I’ll be going places this August, combining holiday with my favorite pass-time (that’s work, in case you’re wondering), and I’d love to meet blog readers, clients, and other familiar faces when I’m in their vicinity! I’ve got two places that I’ll be attending for a significant amount of time, and if you’d like to meet me, be sure to drop me a line!

So where will I be? As with last year, I’ll be attending the Dutch musical festival ‘A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise 2008′ (links to last.fm); I can’t reveal my share of the custom design work I did until the festival’s commencement date, but if you’re attending, I can guarantee you’ll like it! The festival is split up in three days, and if you’re there, be sure to email, text, or call me to set up a meet (details can be found in my vcard on Icon Designer) - it’s always fun to get together.

More exciting (and outlandish) is my prolonged visit to the United States from August 21st to September 10th. I’ll have a week of vacation with my girlfriend from Sept. 3rd to Sept. 10th, and the rest of the days I’ll be working on something fantastic. I’ll be in San Francisco during that entire time period, so if you live near, or happen to travel there, be sure to contact me. I really look forward to seeing San Francisco (and the US in general, I’ve never been there before) and all the designers and great companies that take up residence there. Vacation tips are, of course, also appreciated!

It was a real challenge getting my girlfriend on a plane, as paper tickets are no longer used, and her surname is too long to fit on an e-ticket reservation, Expedia refused to offer her any service (any. Really, I’ve been told by an Expedia supervisor that she just flat out couldn’t travel at all), but fortunately it appears that the airline, BMI, has been very kind with us and solved all the issues with the reservation. We’ll even be on the same flight back, in two adjacent seats. In the end, it even saved me several hundred euro’s. So a tip for all of you; just don’t use Expedia.

That’s it for this short notice; I’ll be updating the blog soon with more released projects and work, and I’ll probably do a few posts from these two trips too, so you can stay informed of my adventures. I hope to see you there!

If you’re Dutch, you may recognize the artistic direction of the building as ‘de Stijl’;

(… De Stijl sought to express a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. [It] advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour — [members of de Stijl] simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and white. – wikipedia )

The similarity is not coincidental, as the entire block was designed by the founder of de Stijl, Theo van Doesburg. As such, we considered it to be the perfect location for such a graphic studio!

Feel free to check out more of the images on our flickr.

The problem I want to address can be referred to as ‘Swiss Interface Syndrome’, and its symptoms extend to the apparently randomly distributed presence of Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann’s 1957 typeface — Helvetica — in the graphical user interface. Helvetica is, without a doubt, the most used and abused typeface in existence. Since its birth, it has grown from a fad, into a ubiquitous beacon of neutrality, and today into an even more omnipresent showcase of classic Swiss typeface design. Unfortunately for us, Max Miedinger did not exactly have computer screens, Aqua source lists and pixel font sizes in mind when designing it. After all, all of those things weren’t even invented. Which is why you can probably see why using Helvetica in something like an application sidebar is such a mortal sin.

Mac OS X comes with, in my opinion, one of the best typefaces of our time that is optimized for the computer screen (also more shortly referred to as a ’screen font’); Lucida Grande, designed by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes. If you are using Mac OS X, you won’t have to look far to find it; your top menu bar is completely set in it, your Dock labels are, most of your browser interface is, and even the sidebar of this website is set in it (by my own preference). It’s also obvious why Helvetica and Lucida Grande are so different; one has been designed before any computers existed, and the other was designed in 2000, with pixels in mind. Obviously, Lucida Grande isn’t as neutral or multipurpose as Helvetica; it has the clear appearance of a small-point size typeface that doesn’t work comfortably at large sizes or in print. But that is not an issue if you take into account its design principles. In those tiny text sizes of our interface, Lucida Grande truly shines. It completely gets out of your way and remains extremely legible.

