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When dads get oldby jo walker

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Its been a couple of years now sincedad got his special government-issueseniors public transport together hemakes a point of gloating about howmuch less hes paying for the experiencethan I am. In return I enjoy making facesand talking loudly about how old and

decrepit he is. Those jokes are funny fornow: Hes still got all his original workingparts and (gallingly) is the fittest person inthe family. At some point I suppose theyllstop being such a cack, when the realdecline begins. Even then, I bet hell stillbe tickled by the discount bus rides. Hesthat kind of guy.

If my father is anything to go by, thefirst signs of Dad Ageing are fairlycosmetic. Rogue ear and nose hair. Asudden fondness for Radio National.Spectacles multiply special types foreach occasion, including those creepyones that turn from sunglasses to regularlenses when you walk indoors. (Despitenumerous pleas that they make him

A sudden fondness forRadio National.

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Lifestyle / Daddy Issues

look like a child molester, Dad refuses tostop wearing them.) Theres obsessiveSudoku solving and the insistence thatmobile phones belong clipped on yourbelt. And, of course, the urge to tuck shirtsinto any kind of pants boardshortsincluded and hoik the waistband uparound the nipple height.

Actually that last one Im convinced isa silent rebellion against my mum, whoregulates Dads wardrobe and prettymuch chooses what hell wear eachday. Maybe high pants are his only wayof regaining control: You can make mewear a clean shirt, woman, but you cantake my unusually high waistband frommy cold, dead hands!

Clothes are just one of the things Mum isin charge of these days. She seems tobe convinced that Dad is incapable ofdoing anything for himself. Shes olderthan him, by six months (this is anotherof his favourite gloats), but she planshis social activities and tells him whento wipe his nose and how to stack thedishwasher. If he wants to speak to me,she dials the number, waits for me topick up and says, Dad wants to talk.Until quite recently my dad was a pilotwith a license to fly large planes aroundthe world. Now he is not allowed tochoose his own socks.

Dad has declared himself to be in anextended middle age not old like his

own father was at the same point in life. And maybe hes right. My granddadswere WWII veterans who wore cardigansand hearing aids, drank rum with milkand smelt of pipe smoke and strongmints. They has walking sticks and gotcantankerous when the cricket was on.My dad yells at the rugby, but hes beendoing that for a while now. And he drinkshis rum with Diet Coke. Got to keep thewaistline slim so you can pull yourpants over it.

My brother has kids, so my dad is agrandfather now, too. But not in the wayhis pas generation was. Hes taught mynieces to surf and gives them horseyrides on his back and sits with them for


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Im just anindividual who

doesnt feel thatI need to havesomebody qualifymy work in anyparticular way. Imworking for me.


Music / David Bowie

- David Bowie


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Tony Visconti has been producing David Bowies albums since SpaceOddity in 1969. Theyve worked together on many of bowies greatesttriumphs, including Heroes, Young Americans, and Scary Mons ters. Aftera long break, they joined forces again in the early 2000s for Heathen andReality. Two years ago, he started working with bowie on his long-awaitednew ablum, The Next Day.

Rolling Stone spoke to Visconti about the pairs secret sessions,how medieval Englosh history inspired someof the soings and why its unlikely thatBowie will tour - though a singleshow remains possible.

By Rob Sheffield

Hear the story from Tony,who has been good friendswith Bowie for 45 years.

He just said, I feel like writing aWa ther

ever poin over th pas few year wher

yo though thaBowi woul never

recor agai ? I was a little scared after he had his

heart condition. He had a little scarehimself. I didnt speak to him for a yearafter that, He was recovering and justnot talking to anybody. But I was one ofthe first people he e-mailed afterwardsand we were steadily in contact sincethen. But he never really brought upmusic until two years ago. So he neversaid to me he retired, and every time Isaw him in person, he looked in reallygood health...

All these rumours started going aroundabout his health. Every time I had lunchwith him, or coffee with him, Im lookingat him and my dear old friend waslooking really good. But music didntinterest him until two years ago, thatswhen he made the call. He said, Howwould you like to make some demos?

And I was a little shocked, quitehonestly, it was just so casual.

How dith proces

begi ?

I was working on another project inLondon, and he didnt know that. Hesaid, Well, when are you going toget back? I said, In a few days.The next morning after i returned, I

was in the studio with him playingbass. We had Sterling Campbell ondrums, Gerry Leonard on guitar andDavid on keyboards. We were in thislittle studio down in the East Villagedoing demos for a week. I waspinching myself. I couldnt believe itwas really happening.

Di h hav eshe -ou song

a thi poin ?

Yes, he wrote them at home. Hehad an eight- or 16-track digitalrecorder. They were quite fleshedout. He had nice bass line ideasand drum patterns. We quickly tookdown the names of the chords andwe scribbled it out on paper. GerryLeonard and I read from the chordsheet. The room was about eight-by-eight, which included a drumkit. We were on top of each other,grasping for air after an hour or two.


Music / David Bowie


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TYPOGRAPHY

They say, Rules aremeant to be broken. Findout more tips on how tobreak rules wisely andcreate disorder that is stillconsidered a balancedchaos. These will definitelywow your audiences.

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IS

SIMPLYA

R I D SYSTEM


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Like skyscrapers in city centers,overwhelmingly, columns dominate Web designgrids. Once youve mastered the grid as atool then its time to get creative with it. Work onestablishing a visual rhythm in your design.Then you can step in and break the visual flowfor effect. The techniques discussed in the nextsection present effective ways of getting creativewith your columns in grid-based Web design.

