Monthly Archives: September 2008
Suitcase Fusion 2 (part 4)- for your entertainment
September 30th, 2008 by Amanda Paull
Not much introduction necessary, except to say that we are getting very excited about opening night.
Take a quick peak behind the curtain.
Fonts installed with Adobe CS4
September 29th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Curious about which fonts come with Adobe CS4? Adobe Product Manager for Fonts and Global Typography, Thomas Phinney, posted a complete list of the fonts that will be installed with the products after they are released.
Of note is the removal of a number of fonts. Arno Pro, Bickham Script Pro and Garamond Premier Pro that were previously included with CS3 were removed, as well as Bernhard Modern Std and Caflisch Script Pro from InDesign.
Admittedly, the list of included fonts is still fairly long, though it seems unfortunate to remove such a great script font like Bickham Script. I must admit that it’s one of my favorite script faces.
Check out Thomas’ blog, Typblography for the complete list.
Create Chaos Free Passes Still Available
September 29th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
If you’re going to be in or around Orlando during October, I’d like to recommend stopping by the Create Chaos event Expo Hall. We’ve still got a few free passes to give out, and getting them is as easy as placing a comment on this blog post.
Kelly Guimont and I will both be speaking at the event about font management, as well as showing off our newest font manager, Suitcase Fusion 2. We’ll make it worth your while to stop by.
A couple of notes:
- After you comment, I will send you an email requesting your mailing address. Your mailing address will only be used to send you a pass, and will not be recorded for any other purpose.
- If you do not get my email, please check your spam filter to see if my email was inadvertently trapped before you got it. I’ve had a few people who haven’t replied, so unfortunately I don’t know where to send their passes.
Hop on Board the OnTrackImaging Train with Extensis!
September 26th, 2008 by Claire Taylor
Here at Extensis we participate in a large number of events, from world renowned trade shows to specialist vertical market seminars. However, one of the more unusual events we participate in has to be OnTrackImaging. This event is organised by our Swedish and Norweigan distributor, Network Innovations and takes place within the unique venue of a train.
The OnTrackImaging train will be stopping at eight locations across Sweden and Norway during October, where professionals from the graphic design and photographic industries have the opportunity to visit the exhibiting vendors. We will boarding the train to present our latest Font Management and Digital Asset Management solutions, therefore if you are located in Sweden or Norway please feel free to hop on board.
Not only is the train a fun idea, it is also very practical. Sweden is a large country, therefore OnTrackImaging is great way of easily meeting Swedish customers.
This made me think about other unusual event venues – after some research I discovered that in the UK there is a venue where you can host events on a Concorde aircraft! What unusual venues have you been to?
Books and getting hooked on them
September 25th, 2008 by Kelly Guimont
I have been a reader most of my life, and even though more is done on a screen now, I still read a LOT. And I’m not super picky about what I read: Technical books, Sci-Fi, documentation, fiction, fine literature, classics, it doesn’t matter. So finding out there was a campaign to get books to kids called First Book, I was excited to know that kids now can have the same experience I had of reading something and hopefully coming across that one book that really pulls them in and makes lifelong readers out of them. First Book had a campaign called What Book Hooked You? where they asked various celebrities which book was The One for them. Judy Blume, Barry Manilow, Ira Glass, and others list their favorites (Betsy-Tacy books, The Temple Of Gold, and Franny and Zooey, respectively).
If I had to pick one book that turned me into a reader it would probably be the one above, Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was read to me when I was about four by someone who did little voices for the characters and would talk to me about the pictures before we read the next poem. My second grade teacher read them to us too, and both times I got to see someone who seemed to be as excited about books as I was, and that made me even MORE excited to read. Hearing about being eaten by a boa constrictor and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout and a beard all the way to my toes was what sealed the deal.
I’ve read a LOT of books since then, but that is still the most memorable. Others standouts are Beverly Cleary’s books (set in Portland!), Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Encyclopedia Brown, and Choose Your Own Adventure books. It didn’t take long for my parents to realize I would read anything I could get my hands on (literally-I read all that stuff in the front of the phonebook when I was about 5 because I couldn’t reach anything else!) and with their encouragement I was off on an adventure that continues to this day. I’m currently re-reading a couple of books and reading another for the first time. For me that’s a pretty light reading pile!
