What needs to be declared?

More from the Guide 

Phone info

More Resources

Here is another good site about the airport:
http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=258029 (shows maps and photos of all the booths in the airport)

Couple of my friends on Facebook recently were discussing BP and the oil spill. Honestly it’s sad in the US how so many stories can be so totally distorted by the US media (especially FOX “NEWS”) that people can’t see the big picture – and often aren’t even aware of it.

I think it is sad, hilarious, disgusting, whatever, that people are content to blame Obama for this more than BP. That or say something crazy like “I’d rather willingly pay BP to clean up this mess, than have Obama come in and raise taxes to hell to pay for this.” Are you serious? Do you even read the news or only the headlines?

1. Barack Obama plans to punish BP with tax hike as Gulf spill worsens
2. Obama plans to “punish” BP with tax hike as Gulf spill worsens
3. Obama to Punish BP with Tax Hike

Each of the links above talks about Obama raising taxes by 1 cent per barrel of oil for oil companies. What motivation would Obama have to raise taxes on US citizens to pay for BP’s mistake? Oh, that’s right. Because Obama’s Hitler right? Seriously, sometimes I fear for my country.

Another great comment I saw was, “BP didn’t do this intentionally. The Middle East is trying to destroy us, and people are more willing to pay for their oil than BP’s. That really pisses me off. I’d support BP in a heartbeat just because of that fact.” So why support either of them? Help Obama end our dependence on foreign oil – let’s get some “green tech” going on over there. It’s time to prepare for a Clean Energy Future. Oh, that’s right. Obama’s a Muslim and a Maoist right? Seriously, sometimes I fear for my country.

Enough about Obama. It’s just sad to see a very vocal, loud, and angry percentage of the population continue to create stories, make “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” connections, and ignore the ignorance of the past administration (one post I read said, “With GWBush, we had jobs, when Obama came, we lost all our jobs” – oblivious to the fact that the GW’s policies created the current situation, and Obama has been busy pulling us out of another Great Depression and trying to put some checks-and-balances back in place in our lobbyist friendly, turn-a-blind-eye to corporate greed and corner cutting, government).

Now, before anyone holds up BP as a martyr for their cause, check out some of these links:

1. “It turns out that BP has one of the worst worker safety records in the country.”
2. This one written in 2007 about a completely different event in Texas City in March 2005:
3. BP fought safety measures at Deepwater oil rigs.

It’s my opinion that BP got what was coming to them – and unfortunately caused the rest of the US to suffer with them. They’ve botched the whole thing from before the very beginning. They have a track record of cutting corners and weaseling out of safety regs. They’ve had other accidents and incidents that were preventable in the past (like the one in Texas City in March 2005). They didn’t include a remote system on this rig that would have allowed them to clamp shut the wellhead so it wouldn’t continue to gush oil. The cost of such a remote is $500,000. And they haven’t brought in supertankers like those used to clean up similar sized oil spills in the Arabian Gulf. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-25/shocking-bp-memo-and-the-oil-spill-in-the-gulf/3/)

And possibly the funniest, latest news is a note about their stock on the BP homepage that declares they are “not aware of any reason which justifies this [drop in US] share price movement.”

Poor BP.

• If you weren’t an idiot in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened and could have been prevented.
• If you weren’t an idiot in the second place, you could have stopped this or cleaned it up sooner and better.
• If you weren’t an idiot in the third place, you might understand that causing a massive environmental disaster would probably have something to do with a falling stock price.

Poor BP.

Thank God our eyes are finally opened. Well, some of them anyway. “If logic is Obama’s god, effective communication is his Achilles’ heel. The president faltered in his essential responsibility to explain complex issues to a Fox News-addicted electorate.” (NJ.com)

Seriously, sometimes I fear for my country.

(But I’ll give you a hint BP – and Obama, flash enough greenbacks, and we could probably be persuaded to forget about any minor upset).

http://ifitwasmyhome.com/ –> Very good site, showing the size of the oil spill relative to other places on Earth.

What do you think?

1. The market is flooded with graphic designers (but how many of them are really good at what they do?)
2. Online work, freelancing, graphic design, and webdesign are growing very quickly these days (especially in a struggling economy where people turn to whatever they can to make ends meet)
3. Pirated and downloaded software for design makes it so anyone can do what only professionals – who could afford it in the past – can do
4. Everyone wants a “cool” website, including companies, and professional and private organizations (so the demand is there as well)
5. Blogging has been proven to be profitable if you can get enough page views for advertisers to want to place their ads on your blog
6. So, design blogs – with thousands of “designers” searching for them everyday – will get tons of page views and therefore generate tons of revenue (or expect to)

Now, let me describe the elements that are common among so many “design” sites these days:

