I was very surprised to find out that designers were using Keynote for laying out presentations. My surprise turned to alarm when I found out that they were also using it as a design tool to build UI designs for websites and apps. It turns out that I was absolutely wrong.

Yesterday, we announced a trio of new maps on maps.stamen.com - we've had a lot of interest in how the watercolor map gets generated, so here's the play-by-play.

It’s easy to spot a beautiful portfolio. Designers know that looks sell, and many people sell themselves that way. Of course, the ability to make something that looks good matters, especially for visual designers. But the challenge is that great images say nothing about what it will be like to work with someone, or whether they’ll be consistently able to produce good work.

How can color in Web design focus attention, inform decisions, inspire action, organize information, highlight elements, balance composition and enrich experiences? We’ll explore answers to these questions in this chapter and look at several examples of good color usage in websites.

So how do you do great design in a rapid, multidisciplinary and inclusive way?
How do you set up new projects for success in a fast moving, agile environment?
How do you ensure shared understanding and ownership of new initiatives in just a few days?

I now focus a lot of time on facilitating collaborative design workshops, and other methods focused on quickly creating a shared understanding of objectives and buy-in for and execution approach.

Stencils for Android 4.0 ICS

Some A List Apart greatest hits from Zeldman's Selling Design class at SVA MFA IxD

Saved for the included links on adjustable desks.

where Jeff had his done for work

Digital printing supplier

Cranky Pressman is a commercial letterpress located in the depressed town of Salem, OH.

A folding grid for responsive design.

make a pixel design and put it on a tshirt

We sell materials that designers, artists, and inventors use to develop new products and push the boundaries of what's possible.

removing the figurative and compositional elements from an image,
what is left behind is the color, allowing one to more objectively appreciate the palate and its harmonies.
using color extraction software and adobe illustrator, buxton has created a number of charts that reveal a surprising amount of information,
imparted by the colors alone.

How would you improve New York City's public realm? We're gathering up everyone's ideas about how to build a better city, and you can explore, discuss, and debate those ideas right here.

Destination maps are navigational aids designed to show anyone within a region how to reach a location (the destination). Hand-designed destination maps include only the most important roads in the region and are non-uniformly scaled to ensure that all of the important roads from the highways to the residential streets are visible. We present the first automated system for creating such destination maps based on the design principles used by mapmakers.

Placeholder Images for every case.

The word charrette may refer to any collaborative session in which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem. While the structure of a charrette varies, depending on the design problem and the individuals in the group, charrettes often take place in multiple sessions in which the group divides into sub-groups.

On Parson's new undergraduate program in urban design:

"I’m very interested in cities as urban ecosystems. Our students start to become very sophisticated in navigating the rhetoric that gets produced around cities, but then, very strategic in ways that they can intervene or engage the city that is meaningful ecologically."

Semi-serious, whimsical, and striking designs. Sort of "cartography from a illustrator's perspective."

Playful is a one-day event all about games and play – in all their manifestations, throughout the contemporary media landscape.

Understanding the amazing opportunity of being the first employee of what I believe will become an important company I've spent a considerable amount of time not only designing the Quora product, but also designing how product design fits within the organization.

Here we will discuss the subtleties of designing a Facebook landing page and FBML programming. To make this discussion more concrete, we’ll use the creation of our own landing page as an example.

In this book, I have collected over one-hundred descriptions of design and development processes, from architecture, industrial design, mechanical engineering, quality management, and software development. They range from short mnemonic devices, such as the 4Ds (define, design, develop, deploy), to elaborate schemes, such as Archer’s 9-phase, 229-step “systematic method for designers.” Some are synonyms for the same process; others represent differing approaches to design.

The best compliment anyone could give us about the Glif project is that it inspired them to take their creative idea to fruition. The purpose of this piece is two-fold: to give an inside look at our creative process, and to offer guidance and inspiration for those who have their own ideas they’d like to see brought to reality.

A big part of what we do is workshops for product invention and for strategy. They’re also a tool in our work in design, communications, and R&D.

The streets of downtown Los Angeles have a different dream. They do not lead to the cardinal points of the compass but to the uncertain spaces in between. Ambiguity is written on our landscape.

Kevin Lynch's work, especially his theory of city form and studies relating to human perceptions of the city and how they should affect city design, was highly influential.

The tourist attraction National Tourist Routes comprises 18 selected stretches from north to south. Mountains, fjords and coastline form the core of the travel experience. Bold architecture placed in magnificent natural scenery gives the attraction its special character.

Two New Yorkers designed the Glif, a tripod adapter for the iPhone 4. It's a hunk of rubberized plastic with a threaded bushing that will ultimately retail for $15.

The article is called Depth of field: discursive design research through film written by Timo Arnall and Einar Sneve Martinussen. It is about the role of film in interaction and product design research, and the use of film in exploring and explaining emerging technologies.

I’ve started a list of essays and articles that I feel are important touchstones and reference points for interaction designers.