What book got you hooked? Leave it in the comments, I’m only reading three books now so I’m looking for more!
Typography impacts opinions? Really?
September 24th, 2008 by Amanda Paull
There are those things the you can hardly believe someone spent the time and money to research, because the outcome is so obvious. This is one of those.
“A study by the University of Michigan suggests that typography plays a role in influencing diners.” Fascinating. Tell me more.
Yes, indeed, they have proven that small changes in menu fonts can have significant impact on diners’ perceptions of quality, taste and perceived value.
Researchers fashioned their own identical menus- one in Arial and one in Mistral and tested them against different groups. The ‘mistral’ groups believed the dishes had a much longer prep time and required much more skill (= worth more $).
As one of the researchers points out, fancy fonts may indicate you are sophisticated, but this may not be the best fit for a simple BBQ joint.
You can read a brief write-up here.
Suitcase Fusion 2 (part 3)- mmm, previews.
September 23rd, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Great graphic designers know that having a ton of fonts isn’t very helpful unless that you can find, test and use the one that you want, when you want it. Suitcase Fusion 2 has been designed to make it easy for creative users to do just that.
If you’ve got a document that needs a good typeface for the headline, having a preview that lists out all of the characters from A to Z isn’t always helpful when choosing a font. That’s why Suitcase Fusion includes a feature called QuickType. To see how your headline will look in multiple typefaces, simply select a few fonts from the fonts pane, enter some custom text into the QuickType field, and then drag the type size slider to general size. It’s quick, easy and fun to locate just the right font.
If you need more flexibility, why not tear off a floating preview? This feature allows you to drag a font preview right out of the user interface that floats above all other windows. You can even use QuickType and the size slider to customize the floating preview after you’ve torn it off of the Suitcase Fusion main window!
Stay tuned to the blog and Extensis website for more news about the upcoming release of Suitcase Fusion 2.
Create Chaos 2008 FREE Expo Hall Pass
September 22nd, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
As a sponsor of this year’s Create Chaos event from Oct 13-17th in Orlando, Florida, we have some free passes to the Expo Hall that we’re itchin’ to give away.
They’re worth $45 each, so your effort/reward ratio is pretty decent with this one.
All that you’ve gotta do to nab yourself a free pass is place a comment on this blog post.
Be sure to use your correct email address, since I’ll need it to contact you to obtain your mailing address (wouldn’t want that going up on the internet, now would we.) We promise to only use your contact info to get you a free pass, it goes no further.
I have only 25 passes to give away, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. I’ll try to close comments quickly as soon as they’re all gone.
Note: You’ll have to get yourself to Orlando and find a place to stay on your own. This pass is only good to get you into the Expo hall. All of the associated costs are still up to you. 
Additional note: I’ll be speaking at the event on font management and showing off Suitcase Fusion 2!
One more note: As Create Chaos coordinator Dana notes below: You can upgrade any Expo Hall pass to a single-day full conference pass for only $99 by emailing info@brahn.com. If you are interested, make sure you upgrade before Oct. 10!
The Extensis fridge as creative outlet
September 19th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
OK, you don’t always think of a refrigerator as being the outlet for creativity, but one of the three Extensis fridges has got it going on. I didn’t notice immediately, but some time ago a number of employees started what has turned into a time-based-art project with children’s magnetic letters.
Multiple times a day, people come in and re-arrange the letters into a new phrase or saying. Sometimes it’s not all that “polite” but it’s often funny and sometimes thought provoking. What makes it all the more difficult is that there aren’t really enough letters to effectively spell out much of anything, so people use any method to plunk out letters and phrases.
Just one more cool thing about Extensis.
Training for Extensis products
September 19th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
If you’re considering a digital asset management solution, or client/server font management solution, often a key part of the implementation is getting your users up to speed as quickly as possible. To assist in this effort, we offer training services for our products through through our Integration and Consulting Services Department (ICS).
When we visit a client, we often spend a good deal of time with both the system administrators as well as end users. So much so in fact that we occasionally appear in client newsletters! Systems Engineer, Ed Smith, recently trained users at Miami Dade College, and was featured prominently in their newsletter.
If you’d like Ed, or one of our other Systems Engineers to help you get up and running, please contact our corporate sales department for details and pricing.
