The Russians Used a Pencil

Topics

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:21:07 -0500

My good friend Cam Todd has started a new podcast, called Topics. The premise is simple: each episode, Cam speaks with a different guest about a different topic. Cam is a great conversationalist and the episodes so far have been a lot of fun.

I had the distinct privilege of being a guest on the third episode. The topic for the episode is something near and dear to my heart: Back to the Future.

You can stream the episode from the website, or download directly from iTunes. Give it a try!

San Francisco BART. Black sections on platform edge line up with...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:09:00 -0500

San Francisco BART. Black sections on platform edge line up with where the train doors will be.

The Serif and The Ligature

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:23:36 -0500

Today, Studio Neat is proud to introduce two new products to the Glif line: the Serif and the Ligature.

The Ligature is a small metal keyring loop. It screws into the tripod thread in the Glif, and allows you to always keep the Glif handy. I carry mine around on a keychain, but of course you could attach it to your bag, purse, etc. And the nice thing is, because it screws into the tripod thread, it’s easy to detach and re-attach without fussing with the keyring itself.

The Serif is an additional attachment, used in conjunction with the Glif. When the iPhone is mounted on a tripod with the Glif, the Serif wraps around the top and tucks into the “F” nook of the Glif, keeping your iPhone incredibly secure. And, the Serif tucks nicely inside the Glif when not in use, so you’ll always have it with you. The Glif by itself is still ideal for casual shooting situations, but the Serif a perfect addition for more extreme scenarios.

We will continue to sell the Glif as is of course, but we are now offering a couple additional options. Glif+ is a deluxe Glif package, which contains the Glif, the Serif, and the Ligature. It comes packaged in a small box, which can transform into a little tripod. For those that already own a Glif, we are also offering the +Pack, which simply contains the Serif and the Ligature.

We made a little demo video to show off the new stuff. Narration by the very gracious Adam Lisagor:

It has been a common “feature request” for a way to carry the Glif around on a keychain, so the Ligature was a no-brainer. The Serif, however, has a more interesting backstory. One day, out of the blue, a gentlemen named Will Mason emailed us about an idea he had for a Glif attachment for added security when mounted to a tripod. He even molded a prototype with Sugru. We really liked what he came up with, so Tom modeled it in 3D and we had it 3D printed at Shapeways. After playing with the prototype for some time, we realized it was a great addition to the product line. Even though Will had offered us the idea for free, we decided to pay him for the concept and move forward with production. We always knew our supporters were amazing, but we never thought they’d help us develop new products. Way to go Will!

We are taking per-orders for the new products today at studioneat.com, and they will ship in about 2 weeks, in time for the holidays. We really do think these will make great gifts. Of course, everything is compatible with the new iPhone 4S, which has an even better camera than the iPhone 4, and further legitimizes the need for a tripod mounting solution.

Jony Ive on Simplicity

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:25:15 -0400

“Why do we assume that simple is good? Because with physical products, we have to feel we can dominate them. As you bring order to complexity, you find a way to make the product defer to you. Simplicity isn’t just a visual style. It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep. For example, to have no screws on something, you can end up having a product that is so convoluted and so complex. The better way is to go deeper with the simplicity, to understand everything about it and how it’s manufactured. You have to deeply understand the essence of a product in order to be able to get rid of the parts that are not essential.”

(From Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson)

"Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it..."

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:01:00 -0400

“Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end.”

- Steve Jobs

(via Bloomberg Businessweek)

Thank You, Steve

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:40:41 -0400

My life would undoubtably be very different if it were not for Steve Jobs.

I never met the man personally, but he was my design teacher. He taught me to value user experience and simplicity above all else. He inspired me to be a more thoughtful designer, to obsess over details. He showed me that technology does not have to be complicated and cumbersome; it should be fun and full of delight.

I would probably not be a designer if not for Steve Jobs. And Studio Neat would certainly not exist. His influence on my life can not be understated.

Fortunately, there is a simple way I can honor Steve. I can try as hard as I can every day to make something insanely great. Try to do something that will touch someone else’s life. Like he did.

Thank you, Steve. You will be missed.

