- Articles & Notes
- Archived From Ver 1
The Rise And Fall Of My Pet Droid
It’s that time of the month! A new addition to The Traffic Is Terrible is live. TTIT is my musical playground. Where I can let loose and really surround myself with the thing I love most in this world. Music. Since I am not a real musician, and I can’t really play any instrument well, all that is left for me to do, is edit and mix other people’s tracks.
I Need Closure
I need closure. Not with a girlfriend or anything like that, I’ve been happily married for over four years now, but with my side projects. A few days ago, I realized that papahood is just around the corner, and I still have so many side projets just waiting for a final push. How the fuck am I gonna manage getting them all done and juggle being a father at the same time?
The Baby
Remember that Seinfeld episode? It was by far one of my favorites. I really hope that Adva and I won’t grow up to be that kind of parent. Well Adva doesn’t have that annoying voice. She has a quite pleasant one if you ask me. Also, I am pretty sure our baby won’t look like Lyndon Johnson. It would look more like us I assume. Anyways, I guess what I am trying to say here is that Adva and I are pregnant! Yeay! Well, actually Adva is way more pregnant than I am. I am not pregnant at all. That would be weird. I mean, the baby is mine and all, but it is just mot in my womb. Cause I don’t have one. That would be weird as well.
No Nonsense
Two of my peers (and amazingly cool people) just released two great articles on A List Apart. Beside the fact that both articles are very very interesting (yea, I personally know and love the authors, but trust me I am being un-biased), they were also published in a very forward thinking publication. Yea, I know that A List Apart has been around for a while now but with each monthly publication, I am reminded of how they are doing it right. Every month they release only two quality, thought provoking articles.
Greenville Grok
Three weeks ago I came back from SXSW interactive in Austin, Texas. Boy do I love that town. The food is amazing, the beer keeps on pouring and the people are friendly and warm. The conferences…? Not so much. SXSW is not the same. This year they had around 40% more people than last year! Crazy! The problem is that the 40% seemed to be talkers - people who do not “do” anything new, but like talking about it. So essentially SXSW has turned into a bloated beast of social media douchebaggery…
Color Me A Creative
As you all probably know by now, an app called Color was released last week in to the wild. Since it’s release it has received some pretty nasty reviews, rants on twitter (myself included) and parodies. As a person that creates products for a living, I know for a fact that this scenario is a nightmare for the production team. My heart goes out to them. With that said, I think there is a small lesson to be learned here.
The Virtual Designer
Our favorite Monday night TV show is, by far, “The Antique Road Show”. Adva (wife) and I never miss it. In each episode, specialists from leading auction houses and independent dealers from across the country offer free appraisals of antiques and collectibles. Since my wife is about to graduate her degree in Art History, and I am a designer, we both absolutely love seeing all the fascinating art and design pieces people bring to the show. From family heirlooms to garage sale findings, from 17th century piano stools, to a laugh machine from the 60’s.
Javascript for Dummies
Since I am interested in continuing the development of my coding abilities, I decided that next up should be Javascript (or maybe JQuery?). Instead of researching for hours what would be the best method (book / video / website) for a beginner to learn Javascript, I decided that the best way is to find out is to just ask people who are smarter than myself. The Twittersphere. I got some really great results so far, and since a few friends asked me to share the results
It’s Time For A Change
Yup, I redesigned my site. Well, maybe not a full blown redesign, but more of a realignment. This had been brewing for a long time now and I finally got around to it. Though the previous version is only a little more than a year old, so many things have changed since it’s launch - Web fonts, media queries (even though they were around back then, I wasn’t aware of them) CSS3 and more - I had to catch up with an industry that waits for no one.
Instead of overwriting my old design with the new one, I decided to preserve the older version and simply link to my old posts. Keep in mind that you will be taken to my old site.
The Makeover.
A few months ago I was approached by Oliver Lindberg, associate editor at .Net magazine. He was very kind to offer me a spot on their 208th issue and suggested I participate in either the "Build Off" or "Makeover" sections. Since I participated in the Build Off in the past, I was happy to see what the Makeover was all about....
Back To Basics.
Recently I came across an article from a tweet of an acquaintance of mine from Arc90, where I am just wrapping up some consultant work on a small project. The article's name was: "The Undesigned Web". It made me flinch a bit at how loosely the concept of design is thrown around without a full grasp on what it truly means. I was even more surprised to see that many web designers agreed with what was said in the article...
