Trapped in Time

WeGiveToGet.Com

Our newest site has just launched, which might be of particular interest to those of you in Chicago. We Give To Get is a deal of the day site for Chicagoans with a twist: 10% of every order goes to the charity of your choice. There are going to be a lot of great deals available from some of the biggest organizations in the city (hint: including sports teams), changing on a daily basis.

From a business standpoint, this is also the largest and most technical site we’ve created, and we’re really proud of what we’ve made here both on the front end of things and the back end in facilitating bringing users, businesses, and charities together in one place.

If you’re in Chicago, definitely check it out and create an account!

Like their music or not, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have been innovators and leaders in the music industry for over twenty years now. Over the past year Reznor has taken cues from Radiohead’s In Rainbows release and dropped several albums with no warning, making millions in the process and redefining the revenue model for established bands.

Not surprisingly, he and his team have also taken a proactive approach in developing one of the most engaging, community-based applications for the iPhone. In this demo Reznor, NIN art director Rob Sheridan (see: insane light show for their live concerts), and Digg’s Kevin Rose introduce the new app along with a slew of interactive features.

I love the push/pull effect that an iPhone app can leverage with an existing site, especially in the context of band and/or live music. The last few minutes of this demo are the most intriguing and innovative. Bridging the gap between those at a concert and those who are at home on their computers can be pretty powerful for bands and genres of music with a very devoted fanbase.

From the perspective of a designer and developer, much of this content can be pulled into the iPhone and pushed to the website with minimal ease utilizing XML feeds and developing light, compact web services that bridge the two. From the perspective of a business owner, there is a lot of untapped potential to develop more useful, interactive and ultimately fulfilling communities for both established and growing artists.

Up and running now.  Think it’s pretty fresh, especially the way audio posts display now!

I’m working on my first full redesign since September.  Maybe it’s not a complete redesign, but it will be the first significant overhaul to my presentation in about eight months and seems like a natural evolution in the theme of this tumblelog.

What do you think, an improvement?

(edit: updated slightly)

OmniGraffle Pro 5.0

I stumbled across a reader suggestion in .net magazine last night that for OS X users OmniGraffle can be a really great tool for quickly creating wireframes and storyboarding out web projects with minimum hassle.  Sure enough, it is! I got the app and downloaded some free templates and the wireframing stencil with basically every element a designer should need for storyboarding; then went ahead and wireframed our next project much quicker than I ever would have in Photoshop.

Just finished another project for a client (at least on the frontend).  I’m really happy with how this project solidified itself over the past week.  We created the entire corporate identity, website, and have a backend application close to complete.

If you’re out of work or in need of a job change, looking for a free critique of your resume, or know someone who could use some help with their career, check out Trumpet Consulting.  And if you or someone you know need web design, pass along our website.

furryrabbits:

“‘Web Without Words’ [webwithoutwords.com] is a website that takes a popular website each week and reconstructs it without its words and images. Instead, it replaces them with blocks, similar to the ‘wireframing’ process in information architecture. It is quite similar to Internet Soul Portrait in abstracting a popular web presence to its bare minimum.” (via information aesthetics)

Wow, what a great find.  A good resource for any designer to deconstruct the design elements of some high profile sites (without all the work!).  It’s interesting to see discussion of some of the featured designs amongst commenters, as well as the author’s writeups for each one - check out the piece on Drudge.

ESPN.com gets a makeover.

I’ve been a fan of their website more than their televsion network for some time, so it’s nice to see the site get an eye-pleasing upgrade.  Besides watching actual games, their fluffy network coverage focuses more often on what’s not important rather than what is.  The website gives me the information I want, and often provides in-depth looks that are of interest to real sports fans, not neo-MTV viewers.

While not a large departure from the past version, it feels like a natural evolution that perhaps brings more emphasis to headlines and articles than annoying videos that start when you hit the homepage.  Less is indeed more.

(via amwelles)

1.62 = Golden Ratio.  Check it.

Anyone want to drop $1200 from the sky that could get me to this conference?  This looks incredibly informative and I’d love a trip to Boston.

Go to this, or stick with what I have?  Kinda like what I have in mind here.  And change is usually a good thing.  Comments welcome.

Update: Decided to go with it.  So if you don’t like it, too bad!