David A. Molanphy

Design + Interactive Strategy 
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June 11, 2007
 

Adobe releases AIR public beta (formerly Apollo)

For those of you who have been keeping tabs on Adobe's Apollo application (and you should be keeping tabs on this), Adobe has just posted a public beta of the application and has also changed its name to AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). If you're unfamiliar with Apollo (Air) it is an application environment that allows your HTML, Actionscript, and AJAX skills to be deployed as full desktop applications. If you've been at any of Adobe's recent keynotes, you will surely hear mention of Apollo/AIR - which means they're dropping some serious $$ on development of this app. I'm excited to see where this goes from here!

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May 24, 2007
 

J. Paul Getty Center

I just got back from visiting my brother in Los Angeles and had the opportunity to go to the Getty Center to check it out. This impressive structure was designed by Richard Meier, one of America's most prominent architects. After a quick walk through the structure (we weren't able to spend much time there) you can't help but be impressed by Mr. Meier's vision. The whole structure sits atop a hill and the integration of the multiple buildings to their surroundings make it look and feel like a "natural" extension of the landscape. Meier's iconic use of white works nicely and as my brother pointed out, his attention to natural light is absolutely impressive. While there, the day was a bit ovecast, and even then, most lights in the compounds were shut off, yet there was still sufficient (and more than adequate) light throughout. On a different note, the art collections housed at the Getty Center are certainly worth the $8.00 parking fee (yes, that's all). If you plan on going, I highly recommend taking the 10 minutes to check out the "intro" tour when you first walk into the main complex. It will give you a better idea of the scope of the Getty's scope and size — and it will help you not wander around aimlessly. The museum is large enough to plan at very least one full day if you're hoping to take it all in, and even then you'll be rushing through most of it. Oh, and don't miss the gardens! All-in-all, it is a fantastic place to visit if you're into that sorta thing...and even if you're not, give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

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April 29, 2007
 

5 Interactive Design Tips

As some of you may know, I have been involved almost exclusively in Interactive Design for the past two and half years. In that time, I have unavoidably run across some very useful tips that have affected how I approach designing everything I touch — whether print or interactive. I believe these little nuggets of knowledge have made me a better designer, so hopefully you will find something that might help you in the future. So, in no particular order - here they are: 1. Plan ahead In interactive design, this would involve putting a lot of attention to information architecture, although it also applies heavily to print design. You should always research what it is you're designing for - who your target audience is, what the ultimate communication objective of the piece will be, and what's the most efficient way of displaying that message. I strongly suggest going back to pen and paper when you're going through this process. Sketch things out. Make brain-maps, get together with colleagues and see what they have to say. Try to find someone who's as close to your target audience as possible and ask them their opinions. The planning stage is easily the most important, and most overlooked phase in any project. The advent of computers has made it way to easy to take 10 minutes for planning and jump directly to whatever flavor of design program you prefer and hammer something out. And while you may come up with something "cool," chances of it solving the design problem will be slim to none (that kind of thing only happens once or twice in a designer's lifetime).

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April 29, 2007
 

Don't forget to contribute

The good folks at A List Apart are conducting a web design survey for 2007. This kind of thing is good to do often so everyone can get a good idea of where the industry is at and more importantly, where it might be going. So take a minute and fill it out!

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April 26, 2007
 

Tips on Presenting Your Portfolio

I have just had the opportunity to review some student portfolios at the Twin Cities AIGA Portfolio One-on-One event. In doing so, I was inspired to come up with a list of tips for anyone presenting their portfolio. As you can well imagine, everyone has their own preferences, but perhaps these can give you some ideas: Look Sharp This doesn't mean go out and buy a suit. It simply means comb your hair, tuck your shirt, shine your shoes, put on a tie - maybe a sports jacket. It never hurts if you do, but it CAN hurt you if you don't. As designers we tend to want to be "comfortable," and "screw you if you don't like it." Well, with that kind of attitude you'll probably land a job with people that treat their clients the same way, and you'll most likely be out looking for a job soon after because the company folded. Enunciate! Make sure you speak intelligibly about yourself and your work. Be articulate, speak with a loud and clear voice so you don't find yourself repeating things over and over. Can you hold a conversation without swearing up a storm? You'd be surprised how many people can't these days - and it only makes them look dumber than a brick.

