The Log

How to Approach a Design Responsively

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:58:56 -0800

Tito Bottitta gives one of the best overviews I’ve read on building a design responsively. He gives great insight into their team’s entire approach, from step one right to the end. Along with Trent Walton’s candid look at his own process, this piece resonated, identifying a few of the pain points I’ve come across on my own (on a much smaller scale).

Rhythm in Life

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:53:16 -0800

Rhythm in Life:

I quoted this piece in a recent contribution to the Read & Trust newsletter. In it, Seth Cain shares some great thoughts on work and rest.

League Archive

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:46:00 -0800

League Archive:

Launched a personal side project today, a little site for the gents in my football pool. I’ve been running the same league since 1995-ish and it got serious with the rise of the internet. We’ve got ten years of history in our CBS league and ten owners who have been pretty consistent in their involvement.

Building the site was fun and gave me the chance to use Dave Gamache’s Skeleton for the first time, as well as the jQuery Cycle plugin. But it was the trash talk I put in the team bios that brought me the most joy. Any and all feedback would be welcome and appreciated.

Go Pats!

Déjà Vu - Weekly Sponsor

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:15:35 -0800

Déjà Vu is your visual memory. Use the app by taking pictures of things you would like to remember. For example, products you see in a magazine, recipes you read in a cooking book, wine labels in a restaurant, Newspaper article, DVDs, CDs or event flyers. Each picture is a visual memo. A regular camera app doesn’t distinguish those photos of stuff from „regular“ photos. Déjà Vu helps people organize and structure their visual memos in an easy and effective way. It does this by a tailored interface for tagging and categorization and integration of image recognition technology.

Features

* Quick shot camera (allows faster picture taking)
* Image recognition integrated
* Syncs with cloud account
* Easy search (find your visual memos by keywords and tags)
* Map location (locate your visual memos on a map)
* Available on iPhone and Web

Free for up to 30 visual memos/month. Learn more at Kooaba. A big thank you to Déjà Vu for sponsoring the feed this week.

Jon Hicks on Creatiplicity

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:06:44 -0800

Jon Hicks on Creatiplicity:

As I mentioned in the intro of the show, Jon was the first real designer I started to follow online, through RSS or Twitter. He got me hooked into the online life and so it was such a pleasure to talk with him one on one.

The Syndicate

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:12:31 -0800

Starting this week, my site will be included on The Syndicate, otherwise known as The Web’s Most Influential Blog Sponsorship Network. This network has some of my favourite tech, design, and business writers including Shawn Blanc, Marco Arment, and David Sparks (just to name three — they’re all good). It’s an honour to have my name alongside these talented folks.

In regards to enabling writers to earn an income for their efforts, I really like RSS Sponsorships. They’re more personal. And with The Syndicate, it’s clear that the reader’s interests are given the same kind of consideration we did when launching Fusion Ads. The ads — and the products and services they point to — are relevant and of quality.

If you’re interested in promoting your product, service or company, visit The Syndicate.

I own xScope 2.5, but made the decision to update to xScope 3...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:33:04 -0800

I own xScope 2.5, but made the decision to update to xScope 3 immediately. This is an app that is so helpful, it’s one those things I notice is missing when I work on someone else’s Mac. I’m especially excited about the new iOS mirror feature.

The app is on sale for $19.99 for a limited time.

Disclosure: The nice folks at Jet Pens sent me some free stuff...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:41:32 -0800

Disclosure: The nice folks at Jet Pens sent me some free stuff right before Christmas.

Full Disclosure: I’m already a repeat customer with Jet Pens, so my opinion is not influenced by free swag. I like the products I get at Jet Pens — I shop there because they offer items my local businesses don’t provide and I can get all the brands I enjoy in one place.

Short point of this post: The Kuru Toga is the best mechanical pencil I’ve ever used. I’ve seen others praise this device, but never picked one up as I had plenty of nice pencils already. But I was happy when Brad from Jet Pens sent one over.

There aren’t a lot of activities I enjoy more at work than sketching the basic building blocks of a new design. The Kuru Toga has taken over as my go to sketching tool. Lovely weight and a quality build make it a pleasure to use.

Episode 26 of Creatiplicity

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:04:45 -0800

Episode 26 of Creatiplicity:

I had the opportunity to talk with Shawn Blanc yesterday and discuss what 2012 has in store for him. No matter the topic, it’s always a pleasure to talk with Shawn. I doubt this will be the last time I ask him to be a guest on the show.

Wonderful, wonderful print that Andrew Austin shared this...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:40:47 -0800

Wonderful, wonderful print that Andrew Austin shared this morning. He’s a swell chap and sent me over a handful of larger shots — thanks Andrew!

Solitude and Leadership

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:38:34 -0800

Solitude and Leadership:

Fantastic article on the differences between being an excellent doer and an excellent thinker and how that affects leadership. In a time when our generation, our culture, sorely needs better leadership, this message should be well received.

We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of expertise. What we don’t have are leaders.

Big bonus points for referencing Heart of Darkness often.

[ via @craigmod ]

WP Front End Upload Plugin

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:00:09 -0800

WP Front End Upload Plugin:

I recently had a client require the ability to have users upload files via their business website. Since I had chosen WordPress as the CMS for their site, I assumed that a quick search would show me the most popular, simple upload plugin. Turns out, there aren’t any. Not any that inspire confidence anyways.

When I turned my question over to Twitter, the good Jonathan Christopher chimed in and offered to build one. Since he released WP Front End Upload, I’ve been a happy camper. It’s simple, it works, and styling it to your liking is straight forward. A big thank you to Jonathan for his hard work and willingness to help out!

A Chat with Frank Chimero

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:58:29 -0800

A Chat with Frank Chimero:

The latest episode of Creatiplicity is available.

Rogie King and Cameron Koczon on Creatiplicity

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:52:58 -0800

Rogie King and Cameron Koczon on Creatiplicity:

I’ve had some great conversations lately on the podcast. The most recent, with Rogie and Cameron, had a lot of quotable quotes. They both have some real wisdom around creating a product.

How I Use Gimme Bar

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:40:46 -0800

How I Use Gimme Bar:

A little look at how I use my favourite web app.

Livory

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:47:10 -0800

Livory

Hidden Habits of Ineffective People

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:37:14 -0800

Hidden Habits of Ineffective People

Using iCloud with Multiple Sending Addresses

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:52:49 -0800

Using iCloud with Multiple Sending Addresses:

I made the move to iCloud from Gmail, but also wanted to still use multiple emails from other domains. Here’s how I configured my email setup to handle this.

How Important Is the Source?

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:03:37 -0700

How Important Is the Source?:

I’m a recent subscriber to Ethical Coffee. And where by subscriber, I mean I subscribe to their coffee. Here’s my take on the product and service.

Embracing White Space

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:30:57 -0700

Embracing White Space:

Some thoughts on how I work.