“Your dad was 30 years old expecting his first child and not knowing boy or girl, I kept telling him you were a boy. After you came I’ll never forget the look in your fathers eyes the first time he held you, it was like nothing I’d ever seen. Even the room got quite for a brief moment as you looked right at him. Your dad leaned back over me and as he did, took your little hand and said it would never have to hold a hammer. I was already in tears, so that just really got me and I understood what he meant. I just wanted to share these precious memories with you as now being a parent you can feel their true feelings and what a gift your child is…Happy Birthday Jason, We love you more today than the day you were born…Our Love and Prayers, Mom and Daddy XOXO”

My dad’s a carpenter. He’s a damn good carpenter and he loves what he does. He chose that profession and yet he didn’t want his kids to follow in his footsteps. That still confuses me, but none of us did. My brother is a nurse, my sister is a teacher and I went into web design. As adults, we all ask him now for the construction advice he never gave us as kids.

It’s been nearly a year now since Adelyn was born and I can still recall the day vividly. Reading my mom’s email, it sounds nearly the same. Instead of saying what she’d never have to do though, all I could think about was all the potential she has. She can be anything she wants to be and do anything she wants to do and I’ll just be proud to be her dad.

Of course, no blog post with baby in the title would be complete without pictures. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve already seen plenty of Adelyn. Of the pictures I’ve posted to Instagram since Adelyn was born, more than ⅓ of them have included her. Here are some of my favorites.

Whenever I see people I haven’t seen in a few weeks, they always ask 2 things – how’s our baby? and how’s the house? Well, now that I’ve talked about Adelyn some, I should probably say that the house hasn’t changed a whole lot…yet. We’re planning a three story addition that should be getting started here in the next month or so. Amy and I started a new blog at http://contemporation.com and will be writing about our renovation project over there. We’ve already posted floor plans and elevation options so you should go check it out!

In the Beginning

TextMate

I believe it was the Summer of 2005 when I tried out TextMate for the first time. After a few minutes of playing with it’s project drawer, tabs, regex find, snippets and column select features I was very happy. No more bloated applications from a certain software suite or sub-par minimalist editors. TextMate was a simple, innovative, powerful tool that helped me write a lot of code with very few distractions. I kept TextMate by my side for over 6 years and through 3 different jobs – yes, with 3 separate seat licenses.

Over that time though, TextMate started to grow stale. I never really used all of it’s advanced features but new features simply stopped flowing. In 2008, rumors started circulating about an eminent v2.0 release with loads of new features, bugfixes and stability improvements. I was pretty excited. Months passed. Then a year. Then another. Before I knew it, the end of 2011 was approaching and I decided it was time to try something new.

Enter MacVim

MacVim

Every once in a while I have to make changes to remote files over SSH. I consider myself fairly command line competent but trying to edit anything with vim on a server usually means I first have to open a cheat sheet of basic commands. I’ve heard a few people say that switching to MacVim, the GUI OSX version of the ubiquitous Unix text editor, greatly improved their efficiency. Switching seemed like an easy way to kill two nerdy birds with one stone, so in September, I dove in.

If you’ve ever met a hardcore Vim user, they’ll tell you that the only way to really get fast is to ditch your mouse. It sounds crazy, but the shortcuts in Vim allow you to jump around a line, page or even a project tree like a ninja. Using your mouse, they’ll tell you, wastes time and shows weakness. Ok, so they won’t tell you it shows weakness, but that’s what they really think. I gave MacVim about a week. I spent the majority of that week staring at a printed copy of commands and trying to avoid touching my mouse. I wanted to embrace Vim but by Friday I was back to happily (and much more efficiently) clicking around TextMate again. MacVim is a great editor, it just didn’t work out so well for me. On the bright side, I’m a lot more comfortable editing files on a remote server.

TextMate Two Point Oh No!

TextMate2

A month or two after my failed attempt to switch to MacVim, something unexpected happened. TextMate finally released an alpha of version 2. I was ecstatic about features like split view and multiple carets so I installed it immediately. The application chrome looked a little fresher and David Lanham’s new flower icon was a nice touch, but overall the update was pretty ho-hum. I would be fine with ho-hum, but there were some major annoying issues – like buggy selection highlighting on large blocks of text and the lack of a “Replace & Find” button – that really prevented me from fully adopting it.

Sublime Text – Two Point Oh Yea!

