Do you know your iPhone?!
So..I am eating lunch at work and reading my daily newspaper Boston.com and I notice that one of my favorite Bruins players Brad Marchand is taking a photo of our President with his iPhone staring at the camera viewer and pressing the little photo icon. Right, I know you do that too. Well, there has to be an easier way!! There is!
Apple made the iPhone (and all products) as easy as possible for the user to do anything that they want. For instance if you want to take a picture of something use it like a camera, and where is the button? On the top! Try to take a photo of something and press the “volume up” button, and it will CLICK! So much easier than trying to press that little icon.
Ok ok. Want another? If see ANOTHER flying saucer as I always do and need to capture the photo fast… When the phone is off double click the main button on the face of the phone and the photo icon will come up in the bottom right corner. You will be taking photos faster than the UFO can zip zoom away.
One More! Have your iphone up on the home screen and press your finger at the top of the screen and slide down. You will get shortcut to weather, Calendar, Stocks, whatever you use. Just slide from the bottom up and this will slide back to your home screen. Cool, right?
More more... There are a ton more that you can find from Apple. Visit this link and learn more: http://www.apple.com/iphone/tips/
If you have the iPhone 4S, then you can do even more with Siri, but I am not getting into that silliness.
Artistic photo of beer taps. iPhone photo on a night out.
New Postings for Designers
In the past one or two months I have been noticing a TON of new positions for interactive designers. In the past the Developers have gotten all the position and could pick and choose who and where they wanted to work. Not it seams like its our turn.
Here are just a few links of places that you can see the positions:
http://jobs.smashingmagazine.com/
http://www.creativehotlist.com/
http://www.behance.net/joblist
Of course there are others like Monster, Hotjobs, but real designers should not bother with them at all.
In our industry we are very lucky to have placement agencies that seek out jobs for us as well. I have used them in the past and have had nothing but great things to say about them. They fight for you and throw some great work at you. Just make sure you listen and update your information to what they need.
Some I have used here in Boston are:
http://www.creativegroup.com/
http://www.onwardsearch.com/
http://aquent.us/
Again, there are more, and a lot of independent places worth checking out as well. Don’t be shy, and pass your resume to whoever you like. But one word of advice I can give is keep a Excel spreadsheet of who you send your resume to. It looks very bad to send out two resumes to one place from different agencies.
I challenge you to a KickFlip!
As a designer there are some thing that you just shouldn’t do, and guess what. Two days ago I just challenged someone to a deck-off (design verse design of a skateboard deck) with a 19 year old artist that already has her own style, elements, and maybe even actually skateboards. This caused me to think about something that I have never considered “NEVER CHALLENGE THE YOUNG!”
I know, it sounds crazy statement like this, but think about it…
Kids:
1 - They have unlimited time sketching in school, and after school.
2 - They have almost unlimited funds with their parents paying for it.
3 - They are directly connected to whats cool and hip.
4 - They dont have any ego to work against you.
Adults:
1 - Working from 9 to whenever the sun goes down.
2 - Budgets are tights cause I have sixty ba-zillion bills to pay.
3 - Cool? Hip? Does that include my Starbucks Gold card?
4 - My ego has totally caused me to never create anything that will meet my expectations.
So I am going to start this project next week with a fresh blank wooden deck and see what comes from this experiment. But right now, I have no idea what I am going to come up with.
What I do know is how to do it. I found a site called Zazzle.com that you can send your artwork into and have them produce the board for me, for $60. Not too bad. And if no one ever uses my board it will look great on my wall. I’ll show that little brat what art is. Wait, am I talking to my brat Ego?
I will post some photos and show what the boards look when when we are done. Wish me and my brat Ego luck.
Bad judgment or smart thinking?
Here in Boston there was a big upset last week. No, the bruins did win the stanly cup, and Whitey was caught (that guy owes me $15) no it was that Nike town on Newbury st. put some tee shirts in their window saying “get high” and “dope.” Like most people in the world they would pass on my but the mayor of Boston decided that it was wrong and asked they be removed. They said no, so he went to the media to force the issue. Nice play!
Nike, in all their wisdom, kept the shirt on display while the news stood outside asking people what they thought. Was it bad press… Who cares. Nike was in every free and paying paper from Peabody to Pitsfield. With headlines like “Nike gets high” how could this not be a win. Free advertising in every paper and tv. Good job for them to hold to their guns and keep the shirts.
In this case it makes me wonder what the line between bad advertising is and poor taste. It’s a fine line that I plan on crossing a few times in my life with my cupcake concept “Sin Cupcakes” and I plan on putting a few adverts in church flyers. What do you think “you’ve been saved, it’s time to Sin”. Or maybe set up a mini shop outside a gym? I’ll get in the papers just yet.
