0
3
Nov

Bantjes vs. Vit

Armin Vit

Image copyright © 2007 Armin Vit

This weeks presentation of Layer Tennis over at Coudal Partners was simply fab. I’m a huge fan of both designers – Marians scripty-goodness and Armins no-nonsense aesthetic both move me.

The match played out in a very interesting fashion – Marian sending volley after aggressive volley over to the net which may have caught Armin on his heels. His returns were beautiful but definitely seemed to promote making amends over sinking the opponent. Philosophically I think I’d be more Armin than Marian – but she definitely wrapped up the win with some powerful conviction.

Congrats to Marian on the win and thanks to Armin for pulling through some beautiful retorts. You guys are fab.

0
1
Sep

AEA Chicago ’07

AEA Chicago ‘07

This past August I was fortunate enough to catch the Meyer/Zeldman roadshow “An Event Apart” in Chicago – a city I’ve not been to before. Overall I’d have to say that it was one of the best (web-related) conferences I’ve been to. Here’s why. First of all – Chicago is an amazing town. Architecturally speaking, the city is incredibly diverse and visually interesting. It screams creativity. Secondly, the line up of speakers was fantastic and diverse. Jeffrey Zeldman was as entertaining as he was enlightning and Liz Danzico’s refinement of the 10 Rules of IA was brilliant. A real plus for me was that the conference was run as a single track session – no opportunity to have two speakers you’d like to see speak at the same time in two different venues. It’s a simplifying approach that makes it easy to see what you want. This created a very different experience than the one I had at SXSWi. Perhaps it was this that added to the genuine sense of intimacy at AEA that was completely unexpected. Watch speakers during the day then have a drink with them in the evening. Lovely. The material covered was extensive though not too mired in detail. It was presented as a building block – a starting point for conversation mixed with ideas to get rolling with. I like that. It’s the type of learning that works for me – enough theory to enable understanding with practical examples that let me get stuff out the door.

There were too many highlights to cover – dinner at the Billy Goat with Grant, Beau, Jason, Mr. Warren, Mark, Rob and Liz was probably one of the better times I’ve had. Cheezborgers for all.

+ The group pool is here

0
1
Apr

GDC Presentation Abstract

Usability: Why is it so hard to make things easy?

GDC at 50 Years.

Image copyright © 2007 David Coates & Matthew Warburton

[UPDATE]

Attendees are encouraged to download the presentation below for future reference. The presentation is password protected, so just drop me a line for access.

+ Download the presentation 1.3MB PDF

This presentation by Issa Breibish + Grant Hutchinson is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

Title

Usability: Why is it so hard to make things easy?

Introduction

As designers, we hear the term ‘usability’ uttered frequently when discussing the web. But usability applies to everything we interact with … software programs, door handles, iPods, kitchen utensils, automatic hand dryers in airport washrooms, and pretty much anything else that requires a push, pull, squeeze, shake, twist or click. Believe it or not, many the things we learn while interacting with our physical environment can be applied to web design … providing you know what questions to ask and where the answers are lurking.

Issa Breibish and Grant Hutchinson will discuss why it’s so hard to make things easier to use. They’ll share best practices and qualitative examples compiled from their combined experience in web design and user interface development. All delivered with a mighty smack of the reality hammer.

Biography: Issa Breibish

Issa Breibish is a founding partner and the ‘guiding hand’ behind feature development at Veer. For the past 14 years, he’s been passionately pre-occupied with understanding how people interact with technology at a variety of companies including Adobe Systems, Verity, and Image Club Graphics. Issa spends much of his time focused on simplifying the user experience – and more importantly – getting ideas off of paper and into the real world.

Biography: Grant Hutchinson

On the way to his current web development gig at Veer, Grant Hutchinson designed typefaces, finessed the user experience, defined the product mix, and helped keep the storefronts tidy at visual content purveyors such as Image Club Graphics, Adobe, EyeWire, and Getty Images. Grant resides in Calgary, Alberta – along with a basement full of vintage computers and typographic paraphernalia that his wonderful wife wishes he would store elsewhere.

About Veer

Veer sources and delivers visual elements with imagination and style to help creatives diverge from the norm and generate fresh solutions. Their discerning, design-driven photography, illustration, type, motion, and merchandise products are used throughout the advertising, print, web design, corporate communications and publishing industries. Veer has offices in Calgary, New York and Berlin.