At the time of this posting, the Interpretation By Design page on Facebook has 237 fans. That leaves us approximately 867,050 fans shy of the New York Yankees fan page, 2,346,535 shy of the page for  “Laughing When Someone Falls,” and 4,812,292 behind the page for actress Megan Fox (pictured here because we’re trying to drive traffic to our site). From this we can glean:

• The Yankees have won more championships than we have.
• We’re not as funny as people falling down.
• Megan Fox is prettier than we are.

Still, with our paltry number of fans, it’s valuable for IBD to have a Facebook page.

I resisted joining Facebook personally for a long time because I equated it with MySpace, which I continue to equate with sorority members pasting construction paper and glitter glue notes on each other’s dorm room doors. Once I joined Facebook, however, I was hooked. I enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and having a new venue to share and discuss online resources. Friends would post links to news articles, videos, or interesting sites, and discussion would ensue.

It’s this ability to share and discuss online resources that makes social networking important to the interpretive profession.

On July 14 of this year, NAI President Jim Covel wrote a post on the NAI blog called “They Wouldn’t Close an Entire State Park System, Would They?” about how budget concerns threatened to force the closing of California State Parks. I posted a link to Jim’s article on the NAI Facebook page (which at the time had about 600 fans), which caused the California State Parks Foundation to pick up on the article and post it on its Facebook page, which has about 42,000 fans. On that day, the NAI blog had four times as many hits as it had ever had on any other day (or has had since), and the NAI Facebook page gained 15 new fans.

This is the sort of networking that creates opportunities for growth. Maybe NAI didn’t gain any new members that day, and we probably didn’t sell any logo clothing or books, but the simple act of sharing that article made up to 42,000 people aware that NAI exists, and that can only be good. In addition to Facebook, NAI has presences on Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn. All of these sites give NAI the opportunity to share resources and information with fans or friends, and to make itself known to folks who might not have otherwise found out about it.

At the 2009 NAI National Workshop in Connecticut this November, Jamie King will present “Facebook for Your Organization,” which to my knowledge is the first-ever concurrent session on social media at an NAI National Workshop. Upcoming issues of Legacy magazine will include a series of articles by Heidi Bailey on the importance of social networking to interpretive sites. Obviously, this is more than a fad, it’s an important and ever-changing tool.

Guess I’m going to need some more glitter glue.

After my first I’ve Got Problems post, I was immediately contacted by a few readers with specific problems. Avoiding my problems with procrastination, I immediately began working to provide them with options for their problems. That is right after a long vacation in Chicago, some 23 other posts and much careful thought (note no serial comma, just for Paul). Sorry that I put it off until now. You more than likely have solved your problem by this point in time and should be writing this post yourself.

I was contacted by an interpreter who does a fair amount of design work. We will call her “Chris” for the purpose in this post in order to protect her from her co-workers who have created this problem. I will call myself “Mr. Shea” in this post in order to protect myself from the obviously girly name that my parents bestowed upon me and that has created many gender-confused emails and phone calls in the course of my life. It is true, I am a man.

Chris’ problem is related to the amount of text that she has been given to layout in a newsletter. She is unsure what to do with way too much text. Her supervisor (an interpreter) is providing her with the text and has not been receptive to her hints and suggestions to edit or cut copy. In fact Chris has been told that all of the text is “valuable and pertinent information for their museum’s membership and should be included in the newsletter.”

So, what can you do with all this text to make the newsletter inviting to read, mailable and visually appealing? My knee-jerk response would be to provide the proof to the supervisor with type in the smallest point size possible that would allow it all to fit on one page. This would illustrate the need for cutting copy. This is not the best way to ensure future employment, but could be personally satisfying. (Designers are jerks. Paul will take on this issue in a few weeks.)

Here are some legitimate options. The first step that I would take would be to layout a grid that allows plenty of room for vertical columns. Four columns on an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper is the max. Make sure the gutters are comfortably wide but not awkward. Think personal space. You know when that office acquaintance is standing just a little too close. Keep the text rag right (also called left justified). The shape provided by this type of margin will create counter space that will give the reader’s eye a break from time to time. You can also open up the line spacing or increase the leading to make it easier to read. Don’t go too crazy with the line spacing but follow the guidelines in chapter 4 of IBD. Dial down the point size on body type and dial up headlines or leading lines. I wouldn’t use anything smaller than an 8 point type, and 10 is preferred. Keep other page elements (page numbers, title bars and other newsletter stuff) as simple and small as possible. If the text is that important then the text should be the focus.

