02.12.14 |
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Ben Blumenfeld over at Fast Company writes some solid advice, not just for landing a “dream job” but any tech job. What’s standout most is a quite from a design director at Square:
Designers spend so much time creating beautiful work and preparing their portfolio very thoughtfully; they shouldn’t forget the importance of having prepared questions as well–related to our customers, products, team or anything else that shows considered thinking beyond their presentation.
Having interviewed many candidates for developer roles, I find it a bit shocking how many otherwise very prepared, strong candidates have few to any questions that relate to the specific company they are interviewing for. You get the sense the candidate is a talented web developer that has no real passion for your product at all.
02.11.14 |
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Travis Miller writing on Medium:
You would think this goes without saying, but one of the stigmas designers and developers have in our industry, no matter how low they may be down the experience list, is that we tend to be full of ourselves. You don’t have to be a headline speaker to give some advice. If someone needs help, help them out. Don’t be a jerk.
02.10.14 |
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I’m finding fullscreen overlays increasingly common as websites tackle a universal look that’s applicable to a wide range of browser viewports. But there’s a lot more than a simple opacity fade to give the overlay effect uniqueness. Mary Lou’s examples over at Codrops flesh out a few examples.
02.07.14 |
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This Eurogamer article on the trouble launch of the Wii U has been passed around for a few weeks in gaming communities. But especially in light of Nintendo’s poor financial results and their need to shake up their business, it’s worth revisiting. This particular passage was flat out shocking:
This was surprising to hear, as we would have thought that they had plenty of time to work on these features as it had been announced months before, so we probed a little deeper and asked how certain scenarios might work with the Mii friends and networking, all the time referencing how Xbox Live and PSN achieve the same thing. At some point in this conversation we were informed that it was no good referencing Live and PSN as nobody in their development teams used those systems (!) so could we provide more detailed explanations for them? My only thought after this call was that they were struggling – badly – with the networking side as it was far more complicated than they anticipated. They were trying to play catch-up with the rival systems, but without the years of experience to back it up.
02.06.14 |
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The actual content isn’t super in depth, but there’s no way I could pass up sharing a twenty minute interview and discussion between two of arguably the most talented directors today. It’s always interesting to hear Kar-wai talk about his near obsessive, rigorous shooting schedule and his long working relationship with Tony Leung.
02.05.14 |
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Very simple, smart Javascript based tweening engine. Looks useful for extremely details animations where traditional CSS3 won’t cut it.
02.04.14 |
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Many “work on what you love” pieces overreach in their optimism. But there’s something about this writing by Scott Belsky, cofounder of Behance, that’s compelling. Maybe it’s the compactness and realism of what he’s pitching: work on things that you have genuine interest for, talent and opportunity.
02.03.14 |
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Andrew Lapin at The Dissolve:
The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook were David O. Russell films hiding inside Hollywood ones. American Hustle is the opposite. It’s so gauzy and extravagant that every outsized, Russell-lite character cancels out another one. What’s left is a political convention: a snazzy pageant with big flashbulbs that has little to do with the actual candidates. There is no emotional truth here, merely the sweet stench of the con.
01.31.14 |
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I have a habit of installing quirky screensavers on my Macs as a throwback to an earlier era. But with my latest Macbook Air I fell in line with the default settings sans screensaver, dissatisfied with what was out there. That all changed when I saw this screensaver by designer Robert Padbury, developed by Steve Streza. It’s a twist on the iOS7 lock screen with options for white on black or black on white typography. It’s minimal and extremely elegant.
01.30.14 |
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CSS Tricks’ Chris Coyier writes the definitive guide on when it is ok to add the “target=_blank” attribute to links. It’s a controversial subject with a wide range of opinion, but I agree almost entirely with his stance: when in doubt, *don’t use target*. Especially don’t use it as a sneaky way to keep users from leaving your page.