Apple
February 13, 2010, 10:41 PM
I went to the first post-Apple era Macworld on Friday and spent a couple of hours in the exhibit hall. This year it was only in the North Hall, much smaller than it has been in past years. A lot of the big names—besides Apple—that were anchors in previous Macworld Expos were not there: Adobe, Filemaker, Canon, EPSON. Microsoft, HP and others had smaller, toned down booths. The floor was packed with a lot of the smaller players and had a substantial area dedicated to iPhone apps. I found that I had to pay attention to the small exhibitors.
In terms of my show picks, here they are.
- TypeDNA: This is a series of plug-ins for Adobe CS4 that helps you preview and make decisions about your typeface choices. The innovation is that it analyzes 62 characteristics of every one of your own fonts to build a local database. From that database, it will allow you to search by styles, classifications and even find pairs of typefaces that go together. All this is based on scanning the letterforms, not checking the font name. Pretty incredible. It’s not out yet, but should be shipping in the next month or two.
- Topaz Labs Filters: This was the first demo that caught my eye. The speed and accuracy in which the ReMask plug-in works is incredible. Much easier to use than Photoshop’s native Extract tool or onOne Software’s Mask Pro.
- Inklet + Pogo Sketch: I’ve always been a Wacom tablet user. I just find that for Photoshop work, it’s invaluable. Inklet is software that allows you to use your MacBook Pro’s multi-touch trackpad as a tablet. Combined with the Pogo Sketch stylus, it’s like a mini-tablet built right in!
- Anti-Glare Screen Protector from Green Onions Supply: I’ve never liked the glossy screen on my MacBook Pro. So when I saw this on the show floor, and how it just cuts the glare, I had to pick one up.
June 08, 2009, 07:59 AM
As with most creative people, I have ideas. A lot of them. I’ve got ideas for websites, products and of course iPhone apps. The last bit has gotten me really excited recently, especially with articles about how tiny iPhone app developers have been able to make a lot of money. I’m not necessarily interested solely because of the iPhone gold rush—just partially—but also because of the thrill of exploring the new user interfaces that are possible with iPhone.
I’m not a developer. I’m a designer. Although if I tried really hard I could probably learn Objective-C and hack something together, it probably wouldn’t be the best quality and wouldn’t necessarily be the best app. There’s an old quote from Pixar’s John Lasseter that I love: “Art challenges technology and technology inspires art.” If I am to do anything well in the saturated iPhone appland, I need to find a genius dev.
In my quest to hook up with an iPhone developer—since I only know talented web devs—I found Steve Weller. Fantastic guy. He fits the profile of an Apple developer perfectly, in a good way. He knows his stuff and he lives and breathes Apple. Although we haven’t actually worked on a project together yet, he is of the same mindset: good developers need good designers (and vice versa).
To me there are just too many apps out there that are nice from a functionality standpoint, but really fail in user experience. That’s where we as designers can give an app that extra special sauce to help it reach Apple’s Top 25 lists.
Steve has organized a meetup for iPhone developers and designers during WWDC this week. It will be on Wednesday, June 10 at 12:15 by the waterfall at Yerba Buena Gardens. See his site for more info and to RSVP.
May 15, 2009, 08:35 AM
Customer and user experience is not always about the website, the phone call, or person-to-person interaction in a store. It can also come through the form of packaging.
I just bought a Mac mini recently (for a living room media server) and was blown away by the unboxing. Apple has always been really great about their packaging. Having worked at Apple, I’ve seen the extreme extent of explorations that go into creating the outside of the box (over 500 comps were created for the Power Mac G5 box). (Incidentally, I worked on the second generation iPod package that featured musical artists like Jimi Hendrix.)
What really impressed me about unboxing the Mac mini was not the outside (although nicely designed), but the inside. The package anticipated my every move. How? Let me illustrate.
After removing the slip case, the typical “Designed by Apple in California” copy is printed on the thin box of manuals and DVDs. This box sits flush with the larger box. Nicely protruding from the right side is a tab to pull the manual box out. The tab also acts as a closure for the box. Multipurpose.
Removing the manuals reveals the Mac mini. What most companies would do in this situation is force you to turn the box upside down and shake the product out. I’ve done this many times and have found it to be quite maddening.
Instead, Apple thoughtfully supplies two plastic tabs that allow you to lift the mini out of the box. Also very cool.
For the bottom of the box, another cardboard layer hides the power supply and cord. Again, there are pull-tabs here built in to help you lift it out of the box. Did you notice the graphic design pattern here? The tabs are all in the same place and of the same size and shape.
After being so impressed, I thought that surely Apple would fail on the one thing that companies always fail at: tape around the power cable would be impossible to remove. Nope. They read my mind and included a little tab to unwind the tape.
Nice work Apple. You had me at first tab.
February 24, 2009, 12:51 AM
When us designers start off designing a home page, we invariably create at least one variation that’s based on the Apple.com home page: a large hero graphic and three or four smaller promo tiles below that. That basic framework that Apple perfected is essentially a reference design.
However, their pioneering is more than just skin deep. Spoonfed Design has a pretty good analysis on why Apple.com is so great.
I think it’s a testament to the quality of work that comes out of Cupertino that most of their designs, whether it’s product, OS UI, advertising, print or online is held as the reference standard. Having worked at Apple, I can assure you that seemingly simple and elegant design (product shot with a headline set in Apple Myriad on a white background) is not as easy as it seems. Besides, what other company can you name that has sparked such design trends such as colored plastic, gel-like buttons, and glassy navigation tabs?
Usability Analysis of Apple.com: Why is it so Good?
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