Just before the iPhone 3.0 software was announced, I was ready to publish an article saying how the Palm Pre was going to give Apple a lot of trouble. Then, I realized how wrong it would have been if I had done so. Now I will tell you why I think the iPhone is here to stay, and push the competition out of the way.

The Palm Pre, for the longest time, had the biggest chance to put a little fear in Apple. And so it did. Just a couple of weeks ago, the iPhone 3.0 software was revealed and most of the iPhone’s nuances have been eliminated. I actually believed that if the Pre kept up its game, it would force me to switch, but thankfully, that is no longer the case.

Palm has claimed that OS X on the iPhone is not a true mobile platform, thus it will never be as speedy and sleek as what they are cooking up. I respectfully disagree! Let’s just put it this way; Smooth scrolling and seamless portrait/landscape transitions is not what makes a great device. Yes, the Pre certainly competes in the visuals department, but that will only take the device so far.

More after the jump…

Here it is! After a few weeks of thought and decision making, here are the final* visuals that will be turned into the next iteration of One Fused Life. As you can see, the site structure remains virtually the same, but the way content is presented has changed significantly.

My goal was to streamline the way content is currently being presented. In this new design, I have not only made it easier to access existing elements, but also introduced new ways to browse around and discover new content.

I will put forward my best efforts to code and launch OFL 2.0 within the next couple of weeks. On top of that, I have some GREAT content coming up!

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I finally managed to watch Helvetica today, over a year after its release. Being a designer who has a certain appreciation for typography, I should’ve seen it earlier. To put it simply, this film is a visual history lesson, showcasing where and how the it originated, and a plethora of designers who love and despise Helvetica.

I didn’t quite know what to make of this film until it ended. At some points, you were lead to love the typeface, while other moments you were lead to put the boredom of Helvetica aside and experiment with other glorious expressive typefaces. Personally, I have often found myself using Helvetica throughout my designs simply because it looked very good, but I also most certainly use various other fonts as well.

One thing that this film will reveal to you is how often Helvetica is used everywhere and for everything. There are countless companies out there using some variation of the font as their logo, and signage systems that use it like no tomorrow. Funny thing is, you may have not even realized it.

There are excellent arguments from both the lovers and the haters of this font, so you will definitely have a lot to think about when you begin working on your next project. One problem with this film, is that it’s not so exciting. After all, there are no explosions or amazing twists in the story line, so the average person may find it boring. There were times when I had to pause for a few minutes and continue afterwards to give my mind a stretch. Don’t expect this to make you a better designer, haha.

Score: 6 out of 10

If you are an aspiring designer of any kind, you should know that a book store is one of the most valuable sources of inspiration, ideas, and knowledge. Of course, depending on your location, it may be hard to come by a shop with a good collection of design publications.

I pay a visit to my local Barnes & Noble store every week, spending a minimum of 1 hour on reading, learning, and broadening my creative outlook. There are magazines for Web Designers and Developers, Advanced Photoshop Users, and Photographers, all of which contain tutorials, interviews, tips, and so forth.

One may think “why visit a book store when I can browse the entire internet for creative inspiration?” Well, to put it simply, there is a lot of garbage out there on the internet. When you’re reading trusted publications that have been in the business for years, you’re more likely to gain valuable knowledge.

Helpful links: (continue reading…)

I recently read an article over at HellYeahDude.com discussing how good design provokes customer interest. It stated the idea that customers generally buy things because of the essence, and whether or not it will cause interest in you from others. This idea was sparked by his recent purchase of the Starbucks Gold card simply because it looked good. Here’s a quote from the article:

“A want can be things from cars, computers, clothes, or shoes. But why do we buy these things? First off, we ask ourselves, “are we going to enjoy this?” Then secondly, we ask ourselves subconsciously if it will cause the kind of interest we are seeking from other people.”

After reading the article (fairly quick read), here’s what I had to say: (continue reading…)

I don’t know about you, but every time I get a chance to test something in its beta form, I’m psyched and excited to catch and squash every single problem! Apparently, this is not the case with many beta testers out there. This applies to video games, websites, software, and so forth. Yes, I know; you’re probably thinking about how many times you’ve ran into stupid problems with software that didn’t make sense.

I’m not the one to usually point fingers but this time, I will be putting together a list of applications, websites, and games that I encounter these problems in. A lot of problems include interface bugs, illogical layout design, bad placement of elements, lack of searchability, and so forth. If you’re interested to see what I’m talking about, I’ll post a list of things that bother me (and others) really soon.

If you’re a beta tester, I urge you to stop taking advantage and start paying attention to actually fixing and bettering the product you are testing. If not, STOP! You’re hurting the company and everyone else that will use the product.

Out of curiosity, I would like to see what annoys you guys about some websites, applications, etc. Thanks!

Here is a tutorial showing how to recreate the world famous Fox News logo. A Google search for the Fox News logo gave poor results so I figured I’d show you how to make one yourself. The techniques in this tutorial can be applied to many other tasks throughout the suite of Adobe applications.

View the tutorial after the jump!

Last time, I wrote an article about the benefits of having a well-made business card for yourself. I recently came across this great compilation of creative business cards. If you’re looking for ideas or just comparing your card to someone else’s, this will do the job just right.

Click here to see the rest of the cards over at CreativeBits.

I recently read an article over at The Artistic Outlaw that reminded me what designers go through when freelancing. For those of you that are graphic designers out there, or provide some kind of a service, these 5 ways would come in pretty handy if they were actually honored by your clients. James made a valid point when he said that plenty of people write about becoming better at your job, but nobody writes about how clients can become better clients.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the people that hired you actually let you do your job most of the time, and paid on time? Yes, it would.

Head on over and check out the article.

Here is a tutorial that shows how to get a nice looking shadow behind the text, and a simple reflection below it. Albeit being a very simple tutorial, this skill can be applied to many advanced techniques for a very impressive outcome. Apple is notorious for their reflections on pretty much everything, but it’s no secret how they do it!

If you have any questions on how to do something, a suggestion, or a general comment, don’t hesitate to post in the comments section or contact me directly.

View the tutorial after the jump!