After leaving my house in Vancouver at 5AM, flying all day to finally check into our hotel in Boston at 6PM, Mark and I were exhausted. Time to check in, take a nap and then find a good meal. Not only did we arrive at a super swank boutique hotel called The Liberty Hotel, but [...]
If I was asked who Stefan Sagmeister was a week ago, I could’ve given a handful of knee-jerk descriptions; he’s a designer, he’s provocative, he’s influential. I could’ve said many things to describe the icon he has become, but I would have failed to mention that he’s human.
“Everybody who is honest is interesting.”
On Friday afternoon, [...]
The drive to improve and succeed has increasingly lead to professionals in all trades to specify down to minute processes in projects. A photoshop artist will focus entirely on fashion retouching, or an interactive designer will draw boxes and arrows all day long. Along with this professional focus, influences and inspiration can also become focused. [...]
As featured on Design Taxi
Macro or Micro?
The new Vancouver International Film Centre seems like the perfect venue for something called VIDFEST, a five day “festival” put on by New Media BC and meant to connect and promote the digital media sector. That said, the location is much smaller than the Granville Island facilities used [...]
London was buzzing for the last two weeks of September. Everywhere you looked, on every street corner there seemed to be something about design. The city was filled with museum exhibits, public art and storefronts with interactive installations. I took in what I could in a week before heading to the south of France for [...]
During the iDesign conference in London I heard Bill Thompson talk about design’s role in the world of technology and he mentioned the locking down of Apple’s newest portable products. I did some reading and found quite a lot under the surface. I was very close to buying an iPod Touch but now I’m reconsidering.
Apple [...]
In the UK, where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks, pay rates for design freelancers are up in many cases, particularly when it comes to digital disciplines, according to DesignWeek’s second annual survey.
Overall, pay increases have been extremely healthy over the last twelve months, with increases of 13% cited, and a further 9% [...]
I was somewhere over Northern California headed south when the fear started to take hold. I remember wondering about what lay ahead thinking something to the effect of ‘what am I doing here?’ As a graphic designer only peripherally interested in animation, 3D rendering, motion capture, or gaming, I was afraid that I might not [...]
This blog was started years ago in part as a repository for our inspirations, yet I think we often drift away from that purpose a bit, so I want to share something that inspired me this weekend: discovering new music.
Obviously music plays a big part in most of our lives. It’s always stated as a [...]
June 4th marked the launch of the new London 2012 Olympic logo and it didn’t take long for the controversy to begin. I’d already fielded a number calls and emails before lunch from friends, designers and even the media. My inbox is filled with emails about the subject from various GDC designers across the country—some [...]
Mark just asked me to take ten minutes and jot down my opinions about what a student (or anyone I guess) should do/include/avoid when putting together and presenting a portfolio. A couple years ago I actually did a post on the topic on this blog.
Since then I have been on the receiving end of hundreds [...]
Well, we did it, again. The Industrial Brand/Legends Memorabilia “PicniCANtics” took top honours in this year’s Canstruction Vancouver for the third, THIRD, year in a row (2005 Award, 2006 Award). For those not in the know, Canstruction is an international design/build competition that benefits local food banks, brings together teams of architects, engineers, graphic artists [...]
The longer I stay in this industry, the more I realize the difference between producing graphically appealing (pretty) solutions and creating strategic communication designs that produce results.
Though I use my training in Graphic Design daily and often find much of what I do professionally to be based on visual language and aesthetics, it is only [...]
Some time last year I began considering about the similarities between branding loyalty and belonging to a church after an interesting conversation with Rick Poyner, the design critic and founder of Eye Magazine, who said
“Religion is now just another lifestyle option fighting for survival with all the other brands in the chaos of the marketplace.”
[...]
I feel a rather humbled and a little bummed out since attending Rimmerfest at SFU downtown on November 25. It was both an inspiration and an honour to be among Canada’s Graphic Design elite to celebrate and honour one of Canada’s living national treasures, the printer, publisher, and one of the few remaining typography and [...]
During the iDesign conference in London I heard Bill Thompson talk about design’s role in the world of technology and he mentioned the locking down of Apple’s newest portable products. I did some reading and found quite a lot under the surface. I was very close to buying an iPod Touch but now I’m reconsidering.
Apple has spent a lot of time trying to ensure that anyone who buys an iPod is completely locked in to an Apple-centred world in which they use iTunes, buy from the iTunes Music Store, and purchase only Apple-certified iPod accessories.
