Happy New Year 2012

It has been a really really long while since I made some effort to continue blogging and due to bandwidth issues (You must read this article) I haven't.

So seriously (!!!), blogging in 2012 obviously becomes by New Year Resolution. Just so it doesn't look like a wish, I have made some concrete (huh!) steps towards that viz.

1. Visited my long neglected Blogspot site (big deal)
2. Played around with the themes and chose this one
3. Enabled Mobile View (excited that this site is going to be widely read!)
4. Choose the Colours in line with my current thinking (Orange and Innovation is supposed to go hand-in-hand)
5. Updated the Fonts
6. Changed the Layout
7. Added a "All rights reserved" footnote (Not that it matters now!)
8. Saved all those changes (important you see)
9. Typing this blog

I will obviously follow this with the following,

1. Publishing this Blog (Oh Yeah!)
2. Sharing this Blog

By spreading word about this I intend to shame myself if I do not keep up this new year goal :-) Will you support me?

Finally,

The Old is Gone

And the New is Born

Drop your Baggage

And Welcome the Change

Happy New Year 2012

Dubious history of Arial

This statement is written in Arial. Hope your browser will be able to display it
in the font I wanted it to be seen.

Arial, the font that is in use since Windows 3.x is one of the best fonts that come with Windows for use in different applications, along with Times New Roman, and Courier. Arial is one of the standard font that is widely used in business communication, be it email, memo, or a detailed project proposal. It is a no-nonsense, clean font that gives a professional feel and communicates seriousness.

But were it to be? A little of other stuff now.

Helvetica, a font designed by Max Miedinger, turned fifty this year. This Swiss font since its release to mainstream usage fifty years back, had been the widely used in most of commercial communication - company logos, advertisements etc. because of its clean lines, proportionate dimensions and smooth curves. You couldn't imagine any graphics designer not aware of Helvetica, as it was the standard in design. Adobe's design products (e.g. PhotoShop) essentially bought the rights from Linotype (who owns this typeface) for bundling this font in their products; and so did Mac OS - widely used to run graphics rich applications. But so dit NOT, Windows.

Now back to the story of Arial. Didn't I use similar meaning words to describe Arial and Helvetica? You are right. I did. Because they indeed really are, as do so many other fonts. But with one difference. Arial was born out of Helvetica, because Microsoft did not like paying Linotype the required fee to use the font. So Arial came bundled with Microsoft's OS and because Microsoft's systems were pervasive, Arial became the default font for formal communication, displacing the much deserving Helvetica out of sight.

It is ironical that the brand Microsoft is created and still represented in Helvetica!

If it were not for Microsoft to reengineer Helvetica into Arial with almost no difference (find it if you can) I would have written a blog focussing on the history of Helvetica.

Here are some links you might want to use:

1. http://www.ms-studio.com/articles.html
2. http://www.helveticafilm.com/

Wear a tie

Link : http://www.tie-a-tie.net

If you are like me, who earnestly want to wear tie to office, but wondering how to do it, use the link above.

Caspar Isemer assures you, it's not a rocket science to learn to tie a tie. The illustrations are quite useful and with little practice, guess it should be great.

Let me try these and post some comments. Meanwhile, why don't you pour your experiences on tying a tie, as comments here?