1. A sleek, Web 2.0 template (I’m sure many of them are templates, because they all look the same)
2. A dazzling header that says “I can design!”
3. A sweet Web 2.0 or “expert” web address or site title (Something like “designerexpert.com” or “sweetdesignresources.com”)
4. Links to all the social networks (from where they propagate links to their posts)
5. Advertisements in boxes (almost always boxes it seems) in the right hand column (actually, most ads are the same across design sites)
6. List posts (like “The Top 20 Design Resources Today” or “15 Ways to Raise Your Pay” or “Design Trends of Movie Websites”)
7. Tutorial posts (basically, “This is how to use your software better”)
8. FREE Resources and Downloads (obviously, you need to drive traffic there to get advertisers to pay right?)
9. Book reviews by experts in the design field (to establish your own credibility – critique someone’s book who is credible – makes you sound more credible, right?)
10. A lot of cool other links, in a large footer, or another page

But beyond these annoying consistencies in all these cookie-cutter design sites, are a few more annoyances:

1. Have you ever Google-searched for some kind of design resource – say, a brush – only to find that Google’s top 10 or 20 search results turn up the same brush? (albeit posted in different ways on different “design” sites)
2. Have you ever been auto-followed by someone on Twitter because you happened to post an article or link with one of the keywords they were looking for? (That’s crazy annoying to me. Yes, I see you’re following 10,000 people. No, I’m not going to “follow-back” so you can annoy me with your worthless list posts)
3. Have you ever been on an “expert” website that is run by a 20-something kid? How much of an expert can you be? True, many of those sites do have good info, (I’m not only bashing 20-somethings) but I wouldn’t label myself a “22-year old expert graphic designer” or anything. I think there needs to be a little more life experience to prove your “expertise.”
4. Another annoyance, though not entirely related with design, is “social media experts.” What is a “social media expert” exactly? Someone who knows what Twitter and Facebook are and how to use them? Is there any quantifiable way to measure “social media expertise?” I’m not trying to bash all social media experts here, because there genuinely exist a few. But, when reading through dozens of Twitter profiles and nearly all of them say something like, “Dad, husband, chef, cook, AND social media expert!” it really makes me wonder.

So, what does the design community need?

1. Content. Substance. Not cookie-cutter sites that all try to copy the few very successful incarnations of design resource sites.
2. Originality. Show me something that makes me say “Woah! Seriously?” Not, “Great, another new ‘design’ site. Seriously…” As designers, your work should stand out from the crowd, not blend in with it.
3. Usefulness. I.E. Tell me something I don’t know. Show me something I don’t know. Give me something I don’t have. Not another “X Somethings Y Should Have” Post. Teach me with originality, not sameness.
4. Design Fundamentals. Too many sites post tutorials ONLY that let me know how to use my software, but not how to actually design something. Software can only take you so far. What happens if the software fails. And where are the underlying design principles behind all the Web 2.0 glittering, glistening magic? Don’t show me what to do with my software. Teach me how to think for myself so I can invent my own graphic effects.
5. Freshness. Seriously. I want something that will keep me coming back for more, and keep me hooked. I want to eagerly anticipate the next entry on your blog, because it combines good design, with great content, and relevant images. I don’t want to glance up at my Twitter and Facebook pages and think, “Ahh really? 15 more somethings?” or “No way, are those icons really free? Again?”

What do you think?

That isn’t to say that the whole World Wide Web is full of deception, but online, people can choose to “be” anyone they want. Online, no one really knows the real you, sees you face to face, or can ask probing questions to be sure you really are who you say you are. People with no friends can get online and make thousands of virtual friends and become a social butterfly – while in the real world they’re still too shy to speak. A 50-year old male can claim to be a 25-year old, athletic, blonde woman and post photos and a profile that fits with his description. But while we all know that these kinds of large deceptions can occur, I wonder how many of us stop to consider what minor deceptions may occur.

I think there is a fine line between absolute genuineness and bending the truth a bit. Most people online truly document themselves in their photos, blogs, profiles, and interests (on social networks). But some people post things about themselves that may not be entirely the truth at the present moment, but which they are striving to achieve in the future. I read that Arnold Schwarzenneger said in an interview immediately following his first film flop – Hercules – that he would become the biggest name in Hollywood. While not true at that time, it was a goal that Arnold had set before him which eventually did become the truth. I even label myself as a freelancer and graphic designer on some of my profiles and websites though I’ve had no formal education in that field. But I truly enjoy graphic design, and working on projects for myself and in my local area, and I am hoping to get some formal training in graphic design soon in order to truly become what I claim.

Get-Rich-Quick Anyone?

