Spring update: Good things come in threes
May 21, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Say hello to the newest addition to the Allums’ family, little Miles. He was born a coupla days early on April 19, a sweet little 7lbs package. We’re slowly getting used to his schedule, and learning how to function on scant amounts of sleep… but this kid has brought more joy to our lives than I could ever express here.
The other big news is that tomorrow I will receive my MFA from Academy of Art University’s graduate web design program. My project, Road Case, passed the committee’s review with flying colors, and will be featured in the school’s spring show at the Palace of Fine Arts. In fact, after I presented my work to the committee, we were admitted to the hospital to bring the little dude into the world.
The third bit of good news will have to wait until a bit later this year to announce, but suffice it to say that 2013 is a pretty damn delightful year so far.
Fine New Year, AAU design challenge
Jan 15, 2013 § Leave a Comment
2013 is gonna be HUGE, and I will be busier than ever, I expect. I’m finishing my thesis app & graduating in May, and there’ll be another really cool announcement coming shortly.
The year is already off to a good start. It looks like I came in first place in a design challenge at school, where we were asked to do UX design for a new feature integration for the AAU Campus Mobile App on iOS & Android (powered by HTML5 & SalesForce). They will use my work to implement a new community voice tool.
The design challenge was facilitated by CloudSpokes, which uses crowdsourcing to find solutions to technology problems. I’m really very honored to be a part of it… and that $700 prize is gonna come in handy! Hopefully they will continue to utilize the student design community to enhance these kinds of experiences.
You can view my submission here on Google Docs/Drive.
MobX Berlin: Designing for mobile payments
Nov 17, 2012 § 1 Comment
I’m having a blast here in Berlin, though it is waaaaay too cold for my gentle Southern skin. Day 1 of MobX Conference was a lot of fun, with many insightful talks and brief glimpses of design from various areas that touch the mobile context: surface design, second screens, responsive web, etc.
Here are slides from my session on design challenges for mobile payment experiences:
Sadly, my notes didn’t export onto SlideShare, so here are some links from various references & examples I mentioned:
Oaxaca!
Oct 03, 2012 § Leave a Comment
One more trip to add to my Fall itinerary: just booked a long weekend for me & the missus in beautiful Oaxaca City!
We’ll spend 72 hours wandering the narrow streets, in search of carts selling the regions fabled seven moles. I’ve only heard amazing things about this city, so we are really looking forward to exploring it. We’ll try to visit the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban, if we can carve out some time between eating and lazing about the central Zocalo.
Fall travel plans: Berlin, France, Louisiana
Aug 21, 2012 § Leave a Comment
My final year of grad school starts up in two weeks, and looking back at this summer I’m just realizing that I didn’t take the opportunity to travel much (unless you count a mini-tour with The Shants from SF to Monterey to the Central Valley).
Fortunately, the fall months will bring a couple of trips to Europe in mid-November: Berlin followed by Thanksgiving in Nice (with a stop in London eminent). Christmas will mostly likely be in Louisiana this year – can’t wait to eat my weight in hush puppies!
While in Berlin, I’m speaking at MobX 2012, a mobile user experience conference. This year’s line-up is truly stellar, with talks by designers from Twitter, Nokia, frog, PhoneGap… including some of my UX heroes Nick Finck and Rachel Hinman. Tickets are available now, if you’ll happen to be in town.
Dollar Re-design
Aug 15, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Love the re-design of US banknotes by Dowling/Duncan. They incorporated imagery from modern US history, paid homage to Native Americans, incorporated varying bill sizes (ala the Euro) all while using a decidedly government-friendly font!
Sadly, there’s no spider on the $1.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Costa Rican colones:
Back in London Town
May 30, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I’m back in London for a coupla weeks for work. The weather has been a perfect facsimile of Northern California Spring, which is unexpected! The whole city is consumed by preparations for the Olympics… there’s a great buzz here.
The other big news is that me & the missus are moving down to Menlo Park! I can’t saying I’ll miss MUNI buses idling beneath our window on 24th Street… or the can collectors bashing away at 4am.
