Redesign 101: The Flag of Ontario
About half of the US States the same basic flag: plain designs that feature a seal or coat of arms on an otherwise plain blue banner. This makes it hard to tell apart the...
Neo-Feudalism in the Space Age
In the Dune universe, set tens of thousands of years in the future, humanity is organized into feudal fiefdoms and guilds. I wrote about this last year, but I think it’s worth delving into...
Famous Logos in Wingdings
Wingdings is an unusual font. Unlike Helvetica, Papyrus or even Jokerman, it’s not a font that uses letters. Instead it’s what’s called a dingbat font. Dingbat fonts date back hundreds of years, to ornamental...
Soda vs Pop (vs. Coke)
American English is remarkably uniform. While there are slight differences in pronunciation, especially in the older parts of the country, most Americans can understand each other with ease. But there are differences in dialect....
The Little-Known 49-Star Flag
Back in the 1800s, the American Flag changed every couple of years. Every time they added a new state, they added a new star. By the twentieth century however, Manifest Destiny had run its...
The Dvorak Keyboard
Have you ever wondered why the keys on your keyboard are arranged the way they are? Why do they start out with QWERTY instead of ABCDEF? Why aren’t the vowels grouped together? Believe it...
Tech Logos in Chicago Font
The designers of the original Apple Macintosh faced a challenge. They wanted a computer with beautiful and proportionate fonts, but with a small black-and-white screen, the graphics were still quite limited. Thankfully, Apple had...
Tom’s Diner: An Influential Song
It’s such a simple little song, a two-minute ditty about a woman sitting in a diner. Eight simple notes played in several variations, with a catchy a capella “doo doo doo doo doo doo...
Effective Naming Rights
I’ve always been fascinated by naming rights. Nowadays, most stadiums and arenas are named after corporate sponsors. A lot of events are too. Let’s take a look at the history of this phenomenon, and...
To Change a Light Bulb
Mechanical abilities do not run strong in the Lovelace clan. Not in my branch of the family at least. Neither me nor my dad have ever been very good at making and fixing things....
