Emily Chang – Designer

Gina Trapani at Lifehacker has a good write up on the current state of Google Wave.

Directed by artist Natalia Ponomareva from Russia, here is an amazing project with packaging of tea bags produced under the principles of origami. The bird forms and unfolds gradually while the tea infuses.

Elegant and subtle.

Via PicoCool

View left towards the bay from the 11th floor view at Ideacodes. Tiltshifted with TiltShift Generator for iPhone.

The MiLi Pro is a breakthrough in iPhone and iPod accessory technology. It’s an iPhone / iPod compatible, rechargeable, micro video projector. The power of the PhoneSuit MiLi Battery has been coupled with the convenience of a portable video projector and speaker system. Watch all of your movies, video clips, podcasts and more with ease! Now you can carry your own personal movie theater with you, anywhere you travel.

Via PicoCool

Several sites, including my own PicoCool, are taking advantage of the grid view as a fast way for users to browse content. Designers have been relying on the grid for generations as a layout technique. Lots of data-driven sites (eg. product comparisons or search results), web 2.0 services and blogs let users toggle their view of content between list view and grid view.  List view has become synonymous with seeing extended details or descriptions, while the grid simplifies and presents content visually.  A few years ago, I wrote that new methods of visualization and discovery were being created (and needed) to deal with vast amounts of content and participation. Today, we’re seeing a return to a trusted visual structure with this week’s launch of Google Fast Flip, Tumblr’s Wire, as well as the recent redesign of Wordpress’s home page, and the earlier New York Times article skimmer. This time, it’s still about discovery, but with a greater emphasis on speed and browsability.

The New York Times Article Skimmer

WordPress

Tumblr’s Wire

Tumblr’s Archives

Google Fast Flip

PicoCool

Ideacodes is thrilled to be working with Mind Over Media, a team of content and creative experts whose clients include the New York Times, Harvard Business School, Estée Lauder and American Express. Ideacodes is providing a range of services for several of Mind Over Media’s projects, ranging from web strategy, UI and UX design, to open source development.

Ideacodes co-founder Emily Chang is one of three judges for HOW Magazine’s 11th Annual Interactive Design Awards. Entries range across media – web, DVD, motion, kiosks – and disciplines, and will be judged on communication/message, navigation/usability, visual design and technical strength. Fellow judges include Liz Danzico, co-founder and Chair of the new MFA in Interaction Design Program, and Sean Donohue, VP, Creative Director of skinnyCorp. Winning entries will be featured in HOW’s April 2010 Design Annual.

Julien Madérou has created a paper iPhone dock with a printable version for you to download and create  yourself. Very clever.  A commenter notes that if you have a metal iPod touch or first gen iPhone, those are too heavy to be supported so you might want to try a thicker weight. Also note, the template is sized for A4 paper. UPDATE: here’s the template for the U.S. letter paper version.

How-to video:

Via PicoCool

It’s been fun to see new scripts and themes developed to “Helveticize” the web, starting with Google Reader, then Google Calendar, Gmail, and now Twitter.  If you’re a Helvetica lover, you’re in luck.  Get rid of multiple fonts and cluttered interfaces and give your apps a minimalist makeover.  It is just a visual makeover, though, since the UX of the sites won’t change or improve.

Helvetwitter by Josef Richter

If you like Jon Hicks’ Helvetireader and Ad Taylor’s Helvetical, this is another attempt to build upon these designs.

Twitter success is based on the simplicity of the service. However, the website, as well as various standalone Twitter clients are becoming more and more cluttered with useless features and other junk. Therefore, I stripped it to the basics and now it’s the first twitter client I am happy with.

The ideal way is to use Fluid to build a simple standalone Helvetwitter client.

Helvetireader by Jon Hicks