Washington, D.C. & Sandy Point (Annapolis, Md)
I visited my friend Adam on a last minute trip to Maryland before school started. We walked around downtown DC on the first night, and then walked around the mall to the Washington Monument. Saturday we went to Sandy Point, near Annapolis, because I needed to see the ocean (even though it’s only technically only a bay!) A great way to spend the last moments of my vacation.
Best of summer photo class
I took a photo class at Western over this summer and I’m finally getting a chance to put these online.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
‘Data Archeology’ – Today’s metaphor, tomorrow’s interactive experience
More thoughts on metaphors as interactive
As a former English major, I’ve stayed up more than my share of nights trying to come up with the best analogies to draw. Sort of geeky sounding I know. I was wired that way, I guess. I enjoy analogies and metaphors. Thus it’s no surprise that I harp on this subject so much, now that the promise of new metaphors seems so apparent in the way that computers can interact with us in new heuristic ways.
Interactivity now gives us a way to go beyond content, the noun , to the verb, to not only design form, but allow the frame to now define interaction: the “how” of our user experience. For example: “Digging for information.” Imagine how this common idiom could mean something entirely different if we were discussing information architecture.
Ever wish you didn’t have to dig through tons of pages of a web search on google to find something very specific? Imagine giving the user a “shovel,” separating the screen into a bunch of frames of a google search, and allowing the user to “dig through” the content from layer to layer, page by page.
So essentially it would look like a large grid – with websites in them, layered one on top of the other. Each icon on the first layer would represent one of those expanded entries given on the first page of google, and you would be able to get to those other pages by “peel off” or “shoveling” from the last page,; you could, of course, bookmark pages you wanted before you “dug” further. You could also search several layers of different things, and then “dig” and use the juxtaposition of unrelated ideas to synthesize new, fresh ideas.
Finally, you could generate random “layers” based on google searches that have been recently used by other users. And you could “sift” out any attributes of a layer you didn’t want to see, such as a period when the website was published, or locations, or names, or anything. This “gold panning” could become known as the new user interface version of “data mining”. And the new app, approprately, a “data archeology.”
If I only was a genius like Jonathan Harris; I could make this happen. Where’s the Indiana Jones of PHP when you need him? 
Southerntouch website mockup
Thought I’d share one of my recent projects I was working on. I’m working on a website for a lawn business and put this together in Indesign. I think we are going to meet and discuss it, make the other pages and then I get the fun part of worrying about the CSS. It’s alright though, Iloveit!
Great North American Gulfshores’ JigsawChickenFish
The “Great North American” Gulfshores’ Jigsaw Chickenfish is a species that was first spotted on gulf shores Alabama in 2011. It is often mistaken for the clownfish, and shares its mischievous demeanor.
Though be forewarned– these are not gentle fish– and a few unlucky tourists who were not wearing their required boots and gloves have had a brush with the creature. Chicken fish are normally nonviolent, but many become so if approached during the spawning season, when they travel from far off parts in the sea where they live as solitary scavengers, to lay their eggs on the shore and do their famous clucking
and head- bobbing ritual that gives them their name. This spectacle can be heard for miles, and even has become a new facet of New Orleans tourism.
The method behind the madness: direct sales, and why businesses will turn to the IPAD but why flash won’t disappear either.
When I was an undergrad at the University of Louisville, I bought one of those clunky portable DVD devices when it first came out. It wasn’t to watch movies, although (looking back) I think I used it more for movies than anything. I bought it because, while interning at the video department, I envisioned selling my video talent to my “clients” at a place where neither of us had a computer (or television) on hand. When mobile phones and the Iphone were introduced, they promised the same portability and a visual supplement to face to face sales. The problem was, the screen was too small.
Now with IPAD, we have a device that will not only attract people who like touch screens or want to impress their friends at a party, but business people who want to make an impression with their clients. IPAD promises the technology of merging the preloaded power of the power-point presentation with the portability of a legal pad. Add Iphone apps, which are soon to flood the market, and we will have a maelstrom of potential selling abilities at our fingertips. Think apps that will merge server data and infographics with client information, to make personal selling more even more personal. Think apps that can not only sell the product, sign the deal, but also sign up the client to their database. Now given, those things can now be done with any computer, yet the presentation factor of an Ipad surely is better than a PC or even a macbook. Either one seems clunky by comparison.
However, I’ll admit that facing this reality hasn’t been easy for me. I’m studying interactive design, and Steve Job’s announcement that flash would not be allowed on “his” Ipad and Iphone were particularly hard to digest. To me, this, along with the “bad antenna” and excuses that were made for it, spoiled Apple’s otherwise flawless brand. I mean, hadn’t designers been giving apple free word-of-mouth marketing help for years? This was how I came to have a macbook pro, in fact. Today, partly because of the Computer Science part of my school program, which uses PCs, and partly because of Job’s gaffe, I prefer to work on Visual Studio and have the Adobe design studio CS4 loaded on my PC.
Steve Jobs may decide the future of some flash developers, but I certainly don’t see the market for flash going away quickly. First of all, HTML 5, which he promotes as a substitute for flash is not going to be supported on many browsers for at least a few years. Most importantly, advertisers need flash. It is the model software for banner and interactive advertising. The web does run on advertising (and direct sales), after all.
Not that the business world would care if designers weren’t able to pay their rents or buy their baby formula, but businesses do need designers. You can’t “crowdsource” a great design, and there still would be a need for people who can make innovative interactive ads. And right now at least, there is no development IDE besides flash for creating interactive ads. I do not think flash does as much interactively as I would like to see, but I have higher standards somewhat, and that would require it to be as interactive as Javascript, and as detailed as Maya 3D. It’s still the best thing out there.
Also, the innovators at Adobe will continue to make sure flash and actionscript work. In fact, Python already allows flash to function on the Ipad with Adobe’s CS5 release. It stands to reason that Adobe will continue to perfect flash and rewrite it if necessary to work with HTML5, or perhaps another programming language.
Finally, it was announced in July 2010 that RIM will make a viable competitor to the IPAD that will come with flash built in. Is it long before other competitors follow?
While Apple is still a much smaller percentage of the computer market, their percentages are growing. There’s a good reason that their market will benefit with product managers and sales reps who traditionally use PCs buying Ipads, then buying a mac later for the office. While the Ipad may impede flash, it will continue, mainly because it will continue to be the best application for moving online banner ads. Selling will always take many guises, but the point must continue to be reaching the customer, and both Ipad and flash do this excellently! This author thinks they are both here to stay.