But then there are those people who have little to no passion for their chosen field, and only have passion for a quick buck. You ever run across one of those “Get-Rich-Quick” websites? You get to read a bunch of testimonials from people who have really “done it” and you read just enough information about the “product” or “method” that you want to know more. Then, at the bottom of the website is a call-to-action: “Want to know more? Hurry and buy this series for only $400! It’s value is $1200! This is a limited time thing!” I’ve never actually paid for those things, but occasionally, I’ll admit, I’ve been tempted to. Wow, you think, can I really make $5000 per month using this method? And it sounds so easy too! But, I’m guessing that one of the main ways to start making that money is to set up one of your own kinds of those sites that “claims” to have all the answers, and then charging a great deal of money for a product that may or may not have that kind of value. I used to wonder, why does the guy who owns this site sound so happy and claim to make so much money? Then I realized, Ahh, from suckers like me that want to learn his secret and are willing to pay big for it. If 10 people buy his “secret” every day, that’s $4000 per day! Then all I’d have to do is turn around and sell the same “secret” to a bunch of other suckers in order to get my quick cash too.

**(Side note: I may be entirely wrong about these websites. Feel free to correct me if you think so. But I’ve never seen a quick buck made with little work)**

But Get-Rich-Quick sites are beside the point. What I’m really interested in is all the new “design” sites I see popping up.

I look around my house, and see the same-old books, addressing the same-old topics, in the same-old ways. I drive to and from work the same-old way. And when I get on the Internet, I do the same-old things: check the email, check Facebook, check Twitter, click “interesting” sounding links, look at the pretty pictures, read the “interesting” articles, and discover 25 “new” tips, tricks, tutorials, or trends that I “didn’t know about” already.

While it may be true that I didn’t know about some of those trends or tips before, the thing is that most of what I end up clicking on and reading throughout the day is more of the same-old, same-old lists. Wow, I get incredibly bored whenever I land on one of those cookie-cutter affiliate, marketing, sell-you-something, get-rich-quick, diet-exercise-pill sites. Is it any wonder that I get bored reading more of the same-old, same-old list posts? They seem to all follow a cookie-cutter format: “X Things you needed to know about Y.” Problem is, as inspirational as they may be, as cool as some of the work on there is, they don’t inspire me to create better designs, but rather just make me wish I could create work as cool as the designs I’m viewing.

Every designers’ dirty little secret is that they copy other designers’ work. They see work they like, and they imitate it. Rather cheekily, they call this inspiration. – Aaron Russell

I used to try my hand at some design contests on 99designs.com. It was a really good way to build up some experience when I was first starting out and to learn some things that look good and work well. However, on more than one occasion, I found that my work, if in the top 5 designs, would have some unique elements in it that the contest holders liked (and mentioned in my comments) that other designers would then take and incorporate into their own designs. In fact, on more than one occasion, I had contest holders asking me to “borrow” a design element from a competing design and add it to mine in order to help me win.

An addition problem arises when one person posts a wonderful design to a contest early, that everyone obviously likes. Nearly all designs that follow the first “4-star” design are likely to be very similar in style. In fact, by having a base-line design to work off of as “inspiration” it virtually kills any other possible originality. Once a certain design is known to be well-liked, other designers only change small bits of the design, or add little flourishes to attempt to outdo the others. Even designers that may not have been interested in the contest at first are suddenly “inspired” to join. But what they’re doing isn’t always improving on the actual design of the site or logo, rather they are just adding “eye candy” in the form of reflections, gradients, sparkles, and other “Web 2.0″ effects that clients sometimes seem to value over form, layout, and simplicity.

Basically, if you’ve seen one design on there, you’ve seen them all – give or take a few fancy effects.

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration. – Jeffrey Zeldman

The same is true of so many “Web Design” sites these days. I’ve been on so many in recent months that follow the exact same pattern – with a minor change of color, or splash of a logo. The logo goes in the upper-left, social networking upper-right, horizontal navigation below the header on top, blog content on the left, ads covering the entire right sidebar…. Why go on? It’s all the same.

And that’s not all that’s the same. How many of these “inspirational” sites just copy exactly what all the other “inspirational” sites do? Web galleries all look the same, list posts all look the same, and inspiration is all the same kind of long post of cool pictures. Don’t get me wrong, these galleries, list posts, and inspirational posts do have their place and do what they are meant to do – inspire – but the problem is that that’s all they do – inspire – and there’s really little content left after you strip away all the pictures and sparklies. And it all is just the same-old, same-old “click-here-get-inspired-do-this-tutorial-make-a-pretty-picture” stuff.

Where’s the meat of design? Where’s my main course? I learned a lot about my software because of sites like these, (“Ahh, so that’s how you Render Clouds… in Photoshop…”), but they’ve failed to deliver what I now crave – the meat and fundamentals of design.

Technology over technique produces emotionless design. – Daniel Mall

I don’t want more sites that give me more fonts, more patterns, more brushes, more inspiration, more tutorials, or more “design knowledge” (that really is merely software knowledge). Most of the “more” ends up being too much.

