October 2011
1 post
Web 2.0 Expo New York
On Monday I gave a workshop at Web 2.0 Expo with all-new material about something I’ve had on my mind for a while now: designing for the trails of data we’re creating, from tweets to scrobbles to checkins. I had some lovely conversations with the people who attended, and there were lots of great questions, so thank you everyone who attended, you guys rocked!
The slides from the...
May 2011
1 post
We Are The Makers Of Things
Photo by Jeremy Keith
On Friday I had the pleasure of speaking at Web Directions @Media again. I spoke on “finding our 3/4 view” and the design tools we’ll need for the future. Influenced by my research into industrial design, architecture and animation, this was a pretty personal talk and an absolute killer to write. There are practical bits, but it’s also filled with...
February 2011
1 post
Eleven Sketchbooks Later
When I moved to London in 2005 to work for Last.fm I thought my dream had come true just finding a job that combined my two loves: design and music. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
But there was all sorts of more. I count myself incredibly lucky that Felix, Martin and RJ decided to take a chance on me (I can never thank you three enough); that I got to work with a shit hot technology...
December 2010
1 post
Spacelog.org
Last week we launched spacelog.org — an accessible, linkable, searchable version of NASA’s (PDF) transcripts. We did two missions: Apollo 13 (that’s the dramatic one where they barely made it back alive) and Mercury 6 (the first manned earth orbit). With your help, we’re aiming to get more missions up soon!
I was lucky to work with a fantastic, talented group of people on...
September 2010
3 posts
Mogle Brand Planning Poker Cards
This is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever made.
Tim planted the idea in my head a few weeks ago when we were brainstorming on a leaving gift for Matt. I’ve had an itch to make something physical for a while now, and this seemed like a fun weekend project. The theme for the deck came from Matt’s love of Raymond Chandler, 1920s aesthetics, and the colour orange.
For...
Jam Session at dConstruct 2010
On Friday I had the delight of presenting at one of my favourite conferences, dConstruct.
I gave a talk on something I love: how music improvisation relates to design. It was a lot of fun! I even managed to get the rather badass Matthew Ogle and Jeremy Keith join me on stage for live improvisation (video).
Download the annotated slides (PDF); view on slideshare; or listen to the podcast.
Annotated Slides from @Media Web Directions
Slides and audio of my presentation this summer are on the Web Directions site, but a while back I promised a more fully annotated PDF. You can download this now (15 MB).
Why the fully annotated version? When I speak at conferences I like to work off a loose point-form script that includes directions to myself like [greet people!] or [explain the story about the blah now] or [don’t...
January 2010
3 posts
WatchOK Go actually published the embed code for this video on their blog in the form of an open letter explaining (really well) the problems they face with publishing their content—from territorial restrictions to issues around embedding. Attempting to educate their fans, they report: “crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years...
LCD Soundsystem for hypem.com
My illustration for LCD Soundsystem, featured on Hype Machine’s Music Blog Zeitgeist. This felt like a lot of responsibility—they’re the sound of a generation. (The lettering on the Manhatten skyline was somewhat influenced by this).
New print work
I recently did some print work for my friend Darren Fung, a film composer, who needed to update his promo reel package.
Darren’s music is full of stories and dreams, so it seemed fitting to pair the wordmark (that I did for him a few years ago) with some emotive hand-rendered visuals. The end result was this red colourfield I painted as a sort of visual track to his sound.
The process...
September 2009
1 post
My Texture Garden
The other weekend I gave a BarCamp talk about my dream to have a texture garden. I love touching things—especially things with interesting textures: furry, soft, smooth, fuzzy, spiky etc.
Yes, my friends do make fun of me for reaching out to furtively touch old ladies’ fur coats; people’s dreadlocks (just ask Pete); and plants. I love markets with exotic spiky fruit or...
August 2009
2 posts
July 2009
2 posts
June 2009
2 posts
Measuring up
As was its intent, this article got me thinking about criticism within my personal creative process.
Mine is a cycle where the pivotal moment is hypercriticism. Criticism happens throughout the process (I never stop being critical of my work) but it’s secondary except for one stage in the cycle where self-criticism is the primary activity.
So, I get excited, I start making stuff—I’m...
Design for Conversion
Slides from my presentation on Interface Magic I gave in Amsterdam last week.
Design for Conversion had a really interesting conference format, the attendees got to work on real-world design problems, which made for a really interactive experience.
Possibly the most fun was the speakers dinner the night before. We got to make our own meal in a ‘cooking studio’. Each team cooked a...
May 2009
2 posts
WatchUpsell vid for a design consultancy with a few gems about searching for the right ideas.
April 2009
1 post
WatchKitsuné Maison 7 teaser ‘Oda vs. Elias’ with hot models and hot music. Check out the electro-pop sounds of Two Door Cinema Club.
March 2009
5 posts
Ada Lovelace Day: Kathy Sierra Kicks Ass
“I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.”
Read more about Ada Lovelace Day
I stumbled upon Kathy Sierra’s blog Creating Passionate Users shortly after I joined Last.fm in the summer of ‘06. The learning curve of a quickly growing userbase was sharp, and it was one of...
2 tags
Periodic Table of Typefaces →
From www.squidspot.com
February 2009
5 posts
www.johnnyholland.org →
This is the first time I’ve come across this site—a Dutch initiative of interaction design editorial (written in English)*. It’s worth noting for some rather rare comprehensive journalism on a design conference. Though individual blogger’s opinions are unequivocally significant in the days directly after a conference, this is a pretty efficient way to get a high quality low-down...
WatchFucking hilarious. via Jamie McKelvie & http://wilwheaton.typepad.com
January 2009
5 posts
LastTweet →
Beautiful little web app that adds your recent tweets to your Last.fm “About me”
Tall mastheads
A bit pointless in the context of a gallery, and the UI is probably not robust enough for a mass-audience site, but nonetheless a nice demo of a masthead that gets out of the way. The tall masthead is a bit like those tall heels; sexy the first time, uncomfortable thereafter.