Logo Math

I really wish I knew who came up with this hilarious piece. If I find out, I will update the post and give them credit. This is some clever person's idea of how some famous logos originated.

(Via LogoDesignLove)

Eli, no!

Illustrator, graphic designer, Katie Kirk has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. I love her minimalist illustration style. She has written, illustrated, and designed this adorable book called Eli, no!, all about the trouble her dog, Eli, gets into.

She explains how she was inspired to create this book:

The book was inspired by my nephew, Parker. Whenever we were together, I would say "Eli no!" — and every time I said it, he would say it too! He liked how fun it was to say and so did I. I had always wanted to write and illustrate a children's book, and I thought this idea was too fun not to do.

This is the perfect book for dog lovers and for children. You can buy it here.

And this is Katie's dog, Eli.

(Via Graphic-Exchange)

Installing Adobe CS4 on a Mac Running Lion

A couple of months ago I purchased a new MacBook Air (MBA) laptop. The computer came with OS X 10.7 loaded (also known as "Lion"). I ran the Migration Assistant and also installed my applications on the MBA and that is when my problems started. I'm writing this article in hopes that anyone else in a similar situation will have a less painful experience and be able to solve their problem.

I installed Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) Premium on the MBA. Most of the applications I used regularly worked fine (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop). But unfortunately, Acrobat 9 Pro would not run at all. If I tried to launch it, the program would ask for a serial number. When I typed in the one serial number I have for the entire suite, it would reject it. For several weeks I just worked around the problem. The laptop is not my main machine. Also I could create PDFs from InDesign and if I had to view a PDF I could use Preview. But during my regular workflow, I use Acrobat 9 Pro quite a lot to modify PDFs that I create initially from InDesign. So if I was using my laptop, it became increasingly frustrating to me that I could not run Acrobat 9 Pro. So I tried to solve my problem and that's when the fun began.

At first I tried searching for information in Adobe's support articles. As I'm wading through Adobe's labyrinthian website, I get one of those pop-up windows asking me if I want to chat with a support person. My first instinct was to ignore it, but I decide to give that a try. The "support" person was actually just a customer service person and not a tech. So all he wanted to do was sell me on buying an upgrade to CS5.5. That would have cost me more than $500 (this includes the 20% discount they are offering until the end of the year). Oh and about that, when I asked him how long this discount was being offered, he tried to pressure me by implying that it was ending soon and I should take advantage of the offer today. I did not want to open a whole new can of worms by upgrading the software, so I told him I wasn't ready to buy the upgrade. So he was no help and I did not appreciate being pressured in to upgrading.

The next day I tried calling Adobe's tech support (based in India and they don't try to hide that fact). I spoke with one person and told him my story. After being on the phone for a while, it turns out he's not really a tech person and transfers me to someone else. That person hears my story, puts me on hold and eventually drops the call. Despite the fact that this person had my phone number (they ask for it in case you get disconnected), I never received a call back.

Next step, Twitter. Often times it's the best way to get help from a company. While I was on hold I posted this on Twitter: "Trying to chat with Adobe tech support. So far not having much luck." Sure enough, someone from Adobe with the Twitter handle "Adobe_Care" responded: "How did your chat go? What product and issue were you having problems with? ^Bing" Eventually I get a message from Adobe_Care to read this support article entitled "Error “Invalid Serial Number” | Acrobat 9 installed with CS4" and see if the instructions solve the problem. I was nervous to do what the article said because it involved uninstalling the entire suite and at this point all the other programs were working. It was only Acrobat that wasn't working. Unfortunately, my instincts were right.

I followed the instructions from the support article. Ran the uninstaller and deleted the Library files that they mentioned in the article. Then I tried to reinstall the software and this time the installer would not run at all. I never even got to the screen that asked for a serial number. It wouldn't install anything. Now I couldn't run any of the Adobe CS4 applications on the new laptop. I was in worse shape than I had been before I started to contact Adobe. Out of desperation, I tried calling Adobe tech support again. This time I got a tech named Shiva who eventually solved my problem (thank Shiva!). The whole call took about 2.25 hours but in the end, I was able to load the entire CS4 suite successfully on to my laptop and the programs ran (including Acrobat 9 Pro).