Thoughts on a Kindle Tablet

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:38:00 -0400

I was inspired by the discussion Marco Arment and Ryan Irelan had on the latest episode of Build and Analyze about the rumored “Kindle Tablet.” It got me thinking about the kind of device I would love for Amazon to make — one that I would actually consider buying over an iPad.

Few consider the current iteration of the Kindle a tablet, and comparing it to an iPad is apples to oranges, but it does hold some clear advantages over the iPad:

Battery life. The Kindle can last for days on a single charge.
Background downloading. All content is delivered silently and wirelessly without any user intervention.
Screen. Although not better than the iPad screen in terms of versatility, it is better for what it was designed for: reading.
Unlimited and free 3G connectivity.
Size. The Kindle is smaller and lighter than the iPad.
Price. The Kindle is significantly cheaper than the iPad.

Marco and Ryan speculated on the Kindle Tablet, and it seemed like a forgone conclusion that it would have an iPad style, full color display, and it would use a skinned version of Android as the OS. I think this would be a huge mistake for Amazon, and I’d imagine that tablet would suffer the same fate as every other competitor to the iPad. By switching to a screen-like display, it loses nearly every advantage it has over the iPad:

Battery life. Would most certainly be worse with a full color, non e-ink screen.
Background downloading. Could be affected by using Android as the OS.
Screen. With a full color glass screen, Amazon would be competing directly with Apple, instead of offering something different, and for some uses, better.
Unlimited and free 3G connectivity. This would in all likelihood be removed if they offered a full-fledged tablet experience.
Size. The glass screen would make the device significantly heavier.
Price. The new screen would make the device more expensive.

For the life of me, I can not think of one good reason why Amazon would ditch all of the benefits of their e-ink display in favor of competing directly with Apple with a full-fledged tablet device. It would seem destined to suffer the same fate as all other iPad competitors. Yes, Amazon has a leg up on these competitors by having digital media distribution platforms already in place (Amazon Cloud et al), but is it really enough to compete with Apple?

Shawn Blanc had an excellent write up on reading on the iPad, and his use of the iPad is nearly identical to mine: I use the iPad primarily for reading, with Instapaper and Reeder being my most frequently used apps. He points out three pros of using an iPad for reading: it carries all of his reading material, the battery lasts forever, and it is connected to the internet. He also lists three cons: it’s a bit heavy to hold for an extended period of time, you can’t read it outside on a sunny day, and the display is not print quality. Notice, the Kindle shares those pros, and has none of the cons.

I want Amazon to build an improved Kindle device, optimized for reading. Something like this:

A touch screen Kindle, with a color e-ink display. The touch screen would be like the new Nook, thus eliminating the need for a physical keyboard. The color e-ink would look similar to a color photograph printed in a traditional newspaper.
Have a highly curated app store, with apps like Instapaper, Reeder, Flipboard, Economist, NY Times, etc. Have a coherent and simple subscription model already in place.
Aside from reading-centric apps, the app store could also have simple games, like Sudoku, Crosswords, or Scrabble.
Ditch the web browser. It creates unnecessary expectations.
Keep all other current features of the Kindle (background downloading, free 3G connectivity, etc.)
Priced between $200-300.

The above is a crude mock up of what that device could look like. It’s displaying the Flipboard app, as an example.

This is by no means an “iPad Killer.” It wouldn’t play video, or graphically complex games. That’s not the point though. The point is to create a wonderful reading device, for ALL reading, not just books. It creates an interesting alternative for people who use an iPad primarily for reading. And I’d imagine many people would be happy to buy this new Kindle in addition to an iPad, as many already do with the current Kindle.

Amazon has the opportunity to make an awesome device for reading. I see it as a natural evolution of the Kindle. Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? If they created a device like I am suggesting above, I would be first in line to buy one.

The New Home Button on the iPhone 5 (Allegedly)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:50:00 -0400

I was suspicious of the mocked-up design of the new iPhone 5 as seen on This Is My Next back in April, but recent rumors are making it hard to ignore. While several of the design changes are somewhat expected (thinner body, tapered edges, etc.), the new home button is utterly fascinating.

Above image from This is My Next

This Is My Next describes the button as such: “the home button is doing double duty as a gesture area; this falls in line with testing we’ve seen for gestures on the iPad, and our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS. The home button will likely be enlarged, but not scrapped altogether”.

John Gruber and Dan Benjamin briefly speculated on what a gesture sensitive button could be used for in iOS on the most recent episode of The Talk Show. Would it behave like the nub ball on Blackberries, used for scrolling? Likely not. What about the Palm Pre, where the gesture area can be used as a back button, with a right-to-left swipe? Again, probably not.

I believe that if this new gesture region is in fact coming to the iPhone, it will be used for only one thing: switching between open apps. We can all agree that the current multitasking solution (double clicking the home button and then tapping the respective app) could stand to be improved. A left-to-right swipe would transition to the previously used app, while a right-to-left swipe would move the other way in the app history. This new gesture area would essentially mimic the function of the 4-fingered app switching gesture as seen in the iPad, which is cumbersome to perform on the iPad and nearly impossible to do on the iPhone.

Some may argue that this gesture region could be used for other things as well. Swiping through the home screens, for example, or flicking through photos. Allowing that functionality would be a mistake. The key to iOS lies in its direct manipulation of objects on the screen. To page through photos, you literally touch the photo and slide it off the screen. Having a gesture region that performs this task would move further away from this feeling of direct manipulation.

The home button is special. In it’s purest form, it is not used to manipulate what is happening on the screen, but to manipulate the apps themselves (in most cases, closing them and returning to the home screen). Tying the gesture area to the home button makes sense; app switching is a “top level” function, in the same way that closing apps is.

Porting the gesture region to the iPad would be tricky, namely because the device does not have a default orientation. The app switching functionality is already on the iPad (via the aforementioned 4-fingered swipe) but a gesture region would make that easier. I’m sure Apple will figure it out.

"Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal..."

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:24:00 -0400

“Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design.”

- Dieter Rams

(Spotted in his new book, As Little Design as Possible).

Apple Implements a Split Keyboard for iPad

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:53:32 -0400

Beautiful. Thanks Apple!

Windows 8 Keyboard

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:17:11 -0400

A preview demo of Windows 8 was released yesterday, and like others, I think it looks fantastic and has some innovative UI touches, but I believe it is ultimately a bad idea to built it as a “shell” on top of a traditional, non-touch OS.

One specific thing caught my attention: the virtual keyboard.

Look familiar?

Little Big Details

Mon, 16 May 2011 11:23:15 -0400

Little Big Details:

If you are a UI designer, do yourself a favor and subscribe to Little Big Details. It’s the small things that make all the difference.

Glif on a Keychain

Wed, 11 May 2011 13:15:04 -0400

For the past few months several people have emailed us, asking about solutions for carrying the Glif around on a keychain. We actually had a keychain hole in our original design for the Glif, but removed it for various reasons, namely that it increased the cost of the mold quite a bit. The solution we came up with, however, is much better than a permanent hole in the Glif itself.

The trick is to use the tripod thread as the means to attach the Glif to the keychain. I personally use the Podmount from Luma. It’s pricey ($15), but high quality. If you look elsewhere for something cheaper, all you basically need is a 1/4”-20 screw with a loop on the end. Please do let me know if you are able to find a cheaper solution.

The great thing about this setup is the Glif can easily be removed from the keychain without having to remove the entire attachment. Simply unscrew the Glif to use, and then screw back on when finished.

Devir Kahan: The Great Case Debate

Thu, 05 May 2011 13:18:47 -0400

Devir Kahan: The Great Case Debate:

Devir Kahan:

I don’t use a case on my iPhone, and most probably never will. Apple made the thing to be a beautiful little block of glass. Precision engineered to be as slim and light as possible. It just feels perfect when you hold it. A case - any case - ruins that. If you have an iPhone and use a case, take it off for a second. Just hold it ‘naked’ for a second, and remember how it’s supposed to feel.

This was our thinking when we designed the Glif, which only fits a “naked” iPhone 4. Why cover up such a beautiful piece of industrial design?

Universal Plug by Kim Seung Woo (via Reddit) Edit: A reader...

Mon, 02 May 2011 16:17:00 -0400

Universal Plug by Kim Seung Woo (via Reddit)

Edit: A reader pointed out that Breville implements this very design in some of their own products. See page 6 (PDF).

