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WildchickenArt is creativity without constraints; design is creativity within them. Art asks questions; design provides solutions.
July 12 Pelago.comI've updated my new company's website and it went live today! www.pelago.com. We're still in stealth mode so there's not a lot of detail about our product development stuff, but we're getting closer! The new site was something I was doing this past week in parallel with our product design and development. A few weeks ago I redesigned our logo, and now here it is unveiled with a new site to wrap it up in. Check it out! I haven't done logo design in a while, and I went through quite a number of iterations to get here. Had to think about company values, branding, design values, culture, etc. before starting on actually designing it. It was fun, though. One of these days, just for my own portfolio, I'm going to document that process for myself and see the journey of the Pelago logo. I'm happy with how it turned out. The site itself went in fits and starts, but once I was able to sit down for a couple hours solid I was able to establish a basic design direction which I was able to follow. It's a little light on content, but that's what happens when you're a startup in stealth mode. I can't wait to actually be able to talk about our work! Then the website can show more - but then that requires a lot more design work to get it there. Oh well. We also did a little co-development with American Eagle, so you can see our little logo on their site. Go to ae.com and pick out something. If you click on Send to Phone, you can see our little logo at the bottom. Nothing obtrusive or super fancy, but we're getting out there. BTW, we are hiring. Check out the jobs page. :-) July 05 Not iYetGot my hands on a iPhone here at work, and after spending a couple days with it I have to say: not yet. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and lust-inducing. It's a gorgeous device, and has "steal me" written all over it. They did an amazing number of things just so right, and obviously had to get a service partner to change the status quo because it was the right thing to do. Visual voicemail? Threaded SMS? C'mon, now there's no other way to do it, and because the iPhone did it the other phones and carriers will have to get with it or get left behind. Initially the onscreen keyboard wasn't quite as good as I hoped; it kept on getting P when I wanted O. But after using it more, I realized it's pretty damn good, just not as good as a dedicated keyboard quite yet. I'm still using my Blackjack (but that's quite an imperfect device as well). I'm surprised that they didn't have the keyboard actually show lower-case letters, especially when typing in passwords. I found myself wondering what I was typing, and the glowing shift button just didn't seem enough for me. The kicker right now is that I have a couple pairs of good headphones - a Bose noise canceling pair for traveling and general sitting-on-my-butt use, and a Shure pair for taking around with me. Neither of them will fit on the iPhone, since the iPhone's jack is recessed and the plugs simply won't fit! I know, get a dongle that will do it, but why the hell should I spend another few dollars for a crappy solution like that? I know, everyone's going to come out with an iPhone friendly design, but I'm perfectly happy with my existing headphones and I can't believe that I can't use them as is. However I wouldn't be surprised if Bose released a new cable for their headphones that also include the microphone. Now that would be slick. However most other headphones don't have that option, and it sucks that you would have to use a stupid dongle (which I'm not sure is even out) or use their headphones only. For the same price as a PS3, I don't want to have to make that choice quite yet. Yeah, yeah, it's a great device, it's signature Apple, and they have a lot to be proud of and everyone else needs to stand up and take notice. But I think I'll wait a little while longer. Unfortunately for me, it's likely not a matter of if, but when. May 06 Spider-Man 3: CrapLike too many other cattle looking for entertainment this past weekend, I went with some friends to go to Spider-Man 3. Boy, was that a mistake. A lot of people seem to be charitable saying that the movie, despite its flaws, was entertaining. I can't even say that much. I was close to walking out of the movie a handful of times, and it takes a lot for me to do that.
The script was horrendous and, in general, delivered poorly by the principals. The plot was held together by day-old chewing gum. The special effects were, admittedly, quite special, but the moviemakers forgot something: a great story! I couldn't believe that this, likely to be the biggest box office hit of this year, was a disappointment on so many levels. Weak story? Check. Crappy script? Check. Actors with no on-screen chemistry? Check. Crap singing and dancing? Check. Incoherent plot? Check. Waste of time? Check.
I imagine the bulk of the $250 Million budget went towards the special effects, and they were quite good. However they only seemed to look for an excuse to use more special effects instead of focusing on the damn story! I was also disappointed by the opening credits, as I have come to expect from many movies to deliver a really cool opening or ending credits sequence. At the end of the day, it really makes it clear that no amount of special effects can replace a good script and story.
What was up with Tobey Maguire? I have a lot of respect for him as an actor, but he really just brought his B-game. Same with Kirsten Dunst. I couldn't bring myself to really empathize with either of their characters, so I didn't care what the hell happened to them! Bruce Campbell, playing a French maitre d', was genuinely entertaining. Topher Grace also seemed to pull his part together quite well. But I would have to place most of the blame on the script and the directing, as ultimately these actors could only do so much with what they were given.
If you haven't seen it, don't waste your time. If you absolutely must (just because everyone else seems to have seen it), catch a matinee and leave your brain in your car. You'll need it more on the ride back home. April 25 Flying the CoopToday I announced my pending departure from Microsoft, so I will no longer be an Xbox 360 or Zune insider, but someone who can experience it from the outside. I've had an amazing run there for almost 9 years: Xbox 360, Zune, Crimson Skies, The Beast, MechWarrior 4, and SQL Server 2000 & 7.0. I'm proud of the work I've done, but I look forward to what the team does moving forward. I get to be a consumer of Xbox 360 and Zune now!
It's extremely exciting for me to move to a new chapter in my professional life, but it's also sad to have to say goodbye to some great people. I will miss many of them, but I'm sure we'll be crossing paths again. The world is amazingly small when it comes to professional circles.
So what's next? I can't say. But once I can, I'll be posting it right here!
All for now... April 13 Xbox 360 2007 Spring Update - It's the Small Things that CountI'm out of the country so it's hard to make a real post on this, but the details of the upcoming Spring update have been released. I'm really excited about some of these, especially the "small" improvements like the Achievement notification, joinable presence icon, and the name of the game in the tray. Those things, in particular, were ones that a small group of people were very passionate about and did whatever they needed to make it happen. These were also something that we felt was very important to our customers. What do you think?
That's all for now until I'm back, at which point I'll spend a little more time talking about the user experience additions/improvements that's coming this Spring.
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