The Wilson Project

Why Design Now?

Last week, I finally escaped DC for NYC. Got the chance to finally see the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, which is part of the large Smithsonian family. This museum’s focus is on design, whether functional or artistic. I got the chance to look at the exhibit Why Design Now? – part of the National Design Triennial.

This exhibit reminds me of MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind a few years ago but on a smaller scale. In this case, the various themes were grouped into areas such as communication, mobility, and energy. I was very interested in the Materials section, looking at some very beautifully crafted items made with processes that had little environmental impact. For example, packaging or dishware that used local materials (paper/plant material) while being easily biodegradable. And then, there are the eyeglasses…

I spend most of the day at the museum, soaking in all the design and getting recharged again after three months of work. Anyways, the exhibit is open until 1/9/2011. Enjoy.

Tagged as Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Design, interaction design, NYC, usability, user experience, user interface, UX.

Mental Steeplechase / Hurdle IA

After a some thought and some revisions, I decided that the homepage will take on the blog lister template. This caused the following changes in the primary navigation:

1. Changed primary navigation with addition of “Home” link
2. Changed “Information” with “About”
3. Replacement of “Blog” (main blog page) with “Blog Links” (gray section below containing Blogroll, Archives, and Meta)
4. Switched order of “Social Media” and “Blog Links”

An additional change was the addition of the site byline to the header.

As of today, this was the final substantial change to the look and feel of the Charles site. After almost a year and three concepts, Charles has its look and now I can move forward toward Charles’ completion in 1/1/2011.

Next steps:

1. Complete HTML5 code templates
2. Move TWP site from Windows to Linux server
3. Start initial steps/planning for CMS configuration

Tagged as Charles/TWP, Design, front-end, TWP.

Mental Steeplechase / Hurdle I

First screenshots of Delta TWP “Charles” site (with the exception of the homepage)

Tagged as Charles/TWP, Design, front-end, TWP.

On The Road Again…

In the fall, I will be attending two conferences within a span of a month.

First, on September 16-18, attending the DC edition of An Event Apart conference, led by Jeffery Zeldman and et. al.

Then two weeks later, on October 4-6, attending the Future of Web Apps conference in London, UK.

Lots to see and learn.

Tagged as conference, CSS, front-end, html, javascript, usability, user interface, web development, xhtml.

Back from Vacation

Re-entered the country on Memorial Day, after some relaxing (and wet) days in Vancouver, Canada.

Before falling back into the daily schedule, I took some concrete steps in completing Charles by building out of the first templates. A few more steps will be taken this month, leading to end of Project Charles by January 1st, 2011 (upcoming blog entry).

Besides Charles, there will be more changes during the later half of this year.

Later.

Tagged as Canada, Charles/TWP, Seattle, Vancouver.

News On The Homefront

NYC IxDA Redux

A big belated “Thank You” to IxDA New York for Interaction 10 Redux (3/6). It was nice to meet all the people who attended and to see all of the presentations that I missed at Savannah.  Would come back for another event hosted by the group if my schedule allow it.

Of course, that means I have to start paying attention to the home IxDA branch as well.

More Opera

Ironically enough, after NYC IxDA Redux, I went back to New York for my scheduled vacation for Met’s performance of The Nose. This weekend, went back to The Met for Lulu, the Alban Berg opera composed a few years after The Nose. Same decade, different moods but both are considered some of the most avant-garde works of their time. This was the last performance for me this season. Already planning for attending two performances next season in 2011 — John Adam’s Nixon in China and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.

Futura

If you have not noticed, the font has changed in this site. After the font change last year, I decided to re-evalute my choice and changed to the first choice of Futura. I like Super Grotesk and it was choosen because of its closeness to Futura. However, there were just some things that I felt were not right (weight, letter styles) for me. It was nagging me in the back of my mind for a few months. So I decided to go back to the first choice of Futura.

I am still on the look out for any other Futura-like fonts but the right choice has been made right now.

Recent Blog Entry for CDG

Last week, finally completed a book review of Morville/Callender ‘s Search Pattern for CDG and posted on the blog. Interesting read and really changed my ideas about search engines and how search result can be displayed for easier use.

I mentioned on Twitter (5/4) that this would be my blog for CDG for the next couple of months as I will be spending writing for this blog. A consquenence will be some important announcements about The Wilson Project and Project Charles, as well as some important blog entries.

Tagged as CDG, Charles/TWP, information architecture, interaction design, IxDA, music, NYC, opera, ui, user experience.

New Blog Entry for CDG: The Nose

Finally got time last week to write another blog entry for CDG. After some editing from the lovely Jennifer Hoppe, it came out today. Entitled What One UI Developer Learned at the Opera, it a short but important lesson about learning from other sources can be an aid in design work.

As well as a nice trip to NYC…

Related Links

• Met Opera (The Nose/Production) – http://www.metoperafamily.org/
  metopera/season/production.aspx?id=10378
• Met Opera (The Nose/Synopsis) – http://www.metoperafamily.org/
  metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=332
• MOMA (William Kentridge) – http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/964
  The installation used in the opera is called “I am not me, the horse is not mine”
  Exhibition (Flash) site -http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/williamkentridge/
• Dmitri Shostakovich (Wikipedia entry) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich
• Nikolai Gogol (Wikipedia entry) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogol
• Constructivism (Wikipedia entry) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(art)

Tagged as CDG, Design, Met, music, NYC, opera.