Hannah Donovan

25

Mar

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 *those* moments. Not only does she have great things to say, but I instantly fell in love with her confident, determined, positive tone.

Back then, as the lone designer amidst an incredibly smart bunch of developers (and frequently struggling to keep up with their tech vernacular) I was struck by her way with language: With ideas like “testing your stuff for ‘aliveness’” and “creating joy” this is a developer who’s words resonated with without effort, and moreover, it was stuff I could remember.

I was incredibly lucky to actually hear Kathy speak at Foo Camp ‘08. As she introduced her talk, I was a bit disappointed to discover I wouldn’t be hearing about her product expertise, but some difficult personal experiences with her blog. I shouldn’t have been concerned, the speech was impressive; to speak publicly about any really personal experience is hard. Kathy is tough.

(+20 minutes. It’s me).

24

Mar

Bill Bailey - Kraftwerk Tribute

21

Mar

Good art makes you look. Platform 13.

I couldn’t help grinning when I got off the train and saw this temporary mural that just went up, sealing off construction of the new ticket machines. It’s a lovely visual mashup of the (universal man) signage we typically see in a station—and the people. I like wondering which one of them reflects me as I walk by…

More on flickr.

16

Mar

Periodic Table of Typefaces

From www.squidspot.com

4

Mar

Paul Carr said good bye to London on Saturday night. (A picture says a thousand words, they say).

Paul, It’s a good thing you won’t be needing that Adam Street membership in San Francisco, because I think it met an unfortunate end somewhere north of the Strand.

27

Feb

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 on the entire event.

*I used to work with a lovely Dutch guy who told me people from the Netherlands prefer to read websites in English!

26

Feb

Fucking hilarious.
via Jamie McKelvie & http://wilwheaton.typepad.com

23

Feb

Stopping by Rough Trade East yesterday was a poignant reminder of one of those long-time interests tickling the back of my brain: how to represent the messiness of music online. The posters, vinyl, Tshirts, stickers etc. in a way that isn’t just stimulating to look at but also useful as an interface. The Paul’s Boutique 20th Anniversary website (which launched earlier this month) comes close.

The obvious design challenge is how to make the mess not completely overwhelming in a flat space the size of my screen. (We’re not in a record shop, after all). The dial not only achieves this (being set to low on page load) but also makes the mess discoverable. Cool. I only wish the interactivity of the individual elements were treated with as much elegance.

Man, 20 years later this album still totally kills it. Listen to the whole thing here.

14

Feb

I saw Sebastien Grainger the other night at the Hoxton Bar. I also discovered the effects of alcohol with a tasty vegan dinner in your stomach. Tip: it doesn’t quite work the same way.

The show was great, and can only be described as “sex rock” with Grainger leading the effort. If you can take your eyes off Grainger though, it’s the bassist who’s most interesting. Having played ensemble for years, I’m always keen to try and figure out the 4-way marriage on stage: who’s the prima donna (Grainger), who’s late for rehearsal (probably the wanky looking keyboard player), who holds it together (the bassist), and well, I didn’t get a good look at the drummer. He needs a haircut. If you haven’t heard them yet, check it out: I Hate My Friends | (Are There) Ways to Come Home

7

Feb

Was cleaning up my desk the other day and found the envelope my Hype Machine Tshirt had arrived in. Aww, the return address stamp is too cute: “Hype Machine Happiness Depot”. Anthony, that’s your mom’s place, right? ;-)