Truth as I know it: this design would not be what it is — nor would I be the designer I am nor care as much about what I do — without the inspiration, critiques, guidance, mentorship, contributions, camaraderie, encouragement, and support of certain people with whom I have crossed paths in my lifetime. read more
With a bit of humility and even a little nervousness, it’s time to take the wraps off a new design I’ve been working on for nearly a month. My hesitation comes not from revealing the new design, but from my decision early on to make the site more personal, and feel less like an “agency”. I also hesitate because of the elephant in the room: the fact that, up until now, my writing here trickled down to a few entries a year. read more
A little over a month ago, just before Web Directions North, John Allsopp asked me a few questions over email about what I’ve been thinking and doing lately. Digital Web Magazine was kind enough to publish the exchange between us. A few friends have emailed me, having discovered the interview by other means, asking why they never saw mention of it here. Somehow, amid preperations for the conference, then ultimately, my back injury and cancelled appearance, I never got around to mentioning the interview.
If I were to write an extended update here that covers my recent life, technology that interests me, and the issues I’ve been mulling over, it would consist of the same answers I provided to John. Thanks, John, for taking the time and interest to ask the questions. And thanks, DWM, for publishing my responses.
Last week was supposed to be a big week for me. As John Allsopp put it, I had been lured out of a self-imposed retirement from speaking, and was scheduled to appear at Web Directions North in Vancouver. I was really looking forward to speaking again, along with seeing old friends, making new ones, and the general camaraderie experienced at events like that. read more
Last weekend, Cam and I drove up to South Lake Tahoe for a couple days of snowboarding and escape. Tahoe is too far from us for a one-day there-and-back trip. But it’s close enough (~4 hour drive, sans traffic) for a weekend getaway. It was Cam’s first attempt at boarding. I say, she did remarkably well given her lack of any prior experience skateboarding or surfing. read more
Getting back into the swing of writing regularly here never really happened in 2006. When I look back at my archives, I see I only posted 11 times the entire year. And that includes three posts (1, 2, 3) that weren’t really writing-based, as much as they were simple design and code experiments. read more
The cat’s out of the bag. I made the announcement here in New Zealand at Webstock, so I’ll confirm that, yes, the rumors are not just rumors. After a bit of negotiation and a lot of internal debate, I recently accepted an offer to join Google as Visual Design Lead, a position that did not previously exist there. I’m charged with helping the company establish a common visual language across all their collaborative and communication products. This includes products I’ve already had some hand in like Blogger and Calendar. But it will also include other highly used products like Gmail, Writely, Page Creator, and other projects in the pipeline. read more
Cameron Adams thinks I need an excuse for a blog entry. As if three months off dried me up. (He also apparently thinks Eric could actually throw down enough to do any damage. Punk. Again, as if…) Well, OK, fine… read more
So what do I write about when it’s been over three months since my last entry? When I intentionally haven’t opened up my feed reader in over two months. When casual readers start to notice a lack of updates, and add comments or send emails asking, “is everything is OK?” When Aussies are still asking if I need more Tim Tams? read more
Once again, I find myself in Hong Kong on business. After leaving San Francisco at 1:20am early Wednesday morning, our plane landed at about 7:00 AM local time Thursday morning. Out of the fourteen hours of our flight last night, I slept for about seven of them. Never very solidly, as we kept hitting patches of mild turbulence every half hour or so. I drank plenty of water during the flight, and am continuing to do so. Nevertheless, jet lag is already punishing me in full force. read more
Joshua Heyer wrote me today with a question which I’ve never given much thought. Writing out my answer surprised me in how much I could articulate that which I do almost subconsciously. Joshua wrote:
“I have a simple question for you. How do you stay organized? I’m struggling with keeping things on point and I’m wondering what you use. [...] Any thoughts on how to improve my organization with software, practices, etc… are much appreciated.”
Best taken while suspended upside-down, dangling by a rubber band strapped to your ankles. Begins with intense anxiety. Guaranteed rush to the head follows. Heart continues pumping for at least 30 minutes after.
On Friday, Mt. Hutt was still closed, and I had almost given up hope of boarding in NZ. But after walking around Methven, John and I learned that one small club field was actually still open: Broken River. Not willing to forfeit another day of boarding, we jumped at the chance. A 90-minute drive away from Methven, and we were switchbacking a narrow, rocky road up to the club field. After parking at one of the tight bends and dropping our gear into a lift that would pull it up to the changing room, we had another 20 minute hike up the mountain in front of us, just to get to the ticket window. After buying a lift ticket, collecting our gear from the lift, and changing into our boots, another 15 minute hike up to the first rope tow. read more
As I sit at a gate at SFO, waiting for a hop down to LAX where I catch the Time Travel Express to Sydney, the fact that I’m leaving for a whole month doesn’t seem quite real yet. It’s a strange feeling. No anxiety or stress, but an odd feeling that I’m not prepared to be traveling for a month. Sort of like those dreams where you show up to school or some public place, then realize you’re wearing nothing but underwear. read more
My goodness, it’s only a little over a week until Web Essentials 04 kicks off. How does time go by so quickly? This looks to be (easily) the largest web standards event in the southern hemisphere this year. John Allsopp wrote me last week, informing me they’ve got loads of attendees coming from all over Australia, New Zealand, and even Japan. read more
Q: What happens when you’re scheduled to appear at two conferences back to back to give a total of four presentations within six days, and you end up cancelling your appearance at one of the conferences because you’re unsure if your lower back, with a disc that herniated a month prior, might not do so well with the combined stress of preparing for and travelling to both events? read more
In the first of a series, I present the original, undoctored photo used for one of the header images on Stopdesign. This one: the home page. There’s a story behind each one of them, which will help humanize the abstractions I’ve used for each header. This photo was taken while I was visiting Miami in November 2002 for the AIGA I|O: Interaction Only Conference. I dubbed it… The Drive-By.
After a bit of drilling down through numerous folders of mailboxes, selecting all, then marking as unread, my unread message count is back to normal levels.
If anyone couldn’t glean my sense of humor from yesterday’s post? Yes, I found staring at the number of unread emails (27,385) on top of Mail’s dock icon to be quite funny. It’s nothing I was upset about, and was only a minor annoyance to go back through ~200 mailboxes to select-all and correctly mark the messages as read. read more
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