If you provide the best layout possible considering what you were given and the document is still too large, your supervisor may be more interested in revisiting it for an edit. If not then at least you know that you have maximized the text in the space allowed and made it legible. Whether or not it gets read is the real issue.

The next “I’ve Got Problems” post will deal with this confession: “I’ve been told I need to think outside the way I design things and that I should break some rules.” Being somewhat an expert on breaking rules, I feel comfortable taking on this problem so look for my confessions in future blogs.

Call it what you will: the serial comma, the Oxford comma, or the Harvard comma. It is the cause of much consternation to writers and editors. It causes fights in bars (okay, discussions in libraries). Devotees of the Chicago Manual of Style insist on its use. Those who adhere to Associated Press style consider it superfluous. And there are those who say that it doesn’t matter whether you use the serial comma or not, so long as you are consistent.

Cereal comma: Snap, Crackle, and Pop (note the comma after "Crackle")

I have always been a believer in the serial comma because I think that it eliminates the possibility for confusion. If you’re looking at a list of 1, 2, and 3, it’s clear that 1, 2, and 3 are three distinct items. Consider the example of this hypothetical book dedication from the Chicago Manual of Style:

With gratitude to my parents, Mother Teresa and the pope

You can picture the editors of the Chicago Manual of Style chuckling smugly at the notion that without the serial comma, readers might think that the hypothetical author’s parents are Mother Teresa and the pope. The absence of a serial comma might cause the reader to think that “Mother Teresa and the pope” is one unit equal to the author’s parents. As a believer in the serial comma, I’m laughing right along with them.

If you look at the popular style guides that do not use the serial comma, they are mostly related to the news industry (Associated Press, The Times, The New York Times, etc.). As a former journalism student and journalist, I can tell you that many styles espoused by newspapers are designed more for conserving ink than for clarity of writing (that’s why you see single quotes used in headlines instead of the more correct double quote). The style guides that call for the serial comma (the American Psychological Association, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, and the Chicago Manual of Style, to name a few) are more concerned with clarity of writing.

Opponents of the serial comma will argue that it can sometimes actually cause confusion rather than clear it up. A surprisingly engaging and in-depth entry on Wikipedia uses this example, again a hypothetical book dedication, this time inspired by editor and writer Teresa Nielsen Hayden:

To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God

Here, the reader might believe that Ayn Rand is the author’s mother when the serial comma is used, but without the serial comma, the confusion is eliminated (“To my mother, Ayn Rand and God”). I argue that you have to work a lot harder to create a scenario where the serial comma causes confusion rather than eliminating it. Another example from the same Wikipedia entry is this:

My favorite types of sandwiches are pastrami, ham, cream cheese and peanut butter and jelly.

Without a comma after “cream cheese,” the reader is not sure whether the peanut butter belongs with cream cheese or jelly. With that, I’m off to the library to pick a fight with a journalist and then go out for cream cheese and peanut butter sandwiches.

Just when you thought that you had heard enough about the Lewis/Caputo vacation to Chicago, I go and drop this post. I will do my best to avoid direct references to pizza and sausage since we are now in a post-sleeved-meat detox (which began on Monday), as appropriately coined by Paul’s wife Sheila. The Lipitortinis have really helped with the cleansing process.

Much like Paul’s “Live from Chicago” post, Observations: Type on a Curve, Which Way Goes the Dollar?, Proud to Be an American Cubs Fan, and One Creepy Bear, I had a few additional observations that I wanted to share with you.

Architectural Boat Tour of Chicago: Our experienced guide brought about the element of discovery to us like no other tour I have ever been on. She also brought lots of cookies and lemonade. Her passion allowed her to transfer a boatload of information into an interpretive experience. It was a very tourist thing to do in Chicago but the guide transformed it from a touris trap into a memorable experience. Of course the skyline was great participant as well. Despite what you see here, the tour was great.

An alternative to Papyrus: Paul is to Comic Sans as Shea is to Papyrus. I have a sick obsession with Papyrus and in Chicago finding Papyrus was as difficult as finding a place serving New York style pizza (sorry pizza reference). I only found it in two places. We did find an interesting Papyrus-esqe type at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Paul and I discussed that on the initial design drafts Papyrus was likely used but a great design decision was made switching to this organic type.

