Well, I’m extremely excited to be a new publisher for InfluAds. It’s a privilege and honor to work with a great network, and I’m flattered they value my content enough to accept me into their program. I didn’t want to be with any other network, I really love the idea of a single, non obtrusive ad. I think it’s important that contextual advertising is complementary to the design and it’s audience.

In other news, I’ve ditched the media-query support roadmap. I’ve got a nice version of this theme running on my staging server with a few resolutions supported, however that branch will remain stagnant for a bit. I really need to focus on ‘refactoring’ the current theme, and cleaning up a bunch of the css and markup, abstracting functionality into plugins, etc. Along with those backend to-do’s, there is a host of UX things to be done!

I recently watched the design documentary titled “Objectified” by Gary Hustwit. It was a great view into the world of industrial design and the process of creating consumable goods. As designers, we often have a taste for well designed ‘things’. Over the years, I’ve stuffed my iPhoto library with pictures of beautifully designed goods. From cups to jewelry, cars to jets. I might encourage you to add mocoloco to your feeds and must-reads.

Product lifecycle is a particularly interesting facet of industrial design. In recent years the explosion of ‘green’ products, or responsible manufacturing has become of upmost importance to consumers. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes view into some design studios where they champion this ideal when creating new products. There is even a short portion in this film dedicated to renewal, and the contemporary approach to a consumerist world.

The intimate interviews with some designers are fascinating to watch. I enjoyed listening to them talk about their work, process, and thoughts on the world of design. One of the more interesting parts of the film, was peering into the workspaces of the designers themselves. Some had beautiful modern loft style studios, and some in very haptic looking workshops. Admittedly one of my all time favorite blogs is OfficeSnapshots. It’s interesting to see inside of where some of your favorite products and services are actually being designed and built.

Finding inspiration is always a struggle. Browsing endless pages of css galleries is a a tedious and in some ways a tumultuous task. Architecture has always been a deep pool of creative simuli for me. Even as a boy I was fascinated by buildings and structures. I’ve learned that inspiration generally comes at inopportune times. Driving down the west side in Manhattan gazing into the sea of buildings when you find yourself suddenly overcome with the desire to create something. I’ve always blamed it on the architecture.

Architecture and web design may not be all that different, and at the very least we can learn a great deal from architecture. At the core of thought and approach, the two may be distant relatives. The very nature of designing for humans shares a common ground across all disciplines. It must answer to the audience; to whom it will be interacting with.

The art of user experience isn’t anything new. The thought leaders of the web are preaching the users first mantra. It’s a sign of our industry maturing in theory and study, though these foundations are hardly revelations. Architects have been designing spaces around peoples lives since the first known civilizations on our planet. For perspective, the oldest pyramids in Egypt were built roughly fourty five hundred years ago in 2630 BCE–2611 BCE. Where as the first web site was debuted by Tim Berners Lee in 1991, a mere 20 years ago. I find this comparison to be staggering, and a catalyst for creative thought.

The practical application of real production is worlds apart. We’re pushing pixels and designing reusable classes for buttons and modular content sections, whereas architects are pushing bricks and large pieces of steel for similar reasons, merely a different result. However, the underlying thought processes can be shared in some cases identically. Handles and light switches, buttons and toggles. Doors and rooms, pages and thresholds; all of wich share a similar function and application of designed interaction.

The ultimate goal, is to be a transparent experience that transcends the actions of our patrons. To give them a space that provokes a thought, and invites them to explore our creations, whilst simultaneously communicating something of a higher order. The photos in this article are the works of Daniel Libeskind, a prominent contemporary architect whose work has affected that of my own. I often use pictures of his creations as placeholders while comping layouts and interfaces. They serve as a muse to the practical theory and practice of art and design.

Dan Cederholm is well respected (and perhaps legendary) designer from SimpleBits. I got his book CSS3 For Web Designers and was able to read it on just a short flight from Connecticut to Nashville. The book details some great modern techniques. Having pushed a good deal of production code using CSS3, I was confident in my technical approach – however you’re guaranteed to learn something very valuable from any A Book Apart publication. This was no exception.

Perhaps the most important wisdom offered is; “It’s okay for things to not look the same in every browser”. I’ve always wished this to be true, and anyone who’s ever had to support IE will reflect my sentiments. We’ve all spent endless hours late in the studio trying to support every last bit of ‘gloss’ and ‘sugar’ in IE. This is rarely a priority of any designer, but rather the clients. I’ve gotten the feeling that I’m simply wasting billable hours, and Dan gives us ammunition for that argument.

Overall, I really loved the book. I expect nothing less than a great, short, and timely read from A Book Apart. I’ve already got Responsive Web Design and The Elements Content Strategy on my wish list. I’m thankful for the guidance and wisdom that Cederholm provided, and with a bit of comedy to boot. It was a fun, informative read that I would recommend for any designer.

Alas, I’ve finally managed to put together my blog. I’m not entirely smitten with the design, but I’m sure it will slowly get massaged into shape. I’ve got a small roadmap for the theme, starting with responsive functionality. I’m hoping to have iPad and iOS/Android devices supported within a few weeks. I admit I have a fair amount of research to do into media queries before I can get that done. I’ve stripped a lot of code that will need to go back in before I release a GNU GPL licenced version of the theme at WordPress.org.

Before any of this happens, I need to get rid of Typekit. My @font-face properties aren’t playing nice with Firefox. Typekit seems to be botching some type weights (specifically Museo 500), and that’s quite frustrating. So, there is much to do! Until next time, Ciao!