I want sites that teach me in depth how to use the fonts I already have, and challenge me to limit my own font usage. I want sites that teach me color theory – from the very basics, to in-depth studies of how each color relates to our senses. I want inspiration not in the form of pretty pictures and stunning graphics, but I want inspiration in the form of content that inspires me to write better content. I want to read thought-provoking blog-posts that rekindle the fire of passion I have for learning better design and creating better design.

It seems most of the meat of design principles isn’t to be found on the web, where anyone – including people half my age (I’m 28) – can publish anything. But rather, the real inspiration of design, the content that can spark a fire of creativity (and not just “copycat inspiration”) will be found in books, tried-and-true reference manuals that are still invaluable to the best designers today (any suggestions?).

The most innovative designers consciously reject the standard option box and cultivate an appetite for thinking wrong. – Marty Neumeier

Remember at the beginning of this post I said I like things that don’t follow all “the rules” or traditional ways of doing things? Recently I’ve been reading a few authors that have really impressed me with not only their style and design, but especially their content (which is king on the Web after all). Two of the most interesting have to be Paddy Donnelly and Drawar. Paddy has a brilliant way of making each article follow a different style and different flow, while the content stays interesting and visually exciting. Drawar may appear “simple” at first, but his content and writing is king over so many other blogs out there, and he mixes up the design of articles enough to keep things interesting (plus the simplicity of his design makes reading and visiting his site a joy). Below is a list of the most interesting of their posts I’ve read:

• Life Below 600px
• 4 Pixels or Less – Paddy
• X Somethings Y Should Have – Paddy
• World Wide Web for Dummies, Not Us – Drawar
• Doing it Different Might be Doing it Right – Drawar
• Don’t Let Ads Kill Your Site – Drawar
• You Are Not a Designer and I Am Not a Musician – Drawar
• Smashing Magazine Killed the Community (Or Maybe it Was Me) – Drawar

Additionally, all quotes on this post are from DesignWasHere.com‘s 80 Inspiring Quotes About Design page.

So, anyone have any suggestions for design books I might read? Where can I get beyond software knowledge and into the heart of solid design principles?

I even heard the story of one lady in Korea who received a phone call telling her that her son had been kidnapped, and if she ever wanted to see him alive again she must immediately transfer X amount of money into an unknown bank account. She did so, and hurried home to call the police (I assume). Upon arriving home she found her son watching TV and eating snacks. She cried out, “Are you OK?” to which he replied, “Of course, I just arrived home from school on the bus.”  I don’t know all the facts about this story, or if it is 100% true or not, but the fact remains that it is 100% believable, because people do have a tendency to get fearful, emotional, and in a “fight-or-flight” mode when they think that something has gone terribly wrong.

So, in order to help other people not get into this same kind of fearful, emotional mode when surfing the Internet and a “Virus Alert!” pops up on their screen, I will break down the phishing scam that I encountered online today while looking for 2010 Olympics Coverage. With a little understanding of what to look for, more people would be able to avoid accidentally downloading virus programs that actually claim to be “virus cleaners.”

And for those who are convinced that viruses just “pop up” when they’re not looking, check out this post.

Oh no! Virus Alert!

When browsing the Internet today looking for the Olympics, I encountered one of these nice windows, claiming that I had a virus:

But, if you’ll notice up in the address bar that this isn’t a site I’m vistiting, but rather a number: 188.72.246.99. A number like this is actually the IP address location of a computer, or router (typically, a wired router begins with 192.xx.xxx.xxx and your home, personal computer’s address is always 127.0.0.1). So, this Internet site, that claims I have a virus, isn’t really an Internet site at all, but seems to be a computer somewhere set up to transmit this warning (which will probably give me a virus if I click OK). Tricky, tricky.

Don’t Bother Me, Mr. Phisherman

I immediately realized that this is a phishing scam – it will tell me that it can fix my virus problems if I download a certain program, or pay for a certain program (funny thing is, many of these programs that suddenly pop up and say “Oh, no! Virus Alert!” will either install viruses of their own when you install them, or after you pay a certain fee, will really fix the viruses that they initially installed on your computer in the first place). Therefore, not wanting to deal with that mess, I just went up to close the window:

And it ignored my command by beginning its own “virus scan.” Hmm, any intelligent computer program will allow a user to do what he wants, even if it means doing something dumb, like opting out of a virus scan. Since this one just went ahead and performed a “scan” on its own, after I told it not to, confirmed in my mind again that it was phishing.

After exiting this site the first time, I even reloaded it, and it did the same thing. And gave me the same results. It’s a completely predictable program.

Scan Results, and a Windows Security Alert?

Of course, I knew it was a scam, so I tried to click the “X” to close out the window, and guess what it did? It popped open a very convincing looking “Windows Security Alert.” This one almost had me fooled. After all, I was using Windows XP, and this “Windows Security Alert” so very closely matched what I’ve already encountered numerous times when dealing with Windows viruses, or it was trying to warn me of something. However, a few keys give away that this is only an image, and a link to begin a download.

