Here’s a brief article written by Jill Kocher at Practical ECommerce.

Last week, Google introduced “Instant,” a feature that predicts searchers’ queries as they type them and streams the results for that predicted query onto the results page in real time. Google announced Instant on its blog, at “Search: now faster than the speed of type.”

Google Instant builds on personalized search and on the popular Google Suggest feature to bring every searcher a personalized result set based on his or her search history, location, preferences, and other factors. Every letter typed improves Google’s ability to predict the searcher’s intent, enabling Google to refresh the search results set in real time. With. Every. Letter. Typed. Google is the first of the big three engines to launch quick, predictive, personalized search to the masses as a foundational feature. For a helpful overview of Instant, I recommend “Google Instant Search: The Complete User’s Guide,” an article published on Search Engine Land.

read the full story

Just launched Volume 2, Issue 3 for Sew WOW Magazine. This time we had 21 garments kits, over 10 articles, 3 book reviews, and an interview with Elinor Peace Bailey.

You can view the flipbook here or preview the issue at MagCloud.

I worked with Barclay McConnell over at the Durham Arts Council to produce all the printed materials for the Durham Art Walk including the poster, postcard, Durham Magazine ad, Indy ad, and Herald Sun insert. The design is a color scheme change from last Fall’s design.

This year’s Art Walk (April 17 & 18)  is bigger and better than ever with more artists, more venues, more food, and music. Free parking is available at Golden Belt where I have my studio. We’ll have food vendors and over 43 artists at our building. So start your tour at Golden Belt.

For more about the Durham Art Walk, visit their website.

I’ve just completed the Spring 2010 issue of Sew WOW Magazine. This was our biggest issue yet with 23 garments, numerous articles, book reviews, and an interview.

This issue is available for purchase as a print copy at MagCloud.

The Flash flipbook version with ordering capability for the sewing kits is found here.

If you’re interested in gardening and live in Western North Carolina, check this place out. Jamie, the business owner, is an absolute expert in his field and he grows all the plants he sells. Meadowbrook specializes in native plants and boasts a huge selection including hard-to-find plants and an astounding variety of Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Witch Hazels, Trees, etc.

www.we-du.com ]]> http://meridiandesign.net/wordpress/archives/80/feed 181 http://meridiandesign.net/wordpress/archives/76 http://meridiandesign.net/wordpress/archives/76#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:42:44 +0000 meridiandesign http://meridiandesign.net/wordpress/?p=76

I had a studio visitor turn me on to these last week.  I find no end to my wonder at how human beings have such capacity for visualizing knowledge that is not visible. These stick charts take the cake for me. Beautiful artifacts of a knowledge that is surely lost today…or at least doubtful to make it through to the next generation.

Take a look at a post at The Nonist that shows some graphics and provides a brief explanation.

I am starting 2010 with a new phone number. I was a lucky girl and have been issued a Google Voice number.  Please be sure to update your records with this new number:

(919) 627-1172

It has also come to my attention that many of my clients failed to receive my newsletters about my move to Durham way back in May/June of 2009. After tracking down the issue, I realized that it coincided with my switch to using Vertical Response to send my newsletters. After speaking with tech support, I found out that to conform to spam laws, their servers do not send to generic email prefixes as a default. These prefixes include info@, mail@, admin@, etc. To remedy the problem, one has to speak with a tech support agent who will unlock these prefixes. That was a big lesson to me and one I hope will help any of you who use Vertical Response and/or have customers saying they don’t receive your newsletters.

So, in case you did not receive my previous newsletter about my move to Durham, I offer a link to you here and now: http://www.meridiandesign.net/newsletters/May-31-09.html

My new mailing address is:
Heather Gordon
903 W. Maynard Ave.
Durham, NC 27704

What’s Happened Since the Move?
I have taken a studio at Golden Belt here in Durham and now have a proper office/studio away from home. It’s a revelation to me after working at home for so many years. I have standard 9-5 work hours and share the building with 47 other visual artists.

We are a diverse and motley crew who come and go as we please, however, we do have 3 public events per month that draw hundreds of people. If you’re interested to know more about the Artists at Golden Belt, check out our Facebook fan page. Otherwise, you may want to see some photos of this beautifully renovated building where they used to manufacture cloth bags for the tobacco industry.

In the fall of 2009, I was fortunate to have designed the posters, postcards, t-shirts and other print materials for the Durham Art Walk which is a 2-day art event in downtown Durham organized by the Durham Arts Council and is the largest studio stroll in North Carolina. This design will be used for the spring Durham Art Walk with a change to the color palette and a limited run of silkscreened t-shirts.

And most recently, I won 2nd place at the Durham Art Guild’s 55th Annual Juried Art Show with juror, Maria Magdelena Compos-Pons. I was pleased to have my most recent work with binary visualizations get a nod at this locally prestigious competition. There is a brief video of the awards reception posted on YouTube.

If you’d like to see the Durham Art Walk poster and see my winning artwork, please see my art website.

I’m currently working on a site design for a local Durham small business called Cozy, and a redesign project for Meadowbrook Nursery in Marion, NC.

I hope once February comes, I’ll be able to resume my regular newsletters, so please keep me updated with your latest news so I can spread the word.

Happy Belated Holidays and Best Wishes for 2010

Heather Gordon

San Francisco artist Agelio Batle has created dozens of graphite objects by casting everyday items in pencil lead or graphite. They are not only functional mark-making tools, but are quite beautiful. My thanks to Diane Ericson for turning me on to these.

You can view his work here:
http://www.asbworkshop.com/home1.html

www.ashevilletileworks.com

Christian Swinehart has created a set of  beautiful visualizations for 12 CYOA books. To begin his process, he divides each book into narrative and ending pages. Then applies a color coding system. Each book reveals its own unique branching decisions and frequencies which ultimately form the final visualization.

Be sure to see his website for a detailed explanation and don’t forget to see one of these visualizations in action.