Music That Inspires & Fuels My Designs
April 23rd, 2010 by Mr. Joe PaytonI spend a lot of time listening to music. Whether it is in the car staring into space trying to brainstorm new solutions to the problems I’m working on, or at my workspace implementing those solutions, there is always music. Typically, It is but sound in the background, but I do understand that inspiration is gathered from the sounds, even if unintentional.
There are two vehicles I use to get music to my ears. The first is with my iPod. the second is through the service Last.fm. I know there are a ton of other internet radio providers out there, but I have a solid reason for choosing last.fm. Simply for the ability to “scrobble” music, both online and offline listening. What this means is Last.fm tracks my listening habits even if I am listening to my iPod. Each time I synch my iPod or iPhone, last.fm gathers a list of tracks I’ve listened to, how many times I’ve listened to it, and adds it to my recently played list. This information is then used to generate a personal radio station of music I am familiar with and new music that fits my overall musical tastes. I have discovered that I am beginning to turn to last.fm more often when listing to music than my own collection. You should check it out, and maybe we’ll hook-up!
Now for my love list. These are the artists and musicians that really get my brain moving.
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A Dance of Design & Content : NateRiggs.com
March 29th, 2010 by Mr. Joe PaytonThis morning we launched the recreation of Nate Riggs‘ website. It has seen a bit of chatter on twitter from quite a few bloggers in the community along with a nice little compliment from Chris Brogan. This a been a very nice case study on the aspect of design enhancing content.
The biggest aspect of the redesign that was always at the forefront of the process was the realization that Nate had build a very large catalog of articles. The content was king of the site, which totally buried the aspect of design. The design needed to help present this large amount of content without being overwhelming, yet be subtle enough to not hinder the access to the content. some of the major points to demonstrate the process:
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My Top 10 Design Resources
March 23rd, 2010 by Mr. Joe PaytonTypically when someone asks what I do for a living, the answer is preceded with one of two questions. It’s either, “…So, I’ve had this idea for a site! It will make so much money we could buy google. How much would it cost to build it?”. or “How do you keep up?”. The first question never ends with happiness, so, I’ll try to answer the second. There will be much more joy involved. I promise.
Here is a run-down on the places I frequent on a steady basis. Some are used weekly. Some are visited multiple times a day.
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