Giving to (a different) charity every week for an entire year. Seems like a big commitment but also a big opportunity for massive investment. Think of it as a Groupon for good. The more people sign up, the more money is raised, just like that.

52×52 is “a group of people committed to helping others. Every week, 52×52.org will highlight a different charity and call on you, those willing and happy to help others, to donate directly to that charity.”

You can choose $52, $25 or $10 as pledge amounts and you can start now, along with the site’s charity features, or you can start when you’re good and ready. Alternatively, I’m thinking you could give that to someone for Christmas (if you celebrate it). 52 weeks of a gift that keeps on giving.

I discovered this online game called, aptly, Kern Me. Whether you’re on an iPad or a desktop, you too can discover whether or not you’ve been fooling yourself into thinking you’re a star at kerning. Go on. You know you want to.

It turns out this little game was created by Method of Action, which is a forthcoming site for free “peer-to-peer education for people who want to get things done.” When the site launches, it will apparently offer courses on Internet Entrepreneurship, Design for Programmers and Home Gardening. I’m not clear on the correlation between the two former and the latter but it may indicate a desire to balance our virtual existence with real-life pursuits. Time will tell.

Whatever the case may be, Kern Me is a convincing embodiment of Method of Action’s “Learning made enjoyable” slogan. Hopefully other incarnations will include more in-depth explorations of method but I’ll certainly keep an eye on the blog for a play-by-play of progress. This post about the common skill set found in designers and programmers sheds some light on the “gamification” of learning approach the site seems to be working towards.

Codebarre / Bande-annonce from codebarre.tv on Vimeo.

I used to specialize in book design. For three years, all I designed were entire books or covers for publishers such as HarperCollins NY, Abbeville Press, Chronicle Books and Douglas&McIntyre/Greystone Books here in Vancouver. It’s a wonderful job to have because you become a mini expert on a myriad of topics. You immerse yourself in the content of the book and must understand it to distill it into a seductive and engaging package.

How many times have you picked up a book for its cover? When the quality of the design does the content justice you have probably also gone on to buy the book.

Ben Pieratt of General Projects and Eric Jacobsen of Whisky Van Gogh Go. are kind enough to compile an impressive collection of book covers to analyze and admire. The archive is—conveniently—searchable by designer, author, art director, genre, publication date and, wait for it, typeface. Yes! No more type envy for you.

I’m loving Typeverything. It’s a seemingly random repository of all things typography. Hand-made or not, quirky or clean, there’s a glyph for everyone.

I stumbled upon My City Lives today and found its premise promising. In its own words, it is “an online platform that allows you to share experiences with your city’s public spaces, organizations and fellow citizens using only video. ( . . . ) Ordinary maps are lifeless—we present a view of our city by the people who make Toronto breathe.”

The videos currently on the site range in quality and topic, from student tours of some of U of T’s community spaces, a glimpse at the Art Gallery of Ontario, to more commercially-minded clips or big picture discussions about the city of the future’s need for better rapid transit.

On a purely functional level, I was searching for a way to filter results so I could choose to include (or avoid) businesses. It should be noted that the commercial dimension of the exercise is clear and one of the goals of the site is to promote local businesses through video stories. Users also have the ability to “sponsor” a locale (I understand that feature as a variation on “checking in”).

With the convergence of media, the delivery of documentaries has been shifting. Interestingly the cross-media delivery we’re witnessing is akin to the CD-Rom’s of yore where interactive features—discussion forums, access to complementary background information—are presented alongside the feature-length documentary.

Prison Valley, a web documentary by David Dufresne & Philippe Brault on the prison system in Cañon City, Colorado, is a particularly successful example of such an effort.

Personally I still prefer the immersion offered by an uninterrupted journey into the story but I recognise the richness this delivery allows. It also facilitates the leveraging of social media to extend the discussion.

Creative Roots is a fancy little site that seeks to “represent nations through art & design”. They launched their re-design yesterday and it looks great and works rather well.

Despite the globalization of Internet access, it isn’t always easy to find examples of creative work from abroad—the site includes graphic design, architecture, art and photography. As some of you may know, the development of identity is a bit of an obsession of mine. In the Common Thread Exhibition we curated in late 2009, designers from around the world explored how origin or ethnicity influenced their creative voice.

With over 140 countries currently represented on Creative Roots, there’s no excuse for leading sheltered creative lives. NIce!

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Images from Thailand and Irak above

Is your creative output larger than your flat? Ready to let the world own a bit of your genius? Or perhaps you’re in need of new accessories to adorn your body and colourful creations to liven up your living quarters?

Cargoh, a Gastown-based initiative, may be just the thing for you. Apparel and accessories seem a bit over-represented currently but the site is still in beta so, it’s promising.

The school is even offering full grants to employees of not for profits who might benefit from acquiring said skills to facilitate their organization’s outreach programs. Cool.