SublimeText2

Having switched from TextMate to MacVim back to TextMate to TextMate 2 and back to TextMate again, I wasn’t too keen on wasting my time with another text editor. Stale as it may have been, TextMate 1.5 did everything I needed it to, or so I thought. After seeing a few exuberant tweets from my friend Justin though, I decided to check it out. The design of the Sublime Text homepage didn’t give me much confidence but after reading through some of the features of Sublime Text 2, I downloaded it and started working on some front-end code.

It only took a few minutes of playing with the mini map sidebar, speedy search tools & multi-select features and I was sold. Sublime Text 2 has all the features I love most about TextMate 1.5 and a better implementation of the TextMate 2.0 features I was most looking forward to. At $59, a license is about the same price as TextMate’s. Unlike TextMate though, you can try Sublime Text out indefinitely. The fact that it’s available for Mac, Linux and Windows means I’ll never have to find an alternative if I need to work on a different OS and with an active plugin community behind it, it’ll always be getting better. Maybe I’m a bit too excited but I’m glad to find another text editor that I immediately feel like sticking with…maybe even for the next 6 years.

If you decide to try it out, be sure to read the Sublime Text 2 Tips and Tricks post on Nettuts+. Another helpful (& equally hilarious) read is @filipminev’s 9 reasons you must install Sublime Text 2 post.

In an effort to combat this tendency toward consumption and waste, I started thinking about the things I own that I wouldn’t want to trade or upgrade. I was specifically interested in items that I’ve used no less than once per month for at least five years. Surprisingly, I own very few things that have gone that distance. Here are my top 10.

1. Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop

   

   You might think that all ice cream scoops are created equal. In that case, you’d be wrong. The sealed handle of the Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop contains a defrosting fluid that transfers the heat from your hand to help the scoop melt through ice cream. That brilliant idea combined with it’s iconic design has earned it a spot in MoMA’s Permanent Design Collection. I got mine as a high school graduation present in 1999 and it still melts through ice cream more often than I’d like to admit.
   Price: $25
   Age: 13 Years
   Use it: Weekly (when I’m being good)

2. Sony MDR-W08L Headphones

   

   When it comes to headphones, it’s very easy to drop a load of cash. Of the top 10 most popular headphones on Amazon, the average price is around $130. That would buy 18 pairs of Sony MDR-W08L Headphones at Amazon’s current $7.03 price tag. I have 2 pairs of these cheap, iconic headsets. One lives on my desk at work and the other I keep wrapped around the iPhone armband I use for running. The MDR-W08Ls are light, sound great, and take a beating. I’m pretty sure one of my pairs is at least 10 years and if one ever died, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another.
   Price: $7
   Age: 10+ Years
   Use it: Multiple times per week

3. Pampered Chef Garlic Press

   

   A lot of grown women cringe when they get invited to parties for direct-sale brands like Avon, Mary Kay Creative Memories, etc. Pampered Chef falls squarely in that category but some of their products just can’t be beat. We have a few Pampered Chef tools in our kitchen but our garlic press gets more use than all of them combined. Yes, I know everyone has a method when it comes to peeling garlic but for me, tossing a couple unpeeled cloves in this thing and mashing it into whatever we’re cooking is easy-peezy garlic-squeezy.
   Price: $21
   Age: 8 Years
   Use it: Multiple times per week

4. Fellowes Gel Wrist and Mouse Pad

   

   I’m really not sure how long I’ve had this thing but I remember hauling it along with my mid-size tower and CRT monitor to LAN parties in high school. Yes, I was one of those kids. I love that squishy pad so much that I regularly take the thing to and from work. Maybe I should just get another one already.
   Price: $15
   Age: 13 Years
   Use it: Daily

5. Toothpaste Squeezer

   

   This isn’t really a branded or trademarked item. It’s simply a piece of plastic that houses two windshield-wiper like blades. You just slip it over the bottom of the tube and slide it up as you use up toothpaste. It’s a cheap item you can find at most drug or grocery stores. Unless of course you’re a card carrying member of the 1%…then you might want the $295 version.
   Price: $5 for 2
   Age: 8 Years
   Use it: Daily

6. Jaccard

   

