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I have not been writing for quite a while except for the one time I forced myself because I had to write. It is not because I have been doing too much work or been on a trip to the Antartctica. It is not because I have not been creating content. Anybody who follows me on Twitter and other social networks knows I post something or the other almost everyday. I am still writing but on a different medium.
Dear Steve,
I should have written this letter long time back, when I had a chance. When I had hope that there was this slight possibility that you would read this and maybe slighter possibility that you would reply to it. I never did.
The natural progression of things on the web is inevitable. One form of technology gives way to another and the fountain continues to flow. Assuming stagnation especially in the interwebs where things change by the day would be foolish to say the least.
Adding stuff to a design not for the sake of design, usability or the need of the users (or even the client) but just to make it exceedingly beautiful. So beautiful that people (read other designers) like it, rebound it on dribbble and tweet it and sing songs of praise about it, when it could be all just superficial while the design itself lacks the soul.
Building a community for your web app can be a very demanding task and many times lack of a good community can go on to become the prime cause of failure of your product no matter how well it was designed and crafted. Tapping the ego of your users is something that could save you some sleepless nights if it is integrated at the core of your web application.
Are Dingbat Fonts the new way to show icons on the web?
Earlier today Drew Wilson (@drewwilson) released the 3rd version of his ever popular Pictos Vector Icon set, only this time the icons were no longer Vectors but Dingbat fonts. Enter the magic of @font-face and you have a great set of web fonts that you can use to display icons anytime anywhere on the web as long as the browsers support @font-face. However, the issues with using such a solution are multi-fold and the discussion on Twitter between some of the prominent designers seems to justify my concerns with the approach. Follow along as I share my concerns and also the possible solution for each issue. Read More
People are so careful not to make errors all the time. It is like screwing up is a bad thing. The other day I was having this discussion with @tyme where we were discussing the interpretations of Ed Catmull’s interview video where he talks about screwing up and other aspects of the Pixar leadership. Interesting to see both she and I had different interpretations of the same words. It amazed me to see where I found the company’s open arm approach to accept screw-ups, she saw the company’s attempts to avoid screw ups through developed wisdom. Needless to say both of us are correct. In this post let’s talk about my interpretation. Read More
Beneath all the charm of Robert Downey, the razor sharp action scenes from Scarlett Johansson and the electrifying music of AC/DC lies a movie that fails to carry the legacy of Iron Man to the sequel.
Having said that the movie is still a must-watch summer bonanza. There are too many things in the movie that one should not miss. Be it the sporadic action sequences or the music, the movie will not let you down. Despite all this the reason I say the movie fails to carry the legacy is because of the story. It is the same age old Iron Man vs “wannabe Iron Man”. For the fans of excess, there is the second Iron Man with Don Cheadle under the hood.
“As designers, artists, and creators of a better, accessible and functional world, we strive for this perfection based on good taste. It is our taste that sets us apart on path to success.”
I started off with the most common trends of today, noise filtered background, 1px borders and a lot more, but ended up removing them one by one, till there was nothing left to remove from the design.
If you are reading this, you probably already know me through Twitter, Facebook or one of my blogs. However, in the unlikely event that you do not, I would recommend you to check the About page and if you like the vibes then feel free to connect with me.
