Design
The Mobile(s) Web Speed
The I Heart Etsy iPad app from Gesture Theory has had some modest success so far with the number of downloads. It’s not a cash cow but the consistency is nothing to blink at if it stays the same for the year. The feedback has been positive from the Etsy community with helpful suggestions on how it can be improved upon. The most fascinating thing that was slightly unexpected was watching the live Google Analytics with the page views per minute. People were hitting Etsy... Read More
The I Heart Etsy iPad App
I’m really happy to mention that Gesture Theory launched the I Heart Etsy iPad app. It was really exciting to see how we could build a product like this internally. If you’re a fan of Etsy and have an iPad, this makes the discovery process really fast. We’ve also added some fun ways for a person to heart a product or section. He’re our description in the iTunes store: *** Optimized for iPad Retina *** I Heart Etsy was designed especially for Etsy lovers.... Read More
Benches of Sullivan st
NYC is big and unique enough that it’s hard for me to say there’s one city street that is my favourite. I really like walking down Elizabeth early on a Saturday morning. The contrasting nuances between that street with Bowery and Canal are a plenty. I also like Thompson. It’s kind of cozy with the smaller shops and what feels like low hanging trees in the summer. A couple months ago I started switching up my walking to work paths. One day Thompson, the next Sullivan... Read More
Diehards Type Test
Over at Gesture Theory we’re testing out a couple fonts for a project. Being someone that really enjoys the craft of typography I thought it was a great opportunity to put the three typefaces that are in consideration against each other. The other day I tweeted about diehards. Curious to see how it read on a different scale I’m using it for the text comparison. Below is a bit more information about each typeface from the foundries. About Guardian from Commercial... Read More
Now that watch batteries are dead
The USB cable is the best thing to happen to watches since the removable strap. I’ve had my ups and downs with the Nike+ GPS watch. Great concept but poorly executed. Awful typeface, gps worked sometimes and the site that showed my data was pretty limited. What it did show me was that a watch didn’t need a normal battery. I just had to connect it to my USB port on my air to charge it. The new pebble is about to kickstart something that is long overdue. It does not... Read More
Walmart does not own MUJI*
It started simply enough. I had seen the above tweet which made me laugh but also reminded me of something that a friend had told me back when they were visiting NYC from Vancouver. They had been visiting they’re friend who had mentioned that MUJI was owned by Walmart. I have no idea how they got on the topic and I don’t really remember why they told me. Either way it definitely stuck with me. So, because of the craziness of Facebook and Instagram the above tweet... Read More
Environment for Accidental Opportunities
Coming across the diagram above, the first thing that made me take notice was the idea of trajectory of accident opportunity. I immediately read it as something positive. Basically I thought it was a way to discover unknown opportunities. Then I did a search on what Latent errors and systems disasters meant. Apparently I read the diagram pretty incorrectly. Words like Chernobyl and Titanic were inferred. So I thought why not change the diagram to what I initially thought it was.... Read More
Design-fiction
WIRED: An Essay on the New Aesthetic By Bruce Sterling So the New Aesthetic is really a design-fiction, it’s a postulated creative position. By metaphorically pretending that machines are our friends, we can see what they ‘see,’ and think what they ‘think’… We do get a payoff for that effort. We achieve creative results that we would not have gotten without that robot disguise. Read More
First time experiences and cleaning up sound with Mac OS X
The only thing better as a designer than seeing someone use the thing that a designer designed is going through a frustrating first time experience. It offers the opportunity to learn a lot. Case in point: I was trying to get a simple headphone amplifier to work on my MacBook Air. I just wanted to clean up the sound that I was listening to. The headphone amp was delivered and I couldn’t get the thing to work. The power signal was on but when I tried plugging in cable... Read More
A Couple Observations about Paper by FiftyThree
The sketching ipad app Paper by FiftyThree seemed to come out of nowhere with a vengeance Thursday morning on the interwebs. The app is free to download with one brush but costs a couple dollars to buy the entire toolkit of brushes. I spent the $8 bucks with no regrets. Comparing it to Sketchbook Pro which I can create multiple layers was something that I thought originally was going to be a deal breaker. In Sketchbook Pro I can build a quick sketch with a number of layers... Read More
Link Drop for the last week
BLOG MAVERICK: Dont Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Effort Everyone has a passion, everyone has a finite amount of time. This post talks about how using time will indicate where it will lead a person. DESIGN STAFF: Story-centered design: Hacking your brain to think like a user Good comparison of how a lot of designer’s design within a small focus when the reality of designing a system means looking at the bigger picture. There’s a couple observations on how to... Read More
Observations with the new iPad & iPhone 4s working together after a week
It has now been over a week since I’ve been using the new iPad. While my habits of use will be evolving as I find out what I’m comfortable using the device for, I figured a week gave me enough time to observe how I used the iPad and what I liked and didn’t like about it. Initially I had a problem with the weight of the new one. I have the first iPad and the second one as well. Back in the day I wasn’t so concerned about the weight. Even after a week with... Read More
On the first day of Spring things ended as they started
Waking up this morning I didn’t even realize it was the first day of spring. What I did notice looking out the window that the light looked sharper, the air felt warmer and I wanted to capture what I saw. Walking to work I noticed a couple things that caught my eye. There were things blooming all around the Flatiron building but I couldn’t get an image that replicated what I saw with my eyes. A couple blocks down I ended up in front of Washington Square Park.... Read More
Link Drop for the last week
THE ATLANTIC: The Man Who Broke Atlantic City I don’t use Instapaper that much for reading things that I’ve saved. What I do like going back to the app for is to find content from the Featured section. The Atlantic article is a great example of someone that observed what the house was giving an internal advantage and turned it into an advantage for himself. SPIEGEL: Confessions of a Genius Art Forger Ninakix mentioned this on Twitter a couple days ago. The biggest... Read More
iPhone 4s vs the new iPad Camera via Camera+
I shot both images within a couple moments of each other. No filters were used with either one when using Camera+. Biggest issue for me is if I want to pull out my iPad and look like a tourist now that I have the best lens to shoot… iPhone 4S (2.9 MB) the new iPad (2.1 MB) Read More
Curator’s Code — No thanks
My initial reaction about reading about the Curator’s Code was that it was one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve read in a long, long time. People do link back in a fair way as it stands. People do use via links when. For someone to basically create a system that really benefits themselves is self serving. I’ve never been comfortable with people throwing out the term curator either, but I’ll come back to that in a moment. There are so many ways people... Read More
Why I probably won’t use a website’s URL to share a post via email again
Since Readability came out a week or two ago for the iPhone and iPad I’ve noticed that my web reading habits have changed quite a bit. I’m saving a lot of desktop browser content specifically so I can read it on my iPad and iPhone. While Readability isn’t the first service to offer such a service it’s the first one that has changed my reading behaviors. As I’ve used the service more for reading I’ve also noticed a shift in how I will be sharing... Read More
App Feature Release Notes vs Stories
Almost daily I’m updating apps on my iPhone and iPad. Half the time I’ll just press the Update All button without too much care. For the rest of the time if it’s an app that I use regularly I’ll read the release notes carefully. It’s not because I’m not going to update the app but I’m curious to see what issues they tried fixing from a previous release and new features that they’re adding. A couple days ago that happened to Path... Read More
The Next Iteration of Deckpub
Over at Gesture Theory we’re pretty close to releasing the next version of Deckpub. Since our last release we’ve been talking a lot to people that have been using it to find out what is working and what isn’t. Through those conversations and our own internal process we’re happy to say that people will soon be able to publish to their iPhone and iPad with images, video and audio in a way that we haven’t seen anyone else do or make it easy to do. While... Read More
Photo Themes from January and February
It has been a couple months since I collected all the photos that I shot in one place. Instead of going chronological I decided to group them organically to see what consistent themes appeared. There weren’t any surprises like the NYC set that is basically stuff that caught my eye outside. More surprising was that there was a set for windows and reflections. I had no idea that there was enough to create a set. Reading about the weather, apparently this was one of the warmest... Read More
The most interesting iPhone app update to me is TuneIn radio – they now have a car ui mode
One of the more recent iPhone app updates that caught my eye was from TuneIn Radio. TuneIn Radio simply streams radio stations that make their feed available on the internet. It does a good job of discovery both from location and genre. They also have an iPad version that takes advantage of the bigger screen real estate. However that’s not why I’m mentioning the app. A couple weeks ago they introduced a car mode. They’ve taken the essentials of the app to a... Read More
Why Doesn’t the New Yorker iPad App link out to Articles Discussed in the Mail Section?