   No, it’s not the nickname of a certain star ship captain, it’s a meat tenderizer. Not excited? Well it’s not just any tenderizer, Jaccard is the Kleenex of bladed meat tenderizers. By maniacally mashing this spring-loaded box of 48 razor-sharp blades into a steak or roast, it reduces cooking time, increases marinade effectiveness, makes the meat cook more evenly and helps it retain moisture. You want a juicy pork chop or tender flank steak? Make it so.
   Price: $20
   Age: 7 Years
   Use it: Every couple weeks

7. Black & Decker Mouse

   

   Even though this is the only power tool on my list, I feel obligated to admit that this was an Amy purchase. I had sheets of sandpaper, a drywall sanding block and a belt sander in my tool collection when Amy decided we needed this thing for a small refinishing project. I didn’t think it was a necessary purchase but I’m glad I didn’t put up too much of a fight. I used the mouse for more DIY and home renovation projects than I can remember.
   Price: $32
   Age: 6 Years
   Use it: At least once a month

8. Eureka Boss Smart-Vac

   

   After Amy and I got married in 2003 we decided to get rid of both of our semi-functional, hand-me-down vacuums and buy a new one that would work well and last. As a nerd and a designer, I really want to fall for Dyson’s marketing efforts. As rational adults with a limited budget though $300-$500 seemed like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a device that sucks. After doing some research we decided on the Eureka Boss Smart-Vac and paid less than half the price of the cheapest Dyson. It’s a bag system (which I prefer after dealing with a messy bagless), works on carpet and hard floors and has a wand with various attachments. After 8½ years, it still sucks. Enough said.
   Price: $130
   Age: 8½ Years
   Use it: Weekly

9. Drinkwell Cat Fountain

   

   With our first baby due in March, I’m hoping that we’ll be better human parents than cat parents. Our poor Himalayan fuzzball is irreversibly spoiled. When we lived in Columbia, she started to jump on the counter while we were brushing our teeth and drinking from the sink faucet. This was cute at first but when she quit drinking from her normal water bowl and jumped on the sink whenever we got near the bathroom, we knew something had to change. We set up the Drinkwell and any time she did jump on the counter, we set her in front of “her fountain”. It only took a few days for her to get the point. As a bonus, the constant circulation and charcoal filter means I only have clean it out once a week.
   Price: $30
   Age: 6 Years
   Use it: Daily

10. Char-Broil Electric Patio Cadie Grill

    

    When I was in college, we weren’t allowed to have gas or charcoal grills on the porch at our college apartment. I remember making fun of my roommate’s electric grill but by the end of our first semester there, I was convinced that it was the best thing ever. It gets up to temperature in <5 minutes, the food tastes just like it came off a “real” grill and there’s no pots and pans to clean up – all very positive things for undergraduate life. When Amy and I got married a couple years later my parents bought one for us as a wedding present. We’ve probably used the thing an average of once a week and eight and a half years later the thing is still grilling up burgers, chicken, shish kabobs and steaks like a champ.
    Price: ~$150 (Discontinued by Char-Broil & replaced with Patio Bistro Infrared Electric Grill)
    Age: 8½ Years
    Use it: At least once a week

So what about you? Do you have something that you’ve used regularly for 5 or more years? If so, I’m guessing it’s something minor that you take for granted. It’s probably also something that’s worth recommending. Leave a comment and tell me about it.

Instagram is easily my favorite iPhone app right now and I’m certainly not alone. It’s a fun, simple way to take and share great photos and the massive community that has developed around mobile photography is what keeps us all improving. As happy as I was to read the Mashable article yesterday about Instagram coming to Android, I was much more excited to see the bonus segment with interviews from 15 of the app’s most prominent photographers.

Don’t get me wrong, expanding the Instagram community beyond the iPhone is pretty big news, but what makes that bonus segment so great has little to do with the app itself. It’s about taking better, more interesting and more artistic pictures. While Instagram has some great filters and effects, there are hundreds of photo editing apps available. Beyond that there are specialty lenses, creative hacks and centuries worth of photo history to learn from. While I highly recommend reading all the interviews, I took note of the Instagram filters and external apps that each photographer mentioned.