It turns out that the first support article was missing a step. After uninstalling all the software and deleting the 2 files from the library, you need to download and run the Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool. Apparently there have been installation issues with CS5.5, CS5, CS4 and CS3 because this tool resolves the install problems for all these versions. Here's the really strange part, when I ran the Cleaner Tool, it said it didn't find anything it needed to "clean"; however, right after I used the tool I was able to run the installer for Adobe CS4. So who knows what the cleaner tool actually did, but it worked.

But here is where Adobe let me down again. I suggested both to the tech (Shiva) and to the person that handles the Adobe_Care Twitter account that they need to update the support article "Error “Invalid Serial Number” | Acrobat 9 installed with CS4". They need to link this support article to the other article about the Adobe Cleaner Tool and add that as an extra step after doing the uninstall (but before you try to reinstall). Neither person seemed to think this was a good idea. They were just glad that they helped me. But what about the next person that has my same problem? Why make them go through all this just to solve their issue? I hope my story helps someone else.

Update on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 6:38PM by Lisa Glassberg

Today I got an @ reply on Twitter from Adobe_Care thanking me for the blog post and letting me know that they've contacted Adobe's Help & Learning team to look into linking the two tech support documents.

Trip to Charleston, South Carolina

Recently went on a trip to Charleston, SC and had a blast. The architecture is varied and beautiful. Many buildings are painted in vivid pastel colors. I was so impressed with the ornate ironwork that was everywhere. There was lots to see and I had fun taking photos.

I also noticed many beautiful signs for businesses like the art deco sign shown above. And the door detail next to it is another example of the beautiful ironwork.

This building (above) reminds me of the buildings in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A lovely romanesque-style church.

Charleston is filled with flowers and plants that add to the vibrant color of the city. We snuck a peek at many lovely private gardens. I particularly liked this flower box with the bright green colors, some gold & red leaves, vivid purple flowers, and bunch of little deep red peppers on the left. A nice combination of colors and textures.

This is the most hilarious pumpkin I've ever seen. I wish I could say that I carved it, but it was some clever person from Charleston.

Thanks Steve

Steve Jobs died this past Wednesday, October 5, 2011. Although it was not unexpected given that he had resigned as Apple CEO at the end of August; it was still a shock. I'm still in shock even after several days of reading posts on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, blogposts, etc. Love Apple or hate Apple, you can't deny that Steve Jobs' drive and vision have made a significant impact on how the average person interacts with a computer.

I wanted to acknowledge Steve's passing because his work has had a profound impact on my life and my career. His focus on creating products that are easy to use, get the job done, and are beautifully designed is the reason so many of us love our Apple products. I'm sure some will dismiss this as mere fanaticism and point out Steve's many flaws and that he didn't invent any of the technology used in Apple products. But without Steve, there would be no Macintosh, no iPod, no Apple Stores, no iPhone and no iPad. Without the Macintosh with it's graphic user interface and ability to render fonts using Adobe's Postscript we would not have had a massive transformation in the graphic design industry. Suddenly the job that took many people to accomplish (design, typesetting, paste-up/production) could all be done by one person with a Mac. For all this I want to thank Steve Jobs.

As I think about Steve Jobs, I am reminded of 2 other men who died too young and who's work I adored. Jim Henson died suddenly in 1990 (on my birthday, no less) at age 54. I grew up with Sesame Street and adored The Muppet Show and the Muppet movies. Jim Henson's death upset me (and many people) very much. I was so happy when Steve Jobs included Jim in his "Think Different" ad campaign for Apple. I still have that poster of Jim with Kermit on his shoulders, with the original rainbow Apple logo and the tagline set in Garamond. In 2001, Douglas Adams, writer of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, died at age 49. His books were brilliant, hilarious, insightful and so fun to read. Adams was also an avid Mac user and a big fan of Apple computer. It's so sad that he died 9 years before the iPad debuted. The iPad is the living embodiment of his "Hitchhikers Guide" tablet as it is described in his books. He would have loved the iPad.

Many articles have been written about Steve Jobs and his passing, and many more will be written. But here are links to my three favorites so far. Andy Ihnatko, tech writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote a lovely story on his personal blog that illustrates the strong emotional connection people have with Apple. MG Siegler, writer for Tech Crunch, wrote about the emotional connection that we have with Steve Jobs himself. And for Wired.com, Steven Levy wrote a comprehensive article about Steve and his life.