James Law

Feb 13, 2012

Vintage Electronics & Crank Interfaces

I'm deep in design mode for Crank's first app - title and details to be released soon - and I'm loving all these old dials and electronics kit that we're using to influence key parts of the UI (shown on the right).

As I type, the above Low Voltage Circuit Tester is still up for grabs on Ebay - anyone fancy buying me an early Bday pres? :)

Jan 26, 2012

Indie Space Suit Dev

This pic is so full of all-kinds-of-awesome and kinda sums up a bit of the Crank manifesto. Break the rules, make it cool, is there a science angle, are we using enough orange in the design? Also, love the idea that there were indie space suit designers courting NASA back in the 60's :)

From a sometimes disturbing photo-spread from LIFE.com featuring the work of sci-photographer Fitz Goros (1901 - 1986)

Jan 3, 2012

Twelve Days of Christmas - 2011

Sat around the table discussing Christmases past I realised I could only place a few of the bigger dates or occurances. Must be getting old - so this posts (and others in the future) are for me to look back on over the years...

Dec 10, 2011

I Crank'd out some cards...

Yay - new crank Biz Cards - got them from moo.com. There are three Crank type Q's on the back which link to an individual bit.ly url - Why is the Sky Blue? How do Rockets get into Space? & Why are Magnets Sticky?

Dec 8, 2011

Andy J Miller / Kurt Vile

We were randomly scouring Etsy the other day and we stumbled across the work of Andy J Miller. The original piece we bought got lost coming across the atlantic but Andy very kindly re-posted and included a free print - the one you see above. Turns out I like this one even more - thanks Andy!

Nov 21, 2011

Comic dev

Love this sequence of pics showing a 1940's comic from first draft through to the finished article. Read the full story over at Comic Book Attic.

Nov 8, 2011

Crank Publishing Ltd

Some slides from a deck I recently put together for my new business, Crank Publishing

Oct 31, 2011

Dribbble inspiration...

Loving some Dribbble action at the mo and especially the work of Dan Matutina. So much so that I thought I'd have a go at creating my own, dark moody landscape in his style...

Oct 28, 2011

Treasure...

Wapping, Oct 28th 2011

Oct 26, 2011

Homemade(ish) macro snaps!

I've been wanting a macro lens for my Canon digi SLR for ages - but good ones are crazy expensive! I found a cheap solution on Amazon - clicky for full details

Oct 19, 2011

You win some, you lose some...

One of the designs I did for the Guardian, looking at opening up data and design task to external developers and contributors

Since my time with Buildor has come to an end I've been working on lots of consulting roles whilst developing other business ideas.

I have considered applying for full time positions but very few have felt right or have really fitted the areas I'd like to move into.

One approach I made to a company oh-so-nearly lead to a kinda dream job - but it was snatched from me at the last second! It was with The Guardian.

Continues...

iPad publishing experiments

There's no denying that the Alice franchise from Atomic Antelope set the bar very high for book apps (as opposed to iBooks) – they are clearly geniuses (I’ve just bought Chris Stevens' book to boot) but I wonder if there’s an opportunity to go beyond the physics enhanced reading experience toward something that entertains and educates at the same time.

So what do I mean by entertain and educate? Seeing Alice joggle and wiggle around the screen depending on how the reader influences the accelerometer is great but it has got to wear thin at some stage (Chris mentions that himself in the book as it happens) – plus it’s not really teaching the reader anything (which isn’t always the point of course).