Of all the magazines that try to publish the same content from their print magazine to their iPad version, the Economist and the New Yorker have set the bar. I haven’t subscribed to the Economist yet but do with the New Yorker. The New Yorker does a pretty decent job enhancing the content when possible. Audio of authors reading and enhanced photo galleries improve the experience. There’s one feature though that I don’t understand why they haven’t included.... Read More
Talking about the Launch of Undercurrent.com
Recently Gesture Theory launched the new Undercurrent website. This was a great project to work on both professionally and personally. I hold a lot of the people that currently work there and those that had been there at some point in time. Typically when we launch a product or site I’ll go through the process on the blog. This time instead I’m going to point to an interview I did with Matthew Carlin of Undercurrent where we discuss some of the finer points of the... Read More
Reading vs Writing in Braille
Braille is one of those things that has always fascinated me. A lot of what I do is based on observation so taking that tool away yet still being able to communicate is something that I wish I knew more about. So when I come across a post about it once in a while I’ll pay attention to it. I also like paying attention to patterns. I came across this modified Rubik’s Cube that has eliminated the color and swapped it for braille. A day afterwards Engadget posted about... Read More
The Big Web Show #63: Michael Surtees
Last weekend I opened my inbox to an email from Jeffrey Zeldman asking me if I would be interested in having a conversation on the Big Web Show. I said yes immediately and had the conversation last Thursday. The interview was published the following day and is available to be heard at http://5by5.tv/bigwebshow/63 Here’s the description of the interview from the site: Jeffrey Zeldman interviews Michael Surtees, founding partner and creative director at Gesture Theory, co-creator... Read More
Reflection of craft with a desire for a story
I really enjoyed watching the two part film from Gourmet Films. They interview the founder and CEO of Icon, Jonathan Ward. It’s fascinating to listen what drives him to create. When you start listening to the decisions made it becomes clear pretty quickly that everything was done with a purpose and was thought out extensively. Things like color to the materials to the proportions all went through the same thought process. Inspirations came from jets to classic watches.... Read More
On the Appropriateness of the Mad Men Poster
Last week I came across a poster advertising the premier date for this year’s season of Mad Men. I took a shot of it for my daily photo project and posted it to Flickr, Instagram and Twitter. My tweeted title was “I’m not too sure how appropriate is this Mad Men poster”. Thinking nothing more of it I continued with my day and shooting more images each morning. A couple days later I went back to the photo and noticed a spike in traffic to the photo. A couple blogs... Read More
My Initial Reaction to the Book on Saul Bass
2011 was a crazy year for me so over Christmas I rewarded the hard work I put in by buying a couple design books. I bought Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible by Sophie Lovell, Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story by Paul Shaw and Saul Bass by Jennifer Bass & Pat Kirkham. The first two books came right away but the Bass book was on back order and there was no defined delivery date. I ordered it anyways from Amazon. To my surprise it... Read More
Getting a Glimpse Into Ford’s Design Process
It’s been almost a week since I was in Detroit for the North American International Autoshow that Ford invited me to. I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on the days that I was there and wanted to start talking about what I saw inside Ford. I along with 149 other bloggers from across the world got access inside the company that they’ve never given the public access to. We checked out different labs for testing, rooms where designs are reviewed and some of the workspace... Read More
Cars I liked on the first day of the North American International Auto Show
Having never been to Detroit or the North American International Auto Show, here’s a couple cars that caught my eye on the first day. Read More
Experiencing the Henry Ford Museum
The Henry Ford Museum was the backdrop for the first dinner put on with Ford in conjunction with the North American International Auto Show. I had the opportunity to walk around the museum both before and after dinner. I was really was really impressed with the eclectic nature of the collection and vast size. There was everything from cars to trains to airplanes to different forms of machines that made energy. I really enjoyed seeing how a lot of those items have evolved over... Read More
Tweaking the New Year
A couple years ago after reading a post from someone that visited the Empire State Building once a year on New Years Day I decided to follow the same tradition. Just like last year and the year before that it gave me a focused opportunity to reflect on the past year and decide what I will do for the remainder of the new year. Looking back it was like no other. The biggie was Gesture Theory. We worked with more people, released better products and ultimately we we’re in... Read More