Now you should be able to see why I found myself in a state of utter disarray and bewilderment when the runner-up of last year’s ‘Best Leopard Application’ Apple Design Award had an interface that proved to be more riddled with Helvetica than a keyboard is with buttons. And it set another precedent; applications like Outspring Mail, the recently released $95 mail client for Mac OS X, also joyously frolicked into the crowd of Helvetica-like interface enthusiasts by applying Arial and Helvetica liberally across source lists and list views (I thought this was Helvetica, but John Gruber pointed out it is Arial in the source list). I was at first merely outraged by the usage of Helvetica in the sidebar (I mean, three letters: ‘Why?’), which is bad enough in itself, but it’s not just limited to that; it bleeds into list views, graphs, sheets, and tables, for… well, what really? The reasons are a mystery to me.

Honestly, why? Why bother to change the sidebar and list view font?

While Helvetica fails to bother me on a high-resolution screen like the iPhone in large point sizes, the shadow of its former self known as the ‘hinted’ version, for the tiny pixel sizes it is used in in these applications, is a grim wreckage of the neutral typographic style reduced to a format it’s not comfortable in. Lucida Grande, that towers above these depressing interfaces as the window title (thank the powers they didn’t change that too) stands out like a tiger in a lineup of kittens in glass bottles.

The left numerals of reconciled value and total value are set in Lucida Grande, and the jaggy numerals on the right graph are set in Helvetica. This is a screenshot of an Apple Design Award runner up, which means Apple basically approved this typographic misbehavior.

My biggest problem isn’t actually with the tasteless use of just going with Helvetica, the ‘default font’ of the last 30 years, but so intensely tearing the font out of its comfort zone of small but not minuscule pixel font sizes. Arial, Microsoft’s Helvetica clone, is also shipping on Mac OS X computers for the sole reason that its very different and optimized hinted pixel version is indispensable for correctly displaying a lot of websites. It eludes me why anyone would choose Helvetica over Lucida Grande other than the virtue that it’s different and Apple is using it.

As with most new Mac interface fads, changing a well-established interface font isn’t something that would be done by developers and interface designers without a reassuring precedent. In the last products of Apple, Helvetica has become quite poignantly present. It has expanded into Apple’s product lineup like an oil spill, from the iPhone and iPod Touch interfaces, to the new iLife suite of applications and OS X Leopard (what, you didn’t notice iPhoto, iCal, and Time Machine’s interfaces have been liberally sprinkled with Helvetica?). It is clear Miedinger’s brain child is the true comeback kid.

iPhoto ‘08 using Helvetica in its main content view.

Speaking of iCal, which proudly boasts Helvetica in miniature point sizes on the screen, it has the utterly mind boggling feature that it shows you calendar information on a computer screen with everyone’s favorite 1950 typeface for print, and prints these exact calendars on paper in Lucida Grande, a computer display font from this milennium. ‘Utterly backwards’ might be an apt term for such misfit typography. With these kind of typographic failures, I truly wonder if there are still designers working at Apple with any typographic sense in their Miedinger-tainted brains at all.

Hey, look on the bright side, at least they’re not mixing Lucida Grande and Helvetica numerals too.

Apple’s receiving some flak here, and it’s for good reason; for Vista and Office, Microsoft commissioned some of the best type designers on this planet to make a set of great new typefaces. Vista now ships with a proper UI font (no more hinted Arial and Verdana like in Windows XP) similar to OS X’s Lucida Grande, and with a typeface assortment that makes OS X pale in comparison. Apple may have had the upper hand in 2002, but as the times have changed, Apple has done absolutely nothing to keep its catalogue of type fresh and to add more and better typefaces to it. This reflects in the world of design around us, seeing that 90% of computer users create things with the system-provided set of typefaces. I find it the worst example possible that a company — that is supposed to be so design-oriented — can make. Please don’t tell me I should just switch to Windows if I like proper typography, because I’d much rather get punched in the face repeatedly than being forced to switch to something else than OS X, where the ‘details’ matter.

Edited note: If you feel like further bringing this to Apple’s attention, consider sending them feedback or digging this.

I’d like to conclude this plea for common sense with the best educated guess I could find on the actual reasons for a Helvetica popularity surge in this day and age. Erik Spiekermann, a great type designer, was asked in the eponymous Helvetica movie;

“Why, 50 years later, is [Helvetica] still so popular?”

Erik stares into space a few seconds, pondering, sighs, then answers:

— “I don’t know… Why is bad taste ubiquitous?”