The recent launch of the new range of iPods, including the video Nano and the iPod Touch, has shown just how far Apple is willing to go to make life difficult for its users in order to shore up its dominant position in the market for music players and downloads.
Three Strikes, You’re out:
One: If you had gone to the trouble of making your own ringtones for your iPhone using clips of songs from your library then you will find they are all gone the next time you sync with the latest iTunes. Apple now sells ringtones to its US customers for $0.99 and it would rather you paid up than made them yourself.
Two: It seems that the new generation of iPods will not output video through cables or docks that aren’t Apple authorised and have a specific “authentication” chip. Apple charges a hefty cut for joining its approved suppliers programme, and this is a way to ensure that vendors sign up.
Three: iTunes keeps your songs organised using a database, and over the years a number of free and open source music players have been developed that can read and write this database format. Any Linux user who wants to use an iPod needs a non-Apple library manager. Programmes like gtkpod, Rhythmbox and Banshee are easy to use and don’t try to sell you songs all the time, but now Apple has added a new feature to the iTunes database, a special number which is calculated from your list of files using a process only Apple knows. If the number is wrong, your library looks empty. And because the free players don’t know the algorithm used, they can no longer be used with iTunes/iPod.
These three examples point to a larger strategy that Apple has adopted. It may be a strategy that Apple has had for a while as the iPod was never really that open a device. But now it’s getting to the point where users will really start to feel the squeeze.
This got me thinking about the iPhone. I have to admit it, Apple has done a great job of making the iPhone one alluring gadget, here at our own studio most of us are lusting over the iPhone even if it’s unusable as a phone in Canada. It’s touch-screen interface is a pleasure to use and so intuitive.
I am an early adopter, the iPhone is made for people like me. Back in 2000 when Apple first launched its iPod, I was right there, then it was miles ahead of the pack.
Apple has been extremely slow to improve upon that first generation iPod. With nothing more than cosmetic changes to the original apart from the fundamental video capability. The iPhone has been a long time coming and it’s a bit of a closed box when you look at it closely. With a price tag of $640 you’d expect it to have at least the same amount of features as some other smart phones.
Here are some of its deficits:
1. Can’t exchange contact information via bluetooth with other PDAs,
2. Can’t listen to music with bluetooth headphones,
3. Bluetooth can only be used to answer phonecalls (limited)
4. Web browser is not flash compatible
5. No zooming for the camera
6. No flash for the camera
7. No video camera
8. NOT compatible internationally like most other smart phones
Sure, there are hacks, Hacktheiphone.com is full of tutorials and software but that’s besides the point. It’s clear that the iPhone is a first generation product. It didn’t really dissuade me back in 2000 when I bought the iPod but I’m going to wait and see what direction Apple will take it.
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October 10th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Apple has always behaved like this. Since the first Macintoshes (and even before, in the Apple II days), it has always been Apple’s goal to monopolize their marketplace. They want to provide it all - the whole “Apple experience,” as it’s called - hardware, software, and now media players and media. And they want to do it on their terms.
The only difference between now and then is that they are the dominant force in the media player / online distribution store. Before (and even today in the computer market), they were required to play by the rules and interoperate with other hardware and software companies. They’re too small a player in the computer industry to “go it alone.” That’s not the case with the iPod and the music store. They’re the dominant force and can do anything they want, and it shows. They’re doing it.
You would think that people would resist this sort of monopolization and stand up by not buying the company’s products. But Apple fans are… “thinking different.” They seem to think that buying the product (iPhone) and making it do things it was never intended to do, will somehow teach Apple a lesson about opening up their products.
Apple doesn’t care. They get the money either way.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
It doesn’t really surprise me that more people aren’t “sticking it to the man” in terms of standing up to Apple’s attempted monopolization. When it comes to people’s priorities, of course people would rather have the super cool new iPhone than make their stand against Apple. For most people it’s not about “teaching Apple a lesson”, it’s about having something new and shiny, and it’s something we can all relate to.
While I certainly don’t agree with some of Apple’s methods, especially as of late, I still prefer it to Microsoft’s methods and standards. Microsoft is almost openly disdainful of its own customer, and continues to put out a product they know is inferior simply because they have the marketshare and they can get away with it. I’d rather go with a company that puts effort into increasing their marketshare and then employs less than admirable methods to keep them than one that already has the market share and tosses up the middle finger at the people who put them there.