Useful Photoshop Tools and Techniques For Your Workflow
This is a great resource for Photoshop productivity including browser frames, image sizing, and other tips. Its a useful read.
What happened to design?
Over the past few months I have been taking a hard look at online (web sites, banners, emails) and offline (posters, brochures, direct mail) and I have noticed a trend that has been happening. Slowly, the worlds designs are getting careless. Leading? Kerning? Shadows? I think the younger audience takes all of it for granted, and lets be honest, its getting out of control. Does every image have to have a reflection, like there is some benefit to have a photo shoot on a glass table?
I first noticed that something was wrong with design when I was laid off from my position at an advertising agency in Boston due to “Loss of clients” (thats another story for another time). I was in the mandatory unemployment office meeting, and a photographer was there saying that she has to find a new job because everything is going video. She gave up on her medium, which was very sad. I think “we” designers (photographers, copywriters, etc) are starting to go in that direction too. Why build a web site from scratch when I can use a “out of the can” design from google? What we provide is the expertise to design something that cutting edge, or has feeling, and even a soul.
Look into the past designers, the letter setter, the ones that were taking chances using their hands, and not clicking on a standard button from Photoshop. There are a few movies like Helvetica that are amazing to watch. This movie will give you insight to what I am talking about and my passion behind my words.
Remember, Design is not meant to be looked at by the general public as anything but useful and easy to read. Look though the designs, deep into them, and ask yourself “Why does this design look so good?” Apple is a great example that of great designs that does more than just computers and iPads. Everything Apple does is designed without cutting corners. They are the model for future designs, and maybe our last connection to past great designers.
Enter Our New Age: Personal Technology
I used to have 1 wish while I was in Art School: To be able to send an email from the Airport (I know, I should have be aiming higher). Never did I image that I could not only send an email, but track my flight, make reservations for dinner, and check the weather in San Francisco where I was going. This sounds so simple to us now, but if you think back only 5 years ago, this would be out of the question. What an age we live in where we can do almost anything on a simple little device. For me, its my iPhone.
I know your saying… SO! Step into the darkness and think about what else can we come up with to make our dreams come true. Its time to think outside the normal parameters and start exploring more about the user experience of the mobile device, more than what is excising now, and how to design a better application. Forget Angry Birds, Shazam, and Facebook, they are separating use to individual units. iPhones should bring us together to figure out how to make things better. Not break us apart into individuals.
Its up to us as designers and developers to bring the rest of the world up to speed and how we can help, more than just to make money.
Maybe this is a rant, or maybe this is an epiphany of my own design universe, but I thought I would put it out there and see what others think. Creative for the sake of it. Dream bigger. I am going to from the moment that I wrote this for your to read from an airplane at 35,000 feet going 546 mph. It’s just too cool.
Trends for 2011 in Web Design.
How will you stay relevant as a designer in 2011? The ultimate goal of a designer is not to dazzle but to entangle. Any designer can get ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ that are easily forgotten. The supreme designer is able to create an environment which charms and captivates the user to the point where he does not want to find the ‘Back’ button. Several elements come together to forge such a wonderland: harmonious color scheme, intuitive design, easily accessible information and fast response. Additionally, one can never under-estimate the power of simplicity. Of course, this has always been the case, but in 2011, you are no longer at the forgiving discretion of the desktop, or even laptop, computer. Now, your design must contend with smart phones, netbooks, tablets and the like. Are you ready?
Re-Re-Rebranding Brands
Since the GAP redid their bring a few months back I have been noticing a trend that a lot of the iconic brands are attempting to reinvent themselves. It’s an interesting evolution that companies go through as they grow from an single store to a great empire. Starbucks is the next to fall to the idea of a new look will somehow change who they are. What happens with a new brand is it brings your company down a level and forces your once blindly following consumers to search for you and wonder where my Starbucks went. With the new Starbucks logo, they have dropped the wording to just the mermaid in a circle. This is going to make it tougher to see who they are and what they do. In this designers opinion I think arrogant to just have a symbol to say everything about your company (outside of Prince and Apple of course). Minimal design has its place, and looks amazing in a portfolio, but designing is giving your users a message to get them to buy into your design.
I dont see Starbucks going the way of the GAP’s 3 day rebrand experiment, but I think they will loose some of the eye catching, natural feel of their brand with the new logo.
I’ll still drink their Chai, of course.
Oh… here is an update on the new logo. Apparently, its a little too sexy for some countries. Personally, I don’t see it.
http://www.good.is/post/new-starbucks-logo-too-racy-for-some-countries/
Source: GOOD
