Skyler Corbett - Print & Web Design - www.skycorbett.com

Web Design Can Be Refreshing

Skyler — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:00:51 +0000

Today is the day I submit my second official timesheet as an Oregon State University employee. To celebrate holding down a non-contract position, for longer than my average contract, I want to share what I am doing there in my ‘professional capacity.’ I have been tasked to re-design the look and feel of the Media Services website. This is the launchpad for any of the tech services that are provided to students and faculty at Oregon State.

Take a look at the current website:

Here are the proposed changes that I am presenting today:

If you can see the clear difference than you know that this is quite refreshing, so to speak. All of these changes will be made into a Drupal theme and developed by the Central Web Services department of Media Services. In this case, I really am just a tracer.

Google Picasa, Wayne Coyne, and Sasquatch! 2008

Skyler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:16:04 +0000

This year I gave myself a large birthday present: VIP passes to the 2008 Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Wa. I also bought a brand new Nikon Coolpix P80 camera that helped me capture some amazing closeups of my favorite bands like R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The Cure, and The Flaming Lips. I was so excited about finally having a good digital camera that I think I took about a hundred photographs over the three-day-weekend.

Since then I haven’t had the time or the force-of-will to sort through each photograph one by one until I downloaded Google’s Picasa photo album app. At first I wasn’t sure how useful it would be… Wow! It really surprised me! Flicking through hundreds of photos is a snap, deleting them is easy, and I can even make simple edits from within Picasa. Take a look at this shot of Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips on the final night of Sasquatch! 2008.

3G iPod Released - Screenshots

Skyler — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:47:36 +0000

The new 3G iPhone was released today. I’ve been waiting for this announcement for at least a month now. Steve Jobs did not disappoint in his keynote showing off all the new features of the iPhone that include the ability to post blog entries for TypePad from the iPhone, contact syncing through ‘mobile me’ (used to be ‘.mac’), create personal programs with the SDK, and above all the 8GB iPhone will only cost $199. 16GB iPhone for $299. This is astounding. The iPhone originally retailed for $599 just last year.

As of today Apple has refreshed their iPhone homepage with new pictures and a new television advertisement. While the ad isn’t great it does do justice to its star: the new 3G iPhone. Here is a link to the advertisement. Pictures are below. 3G iPhone TV Ad (Large)

Is it just me or did Apple add a little ’swoosh’ to their logo at the end there?

A Snapshot of Today’s Work

Skyler — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:58:47 +0000

This past week I helped some Oregon State fashion students with a quick picture of a collage they put together. It’s pretty neat, check it out:

Arr! Talk like a Pirate Bay!

Skyler — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:08:09 +0000

The folks over at The Pirate Bay are looking for help. I sent them a resume. Also, just for fun, I drew this:

Aren’t I handsome? Just look at my peg-leg! Arr!

Jason Webley - Halloween Cover Art

Skyler — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 01:31:38 +0000

I’ve made some iTunes album art to go along with the Jason Webley show I recorded at the WOW Hall. Here are the .jpg files you can import into iTunes (Right Click -> Save Image As… then put it into the same directory as the .mp3 file). If you want to print it out to use as a CD booklet there is a PDF file that you can cut to fit inside a CD case.

It looks so cool in iTunes!

CD Cover PDF - Jason Webley

Jason Webley - WOW Hall Halloween 2007

Skyler — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:15:05 +0000

Last night’s Halloween show at the WOW Hall with the Jason Webley Quartet was amazing (and sold out!) Michael McQuilken is my favorite drummer and I was impressed that compared to the last Eugene show I went to the entire place was packed! Webley was just the opener but it felt more like he was headlining. I recorded the full hour-long set from start to finish. It’s available right here to download in high quality FLAC and MP3 for the true tomato scouts.

[audio:http://www.skycorbett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/jw2007_10_31_WOW_HALL.mp3]

Mp3 Download (vbr MP3) 46mb

Flac Download (16-bit FLAC) 178mb

Edit: I have also made some iTunes cover art so be sure to check that out

Happy 11 Saints Day!

Getting Things Done

Skyler — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:17:10 +0000

A year ago I had the pleasure to work for a company in McMinnville, Oregon. At the time I was reading a lot about organizational techniques on the 43folders blog and in David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. One day on the job when I was organizing a large directory I saw this and thought it was a neat coincidence.

My Wilt

Skyler — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:28:02 +0000

Wilt is my favorite character from the Cartoon Network series Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends. Based on the basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, he was created by a young boy who needed a friend to play basketball with. Wilt ended up losing one of his arms when he protected his creator during a very brutal schoolyard game. The boy went on to become a huge b-ball star in his own right.

I’ve been spending time working on my vector art and made my own version of Wilt in Adobe Illustrator.

Here’s Your Sign

Skyler — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:07:15 +0000

There’s a great article on road sign legibility in the New York Times magazine today. The bulk of the article is about Don Meeker, a fine arts graduate of the University of Oregon, who developed a new typeface that increases sign legibility by 300 feet. Anyone who’s had me give them directions from the passenger seat knows that extra two seconds makes a huge difference.

The Road To Clarity (New York Times Magazine, 08/12/2007)

Along with the main article there is a slide show of the Clearview typeface evolution and its applications. This slide show really illustrates the design process and gives you an idea of where improvements were made in this new typeface over the previous Highway Gothic which has been a standard of the American road since the Eisenhower administration.

Below is the slide showing Highway Gothic (Series-E) at the top, the various drafts of Clearview in the middle, and then a direct comparison between the two.