What makes a city great is a topic guaranteed to spark heated debate. Now architectural firm RMJM Hillier has ridden into the fray with a list of "America's Best Cities for Design," produced with the American Institute of Architecture and Zogby International. American cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants were judged according to criteria such as the quality of public transit, the number of LEED-registered buildings (indicating sustainable design) and how many of the city's employees work within creative industries such as performing arts or publishing.

As much you may dislike the term "creative" here's a really creative translation of hard data into poignant yet delightful visuals. Chris Jordan turns serious issues into art to great effect.

Most folks know about the 15% discount AIGA members enjoy on all Adobe products but did you know that Lynda.com offers 20% off subscriptions to their more than 29,000 training video tutorials?

If you aren't using Lynda.com, it is worth checking out. A nice perk for members on a very useful service for the creative community.

Our friends over at Monumental and Armchair just launched an innovative independent film site for the Tribeca Film Institute. Worth a look.