With the recent release of Semplice, there is no more excuse to put your portfolio on the back burner. This beautifully crafted framework is integrated into the WordPress backend and allows for lots of custom options. In fact, this is not your regular theme as you’ll find yourself starting with a completely blank slate. You shouldn’t let this intimidate you though.
While coding skills are not required thanks to a well thought out WYSIWYG interface, you can push things further and add your own lines of code into the mix if you feel like it.
Semplice really shines when it comes to creating individual case studies for each of your projects. You can choose different layouts, colour schemes, hover states and menu appearances to truly immerse visitors in your work.

Unlike other portfolio services such as Squarespace, Dunked or Cargo, you don’t have to pay a monthly fee to maintain it. For a one-time fee of $89 you’ll be able to install it on your own hosted Wordpress site.
This highlights another major difference which sets it apart from the competition: Semplice allows you to keep the code of your website forever. Yes, that’s right.

The only downside so far seems to be the support which is limited to a FAQ section including a handful of video tutorials to get you going. Since the project launched only recently, I would expect it to grow with customer feedback. If you’re curious or want to get a glimpse of what you can do with this builder, you might want to take a look at the showcase of portfolios running on Semplice.

Lately there have been quite a lot of so-called “unsolicited redesigns” posted all over the web and I do applaud the effort, don’t get me wrong. I just can’t help but wonder why you would want to take a shot at Microsoft, Facebook or even Apple’s new iOS interface.

These concepts really do look superb and you can tell a lot of hours have gone into those projects. However, there is only one tiny detail that leaves me skeptical about this approach: the final product is already out there and set in stone. So unless you work at said companies, chances are pretty slim that your design would actually get noticed, much less have an impact on how people use the product. At least I tend to think that’s what it’s all about in the end: having a positive impact on your users. Making life easier and more enjoyable.

Granted, if you are lucky and the right people notice, you just might turn that concept of yours into reality. I mean it worked out alright for Andrew Kim after all.

I guess it’s worth a shot, but why not try to fix things that are in dire need of fixing instead? Think of products you use on a daily basis that leave you really frustrated because of poor design decisions. Pick it apart, figure out what could be improved and get to work.

Now please excuse me while I finish up my redesign of twitter.

What started out as an internal project for Benedikt Lehnert eventually became a valuable typographic resource for writers all over the world. Making life easier for his fellow designers in their daily adventures with typography was the main reason for this custom-made “cheat sheet”.

While typoguide will not replace an old fashioned and more complex book on the subject, it will certainly provide a lot of insight for those unfamiliar with certain typographic practices.

I like that it is light-weight, easy to navigate and straight to the point. A printed copy is also available.

It was not too long ago that the guys over at Bohemian Coding announced the retirement of their font management app Fontcase. Apparently, the main reason behind this unfortunate move was because:

“[…]a large percentage of our customer base just didn’t get the idea of font activation and why such a thing was ever needed.”

However, in a recent turn of events Bohemian Coding released a brand new app called Fonts — Simple Font Organizing. It is based on a completely new build and should not be looked at as a simple revamp of the now defunct Fontcase. Surprisingly, some of the key features of traditional font management software have been removed, most notably: font (auto-)activation. Instead, your Fonts Collection is now directly synched with Font Book and other Mac apps.

As for the visual side of things, the user interface has adopted a fresh flat look and feels like it just broke out of iOS 7. It may take some time getting used to it but hey why not? The designers might have started a new trend right there.

In my book, this doesn’t qualify as a font management app, because a key feature is missing: font activation. For me, this is a deal breaker. The developers complained that people did not understand why they should use Fontcase back then, but now that a major feature has been removed (among others it seems), I don’t see how you could attract new users this time around since all it does, is give you a preview of your Font Book.

It’s wait and see for now. I’m not pulling the trigger unless some significant changes are made in the future to improve Fonts.

For this very first entry I decided to tackle a recurring problem I’ve been facing lately: putting things off. Whether it’s been myself telling others about upcoming projects I have in mind or people of my entourage waiting for the right opportunity to take action in situations such as personal life, work and whatnot. I noticed the more you talk, the less you will actually achieve. It felt as if just saying what you are going to do already brought you halfway there. As if the hardest part was done.

At that moment you don’t even realise that the more you wait to actually get things going, the less likely you are to complete said project. Unfortunately time is only your second worst enemy. The worst? Excuses. Plain and simple.
When it comes to taking action, all of a sudden you have too much work, other priorities, more pressing things to do or are just tired.

Breaking the habit

I find that one of the hardest things to do is breaking old habits, but what is even harder is to pick up new, positive habits such as going to the gym regularly or writing 1,000 words every single day. Consistency over time takes a lot of dedication, patience and hard work. Launching a blog is something I’ve been putting off for far too long and I feel like now is as good time as any to start. Sure, I do have other side projects and priorities that will require my attention, but you have to start somewhere right? And if not now, when?

The same goes for anything in life really. If you have things in mind you’d like to start soon, do it now. And keep it at it. Don’t just wait for inspiration or the right moment. Learn by doing. It’s okay if you make mistakes.

At last

Ironically, you would have been able to also include this very website on my “to-do sometime” list until recently. Granted, it is still a work-in-progress but the fact that you’re reading this, is probably a good sign for things to come. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride.