Show some love for design with clothing, activities in East Lansing

National Design Week went, to my knowledge, largely unnoticed in East Lansing.

There were a few events in Ann Arbor, and mediabistro.com even published a list of ways to celebrate National Design week. Unfortunately, the events listed took place in New York, and I don’t have enough spare change for a quick jet out to The Big Apple.

So even though National Design Week is nearly over, it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to celebrate. I’ve made my own list: The top 10 ways to celebrate design in East Lansing (or anywhere), year-round.

10. Shake up your homework.
Have a paper to turn in? Try typing it in Georgia instead of Times New Roman. Typographers everywhere will thank you for deviating from the default font.

9. Appreciate the graphic T-shirt.
Urban Outfitters has a great selection of graphic-t’s, including a section devoted to cool text treatments.

8. Watch a typography video.
For the type nerds out there, there is a wealth of cool stuff waiting to be discovered on YouTube. One of my favorite’s is the famous “Who’s on first?” sketch done in only type.

7. Find some designers on Twitter.
Cool design firms or people I follow include: AisleOne (graphic designer from New York City), blamedesign (visual journalist and graphic designer), designdreams (local designer; Lansing), chipkidd (book designer), tysone (interface engineer at The New York Times), myPantone (www.pantone.com), charlesapple (visual journalist and blogger) designhawg (interactive designer), yurivictor (product design and development manager for Gannett), and if you feel like it, zagatam (that’s me).

6. Show some love for newspapers.
Newseum.com puts up front pages from newspapers all over the country every day. It’s pretty cool to see how the headlines differ by region.

5. Giggle at Font Conference.
Even if you don’t know very much about typography, fonts or design, this video from College Humor is a riot. My only gripe? I hate that Comic Sans is the font that saves the day.

4. Pull out a road map.
My cartography professor told us in class one day that the most common way to view a map is on the iPhone. Next time you’re getting ready to take a trip, challenge yourself by not looking the directions up on Google. Plan your route on a realio, trulio, honest-to-goodness printed map. Cartography is a beautiful thing.

3. Dress all in one color.
Information graphic artist Nigel Holmes dresses only in blue, as he explains in this video. As a tribute to Nigel, or just for fun, snazz it up with a mono-color wardrobe for a day.

2. Draw something.
Even if you think you’re a crappy artist, take a minute out of your day to just doodle. A flower, a house, a stick figure; drawing is a great way to relax and help your brain switch gears.

1. Eliminate Comic Sans from your life.
Please. You’re not 12 anymore. Your life is not a comic book. Just don’t use this typeface. Don’t use it for your AIM chat font, don’t use it on your mom’s birthday card, and PLEASE, if you are giving a presentation, don’t use it on your slideshow. There are other choices out there. Better choices. Comic sans is not the answer. For more information, visit www.bancomicsans.com