News : September 2001
Ben Henick celebrates his site's sixth birthday this last Saturday. Ok, time to send him cheezy email greeting cards... better yet, send him job offers.
Matthew Haughey starts a new blog on bike riding called, of course, "Ride." Suddenly I feel like I should get off my ass and finish up that skateboarding site I was talking about some time ago.
Thanks to Georgi Varzonovtsev, Dean Allen's article "The Destination Matters More Than the Journey" has been translated into Bulgarian.
It occurs to me that my personal site, for all of its boogers - and there are several right now! - turned six years old yesterday. Jeeze - has it really been that long?
The Fray Day 5 photos that Derek and I took are now online for your viewing pleasure.
I have just posted my personal thoughts on the IdN Fresh Conference in Sydney on INfront, along with some photos I took over the past 3 days. Feel free to read up and check the funny faces!
Hot off the press from Scobleizer; "Does your intranet suck?" by Robert Scoble. Eleven questions to ask yourself if you are involved with your corporation's Intranet. Ironically, Intel launched it's redesign of their corporate Intranet site ("Circut") today.
Flazoom.com has a great article about designing Flash sites for accessibility: "Are You Designing For Your Eyes Only?" by Chris MacGregor. [Link from IAslash]
Issue 121 of A List Apart is online. In this issue we have a great article by J. David Eisenberg about How To Read (W3C Specs)... very handy! Always remember to RTFM.
I wonder if the agency that designed the Logan Airport web site really understood the ramifications of adding gun-target crosshairs on it's web site to indicate key places of construction around the airport. Regardless of the 9-11 attacks, the metaphor should have never been used to begin with. I am willing to bet that it was either the client asking for something "cool" and not really understanding that there is a time and place for it, or that it was the agency who just figured out how to do something "trendy." Remember when the GaboCorp site came out?
Spark-Online is turning the big two-oh and you are invited to the party!
Mad props to my homies Jaz and Rey at JAZ FX Productions for scoring spot number two on the Beats list at MP3.com. Keep watching for more phat releases from these guys including a full EP from Universal Records and a full album for Spragga Benz's Hip Hop debut (ya, that's right the same guy who has a single out with Foxy Brown) that will be distributed world wide! Tight!
Hear, hear! I personally cannot thank Matt enough. He did the work that I normally do on each issue, and did it quite well... and pulled my butt out of a sling in the process. However, we have another fact tying us together: I too am looking for a new job, preferably one that won't "swamp" my entire week. There's a long backstory, but the bottom line is that I need to move on ASAP. If you have any leads that fit my strengths, let me know... Especially now, making a difference is more important to me than making money, though I can't afford to work for free. [Like Nick I'm in Portland, but the only thing keeping me there is cash flow.]
Macromedia has a great resource up on their site for Web Site Production Management Techniques. [Link from Zeldman]
This last issue of Digital Web Magazine was anything but typical... it was scheduled to publish on the 11th... our interviewees and cover artists found themselves in the middle of chaos in downtown New York... Ben was swamped with work and other life issues... it seemed like we would never be able to get the September issue out if it wasn't for the help of a very generous individual. The same person who has contributed articles to this magazine multiple times... in fact, the same person who introduced me to Blogger and who is now offering to help build a forum for you, the readers, to voice their opinions. This is no ordinary individual by any stretch of the imagination. Most people know him as the creator of MetaFilter... I know of him as a good friend. His name is Matt Haughey and he is currently looking for freelance work or perhaps full time work in the San Francisco area.
Another great article from AIGA: "For Here or To Go?: Designing User-Centered Experiences" by Melissa Niederhelman.
I can see it now, a room full of executives filled with smoke from fat cat cigars. One exec says, "We are losing money, no one is clicking on the ads anymore, they are not even seeing them!" Another exec looks around the room, "Well, damnit, we'll have to shove it down their throats!" Enter force-fed advertising... the quick ticket to nowhere. [Link from Tomalak's Realm]
Adam Greenfield tells us he has a new article up called "Reality Bites: on the social construction of information (architecture)" A must read!
Peter of peterme.com celebrates his 29th birthday in what he calls "...an anti-climactic experience this year." No animated birthday cards from me, we'll just send beer.
All new Australian INfront. Nice design from our friends down under. Props to the crew.
Molly has posted some more photos from Web2001 ... check em out... very nice.
After launching this new issue of Digital Web Magazine I received the following email:
"you make me sick w/your patriotism bullshit...well, it is a free country, everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess ...thank you for sharing, you are in our thoughts and prayers even more so now.
I expected more transparence + self - criticism because its about design."
After much delay and a lot of trying times endured by all, the new issue of Digital Web Magazine is now available. Cover art by yours truly.
Fresh from Mappa.Mundi Magazine comes "Imagining the Inner Workings of the Internet"... it brings the term "data packet" to a whole new level of realization.
Melissa Crowley tells us about the rebirth of RedBean (Glad to have the site back!) and her new portfolio site, check it out!
Apparently Dean Allen (a Digital Web Magazine contributor among other things) is lost in the ethereal ether. If you see him, tell him to email home... meanwhile we will begin printing his photo on the backs of milk cartons. Speaking of lost, there seems to be a huge gaping hole where Ben Henick's web log used to be.
No rest for the wicked; All new PrayStation3 (PS3)... Josh, take a rest you crazy hack!
Thrasher Mag, 20 years and still grinding hard. [Link from SurfStation]
Adobe has launched a very helpful site called AdobeStudio, a creative, collaborative online resource with galleries and a variety of learning tools. I had the opportunity to contribute to two tutorials about the creation of the site, Creating a 3D animation with Adobe Dimensions and Adobe LiveMotion, and Breathing Life into the Learn Landing Page.
Drew gives a call for DePhrase entries at the HalfProject site. Sign up!
Agency.com lays off 200 people in my home town. I am just happy to hear that some of the smaller (and perhaps more creative) agencies are going strong. Web design is the art of craftsmanship, not mass production.
How I think flash animation (in the true since of the word, animation) should be done can best be described by visiting Ant's Roots. A very well done bouncy, elastic and energetic portfolio. Well done!
More evidence that we need task oriented navigation: "Why Primary Navigation Must Die" by Kristoffer Bohmann. [Link from IAslash]
Jeffrey Zeldman writes another edition of "My Glamorous Life" This one hits home with us. What are we really doing here? "The thing is..." ..we are at a loss for words.
News here has been slow in part because we are feverishly trying to catch up from last week
Simple + blue + liquid = Clean Design... nice design! [Link from DiK]
Scott Berkun at UIweb explains why perfection in design is not possible in web design: "The myth of optimal web design." Mark this one down as a must read. [Link from Elegant Hack]
As if we don't have enough things to worry about over the last several days... add this one to the list: Code Rainbow Loose In The Wild.
