. What I hate is managing spam.

I have two pet peeves when it comes to preventing spam:

1. I’m lazy and don’t want to moderate every single comment.
2. Making readers enter CAPTCHA letters is annoying and just isn’t cool.

Fortunately, here’s two plug-ins for worry-free and unobtrusive spam control:

Akismet

Both a service and a plugin, Akismet eliminates spam by running hundreds of tests on every comment and checking it against a database of known spammers. It’s built-in with every WordPress installation, but you’ll need to register for free API key to activate it.

Once activated, it’s virtually worry-free. No need to maintain blacklists or cumbersome moderation rules.

Moderate Brief Comments (The best little-known plug-in ever)

Akismet isn’t perfect. It sometimes misses spam comments containing very few words. For example, a 3-word spam comments such as “discount viagra anvenve” can pass through unflagged.

I searched endlessly for a plug-in to check the number of words in a comment, and send those that are too short into the moderation queue. No luck.

Before giving up, I posted my dilemma on the WordPress forums. Within a day, moderator Kaf Oseo (Kafkaesqui) wrote a plug-in and posted it. This is why I love the WordPress community!

Download Moderate Brief Comments
View instructions

Besides spam, the plugin’s also useful for eliminating lame short comments such as “Hey, thanks” or “Keep up the good work.”

After installing and activating both plug-ins, LifeClever is now virtually spam-free. If your blog allows readers to receive comment notifications via email, this also means less spam in their inbox.

Posted in: Blogging, Spam, WordPress

I have a secret. I’m a designer, and I suck at color.

Maybe it’s because color theory wasn’t part of my graphic design curriculum in college…

Thankfully, it’s never too late to learn. If you’re color-challenged like me, here’s two sources that can help:

Mark Boulton’s Five Simple Steps to Designing with Color

This is Mark’s latest addition to his online Five Simple Steps series on design.

The first part recommends starting color projects in grayscale. Once you get the right balance of tones, you then apply colors.

Next, Mark explains those weird color terms such as triads, subtractive primaries, and complimentary colors. As usual, Mark’s writing is clear, concise, and never too technical. Of course, the plentiful illustrations help.

Part 1: Designing without color
Part 2: Color basics

Josef Albers’s Interaction of Color

This slim book is based on Josef Albers’ famous color theory class taught at Yale University. Many consider this the only color theory book you should own.

Rather than presenting color wheels and loads of technical terms, Josef Albers focuses on how your eye perceives color.

Most intriguing is his demonstration of color relativity—how a color, and your perception of it, changes when next to other colors. As an example, the cover of the book shows how the same brown can look drastically different depending on what’s around it.

Sadly, Josef Albers is no longer alive. Fortunately, his legacy lives on in his book and through his students who are teaching his course at various schools across the country.

Interaction of Color

What other online and offline sources on color do you use? Please share!

Posted in: Books, Color, Design

Sick of fashion magazines?

Check out Fantastic Man, a fashion mag that’s decidedly anti-fashion.

You won’t find ultra high-gloss paper, loads of ads, and vacuous content. Instead, the magazine favors uncoated paper, restrained advertising, and refreshingly quirky yet compelling articles. Oh, and most of it’s in black and white.

Fantastic Man is the brainchild of designer Jop van Bennekom and journalist Gert Jonkers. Bennekom’s also publishes the exceptionally designed Re-Magazine and Butt Magazine.

The layout is clean with Modernist influences but has enough idiosyncrasies to steer it away from sterility. Bennekom even revives Times New Roman in a way that makes me regret telling you how unfortunate a typeface it is. Combined with original photography and alternative fashion, this might be the most substantive fashion magazine ever.

Like anything cool, Fantastic Man’s hard to find. Subscribe via Amazon or directly through the publisher’s frustrating website, Bruil & van de Staaij.

The latest issue of Fantastic Man features an interview with Helmut Lang (he holds a rooster on the cover), a fashion spread on plaid, and an article about moustaches.

Here’s some photos I took of the issue:

Click to continue

You’ve been there. Paralyzed in front of a giant display of neverending color swatches at Home Depot.

With so many color possibilities, it’s ironically impossible to choose. How do you decide which white do use? Or if Pepper Grass goes with Hot Pink? Fortunately, there’s help with Behr’s ColorSmart tool.

ColorSmart lets you preview colors before your paint. You choose from an “inspiration library” of suggested color schemes, or customize and design one based on your favorite colors. The tool will also help you find coordinating colors and then show you how they’ll look in different rooms.

