So this gif wins the internet today. Wave, Salute & Jazz Hands! Via Daniel Floyd.
Every video I watch of the Oculus Rift makes me want to try it out even more. This is the best reaction video for it I’ve seen. What a cool grandmother!
This has got to be the future of gaming. How long before kids are like “What you used to play on a Call of Duty on a TV?”
Celebrating minimalism in design. This is one of the few sites I make sure to check out every post.
Computers are jerks and love to fill in the gaps linearly because they are lazy sacks of wires.
@pasql writes about how timing and spacing helps context in interaction design.
I’m coming to the end of designing my first iPhone application, and it’s been a great learning experience. It actually feels good being a bit of a noob again (after years of designing web apps). However, at times it feels like I’ve gone backwards in my design process.
I’ve used what I’d call quite antiquated methods (compared to web design) for designing this app. For example, using Photoshop and images.
With web apps, Photoshop is rarely in my workflow. I tend to sketch then code, or more often than not an idea will form in my head and I’ll go straight into code. With iOS design I haven’t touched a code editor through the entire process.
Previously I’ve found it prudent going into code as early as possible, tweaking UI elements, interactions and flows until they feel / work right. Now back with .psds I feel like I’ve lost a certain level of control.
The process is more sequential than agile (I prefer the latter). The developers in my team don’t mind tweaking and making changes, but it’s a lot more time-consuming for them and me. I’m also not able to experiment as much as I usually would.
It’s quite surprising just how many images are used to build an app. I presumed it would be similar to web work. When building the UI, I code as much as possible – gradients, rounded corners, shadows, transparencies and so on. With iconography, I use “@font-face” rather that images too.
In iOS however, both can have performance hits so it’s back to putting together a whole bunch of sprites.
With this new way of working, some benefits have emerged. The product team have been doing mini review / critique sessions through the project, with the end results making for simpler, all-round better design decisions. You don’t need to have designer in your job title to be a designer.
Less, but better — because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.
Back to purity, back to simplicity.
