My wife works in retail at Banana Republic a couple days a week. Most of the time while she works I watch our 8 month old son.  From a finance perspective this is incredibly inefficient. Through my software design company I bill out my time for more than 10x what she makes per hour. If money were the only metric that we used to make decisions she would have quit her job a long time ago. Instead we look at the big picture and see the benefits beyond only finances. She gets a change of scenery with people at work she enjoys. I get to spend quality time with Oliver. Often going to visit my dad or other friends. It is a great time away from all distractions of work and other obligations. My entire focus for that time is my son. Wonderful, but inefficient.

Lately my iOS apps haven’t made a lot of progress since I’ve been busy with contract work. A friend suggested that I hire out the development to get them moving more quickly. Again, this would efficient. I am a very slow programmer and my time is far more efficiently spent on design. Instead I insist of doing almost all of the programming myself. It’s slow, but I want to learn as much as I can.

Finally, I spend time writing this blog, which is not an efficient way to make money. Again, I should be working on my backlog of design tasks and billable work. That is if making money was the most important thing. Instead I’ve found a balance between activities that make money and activities that make me happy or improve my life.

The cover photo is my son, Oliver at 7 months old.

As more things come to mind I will add to the list. I will also refer back to this list and check things off as they are accomplished.

Do

• Climb Mt. Borah (the tallest peak in Idaho, my home state).
• Go skydiving.
• Go bungee jumping.
• Run a marathon (Honolulu Marathon – December 2010).
• Fly a plane.
• Do a backflip.
• Speak to 500+ people.
• Speak at a conference.
• Design an iOS game.
• Cycle up to Bogus Basin.
• Ride a bicycle across the country.
• Win an Apple design award.
• Go parasailing (Nice, France in 2010 & Cabo, Mexico in 2011).
• Do a 30 second hand stand
• Drive a Ferrari.
• Make $10,000 in one day.
• Release an iOS app (I now have three!).
• Ride in a hot air balloon.
• Start a business.
• Write a book.

Travel

• France.
• Italy.
• Switzerland.
• Africa (South Africa & Lesotho – 2009).
• Thailand.
• Argentina.
• Chile.
• Live abroad for 2+ months.
• Visit 10 countries in 1 year.

Learn

• Learn to draw.
• Learn to program (in process).
• Learn French.
• EMT Certification.
• Learn to ride a motorcycle.
• Learn to pick locks.

Now some things aren’t as easy as doing them once and checking them off a list. They take time and effort. Usually an ongoing process for your entire life. Even though these are harder to  measure they are far more important than everything listed above.

• Don’t work too much.
• Slow down.
• Make time for family.
• Raise honest, kind children.
• Say what you think.
• Be happy.
• Love.
• Be loved.

What’s on your list?

Why?

Because when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know which side you really want.

For me this works so well it is incredible. A slight feeling of disappointment after a coin lands is enough to make me choose the other option. When a coin isn’t available I assign each option to a letter then ask my wife “A or B?” her response works just as well.

Yes, it’s a gimmick. But it works for me. It might for you as well.

Photo Credit: Redwood Photography

Last week, that “someone” was me. Back in December I wrote this post: “Skill Doesn’t Matter if you Lack Taste.” In the post I have a couple of examples where incredible skill still has a mediocre outcome because of a lack of taste. One of the examples I used was the corny transitions in the more recent Star Wars movies (hint: never criticize Star Wars). You can judge for yourself thanks to this video.

The post made it to the home page of Hacker News (a site known for quality discussion) and the traffic started flooding in. First the comments pointing out that the wipes were a homage to earlier sci-fi movies. Something I didn’t know, so thanks for pointing that out.

Then the comments turned negative. Really bad. First just off topic and insulting, but then really offensive. Some so bad I just deleted them and would not reprint them here.

All this over a conversation about Star Wars? Seriously?

Normally I would say “Welcome to the internet. That’s just how things are.” except that this came from Hacker News which is a community I really respect and care about.

Don’t be a dick, just be nice. It’s that easy. Point out when someone is wrong, but do it in a helpful way. Insulting their family won’t help anyone.

Luke Beard has a beautiful poster (shown above) that inspired the title. You should purchase it here: Art prints & posters from Luke Beard. Then hang it near your computer to be reminded while commenting on the internet.

