I‘ve been to loads of conferences and workshops where a speaker will demonstrate new features of software with a quick tutorial. Of course they are always artificially happy, and make it all seem really easy. Maybe that’s why I find this so funny, but I can’t stop laughing. Here’s the latest episode, if you like I suggest checking out the other episodes too.
Gotham (designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones) is a typeface I’ve been quite fascinated with lately. I’ve used it for the title graphic of this blog, and for a recent branding project I designed. It’s almost like a modern version of Eurostile (another of my favourites), with it’s geometric structure and dominate, almost industrial, presence. I quite enjoy the contrast created by applying the pink neon effect in the title graphic. It’s currently being used Barack Obama’s election campaign too. Swiss Dots recently released one of the 41 bonus features found on the Helvetica DVD, which is a disussion about this face by the designers.
And speaking of geeky documenty films, here’s a trailer for a new one about the cult of Apple Macs.. *scary*
Edward Tufte reviews the iPhone interface in this 56mb m4v video. He generally seems to think they’ve done a good job, especially as they’ve managed to remove most of the ‘computer administrative debris’ on content sections and provide rich information thanks to the high resolution screen and zoom-able interface. It avoids a deep hierarchy of thin information that seems to plague most small screen devices.
He does suggest that more detail could be shown in the stock and weather applications and mocks the ‘cartoonish’ interface design. I’ve actually been really enjoying using the iPhone/iPod touch interface, and apart from a few bugs, think the interface works well. While I think there are probably ways of making these applications more information rich, making them that much more detailed would mean scanning them quickly while mobile would be that much harder. I think the primary intended use of for the iPhone is while the user is mobile so wonder whether making the applications more detailed and giving them a photo realistic (smaller type and icons) style would actually make them less suitable/usable?
