In December our team was allowed two weeks to pursue a “passion project”. It didn’t have be work-related, just something you truly wanted to work on. I chose to design tread patterns on the soles of shoes. I had never given a thought about shoe treads until, a week earlier, a woman on the NodeBox… Read More
Tag: design
In my previous post I argued that the hunt is on for a better way to code, a way more suited for a designer’s need to test new interactions. I said I wanted a process less like solving a Rubik’s cube and more like throwing a pot. What does this actually mean? “I want to… Read More
Fact 1: Dazzling animated displays (sprites, shaders, parallax, 3D) are more plentiful and easier to make than ever before. Fact 2: More natural and expressive forms of input (swiping, pinching, gesturing, talking) are being implemented and enhanced every day. Fact 3: Put these two together and the possible new forms of human computer interaction are… Read More
I often tell people that you need both a left brain and a right brain to be a software designer: a left brain to analyze and understand, a right brain to dream and wonder. The EyeO Festival which Thao and I just attended in Minneapolis, was food for our right brains. EyeO is about the… Read More
Why It Just Works
So John suggested I delve into why “it just works“. He suggests that Apple’s tight control of their products, from design to software and hardware development and third party components allows them to do what “open” systems cannot. I agree. Beyond control, this approach both limits the possible combinations software needs to support and allows… Read More
What Makes UI Good?
Thanks to a comment from Terry on my post about locking your smart phone, I’ve been digging around looking for ways to make my beloved iPhone more secure. Surprisingly or not, Apple has made it maddeningly difficult to even the simplest precautions. Terry’s comment, which I read a bit hastily, mentions changing the root password… Read More
Found: Cool Stuff in Your Shared Items
So, I now have about five or six people sharing their Google Reader shared items with me, which is good. These feeds function a lot like Twitter for me, i.e. the items in there are sometimes interesting and tend to tell me a bit about each person. For example, Paul shares a lot of gadget… Read More
“Looks Good, Works Well”
Last night, I was lucky enough to see Bill Scott (of Yahoo Design Pattern Library, YUI, OpenRico, Netflix fame) present at my local Ruby user group. He shared his thoughts about the successful design patterns that have defined today’s web. As someone who enjoys brilliantly designed “things” including web apps and sites, I found his… Read More
Is Simple the New Black?
Thanks to Matt for covering Geode. I have to agree with his assessment of location as awesomesauce when mixed with Intertubes. Continuing my mission to slog through all the unread feeds I have left over from the week of OpenWorld, I noticed an item from Mashable about the simple and elegant Umbrella Today? The concept… Read More
While we’re talking about design…
I’m a code geek that likes to tinker with design and illustration. My weapon of choice is Xara Xtreme. Most people in this arena choose Adobe Illustrator, but Xara works for me. It’s also faster, easier to use, lighter and cheaper. The only drawback is that it’s Windoze-ware only. Actually, there is a Linux version… Read More
Work Could be More Funner
At Web 2.0 Expo about a month ago, Rich, Paul and I all attended a fascinating session called “Children of Flickr: Making the Massively Multiplayer Social Web“. Aside from being interesting, it reenergized me on my quest to make work more fun. Then, daily operational stuff intervened. I managed to rush some thoughts onto virtual… Read More
Good UI or New Web Hubris?
One of the changes we deployed this week to Mix was new icons on profile pages. We replaced the links that used to tell you “Edit your profile”, “Add to network”, “Remove from network” with snazzy, Web 2.0 style icons which showed a pen (for edit), a green plus sign (for add), a red x… Read More
Had Good Search Lately?
I’m a neat person, but I’ve always had a cluttered desk. Growing up, my mother would frequently remind me to make it neat and tidy. Not much has changed, except now my desk has less room for paper clutter as much of it is taken up by dual monitors and various gadgets. My clutter has… Read More