Talk QWERTY To Me

“You too can have a custom website!”

cptredbeard1 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:33:16 +0000

I had to redefine the sub header of my blog from being specifically about typography, to a much broader spectrum… Just so I could talk about this next subject. But I still like the original blog name… so I’ll stand by it.

Let me first start off by saying that the freelance world is a difficult world to be a part of… It’s hard enough to find decent jobs/clients that understand the value of good work and the amount of time it takes to produce a quality product. Be it a logo, a brochure, a t-shirt design… a website… they all take quality time to produce a quality end result.

It does me and my fellow freelance comrades little in the way of good when companies provide the un-enlightened client with good old fashion, highly enticing, polished turds. They use words like “custom”, and “warp speed web development” to sell their product to the web window shopper… or “webdow shopper”… no, scratch that… just window shopper… and the rest just happens over night. The clients so called “custom site” is merely their logo and content plopped into a template used by, quite literally, a million other sites.

Anyhow… here is just one example of such a company. They call themselves Proweaver( wildly clever… I know).

Click around, check out some of their sample sites, and see if you can’t spot a pattern of cheese. Go to www.proweaver.com and be sure to wear a rain coat, cause its a bonified poo-storm.

HATE: Papyrus (follow-up)

cptredbeard1 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:30:14 +0000

Shortly after if posted the previous entry regarding “HATE: Papyrus” I stumbled on something… almost as if destiny intervened to dispel my fury. I was here at work thumbing through the February 2009 HOW – Design Ideas at Work magazine and came an article titled “18 Cures for the Common Type Face“. Amongst those cures was a cure for Papyrus. I was flabergasted. The gods have smiled upon me today my friends. Well… God, since I’m a monotheist and all. That’s irrelevant. Please, check out the page to the left… click on it to view in full size and enjoy the fruit of the hard labor set forth by those at HOW.

HATE: Papyrus

cptredbeard1 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:20:41 +0000

For the first post I figured I’d start with a certified “doosey”. Papyrus… Quite possibly one the most hideous in circulation today. Primarily used by mom’s selling homemade jewelery, Indian/Peruvian cuisine restaurants, and (but by no means limited to) inter office memo drafters trying to spice up their company masthead. I hate to say it, but the reach of Papyrus has stretched far beyond the packaging of home made bags and tags. It has seeped into the mainstream. I bring you exhibit “A”. And by “A”, I of course me “Arizona Tea”. Make no mistake, their teas are scrumdiddlyumptious… , but unfortunately their packaging has taken a backseat to their flavor. Here is Arizona Green Tea. Take not of the highlighted region. No… you’re not having a lapse of sanity… well, maybe you are, but still… They have used Papyrus, not once… not twice… but three times… with three different treatments no less. (sigh…)