1. Mike Kus (@mikekus)
   Favorite Filters: Earlybird
   External Apps: TiltShiftGen
2. Malachy Sherlock (@fashion)
   Favorite Filters: Earlybird, Walden and Brannan
   External Apps: Camera+, TiltShiftGen and Swankolab
3. Chi Vo (@looking_glass)
   Favorite Filters: N/A
   External Apps: Camera+, PicFx, TiltshiftGen, Noir Photo and Pro HDR
4. Carli Kiene (@inkedfingers)
   Favorite Filters: Brannan
   External Apps: (none listed)
5. Kristen (@poeticaesthetic)
   Favorite Filters: Earlybird
   External Apps: Filterstorm
6. Kristine Herryanto (@babysmurf)
   Favorite Filters: Earlybird
   External Apps: Camera+, Filterstorm, Cross Process, ShakeItPhoto and Hipstamatic
7. Cole Rise (@colerise)
   Favorite Filters: Earlybird and Sutro
   External Apps: CrossProcess and Camera+
8. Dan Rubn (@danrubin)
   Favorite Filters: Brannan
   External Apps: Filterstorm, CrossProcess, Lo-Mob, iDarkroom, Touch Retouch and Camera+
9. Lauren Randolph (@laurenlemon)
   Favorite Filters: Brannan and Hefe
   External Apps: Camera+ and PhotoForge
10. Christy Hydeck (@chrysti)
    Favorite Filters: Earlybird, Inkwell and Toaster
    External Apps: PicFx, Swankolab, PictureShow, iQuikDoF, qbro, PostalPix, LensFlare and Iris Photo Suite
11. Josh Johnson (@joshjohnson)
    Favorite Filters: X Pro II
    External Apps: qbro and Filterstorm
12. Nir Leshem (@nirl)
    Favorite Filters: Gotham
    External Apps: Pro HDR, Camera+, Filterstorm and Iris Photo Suite
13. Jennifer Jeffrey (@jenniferjeffrey)
    Favorite Filters: Earlybird and Brannan
    External Apps: Camera+
14. Jussi Ulkuniemi (@skwii)
    Favorite Filters: Apollo
    External Apps: (none listed)
15. Brandy Byrd (@bbyrd)
    Favorite Filters: Earlybird (exclusively)
    External Apps: None.

In case you weren’t paying attention, only 2 favorite filters were mentioned above more than once: Earlybird (8x) and Brannan (5x). On the external apps side, Camera + (8x) was the most popular, followed by Filterstorm (5x), TiltShiftGen (3x) and 2 mentions each for Swankolab, PicFx, Pro HDR, qbro and Iris Photo Suite. I personally like to try out several Instagram filters before I post an image but I tend to lean pretty heavily on Hefe and X Pro II. I also love playing with photos in different apps. I’ve probably tried out at least a dozen or so and after reading that article I’m going to need some more iTunes credits. My trusty standbys are TiltShiftGen and Camera +. If I’m feeling particularly creative or have some spare time, I also like to tinker with my photos in Pinhole Cam, Diptic, Hipstamatic and Dynamic Light. Are you an instaholic? I’d love to hear what filters, apps and techniques you use in the comments. Be sure to add your instagram handle and a link to one of your favorite personal photos would be great too!

The Secrets to Instagram’s Success

Kevin Systrom – @kevin

Kevin Systrom kicking off the Future of Web Design

Have a vision

Some of the greatest products get written off as “silly features”. Developing a mission statement can help you take those silly features and project them into the future.

Make it fast – hide latency!

Working at Google, Kevin learned that Gmail starts loading your mailbox information before you even enter your password. Instagram starts uploading your photo before you’ve entered the meta deta and sharing settings. This has a cost. Instagram’s Amazon EC2 bill is about the amount of “2 really nice cars per month” but it makes the app much more enjoyable.

Make it simple

Ask yourself what the trade off is between Simplicity & Flexibility. Instagram is intentionally more simple than an app like Camera+ that’s more flexible. Another thing to think about: chart how the payoff increases with time spent.

Make it magical

If we didn’t have our filters, your friends would just look at the photos you share and say, “oh it’s a photo”. You want them to ask how you did it.

Make it grow

Users have this problem – how to quickly share moments across all their social platforms. Instagram had a business need – to market their product. Instagram acquires 1.5 new users per second!

Make it addictive

Think about slot machines. The science behind slot machines is all about schedules of reinforcement. If you want to get people to keep doing something, you have to know how often and at what ratio the user should win. Variable ratio creates the highest amount of activity. Likes on your photos is like that.

