Ideas and Discoveries
conference
“Future of Web Apps” in My Immediate Future
I’m zipping under the English Channel to attend the FOWA conference in London.
business
Follow the Grid, Skip the Lines
My post office features a clever heat-map grid to announce slow and busy hours. A perfect idea for the web.
icons
C’est la Beach
As Paris morphs into the Riviera, some clever icon design works its own transformation.
amazon
Amazon Image Bookmarklets
Add these to your browser for easy access to large images of book covers, album art or commercial products.
c25k
No Pain, No Pain: The “Couch to 5K” and Humane Design
I wrote the “C25K” training program for new runners over a decade ago. Its philosophy overlaps neatly with my philosophy of software design.
bigmedium
Controlled
Your faithful correspondent fell under the browbeating eye of authority on a few recent and essentially trivial occasions, making me think a bit about the effects of control, rule enforcement and tone in my own work.
art
Design Treasures Found and Lost in the Paris Métro
Tons of cool historical design in the Paris subway is getting gutted.
business
Paper Cup? Five Bucks, Please
When behind-the-scenes systems replace common sense and customer expectations. A parable at the coffee stand.
business
Will Work for Magic: Creativity and Play at SXSW
My latest scheme to improve productivity and creative flow: Screw around. Waste time. Make stuff. Banter. Play.
conference
Messin’ with Texas
If you’ll be in Austin for the SXSW Interactive Festival over the next several days, be sure to say howdy.
creativity
A Subtle Nose for Coffee, a Taste for Good Design
A coffee tasting leaves a caffeine buzz and a lesson that applies to design, too: In matters of taste, subtlety is everything.
creativity
Centaurs and Park Benches: Innovation by Idiosyncrasy
A park bench becomes a subversive design element. Every project needs one.
art
Gotta Have a Helipad: Banality and Betrayal in Design
A neighborhood landmark gets a garish transformation, and thoughts wander to designer responsibility and online communities.
art
Buggy Behavior at the Louvre
The Louvre lifts a photo ban, and visitors go insane. A small change in the rules can spark dramatic behavior shifts, not always for the better.
community
Pay To Play: Fair Price for Good Community
A new bike-sharing program in Paris suggests that a modest fee buys good behavior.
c25k
A "Jogcast" for New Runners
My “couch to 5k” training plan for new runners is made even better by Robert Ullrey’s podcast version.
conference
Lightning! Blimps! Submarines! And, um, Machine Tags!
Amid flying tomatoes, lightning strikes and Tardis sightings, much code was hacked at London Hack Day.