Sudden Metanoia.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Nirvana. Yep, that's right, Nirvana. Beside the fact that I love the simplicity in their song writing and groove (something that today's music mostly lacks) I really love the sound of their distortion. When Cobain used to go wild at the end of a gig and smack his guitar up against the amp, the sounds he created were hypnotizing. ...
Abandon The Flock
Around half a year ago I made a decision that proved to be a correct one. I decided to go freelance, to leave the hive, abandon the flock. I can't say it was the easiest choice in the world and the only thing I was sure of at the time was that I was taking a risk. Turns out it was a risk worth taking...
Sexy Little Tweets
This could quite possibly be my favorite blog post to day. I can finally announce that Tweetment, a place where you can design individual web pages for your tweets, has gone live to a small group of alpha testers. Can I get a HELLZ YEA!? Along with the Neutron Creations crew and two former Fi colleagues that all helped with the dev work, an alpha version was released last Monday. I think it is fair to say that we can all be proud of our little creation...
My Friend Yaron Schoen
For SXSW Interactive 2010, one of my main objectives was to pair faces with feeds, Dribbble and Twitter streams I follow during the week. Having recently discovered his blog, I was particularly interested in meeting Yaron Schoen. His pixel-perfect attention to detail inspired that ideal balance of admiration and design-envy. Have you seen his Happy New Year post or that starry night NyQuil layout?...
The Fear Of Sketching
Recently I have been seeing more and more sketching going on. Either it's always been there or I am now simply paying attention to it, either way, I'm loving it. I would say that drawing is what got me started as a designer. As a kid I use to draw all the time, my favorite method was simple. Pencil and paper. I used to draw all sorts of things, mostly the skyline of our upper east Manhattan apartment....
The Pay Wall
Disclaimer: this post is not about design, it is about content. Whether we like it or not, the way we view online content has to (and will) change. When I say change I mean ending the rein of free content. It's just not going to work in the long run. It has been clearly proven that sustainable revenue cannot be produced purely from online banner ads, they simply do not pay the bills of a medium to large sized newspaper or magazine...
Personal Style
ately I have been very busy working on a few new projects for some amazing clients. About 90% of my new clients come to me because theyve seen my previous work and like my personal style, which is a fantastic thing and I am very thankful for it. But what happens when I become bored with the design style I am known for? As a commissioned designer I am unable to create whatever comes to my mind, I have an obligation towards my client...
What Is The Point Of Spam
Lately I have been very busy working on a few new projects for some amazing clients. About 90% of my new clients come to me because they've seen my previous work and like my personal style, which is a fantastic thing and I am very thankful for it. But what happens when I become bored with the design style I am known for? As a commissioned designer I am unable to create whatever comes to my mind...
Too Many Buttons
Us web-designers work very hard to make websites easier and more intuitive for our users. We spend countless hours user testing, wireframing, prototyping and going through revision after revision. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many of the large TV / DVD companies. It seems they don't really care about user experience and figure that the only criteria for me to buy their products is the sharpness of the video quality...
DJ Yarcom In Da House
Well maybe DJ is too big a word, but you get the idea. I just got word from the awesome people at Beatport.com that I can distribute the DJ sets I create from the tracks that I purchase. That is great news, now everyone can indulge in the beautiful masterpieces I create in my spear time! There I go again with the fancy words... Masterpieces...
What's In This Thing
Yesterday I had a rough day. Right before leaving for a brutal session at the dentist (cleaning, a root canal... fun times...), I realized I have a fever. Naturally, this left me sick at home. Considering the outside temperature, one would think this is a good thing, but I had a lot of things to do. I tried making some chicken soup from my mom's special recipe, but that turned out pretty nasty....
Happy New Year
Another year has passed. Well, flew by would be a better way of describing it. Time flies when you're having fun - this is so true in my case. 2009 was definitely a fun and interesting one and a lot of great things happened. 2010 is about to start the best way possible - with a brand spankin' new web site and an exciting new career path. For those of you who don't know, I have decided to leave AOL (after a brief time there) and start a new path of freelance and entrepreneurship...
Too Many Cooks
Imagine the following scenario: all six Iron Chefs are crammed into a small kitchen with the following assignment - make one three-egg omelet, but do it together as a team. The result would probably be six extremely talented people struggling to make one simple dish, a combination of too many opinions that results in failure of production...
Where Have I been
I know I know, I have been pretty lazy. What other reason could there be for me not having a blog after 11 years of working in the industry? Honestly, off the top of my head, there are a few reasons. First, I am not the best of writers, in my opinion. Second, simply no time. Third I am not the best of writers. But that cannot be an excuse anymore. I have so many things running inside my head...