How (And How Not To) Get Hired – Marketing For Web Designers

Andi Graham – @bigsea

How Not to Get Hired

1. Make sure we can find you in plenty of compromising photos.
2. Let everone know you’re *too good* to do the work that needs to be done.

How to get Hired

“Realize that you’re a piece of a puzzle that’s going to help me prove to my customers that our company is reliable, credible & can get the work done.”

1. Make sure your portfolio & website are up to date.
2. Determine your rates and for whom you want to work.
   • Agency work is easier to find, pay less and are less of a hassle.
   • Client work is harder to find, pays a little more but is more of a hassle.

Want to work for an agency?

• Send out your links to all of them.
• Attend industry events, meetup, barcamps.
• Find internships.
• Make friends.

Want to work directly with clients?

• Join professional networks.
• Read your local and industry publications.
• Do pro-bono projects for non-profits.
• Make friends.

Either way:

• Use your resources: dribble, linkedin, authentic jobs, behance, odesk, twitter, freelance switch…and even craigslist. “Craigslist is a treasure trove of people & companies that don’t know where to turn for web design work.”
• Start a blog
• Attend meetups & events – “I have 2 kids & a husband who’s a professor and it’s difficult to make it to industry events and every time I go I get new resources, meet new people & learn how important it is to get a babysitter.”
• Follow people you want to work with and engage them.

How to get hired AGAIN

• Make it easy for people to refer you. Give business cards to your clients and make them look really really great.
• Offer incentives for referrals. It’s not a comfortable practice but it works.
• Make sure people know you’re available. For example, use “Hire me” instead of “Contact Me” on your site.
• Be your own biggest fan. Be proud but not egotistical about your work.
• Embrace your weaknesses. Don’t take jobs that rely on your biggest areas of weakness.
• Become an expert at something & own it.
• Bill hourly & honestly.
• Most importantly: Do good work – meet your deadlines and make youself available.

Wonderful Delightful Web App UX

Lis Hubert – @lishubert

Crowd at stage 2 before Lis’ talk.

We’re not just doing UX to create a usable interface. We’re doing it to elicit a response from our users. From simply completing a task (app is usable) all the way to an emotional response (app is usable or delightful).

Web apps (as opposed to desktop apps) more closely match user exceptions because they work in any context. The problem is that the web app ux environment is chaotically changing with technical advancements & conceptual shifts. Yet…we’re still using old and archaic ways of thinking about your users.

• Solution 1: Know the technology.
• Solution 2: Know your customers.
• Solution 3: Match those 2 things together.

This is UX 101. Essentially we need to understanding behavior.
Knowing what people think isn’t possible. Watching what they do & say can help figure that out. Getting that understanding of what people think helps us to match their needs to the technology we understand.

History of objectives:

• era of the page (pre app)
• get apps online
• make more usable
• influence behavior

To get people from just having usable web apps, we need to change our way of thinking. We need to stop using our understanding and methodologies from the era of the page & stop telling people that we make things easy to use. We need to tell people we understand user behavior. This is about psychology.

The old school phone underwent a similar evolution:
From the old crank phone, to the dial phone to the small, more portable (wired) handset, phones went through an evolution from simply working, to becoming more usable to being loved.

Don Norman (Author of “Design of Everyday Things”) knew that he was ahead of his time. He knew product design was about influcncing behavior. Usability was simple scaffolding to get there.

The merger of psychology and user research is the next frontier.

The future is now!

Web Design is a Cloud, Not a Clock

Sarah B Nelson – @sarahbeee

Sarah Nelson takes the stage.

Sarah spent a lot of her life studying the behavior and patterns of groups of people doing creative things together.

The frightening and most difficult thing about being what someone calls a creative person is that you have absolutely no idea where your thoughts come from and you have no idea where they’re going to come from tomorrow.”
- “Art & Copy” Documentary

The language of business ends in periods and exclamation marks & the language of creatives ends in question marks and commas. Business people often try to make bad assumptions about creative workflows like:

• Official workflows ensure great work.
• Everyone should use the same tools.
• If we diagram our workflow and give it to everyone on the project it’ll run smoothly. It’s a great exercise to understand but not to shape behavior.
• Bosses make the processes.

Of Clouds and Clocks – Great book by Carl Popper

Clock problems are knowable – you measure them, you can rebuild them, but we know what they do. It’s tangible. A lot of what we do with web design is solve clock problem. How to build a form and make it validate.

