Super Ginormous

Category: Design

Posts on graphic and web design.

  • New ItemBrowser Released

    I appreciate everyone who put up with me teasing ItemBrowser for most of the month of April. Yesterday, it launched.

    (Because WallaBee is an iPhone game, the site was optimized for use on that device. We’re planning to make the layout more responsive over the next coming weeks. It’ll work fine in modern browsers and on the iPad, but we can and will deliver a better experience for both soon.)

    We love WallaBee. We want people to play the game. We want to help new players find the items they’re missing. We wanted tools that would help us find what we’re missing as well. I think ItemBrowser delivers.

    We’re not done with the site. We know it can get better. We’re using it to learn and to push ourselves. It’s been amazingly fun to work on.

    If you have a chance, I’d love it if you’d check it out.

  • Back This Project

    My friend Anton Peck is chasing a dream that you can play a role in. His dream is to create and publish a graphic novel. And now, thanks to Kickstarter, you can help make his dream a reality.

  • The New ItemBrowser is Almost Here

    ItemBrowser Version 3

    The new ItemBrowser is launching soon. Without David, the site would be a crappy, manually updated mess. The stuff he’s done to automate the site is nothing short of phenomenal in my book. When I first set out to make the site, I wanted to push myself to learn PHP better. I did accomplish that early on, but I also realized that getting to where I want to be with PHP was going to take far longer than this little project required.

    Some stuff you can expect in this release:

    • Geo-Location. Explore nearby spots. Find items nearby. Find specific spot types nearby.
    • Full-screen web app capable. (Aside from an annoying refresh-on-load issue, the site works swimmingly well full-screen.)
    • Large, beautiful artwork. We wanted the site to look gorgeous on retina displays.
    • Optimized for mobile first. The site will work well in modern desktop browser, but the experience is custom-tailored for iPhone use. Alternate (responsive) layouts will come after launch.

    Want to be one of the first to be notified when ItemBrowser v3 launches? Join our email list.

    (I don’t have exact launch date, but signs are pointing towards the end of next week…)

    PS. If you sign up for notifications, some of you may get early access to the site. Just sayin’… ;)

  • GuideGuide

    GuideGuide is a handy extension for making guides in Photoshop. Works in Photoshop CS4+.

  • Love the Web

    [vimeo width=”100%”]http://vimeo.com/30905911[/vimeo]

    Just returned from A Web Afternoon in Atlanta, GA. This video is incredibly inspiring. If you haven’t already seen it, I hope you’ll watch it.

  • Muse

    What would you create on the web if you didn’t have to worry about writing code? That’s (apparently) the premise behind Adobe’s new web authoring tool, code-named Muse. Built using Adobe Air, this cross-platform application will work on Mac, PC, and potentially on Linux as well. While in beta, it’ll be free to use. Plans will start at $15/month when 1.0 is released in 2012.

    While I haven’t built anything with Muse (yet), I’m intrigued by it. Will you use Muse? Do you think it will help or hurt web design?

  • BookArc for iPad

    BookArc for iPad

    The BookArc for iPad is a thing of beauty. It’s gorgeous to look at and a perfect companion for the iPad. If you’re considering getting the Apple iPad dock, skip it. Get this instead. It works in portrait or landscape. It’s sturdy. It doubles as a halfpipe for pixies when turned upside down.

    You need it.

  • 8-Point Star Flower

    8-Point Flower is the first of several pattern packs I’ll be releasing over the next few weeks. (If you like these, please let me know!) It’s inspired by Islamic geometric patterns (which are pretty fascinating/incredible, I might add).  The zip file contains: 6 PNGs (2 transparent versions not shown); Adobe Illustrator CS5 (.ai) files – single block or large pattern; and a Photoshop CS5 (.psd) file. Older versions of Illustrator or Photoshop should open the files. Best of all: It’s free and it’s licensed under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

    Grab Pattern Pack 01

  • Using data sets and variables in Photoshop

    Hop on over to the OnWired blog where I’ve posted a brief tutorial on how to start working with variables and data sets in Photoshop. When I spoke in front of RefreshColumbia/CAUG a couple of months ago, I showed a brief demo of how to do this and many in attendance didn’t know this was possible with Photoshop. (If you have any feedback on the tutorial, I’d love to hear it.)

    Using Datasets in Photoshop

  • Badges

    Here are some 125×125 badges I made for Wordcamp Atlanta:

    And some 300×75 badges: