A long time coming

Ive been working on my project 'iliketext.com' in every spare moment I've gotten, so I've not managed to add any posts here for a while. Above is a experiment I did with outputting stats collected from the service I'm building, and while I was trying to look at ways of displaying data and statistics such that they are easily accessible and interesting, I quite like the above beyond-basic result, I find it quite interesting in a very minimalist abstract sense, though its not helpful at all. It quite reminds me of a train departure board.

On a more productive note, Ive been working on the User Interface of Iliketext.com and think I'm almost there, heres a preview of the work in progress:
Things are going along well.

working-title('TXTface');

Ok, so I'm quite motivated about this new project I'm working on, as I've mentioned in my last post. Here's a snippet of what the post on the website would look like (so far).
I am still looking for people to collaborate with me though, as I'm pretty sure my server-side/programming skills are seriously lacking.
The Empire Collective > TXTface

TXTface

A new project I'm working on.
TXTface would essentially be a purly text-based faux-social bookmarking tool, based on the internet. Drawing inspiration from great sites like FFFFound.com by Yugo Nakamura and with the obvious tip of the hat to Facebook.com by Mark Zuckerberg, but with the focus being given to purely literary examples. As a project, I'd like to find a Developer to collaborate with, but hey I could just do it myself.

UK's Best Handheld Advert

The MD at my new work, Line Digital (in Edinburgh) forwarded this charmingly witty advert, for The Sun newspaper, to me earlier. I think it's great. All the more so because I dislike The Sun (with a reasonable amount of passion) - so an advertisement that get me thinking positively about it, has obviously covered at of ground.

Not sure which agency produced this gem, but I hope to find out.

Bullshit!

Only recently read yet another great piece of design criticism over at Design Observer, called: On (design) Bullshit, its well worth a read. The following are just snippets:

"In discussing design work with their clients, designers are direct about the functional parts of their solutions and obfuscate like mad about the intuitive parts, having learned early on that telling the simple truth — "I don't know, I just like it that way" — simply won't do."

"... it's beside the point whether bullshit is true or false: 'It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.' There must only be the desire to conceal one's private intentions in the service of a larger goal: getting your client it to do it the way you like it."

"Calling bullshit on a designer, then, stings all the more because it contains an element of accuracy." - Michael Bierut

"I believe he used the term finesse to mean bullshit." - Niti Bhan

I've been working on some stuff for a local magazine here in Edinburgh, called Muckle Sandwich, with another designer that stays at the same hostel, I'll post some of it soon.

of rhyme or verse

of rhyme or verse i know none,
aside from perhaps
the taste of my thumb;

as for satire or wit,
of neither have i ever writ;

i know not why i write,
or even if it amounts to nothing
but trite.

this is my heart

Its quite coincidental, that (since I'm traveling and haven't been able to do much graphic work) I've started writing, and happen to have come across a great blog 'this is my heart. it is a good heart' thanks to my friend back in South Africa - Fathima.
The image (from love notes) also caught my attention seeing as I'm away from home at the moment. Hopefully I'll give my writings a graphic treatment and post them here soon. via Fathima

The Flow of Communication

Thanks to my following the happenings at The Diagram, who have just published version 8.4. I've started experimenting with diagrams to communicate poems, prose, and found text. I'm still in the process of developing the execution, but I'm rather pleased with it so far.
Like the one above, that's still in sketch form, based on the children's rhyme "Georgie Porgie Pudding And Pie".

I hope to produce a series of limited run screen prints, for my up coming collaborative exhibition "Share & share alike", so any criticism (good or bad) would be much appreciated.
[Inspiration via The Diagram]

DIAGRAM :: 8.2

I'm at a loss, both at how awesomely intriguing Diagram is, and as to what they are exactly. So far as i can glean, they are an online magazine dedicated to writing and poetry.

"We're interested in representations. In naming. In indicating. In schematics. In the labeling and taxonomy of things. In poems that masquerade as stories; in stories that disguise themselves as indices or obituaries." www.thediagram.com

Me being more graphically orientated, I prefer the visuals on the site more than the writing on it's own, the mixture of existing diagrams with unrelated yet somehow meaningful text is brilliant.
[via theDiagram8.2]