The Tokyo Apartment building by Sou Fujimoto consists of five dwelling units. Each one of them has two or three independent rooms in a prototypical “house” shape. I’m not sure that I would like to climb a ladder each time I want to go to the other room. But I would definitely like to visit this building.
Photos by Iwan Baan.

"Success is generating an emotion. Failure is a million different things."

Cycles is a surreal animation made by Cyriak. I had me definitely entertained for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. Watch it!

found at rebel:art

"The critical thing about the design process is to identify your scarcest resource."

"Start with a vision of what you want and then, one by one, remove the technical obstacles until you have it. Start with a vision rather than a list of features."

In 2010, anyway, this is my own personal vision of informatic technology at the service of the full range of human desire and complexity. Not a word of it is intended as a “solution” to what are inevitably and correctly local social or political challenges…but it is intended to give people everywhere better tools with which to join such struggles.

automatically resharing this. via jeff.

If we look at the functions of architecture with respect to games, however, some are meaningful and some are not. Weather, the primary reason for constructing most of the buildings in the world, is irrelevant. If it exists in games at all, it's usually cosmetic. Privacy, too, is normally immaterial -- most games don't let you take your clothes off anyway.

Detailing the massive amount of work put into the branding, materials, and environment of Facebook's f8 conference.

I’ve been thinking about pages, print and scrolling for a while, mainly because I’m a designer and it’s part of my job, but also because I quite fancy getting an e-reader of some kind. I’m thinking about one particular aspect of the technology: the page metaphor.

nearly everything must be better in japan

Malcolm McCullough is the author of Abstracting Craft (1996), Digital Ground (2004), and Ambient Commons (someday...). He has lectured widely on urban computing and place-based interaction design. He teaches architecture and information design at the University of Michigan.

Gadget Wrangler at Bug Labs

The Touch Gesture Reference Guide is a unique set of resources for software designers and developers working on touch-based user interfaces.

Development Seed is a unique mix of a strategic consultancy and an open source product development company. As you can see from some of our past projects, we specialize in implementing technology projects for large international development organizations and leading open source research and development initiatives.

This is a random assortment of science ads collected from various science and tech magazines of the 50s and 60s. We're particularly struck by how they have utilized the modernist aesthetic in a manner particularly appropriate for its subject matter.

Tactile design can use a lot of different production processes. This card is both blind embossed and letterpress printed. Many people incorrectly use the term “emboss” when speaking about letterpress printing. “Emboss” actually refers to a raised area accomplished by use of a two part die with a form and a counter form. Letterpress printing with heavy impression is closer to a “deboss.” A deboss is pushing down into the paper. (remember “d” for down = deboss) Letterpress plates can use ink but embossing and debossing dies do not use ink. They must be used blind, registered to preprinted artwork or used with foil stamping / blocking.

Letterpress equipment can be used for embossing, debossing and letterpress printing, with the correct dies. Unlike embossing and debossing, letterpress plates do not use a form and counter form. A letterpress plate is inked and pressed down into the sheet. See an image below with the polymer plate and its corresponding print and note the difference from the copper embossing die with a white and blue fiberglass counter form that made the circular design embossed on this card. These are two very different types of plates and printing effects, but run on the same Heidelberg windmill press.

Considering each side of the page is an important design consideration with tactile production processes. With letterpress plates, the amount of bruising or “show through” on the back of the print depends on the amount of pressure applied during printing. However, this definition on the reverse side of the sheet is different on embossing dies because there is a counter form that pushes into the sheet.

When an emboss is specified there are a few other considerations we would mention. Smaller sized artwork, say 12 point type and smaller offers very little raised definition. Paper thickness is also a concern. We like really thick stocks for letterpress printing, but when embossing that thickness makes it even more difficult to get good definition in smaller details. This paper was 134lb Crane Cover Flo. White, it is 100% cotton and offers a soft and sculptured impression.

The Studio On Fire 2010 Calendar is now available on our new web site. This calendar is a decade marker for us. Established the end of 1999, Studio On Fire began letterpress printing in a cold Minnesota basement. Our first press occupied a spot between the boiler and the litter box, and oh, how the studio has since grown. Now seven presses strong with a fully equipped studio space, we celebrate ten years as a bustling design and print studio.

This Tenfold Edition calendar is letterpress printed with four colors on a cotton-blend stock, each month beautifully illustrated by selected designers the world over.

Contributors:
Jan/Jul_ Studio On Fire
Feb/Aug_Cecilie Ellefsen
Mar/Sept_ Brian Gunderson
Apr/Oct_ The Little Friends of Printmaking
May/Nov_ ghostpatrol
Jun/Dec_ Rilla Alexander (Rinzen)

DaylightCal visualises the duration, angle and quality of sunlight wherever you are. Using weather forecast data, DaylightCal calculates the distribution of daylight for any location and date worldwide. Find out how much daylight you’ve got left today and how much to expect tomorrow.