Cloud problems are dynamic – you can understand the patterns of cloud behavior and make predictions but we can’t really pick it apart or nail it down 100% of the time. The problem is that when we often treat cloud problems like clock problems.

The design process is an emergent system. Set working agreements, not a 3 page process diagram for the creative process. For Sarah, working agreements are the heart of collaboration. Example set of working agreements:

• Have a clear purpose – set design principles for the team to rally around.
• Trust – make a promise and then deliver on it. Failure is inevitable with creative tasks. It should be an opportunity for growth.
• Clear roles and responsibilities – Let people know what they’re accountable and let them change roles from time to time.
• Agreed-upon approach – Set realistic expectations and deadlines. Deadlines (in creativity) force us to turn things upside down and get things done. If it’s a long project, re-evaluate your approach.
• User involvement – A lot of people talk about their users like they know what they think. Teams should have regular contact with their customers and react to feedback.
• Stakeholder engagement – We need a more sophisticated way to get information from stakeholders and get the involved in the project. Have a workshop with them.

“One of my creative team members told me in a meeting, ‘Just because you wrote those roles on the board, doesn’t make them true.’ Whoa!” His assumptions about the project and his responsibilities were dramatically different. That’s why she makes working agreements. Not to nail down a process but to make the environment so that good things will emerge.

Type on Screen: Choosing and Using It Well

Daniel Rhatigan – @ultrasparky

Screen typography has come a long way, but it’s still evolving. There are Licensing issues, device support issues, font rendering inconsistencies and not all fonts work well on screen. Rasterizing software and screen hardware (lcd, E Ink) take different approaches.

Choosing a typeface:

• Vertical Proportions – Most web safe fonts have similar proportions between upper and lowercase text. A taller x-height can make the text feel more dense at the same size.
• Shapes – Straight lines and clear forms work better than subtle angles or curves. At small sizes, good hinting can help keep these details from causing trouble.
• Open Spaces – Generous spacing within and around letters (within apertures and around forms) will increase legibility at small sizes.
• Family Selection – Makes sure that italic and bold styles look as good as the regular.
• Opentype Features – Support is beginning to increase. Ligatures, alternate number forms, swashes or contextual alternatives and real small caps.

Using it well:

• Compensate for inconsistency – Adjust the size and line-height as needed to get contrasting fonts to work together.
• Be generous – If in doubt, slightly larger text size & extra line spacing will be easier to read.
• Choose color carefully – Contrast between text and background not only makes text more readable, but it also makes fonts easier to rasterize. More steps between the colors.

We need E Versions of popular print faces:
E Versions of Bembo and Helvetia Neue are available. Adjustments to the weight, proportion and spacing.

New faces being created specifically for screen like Malabar.

The Power of Side Projects & Eccentric Aunts

Tina Roth Eisenberg – @swissmiss

Lessons I Plan to Teach My Kids

1. Love what you do.
2. Trust your intuition.
3. If an opportunity scares you, you need to take it.
4. Don’t be a complainer: make things better or let them go.
5. Make time for side projects.
6. Surround yourself with likeminded people.
7. Ignore haters.
8. Seek to inspire others.

Pith Passion Productivity

Cameron Moll – @cameronmoll

Pith

It convey knowledge & personality. Cameron has done a lot of writing in the past: Wicked Worn Look series, CSS Mastery, Mobile Web Design (sold ~7k copies). On his blog, he currently posts a lot of links. “When I start editorializing the things that other people are doing, I lose my pithyness.”

Read: Editing Tips for Designers – Cennyd Bowles

How can I make a name for myself?
Write! …with pith, authenticity, persistence & passion.

Who’s A-Game Pithy?
@fictivecameron – Gimme Bar – “It’s basically an Internet Sham-Wow”
@etherbrian – Tweets are always exercises in creative writing.

Passion

“The details are not details, they make the product.” – Charles Eames
Cameron’s Colleseo Poster and Authentic Jobs both started out as pursuits of passion.

Who’s A-Game Passionate: Dave Shea about cycling, Aarong Gustofson about gardening, Ryan Carson about making and keeping friends. We have things outside of work that we’re passionate about.
Do and write about things you’re passionate about.

Productivity

“We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” – Herb Kelleher (co-founder of SouthWest airlines)
Read: “Grit Is More Important Than Talent – Jocelyn K. Glei (the99percent.com)

Look for ways to get the most out of your time. Cameron uses an app called Sorted each morning out morning, afternoon & evening tasks.

