BNGIowa

Buyer Beware

It happened again this morning. There it was, plain as day. Right in the title. 

I have been talking about this problem since the early nineties.

Back then, I remember getting a letter from Patrick Coyne, editor and designer of CA, in response to a newsletter article where I wrote about this problem in the ADAI newsletter. As a young designer, I was thrilled to get the letter. I still have it. 

Here it is 2010 and the problem is still rampant.

Ever since desktop publishing replaced type houses, it seems even professional designers, sign shops, ad agencies and others are in violation.

What I am referring to? Typographically incorrect apostrophes.

How do you know when this type violation occurs? The apostrophe should look like a comma. It should not look like a foot mark (sort of like an exclamation mark without a dot).

This violation happens with quotation marks too. Some computer software doesn't compose type automatically with correct apostrophes and quotation marks. The person typing doesn't notice. 

It shouldn't be a consumer's job to catch this mistake, but now you know, so be alert. I you buy a building sign, a menu, a billboard, an ad for your company or the like, be alert for this common mistake. 

Don't even get me started on bad typography on web sites. 

One Thing At A Time

At one of our recent meetings, we were talking about time management techniques.  Barb shared an short audio book from Steve Chandler.  The concept was to adopt the mindset "I only have one thing to do." and that is whatever you are working on or whoever you are meeting with at that particular moment.  Give it/them your undivided attention until you are finished and then decide what the next "one thing to do" will be.

Here is a short post I found today on the Freakonomics blog from the New York Times:

"What are you actually accomplishing when you’re doing five things at once?  Maybe not as much as you think.  Scientists have found that “self-described multitaskers performed much worse on cognitive and memory tasks that involved distraction than did people who said they preferred to focus on single tasks.”  Their research, along with other research on memory and learning, is profiled in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The researchers profiled believe that the best learning comes from single-minded attention: one professor even forbids his students from taking notes in class. (HT: Marginal Revolution)"

via freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

In Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, David Allen suggests a simple way of processing that pile of stuff.  Do it, delegate it, defer it, or drop it.  You can buy the book here

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