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March 8, 2007
 

CSS Goood.

After many years of shying away from CSS, I decided to confront it head on once and for all! As I'm sure every developer knows, the best way to learn a new syntax or language is to dive right in and try it on an existing project, which is exactly what I have done. The site that underwent this unfortunate experiment of mine happens to be my wife's blog (KitchenNut). I'm happy to say that not only has the site survived my tinkering, but it has been a very useful tool in helping me shed my fear of the much dreaded CSS. So what did I think you ask? Well...to keep it short and sweet: I have seen the light! As a designer, the idea of being able to control every element on the screen with pixel accuracy is a godsend! And yes, I know this stuff has been around for a long time now, but I'm fortunate enough to work with some awesome developers who take care of all the coding for us designers. The differences between table-based layouts and CSS are so vast you can't really compare them. And being VERY comfortable in the table world, I was reluctant to make the jump! I've already got enough on my plate trying to understand OOP, so adding yet more syntax into my brain seemed almost impossible (keep in mind my brain is not that large). Anywho, CSS rocks. Seriously! Once you get a hold of the box model and more importantly, floats - your html world changes and for the first time you see that the many limitations which used to exist in table layouts are completely gone! Oh yeah, and forget about your trusty little friend "spacer.gif." You will never see this little guy again! Now you couple all this CSS goodness with the DOM model (my next challenge) and JavaScript (goodness, I have a lot of learning to do), and you've got yourself some SWEEEEET websites! Now if I can just wrap my head around OOP!!!! ugh. :(

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February 26, 2007
 

Big Spaceship's Big Kahuna?

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but quite frankly, there really hasn't been much to talk about lately. Or perhaps I'm just lazy (I'll put my money on the latter one). I just got back from a two day session with Joshua Hirsch from Big Spaceship in San Francisco. As far as him being the Big Kahuna, I'm not totally sure, but I needed a more clever title than just Big Spaceship... Anywho, for those of you who don't know Big Spaceship is an rich media firm based in Brooklyn, NY (what that means is that they make really cool websites and sell them for lots of money so they can pay to live in NYC). They have been behind some of the most innovative sites you can see these days (such as Nike, Sony Pictures, Paramount, etc). They work primarily with large movie studios, although it sounds like they're trying to break into different markets (good for them. Never a bad idea to put your eggs in more than one basket). Some examples of sites they have designed are the sites for DaVinci Code, Nike Air, Lost, etc. So now that you know who they are, I can continue with my post. So I just got back from a workshop with J. Hirsch, who's BS's "Minister of Technology" (aka: Actionscript Guru). In reality, BS has 50+ employees, and they currently have several Actionscript gurus, but he's the "big kahuna" per say.

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January 12, 2007
 

iWant iPhone

It seems like ever since the iPhone got announced two days ago, the web is buzzin' with the usual commentaries, so I figured I might just add one more. As can be expected, half the world loves it, the other half hates it, and of course, everyone wants it. In my personal opinion, I can't wait to get my hands on one, but that will have to wait at least another year, when the iPhone hits generation 2, or even 3. I think it already more than exceeds my expectations (I'm not sure that I had any), but I must confess I was disappointed by the 8Gb size, the battery life, and the contract with Cingular...although I understand why every one of those decisions was made. I figure if I wait at least another year or so, I can not only figure out how I'm going to rationalize spending $600 on a toy, but hopefully by then technology will continue to advance and the battery life, hd size, and network carrier will all have better/cheaper options. Until then, kudos to Apple for once again leapfrogging us into a new era of consumer electronics.

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December 13, 2006
 

Lucky

What an appropriate name. It happens to be the name of our plant, and it also happens to accurately describe this photo. Out of 100+ photos I took trying to understand aperture/exposure, this was the ONE lucky winner. Looks like I have much more work to do. :(

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November 26, 2006
 

St. Paul Cathedral

I visited the St. Paul Cathedral for the first time since I've been here. I must say it was a beautiful piece of architecture, and only wish that I had the know-how to take some photos and capture its beauty. I was accompanied by my father who is in town visiting for the Holidays.

This kind of architecture always makes me reflect on the beauty man is capable of creating with his hands. The amount of intricate detail in this building is amazing - and it's even more amazing to think that it was done so long ago.

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