It has been waiting to be written since late January of this year. It was around that time, late into the evening, in my brand new little office, that my laptop made the familiar ‘bling!’ sound of new mail. I got off from my chair, opened Mail, and found an email from a representative of Apple. They were wondering if I would be interested in a position at Apple in Cupertino.

Of course I was interested. Apple’s like a shining beacon of pure, exemplary design superiority to me. It’s the company that makes the computers, phones, and software I use and love more than anything else. But above all, freelancing had been harsh to me for a month, and living in constant uncertainty about your income is something anyone could live without. I sometimes, comically, equate my freelance work to the hunting of the earliest humans; you basically have to ‘hunt’ for your daily food. And sometimes, you fail to bring home the game.

However, it’s been no easy consideration for a young designer who lives in one of the smallest countries in Europe. If I’d want to work in the United States, I would have to jump through the hoops of getting an H-1B visa (I’m in no way interested in actually emigrating to the US) and leave behind… well, everything. My home, my environment, my friends, my beautiful and loving girlfriend - even the cats that so familiarly rub up against my leg each morning as I make my way to the other side of the room to give them food. And I’d have to trade the Netherlands, which is a liberal country with a strong anti-American sentiment, for the United States (albeit San Francisco, which does somewhat dampen the culture shock).

And in leaving behind all those things, I’d also leave behind Cocoia, my greatest passion in life, and I’d leave it to die. Apple’s employees are notoriously busy, and there is absolutely no way they’d let me run my outgoing miniature enterprise while I was working there. You can see now why it was no easy consideration, even with such an attractive position at that one special company.

I considered that any accessible visa would probably be valid for about 6 months at most, so I talked with my girlfriend. Of course, I wanted to weigh in her feelings about this matter. We could live with six months, although it was uncomfortably long as an uninterrupted period. We’d been living together for almost three and a half years now, if it wasn’t longer. It would be hard on us, but at the same time, if you truly love someone, you must let him or her chase their own dreams.

I had a phone call with another contact person at Apple, and they offered me a different, even more attractive position. The talk, late in the evening, was flattering and fun, as she explained how they thought I really was ‘Apple material’ and that they really enjoyed my work. In a comical moment of that chat, I was asked if I had done work for Apple before, as Orion, my freeware icon set, had been so prominently featured on Apple’s website. I laughingly responded that it was merely a very kind feature of the website maintainers. After the call, I was gleeful, and started compiling a portfolio PDF of my work for the review by the design group the position was for. A few days later, after sending off the PDF, the only thing that rested for me was waiting, and to continue pondering this dilemma.

In the end, little did I know that it wouldn’t matter a lot.

A week and a half or so later, I got a phone call from the representative again, saying that they’d had a meeting with the team and reviewed my work. The team, as they said, was very impressed, and really liked my work. Unfortunately, the visa situation made it impossible for me to start working there within a few months, and they absolutely required a designer for this position now.

It was a pity, but actually, in retrospect, not so much. I think that at that moment, Apple had me by surprise and shock. They’d even remarked positively on my work. If my mind’s roar had been a whisper before, now, my mind was screaming. I couldn’t know then that some of the best times for me were about to arrive, and although I’ve also had my lows after those talks with Apple, the good times have been a lot more rewarding. But what was most rewarding, and life-changing, was the shift of perspective.

I learned to listen to my mind and my gut at the same time, and while that may seem utterly trivial, it’s harder than you think if you’ve lived your life chasing after that seemingly forlorn dream, that long-winded road to ambition. I know it sounds stupid, but when I work with my dreams in mind, I tend to occasionally forget about those human traits like ‘hunger’, ‘thirst’, and ‘having an open ear for that story your partner is telling you’. It’s a constant balancing struggle, and an earth-shattering event (like the realization that on the track to your long-running ambitions, you’ve reached the end of the line) can tip the scales severely, forcing you to reconsider all those great things in life you previously took for granted.

Someone from the kindest of clients privately said to me over twitter afterwards;

“Sorry to hear about Apple. I know you were excited. No doubt it will happen eventually. In the meantime, their loss is our gain.”