Sky Deck Logo: We write about logos often and here’s an interesting one. The jury is still out on it for me. What do you think about it?

Here’s a picture of my daughters on the sky deck.

Zookeeper Note: I love the function of this simple sign. Suction cups allow it to be easily moved and updated. It also allows for it to be re-hung upside down and possibly stolen (not that a thought like that would cross the minds of two design geeks). The message is timely, appropriate and cute. And what’s not cute about breeding hippos. The aggressive element to me was not the message but the over-centering.

Sense of place at Wrigley Field: Visitors come to interpretive sites because they are special places. Simple things can be done to make a site special or unique. The flags flying atop the scoreboard at Wrigley Field are a simple element that make it a special place. In today’s world of jumbo-trons and high-tech, high-definition, super scoreboards the Wrigley board stands out as unique, providing visitors to the park with a nostalgic feel. The flags serve a purpose as well. Each series of flags represent the divisions of the National League. The flags for each team also fly in order, from top to bottom, representing the current standings within the division.You will notice (and to avoid an additional comment from Paul) the NL East division (on the far right of the board) has the flag of the Philadelphia Phillies flying on top.

It is undetermined if the Caputos and Lewis families will ever be together in full force again. Perhaps if our wives read this blog, they could answer that question for us. Until then like gravity it will remain a mystery.

It has been determined that I will never be allowed to own an iPhone.

First, a shameless plug: Regardless of where it’s held, the annual NAI International Conference is an incredibly worthwhile and energizing event. I have been fortunate enough to attend all four of them so far (in Puerto Rico, Vancouver, South Korea, and Greece), and honestly, the enthusiasm for the profession and the individual connections one makes at the event will change your worldview.

The next one will be held April 2010 in Australia, and if you want to present a concurrent session, the Call for Presentations is open until September 30, 2009. And my own personal pledge: I will purchase a large can of Foster’s for any IBD reader who comments on this post to indicate their plans to attend (and who actually attends).

Even though the conference is more than half a year away, I’ve started getting fired up for Australia. The first thing that got me thinking about it in any sort of real way was setting up the event’s website. While I have never been to Australia, I have certain preconceptions about the location:

• The country’s natural beauty was featured prominently in the Lord of the Rings movies. (Note: That’s not Australia. That’s New Zealand.)
• Brett and Jemaine from the band Flight of the Conchords are hilarious. (Note: Also New Zealand.)
• Everyone who lives there can wrestle a crocodile to the ground and then make boots out of it, and will do so repeatedly in as many sequels as they can squeeze out of one shaky premise. (Note: Those were the Crocodile Dundee movies.)
• That’s not a knife. This is a knife. (Note: Also Crocodile Dundee.)

Okay, so clearly, I know nothing about Australia, which created an interesting set of challenges when I sat down to design a website for an event to be held there.

The site of the conference is Townsville, Queensland, which is a coastal town along the great barrier reef. I started with royalty-free images found on Wikimedia (which is a very useful site) and stock.xchange. I derived a web-friendly color palette (cool colors and warm neutrals, nothing too bright) from a photo by Jenny Rollo, then added an image of the skyline (pictured here) that I found on Wikimedia. Since the colors in the skyline photo did not work with the website’s color palette, I used Photoshop to turn it into a duotone that did work.

Typographically, I aimed to create something bold yet friendly. I used a thin stroke width of Helvetica on the large word “Australia,” then used a blocky, slab serif (kind of) for the text on “2010 NAI International.”

I implemented a grid, because that’s what I do, and flowed in the information.

While my background is in print design, and that’s what I prefer to do, I enjoyed working on this project. I probably enjoyed it more because I’m excited for the event, but also, there’s a certain satisfaction in taking ideas and mental sketches and watching them turn into something real.

I hope you’ll have a look around the website, and more importantly, I hope I’ll have a chance to buy a lot of Australian lagers for IBD readers.

It’s late on Friday night, there’s packing to be done, and a week of eating traditional Chicago delicacies has left our fingers too fat to effectively operate our computer keyboards, so we decided to end the week with a video blog. Then we realized we were tired, so we left it to our youngest children, Shea’s son William and Paul’s daughter Maya, to convey our final message from Chicago.