As wonderful as this sounds it has the unfortunate side affect of many unfinished projects. Projects that make just enough money that I can’t justify shutting them down, but also no longer have the desire to work on. Combine this with contract design projects and I feel pulled in a dozen different directions. So many things require my time and attention that I become paralyzed and accomplish nothing.

So what should I do? Well today I decided to pick one project and focus. Put my 4 or 5 other projects and ideas on hold. They’ll be there waiting for me when I have time.

See that’s the thing, starting is easy. Finishing is the hard part. That’s how I ended up with so many separate projects. By allowing myself to move on from unfinished projects I just get further into this habit. So now I am going to focus on finishing. First with OneVoice, my iOS app for giving a voice to those who cannot speak. OneVoice has a lot of features and is well developed, but I stopped short on the marketing. For the next period of time marketing, improving, and supporting OneVoice will be my main task.

Finish what you start. Even if that means admitting something is a failure and ending it. Don’t let the project dwindle away. Just finish it.

So I want to show you something I made that is unrelated to web design and software. This is a jewelry box I made with a scroll saw for Hilary’s (my wife) birthday.

Now go create something.

The recording showed me just how many things I need to work on to be a better presenter. That will come with time and practice.

Also check out my iOS Design Newsletter for more tips and tricks.

Designing iOS Applications

My video recording turned out alright for this talk, so I will do some editing and post it online soon. In the mean time here are a few links I talked about.

• Clear
• Calcbot
• 25 Free iOS Design Resources
• Subtle Patterns
• Apple HIG
• Commit
• OneVoice
• Fluent

Designing with CSS3

Unfortunately I had technical issues with the audio recording for this talk, so I cannot post a recording. But I will redo the talk in the future and post code samples and a new video then.

Demos

Templates & PSDs

Icon Template

Michael Flarup’s icon template is the best one available. Very useful Photoshop actions along with some great textures.

UIButton Pack

By default UIButtons are my least favorite element in UIKit. So I made a simple button pack to fix that.

iPad GUI PSD

iPhone GUI PSD

Free App PSD

iOS Style Popover

Free Game Art

Textures & Patterns

Subtle Patterns

This is my favorite patterns website around!

Tileables

Apple iOS Linen Texture

High Resolution Fabric Texture Pack

20 Repeatable Pixel Patterns

Icons

Function Icon Set

WooFunction: 178 Amazing Web Design Icons

Fugue Icons

Not necessarily in an iOS style, but it is a huge icon set that has come in handy for me many times.

FamFamFam Silk Icons

Glyphicons

Glyphish

The Noun Project

The quality and volume of icons in The Noun Project is very impressive! They are often great to get ideas of what to represent in your icon.

Pixicus Icon Set: 106 Pixel Perfect Icons

Shock iPhone Icons

 

Other

Function Brush Set: 33 Subtle Grunge Textures & Effects

42 More Subtle Grunge Textured Photoshop Brushes

iOS Design Cheat Sheet

Printable iPhone Wireframe Templates

***

Signup for my iOS Design Newsletter for more app design tips and articles.

Think through all the well known people in your industry. The people who’s blogs you follow, who are invited to speak at conferences. These are the people who you consider popular in your field. How did they get there? Sharing.

Jason Fried of 37signals refers to this as “emulating chefs.” In most industries code and blueprints are kept secret. Not so with chefs. They thrive on teaching anyone who will listen the recipes they’ve created. A chef doesn’t worry that you knowing his recipe will cause you to stay home from his restaurant. Instead it builds credibility for the chef. By sharing everything he knows the chef builds an audience who will visit his restaurants every chance they get.

What if you aren’t a master chef? Share anyway.  Talk about the journey. Share what you are learning in a way that is useful to others.

Chris Coyier started CSS-Tricks.com in mid-2007. Now Chris is widely regarded as a CSS expert. He has written a popular book on WordPress and has been interviewed many times. When Chris started CSS-Tricks he wasn’t considered an expert. He built that status by sharing what he knew. As he learned more, he shared more.

I’ve heard that the best way to learn a topic is to teach it to someone else. You will quickly learn what you don’t know. Use your website, guest posts, and speaking opportunities to start sharing. Soon people will start to see you as an expert in your field.

Just follow this simple process:

Learn. Create. Share.

(Repeat)