Category Archives: design

Goodbye Google Reader

June 17, 2013 – 7:59 am

Tweet  Three months ago, Google announced the “retirement” of Google Reader as part of the company’s second spring cleaning. On July 1st — two weeks from today — the RSS application will be given a gold watch and a farewell lunch, then it will pack up its bits and leave the building for the last [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in online publishing | Tagged , | Comments (13)

The Silly Web vs. Native Apps Debate

September 17, 2012 – 3:42 am

Tweet  Mark Zuckerberg admits Facebook was wrong to bet on HTML5 for its mobile app. Indeed, while the previous version was a mere wrapper around HTML code, the latest iOS app is much improved, faster, nimbler. Facebook’s CEO courageously admits the error, changes course, and promises to ship an equally native Android app in the [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (10)

Apple Never Invented Anything

September 2, 2012 – 10:05 pm

Tweet“Monsieur Voiture, you hopeless [redacted French slur], you still can’t prepare a proper mayonnaise! I’ll show you one last time while standing on one foot…” [Bear with me, the connection with today's title will become apparent in a moment.] The year is 1965, I’m midway through a series of strange jobs that I take between [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in hardware | Tagged | Comments (111)

Proof by Mask

October 30, 2011 – 9:19 pm

TweetWeb design is in bad shape. In the applications boom, news-related web sites end up as collateral damage. For graphic designers, the graphics tools and the computer languages used to design apps for tablets and smartphones have unleashed a great deal of creativity. The transformation took longer than expected, but great designs begin to appear [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (22)

Flipboard: Threat and Opportunity

April 17, 2011 – 6:26 pm

TweetEvery media company should be afraid of Flipboard. The Palo Alto startup epitomizes the best and the worst of the internet. The best is for the user. The worst is for the content providers that feed its stunning expansion without getting a dime in return. According to Kara Swisher ‘s AllThingsD, nine months after launching [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in online publishing | Tagged , , | Comments (67)

iPhone 4 Antennas: The Fun Side

July 25, 2010 – 8:30 pm

TweetWe’ll leave serious industry matters aside this week. (If you must, you can wade into Apple’s Q3 numbers here, or luxuriate in the impending ouster of Nokia CEO OPK and consider the list of possible replacements.) Instead, we’ll look into the fun side of Apple’s antenna, or antennas (not antennae, a solecism from last week. [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in hardware | Comments (19)

The lethal self-complacency of advertising

May 24, 2010 – 5:29 pm

TweetIs advertising the next casualty of the on-going digital tsunami’s? For now, advertising looks like the patient who developed an asymptomatic form of cancer without realizing how sick he is. Such behavior usually results from excessive confidence in one’s body past performance, mixed with a state of permanent denial and a deep sense of superiority, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising | Comments (31)

Reconciling efficiency with serendipity

April 26, 2010 – 8:31 am

TweetFor digital media publishers, Design is the biggest challenge. Business model is king, of course, but it needs strong design to reign. The same goes for content. Without clever navigation, after a quick stunt on the home page, a good story might die buried deep inside the bowels of a site before realizing its full [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (14)

Catching The iPad Wave: Seven Thoughts

April 5, 2010 – 8:32 am

Tweet1. Design The iPad is all about design, and interface expectations. From a graphic design standpoint, with the iPad, the quantum leap is its ability to render layouts, typefaces, page structure. No more web HTML lowest common denominator, here. What comes out from an art director gets WYSIWYGed on the iPad — if the implementation [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in hardware, mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (22)

The future of content navigation

March 7, 2010 – 6:13 pm

TweetLet’s forget business models and monetization — just for a brief moment. Instead, we’ll focus on one key issue: the interface, the way you access, browse, spot, save relevant information. The interface is pivotal. A good one will allow you to rope in your readers / viewers, and make them loyal to your brand, your [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (24)