Showing posts with label concept. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concept. Show all posts

May 23, 2012

The House of Mirth: Book Jacket


Since she had read The Age of Innocence, I have been wanting to get my sister a copy of The House of Mirth.
And since I was to make a gift of it, I wanted to find her the best edition available: one with not only an attractive cover, but crisp, sharp text that's easy on the eyes.
I found one that had the latter, but wasn't too happy with the cover.
So over the weekend, I designed and printed a book jacket.

The House of Mirth is written in the style of a novel of manners and in the first few chapters, several names pop-up in conversations and events. This makes it hard for the first time reader to keep track of characters names, their backgrounds and their relationship to each other. To solve this issue, I placed brief characters' profiles on the book jacket's inner flaps for instant access and easy reference.

September 10, 2010

Parts of an Islamic Astrolabe

The calendar scales round the outside edge on an Islamic astrolabe
Hatched line crossing the astrolabe representing the prayer line on an Islamic astrolabe

August 04, 2010

Good, fast and cheap


A few friends seem to be frustrated lately with local service provides. If they manage to dodge expensive quotes, they're stuck with contractors who never seem to make any progress at all.
And while they managed to find someone who promised to design their business' website quickly and inexpensively, they were rather unsatisfied with the end result. After endless revisions, they managed to launch their website a few weeks behind schedule.

It reminded me of something I came across a few years ago involving a triangle and the relationship between Quality, Price, and Time. I looked it up and found the project triangle.
The idea is as follows: with any project, you can only pick two out of three items. So you have the following three options:

Price + Time/Quality  or  Fast, cheap and bad
If you've managed to find someone to work fast and cheap, chances are the quality of the work will be shabby and will fall apart in no time.
Eventually, you'll have to pay more for repairs, maintenance or re-design.

Time + Quality/Price  or  Fast, good and expensive
It has to be spectacular and it should be ready by tomorrow. No problem. As long as you don't mind paying extra to have done and delivered.
Being pressed for time means you haven't a spare hour to look for a better deal. Not to mention possibly covering rush job fees.  

Quality + Price/Time  or  Good, cheap and slow
It takes time to find the lowest bidder for high-quality work done on a budget.
Even if someone agrees to deliver excellent work inexpensively, they are likely to prioritize the higher paying jobs. Or it might require them time to search for ideas without sacrificing the quality or stretching the budget.