1. The first thing you can notice is that if you point your mouse up over the “X” to close the window, your mouse won’t be a pointer (as it would be if you were really closing a window), but rather a hand (depending on your settings) just like it would be if you were clicking on a link on the Internet.
2. The second thing you’ll notice is down on my Windows Task Bar there is no box denoting the Windows Security Alert. Had this been a true Windows Security Alert, then a new window would have opened and been displayed in the Windows Task Bar (much like a new folder opening, or when the Control Panel opens). This gives the appearance of a Windows Security Alert, without ever opening a new window. It is completely contained within the Internet browser I’m using.
3. Thirdly, you can notice the color scheme. My Windows Task Bar is black and has different styling from the original Windows set-up. However, this “Windows Security Alert” uses the same blue color that the original Windows install uses. Had it been a true Windows Security Alert, the styling of this window should match my own OS styling, right? The problem with all of the above clues is that most people just won’t notice them. Many people will continue to use the Windows default blue windows, and because those windows are so common, something that pops up and looks official and like a real Windows message will trick many people into thinking that it really is official, when it may be nothing more than an image on the Internet.
4. Finally, the last clue that will clue you in as to the authenticity of this window is the fact that no matter what you click on here, whether the “X” to close the window, or the “Remove All” to “remove” your viruses, or the “Cancel” to get away from this, they will ALL pop-up the next window, which prompts you to begin a download. I can only assume this was the “virus protection” that it claimed to provide.

Install NOTHING, Except from a TRUSTED Source

Many people would be tempted to click on this, download and install the program and run it, because they think that the computer is only trying to help them out, to warn them that it’s getting sick. However, the truth is that this download will probably not heal your “broken” computer, but rather infect it with a virus of its own. (I’ll bet the “infected” computer has no viruses at all, but this little install wants to give it one). If you look closely at the “From:” box, you can again see the same number as before: 188.72.246.99. So, this other computer wants to infect mine, eh? Not happening.

ALWAYS check the “From:” box for ANY download and install. Make sure the come from a trusted source. Even on some very safe sites, there occasionally get to be hacks or viruses accidentally transferred or installed. Therefore, you always want to be sure you know who or where you are downloading and installing something from.

Close all the Phishy Windows

Close that download.

Then, since it still shows the site and the “Windows Security Alert,” close the whole tab, or the whole Internet Explorer program if you need to.

But notice, the tab didn’t close.

It just changed the tab I’m viewing. Click on it again and notice that the site will throw one last trick at you, to try to get you to stay here and download the junk it wants you to.

Ignore that warning, close the window and get out of there.

Finally, Check it Yourself

And then, just to be on the really safe side. Go ahead and open your antivirus program of choice (my is Avast), and do a virus scan of your discs.

Most likely, you will find that you have no viruses (or at least, no new viruses, and definitely not the crazy amount of viruses that Internet “program” claimed to have found). Now, relax and enjoy some peace of mind as you’ve discovered how to “best the beast” and avoid Internet Virus Phishing Scams.

Was this article helpful?

Have you ever been caught in a phishing scam? Have you downloaded a program that claimed to fix your PC and then just ended up breaking it? Hmm, why not switch to a Mac?… Not so many virus problems there…

Leave me a comment. Let’s start a discussion.

Here are some good FREE antivirus programs:

• Avast FREE Edition
• AVG FREE Edition
• Trend Micro Housecall (Online)

Most people have been warned of the dangers of viruses – that they can steal your information, download loads of junk on your machine, cause computers to run slowly, or even delete your whole hard drive. (That last one isn’t true. While a virus may destroy some files and make working on your computer difficult, I don’t know of a single virus that would wipe the whole drive. After all, if a virus did that, it would have no where left to run from, or any place from which to copy itself to other computers. And what good would a virus be if it did that?). The problem is that most people have the fear of viruses instilled in them without clearly understanding how you can get a virus in the first place. According to this website (and my own experience), viruses can be caught and spread in one of three ways: 1) removable media devices (USBs), 2) downloads from the Internet, 3) email attachments.

