Massive Attack-Splitting the Atom-directed by Edouard Salier from edouard salier on Vimeo.

Yes, they will add multitasking, yes they will add a front facing camera. Google voice and the iPad anyone? Add bluetooth and we’re done. I see the possibility in the iPad and future revisions. This is the starting point for a new genre and way of using the internet. Notice I didn’t say computer. This is firmly an internet tablet. Most everything you would use it for would be connected to the internet or your file storage at home. This is primarily a content access device not a content creation device. That’s how to think of it. That’s the iPad.

Yes, I do like and have tried to champion OpenSource software. How can I square that with my love of Apple? I’m complicated. I’m a human being. I also believe in a mixed economy and mixed nuts. I love our National Health Service and the National Theatre, but I also love Fortnum and Mason’s and Hollywood movies. “Apple,” Steve Jobs said, “stands at the intersection of Technology and the Liberal Arts.” This statement confused non-Americans who are not familiar with the phrase Liberal Arts (you can look it up here) but I think shows the fundamental cultural seriousness of Jobs and Apple which in turn explains their huge success and impact. He might perhaps more accurately have said that Apple stands at the intersection of Technology, the Liberal Arts and Commerce.”

Stephen Fry succinctly quells the arguments with Apple.

Fantastic image found on my new favorite site for cool.

a continuous lean.

Interesting attenion to detail by Barcode Revolution.

See Also

http://www.d-barcode.com

Scans from the seminal work of Emil Ruder Typography inside this flickr set of Sebastien Hayez.

See also:
ISO50 has a great post about his poster design.
www.designers-books.com for some excellent scans and photos of more great design books destined for your shelf.

Verkostotunnistin / Social Networking from A. Siuvatti on Vimeo.

Don’t get me wrong there has been some amazing videos shot with these small portable ‘camcorders’ but the true visionaries have yet to take up their SLR cameras.

It seems that 2009 has been the year of the wireframe, searches reveal a sea of websites now devoted to the practice, SXSW panels were held on it, web based tools are being debated. In the end the how and materials used are meaningless and this cuts right to the chase, the ‘why’ of the wireframe.

For me, wireframes act as a form of ‘thinking device’ for the setting and exploration of a given problem space – in this example, a home page for a cruise line operator. To understand the utility of wireframes it is important to understand the nature of designing. I think of “D”esign as an exploration of the conceivable futures. I use my sketches and wireframes as means to make explorative moves and assess the consequences of those moves. As I explore the problem space, I could relatively easily keep the design models in my head, but I would fail in my primary objective to create a framework for a conversation among the stakeholders, the intended audience, and me.

(emphasis mine)

After reading many articles this is the best I’ve read so far about the process and why you should be wireframing. The process of solving the ‘problem space’ of the web page begins with

The continuing debate however is what should be done with wireframes, how often should you include the client and how do you present them to the client should you choose to do so.

My design process could best be described as going from a phase of divergence, through a phase of transformation, to a phase of convergence. Throughout every phase, wire-frames are presented to stakeholders for critique and conversation.

I think this comes down to the stakeholder. My experience as a freelance web designer or as a member of an agency my interaction is with clients who have hired us to solve a problem and i tend to use wireframes as a method for showing our thought process in the problem space solution. Rather than leaping in with a finished mock-up of a webpage we lead the client down a path to our proposed solutions. A client can be overwhelmed when confronted with a finished design with no reasoning for the choices that have been presented.

The discussion that wireframing affords allows the designer to understand the needs of the stakeholder in the competition for space on the page. It allows for the hierarchy of information to be distilled and provides the basic framework around which agreement can be built and the refinement of that information through graphical treatment and style.

It demands it’s sacrifice! Via. Boing Boing.

Really digging that tagline mask effect on Webmynds homepage.

Linkbait via TechCrunch.

Beautiful work from Italian designer Pierluigi Longo. You can also check out his Flickr.

Hat tip Kim Stanley Robinson’s article on the New Scientist ‘The stories of now’.