pc v mac, interesting?

never mind the usual pc is not as good as mac, and all that stuff. I had a very interesting conversation with a parent of a student I teach today. her husband is a designer and his computer of choice is a mac, so their home computers are macs. nothing strange there. however both the mother and daughter are dyslexic and haven't really got on with computers that well until now. one of the courses I teach is all pc based, using for the most part microsoft based stuff as well as a bit of (adobe macromedia studio) dreamweaver fireworks flash, etc. nothing that complex. since the daughter started working on a pc with my classes she has found the whole operation system (XP) and software more intuitive (her words) and the family have bought a pc laptop for both mother and daughter to use at home. I have to say that I was very surprised to be told this today as I am constantly working between the two systems and genuinely find mac based software & operating system(OS X) much more logical.

I know more software is written for the pc, so there would be likely for there to be something amongst all the available stuff around that could make it easier for pc users. but when I suggested this I was told it's not any particular software just the way the operation system works, interesting?

its not all bad >>

for ages I have said half joking, 'ebay is the route of all evil'. though I have to say that I have used the dreaded ebay to buy bits of mac's lately. and so far the purchases I have made have all worked out well. I am sure that some of you out there will say well its because you are buying mac bits from mac people, I am sure you will all know a mac dealer that is not always good. anyway a new notebook battery arrived via ebay this morning and having tested it and used it I am rather pleased with my £17.50 purchase. I had better not look any more as I might buy something that doesn't exist never arrives and looks nothing like the picture. 

funny how being not that busy is stopping me blog

it is strange that on the days when I have more freedom as far as not working to the usual timetable of my academic life (as I am still on easter holiday) I am finding less time to get to this machine to post stuff.

it is not that I have nothing new to say, last weeks trip to bristol ikea could fill many pages, we have decided not to move but to put all our energy into making our home fit for purpose. so two wardrobes, a nice small steel filing cabinet (for me) a new work desk for luca as well as three sets of book shelves, and a strange bed canopy thing that ben wanted were bought not to mention a whole heap of other stuff that should/will make a massive difference to our home. however a broken windscreen of my land rover, luckily caused by me (not luca or carol) pushing a flat packed wardrobe too hard to get all the stuff in the truck. combined with me getting hot and bothered at driving from cornwall to bristol and back and then having to ask some-one else to collect our stuff on their way from yorkshire, made it more of a 'everything has gone wrong' road trip. this is the concise story.
suffice to say the windscreen has now been replaced (more expense, luckily my insurance covered the bulk of it), but there was nothing wrong with the old one till I broke it.

I have spent too much time in the last few days searching for a cheap ibook/powerbook for a training project of mine, it is amazing how frustrating it is trying to buy a used mac at reasonable price seems their price is more stable than house prices or gold, never mind the £, oh well back to e-bay then!

I really know that there are much bigger problems in the world and I do not intend to feel sorry for the very lucky position I am.

jing >> actually useful

its not that often you find something that is useful and free, but this is a good application while I was searching for something to use in a teaching context, it seems that 'jing' could be the thing as far as screen capture.

‘jing‘ is a project from techsmith that allows you to capture stills and video from your screen and share them online, and the good thing about it is that it works on both pc and mac.

I wont give it a full seal of approval until I have tested it with a class of year 9's next week at work.

what a day >> designing for mobile communities

what a day, I really have to mention carol, first she left early this morning to drive to an interview, probably the most important in her working life to date. then she is back home after lunch when she received a call to say that she didn't get the job. next she called me very disappointed and I promised to get home as soon as I could which I did.
next early evening they were on the phone again offering her the job, quite rightly in my opinion she excepted, and got a good deal.
and there I was thinking the design/academic world was fickle.

I spent some valuable time on designs for 'the hub' today which is coming together a bit better than last week. I did take some pictures very quickly before I had to get home, but in my haste I had the camera set on macro which obviously meant that whilst the pictures are interesting they do not mean anything, I will try to get more pictures on tomorrow.

whilst looking at more stuff on the internet I again was drawn to cati's blog because I remembered a link to jeff axup who finished his thesis on 'methods of understanding and designing for mobile communities'. it sounds a bit heavy but I took it upon myself to read a large part of it. I am famous for not really liking reading a huge amount of text on screen. so as bad as it is if I have to consider an examination criteria for a new exam course I will be teaching I print it off to read it in a quiet corner somewhere at home, usually because the text has not been specifically designed for reading on screen so doesn't work.

however looking at jeff's thesis or the sections of it that I have considered and read, make it different and easier to see on screen.
the understanding of the first user seems to have been thought through in a way that suits me at least.

It would be silly of me to try and explain all that jeff axup has considered and written about but I will show a couple of screen shots and explain a little of way I think it works. obviously splitting the thesis up for download is nothing new, (the complete thesis can also be downloaded).
I like the way jeff has done this because for me anyway it makes the most important part the subject matter easier an clear to grasp.

I would be very interested to see what you think.

howies >> it's not just an advert, promise

I know in one of my many other guises I run a surf website surf98, and lately blogs have been infiltrated by advertising companies but this post is not produced from anything except a catalogue that was sent to carol.

I got my hands on it because she thought correctly that I might like the way it was produced and designed for howies.

She also showed me a dress that she liked. the more I looked and handled the book I am now calling it and read the text actually holding it. I realised that this company a bit like fatface (used to do) were tapping into people like me, who really want to make a difference to the future still! though often in some way feel uncomfortable with too much excess, but still are precious about things being correct whether in design (clothes or otherwise) or for the world.

david hieatt their co-founder writes in the introduction to the book about being concerned about our environment to the extent of canceling an overseas photo shoot in favour of doing the shoot for the summer 07 catalogue in a shed in cardigan, wales in mid-winter.

the company that produced this howies sell a lifestyle as well as some really quite good clothes but I am as interested in their presentation, design and photography, the book/catalogue was designed by nick hand, photography by jon matthews and nick hand, printed by cousin (have a look at their website if you are not aware of their work as printers producing carbon zero productions). I am afraid as much as I would like to be able to give away a few of their books/catalogues I only have one and need to keep that because carol wants to get a dress from them and for a while it could be one of those precious things I was talking about. you can just go to their website and order a copy or just have a look at a .pdf version to be more carbon neutral, that is if you buy in to that argument.

a bit strange >> design ?

it has been one of the days/weeks really the best way I can describe it is in the pictures I have posted today. this roundabout I love the colours and enjoy the use of colour even enjoy watching it wizz around. the trouble is that is like so much design, teaching and every day talk the ideas can be poor but people think by wrapping it up a bit you have a good product but you don't.

when style not design becomes the substance of a product it doesn't work so any amount of random colour (or non-colour) can sometimes create pleasing effects but rarely gets noticed in a positive light, strange that me a one time textile designer famous for getting a degree in colouring in would believe this! (though I have since added to my studies and become a teacher of ICT/enterprise and business studies). I have always had strong feeling for colour and perhaps more the correct use and interpretation of it. even to the extreme of thinking the apple design teams cool use of colour annoying with its smugness at times. however Jonathan Ive as an inspiration beyond compare.

I am in no way presenting a tin german-made children's toy (that has a warning on it not suitable for children to play with!) as a design classic rather that it shows that all the colour in the spectrum will not save this piece from being anything but 'nice'.

Oh dear that got a bit heavy perhaps I should write about surfing next time, or perhaps I should explore this a bit more?