The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero is a fantastic book that examines the world of design, and the role of designers that inhabit it. This isn't a guide to making websites look great, or a how-to on making apps. Chimero encourages the reader to think about the why behind great design, not the how. There are fantastic quotes and illustrations sprinkled…
Yesterday, the guys at Typography.com introduced a webfont project they're calling Cloud.typography, and it looks fantastic. This appears to be their answer to services like Typekit, and includes the entire H&FJ typeface collection. You know how the default fonts in Check the Weather and Vesper are Idlewild and Ideal Sans, respectively? Yeah, they're both included with this service, along with a lot…
Learning iOS Design is a book written by William van Hecke, the User Experience Lead at the Omni Group (the makers of OmniFocus and other well-known apps). In this book, William takes you through the process of becoming an iOS app designer, regardless of your experience level. You'll learn how to flesh out your app ideas, from early sketches and wireframes to…
The iOS App Store is replete with great photo editing apps these days, and one of the better-looking ones is PicLab for iPhone. It allows you to add nice typography and lots of different photo effects to your shots, with an interface that looks like it was ripped straight out of Letterpress (in a good way). The app itself is free, but…
Dragon Dictate is one of the most well-known dictation apps for the Mac, due to its accuracy and extensive feature list. Normally it goes for $200, but the guys over at StackSocial are currently offering it at $100 for the next 6 days (ending July 1st, 2013). This is the dictation app used by people like our friend David Sparks. As he'll…
If you spend a lot of time messing around with spreadsheets, you might want to check out Permanent for iPad. It's an easy-on-the-eyes spreadsheet app that's been optimized for touch and supports the XLSX and CSV formats for easy importing/exporting. As you'd expect, you can also write your own equation formulas. Normally this app costs $20, but for today only (June 25th,…
(Image courtesy of MacStories) NetNewsWire, one of the most popular RSS apps ever made for the Mac, has just opened up a beta version of it's upcoming 4.0 release to the public. The guys at Black Pixel have been working hard behind the scenes for a while now, updating the interface to mesh well with OS X Mountain Lion and incorporating a…
If the 'Night Sky' edition of Field Notes wasn't enough of an astronomy fix for you, I'd recommend checking out Sky Guide for iOS. This thing had been sitting somewhere in my AppShopper wish list for a long time, forgotten, until Ben Brooks wrote about it yesterday. I'm glad he did, because this is such a cool app. The way it works…
Chatology is a Mac app that allows you to search your Messages and iChat history, rather than relying on the frustratingly poor search features built into each one. Essentially, it's a well-designed front-end for your Mac's chat logs. You can view your entire chat history with anyone on your list, and it lets you easily narrow down to just the images or…
The latest in the Field Notes 'Colors' lineup is the gorgeous Night Sky edition. On the back cover you'll find a set of constellations – including Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Ursa Major/Minor, Draco, Boötes, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila – with each cover featuring a different group. These are some of the most attractive Field Notes I've ever seen, but maybe I'm a little…
This won't be the first time we've mentioned VSCO Cam – one of the best iPhone photography apps ever made, in my opinion – but I felt that the recent 2.0 update was worth another look. They've completely overhauled the interface, adding new features such as separate focus and exposure rings while shooting, as well as a white balance "lock". They've also…
Longtime readers may remember Mike Rohde's The Sketchnote Handbook, a guide to taking better notes by sketching rather than writing. If you liked the book, you're gonna love The Sketchnote Typeface. Mike created this typeface by scanning actual ink-spread on paper to make it more authentic. Of course, he did it to save himself a lot of work while writing the book…
There were tons of amazing things announced during Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote the other day, but two of those products that are already available for purchase are the new AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule Base Stations. These bad boys are now equipped with 802.11ac WiFi technology, which is said to be up to three times faster than the previous 802.11n. Each one…
Tunebox is a neat iOS app that acts as an audio player for your Dropbox account. It automatically scans your entire Dropbox folder for any MP3 or MP4/AAC audio files, then organizes them the same way the built-in Music app does: by Artist, Album, and Song. You can save any track for offline playing, or just stream whatever you want as long…
Apple's Passbook for iOS is a great concept, but one that – in my opinion – has never really lived up to its full potential. Luckily, a third-party app called Lemon Wallet has stepped up to the plate, offering features you won't find in Passbook. Lemon Wallet allows you to store credit cards, insurance cards, loyalty cards, and receipts by snapping photos…
Remember that Journey Pack bag from Sons of Trade that I posted the other day? Well, there's another bag made by the same people that I think is also worth mentioning: the Satellite Sling. Unlike the Journey Pack, which is made from felt, this bag sports a matte cotton canvas exterior with a water-resistant nylon lining. It's a relatively small bag, but…
There have been many Chess games available for iPhone since the App Store opened up a few years ago, but most of them aren't really designed with the iPhone's screen in mind. Rather than taking advantage of the available screen real estate, they're typically cluttered with ugly and unnecessary UI. Not so with Tall Chess, released only a few days ago. All…
We live in an age when more and more people are making the attempt to become full-time independent writers on the web, myself included. Shawn Blanc, the editor of this site, has already managed to achieve this lofty goal and is quite successful as far as I know, but most of us are still figuring out how to do the same. This…
Today seems to be the day for somewhat unusual iPhone stands. The SETA Smartphone Stand is an interesting Kickstarter project that proposes to hold your phone in place using a "NanoSuction" surface. You push your phone against the suction pad to hold it in place, and pull or twist to remove it — no sticky residue involved. It doesn't have its own…
CreatureBox, who I discovered through Instagram a while back, is the art studio behind the Ratchet & Clank video game series. I absolutely love their artwork (clearly inspired by Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin & Hobbes), which is why I'm super excited that they've collected a bunch of it into something they call The Monster Volume. If you like comic book-style…