The Log
A personal tumble focused on design, software, all things Mac, and simple living.

By Chris Bowler

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Posts tagged design
Mar 3rd 2010, 12:56pm 1 note
I absolutely love the new design of the Omnigroup site. It’s a very clean design and the header images are beautiful.

I absolutely love the new design of the Omnigroup site. It’s a very clean design and the header images are beautiful.

Feb 25th 2010, 10:30am 8 notes
Crush + Lovely launched a redesign of their site today and it’s worth a look. I especially love this piece, created by Meagan Fisher I do believe.

Crush + Lovely launched a redesign of their site today and it’s worth a look. I especially love this piece, created by Meagan Fisher I do believe.

Feb 23rd 2010, 12:33pm 8 notes

Revised Font Stack

A Way Back posts a wonderful article on creating a better font stack.

And for a non-professional who throws out a design or two every couple of months, building a nice font stack with already available fonts is still a better option than using some newer options such as font-face or a service like Typekit.

I could read this stuff all day.

[ via David Kaneda ]

Feb 18th 2010, 9:38am 11 notes

“Funny, isn’t it? It’s a running joke that Google labels many of its services as beta (meaning in testing) and leaves that label in place for years. And here’s Buzz, a truly beta product that isn’t labeled that way.”

David Pogue in State of the Art - Buzzing, Tweeting and Carping, a NYT post on Google Buzz.
Feb 17th 2010, 2:51pm 3 notes

The Small Things

This will be such old news to all you long-time iPhone owners, but after a recent upgrade from my 1st gen iPod Touch to an iPhone 3GS, I have once again been reminded how well Apple gets the little things right. Previously I had the mentality that the iPod Touch is the iPhone without the phone. But there are a few others components on the iPhone that have been a nice addition.

Obviously the camera is a nice thing to carry around. But it’s the software involved that has been so impressive. Navigating from taking a photo or video to reviewing your “Camera Roll” is so smooth and intuitive, it’s pleasurable to use. And just having a camera always with you will result in a lot more photos.

Another app that I love having built in is the Nike + iPod. I’ve used my iPod Nano to sync my runs to the Nike+ service for a few years, but it’s a night and day difference on the iPhone. The little touches like being able to pause your workout even when the phone is locked are pure genius.

Serious runners, please avert your eyes from the pace in the image above …

Further Adventures in Cheap, Reliable Internet Access)

What finally drove me over the edge to signing on to a 3 year contract was the fact that it could actually save me money. By choosing the highest data plan available with my Internet carrier, I get 3 GB of data transfer per month, including any tethering to my computer. Since my internet access is already so expensive, I should actually save money by using my first 3 GBs of data every month on my iPhone.

The cell phone access is an extra benefit to cheaper internet.


It’s these small touches of design ingenuity that endear me to Apple products. Never having used a Palm Pre, a Nexus, or any of these ‘contenders’, I can only assume that this is what they are missing.

Feb 17th 2010, 2:23pm 3 notes

Prociono

Another nice type (serif) made available by The League of Moveable Type.

Feb 10th 2010, 1:51pm 1 note
As with everything else about Pictory, these navigational styles are purdy.

As with everything else about Pictory, these navigational styles are purdy.

Feb 8th 2010, 11:44am 25 notes

Graphic Work on OS X

I’m blessed with ability to spend more time practicing and learning in the broad field of web design. A big hurdle for me in the past is graphics — I don’t know Photoshop from a hole in the ground. And so I’ve set out to educate myself in this area as well.

I started out by asking for recommendations for the best tool to start with on Twitter. Since I happen to have some amazing designers on my list of followers, I asked the following question:

“If you had to recommend only one graphical app for someone getting into design on a Mac, what would it be?”

Included in the responses were the industry mainstays, Photoshop and Fireworks. And I was not surprised to see people suggest Pixelmator. But what did surprise me was that Acorn was not mentioned. I’ve seen many positive comments from talented designers about the potential of Acorn and the approach [Acorn developer] Gus is taking.

Here’s a chart of the overall response (built in Acorn by the way):

I think I’m lucky with the fact that I have never used Photoshop. I can choose from one of the new up-and-coming tools instead. Experienced designers seem to complain a lot about Photoshop, but they stick with it — due largely to the fact that it’s what they are used to. I have no such constraints.

Now it’s your turn — what do you use?

Jan 25th 2010, 9:12am 2 notes

It's a Good Monday

For envy.

Updated Weightshift.com:

Updated Colly.com:

Jan 6th 2010, 8:27am 6 notes
Everything the guys at Panic do is gold. Just like their latest HTML email … resize for full effects if you received the message pictured above.

And they treat their customers well. They’re merging all their product email lists into one master list. What do they do? Give you the chance to unsubscribe from the get-go.

Everything the guys at Panic do is gold. Just like their latest HTML email … resize for full effects if you received the message pictured above.

And they treat their customers well. They’re merging all their product email lists into one master list. What do they do? Give you the chance to unsubscribe from the get-go.