Design Update Coming Soon…
I’ve never come back and updated the design of the blog like I should have, so after much ado, I’m working on an update for the July 4th weekend. I actually started this as a test blog, so I could fiddle with themes in relative anonymity. What happened after that makes no sense - I started getting traffic.
So then it turned into a “shit I’m obsessed with” blog, to catalog the time and date I became obsessed with various things. Only, after my denim obsession took hold I had to curtail my other obsessions. Thus, I’ve been a little slow to update.
Not anymore dammit. I’m fully commit to a site relaunch in the coming month so prepare to be…
mildly amused?
The New Standard
Today represents my take on Americana - modernized classics. This isn’t revolutionary, or even timely - I’ve been rocking this look now for a couple years - but’s it’s become my New Standard. Coined first by APC jeans with their New Standard cut in raw denim, I feel the name applies better to the combination of “trad” style, Americana, and revival vintage that has infected every major men’s clothing brand in the last 2 years. I like the palette it forms, how it balances masculinity and fashion without the compromise that “metrosexual” created. Mix in khakis or work trousers, fold in an updated work shirt, polo or simple button up oxford. Throw on brown loafers, saddle shoes, SeaVees or Common Projects - it’s like a canvas, but a more classic, American one upon which to paint one’s own style. It can look almost uniform, or it can be updated to look completely urban. This is my New Standard:
Moscot Nebb
Awesome Beard (This is Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio, not me)
Mine is just a simple white/blue Tattersall, but close.
The New Cure, which I now like better than the New Standard
Jack Purcells, (or Common Projects)
iPad Review - GQ and Maxim Magazine
I love print media on the iPad - it’s brilliant. Take the print media format to digital, but remove all the overhead that slows down accessing the material - booting the computer, waiting for all your application to load, rendering the media - even with a fast computer this process takes too many steps. Then there is the whole lack of a storefront for buying the media. The iPad fixes all of these problems, not to mention the touch interface just makes sense for magazines. Unfortunately for you and I, there are a limited number of companies who have ported their print media over to the iPad format. Here are the ones I’ve paid for, as well as some recommendations about whether you should switch to iPad format for these pubs.
First, GQ. I found the formatting to be well done - Conde Nast has clearly considered the format and not just tried to port over a pdf version using a reader-style interface. In many sections the content had been reformatted to fit the device and I can see a future where this format will allow you to click straight through to ecommerce for the products you like.
GQ - easy to navigate, well formatted content, well designed UI - A
Maxim, on the other hand, is a terrible waste of time and money - and not just because of the content. If all you read Maxim for is the hot chicks - you’ll like the app. If you actually want to read any of the content, you’re completely screwed. First, there is no zoom option - which means for sidebar articles the print is so tiny it’s unreadable. As you might know, in Maxim there are feature articles typically with hot women and lots of photos. These translate fine to the iPad - it’s a beautiful screen with fantastic resolution. But the rest of the content is formatted exactly the same as the print version only smaller - in bits and pieces that combine to make a one or two page spread of content. Without any of the touch-interface capabilities like double tap zoom or even pinch-to-zoom, you basically get fuzzy unreadable pages of probably snarky content.
Maxim paid a company to make this app. The company is called “Bite Sized Candy” and the Maxim iPad version appears to be a port of the iPhone version. Now, considering how crappy the iPad version is I can only imagine how miserable the iPhone version is with it’s tiny screen.
Maxim - poor use of iPad UI, terrible app interface, unreadable content, wish I could get my money back - F-
*Humorous side note about Bite Sized Candy. I visited their website and found that the site was built in Flash. I wonder if the battle between Apple and Adobe over Flash on the iPad goes beyond ego wrestling. I find that Flash websites are generally irritating and overdone, and they force you to use components of Flash within the webpage to navigate the content dynamically. I think this process renders many of the key capabilities in Apple’s touch OS almost useless. The more I work with the iPad the more I think I’m going to side with Apple in this argument. Flash has it’s place, but more and more I’m beginning to think that place is on interactive cd’s and kids games and not the internet.
Sorry Bite Sized Candy, but I think your talents with Flash are just unfit for the iPad world.
iPad Media Reviews - OriginalAnalog
Now that I’ve had time to fiddle with Apple’s magical mystery media machine, I’m convinced that this is the right device for media consumption. The issue, thus far, is the inconsistency about media on the device. Since the iPad has been my biggest obsession besides denim for the past few years, I’m going to provide comprehensive reviews about the different types of content I’m devouring through my iPad.
Overview.
At a high level, I think the iPad does print almost as well as print. Comics, magazines, news - all are fantastic on the iPad. They are not all created equal, so I will provide ongoing reviews about iPad print options and what you need to know.
The iPad does video media quite well, but where you run into trouble is that many sites are still using Flash for video media and as we all know, Apple and Adobe are going through a rough patch. Adobe said some things, and bedroom performance has been troublesome. So Apple changed the locks and now Adobe is all pissy. Well, in the meantime, we consumers (in this metaphor, the kids) are getting the shaft. Not that I want Flash on my iPad - Apple is right about it being a battery life drainer and CPU hog, not to mention all the lockups and crashes it causes. Flash is nothing but seizures and cardiac episodes - you don’t want it on your iPad. But it does make the web a little empty at times. Regardless, for those forward thinking media companies who are building apps for video - Netflix and ABC - the experience is awesome. Way better than the PS3 or Xbox 360.
