Switchyard Creative

The makings of an successful project — and a well equipped...

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:05:04 -0700

The makings of an successful project — and a well equipped set makeup artist.

(via vincentpeone)

The Wildfire Growth of Walmart

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:00:00 -0700

Flowing data presents an excellent visualization of Wal-mart’s meteoric rise to becoming the supermarket giant that it is today.

There’s a noticeable gap in the western penetration, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that has more to do with distribution and logistics than it does with politics or policy.

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

[ thanks Daniel for the link ]

Art plus Process equals a Favorite site

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:34:29 -0800

Art plus Process equals a Favorite site:

The person (woman, Brooklyn, Japan, who knows?) behind this site consistently blows me away with (her?) intensely detailed art projects, from chain mail dresses to pumpkin pies baked into pastry pumpkins in thirty easy steps.

What I like best is (her?) step-by-step instructions on how she creates these beautiful little projects. I think developers can learn from this sort of openness.

Web Design Trends for 2010

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:52:24 -0800

Web Design Trends for 2010:

So we’ve been thinking a lot about typography on the Web and in print. We’ll be interested in seeing how this plays out over the course of the next year, since it’s more difficult and time-consuming to attend to leading and kerning on the Web than it is on the page. I see the written page as a place where the chaos-fearing control freak can obsess over the smallest detail (characters per line, lines per page, and so on), and the Web as a place where chaos reigns. Will the twain converge?

-Thomas

A Personal Alibi? Google Latitude launches "Location History"

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:45:00 -0800

A Personal Alibi? Google Latitude launches "Location History":

Once again, the mind-readers at Googleplex have read my thoughts and stolen my ideas. I just talked about how cool this feature would be with the other Switchyardians last week.

If you use the Internet the same way I do (as a personal storage locker for memories and menial record-keeping), you’ll be pleased to learn that Google has just announced that it’s location-aware web/mobile app, Latitude now includes a feature called “Location History”. This feature allows a user running Latitude to query its system for any point in time and recall where he or she was on this great big planet of ours.

Obviously, there’s potential for disaster here if some poor unsuspecting user gets their history compromised. Personally, I’ll be waiting for the first time a defendant submits their Google Latitude account as a corroborating alibi.

—sam

Elements of Typographic Style

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:48:01 -0800

Elements of Typographic Style:

Just purchased the book, version 3.2, on the recommendation of Randall Hansen (Lead UX Designer at OpenSourcery). Considered “the typographers’ Bible.”

Reserving Design at the Library

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:36:52 -0800

Reserving Design at the Library:

Recommended this book by a friend last night. A little late to the party, perhaps, but nevertheless happy to continue building evidence that good design is more than just pretty pictures. Proof.

Times They Are A Changing

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:35:27 -0700

Times They Are A Changing:

ICANN opening Web addresses to non-Latin alphabet.

Rise of the Neuronovel

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:01:00 -0700

Rise of the Neuronovel:

Continuing our fascination with neuroscience’s collision with everything from economics to sociology to, yes, the novel.

Dynamic visual display of information

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:27 -0700

Dynamic visual display of information:

The visual display of data in this app tells a more complete story of US job titles over time than could pure data alone. Look at the increase in specialization, and also the severe decrease in “Farmers.” Or, check out “bartender” and look at the story that data tells.

David Brooks on new wave of neuroscience

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:31:26 -0700

David Brooks on new wave of neuroscience:

A fine, illuminating quote near the end of this article: “The hard sciences are interpenetrating the social sciences.” Economics. Brains. Psychology. Mixed.