I’m working on a longer post on great sources for retro / vintage fonts that I hope to have done by this weekend, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this quick post on attention to detail.

I’m a big believer in the idea that it’s the little things — more so than the big ones — that truly help sell a design. A tiny drop shadow here, a subtle highlight there can be enough to turn a “good enough” design into a bona fide portfolio piece.

Take for instance this image of the History of Search Engines from one of my favorite infographic designers, Paul Horn, aka Doc Splatter on Twitter.

The layout and presentation of information is professional and compelling, as his pieces usually are. But what caught my eye and inspired me to write this post was the scroll bar along the right side of the image. As it follows the timeline down from 1990 to the present day, the scroll bar gradually changes from a Mac OS 9 interface style to a modern OS X style, reflecting the changing times.

There are other similar touches, like the archaic beveling on the labels which gradually shift to a more modern aesthetic to a shifting color palette that echoes corresponding shift in web design trends over the last 20 years.

The designer could have gone without any of those added elements, and it still would have been a well-designed piece. But by pushing past “good enough,” he created a piece that really resonates with the viewer.

The UGO TV blog has a sneak peak at the soon-to-be-released box set of the complete series of Battlestar Galactica, and from what I can see, the packaging is pretty spectacular.

The outer graphics are very subdued: Nothing but the BSG logo on a black background, with very subtle texturing. The top of the outer box pulls up to reveal a series of cleverly nested boxes within, all of which are done in red, white and shades of grey. There’s something to see from every angle, which makes it a great display piece.

They report that there’s a cylon figure inside the box top, though you can’t see it from the pictures on their site. I’m hoping other people will upload images of the packaging, because at $279 for the DVD set and $349 for Blu ray, I’m not likely to see this in person for a while.

Oh, also, there’s a fantastically good show on the little discs inside the box!

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series on Blu ray Arrives! [via UGO TV Blog]