Khoi Vinh's Blog, page 114

Sketch 3 Released

Following up on my post from a few weeks ago, Sketch 3 was released yesterday. This video from Bohemian Coding provides a pretty comprehensive overview of the app, and it has a winning soundtrack, to boot. Version 3’s debut also occasions a free episode of Rafael Conde’s SketchCasts that focuses on what’s new. And designer…

Car UX

Automotive user experience design is a field that seems poised to change dramatically in the coming decade as the “Internet of things” invades car interiors. To that end, user experience designer Min Seung Song is collecting images of the user experience details of contemporary automobiles. It’s a fascinating survey of the relative sameness of auto…

New York City’s Lost Type District

A nifty bit of detective work from Tobias Frere-Jones. I was able to plot out the locations for every foundry that had been active in New York between 1828 (the earliest records I could find with addresses) to 1909. All of the buildings have been demolished, and in some cases the entire street has since…

Not Coming to a Theater Near You, 2013 Review

Not Coming to a Theater Near You, “a film resource that assumes a bias towards older and classic cinema,” is wonderfully designed by editor Rumsey Taylor. Their Two–Thousand Thirteen in Review is a superbly faithful digital translation of the independent magazine publishing style — it very nearly reproduces the physical grit of a brainy, obscure…

Color Bias in Photographic Film

Photographer Syreeta McFadden recounts her pained personal history with photographic film’s historical inability to render the darker tones of her African American skin, a technical deficiency that, it turns out, was engineered into Kodak’s chemical formulations. It turns out, film stock’s failures to capture dark skin aren’t a technical issue, they’re a choice. Lorna Roth,…

Brian Lovin on Design Details

Lovin, if that is in fact his true last name, is a product manager at Buffer. He’s been writing superb, succinct observations on particularly well designed details in various digital products. His comments are keen and illuminating. What I particularly like about his posts is that they fully appreciate the power of transitional animations in…

Luca Zanier

Monumentalism captured by Swiss photographer Luca Zanier. There’s plenty more at Zanier.ch — there were so many stunning images I had a hard time choosing which ones to share here. His best work is under the heading “Free Projects.” +

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Gigstock

Here is indie band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart previewing their upcoming album “Days of Abandon” at local station WNYC this week. At first blush, the songs sound terrific, even if the audio quality in the video is not the best. The new album is released on 13 May and features this gorgeous…

The Quantified Canine Self

I guess something like this was inevitable, right? This new gadget snaps onto your best friend’s collar and “measures your dog’s activities, giving you a new perspective on day-to-day behavior and long-term health trends. Check in from your phone, share memorable moments with family and friends, and make informed decisions with your vet.” The device…

Hollywood and the Bechdel Test

In his article “The Dollar-and-Cents Case against Hollywood’s Exclusion of Women,” Walt Hickey of Five Thirty-Eight looks into the numbers behind films that feature prominent roles for women. His team researched 1,615 films released over the past twenty-three years that passed the famous Bechdel Test, which determines whether a movie’s female roles are substantial or…