Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Photo by Benny Chan
In a couple recent car trips with different friends, I noticed that they didn’t take the highway where I usually would have. Because of these two friends, I have stopped driving on the highway where unnecessary, and it’s been a real pleasure. Sometimes I feel like I’m moving slower (or less constant, rather), but it’s nice. I see more. Architecture. Neighborhoods. People. Restaurants. Stores. Trees. I really love it. It seems to have a calming effect on me, too. I arrive at my destinations without feeling rushed.
The photo above is part of a series called Traffic! by Benny Chan. You can see more of them at GOOD magazine.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Here’s Sam Brown writing about the newer 37signals website, offering a little a:hover CSS to improve their site:
The boys at 37signals have clearly forgotten they are designing for an interactive medium and have instead redesigned with a great looking site that’s about as flat and static as you can get.
Now, Sam is a really great web designer, but take heed, don’t believe a word he says! (Sorry Sam, but this is too good a springboard for my own rant.)
“Interactive medium” is a very misleading and stupid category. What is interactive and what is not interactive? We interact via mouse and keyboard with websites and computer software. When reading a printed magazine we interactively flip the pages to read the next page. When someone hands us their business card, we interact with it by putting it in our rolodex or in the trash can. We interact with food labels and t-shirt graphics and billboards. Tell me, what is not an interactive design medium?
Maybe he just meant that it’d help users understand which text are links. But probably not. Links on 37signal’s website are underlined which help …
Thursday, April 16, 2009
If I mention “SEO” on Twitter, within minutes I have some new SEO expert on Twitter following me. Same thing happens for occasions when I mention “CPA” or “reel mower” or whatever. The experts come in hopes of me visiting their website or following their twitters and thus bumping their Twitter Score higher and, well, I guess something good comes of that.
I usually have a hardline policy of blocking the Twitter Trollers, especially when they are following a bazillion other twitters. (How is it possible to read so many Twitters? I barely keep up with a hundred-something.)
On rare occasion, though, they have content that I am actually interested in, and then I don’t mind it so much. But there’s got to be a better way to get my attention on their content rather than act interested in my twitters and not even say hello.
It’d be nice if these folks just sent an email that said something like, “Hey there, I saw your twitters about reel mowers and thought you might be interested in what we’re doing over here.” I would appreciate that tenfold more than a quiet pretentious …
Monday, April 13, 2009
Today I was privileged to be a guest writer for Consuming Louisville’s Big Ideas for Making Louisville Better article series. Many thanks to Michelle for asking me to participate.
The article makes a proposition to put bicycling advocacy in the hands of willing businesses. Check out the article, and let me know what you think.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Our Mayor Jerry Abramson has formally responded to various feedback and criticism of what was thought to be a new bike station coming to our downtown.
He clarifies that the new structure is intended rather to be a transit center putting “major bus lines, a cab stand and car rentals” all under one roof, while also serving as “a cycling center for commuters, casual riders and tourists who want to explore downtown, bike the Louisville Loop to Southwest Louisville or cycle into neighborhoods like Old Louisville to view the spectacular Victorian architecture.”
The center will potentially be a good development, but what I think is important to address from this letter is the perspective that our Metro government has on bicycle commuting.
Photo by Michael Webber
Louisville’s bike commuters don’t need a downtown cycling …
Thursday, April 09, 2009
It’s easy to forget that our streets are alterable. They weren’t set down by God on the eighth day; they were designed by human beings. Unfortunately, throughout the 20th century, most of the human beings designing our streets were traffic engineers.
Lord have mercy on our traffic engineers! (I’m sure they aren’t all that bad.) Aaron Naparstek at Good Magazine shares an interactive graphic showing one such street ‘photoshopped’, depicting how awesome it could be if it was designed with people in mind, not just automobile traffic.
This is why I love design so much. Things can be a lot better than they are.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Photo by Brandon/Broken Sidewalk
Brandon at Broken Sidewalk suggests making better use of our alleyways:
Imagine, though, if we started to utilize our alleys as more than just a place to store the dumpster or make deliveries. What if they could become a second city grid full of cafes and pubs and secret hidden gems. You would have to explore the city fabric to know it, and you would be held in the arms of the city’s architecture the entire way.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
It’s been a while since I first criticized LGDA’s website and their then-president wrote in to rectify accusations regarding the status of the organization. Well, after months of speculation and informal conversations of what was coming, they finally unveiled their new website a little over a week ago.
So, what to say about it? I’m not really interested in pulling the thing apart and analyzing the details. It’s built entirely in Flash without permanent links for its inner contents, which either means something to you or doesn’t. It works. The visual design is pretty radical, but I don’t sense it represents Louisville’s aesthetic very well. Some folks think it’s great. If it’s any indicator of a design direction the organization is interested in, I might be less interested than I was before. (Although, I should mention that I attended a recent Joel Katz lecture they sponsored which was really awesome. More of that, please!)
Overall I must give credit where …
Friday, April 03, 2009
A while ago I overheard a fellow web developer say that Smashing Magazine should be required reading for any web professional. I adamantly oppose such advice. Inspirational and how-to publications certainly have their value — some of them are better than others — but as required reading they do nothing but keep us abreast on design trends, which frankly isn’t worth much in way of responding to design problems appropriately.
Web professionals who primarily feed on websites like Smashing Magazine or CSS Creme are doing a tremendous disservice to themselves, their clients, and their communities. Real innovation and clever solutions come more readily from contemplation and steady work, not constant inspiration.
To anyone who regularly reads such sites, I have this to say to you. Get curious! Do your own damn looking! And I mean in it the most encouraging way.
I appreciate what Chuck Close had to say about this:
The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the
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