"A good idea, well-crafted and pursued with passion, doesn’t need a gatekeeper’s stamp of approval to..."

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:02:29 -0400

“A good idea, well-crafted and pursued with passion, doesn’t need a gatekeeper’s stamp of approval to succeed.”

- Yancey Strickler, in his blog post introducing Kickstarter to the world two years ago today. Happy birthday!

Free Idea: Four-Sided Music Video

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:25:09 -0400

I love music videos. For a short, misguided time earlier in my life I wanted to be a music video director, no doubt influenced by the Directors Label DVDs. What appealed to me, I suppose, were the inherent constraints of music videos. The best videos tend to encapsulate a single idea. Songs are typically 3-4 minutes in length, enough time to execute a concept but not too long to bore the audience with it (ideally). The thought of making a full length film seemed like an impossibly complex task, but music videos, I could understand.

The role of music videos in today’s media landscape seems unclear. Aside from some notable examples pushing the boundaries (eg. OK Go and Arcade Fire), most people seem disinterested and consider music videos a relic of a bygone era.

I had a realization the other day. The iPad is the first video consumption device that allows for easy orientation switches. It’s actually designed that way, with an equal bezel around the edge of the screen and no discernible top or bottom (Home button notwithstanding). The same can’t be said for movie theaters, televisions, laptops, portable dvd players, etc., all designed to view content in one (immovable) orientation.

I would be interested to see a director take advantage of this unique characteristic, and create a “tablet only” music video that utilizes all four orientations. The viewer would be free to rotate the device as they saw fit, and watch the video from several different perspectives, lending a bit of interactivity to the experience. I am envisioning a single-shot video in an enclosed space, where the floor, ceiling, and side walls map to each edge of the tablet, and action takes place along each edge. Think Virtual Insanity mixed with Inception. Of course, that’s just one idea, but this concept could obviously be applied to any number of ideas. The “free-rotation” concept isn’t limited to music videos either, but I feel anything longer than a song’s length would tire the user, and the gimmick would wear off.

Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze, if you’re reading, I fully expect you to jump on this.

Smart Cover for iPad 1 [Update]

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:39:09 -0400

A couple weeks ago I posted a hack that allowed a Smart Cover to be attached to the original iPad. The solution was incredibly simple — gluing a few magnets to the spine — but not as easy on the eyes. I also noticed, unsurprisingly, it was not as comfortable to hold along the left edge.

After some tinkering, Tom (of Studio Neat) came up with a 3D model that solves both of these problems. We sent it off to Shapeways to be printed, tested it out, and it works as advertised. It essentially acts as a “track” for proper magnet placement and covers the unsightly magnets.

This hack requires a 3D printed part, 20 rare earth disc magnets, and some super glue. The magnets should be ordered from K&J Magnets, the D201-N62 model specifically. The magnets themselves are cheap ($2.60 for 20) but you might want to team up with some friends to save on shipping.

For convenience, we have uploaded the 3D part to Shapeway’s online store, where it can be purchased directly. There is a $25 purchase minimum in the Shapeways store, so again, best to team up with some comrades. The color options include white, black, red and blue. We recommend black. You are also free to download the 3D model if you want to have it printed elsewhere. Download either of these files [igs | 3ds] if you would like to modify the model. Have at it.

Once you have all the parts, installation is fairly straight forward. Watch this video!

Lay the 3D printed part across the magnetized hinge on the Smart Cover. Place a small dab of glue in each slot. Simply hold a rare earth magnet near a slot and it will pop right in at the correct orientation. Repeat until all 20 slots are filled with magnets.

I used a bit of masking tape on the iPad to make sure I was positioning the 3D printed part properly. A touch of super glue is all it takes a affix the 3D printed part to the edge of the iPad. Of course, tape or some other adhesive could be used if the thought of supergluing something to your iPad makes you squeamish.

And that’s it. We’ve had fun with this little side project, but now it’s on to bigger things, like the Cosmonaut. Funding ends in 53 hours!

Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:46:22 -0400

I’ve been maintaining The Russians Used a Pencil for 18 months now and realized I never properly introduced myself.

Hi, I’m Dan.

