Design

Sometimes I Love the Internet

In Apple, Design, Interface on 25 June 2007 with 2 comments

A few weeks ago I posted a quick idea of an interface I’d always wanted to Apple’s Mail. Here’s the mockup I whipped up.

And now there’s a plugin for Mail that makes it do this. Check out OliveToast’s MiniMail.

Nice work, John!

Wanted: Apple Mail Mini Player

In Apple, Design, Interface on 7 May 2007 with 17 comments

One of my favorite parts of Apple’s iTunes software is the “Mini Player” view. Just click the green “+” gumdrop and poof - all of the bulk is gone and the app is condensed down to its raw essentials.

Note: I’m skipping the rant about how the green “+” gumdrop does something different in iTunes than [...]

DePo Clean WordPress Theme

In Blogging, Design, Geek, WordPress on 5 May 2007 with 104 comments

So my dalliance with Hemingway has come to an end. No offense to Kyle Neath - it’s a really lovely theme - but as a designer I’m much too picky to live with a template I didn’t make for too long. Turns out, my tolerance lasts about 6 weeks.
So I made my own WordPress theme. [...]

In ALA: Where am I?

In Design, Elsewhere, Writing on 8 August 2006 with Comments Off

Whoops, I did it again. I let a long-simmering annoyance with some quirk of current web design spill over into a rant that the kind folks at awesome web design rag A List Apart, enablers that they are, were kind enough to publish. Some will call it obvious, but if it was so obvious, it [...]

Do What You Suck At

In Design, Life, Writing on 16 June 2006 with Comments Off

In Merlin’s latest 43 Folders podcast, The Perfect Apostrophe, he tells the story of the book he almost wrote. You should go listen to it - Merlin’s a stitch, as always.
For the uninitiated, 43 Folders is a “Getting Things Done” blog about how to be more organized in business and life. When he and a [...]

Conspicuous Cobrandification

In Amazon, Design, Internet on 4 June 2006 with Comments Off

I went to Amazon today and was greeted by this thing at the top of the homepage. Apparently it’s a “show” hoster by Bill Maher, produced by Amazon, to move product.
Now, I think it’s great that Amazon is keeping Bill Maher behind a camera (just imagine the trouble he could get into in the real [...]

The Importance of Creative Procrastination

In Design, Geek, Internet on 22 May 2006 with Comments Off

Coders and designers, we’re from different tribes. Name any issue and we’ll neatly divide into sides: form and function, information and experience, oil and water. Of course, no good website happens without both. So it’s worth noting when we find a piece of common ground on our own.
Exhibit A: Deane Barker, writing at Gadgetopia. He’s [...]

Back in Black

In Apple, Design, Geek, Technology on 18 May 2006 with Comments Off

My first laptop was a black Apple Powerbook G3, aka the WallStreet. I dragged the ten pound sucker across Europe in a backpack. I’ve had many computers before and since, but this was the one I pecked out stories on while riding trains through the European countryside, the one I fell asleep next to in [...]

What Would Google Do?

In Design, Elsewhere, Google, Writing on 15 May 2006 with Comments Off

Google and I, we’re old friends. I’ve written about them here and there for years. Google, as a web innovator, has done just about everything right.
But as a designer, I’m tired of hearing clients and associates ask, “What would Google do?” as if every move they make is pure gold. When it comes to visual/exerience [...]

Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!

In Design, Elsewhere, Writing on 9 May 2006 with Comments Off

I recently had the good fortune to work with a client who asked me to, in addition to doing my usual experience design / visual design thing, also write much of the text that appeared on the site. And it made me realize that I’ve often done this for clients - it just wasn’t an [...]