1. Removable media devices can easily catch a virus when used in an infected machine. When a device is plugged in to an infected machine, a virus can detect that and copy itself to the device so that when it is used on another machine, it can copy itself to the new machine. This is how viruses spread so easily and quickly among public use computers. So, it’s a good idea to have a separate “dirty” USB stick for use in public computers so that you don’t needlessly infect your own. Emailing documents to myself has become a great way to access my documents from any computer (including public ones) without risking USB infection.
2. Accepting unknown downloads from the Internet is a sure way to infect yourself with a virus. ONLY accept and install programs from known and trusted sources. NEVER accept a download from a site you don’t know or a random pop-up. Many of these downloads will auto-install themselves if you accept them. The key thing to remember is that in viruses generally need some kind of user input or acceptance in order to install them onto your site. But often that user-input can be very tricky. So even if you think you haven’t accepted certain installations, you may have. Viruses don’t just “show up” on someone’s computer. If you know what to look for, what to be careful of, then you’ll find that viruses require you to allow them to run. The site listed above says: “Although the Internet gets a bad rap as a source of viruses, you’re no more likely to contract a virus from the Web than you are from packaged software.”
3. About email attachments, the site above also says: “E-mail is not the virus breeding ground it’s made out to be, either. In fact, it’s nearly impossible for a virus to be transmitted by plain-text e-mail. Most viruses can only spread via attachments — either rich-text e-mail or attached applications. Using antivirus software, scan attachments from people you know, and never open attachments from people you don’t. If you’re a Microsoft Outlook user, you can also select security preferences that keep e-mail-borne viruses from exploiting the close relationship between Outlook and the Windows operating system.”

It is important to remember that viruses don’t “just appear” on your computer. Whether through the use of USB memory sticks and other removable media, or accidentally downloading and installing viruses from the Internet, or opening infected email attachments, each virus requires some kind of user input or interaction in order to invade your computer. Always be cautious, and keep your eyes open and your wits about you, and perform regular updates and virus scans (especially after encountering a phishing scam like this one), and your computer will be fine.

Anything I missed?

Oh, and just to put curious minds to ease. No, I don’t have a virus – the message I received was just a phishing scam. In my next post, learn how to discover and escape from a virus phishing scam.

As the majority of the links in the books are provided for inspiration, I’ll leave those in order below. However, there are some really excellent online articles and tutorials, as well as printed books that Elliot references in his book. Those are more relevant for learning about good design, and I’ll post those first.

Articles

• Paper Prototyping – by Shawn Medero at A List Apart
• Web Form Design: Filling In The Blanks – by Luke Wroblewski
• CSS Layouts: The Fixed. The Fluid. The Elastic. – by Mike Cherim
• Fixed, Fluid, or Elastic Width Layouts? – by Anup Shah
• A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web – by Mark Boulton (PDF)
• Photoshop Levels tool Tutorial – from Creative Pro Magazine
• Depth of Field Intro – from Picture Correct
• 15 Examples of Effective Deliberate Blur – from Digital Photography School
• Crop Creatively Intro – by Mark Boulton at 24ways
• CSS Decorative Gallery – borders for photos – by Nick La at Web Designer Wall
• Eight Definitive Font Stacks – from SitePoint
• Revised Image Replacement – by Dave Shea
• Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) – pioneered by Shaun Inman
• sIFR Lite
• Screen Reader Visibility – from CSS-Discuss
• @font-face in IE: Making Web Fonts Work – by Jon Tangerine
• Destroy The Web 2.0 Look – by Elliot Jay Stocks for the Future of Web Design in New York
• CSS Sprites: Image Slicing’s Kiss of Death – from A List Apart
• Better Nav Image Replacement – by Elliot Jay Stocks
• Writing an Interface Style Guide – from A List Apart
• Swatches Video Tutorial – from TechTutor.tv

Books

• WEB Design: E-Commerce – (Koln: Taschen, 2007)
• The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, first chapter – by Jason Beaird (Melbourne: SitePoint, 2007)
• The Elements of Typographic Style – (Vancouver: Hartley and Marks, 1992)
• The Web Designer’s Idea Book – by Patrick McNeill (Cincinnati: How Books, 2008)

Chapter 1: Interfaces Are Sexy

• 37signals’ Basecamp – clean form design
• Fall For Tennessee – attractive design
• Dara’s Garden – imagery/atmosphere
• Erratic Wisdom – navigation styles
• Mint – polished form design
• YouTube, MySpace, Vimeo – video player designs
• 280 Slides – look & feel (desktop app)
• Volunteer Lawn – packed with info, not cluttered
• Decor8 – small embellishments
• I Love Typography – typography
• Jason Santa Maria – typography
• Revyver – bold use of whitespace
• Kayak – draggable sliders

Chapter 2: Research

• Web Directions North – straightforward design
• The Sidebar Workshops – informative and cool
• dConstruct – big-name speakers obvious
• South by Southwest Interactive – general info on homepage
• A List Apart, An Event Apart – literal tie-in, branding ID between sites

Inspiration

• Flickr
• Patrick Haney’s Flickr collection
• Web Design Inspiration Flickr pool
• Vandelay Design’s List of 99 Flickr Groups for Inspiration
• Smashing Magazine
• UI Pattern Factory
• Elliot’s atmosphere set on Flickr
• Elliot’s set of composition examples
• Chris Messina’s Factory Joe – User-Interface examples
• Pattern Tap – more UI examples
• Chris Messina’s design patterns on Flickr

