If we work together, we really work together. Closely, under tight deadlines. And all that implies. So here we are. This is what we care about. Not the platitudes, but the important trends. Our process and how we get results. The ideas that won't let go. Or, opt out of the slow dance and read the summary.

Studio Neat, the folks behind the Kickstarter Glif project and Cosmonaut stylus, have released their first app, Frameographer. I’ve been playing around with it for the last week and really enjoy it. Here is a short video with some of my early attempts:

I really enjoy the app. It works well and is a great incentive to buy Studio Neat’s Glif. The interface is very discoverable without throwing too much chrome in your face. This would have been very easy to do, iPhoto for iOS being the current posterchild. I especially love the HUD for the camera view. One great thing is the timed shutter mode which allows you to set up the shot using a tripod, set your interval time, and walk away. The ensuing time-lapse is pretty great. The only problem with doing this is that the battery drains pretty quickly, so unless the phone is fully charged expect to only get a few seconds of footage in the end. It would be nice if there were some way of dimming the screen or other power saving tricks between shots while in timed shutter mode.

Overall I am very impressed with Studio Neat’s first app offering. They obviously created this with the Glif in mind, because it and Frameographer are perfect companions. I am hoping they have something in the works to accompany the Cosmonaut. I’m enjoying Fifty Three’s Paper at the moment, but would love to see the drawing app that Studio Neat could create.

What is it like to build a website? This is a question with probably as many answers as there are people. I do think there are some phases that are fairly consistent. Watch this entertaining video of the creation of Warby Parker’s 2011 Annual Report and then I’ll explain why I thought it was worth sharing.

This short video demonstrates a pretty realistic process for creating a beautiful website. It also serves to demonstrate the two loosely definable phases of building a website; design and development.

Design

The designer in the video designs in the same software I do, Adobe Illustrator. Whenever I hear that people design in Photoshop I just can’t understand how they do it. The ability to constantly and quickly move things, resizing them on a fly is essential, not to mention Photoshop has atrocious type control. Illustrator’s output is not pixel perfect so I will do some graphic asset prosecution in an image editor. Sometimes that is Photoshop, but recently Pixelmator is taking over. I do as much layout as is necessary to satisfy myself or the client and then move to markup as quickly as possible.

Development

One thing that I think Warby Parker’s video points out is that the person who designed the site also does the development, at least on the front end. More evidence that designers should code. Here’s where things get interesting, the designer is constantly hopping back and forth between design files and their text editor, Coda in their case. For me the design is still taking shape and evolving as I go. In fact I prefer to leave a lot of granular design until well after the basic markup is underway.

Conclusion

It is clear that Design and Development are intertwined. It is most effective for me to not view these two tasks as separate. The disciplines may seem distinct, and in many organizations they are completely segregated, but they are, in fact, actually two necessary tools to accomplish a common goal. Building a beautiful website.

I don’t take unsolicited redesigns very seriously because they by their nature they avoid all the issues and interchange that come with a true designer/client relationship, but Sputnik8’s proposed design for Windows 8 is fantastic. It is a lost future, in the same way that old illustrations of the hover cars we were sure to have by 1950 are lost futures. Nevertheless it is beautfiul and worth paying attention to on its own merits.

Everything from the evolutionary step forward in the logo, which I actually prefer to Paula Scher’s recent design, to the UI interface exudes class. I have used Macs my whole life but would gladly buy an operating system that is this exquisite. If Microsoft deigns to pay attention to this, and they should, they would see the benefit of bringing some serious refinement to their “classic” mode in addition to their new Metro interface.

I am pretty excited about the current state of software design. For the a few years it seemed like Apple and their developer community were the only ones who cared about software design, with the notable exception of Palm and WebOS. I think that some of Apple’s recent skeumorphic excesses have been for lack of aesthetic competitors, but that is changing. Now Redmond is bringing its A-game. If they hired Sputnik 8 and some of his ideas made it through the gauntlet of Microsoft internal pitches then they would really be bringing the fight to Apple’s doors. High tide raises all ships and right now there is a flood of amazing design. We are all better off in the current state of software craftsmanship.

Mark Willis wrote about a couple of things Apple should do to improve their products. The first has been a constant frustration for me since the first release iPhone.

[There are] really two issues; first that the iPhone doesn’t keep data flowing gracefully and imperceptibly between sources – it needs to flatline before it tries an alternative, which is clunky – and second, that app developers don’t consistently code for the interruption and resumption of data in a graceful way. Third-party code will always vary in quality, but if Apple could make data access smoother, it wouldn’t matter so much.

Switching from wi-fi to 3G has rarely been seemless. I am not sure if Willis’ solution is the best or if some smarter one-size-fits-all automation is best. Regardless, this is a real problem that I hope is addressed soon.

The finale of Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix is up and, true to form, it is fantastic. If intellectual property sounds boring, this might just convince you that it is the one of the more important issues of our time.