Tyler Sticka

Fragments Comic Anthology Available Now! Proceeds Go to Save the Children

I’m so wicked proud to announce that Fragments (the comic anthology I’ve been organizing to benefit the amazing charity, Save the Children) is finally available for purchase! If you like comics, or if you just like doing something awesome for a good cause, you should purchase a copy.

The book features awesome comics by Tram Ngo, Kristen Bailey, Pav Kovacic, Theodore Taylor and many more. The cover was illustrated by Tony Papesh, with a logo by Marc Roman. It’s thanks to all the contributors that this book exists.

The Fragments web site is the first time I’ve published a site written in HTML5 with liberal use of CSS3. Safari 5 users should notice a cool three-dimensional transform on the cover, accomplished via some CSS Transforms and a bit of JavaScript.

If you don’t have Safari, you can see the effect in this screencast:

A special thanks to everyone who has supported the project by tuning into its progress via Facebook or Twitter. Please continue spreading the word; with your help, this project will be a resounding success.

Designing for the Greater Good, a new book showcasing the best in cause-related design

In just a few short days, Collins Design (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) will release Designing for the Great Good, a new book celebrating the best in marketing and design for nonprofit and organizations (incidentally the first of its kind).

I’m extremely pleased to be included in the publication. The logo I created for the Vancouver-based music and dance organization Luceo is featured therein. Luceo taught me to play an A, B and G on my guitar before I moved back to Oregon, so seeing their logo in print is extra special for me.

From the publisher’s press release:

Created as a comprehensive resource for designers, creative professionals, marketers, corporate communications departments and nonprofit leaders, Designing for the Greater Good is based on authors Peleg Top and Jonathan Cleveland’s nearly 40 years of combined experience working with nonprofits and corporate communications departments across the country.

“After nearly a decade of studying cause marketing campaigns, I know that strong design is absolutely critical to success,” commented David Hessekiel, president, Cause Marketing Forum. “As a unique showcase of campaigns that stand out from the crowd, Designing for the Greater Good is a valuable addition to the cause marketing literature. This collection of work, often created in spite of low budgets and organizational impediments, should be an inspiration to creatives, nonprofit and corporate marketers alike.”

The official release date is January 26th, but you can pre-order the book now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. I’d want a copy for my shelf even if I wasn’t in it!

Update (January 28): I received my copy today, and it looks amazing! The cover has a beautiful metallic finish to the type that has to be seen to be appreciated.

I’m very glad that my name is spelled correctly and even happier at how nice the logo looks (on page 227 if you’re curious). I am a bit puzzled as to why they listed my city as Newberg, Oregon. I’m sure Newberg is lovely, but seeing as I’ve never been there, my association with the town is grossly inaccurate.

Hip Slop featured in Digital Arts magazine

I’m honored to report that Hip Slop, my Portland-inspired graffiti typeface, has been featured in the August issue of Digital Arts.

Digital Arts provides “Inspiration for Digital Creatives” to its many UK subscribers. They weighed in on Hip Slop on page 8:

Block rockin’ FACE

An authentic-looking graffiti font is a rare thing and one that’s usable too is doubly so. Hip Slop by Tyler Sticka combines the fast jagged lines of real street art with creative flexibility and legibility. The font costs $9.95 (£6.10).

Hip Slop is the first offering from my expressive type foundry Ampercamp, and is available to purchase from MyFonts.com.

Ampercamp’s second typeface will likely debut in 2010.

Sorry, newspapers are dying…

…but that doesn’t mean that news is.

Monday’s episode of The Daily Show featured an interview with Walter Isaacson, the managing editor of TIME magazine and president of the Aspen Institute. He talked about his recent cover story for TIME and, specifically, what print has to offer that the internet doesn’t. I’d cite the original article, but I don’t subscribe to magazines anymore. Have a look:

Authors and editors in traditional media seem to possess a habitual dearth of perspective when it comes to the Internet. Isaacson seems like an extremely intelligent and qualified guy, but he’s fallen pray to that same lack of objectivity.

Newspapers are really a type of content delivery. Many people buy these publications for only one or two items therein (“Hand me the Sports section.”). The reason circulation is dropping is because, as a method of content delivery, any one newspaper is essentially competing with the entire Internet. Why buy a large stack of dirty newsprint for a few pages of classified ads when you can browse all of Craigslist for free?