Collection Tools

• RealMac Software’s Little Snapper – Mac
• TechSmith’s Snagit – Windows
• Evernote – note-keeping for Windows & Mac

Chapter 3: Structure

Tools to Create Structures (Sitemaps and the like)

• Moleskine notebooks
• Microsoft Visio
• OmniGraffle
• ConceptDraw MindMap
• WriteMaps
• Paper Prototyping – by Shawn Medero at A List Apart

Chapter 4: Navigation and Interaction

• TasteBook – navigation and search
• Happy Cog – unorthodox, but clear
• 13 Creative, Deluge Studios – horizontal nav
• Emblematiq, Cameron.io – vertical nav
• Movable Type, SitePoint, Web Directions North speakers – supporting links
• Apple Store UK – breadcrumbs
• Media Temple’s knowledge base, Get Satisfaction – search bar
• Design Reviver – pagination
• Jesus Rodriguez Velasco – lists
• Apple, Designsensory – dropdowns and rollovers
• Coda – tabs, tool tips
• moo.fx – accordion menu
• Web Designer Wall – tag cloud
• Ning – forms
• Web Form Design: Filling In The Blanks – by Luke Wroblewski
• Ableton, Vimeo – complex vs. minimal
• WEB Design: E-Commerce – (Koln: Taschen, 2007)

Chapter 5: Aesthetics

• The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, first chapter – by Jason Beaird (Melbourne: SitePoint, 2007)
• Golden Ratio Calculator
• The Elements of Typographic Style – (Vancouver: Hartley and Marks, 1992)
• CSS Layouts: The Fixed. The Fluid. The Elastic. – by Mike Cherim
• Fixed, Fluid, or Elastic Width Layouts? – by Anup Shah
• Sursly – horizontal scrolling effect
• 960 Grid System, Yahoo User Interface Library’s Grid, Blueprint – grid systems
• Zeldman, Johnny Hollow, A Tennessee Winter, Brunet-Garcia – color, atmosphere
• A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web – by Mark Boulton (PDF)
• The Color Scheme Generator 2
• Adobe’s Kuler
• COLOURlovers
• The Web Designer’s Idea Book – by Patrick McNeill (Cincinnati: How Books, 2008)
• Silverback – depth
• Maxvoltar – letterpress
• Alzheimer’s Self-Test – appropriate imagery
• Photoshop Levels tool Tutorial – from Creative Pro Magazine
• Depth of Field Intro – from Picture Correct
• 15 Examples of Effective Deliberate Blur – from Digital Photography School
• Crop Creatively Intro – by Mark Boulton at 24ways
• Joyent, Squared Eye – illustrated characters
• Raka Creative, Threadless – iconography
• CSS Decorative Gallery – borders for photos – by Nick La at Web Designer Wall
• Eight Definitive Font Stacks – from SitePoint
• Revised Image Replacement – by Dave Shea
• Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) – pioneered by Shaun Inman
• sIFR Lite
• Screen Reader Visibility – from CSS-Discuss
• @font-face in IE: Making Web Fonts Work – by Jon Tangerine
• SimpleBits, I Love Typography, designr.it – beautiful fonts
• Destroy The Web 2.0 Look – by Elliot Jay Stocks for the Future of Web Design in New York
• Museo Font

Chapter 6: Deliverables

• CSS Sprites: Image Slicing’s Kiss of Death – from A List Apart
• Better Nav Image Replacement – by Elliot Jay Stocks
• Writing an Interface Style Guide – from A List Apart
• Swatches Video Tutorial – from TechTutor.tv

This is a great resource for me, but all the credit goes to Elliot Jay Stocks for his work wrangling up these links. I’m just glad I could learn from his experience. Be sure to visit his site for more goodness.

Well, let’s begin.

1. Open Illustrator

2. Select “Create New Web Document” – Click OK to accept the Defaults.

Actually, it doesn’t really matter what kind of document you select, or what size. Since we are using Illustrator, we are making a vector graphic that can be enlarged to any size we want without losing any quality.

3.  “Show Rulers” (in the View Menu or CRTL + R)

We want to show the rulers because we’ll be making a lot of guides to help us create the circle pattern. Also, be sure that the guides aren’t locked. Go to the View Menu and the “Guides” dropdown to check (or ATL + CTRL + ; to be quick).

4. Start making guides

Start with large “+” in the center of the document and follow a main marker on both the horizontal and vertical rulers. In this example, I’ve chosen to line my guides up with 360 on the horizontal ruler and 324 on the vertical ruler.

5. Make LOTS of guides.

Totally, for this example, we need 27 guides on both the X and Y axis. To create the guides, we will space out 4 tick marks on the ruler for the path of the pattern we want to create, and 2 tick marks on the ruler for the spacing between the paths of our pattern. Also, consider that the center path will have our initial “+” through the center point of our pattern, so from those lines, the next guides should only be spaced out 2 tick marks (on either side, to create a 4 tick mark space for our center pattern path) and then 2 tick marks further for the spacing between paths. Take a look at mine.

