Awesome Web Typography @SXSW

Richard Rutter of fontdeck.com taught a class about web typography at SXSW'13. He showed us some great examples of when and how to tweak your typography with HTML and CSS.

A few things I learned:

• adjusting auto-hyphenation
• responsive web design - adjusting for line length, line breaks, etc. when on different sized screens
• how to handle multiple columns
• proportional/tabular/lining/old style
• how to choose font faces for the web
• options for loading custom fonts so that the experience is good even on slow internet connections

My notes:

Keynote - MakerBot's Bre Pettis @SXSW

Bre Pettis, CEO of the MakerBot 3D printer, delivered the opening keynote at SXSW'13.

My Takeaways:

• “The next Industrial Revolution will be printed in 3D”
• MakerBot got started as a quick & dirty experiment before launch, and now it’s helping others prototype more quickly so they can get their own “quick & dirty” launches out faster
• SXSW attendees love their booze - MakerBot originally launched at SXSW 2009 by opening for musicians and 3D printing shot glasses
• Big hurdle for 3D printing is the high level of skill needed to create digital models - but Thingiverse (crowd sourced templates for printing), simplified 3D rendering tools (AutoDesk 123D), and new MakerBot Digitizer are trying to lower the barrier to entry

Full notes below:

SXSW 2013 Reflection

SXSW. What a rush!

I arrived giddy and excited to spend my time amongst the people at the forefront of design and technology. I was not disappointed! There were many friendly faces from the Silicon Valley tech scene, and many more new people to meet.

What inspired me most about SXSW was seeing how deeply the passion for creativity and “making” runs in fields outside of my own (web & mobile app design).

I saw robots cracking jokes, musicians mixing the birth of electronic music, thermostats making a house a home, and designers taking us to the stars. I met bicycle rickshaw drivers, small business owners, marketers, and videographers who embrace design and technology. So many amazing people, looking to the future with big dreams and a sharpie/iPad/Makerbot in hand.

The future is here, and we’re the ones creating it.