Games are supposed to be the iPad’s big frontier, and I’m just not that big of a casual gamer. I have a PSPgo, which I love for games. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but for REAL games like Madden or Ratchet and Clank, I want buttons and thumbsticks. For Tetris, a touchscreen is fine. And that is really the difference in the approach to gaming on the iPad - casual games are nice, REAL games suck. But I will break this down in more detail over time.
Web surfing and social media. For this, the iPad is a no brainer. If most of your online usage consists of Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and/or Twitter - get an iPad and retire the laptop. You’ll thank me. The iPad has made the web as convenient to pick up and browse as print media, only with integrated multimedia. It’s perfect actually. A true separation of media consumption (iPad) and media creation (laptop.)
So check back - I’ll be dropping mad dope reviews yo.
iPad Pontification after 2 days of use.
Note: I have been an Apple computer user for years, and an evangelist for most of those. I will probably never own another brand as my primary PC, but I’m no longer as evangelical as I once was for Apple Computers. Apple gadgets, on the other hand, are brilliant and I absolutely love the Apple lifestyle ecosystem.
Ok, disclaimer aside, I feel that the gadget blogs have got you covered if you are looking for semi-snarky pseudo reviews of the iPad. What seems to be missing is a philosophical review from the perspective of a consumer, rather than a gadget whore or app developer who plans to cash in. I do love me some electronical gizmos, but I’m not a whore anymore (*thanks Dr. Drew.) I may one day build an app for the appstore, but I have no current plans to do so.
I will give Apple this, for all the hype I believe the iPad is going to change media. While the computer provided the same basic capabilities as the iPad, the laptop and desktop computer were never meant to be lifestyle devices - they are productivity devices. This is a major fundamental difference since the iPad is a device best designed for people consuming media or interacting with it - without the overhead of capabilities needed to CREATE said media. The iPad, from what I can tell, doesn’t currently aspire to replace the desktop or laptop, but rather to deliver a better way to do 90% of the non-work related things we do on a computer today.
It’s more easily portable.
The interface is more intuitive.
The OS is less intrusive and thus, not as much of a barrier to tasks.
Access is nearly instant.
Notifications are sent even if the device is asleep.
It does print media as well as traditional print media.
It does the internet as well as a PC.
I curled up and watched a movie on it, in a room without a TV.
And I bought a magazine, a game, a comic book, a great productivity app, all without leaving my chair. Except when I needed to get up, and then I left my chair, took it with me, went to the kitchen and took it with me, and then handed it to my 7 year old and let him watch America’s Funniest Videos on Youtube while I made us a snack. It wasn’t cumbersome. It was like I had always had one.
And when more media outlets figure out the device, more of the things all of us like to do will be accessible this easily.
At least as of Monday April 5th, the world isn’t transformed. But the iPad has ushered in a wholesale change to the way we interact with media, and this is only the beginning.
Imagine what it’s about to do for computing?!
iPad Envy. Basterds.
Ok, so it hasn’t even come out and I have iPad envy. What the fuck is that about?!
My rationale for not getting one on launch day is strong. I want 3G built in, it extends the lifespan and usefulness of the device. I don’t really like paying more for 3G, and Apple has a tendency to drop prices within year 1. I wanted a damn forward facing camera, which it will have in a year.
All are good arguments for waiting, at least for a while, and yet here I am thinking I should go ahead and get one. They are so cool, I tell myself. There isn’t going to be a better device for client presentations, I argue. With Keynote built in, it’s the cooooolest. Forget iChat, forget price changes, forget 3G…WiFi is most places you go and won’t it be so coooool.
Which makes me think the wait for 3G, if nothing else, is worth it. As a portable presentation machine it’s the coolest thing ever. That, and/or a pico projector. I also like the camera connector digital shoots so I can better review shots before moving on. But again, I will likely want “anywhere, anytime” access and that screams 3G.
So, I go to bed tonight dreaming of iPads, imagining being the cooooolest kid on the block by having one, and realizing that I envy now, but as soon as the 3G versions come out I’d have envy all over again.
Damn ingrained early adopter habits! Damn you!
SeaVees - New Obsessions
I was reminded during a chat with a friend today how much I loved SeaVees when I was in LA last week. Every shoe was just brilliant. So, since I can’t bring myself to sell my car for some Common Projects, I present you with my OTHER favorite shoe obsession.
Most Font Sites Munch Balls
Like anyone who takes an interest in design, I love fonts. Coming across a great font makes me WANT to design something with it. I think the desire and impulse centers of a designer’s brain function similarly to the sexual pleasure centers of the brain - when you see someone who is hot, your brain tells you to have sex with that person. Well, mine doesn’t because I’m married - it only tells me that when my wife looks hot, which admittedly is often. But the point is, when I see an awesome font I want to immediately design something with it and until I do, I’m anxious.