As you may know, I am one half of Studio Neat, along with design partner Tom Gerhardt. Tom and I both recently quit our full time jobs, and are now 100 percent dedicated to Studio Neat activities. I couldn’t be more excited to be moving full steam ahead with our business.

As a pleasant side effect, I hope to increase the quality and frequency of posts here on The Russians Used a Pencil. I started the blog as a place to celebrate simplicity and elegance in design. That will always be the main focus, but I am finding it to be a great space to discuss our design process at Studio Neat, as well as a place to toss random ideas and ruminations. Writing on this blog has been incredibly rewarding so far, and it has helped me grow as a writer and designer.

If you want to be kept in the loop, please feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed or follow @RussianPencil, which essentially acts as an RSS feed for Twitter. You can also follow @StudioNeat, if you are so inclined.

Onward!

Pay What You Wish

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:07:00 -0400

“I originally pledged a bit more than the estimated fair-price-plus-shipping because I wanted to help subsidize someone… I never thought about the game theory applications or people trying to take advantage of others. I participated as a member of the little community. Every community has some people who are doing all they can, but are in circumstances that prevent them from doing more. And every community has freeloaders.” — Ruth Ann Harnisch

“It is interesting to look at this vs the Radiohead “In Rainbows” experiment. The big difference is that with this project, there is a physical object attached. Those “under paid” on In Rainbows were resulting in potential lost revenue, as they wouldn’t have been full-price customers in a normal situation. With a physical object that costs money to produce, the game changes.” — Jeffry Matthias

“I think it’s funny how everyone automatically places such a high value on this thing because of the $50k/3000 calculation. I asked myself how much I would pay for this simple item if it were an impulse buy at the registers at a place like Micro Center, and decided on $3. I didn’t think I was “freeloading” or screwing anyone over; I was using the opportunity given to tell the seller what I think their product is worth. It seems some people are forgetting that products are allowed to fail if they can’t be sold for a price people are willing to pay.” — Justin Cardinal

“I personally own two styluses and have backed another one here on Kickstarter. The fact that I was given the opportunity to pay what it’s worth *to me* was awesome. And so my pledge was less than the $16. On the plus side, I tweeted the link as well as posted it to Facebook. I also found this a great opportunity to introduce my teen to Kickstarter. He signed up and pledged as well. Sure, he didn’t put in a lot of $$$ but he’s actually really excited about getting in on the ground floor.” — Jose Lema

“I think this project would have hit well over the $50,000 needed if pledge amounts were public. Few people want to be caught at the $1 level, and plenty of people want to show how altruistic and giving they are. Anonymous actions encourage selfishness, while public actions encourage altruism.” — Corey Ward

“So once this project hits the $50k goal, won’t we see a lot of people dropping their pledges to $1?” — Zach Wendkos

“Bottom line: this should be the default for all Kickstarter project funding. Early adopters can get in for minimal contribution, they’ll be more apt to share to their circles, and it keeps you coming back to Kickstarter for more neat ideas to fund. The later you buy-in, the more it costs. (Of course this would be an optional project setting.)” — Benjamin Bertrand

Tom and I have been fascinated by the outcome (and subsequent discussion) of our pay-what-you-wish Kickstarter experiment for the Cosmonaut. We had no idea how this payment model would work out for a physical product, and were blown away that we made it 90% of the way to our funding goal in less than 48 hours. When the last of the 3000 slots was filled, those backers had accounted for $44,631, which averaged out to $14.87 per backer. Let’s first look at the dollar distribution:

The bulk of the funds raised were from people pledging in the $16-25 range, which, incidentally, spans the same range as the average needed ($16.67) to the suggested retail ($25). We also got a nice bump from individuals pledging $50 or more.

The backer distribution graph, below, better tells the story of how much each backer decided to pledge. The color bands in each bar distinguish the dollar increments in each respective range (eg. in the left most bar, the bottom light green represents the number of $1 backers, while the dark green on top represents $5 backers).

Just over 25% of the total backers pledged $1-5. The next most popular tier is $16-20, followed by $6-10. It’s also interesting to note that backers definitely prefer to pledge in $5 increments (as illustrated by the darkest shade of green).

We will continue to monitor the backer report, especially in regard to how people are adjusting their pledges.