This all means you can avoid making heinous, tasteless, and costly mistakes. Such as painting your living room Pepper Grass and Hot Pink:

Behr’s ColorSmart tool

Posted in: Color, Design, Home-Improvement, Lifehacks

Quicksilver, the miracle shortcut tool for the Mac, should have its own Marvel Comics movie. It just has too many features and mutant abilities to ignore.

Yasser Dehab of The Apple Blog adds to this neverending list by showing you how to use Quicksilver to access every menu item in any Mac application.

He explains the benefit:

Now you’re probably thinking, “Great. I just accomplished in about 20 keystrokes what I used to do with a point and click. This helps me, how?â€? Well, hold on. It gets better.

The beauty of Quicksilver is that it actually learns how you like to use it. For instance, we can start by defining a trigger that automatically brings up the QS bezel with the menu bar items (I use ctrl + cmd + space, you can use whatever you’d like). Using that trigger, you can teach Quicksilver commands by typing and selecting the command that you’d like.

For instance, you can evoke the menu using your new trigger and then type “vâ€? (for view) and “cuâ€? (for clean up). Now you can easily execute View > Clean Up through a quick series of keystrokes. You can do this for all of your frequent commands. Or, if you’re a keyboard nut who’s really into the whole QS thing, you can create triggers for each dropdown menu. The possibilities are really endless, and can save your precious seconds in front of the computer.

Yes, this means all you shortcut-obsessed designers can now create keystrokes for those deeply buried Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign menus. Of course, it’s also quite useful in non-design applications with elaborate, cumbersome, and often illogical menus——Microsoft Office.

Check out the full walkthrough.

via The Apple Blog

Posted in: Lifehacks, Mac OS X, Quicksilver, Shortcuts

Tired of lame writing tips?

Check out Brian Clark’s Copyblogger, a collection of non-sucky tips for blog writing. It’s quickly become my favorite writing blog. Brian’s advice is approachable, concise, and never pedantic.

Here are his recent Hemingway-inspired tips:

1. Use short sentences
2. Use short first paragraphs
3. Use vigorous English
4. Be positive, not negative
5. Never have only 4 rules

Read the full post here.

Posted in: Blogging, Writing

37signals’ manifesto and eBook, Getting Real, is now available for free as an HTML site.

The book details 37signals’ rapid prototyping and web-app development process with the goal of showing you “the smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application.”

If you’re familiar with the company’s successful web applications, Backpack and Basecamp, the ebook essentially answers the question, “How’d they do that?”

Designers and studios working with new up-and-coming technology firms will also find the book useful for getting a better understanding of the philosophy and working methods being adopted by many “Web 2.0” companies.

PDFs of the eBook are still $19, but the HTML version is absolutely free. Yay!

37signals via Lifehack.org

Posted in: 37signals, Design, Web Development, Web-2.0

After avoiding the 7 deadly sins of résumé design, you may be asking, “If I can’t use crazy colors, clip art, and other types of decoration, how do I make my résumé stand out from the crowd?” Like many things, the answer lies in the details.

Even if you can’t hire a fancy designer and are stuck with Microsoft Word, a few tweaks can turn your blasé résumé into an elegant and functional showpiece.

Update (Oct 25): As promised, here’s a template of the final résumé. Please credit this site, LifeClever, if you post it elsewhere. Thanks!

The typical résumé

Before starting your résumé makeover, first take a look at a typical one:

Like most résumés, it was created in Microsoft Word. It doesn’t look horrible, but it could use improvement. You can improve almost all résumés with four steps:

1. Pick a better typeface
2. Remove extra indentations
3. Make it easy to skim

4. Apply typographic detailing

   Click to continue

Posted in: Lifehacks

MediaTemple, the web hosting service favored by designers, has finally announced their new Grid-Server (gs) hosting plan. Unlike other shared-hosting plans, Mediatemple’s Grid-Server eliminates the “bad neighbor effect” by distributing the load over several servers instead of confining it to one machine. This redundancy means more stability and virtually no downtime.

After testing the new plan for several weeks during its beta period, I’m proud to say this plan delivers the best bang for the buck out of any hosting service I’ve tried in the past. $20 a month will get you loads of features, including the following:

• 100GB of storage
• 1TB of short-width bandwidth
• Multi-domain hosting for 100 individual sites on one account.
• Ruby on Rails
• 1000 email accounts
• 1-Click install for WordPress, Drupal, Gallery, and ZenCart

Before you sign-up, here’s what I like and don’t like:

Click to continue

Posted in: Design, Reviews, Web, Web-hosting