The worst thing about fonts though, is finding them. Most font sites are clearly designed based on 10 fonts, then overtime expand to this unimaginable library of things that, when looked at on a font site, lose almost everything that makes them interesting. I recently found a site called Myfonts.com that broke the mold. I loved seeing the font in context of a design. I like how the font was presented in a visual library format rather than a giant page of the same text rendered over and over and over and over and over until your brain can no longer process any clear difference. By my 50th font I can’t even tell if the fucking thing is serif or not.
Well, obviously I can tell if it is a serif font or not, but not much more than that.
So I’ve spent the last couple days obsessing over fonts for a new brand, scouring Fontshop and fonts.com and veer and thinking, this is shit. This process is remarkably demotivating and is crushing my will to design anything.
So kudos to myfonts.com, I only wish you had a larger library of fonts.
Here are images of the visual style that myfonts.com uses to present fonts. (For the record I’m not an affiliate and don’t have permission to use these images, so I really hope they don’t take issue with this.)
Curiosity
I’m a curious guy. It’s a problem actually, because I become obsessed with things and can’t get them out of my system until I try them. I love art for this reason, because it’s fundamentally about experimentation and executing a vision. My biggest problem with this personality trait (which obviously is quite beneficial in most circumstances) is that I have to try things that I have no longterm interest in. For example, I don’t want to become a bag maker but I can’t stop exploring the process of making leather (and now denim bags.) I have no interest in becoming Louis V, just like I have no interest in being a full time artist - but I love the process of creating things.
My newest obsession is denim (as anyone who reads this blog already knows) and I’m pretty obsessed with trying to create things out of denim. The phenom behind Rogue Territory has inspired me to learn to make things from denim - not because I think I can do it 1/10000000th as well as him, but because I’m fascinated with the process. I love the process of creating things, and while some people simply like to go buy shit - I enjoy fully understanding the nuanced differences that go into the creation of certain products. I’ll never care to make a pair of glasses, I could care less about the process of making socks, but part of me wants to learn to use a loom so I can make a sweater.
Of course, this is the same part of me that hated watching people make shitty websites and decided to learn HTML/CSS. It’s the same part of me that realized there were far too many terrible logos and decided I needed to learn Adobe Illustrator so I could help people I know (with businesses) get better logos. I love designing things, but I’m OBSESSED with process.
So anyway, I made my own pizza crust (and cut fresh ingredients) this weekend, I built a website for fun this weekend, I’m studying Louis V right now so I can make the perfect 4 day travel bag, and I’d like to learn to make a shirt or pair of pants.
But for now I’m working on a new series of paintings and crafting a launch plan for my new agency brand. I’m a geek. But a curious one.
Mobile web enabled consumers don’t = mobile commerce
Really?
After speaking with dozens of online retailers this week, I couldn’t turn off my brain. Mobile…mobile…mobile… It reminded me of the early buzz around social media, which plenty of people jumped into early with misguided notions. So I’m stuck on the idea of mobile e-commerce, and whether or not it’s really viable. If it is, what will it look like?
First, just because I have an iPhone with great web surfing, always on data access, and access to bajillions of custom apps doesn’t necessarily mean that everything I was doing on my pc before is going to shift to my phone. Email, yes. Twitter, blogging, facebook - yes. Google searches, yes. Shopping?
I buy apps and songs through my mobile. Because I have an iTunes account and know that the environment is safe. When I’m at Best Buy, I always keep them honest by checking my phone. But not once have I decided by price checking against my local big-box retailer that the better deal online needed to be bought right there on the spot via my phone. Don’t want to whip out my credit card in public, don’t want to fat finger my cc# 3 times, don’t want to be a fraud victim because it wasn’t convenient to click on the Thawte or McAfee logo at the bottom of the page to verify it’s authenticity.
In fact, when I’m sitting at the Dentists office for 30 minutes or at the airport waiting for a connection, I’m not thinking I need to go shop Amazon and buy a new Canon lens or hit up J.Crew for a new cardigan in grey because I don’t have one and it occurred to me suddenly that I had to have it.
I don’t go to Barnes and Noble and decide to subscribe to GQ for $12 rather than buy the latest issue for $4. I don’t buy toilet tissue from Wal-mart because it’s cheaper online than at the Target I’m standing in.
In fact, when I run through my last 50 purchases I can’t think of a single one I might have been compelled to buy online. So why, if I can’t make a case does it seem the whole retailing industry is buzzing about the need to go mobile?
One theory is because social is proving to be a solid marketing tool (except Facebook) and online retailing has proven that those late to the party pay for it, so they’ve become trained to be obsessed with being early adopters.
Another theory is that they are just blinded by the cool technology and the idea of monetizing all those consumers.
In the end though, while I love gadgets and mobile technology, I’m having a really hard time seeing the need for taking e-commerce mobile in the traditional sense.
I think Starbucks’ iPhone app is a good example of how to make it work. Pre-ordering by app to avoid lines is something I can get behind.