Bread Line Design

I recently designed an iPhone app for fiction book Black Light. Core version is free and an in app purcahse unlocks the complete book, additional videos and sound tracks. Download Black Light here!

A recent design I completed for publisher Garret Books. I was lucky enough to have access to a wide variety of artwork for the books which I used to guide the design and colours.

Conjure’s latest homegrown app, London Taxi Meter is now available in the app store. It’s a simple app that works out where you are, where you want to go and how much the journey will cost. Usability proved the hardest thing to get right. Although the feature list is short, we had to make sure the user could make the calculation in the shortest number of taps, while at the same time understanding what data was required from them without a prompt. Recent searches and a set home location would get in the way, so after experimentation we opted to keep these out of the way on the search page.

Were planning future versions of the app, most likely with maps and a find a taxi function, as well as versions for other cities. Any feature suggestions or feedback welcome!

Conjure, the digital agency I joint founded last year has just had it’s website updated. It’s still a work in progress but I thought it worth sharing as for the first time it has some of the projects we’ve been working on featured. We’ve also plunged into twitter so if you’d like updates on the ever changing world of mobile app creation visit us here http://twitter.com/ConjureDigital

I was recently asked to create a pair of websites for author Susie Cornfeld to promote her two new books Farewell My Lovely and Catch36. With the goal to drive traffic to the relevant online stores and book samples I kept the sites down to a single page, which also helped keep costs down.

Last month Wired magazine asked me and good friend Simon Maddox to meet with them and take them through the iPhone app design and build process for a January special. We had a great time there, and have started work on an app for them due in the store in February. I founded all mobile agency Conjure in the summer and am proud to add Wired as a new client. You can read the full article (and admire my beautiful profile) in the magazine or online at Wired.co.uk . Signed copies available for £299.99.

I’ve been a huge fan of Logopond since its inception, and over the piece great designers have showcased a brilliant array of clever logos. I’ve selected some of my favourites and included them below. Merry Christmas everyone!

A month or so back me and the team at Lightmaker designed and built a supporting site for Chelsea FC, and last week we were awarded an IMA “Best in Class” Award for our efforts. It coincided with my last day at Lightmaker, and gives me me an opportunity to say a massive thank you to those I worked with on the Chelsea project, and a farewell to the amazing group of people that make Lightmaker such a special place to work.

Last month our company was asked by .net Magazine to produce a design for their monthly “Build Off” feature, which boils down to three studios being given a fictional brief and creating a single homepage design to answer it. I’d like to talk about how I’m above such petty show-boating, and how I politely declined, saying that working for free (even for a publication) was a little unethical. However, as I’ve never had anything of mine published ever I nearly bit my managers hand off when he offered me the brief.

My efforts were included in the latest edition shown above (October, Issue 181), so if you fancy seeing my design as well as my fair and beautiful face pick up a copy in WHSmith and take a look.

Many agencies both big and small have strict policies involving what their designers can and can’t display in online portfolios. The popular line seems to be “Display your personal work, but keep all in-house work offline”. That’s all good if your a junior (you’ll just be damn glad you’ve actually got a job), but without work online what can you show relatives that just think you “do computers”, or that fine art student your chatting up?

It’s not hard to see why agencies adopt this policy. It prevents moonlighting designers from passing off group agency work as their own, keeps below standard/NDA restricted work out of the public domain and stops marauding recruitment firms from directly poaching design talent.

However some agencies do let their top designers publish their work in personal portfolios, and the most notable are arguably some of the best agencies on the planet: AKQA, 2advanced and North Kingdom. Their portfolios are featured below:

http://www.killahgrafikz.com/ Kevin Hsieh (AKQA)

http://www.shanemielke.com/ Shane Mielke (2advanced)

http://www.designchapel.com/ Robert Lindstrom (North Kingdom)

By letting these designers show their work in their own light, they become design heroes that others follow and respect. It’s a symbiotic relationship between designer and studio. The designers are allowed to show off all they’ve achieved, gaining both industry and in-studio respect, while the agencies shine in the reflected glory of their top designers, effectively turning them into one man recruitment magnets. What designer wouldn’t want to work and learn alongside any one of these guys?

It be great to see more agencies follow suit. After all, what could be better for designer morale than letting the best show-off and giving the rest something to aim for?