Now all of this may sound pretty familiar and we have seen a number of apps like this appear in the AppStore. What makes this slightly special is that the app has been designed by the UK based Bureau for Visual Affairs, a design consultancy with some pretty impressive past clients list. The list includes Designhotels so I can therefore also assume that the beautiful The Design Hotels™ iPhone City Guides is also the work of the Bureau (but I may be wrong – ) – *see below. The DaylightCal app in this case adopts the beautiful swiss helvetica aesthetic specific to the Bureau’s work, of course loaded with useful info about daylight and sunlight in your city (see screens below). Considering the app is also free, makes it a must without question.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free
Developer: Bureau for Visual Affairs

*UPDATE 2009.12.29 – the iPhone travel guide apps are the work of unlike – thanks Pieter

Japan Flights [iPhone]Color Stream [iPhone]Buamai [iPhone]Dropular [iPhone, WebApp]Blogs We Read + Love [News]Brightkite [iPhone] Preview

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Usually I’m the one going on about cars– here’s your chance to show your stuff.  Name all 18 autos and – you tha man.

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1. 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Monza GT

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2. 1968 Bertone Alfa Romeo Carabo

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3. 1970 Porsche Tapiro by Guigaro

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4. 1970 Lancia Bertone Stratos Concept Car

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5. 1970 Pininfarina Ferrari 512 S Modulo

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6. 1970 Bertone Lancia Stratos Zero

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7. Adams Probe 15

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8. 1970 Chevrolet Corvette XP-882

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9. Straker Car

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18.

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The fabrication process for making handmade pastels. #

Now thats devotion. Don't have it? Get it. #

Agreed. Also, Nathan, thanks for sharing your work. #

For those who couldn’t be there, and for those who were there and seek to savor the memories, here is An Event Apart Chicago, all wrapped up in a pretty bow:

AEA Chicago – official photo set
By John Morrison, subism studios llc. See also (and contribute to) An Event Apart Chicago 2009 Pool, a user group on Flickr.
A Feed Apart Chicago
Live tweeting from the show, captured forever and still being updated. Includes complete blow-by-blow from Whitney Hess.
Luke W’s Notes on the Show
Smart note-taking by Luke Wroblewski, design lead for Yahoo!, frequent AEA speaker, and author of Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks (Rosenfeld Media, 2008):

Jeffrey Zeldman: A Site Redesign
Jason Santa Maria: Thinking Small
Kristina Halvorson: Content First
Dan Brown: Concept Models -A Tool for Planning Websites
Whitney Hess: DIY UX -Give Your Users an Upgrade
Andy Clarke: Walls Come Tumbling Down
Eric Meyer: JavaScript Will Save Us All (not captured)
Aaron Gustafson: Using CSS3 Today with eCSStender (not captured)
Simon Willison: Building Things Fast
Luke Wroblewski: Web Form Design in Action (download slides)
Dan Rubin: Designing Virtual Realism
Dan Cederholm: Progressive Enrichment With CSS3 (not captured)
Three years of An Event Apart Presentations

Note: Comment posting here is a bit wonky at the moment. We are investigating the cause. Normal commenting has been restored. Thank you, Noel Jackson.

Short URL: zeldman.com/?p=2695

Work purchased at this weekend’s Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago included a fantastic Bowie poster from Delicious Design League, an art print from Nate Duvall and one of Kevin Tong’s still fantastic daVinci iPhones.

The fair was an amazing show of both talent, and cliché. On one hand, I’ve never been to a street fair that had such a fantastic collection of print makers. I had to literally walk away from the fair and smoke just to stop myself from buying any more prints.

On the other, if I had to endure one more 10-speed silhouette printed on an American Apparel shirt, or a cute plush pseudo-monster, I was going to burn the damn thing down and demand half the fair go home and think about what they’d done.

I don’t know why it is that certain styles seem to just engulf entire communities. It’s interesting to see several plays off of a similar theme, if done in concert and reflection, artists riffing and goofing on one another. It’s another when you wonder whether every other booth is just a front for some generic wholesaler.

“Good design is as little design as possible.”

Damn right. Words to live by.

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential industrial designers of this past century. Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, is heavily influenced by Rams’ work. You can see huge similarities between Apple and classic Braun products in their simplicity, beauty and function.

From November 18 – March 14, The Design Museum in London is having an exhibition titled “Dieter Rams Less and More”. The exhibition will showcase Rams’ inspiring designs for Braun and Vitsœ. I might have to head to London just to see this.

To satisfy your fix, here’s a short documentary of Rams, a Dieter Rams Flickr group and a Braun Flickr group showcasing the classic Braun designs.

The Wall. Its up- in all its magical glory. So special, so tasty.

There’s a better half of a thousand cans up there and darn near all are (diligently) cracked open from the bottom, preserving the original seal. Also out of all the cans hanging, there’s only a handful of duplicates. We are quite proud of this assemblage of our cultural history and all of us, at one time or daily, have to be reminded to get the hell back to work and stop staring into abyss of an unfortunately long-gone and better era.

Have a good weekend everyone- and for all those in America, “Don’t blow your hands off.”

Gems: (Note late 1970’s “Grain Belt Extreme”)

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