Don’t get discouraged by failure.

“Have I produced anything meaningful that would warrant me standing up on stage and teaching you anything about design?”

Cameron Moll’s fortune cookie fortune that he keeps in his pocket:
“Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat’em, join ‘em.”

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Elliot

Principles of Visual Design

Whitney Hess – @whitneyhess

Contrast, Emphasis, Variety, Balance, Proportion, Repetition/Rhythm, Movement, Texture, Harmony, Unity
Consistency. Constrains. Shared vision. Objective evaluation.
Good design != Good experience
Examples: Apple G4 Cube – House of Representatives

Good Design Can = Good Experience

Principles of Experience Design:

1. Stay out of people’s way.
2. Create a hierarchy that matches people’s needs.
3. Limit distractions.
4. Provide strong information scent.
5. Provide signposts and cues.
6. Provide context.
7. Use constraints appropriately.
8. Make actions reversible.
9. Provide feedback.
10. Make a good first impression.

While I certainly saw it coming, it’s still a sad day. Am I angry? Not really. I know that businesses have to do what businesses have to do – especially VC funded ones. Gowalla is still the best check-in application in my opinion and I’m curious to see where it’s going. With that said, I think dropping items is a horrible decision and I’m going to miss the fun of collecting them. I’ve archived my entire collection (or vault) below. Each of these 185 icons represents a moment in time. For almost every single one I can tell you a story about where I was, who I was with and what I was doing. That’s a pretty impressive feat for a little game you play on your phone.

