22 Oct
   Filed Under: Apple   

A brief writeup of an interview, with Steve Jobs on the New York Times website, stated;

In contrast, Mr. Jobs said that multitouch drastically simplified the process of controlling a computer.

There are no “verbs” in the iPhone interface, he said, alluding to the way a standard mouse or stylus system works. In those systems, users select an object, like a photo, and then separately select an action, or “verb,” to do something to it.

The Apple development team worried constantly that the approach might fail during the years they were creating the iPhone, he said.

This is easily noticeable when you use the iPhone, everything seems much more ‘complex’ and ‘fussy’ on the desktop after you’ve used it for hours on end. For example, I started to scroll the wrong way when I came back to my Macbook Pro (something I heard more people have had); everything in the iPhone interface feels like it’s how a ‘physical object’ would react. This only proves how far Apple has went to establish a new, even more user-friendly interface paradigm where they went as far as to challenge existing conventions .

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21 Oct
   Filed Under: Apple, Design, Icon Design   

Final Cut Server, Apple’s solution for a centralized video workflow has been highly anticipated since the unveiling of the revamped Final Cut Studio 2. I’ve found an article on unflyingobject with several screenshots and information about the program, so I decided to share my thoughts on the graphical (icon / UI) side of the app with you. In case you want to know what Final Cut Server does and if it’s good at it, I recommend the linked article.

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20 Oct
   Filed Under: Design   

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Scott Stevenson has put up a short but very impressive teaser of Delicious Library 2. After the web interface preview of not too long back, this is very nice to see. One of the apps I am looking forward to the most when Leopard comes out (and the iPhone SDK, of course, can you imagine scanning in barcodes wirelessly with your iPhone?).

20 Oct
   Filed Under: Apple, Design, Icon Design   

Apple has announced the release of Leopard, the newest incarnation of Mac OS X. Amongst 300+ new features, it also boasts several graphic enhancements like resolution independence, 512 pixel icons, a reflective dock and new a unified ‘theme’ for application windows. Now, only days before the release, I want to show you some of the major improvements and additions to the Mac software aesthetic.

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20 Oct
   Filed Under: Announcement   

Cocoia is proud to announce the launch of the fourth major version of the Cocoia blog. As you might have noticed, it’s the first blog theme I made that took me over a day to complete. In fact, I dislike webdesign so much, that it took me weeks to get right. Now that every part of my blog looks exquisit, it is also time to spice up my posting frequency and the material I write about. A few of the additions are ‘read more’ links (introduced in this post), more legible text and logical separation of blog ‘functions’ and content.

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10 Oct
   Filed Under: Personal   

It’s well into October and the postcount of my blog has severely dwindled. I’m well aware of this, but a multitude of distractions and work has me working around the clock to settle things. But now, things are going to change.

I regularly had some problems finding time to write, and had a lot of time in which I sketched because I didn’t have computer access in travel or on locations. A week or two ago, I decided to bite the bullet and order an iPhone off eBay. It’s a laugh that with the current euro to dollar conversion rates, it is actually cheaper than the iPod Touch is in stores where I live (the Netherlands), and the device had me intrigued at the first unveiling. I’m an all-interface and user experience man, and having a mobile phone / iPod / internet device where even the icon looks to die for is like something tailor-made for me.

I’m also knee-deep in work, and this little device helps me organise along and keep in touch with people on the road. I’d say it is a good investment. Talking about work, if you happen to know or are an icon designer who is keen on the Cocoia style, knows the OS X aesthetic well, and generally feels at home making stuff that amazes people, drop me a line with your portfolio or some work – because it is almost time for Cocoia to expand beyond my initially set boundary of a single person (me) working on all assignments. Contact info for me can be found on Icon Designer

It wouldn’t be the ol’ familiar Cocoia Blog if this wouldn’t end with an announcement. I have been talking about the blog design a lot lately, and the design is almost ready for prime-time. Who knows, it might just be a few refreshes away in the next week.