John Martin

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Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:35:00 +0100

Live ad placement fail.

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:10:26 +0100

Live ad placement fail.

Interface yawn...

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:19:35 +0000

Frankly I’m tired of the current state of interface design and Well Placed Pixels is like a check list for everything that I have grown to find cliché in GUI design.

Since the release of OSX (and it’s got even worse since the release of the iPhone) if you want your apps to considered to have a “beautiful interface” they’ve got to look like they’ve been shitted out by Cupertino.

You know the score: Slightly lickable buttons, blatant over-use of Helvetica, slight edged out gradients, grey background with 1 pixel key line white text shadows. To me these have all become signatures of the same tired ideas continually re-surfacing in apps all the time.

However, I am a hypocrite. I have used some of these techniques in more than one interface that I have worked on.

Some of the best interfaces I’ve seen over the past year have not been Apple-esque. For example: DestroyTwitter and Seesmic Look are great examples of apps that trying something different.

Surely I can’t just be the only one who has noticed this?

Dear Google

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:31:37 +0000

Please remove target=”_blank” from your top navigation bar links.

Thanks.

VLC transcoding documentation

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:19:47 +0000

VLC transcoding documentation:

I’m having a bit of mission trying to transcode three video streams into one and I have to say I am continually impressed with VLC and it’s documentation. Documentation FTW!

Video

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:16:19 +0100

Video

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:46:26 +0100

Three reasons why the very “in your face” design of...

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:49:55 +0100

Three reasons why the very “in your face” design of the new Be Broadband site will increase subscribers:

1. BIGGER more prominent reasons to sign-up
2. Simplified messaging around pricing
3. Better positioning of “can I get Be Broadband”?

… also there’s a photo of me on their blog.

Not such a great idea to have the “change background” bit. Very web 1.5 RC1

Tech blogs...

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:23:34 +0100

Are you a “journalist” for one of the popular web blogs out there? Here’s my patented 5 step process to writing great blog posts:

1. Think of stupid premise for a blog post (tip: new Google Reader feature causes cancer)
2. Trawl twitter for a couple of updates from random users that support stupid premise
3. Take screenshots of said twitter updates
4. Write a flimsy article around original stupid premise with screenshots attached
5. Publish

Gigulate hits the Guardian Guide. Nice.

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:23:12 +0100

Gigulate hits the Guardian Guide. Nice.

The reason why people should stop sending CDs to radio stations

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:55:03 +0100

The reason why people should stop sending CDs to radio stations

lulz

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:47:05 +0100

lulz

Best venn diagram ever. FACT.

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:42:35 +0100

Best venn diagram ever. FACT.

Tesco API admin page fail.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:23:56 +0100

Tesco API admin page fail.

Possibly the biggest display ad I’ve seen. It’s like...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:36:08 +0100

Possibly the biggest display ad I’ve seen. It’s like 3 MPUs stacked.

My countdown flash app running on the guardians big screen.

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:17:56 +0100

My countdown flash app running on the guardians big screen.

Forgot how fun it is to do logo mockups with a sharpie and a big...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:07:51 +0100

Forgot how fun it is to do logo mockups with a sharpie and a big piece of A3

"the Walkman doesn’t have “shuffle"

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:28:00 +0100

“the Walkman doesn’t have “shuffle””

- from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8117619.stm

Coincidence? (I’ve followed 2 people since this screenie)

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:46:00 +0100

Coincidence? (I’ve followed 2 people since this screenie)

Mandala by Rx Bandits Great album artwork. Mediocre album....

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:10:00 +0100

Mandala by Rx Bandits

Great album artwork. Mediocre album. (From a band that genrifies themselves as “groove tech”. Rubs.)