Mickey Hat#9,537

National Geographic Magazine#1,657

TAZO Brambleberry Tea#1,513

Cha-Cha Shoes#1,869

Gowallaby Balloon Animal#6,624

Cirque du Soleil Mask#380

Orlando Sunshine#12,179

Cocktail#10,669

Tablet Two#3,086

First Class Seat#3,744

SXSW 2011 Badge#6,758

Viewmaster#1,000

Firewheel#1,374

Milk Steamer#1,336

Snowflake#2,732

Classic Scooter#3,633

Twin Tips#321

Partner Statue#1,733

Mickey Hat 2010#5,548

Hitch Hiking Ghost#1,817

Ash TOMS Shoes#504

TAZO Peach Tea#267

TAZO Green Tea#345

Space Suit#1,890

Official NASA Patch#980

Space Shuttle#4,406

Bass Guitar#806

Moon Rock#47

Red Bull#8,951

Megaphone#1,428

Pennant#219

Studio Headphones#2,894

White TOMS Shoes#200

Blue TOMS Shoes#5

Classic Typewriter#531

Deathbot by GAMA-GO#47

Women’s Sunglasses#470

Briefcase#313

Soccer Cleats#2,270

Soccer Ball#1,019

Acoustic Guitar#2,240

NBA Finals Trophy#882

HTML5 for Web Designers Book#2,500

Backpack#681

Twitterrific’s Ollie#2,367

Gowalla Cap#3,419

Basketball#7

Gowalla Cling#262

LIVESTRONGâ„¢ Wristband#13

Gowalla Coaster#223

Gourmet Library Cheese#45

Chevy Camaro#43

Digital SLR#41

Oktomat Camera#113

Gowalla Microbrew#31

Movie Clapper#34

HD Video Camera#14

Palm Pixiâ„¢ Plus#4

Party Wristband#113

Orange Facebook Coaster#15

Ice Ball#72

Bucket of Popcorn#11

Gowalla Button#1,276

Facebook Coaster#129

Rework Book#102

Gowalla Sticker#179

Delivering Happiness Book#78

Free Taco from OneTaco#37

2010 SXSW Badge#113

2-Piece Luggage Set#311

Groupon Invite#15

Airplane Peanuts#1,286

Teddy Bear#562

Page Turner#240

Apres Ski#220

Red Mittens#53

Dozen Roses#2,104

Mardi Gras Beads#8

Incase Protective Cover#661

Torch#80

Incase Backpack#2,550

Truffles#875

Football Helmet#40

Incase Sling Pack#514

Dollhouse#138

Raccoon#867

Tablet#131

Incase Perforated Snap Case#670

Incase Messenger Bag#531

Box of Cookies#15

Chips & Salsa#7,193

Yo-yo#445

Snowboard#4,940

Incase Slider Case#905

Firecrackers#5

Headdress#2,620

Designing with Web Standards Book#415

Stationery#323

Crush It! Book#2,202

Cowboy Hat#2,931

Festive Americano#185

Skull Cap#40

Roadrunner#1,645

Luggage Tag#3,433

Cowgirl Boots#1,944

Security Bin#768

Rattlesnake#1,437

Praying Mantis#2,846

Prairie Dog#1,201

Watermelon#1,754

Cutoffs#1,442

Blender#566

Big Belt Buckle#1,439

Film Reel#1,790

Kettle#1,455

Yellow TT#1,260

Tourbus#1,761

Two-Headed Serpent#13,612

Yellow Kayak#1,481

Drumset#1,237

Longhorn#903

Pecan#1,025

Gowallaboard#1,742

Ski Boots#13,438

Dartboard#1,336

Glove#147

Cowboy Boots#1,380

Yellow Cycling Helmet#882

Bamboo#14,577

Avocado#2,009

Chinese Lantern#1,935

Oranges#3,031

Hand Rake#1,014

Beatnik Poet#1,692

S’more#2,649

Marbles#1,470

Sweets#211

Fieldnotes & Books#1,942

Bratwurst#1,357

Pint#1,150

Frisbee#1,605

Tacos#2,359

Wooden Blocks#1,436

Bowl of Noodles#2,570

Soundboard#797

Bats#2,253

Clay Pot#957

Blended Drink#2,257

Red Silk Robe#931

Box of Cigars#1,334

Koi Fish#2,398

Espresso#14,984

Bottled Water#1,642

Big Bag o’ Swag#2,605

Longneck#1,575

Foosball#739

Mockingbird#1,695

Watering Can#874

Mexican Hot Chocolate#1,228

Muscle Car#1,214

Metal Robot#12,879

Ribs#1,493

Clickity-Bricks#1,756

Dark Chocolate#13,503

Conference Badge#795

Espresso Machine#150

Slice of Pizza#1,414

Keep Austin Weird#374

Electric Guitar#455

Bookreader#672

Running Shoes#755

Margarita#401

Americano#13,509

Scarf#248

Turquoise Mask#12,828

Fieldnotes Pin#203

Tabletop Arcade#193

Rubber Tree#40

Model Train#12,940

Alamofire#12,775

Acoustic Amp#182

97 Bottles Button#131

Longhorn Skull#71

Bluebonnet#158

Airbag Industries Pin#70

Pining For The Fjords

One of the most interesting (& nerdy) responses I’ve read so far has been from Kevin Hoffman, who I just had the opportunity to meet in person last week. Kevin is the User Experience Director at Happy Cog, one of the most respected agencies in the web industry. In his post, Attack of the Client Services Zombies, Kevin talks about how serving clients is about being a tactical super-hero and making sweet mind babies. Yea, that’s pretty much Kevin’s post in a nutshell. To translate, Kevin is basically saying that he enjoys working for clients, even if you think e’s kicked the bucket. Also, I really need to stop summarizing blog posts and let you read them for yourself.

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life

In Khoi’s defense, I was nodding along as I read his admittedly sensationalistic post. Having spent most of my career producing and maintaining web sites for clients in various agency settings, I understand his position. For about a year now though, I’ve been working as a User Experience Designer for an awesome company that not only produces an amazingly designed product, but lets us take ownership of it as well – the pinnacle of all opportunities, according to Khoi. I love my job and I love working with a team of exceptionally talented people. With that said, I loved my last job too and the one before that, and the one before that as well.

I could talk all day about the differences between working within the constraints imposed by clients and tackling usability issues on a popular application. I can tell you all about the hats I had to wear while working at a 2-man web shop and how I still wore the same hats at one of the largest interactive agencies in South Carolina. If you really wanna know, I can even tell you the things I miss about client work. No matter where I’m at though, I’ll still get up every day, tinker with code, push pixels and solve problems. If that makes you as happy as it makes me, there are plenty of opportunities out there. Not all of them are glamorous and some pay more than others, but for anyone willing to keep learning, none of those paths are dead.

Say No More, Say No More

The bottom line is that you can do great work anywhere as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and a passion for what you’re doing. To borrow Aarron’s now-famous tagline, you just need to love what you do.

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