Formed Function Blog

The Shape of Design

Thu, 03 May 2012 23:45:00 -0400

A subset of the Foreward in a book I’m currently reading:

In that way, this book is not unlike a more ubiquitous tool and platform, the U.S. Interstate Highway System. Today, we take it for granted, mostly, but its numbering system at one point had to be designed. At a time when telephone poles lined dirt trails, Bureau of Public Roads employee Edwin W. James and committee were asked to come up with a more expandable system as roads were growing in the 1920s. They designed what we know today as the Interstate Numbering System. Prior to that, people relied on color codes for direction. Telephone poles were ringed with color bands lined highways, corresponding to individual dirt trails across the country. As trails expanded, telephone poles became painted from the ground up, sometimes fifteen feet high, so trying to distinguish among colors became dangerous.

E. W. James changed that. He decided that motorists would be able to figure out where they were at any time given the intersection of any two highways. North/south highways would be numbered with odd numbers; east/west with even numbers; and numbers would increase as you go east and north. The Interstate Numbering System was designed for expansion, anticipating the future contributions of people, cities, unexpectedness. It’s a tool. It’s a platform. And it’s still not done nearly 100 years later.

Love that perspective. The Foreward is by Liz Danzico. The book is The Shape of Design.

Out With The Old, In With The New

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:29:16 -0500

It’s becoming more and more difficult to find time to redesign projects that exist solely out of personal interest. This site, for example, serves no purpose other than to fill a space in the ether with my very own semblance of web presence. Similarly, it becomes more and more difficult (and unnecessary) to administer any form of custom blogging engine.

So it’s all gone (not really).

Out with the old, in with the new. The new being a site that pulls in some data from great services I tend to use frequently. So that’s what you’ll find here.

I’m using some of my favorite photography as a backdrop for this design. There are a total of 35 different pictures that will load at random. It’s kind of nice to use some of my photos to add a little flare to the design itself, rather than only being showcased in gallery form.

The tech is pretty minimal. I use Webby to maintain things (because I love Ruby) and Mustache.js for the templating. Sorry, IE8 users, modern browsers only (yes, even you’re too old).

Oh yeah, and it’s sugar-coated with a bit of responsive goodness. I dare you to resize your browser… Shrink, Stretch, Smash, BOOM!

Out With The Old, In With The New

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:29:00 -0500

So it’s all gone (not really).

Out with the old, in with the new. The new being a site that pulls in some data from great services I tend to use frequently. So that’s what you’ll find here.

The tech is pretty minimal. I use Webby to maintain things (because I love Ruby) and Mustache.js for the templating. Sorry, IE8 users, modern browsers only (yes, even you’re too old).

Oh yeah, and it’s sugar-coated with a bit of responsive goodness. I dare you to resize your browser… Shrink, Stretch, Smash, BOOM!

Bret Victor - Inventing on Principal Quite honestly this video...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:11:17 -0500

Bret Victor - Inventing on Principal

Quite honestly this video blew my mind on a number of levels. As he states in the very beginning, the gist of it is: ”Creators need an immediate connection to what they’re creating.”

Scorekeeper (iTunes link) is a minimalistic scorekeeping app. It...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:35:24 -0500

Scorekeeper (iTunes link) is a minimalistic scorekeeping app. It has a very thoughtful UI that uses icons, color, sound, and just the right amount of animation. I love how the reordering happens a few seconds after you update the score so you can change a few at a time. Even if you don’t have a use for it, watch the video.

What’s next for camera design? Hopefully this. WVIL:...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:19:17 -0500

What’s next for camera design? Hopefully this. WVIL: Wireless Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens.

The Crazy One's

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:43:00 -0500

The Crazy One's:

A very well-done (and letter pressed) piece of artwork in remembrance of Apple’s core philosophy: Think Different. This refers to the infamous 1997 marketing campaign that started Apple’s march back to the top, led by Steve Jobs. Limited time offer!

And here’s Steve himself, reading his words.

I’ve spent half of my life drawing, sketching, painting,...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:39:18 -0500

I’ve spent half of my life drawing, sketching, painting, etc, but even so, it’s impossible to not think this is amazing. Patience and a lot of dots created Hero.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:23:00 -0400

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

It’s a sad day. This has affected me more than I expected. I saw a picture online of an empty “reserved” seat in the front row of the iPhone 4s announcement yesterday, and hoped it was nothing serious. Unfortunately, it was.

Steve Jobs has been an indescribable inspiration to me and everyone in this industry. He will be missed dearly.

Google Web Fonts v2

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:02:50 -0400

Google Web Fonts v2:

Looks great. A definite improvement.