Without auxiliary content like classified ads and comics to support it, news has to prove its worth on its own. Opinion and investigatory pieces do a fairly good job of this; it’s obvious to many consumers that the execution of the work is unique to the content creator and, as a result, of value. More expository, journalistic reporting is less quantifiable because, when executed correctly, it is the mere expression of facts. I would guess that most Americans feel we have an innate right to hear the truth. Ergo, we regard factual statements, without direct ownership owed to any one content creator, as a public service.

Isaacson defends the value of news by comparing it to music on the iTunes store. If songs cost 99¢, why not news articles? This argument rings of absurdity. The world didn’t join hands one day and decide in perfect unison that music was worth money, they were given a reason to buy. Here’s how Apple did that:

• They solved the problem of how the audience enjoys music. Instead of chaining users to their PCs, they created the iPod.
• They established the iTunes store and closely integrated it with the device, making the process of purchasing music for the iPod easier and quicker than buying a CD.

Saying that print media can spontaneously convince the public of its innate value is like saying Apple would have been just as successful skinning Napster and adding a shopping cart. Isaacson bemoans the experience of reading publications on a computer monitor versus “in the backyard” as if portability is an experience unique to print. Apple had to overcome that hurdle; why shouldn’t everyone else be forced to do the same?

Alternative Inspiration: interactivity beyond the web

I have a confession to make: I love web design minutiae. My Netvibes is full to the brim with feeds subscribing to every aspect of the ever-growing series of tubes, from upcoming document types undergoing constant revision to the latest means of thwarting Internet Explorer’s troubling box model. One of my favorite elements of this industry is the continuous sea of progress, but I can only enjoy it having reached a very important realization.

The average user really doesn’t care. The user cares about two things primarily, and it’s these two questions that the devoted web designer must concern themselves with over every step of the process:

• Does it work?
• Does it affect its intended audience?

We are accustomed to the concept of web design as a sandbox, a singular craft operating under an exclusive set of rules, flaws and conventions. These elements are extremely important and not to be marginalized, but otherwise passionate designers run the risk of drowning in them at the expense of the user experience. For this reason (and possibly those of sanity), I find that looking beyond the internet for interactive inspiration can be a rewarding experience.

I’m a big fan of rock and roll. While I love the concept of digital distribution, I still buy CDs for the permanence and the frequency range. Its no secret that the quality of album art has been in decline since vinyl fell from the mainstream, but recently there has been a concentrated effort to deliver something special to the common consumer. Though this packaging generally involves little more than paper, cardboard and/or a jewel case, it is still unquestionably interactive.

Paul McCartney’s new album “Memory Almost Full” was released this week, and while I have yet to listen to the record I can attest that the deluxe edition’s packaging is superb. Encased in a cardboard, digipak-style case roughly the size of a typical DVD case, the box opens up through a series of simple flaps moving in opposite directions. Though the construction is as straightforward as you can get, the experience is satisfying; pink, serif words on subtly-textured black reveal themselves only when the flaps are overlapped, dissipating to reveal the next word in the title until the album itself is presented to you. Though the process is simple and linear, it succeeds as a very basic example of interactive animation with nothing but folded cardboard.

“Friend and Foe” is the Portland-based group Menomena’s latest record, and it’s a beauty. Illustrated by Eisner-award-winning cartoonist Craig Thompson (also Portland-based), the album features an intricate, interweaving series of cartoons on a die-cut booklet. The compact disc within contains a series of various eyes and images, allowing you to turn the disc in it’s case to alter the cover art as it shows through the die-cut spaces. The fun is multiplied when you take into account that the booklet folds out for four possible scenes. I love the music, but I was happy I bought the album from the moment I took the shrinkwrap off. The passion and dedication for the construction exudes from every inch of the art, making it easily one of the most creative, well-executed CD packages I’ve ever seen.

Another obvious example would be the “do-it-yourself” packaging for Beck’s “The Information,” but after Wired has devoted a cover to something I consider it standard interactive design canon. Album artwork is just one of a myriad of art, design and entertainment niches that serves to remind me that computer-based aesthetics are not an island, but affect and are affected by traditional aesthetics to the point where such labels are rendered ineffectual. It’s also great to dance to.