Michael Ulrich (bio)

FROM PASTEUP TO PIXELS
In my career I’ve seen a good deal of change, from paste-up to computers, from ad film to PDFs, from transparencies to online images. I remember when Comstock was just about the ONLY game in town.

I’ve also worked on all sides of the clip art/royalty-free/rights-managed image business—from buying images to designing catalogs. So, you’d think with all this exposure and experience I’d have learned a thing or two about finding images. Not much.

THE ZERO EFFECT
One of my favorite movie lines is super sleuth Daryl Zero’s [“Zero Effect”, 1998] explanation of looking for things.

“Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them.” [Italics mine]

PERKS

At STEP and Dynamic Graphics we get—like most magazines—review copies of books, software and occasionally hardware. Last week we were sent a Razer Pro|Solutions Pro|Click mouse to review, and the managing editor asked me if I wanted to be the lab rat. Now it just so happens that I have an odd affinity for mice [not the furry kind].

Years ago when computer mice were angular, heavy, and not ergonomically design I had the bad habit of CLICKING and dragging, which caused me to developed a mild but chronic case of mouse finger. I figured this malady and my attempts to eliminate it made me a prime candidate for this task, so I said yes.