And here is the finished version of our guides. Notice how there are 6 wides spaces on either side of the center marks?

6. Start creating circles.

Now, we can start making circles. I start with the largest circle first and work in. Resize all the circles so that the edges touch each of our guides in ever decreasing circle sizes. Here’s mine.

7. Create vertical and horizontal dividing boxes

It is not only helpful, but almost necessary to sketch out the kind of pattern you want to make on paper before doing it on the computer. This will save you a big headache when you’re trying to figure out where to put the horizontal and vertical connecting boxes. So, based on where you want the path of your pattern to go, that is where you can draw the boxes. Remember to extend the boxes beyond the limit of the circles you want them to connect so that at least one edge of the boxes will create the side of the path you want. Here’s mine.

8. Remove guides

Trace the path you have started to envision at least once with your eyes after you’ve drawn it. Does everything line up? There are no missing boxes are there? If everything is good and you feel ready to start deleting the extra lines, then now’s a good time to remove the guides so that we can see clearly what to remove. (Also, Illustrator is really nice in that it keeps a long memory of the commands you’ve given it, so that you can undo dozens of steps with CTRL + Z if necessary. Just a helpful hint).

9. Open Pathfinder (in the Window Menu or SHIFT + CTRL +F9)

Time to start deleting the lines and shapes you don’t need. Select all of your shapes by using the Selection Tool and dragging a large box around everything. Then choose the option to “Divide” from the Pathfinder menu. This will make every visible shape its own shape, based on the lines that bisect through everything.

10. Start deleting shapes along the path that you wish to create.

Sometimes, as you go, you’ll delete the wrong part. Just UNDO. Most likely, when you reach the ends of some of the lines, you won’t be able to delete some parts of the lines without messing up the shape. This is perfectly normal. Just concentrate on creating the shape you want, along the path you want. Check mine out.

11. Live Paint your path.

After you’ve deleted all the boxes you need to to clearly define the path of your pattern, it’s time to get creative. Select all the objects in your pattern, then choose a color and select the Live Paint tool from your side panel. Then, paint the pattern’s paths that you’ve created. See mine:

12. Flatten Transparency…

As long as your pattern’s path looks right, be sure all the objects are selected, and then go up into the Object Menu, and select “Flatten Transparency…” Select the default options. This will eliminate all the layers our objects have and remove the problems we may have had deleting some lines or shapes.

13. Delete all the lines.

Now that it is all flattened, and your pattern is painted appropriately, it is safe to delete every line that remains – including the outlines (we’ll add a new outline to the finished pattern later).

14. Combine the objects.

Last, but certainly not least, you need to combine the remaining objects (if you have any rings that aren’t directly connected to other parts of the pattern). Select all the separate pieces, right click, and select “Group”. This should join all your separated rings with the other pieces of the pattern so that you now have a single shape that you can edit and move around.

15. Clean it up.

Now’s a chance to give the pattern a bit better color, and a new outline. We’re finished! Congratulations on creating a cool Korean circle pattern.

Below is an additional pattern I created earlier to show the different things that could be done like this.

What do you think?

Well, how did you like the tutorial? Anything I might have done better, or faster? Any suggestions for a new tutorial? Any other pieces of Korea you’d like to see in design? Leave me a note.

And although he uses big words like “prayer” and “God” in his rants, he in no way embodies the same religious zeal he attempts to conjure up in others – he merely uses those words as showpieces to rally other “religious people” to his cause. But, one must remember that Glenn is not representative of all “religious people” or all Mormons (his religion) or all Christians (there’s a big difference between the two), and therefore one cannot blame “religious people” for Glenn Beck. He is his own creation (and one of the media’s creations), and his ideas are not representative of the ideas of “religious people.”

And “religious people” would do well to truly PAY ATTENTION to who Beck is and what he says. I’m sure most would find there is a bit of a disconnect between their particular religious beliefs and the extreme things Beck says and does.

I particularly like how he elevates America above the place of God in his 9-12 Project (http://www.the912project.com/the-912-2/). In fact, most of what is written on his 9-12 Project page can be classified as ONE of these four things: (a) can be overturned by Scripture, (b) is counter to what Jesus taught, (c) has not been demonstrated or lived out by Beck, or (d) has been radically disproven as fundamental to Beck’s core beliefs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n3QeHtSOfM).

So, “religious people,” please don’t feel that you need to loop yourselves in with Glenn Beck just because he talks about “God” on a nationally publicized media program. And “media people,” please don’t assume that all “religious people” or conservatives fall into the same narrow category that Beck has taken it upon himself to occupy.

He’s just a little worm burrowing down into the apple of America, with enough space and a loud enough voice to ruin that apple for everyone.