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The Extensis Community Blog
Extensis Compatibility with Adobe Creative Cloud
June 19th, 2013 by Jim Kidwell
We are currently working to ensure compatibility of Extensis font managers with the new Adobe Creative Cloud applications. We are building compatible font auto-activation plug-ins and panels and fully testing them with the final Creative Cloud versions of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and InCopy.
There are currently no known issues with Extensis Portfolio cataloging file types created by Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
Las Vegas Typography
June 14th, 2013 by Jim Kidwell
I travel a lot for Extensis. Speaking at various events, working trade shows and paying visits to our customers in various cities. Recently I spent some time in Las Vegas for a great event called Future Insights Live.
While I didn’t get a chance to visit everywhere in Las Vegas, I did walk around a bit of the strip and surrounding areas to check out the use of typography in the various logo graphics and signs in the community. As you can imagine, there’s a full spectrum of type use in this town. From the playful and professional, to the downright gaudy and garish, as you would expect, Las Vegas has got it all.
I like the use of the loop in the logo for the roller coaster at the New York New York casino. Classy and it makes me want to go for a ride! 
This ice cream “signage” had me cracking up, and it even had a nice hand carved look of the faux marble carving. 
While creative, the logo and signage for this restaurant is less than readable. 
The Treasure Island Casino has a playful use of typographic elements in their logo. 
The SciFi look of this deli’s signage definitely matches their schmancy alien like lighting fixtures. 
I fell in love with the Aria hotel while I was there. The visual serenity that they’ve created within this building is striking. The typographic use is calm, serene and perfect. Not too much, or too little. It’s in the Goldilocks zone for me.
Of course most everything else is bigger, bolder and in your face. Take the multi-story tall letters of the MGM Grand as a perfect example. These suckers can surely be seen for many miles during the day or night.
I do also like what they’ve done with the internal restaurant Hakkasan’s logo inside the MGM. It’s bold and fun.
Not all is well in Sin City, as you would expect. It’s easy to find issues on the strip, such as this unfortunate signage fail. Have any idea what “After Iours Club Vear” is? 
Yet, the typographic issues aren’t limited just to the lower-end stores. Check out what’s going on at the official Blue Man Group theater. With as popular and successful as how this group is, you’d think that they could pay a little attention to the kerning in their signage. They paid likely many thousands of dollars on their fancy, flashing lights infested entryway, but to me, all that I see is “THEAT – ER.” 
While everyone needs to gain the little bit of attention that they can garner, you can really tell that all of these shops are shouting “look at me!” to a probably less than desirable result. 
Oh my Crazy Ely, no, please just stop now.
Of course, if you want to rent a machine gun, I bet you can locate a place even within this cacophony.
Winners of HOW Design Live Pass; Discounts for All
June 4th, 2013 by Jim Kidwell
We recently announced a free pass giveaway to HOW Design Live to the person who supplied the most convincing reason they should be selected. Little did we know we would get such an incredible response! From a clever re-crafting of the fine print to several people drawing from their poetic muse, the passion and creativity was so inspiring. What rung loud and clear was a strong desire to change the world with design, a mission we heartily share!
We’re happy to report we not only have one winner, but two! We decided to give two free passes as someone noted in our post we said we would choose the person with the most convincing reason, and in the fine print someone at random. We appreciate this being pointed out, and in turn chose both a random winner and most convincing.
Congratulations to Dorthy and Jenny who are the lucky recipients!
If you’re still interested in attending, as a sponsor of the event we are able to offer a special discount. By entering “EXTENSIS” in the promo code, you’ll receives $100 off your pass ($50 off the Creative Freelancer Conference). Click here to register.
If you do attend, we hope to see you at booth number 1322!
Web-Safe Fonts Are Dead Webcast Recording
May 30th, 2013 by Jim Kidwell
In the old days of website development, building a website included the process of selecting fonts that you knew would be on every user’s device. With today’s luxury of browsing the web using a multitude of devices, including tablets, mobile phones, and more, there are no longer any common fonts installed across all devices, effectively killing “web safe fonts.”
In this three-part webcast series typography expert, Thomas Phinney shows you how to select, implement and refine web fonts on your site to give your visitors the same, high quality, consistent experience on whatever device they happen to choose.
In case you missed the recent live webcasts, we are happy to provide webcast recordings for you to view at your convenience.
In Part 1, Thomas covers @font-face, web fonts and font selection.
In Part 2, Thomas covers Setting Type for Web Sites.
In Part 3, Thomas covers OpenType, The New Frontier
Webcast: “Web-Safe” Fonts Are Dead; Web Fonts are Here to Stay
May 15th, 2013 by Amanda Paull
Join Thomas Phinney, our in-house typography guru, for part 3 of the Web Safe Fonts Are Dead Webcast series.
It’s the Wild West with web fonts online, but we’ll help you navigate a safe journey. You do not need to have attended the first 2 to get everything out of part 3!
Tuesday, May 21, 11:00 a.m. Pacific / 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Register to attend. Can’t attend? Register anyway, we’ll send you the recording to watch on your own time.
Get all the deets on the WebINK blog.