SixCreative

ColumnTechniques

Disharmony is, of course, the oppositeof harmony. A grid is a harmoniousinstrument. Its goal is to achievebalance, symmetry, and order. So whywould you want to bring imbalance tothis order? Why break up this carefullyconstructed data structure? The answeris to add interest.

Chaos is more interesting than order. Agood murder mystery is infinitely moreenjoyable than a story about taking awalk in the park. A partly broken grid ismore interesting than a perfectly orderedgrid. Besides who doesnt want to breakthe rules? Embrace some randomness,chaos, or discord and create a spacefor them to thrive within your designs.

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Layouts that have strong horizontal areasare being seen more often, especiallyon home pages. Horizontal Web designareas feel more creative because verticaldesigns are so common on the Web. Tryusing more rows in your designs. Or joinareas of a column together to create adisplay space in your design.

Rows can be used to break up the visualflow of a page. Each row you creategives a new opportunity for establishingnew column areas with different sizes,numbers, and variety. Its possible tocreate pages on your site, or areas ofyour pages, that are heavily horizontal.Or join columns to form rows thatadd interesting areas to your layouts.Consider varying the number of columnsin the rows you create.

The gray horizontal row below is heavilyemphasized. The use of repeatinghorizontal backgrounds helps to makepredominately vertical layouts feel wide.

Adding these spaces to your layouts willallow them to stand out. Horizontal areasin sites will slow the users progression

through the page and create emphasis.

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Its possible to set an entire grid on anangle. In the article Rule Four: SpacingIs Your Friend an angled grid designis reviewed. The example used in thisarticle is for print design though. The useof an angled grid is unusual on the Web.Thats because the layout of text on theWeb is horizontal, not slanted.

You would likely use images toaccomplish an angled piece of

text. Flash would be another option.In both cases youre loosing thesemantic goodness and ease of useof Cascading Style Sheets. The use ofangles to occasionally break your gridwill add visual interest. If you restrict theuse of angles to images you wont loseany semantic or SEO benefits of thedefault horizontal text used in the Web.

One of the techniques in line withembracing some disorder is to break outof the boundaries youve established inyour grid. Once youve established yourorder find ways for elements to moveoutside of it. Cross over the linesyouve set up and break out of thevisual flow of the page.

In the article Thinking Outside the GridMolly E. Holzschlag discusses conceptsof creating compelling visual designthat breaks the mold of the grid. Someof her examples show boundariesbeing escaped. This is an inspiringconceptual article that also discussesthe complexities involved in codingdesigns that are less rigid.

Pull-quotes are an example of a designelement that presents an opportunity tobreak out of your established visual flow.The older version of Andy RutledgesDesign View used interesting pull-quotesthat broke the visual flow of the column.Doing this places greater emphasis onthe pull-quotes than if they were keptwithin the content of the column.

An abrupt change in the flow of the pagewill cause users to pause and notice thechange in rhythm. This is true whetherthe pull-quote is kept within the columnor moved outside the boundaries of itsborders. Consider this the next timeyou use pull-quotes or if youreembedding an image within yourcolumn. As an image presents thesame design opportunity.

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E S C A P I N G

B O U N D A R I E S

U T I L I Z I N G

A N G L E S

J O I N I N G

F O R V A R I E T Y

E M B R A C I N G

D I S H A R M O N Y


Web / Typography Grid


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5There are some basic design principlesto consider when looking to energizespace within your grid. Concepts suchas asymmetrical balance, proximity, andrepetition are discussed in the article ThePrinciples of Beautiful Web Design byJason Beaird.

Jason Beaird has this to say aboutasymmetrical balance,Rather thanhaving mirror images on either side of thelayout, asymmetrical balance involves

objects of differing size, shape, tone, orplacement. These objects are arrangedso that, despite their differences, theyequalize the weight of the page.

Paragraphs and images can be ofdifferent sizes. Try breaking columns andoverlapping them horizontally. AbandonMathematical precision, and it will be agrid based on an artists intuition andeye for design. To achieve balance, it isnot based on rigid structure alone, butrather is achieved through the equalizingweight of asymmetrical balance.

6There are multiple techniques to add interest to your grid. Certainly

you should first understand how to use the grid effectively. Thenwork on escaping some of this rigid structure and create some free

flowing spaces within your design. Or break the established flowand focus attention on a particular element. Utilize concepts such

as disharmony, asymmetrical balance, and ordered chaos tobring areas of your sites grid designs to life.

Conclusion

E N E R G I Z I N G

S P A C E S

I L L U S T R A T I N G

A R E A S

Illustrations and the use of designelements allow for overlapping andbreaking out of the structure youvecreated in your grid. They can be usedto add some areas of creative disorderto counterbalance the rigidity of the grid.

Illustration can break the grid byoverlapping gridlines and flowing intodifferent content areas. The movement ofthe design elements within the illustrationcreates a different visual rhythm that actsin opposition to the order of the grid.There is balance in the design of theseopposing forces. Illustrations designadd stimulating areas of interest to anotherwise boxy layout.

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Web / Typography Grid


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IMPULSE would like to make special thanks to Class DV2004Typography II and tutor Ms Angeline Yam.

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All our readers.

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