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We get ripped off a lot. I often spot a button image that’s been repurposed, or a layout that’s just a little bit too inspired by a previous design we’ve done. Generally, we find it really flattering and have a good laugh - if nothing else, it makes us feel that we’re probably doing something right if people are so eager to plagiarize. But earlier today a friend linked me to Mozilla’s new JetPack design and my jaw dropped.
The worst part: Mozilla contacted Metalab about this, asking for a proposal, months ago and decided not to pursue the project.
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The Colosseo Letterpress poster is Cameron Moll’s latest, and most ambitious, poster design:
…The artwork was handcrafted character by character, totaling roughly 250 hours of work from start to finish. Characters from the Goudy Trajan and Bembo Pro typefaces form the Coliseum (or Colosseum), also known as today as Colosseo (Italian) and originally known as Amphitheatrum Flavium (Latin).
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Shape My Language, a beautiful typographic exhibition by Bruno Maag: The set-up of the exhibition is surprising to say the least. Long streams of clear plastic cards hang from the ceiling, engulfing the gallery visitors in a typographic mist.
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mrgan: The Panic Status Board - one of the things I’ve been working on lately. Read Cabel’s writeup! This is a thing of pure beauty. We’re already seeing how we can do something similar at Ext.
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Patrick Patience has posted a fantastic little summary of jailbreaking hacks over at Smoking Apples. He’s got some gorgeous themes and extensions working together, complete with links and extended info—it’s definitely worth taking a look.
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How to present designs to a client:
Gavin Elliott reviews the ways to present designs to a client (browser comp, flat, via a service, etc.) but then also goes a step further by interviewing several leading designers like Tim Van Damme and Sam Brown.
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“The Cooper Residence” by architect Randy Weinstein is completely stunning. (via Contemporist)
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Loving this conspiracy theory diagram from Brand New, covering the Missile Defense Agency identity. Yes, for those who are unaware, the new logo has received some criticism: A slew of online publications are genuinely upset that the MDA logo looks like a combination of the Obama ‘08 campaign logo and the star and crescent moon symbol of Islam. Others have thrown in the Iranian Space Agency logo and the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle flag, all as part of a series of codes that determine the agenda of the Obama administration. I threw in the Boeing logo just for kicks — hey, someone has failed to point out a corporate villain in all of this — and I also added perhaps the biggest oversight by the media, the use of Trajan. Cue Twilight Zone theme song.
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The “Deep” iPhone theme, well photographed by William Hook.
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Factory 20 is a unique vintage furnishings company — I love the photography throughout their site. (via Thinking for a Living)
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BBC documents the roots of its Global Visual Language 2.0: About 2 years ago, after printing out the site onto what has now become jokingly known as the ‘Wall of Shame’ we decided to embark on an ambitious project, called Global Visual Language 2.0, with the aim of unifying the visual and interaction design of bbc.co.uk and the mobile website. I highly recommend actually downloading the guide — it’s a truly remarkable study in visual design.
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A play-by-play recap of last week’s fantastic Layer Tennis between Khoi Vinh and Nicholas “Feltron” Felton. I asked on Twitter, and the condensed font used throughout the match is Heroic Condensed (thanks @nickheise).
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Luke Wroblewski wrote an article yesterday titled, “Mad Libs” Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40%. The post was about a team, led by Ron Kurti, redesigning a form for Vast.com. By no means do I intend to knock the success of the redesign, but part of me wonders if the conclusion was rushed. In addition to using a narrative user flow, he’s also: Lessened form inputs, added placeholder text, and made one optional Removed distracting links throughout Highlighting contextual information like the car being negotiated Made the submit button bigger Added icons Said “Thank you” Luke mentions the possibility of other factors affecting the result in his review, but I think it may be an understatement. Sometimes conversion rates can be massively improved by a minor change to a design or user flow. While A/B testing can be very useful, keep in mind that it is still a science and comprehensively reviewing constants and variables is a big part of that science.
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2-bit 4-bit 8-bit 16-bit Mimeo and the Kleptopus King is a new iPhone game being worked on by Shaun Inman, creator of the great 8-bit title, Horror Vacui. The game gives homage to classic video games, with a twist—instead of enhancing the player, power ups in the game enhance the resolution of the world around him. Check out the homepage and hit refresh a few times for a sample. The app is being developed under a MakeWork grant and should be available by the holidays. I’ve had the privilege of seeing some of the design over the past month on Dribbble, and I gotta say: The details are going to be fantastic. Check Shaun’s Flickr for a nice little video archive of the game’s progress.
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Design Police offers a downloadable “Visual Enforcement Kit” (PDF) with labels for everything from “Bad typography” to “Sever lack of creativity.” I would pay good money to get these as stickers, and I would probably use them every day until being fined for defacing private property.