Enough is Enough

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:04:50 -0400

Enough is Enough:

I absolutely agree, but it’s hard to fathom the process required to get rid of them. The article is dead on, though, enough is enough.

The Designer Designs

Thu, 26 May 2011 10:43:45 -0400

The Designer Designs:

A great response by Andy Rutledge in reaction to a recent 37signals post about designing in the open. As Andy mentioned, I was in agreement with Ryan Singer until he pointed out his solution to “designing in the secret.” Unfortunately, Ryan’s solution leaned toward micromanagement. And to top it off, micromanagement by anyone involved (non-designers included). As most designers are aware, that could go awry real fast.

The Mythical Fold

Wed, 25 May 2011 10:49:10 -0400

The Mythical Fold:

I agree completely, the fold is irrelevant in the traditional sense. Website visitors don’t mind scrolling, and often expect to. However, I still believe it’s important to keep interesting tidbits of a design near the top to give the user reason and desire to stay on the page (and by association, scroll), but maybe that’s a discussion for another time.

Fight Through The Crap

Tue, 17 May 2011 21:08:00 -0400

It’s typical for all designers and creative people to hit a long-lasting wall where nothing they create seems good enough. It’s a defining period of time for a lot of careers, and if you’re going to make it in the design industry, it’s important that you fight through the crap.

Ira Glass puts this in perspective better than anyone else I’ve seen, so I’ll defer to him:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Here’s the video.

The Instagram Square

Mon, 16 May 2011 19:58:50 -0400

All images posted to Instagram must be a squared crop before they can be uploaded. I personally think this was a brilliant move. Here’s why:

Squares are proportionally correct. There are no misalignments or elongated edges.
Forcing a user to choose a cropped square has somewhat of a Dribbble effect in that it demands the most interesting section of the picture.
Squares are predictable in terms of designing an interface. It’d be hard to argue that against the fact that better designs can be built around images that are all of the same aspect ratio. Guesswork for unknown shapes creep into design decisions early and can look clunky more often than not, and when you’re dealing with something that is largely for visual purpose (i.e. photo galleries), that matters.
Easier implementation has to be mentioned, since there’s no post-processing needed to crop images into squares.
There are no surprises: what goes in is what comes out. The image proportions remain exactly as they were prior to upload.

I don’t know if those things were considered beforehand or if it was a side-effect of some other reasoning, but I do know that I’m glad Instagram only supports squared images. It’s one of the reasons I keep coming back.

Unsolicited Redesigns

Mon, 16 May 2011 15:35:00 -0400

Unsolicited Redesigns:

I often come across sites and interfaces that make me question why something works the way it does, and I’ve often thought it’d be a fun experiment to try and improve that interface myself. But having not been there from the beginning, designing under the same constraints as the original designer(s), I rarely view it as fair or constructive. That doesn’t mean it still can’t be fun, though.

Like the last part of the article states, perhaps doing unsolicited redesigns is okay as long as you remind yourself that all of the original constraints have magically been lifted for your version of the design, rendering it much easier and free-willed.

And What of Art Direction?

Wed, 11 May 2011 15:42:00 -0400

And What of Art Direction?:

Readability certainly has its place. But as a designer, I read mostly articles written by other designers, so naturally I enjoy looking at the craft behind the body. I lose this with Readability (along with Instapaper and RSS for that matter).

While Readability works as advertised today, we recognize that reading isn’t just about “data in”. Just as a great article can evoke strong sentiment and emotion, so can a great visual experience around the text.

Well put. It’s good to know they’re at least aware of the problem and are trying to help bring back some of the visual appeal a lot of articles end up losing.

The duality between city and nature.

Sun, 08 May 2011 22:42:58 -0400

The duality between city and nature.

Design Is Never Done

Wed, 04 May 2011 23:06:13 -0400

Iterations are expensive if nothing comes out of them (and yes, sometimes that’s unavoidable). But reminding ourselves that design can (and will) always be updated helps promote a flow of constant improvements, even if they’re not perfect.

I find that asking “Is this an improvement over the last version?” instead of “Is this perfect?” yields a better release cycle and (hopefully) happier users. Let’s face it, perfection doesn’t exist, even though we all use the term (loosely). Our goal should be to release, learn, update, and release to make sure our interfaces are always trying to solve the right problems the best way possible at that moment in time.

Remember, design is never done.

The Current State of HTML5 Forms

Wed, 04 May 2011 15:02:15 -0400

The Current State of HTML5 Forms:

From Wufoo: “A web developer’s quick reference guide detailing today’s browser support for HTML5 form technologies.”