Which cheered me up so much at that time, I still think it may be responsible at least partially for my great perspective shift where I don’t really care for a job at Apple anymore. I’ve lived a lot more appreciative of everything I cherish since this adventure, and living in even closer unity with my loved one. I had realized that I didn’t want Cocoia to die, regardless of what would happen. And that’s the moment where I realized if it will not die, it must grow. I started creating my ambitious plans to make into a reality. After all, if you don’t go to work at your dream job, why not create your dream company by yourself? Take matters into your own hands, so to speak.

Icon Resource was a thought, an ambitious plan of this time. It was into the end of the first week of February when I had formalized my plans for it and began my research. Now, almost two months later, it’s been unleashed, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I intend to learn a lot from this endeavor, and help others learn a lot along the way. And it’s not even the last grand project; I’ve several other things up my sleeve for April. But this was certainly one of the projects I consider a big step towards ‘Cocoia 2.0′ - a company independent of my sole success and availability, and a company that’s open to feedback and demands from its environment.

Talking about Icon Resource - I am very appreciative of everyone who helped support me in the first 36 hours with the purchase of access to the member area, and I’ll prove my continued openness to your feedback; over the weekend, bonus content will be added for all existing and future members - some of it based on feedback, and other content that was planned but didn’t make it for whatever reason. Of course, all of this will be announced to members when the time is right.

Icon Resource has even been requested on private torrent websites already, repeatedly showing up in those sections (or so I have been told and shown via email from an anonymous source). Who would have guessed that the pirates of the high webs now desire to indulge in visual interface design as well? Perhaps they’re just indiscriminate.

The wireless whips that tame the octocore beast on my wooden office desk.

On a calm afternoon of working with my intern in the office, I got a call from my girlfriend; my Mac Pro was finally coming home. I had ordered one of these workstations when they were updated, and I was delighted to move up from my first real Mac workstation, my dated, damaged and dented rev. A Macbook Pro. It’s fast, it’s blazing, and it locks up at occasions. Read on for the verdict.

I posted a few hastily snapped images on flickr of the rabid unboxing (it’s a huge box), and naturally the first day was all about speed tests. Coming from a Core 1 Duo Macbook Pro, it was a frightening experience. After having set it up, I launched all the applications in the Dock and then some. I wasn’t able to produce a beachball or a small wait time (note; my Mac Pro is a BTO, with 2 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, dual superdrive, Airport N and Geforce 8800GT) at all.

After this minor test, I fired up some Cinema4D scenes and rendered them with various complex render settings. Combining the results from some renders and Photoshop filter and operation times, I can safely conclude this machine is about a tenfold faster than my Core 1 Duo, first-gen Macbook Pro. A render that took half an hour on my Macbook Pro is done in less than two minutes on my Mac Pro; a Photoshop radial blur operation that lasted almost an hour on my Macbook Pro was done in less than ten minutes on my Mac Pro. Overall, everything is a lot more snappy™ and it’s quite hard to reach the machine’s operational limit with something else than multi-threaded rendering engines.

Chees- er, Photoshop Grater of Flaming Doom.

I chose a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse to go with the rig, and I’m really enjoying the new slim-factor wireless Apple keyboard. I’ve bought the wired version previously, and having a very small and lightweight keyboard to carry around is pretty awesome. I hope the Mighty Mouse won’t be as bad as I’ve heard it will be, but so far, I think it’s an okay mouse, compared to my Logitech MX and Intellimouse Explorer (from 2001 or something). Besides, wireless really saves on cables, which I have plenty of.

Wrapping up, it’s a pretty hardcore machine, and quite silent to boot. The only issue I’ve had in these last few days were two total GPU lockups, where the system is in a frozen state and a hard reset is your only option. Very bothersome. I hope I won’t see it anymore, as I haven’t lost work on it so far and I’d really hate it if I did. I can recommend a Mac Pro to most professionals for sheer speed, but the price is quite hefty - I consider it an investment in my work, seeing I’m doing a lot less waiting on progress bars now - but if you’re serious about performance, don’t let that deter you. I hope to scrape together more savings for a Cinema Display from projects in the next month so I’ll be able to post some nicer setup pictures. For now, just keep an eye on my flickr.