Rediscovered this while looking for something else
Rediscovered this while looking for something else last night: a list of questions from a panel Jeff Veen, Jason Fried, and I did on Design for Web 2.0 in Octobr 2004. Have we made any progress?
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kottke.org posts about design
The typography of the logos of Web 2.0 companies. (via waxy)
The typography of the logos of Web 2.0 companies. (via waxy)
Amanda Spielman created a brochure for Ephemeral
Amanda Spielman created a brochure for Ephemeral City which she handed out on the F Train. “The brochure — an aesthetic cross between McSweeney’s and Edward Tufte — evokes a fantasy culture where poetry and bicycle riding are exalted pastimes, and geographic features have names like Sea of Enumeration and Untold Islands.”
Wired Magazine profiles Josh Davis. Davis typically
Wired Magazine profiles Josh Davis. Davis typically gets too much credit for being controversial and too little for his work. His speeches/appearances are well worth seeking out; they’re entertaining, informative, and inspiring.
James Nieuhues’ ski report paintings
The Captain of Design himself points us to the ski trail maps of James Nieuhues. Nieuhues is a prolific fellow…he’s done paintings for most of the large ski resorts in the western US.
A lesson in sports uniform typography: vertically
A lesson in sports uniform typography: vertically arched lettering versus the easier-but-cheesier radially arched lettering. (via do)
Cheaper airline tickets
TechCrunch reports on FlySpy, a site that will help people buy the lowest priced airplane ticket for a given destination:
The way it works is that I give it a departure city and a destination city and optionally a departure date and length of stay. The search result, which returns very quickly, will present me with a graph of flight prices over the next 30 days so that I can quickly look at which days are the cheapest to fly. To book a flight I just click on the point in the graph. Simple.
That’s a pretty useful UI innovation (especially if you’re able to drill down into individual days to find the lowest fare on that day), but it doesn’t help you much if your travel dates are inflexible. The killer airline reservation app that I’ve been wanting for several years would tell you when to buy your ticket for a particular flight. Airlines update their fares several times a day and hundreds of times over the course of a month. Depending on when you buy, it might cost you $250 or $620 for the same exact ticket.
What this hypothetical app would do is track fare histories and then release forecasts based on those histories. If you want a RT to SFO from JFK on 4/12/06 returning 4/17/06, the site would tell you to buy your ticket three weeks out or when the price hits $298, whichever comes first, but to never wait until the week before, when similar flights begin to sell out.
A thornier problem than the one FlySpy addresses, but it could save people a lot of money. (This would work for hotels and rental cars as well probably, although I don’t think their prices fluctuate as much.)
George W. Bush makes a guest post
George W. Bush makes a guest post on Design Observer: “I don’t know much about designing rugs. So I […] delegated. That’s one of the things you do in decision-making.”
Check out all of the chrome in
Check out all of the chrome in the new version of Outlook. Good grief. Even the veracity of the emailer’s claim is questionable.
Microsoft to retire pile-of-crap web design program FrontPage.
Microsoft to retire pile-of-crap web design program FrontPage.
CNN International redesigned their on-screen graphics. You
CNN International redesigned their on-screen graphics. You can see the definite influence of lo-fi web design here…those screens look like a web site. I’d love to see these in action.
Update: A UK firm called Kemistry did the work.
“Inside C” logos
“Inside C” logos are those where the second letter of a word (usually an “o”) is tucked inside the initial capital C. Examples: Coca-Cola, Carnation, and Coffee-Mate.
This article on how Google and eBay
This article on how Google and eBay are poorly designed seems really wrongheaded to me, although it may just be that essays that use the word “suckass” and mistake style for design will fail to convince me of anything.
A grid of logos of Web 2.0 companies.
A grid of logos of Web 2.0 companies. These names sound like a bunch of companies that make children’s toys (which when you think about it, isn’t too far from the truth).
Update: Original here.
Some people are so addicted to email,
Some people are so addicted to email, work, and their Crackberries that they’re upgrading their bathrooms with features like TV mirrors and waterproof computers. Grab the folding chairs….it’s intervention time!
A young designer offers some advice on
A young designer offers some advice on getting that first job right out of design school.
Winners of the Design Within Reach 2005 Champagne
Winners of the Design Within Reach 2005 Champagne Chair Contest. The salon dryer chair, the high chair, and the school desk chair are pretty neat.
The designer of Comic Sans on how
The designer of Comic Sans on how that beloved font came to be. Photos of Comic Sans in the wild.
Some interesting photomosaics. This one of Steve
Some interesting photomosaics. This one of Steve Jobs is made of OS X icons and this woman is a collage of Macs and other Apple products.
The beauty of simplicity. “Blame the [lack
The beauty of simplicity. “Blame the [lack of simplicity on the] closed feedback loop among engineers and industrial designers, who simply can’t conceive of someone so lame that she can’t figure out how to download a ringtone; blame a competitive landscape in which piling on new features is the easiest way to differentiate products, even if it makes them harder to use; blame marketers who haven’t figured out a way to make ‘ease of use’ sound hip.”
The NYTimes profiles Susan Orlean and John
The NYTimes profiles Susan Orlean and John Gillespie’s new house in upstate New York (audio slideshow). It looks gorgeous.
kottke.org favorites Andrew Zolli and Marissa
kottke.org favorites Andrew Zolli and Marissa Meyer (from a little company called Google) are going to be speaking at Core77’s panel on Design 2.0 in NYC at the end of February. Looks pretty interesting.
Michael Bierut on the “slow design” of
Michael Bierut on the “slow design” of the New Yorker. “In contrast, one senses that each of the changes in The New Yorker was arrived at almost grudgingly. Designers are used to lecturing timid clients that change requires bravery. But after a certain point — 80 years? — not changing begins to seem like the bravest thing of all.”
The NY Times spends some time at
The NY Times spends some time at home with Paula Scher. The gallery displaying her work is right around the corner from Eyebeam….I think I’ll head over there today.
Best new trend (if one is a
Best new trend (if one is a trend…): personal annual reports. See also personal branding, personal outsourcing, personal board of advisors.
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