No matter where you live, chances are you’ve encountered brutalist architecture – a style of building characterized by its cement structure and fortress-like feel. Lately, the trend has extended to website design, and apparently there are a lot of fans out there. But count me out—the chemistry building at my alma mater was brutalist and, well, not good memories, guys. That being said, given when the style was popular, the buildings are now historical and that’s certainly something to celebrate and preserve. We here in the Washington, DC area are quite familiar with brutalism as there are tons of buildings in the city that fall into this category, and now you can find them all with a handy guide! Pick yourself up a copy and go appreciate some architecture, folks.

We really enjoyed this piece from Smashing Magazine about line-length in design. We visual designers are all about it, but it’s not typically something that everyone thinks about, and that should change! Line-length is the best! It’s a subtle thing, but can absolutely affect your reading. Lines that are too short prohibit scanning, and ones that are too long can cause fatigue. The magic number is somewhere around 65 characters per line, but anywhere in that neighborhood and you’re in good shape. So now that you know what the ideal is, take a look at the websites you regularly visit. Are they keeping line-length in mind? Hint hint: the one you’re reading right now is!

This week we also enjoyed the new logo for Petfinder. Just like the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo (you did know there’s a hidden arrow in the FedEx logo, didn’t you?), Petfinder’s new mark cleverly moves the “tittle” (stop giggling, it’s a typography term) of the ‘i’ slightly to the right to create an eye for the hidden dog. Clever? Absolutely. Adorable? You bet! Effective? Very likely, but we’ll find out for sure once we see the rest of the branding roll out. Regardless, this new logo is certainly better than the mark they had before so well done to the team over at POSSIBLE for their work.

And finally, as we (thankfully) approach election day, a reminder that we’re living in a different time for campaigns.