A couple tech interview video sites to catchup with over the holidays
I’m in the process of starting to reorganize some of my sources of info that I deal with on my browser. As I started to shuffle links around I noticed a nice set of tech video sources. Now that the holidays are almost here I figured I might be able to catchup on some of the interviews I’ve missed. Below are some of the sites that I think are worth visiting to learn a bit more about technology and some of my favourite interviews that I’ve seen. Bloomberg West I... Read More
Publishing Decks to the iPad and iPhone
There’s essentially two ways for people to publish online theses days. Using a print solution like a pdf or a web based CMS. The problem is that both ways were created before tablets and smart phones. I don’t think they really take advantage of what screens have the capabilities of doing today. PDFs also need a lot of time to make and CMSs assume people know how to code. It’s also a lengthy process. Over the past couple of months Gesture Theory has been working... Read More
Old Piers on the Hudson River
I try to take some time each weekend to walk down the Hudson River. It’s a great way for me to reflect on the past week and let my mind wander a bit with new ideas. This weekend I decided to shoot each old pier that I walked by to see what patterns might emerge after looking at them in a set. First thing I noticed was that I didn’t realize that there was that many piers clustered together within a short distance of each other. The second thing was the placement of... Read More
I shot more images this November than any other month, November Reloaded in Images
Looking back at November, the first thing I saw was the quantity of photos I shot. This was the first full month with my iPhone 4S and the weather in NYC this November was amazing. I can’t recall seeing a better fall month since I was in NYC. This was also the first month that a majority of my images were published first on Instagram and passed to Flickr second. The catch is that almost all my images for this post are being pulled from Flickr because it’s an easier... Read More
Why I returned my Up by Jawbone
I got really excited about Up by Jawbone as the first posts were published. My interests was because of it’s ability to ambiently track my walking habits without getting in my way. I was curious to see what that experience would be like and how that data would transfer to my iPhone. I wanted to test that interaction out. I also want to see how my behavior would change. I also wanted to experience it to see what new questions about fitness, measurement and interaction... Read More
Using Twitter to Understand the Silence of an Unknown Emergency
This morning started like almost every other morning. Waking up early, walking my weim Madison, checking what’s going on with the interwebs via my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. I showered, drank some coffee and played some music while doing all that stuff. I also glanced out my window from time to time during the rituals. Something different arose on one of my glances. Smoke coming from what I guessed was 34th street. In a matter of seconds a lot of it arose. What surprised... Read More
Looking at the Nooka Zizm
I spent some time this afternoon hanging out at Nooka’s office with good friend Matthew Waldman. Anyone that knows Matthew knows that he loves showing off his new products. This time around he showed me the Nooka Zizm. I had seen some images on his site but was surprised to see how differently it looks in person. I wasn’t so sure about the angled glass from the images on his site, but in person I really liked it. The face was completely legible from all angles.... Read More
Link Drop 003
I’ve just published Link Drop 003 using DeckPub. The deck is viewable on both desktop browsers and an iPad. To view on an iPad just open the link http://deckpub.com/8/link-drop-003 on iPad’s Safari browser. Read More
Presentations from Michael Surtees
Talking about the Launch of Undercurrent.com
Recently Gesture Theory launched the new Undercurrent website. This was a great project to work on both professionally and personally. I hold a lot of the people that currently work there and those that had been there at some point in time. Typically when we launch a product or site I’ll go through the process [...]
walkingtoworktoday
This week #walkingtoworktoday from my POV
November 1, 2010 at 9.32am EDT: A wig for the rest of the year #walkingtoworktoday November 2, 2010 at 9.30am EDT: JOA Type in the House #Walkingtoworktoday November 3, 2010 at 8.12am EDT: Looking at my elevator door #walkingtoworktoday November 4, 2010 at 9.14am EDT: My umbrella just before it self destructed #walkingtoworktoday November 5, [...]
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DesignNotes is published in NYC by Michael Surtees, Principal and Creative Director of Gesture Theory. Michael tries to explore people's daily experiences and observations with design. He can be reached at michael at gesturetheory.com 
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