January 2012
1 post
WatchMy band has our first EP out today! We’re also playing tonight at The Silver Dollar in Toronto.
We recorded this ourselves with a very DIY setup and mixed it over the last couple weeks.
December 2011
4 posts
Feynman's Radio: The value of passing through. →
mmilan:
I’ve been thinking a lot about building teams recently. In a former job, I ran a large UX team, and one of the metrics I was judged on was employee retention. If people were sticking around, I was in good shape. If they were leaving, that was bad.
Starting and running my own design business has…
Updated Design Reading List | Normative - Design... →
Bryce Johnson / brycej: "A quick Siri note" from... →
thechickentest:
Quoted from http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2011/11/a_quick_siri_no.html
I’ve never actually played with Siri yet, so this example might be somewhat off the mark. And I made up the site. Still, it’s something we should keep in mind — especially accessibility specialists.
Me …
November 2011
4 posts
“Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no...”
– Thanks to Dave Gray for pointing this out to me during a conversation about service. This is the best and most simple rule for any person in a service position. If the police, TSA, and others used a guideline like this we would all be much better off. It really relates to a great post by Lukas...
My issue with "Design Thinking" this morning
I occurred to me this morning that one of my issues with “design thinking” and the way that it has been adopted is that it’s turned into the ultimate post-modern device. It has an uncanny ability to claim credit for, or apply itself to, any type of creative or unusual thinking after the fact.
I’ve seen a number of conversations, including one on CBC radio this morning,...
Post-cocious: Protest →
My friend Anu from San Francisco wrote this great reflection on the Occupy protests.. one of the better personal reflection pieces I’ve read on this topic.
October 2011
4 posts
Join us at Interaction12 | Normative - Design for... →
1 tag
September 2011
1 post
Institutionalized
I was sitting in my room, and I was like staring at the walls thinking about everything but then again I was thinking about nothing, and then my mom came in and I didn't notice she was there and she calls my name and I didn't hear her and then she started screaming: Mike, Mike!
And I go: What, what's the matter?
She goes: What's the matter with you?
I say: Nothing mom.
She goes: Don't tell me nothing, you're on drugs!
I go: No mom, I'm not on drugs, I'm ok, I'm just thinking, you know, why don't you get me a Pepsi?
She goes: No, you're on drugs, you're crazy, normal people won't be acting that way!
I go: Mom, I'm all right, I'm just thinking, you know, so why don't you, like give me a Pepsi?
And she goes: No, you're crazy!
All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me, just one Pepsi.
August 2011
2 posts
“We understand materials not by reading about them, or assuming what they can do,...”
– This is one of the best short pieces about art, design, technology, and material that I’ve read. It aligns perfectly with my own thoughts on the subject, and expresses them in a way I haven’t been able to.
I found this originally through Russell Davies...
July 2011
1 post
Reality Check | Toronto's libraries are under... →
Thanks to John McArdle for the link.
June 2011
7 posts
My thoughts after reading @rhjr's controversial...
Update/Note:
Due to a few comments I’ve received after posting this I want to make something clear: My thoughts in this post are a reflection of what I’m reading in Robert’s post, not my thoughts on Whitney’s presentation. I didn’t see the presentation and have no grounds on which to comment on it. Reading Robert’s post and some other things going on have...
Your website is part of your product whether you... →
My latest blog post for Normative about reframing your website as a product, not as marketing.
Interaction Criticism: How To Do It Handout «... →
A really interesting PDF document on how to do criticism of interaction design. This is a really great perspective, I’m planning to spend some time with this doc to see what I can pull into my own practice.
Do we need to understand the history of... →
A great thread on the IxDA discussion about understanding IxD history and how we should teach it.
“No blind spots in the leopard’s eyes
Can only help to jeopardize
The...”
– Outdoor Miner - Wire
Coding for Designers | Normative - Design for... →
My post on the Normative blog about design and code.
May 2011
4 posts
Lee Dale: A letter to dad. →
smack416:
Can you please start setting aside bail money for me as well, as Harper will be sure to pass through the Canadian DMCA on his third try now that he has a majority. (That’s the one in support of jailing people who download stuff off the internet).
As much as it would be fun to share jail…
Lee Dale: Conservative politics in North America... →
smack416:
Matt offers some salient points about our current crop of conservatives now further entrenched in parliament, the most important being the greatest myth conservative governments of North America have sold to the people: that they’re fiscally responsible.
For all my years this has been easy to…
Politics in Canada
I rarely post about politics.. but the events of the federal election in Canada, and the campaigns leading up to it, make me feel like i need to get some stuff out… This is half-baked and rant-y, but I’m compelled to post it anyway.
(originally written as a response to comments on the BlogTO.com election results post)
——-
People really need to do some research.
Harper,...
April 2011
4 posts
Ghost in the Pixel » Being a designer →
Uday has written a very passionate post about the nature of design and being a designer. My current feeling about this topic align very closely with his, and I’m happy to see others express these ideas so well.
AIGA's One Day for Design - Response
MJ Broadbent posted a link to Frank Chimero’s thoughts on the recent AIGA One Day for Design loosely organized conversation. In his post, Frank outlines what he sees as recurring problems in current design discourse. MJ rightly pointed out that some of these really rung a bell for us at the IxDA because they had also come up often during the Interaction’11 conference in February.
I...
Breaking the Silence
tktype:
The “Chartwell Explained” post is taking longer than I had hoped. Until then, here are a few samples illustrating a few of the many possibilities of Chartwell.
I should point out, you can color the values with any color you like. I just happen to prefer the simple b&w style.
March 2011
10 posts
The OCD Chef Cutting Board →
cameronmoll:
“Terrific for persnickety perfectionists.”
Design For The Network: Who Designs the Game... →
designforthenetwork:
@jpmcardle
Gamification is the word on many people’s lips after SXSW Interactive this year. It is also what trendwatchers, marketers and even some cultural theorists are talking about, particularly around the topic of how gamifaction might be applied to various human interactions with the…
Design For The Network: Hack Day at Normative →
John McArdle shares his experience of our studio hack day the other week. It was a blast, and I hope we do it again very soon.
designforthenetwork:
@jpmcardle
Last week Normative decided to take a day off from client work and, well, hack.
Since our unofficial mantra is “Design for the Network”, we thought it important to try and understand the future state of our networks when computing...
“Manovich was expounding the merits of “cultural analytics”—which he inaugurated...”
– I love Lev Manovich and his books should be a must-read for anybody working in new media.
HUMANITIES Magazine: March/April 2011: Graphing Culture (via vanderwal)
February 2011
4 posts
As a guitar player myself, I found this especially awesome.
Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing
1. Listen to the birds
That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere.
2. Your guitar is not...
Interaction'11 Thoughts and Themes
Interaction’11 wrapped up just over a week ago, and I’ve been letting my impressions sink in. There were many amazing moments, both in and out of the sessions. It was great seeing the community come together to learn from and teach each other.
Reflecting on the content of the sessions and hallway/party conversations left me with a few distinct themes. As usual, these are working...
“You just have to keep trying until they get a restraining order.”
– (via wisdomfrommyboss)
January 2011
6 posts
Cliches in Contemporary Art
Just saw this in Bruce Sterling’s blog. Having gone through art school in the late 90’s - early 2000’s I saw and participated in many of these cliches.
The only one I would add to this list is video art that uses the viewer’s image like a surveillance camera. I think I saw that 10000 times in 2001.
Quote from Contemporary Artworks We’ve Had Enough Of (originally from...
