Although we sometimes get a bit of snow where I live, I prefer it when we don't. But I do like the kind of snow made of paper. Take a look at these Star Wars Snowflakes. Darth Vader never looked lovelier.

For more fun with snowflakes: Make Snowflakes Out of Words

Now, if you're considering incorporating snowflakes into your desktop publishing projects you may run into the problem of printing the color white but snowflakes don't necessarily have to be snow white. Try icy pale blue, shimmery silver, or warm up those flakes with glittery gold.

Is it just me or do you find yourself sometime poking your finger at the monitor on your desktop or laptop? As an iPhone and iPad user I've grown so accustomed to swiping my finger across the screen or tapping an icon or the on-screen keyboard that it took me several minutes to figure out why my lately underutilized netbook wasn't responding. Oops!

I was trying to help my daughter find some elusive setting on her phone the other day and kept poking the screen wondering why it wouldn't do anything -- it wasn't a touchscreen kind of phone. I've even grown somewhat accustomed to using the on-screen keyboards (especially if I'm using my stylus) although I do pull out my bluetooth keyboard if I plan to do a lot of typing on my iPad.

All Things D takes us on a tour of some of the new ways that we may find ourselves interacting with all our digital devices before long in How Touchscreens Are Forcing the Reinvention of Keyboards. From an alternative to QWERTY (that's not Dvorak) to touchscreens that feel more like regular keyboards to keyboards that aren't really there (or, they're everywhere).

What kind of keyboard advancements would you like to see for any reason or specifically for doing design & publishing? Are you excited about any of the technologies in the All Things D article or do you prefer to continue kicking it (and clicking it) old school? Use your keyboard to give me a shout about it in the comments.

Related (more or less):

• History of the Computer Keyboard (About.com Inventors)
• History of Typing and QWERTY Keyboards (About.com Inventors)
• Who Invented Touchscreen Technology (About.com Inventors)
• Common Keyboard Symbols
• Keyboard Shortcuts for Desktop Publishing Software
• iPad Keyboard Shortcuts (About.com iPad)
• Why Would a Designer Want an iPad?

^{Photo © J. Bear; Manual Royal Typewriter}

As designers we may sometimes have to deal with the legalities of using pictures of paper money in ads or other print projects. But here's another artistic endeavor that features money portraits. If you've got money to burn, I suppose this a more creative way to do it. Check out Creative Agency Creates Detailed Money Portraits at Oddity Central.

Also see: The Money Sculptures of Justine Smith and Woven Newspaper Portraits by Gugger Petter (both also linked in the Money Portraits article).

Do you keep a sketchbook of ideas? Do you like the idea of peeking over the shoulder of famous designers to see what they put into their sketchbooks?

Brain Pickings takes you Inside the Sketchbooks of the World's Greatest Type Designers with a peek into the pages of Typography Sketchbooks by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico (compare prices) that includes mini-profiles of 100+ type designers alongside samples of their work, their sketches.