• Redesign danielboyle.net
• Several blogposts, including an entry on employee sustainability.
• One comic project
• Blog redesign - to match any changes on danielboyle.net, possibly converting to a wordpress backend

My portfolio redesign takes precedence here. While I'm still incredibly happy at Organic, there's always a nagging voice in the back of my mind that makes me worry - never mind that my site is virtually the same as it was in 2006.I converted it to ActionScript 3 some time back, but functionally, it's the same. My goal is still to produce something that feels like a natural evolution of myself as an Art Director, and create a richer experience for non-Flash users. I still love Flash, but my head is - technically speaking - more interested in creating a more universally accessible experience. My own internal limitations that lead to the development of the current site in Flash don't really exist anymore - or at least now they're in the realm of conquerable challenges.

The next few projects are where it gets hazy. I want to write more - there are a few common themes I rant about at work, and I feel that a few people may enjoy my thoughts, or at least get a laugh out of my failures to adequately express myself.

The comic is an ongoing project where I struggle to re-learn to draw. There are good days and bad days.

The blog re-architecture is a hard choice. I may simply shut down my existing blog, and build a new wordpress system from scratch. Quite frankly, I'm not thrilled with Movable Type anymore. It's slow, clunky, and the new versions don't impress. Wordpress on the other hand, offers some really interesting functionality - for free. Also, a redesign won't cut it. As I spend more time thinking about the ideas behind Cooking for Nerds and my design exercises, the more I want to spin them off into a tumblr-style blog, though maintained on my own server. I also want to share more of my renewed interest in photography, as well as my occasional illustration work - which, right now, will all get pushed together.

Where am I now, after 6+ months of alternating silence and delays? I think I've finally gotten over my creative block, and am getting back to the business of making. It feels good.

So what's next, then? I'll continue the poster/book cover design exercises because they're so fun. I'm also going to work on an iPad and iPhone optimized version of my portfolio using jQTouch (a version of JQuery optimized for the iPhone, with additional functionality to mimic a native app). Last, I'm flexing my gritty/noir illustration skills by working on a graphic novel with a friend.

According to TVTropes.org, sometimes a moral leaves no room for subtlety.

On a quick note, I randomly discovered that my non-flash portfolio was broken due to an un-encoded ampersand. You can't just have a random & floating in an XML file and expect PHP to parse it correctly – it must be encoded as &. Obviously, this error didn't exist when I launched the site, but it crept back in somewhere.

I finally finished my fictional redesign of X-Plane for the iPhone. My first effort wasn't bad, but it was little more than a reskin. As I thought about it further, I thought of changes to both the controls and the organization of the app itself that would dramatically improve it.

As I stated last time - I do not have any connection with any X-Plane project. This is not something you should expect to see coming to the app anytime soon. This is just a design exercise.

But I had six Bank of America projects, one Merrill Lynch project, a Chrysler design study, and one bit of pitch work for Budweiser to add to my site, and now is as good a time as any. Check them out at danielboyle.net.

• First, I am going to update my portfolio. I haven't updated it since I started at Organic in June of 2008. That should say how happy I am to be here. Still, I don't want it to look dormant. I have a bunch of work for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch to post, plus some concept work for pitches. I'd love to share the site I'm current working on (pet care), but it's still under production and (I think) NDA.
• I'm still working on a redesigned UI concept for the iPhone version of X-Plane. It's just a design exercise, not an actual job, but it's a nice challenge. I finished the wireframe and interaction design, and am about ready to start pushing pixels.
• I keep noticing a small but steady stream of traffic coming here after searching for "cooking for nerds." I plan on restarting that series, but expanded into its own blog, with a custom design and a heavy emphasis on design and information, as well as the food.

I won't be bored anytime soon, I think.

• A design piece revolving around airliner traffic. I'd currently put the status at 80% finished.
• A revised design study for the X-Plane iPhone app. Honestly, my first attempt was pretty basic. But after viewing some of the icons at IconWerk.de, I really want to reimagine it and refine the interface significantly.
• A design study for Pandora. I love Pandora. But there are some things that bug me.
• A Flash project. It's been a long, long time since I've done any programming, and I really don't want to lose any skills. I was considering trying to program a very dumb combat/AI system, but that's not realistic. I need something simple, but I'm at a loss as to what to make.
• A PHP/MySQL/JQuery project. Again, I don't want to lose any skills. I have an idea about this one though.
• A longer-term illustration project with a friend. It involves a delusional tattooed lawyer and a ham sandwich.

One thing I want to be very clear about with any redesign projects: I'm not going to go the route described here and here. I really want to stress that I only do this as an exercise, not as an insult to the people who make these wonderful products.

Fear is the mind killer.

I love this game on the desktop, and starting up the mobile version and flying a couple approaches in a great timekiller. It feels remarkably similar to the desktop app, widely regarded as one of the most realistic flight simulations available. Unfortunately, it shares some UI design issues with desktop application.

To make things clear - I am not involved with the creation of X-Plane - that is Laminar Research. I'm a fan only. If you want to learn more, go to X-Plane.com.

If you want to learn more about the issues I have with the design of this App, and my solutions (and promise not to get mad/sue me if you're involved with the creation of this App), click the more button below.

This was a great little toy to remind myself how to use PHP, MySQL, and teach myself some more uses for JQuery. The basic rules are fairly simple - if there's a group of cows on your side - add one to your total. If there's a cemetary, your cows die (your total becomes zero. Obviously, it requires honesty - the drive is at a huge disadvantage, and there's a gray area as to what constitutes a cow siting - one cow? A large herd? What if there are multiple groups? Do you only count right along the road, or off into the scenery? A little human intuition is neccesary, but the basic logic is pretty simple.

The great thing about JQuery (and other AJAX scripting libraries) is that it really simplifies building lightweight sites that still have rich interactions. This was doubly important, because I wanted it to work on my iPhone on a drive from New Jersey to North Carolina, then to Tennessee, and back. AT&T's 3G data connection is OK, but there's no need to push your luck if you're stuck on EDGE in the middle of nowhere (I believe that's an actual town you pass on I-81 in Virginia. If it's not, it should be. If saved a ton of time reload the entire page, and instead just making calls to and from a database.

I have one major bug fix - and it's the first user interaction you should check for - "Idiot Clicking." Essentially, you need to know what's going to happen when someone clicks a button 20 times in a row when the site freezes, or your data connection hangs because you went into a dead spot between some mountains. And, of course, this is the first thing my wife discovers. It's not a big deal - I simply need to disable the buttons and show a "working/please wait" message of some sort.

We also got creative with the rules (we were in the car for over 24 hours this weekend). You constantly pass rather large crosses on hills when you get out past the Mason-Dixon line. Should they count as something? Maybe, if you have no cows, you get some back from the dead. It would've helped me - every time I'd get close, I'd hit a graveyard. The closest my wife got was a monument of some sort. Do Chick-Fil-A billboards count? The cows aren't live, but they are pretty funny.

Once I fix it up, and secure it, maybe I'll put it live somewhere.