The Stairwell

Billups Design is looking for an agile, intelligent, exerienced Interface Developer. If you would like to work with like-minded professionals on challenging projects here in downtown Chicago, you should apply! We'd love to meet you. For more information about this position, click here.

You know those towns along the state highways that have a Welcome and You Are Now Leaving... message on the same sign? Well that might be the case for Flash Lite. In my last post, I mentioned that decision makers in commercial online concerns had better get hip to Flash Lite. Hopefully, a few readers brushed up on Flash Lite and how it is making it possible to display their sites on mobile devices like cellphones. However, I have bad news (and good news).

The bad news is that if you're just learning about Flash Lite, you're behind the curve. It is currently making it possible for content developers to bridge the gap between desktop computers and mobile devices so that, despite cpu and software differences, the two display content fairly consistently.

The good news is that the hardware and software required to run web sites on desktops or laptops is now increasingly being found in mobile devices too. This means that the need for Flash Lite may not be there is the months or years to come.

Essentially, Flash Lite is a second (pared down) language of Flash 8 that can be processed using less memory by smaller devices. Since these devices soon will possess the same computing and storage capabilities of basic desktop computers, the need to have a pared down language just for them will be gone. Already, Nokia has introduced a line of phones for 2008 that run Flash 9 itself without code modifications. Pretty cool.

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The iPhone - and even its competitors - has catapulted public expectations for rich media experiences on mobile devices. A promise in the words of one iPhone commercial aired recently: "The internet...the real internet."

Well, if that's the case (and the jury is still out on this claim), then web developers will be spending more time learning the available languages necessary to create rich content for mobile devices and cell phones of all stripes and sizes. Adobe has been working on Flash Lite and has been creating developer tools for mobile devices for the last few years. Now they're offering Flash Lite tools and tutorials to a wider audience of web developers than ever before.

Among some helpful links that can help anyone get started developing content for these platforms, are these:

a blog by Bill Perry, an evangelist for mobile and devices at Adobe who is currently traveling in Asia to promote the technology and train new content developers.

Sony Ericson mobile phone site

blog of Mark Doherty, Adobe's Developer Evangelist in EMEA for mobile

And of course, the Adobe Developer site itself, which includes a great 'Community' area where some of the better known names (and their ideas) in this area are available.

Before diving in head-first however, understand that Flash Lite may only be a bridge to standardize performance across different computing and hand-held devices until all devices will possess the capability to run Flash 9 or higher without modifications. If you're in a hurry, use Flash Lite now. But a year or two down the road, you may be able to leave it aside and use Flash X (or Flex) exclusively.

Something evil is afoot in the world of domain registration. There are tiny traces of its presence if you look hard enough. No one seems to notice them, but slowly, I think, people are figuring this out.

Recently, we searched for a new domain name on GoDaddy for a client. The name was highly unique (his neighborhood and his profession) and when the search was executed, the domain name came up as 'available'. We wrote down the relevant details and called the client for final approval. With the approval in hand, we went back to GoDaddy to register and pay for the domain. Lo and behold, the name had been taken by some unknown entity hours after we completed our initial search request.

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In pursuit of color inspiration and validation for this season's interface designs I look to a few favorites like Pantone and Fashion Trendsetters. I think this information is useful to designers, photographers, artists and the people we rely on to make it all happen.

Pantone Previews:
Pantone Fashion Color Report, Spring 2008
Pantone Fashion Color Report, Fall 2007
Designer Paint Colors 2007

Fashion Trendsetter's Autumn/Winter 07-08 Color Cards

The Top 10 Pantone Colors Chosen by New York Designers, Spring 2008 (PDF)

Michael Kors, Fashion Week Spring 2008 - this isn't quite as pertinent to color specifically, but the fashion godzilla has another amazing line for spring.

If you want to see how your favorite music artists line up in the popular music galaxy, then visit TuneGlue.net. It's a lot like Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but for musicians.

Not sure if it's in beta version or not, but there are some perplexing things about the site's interface that may leave you a bit confused. Despite the large blank gray stage, the site is ready to use. Simply type in an artist's name in the top right search area, then type in another. You'll see them linked together on the large gray stage. You'll get the rest.

At Billups Design we've singled out several dozen digital and print designers over the years to showcase, and, to learn from and apply to our own clients' projects. Joshua Davis is one of those designers. And this brief essay by him (previously printed in an interview for Apple Pro) on how he finds and uses color in his work is worth sharing with anyone interested in exceptional design.

I'm always trying to find colors that are a little different. I want a blue you can't buy in a store. When I was painting, I found this place in Amsterdam that actually made pigments - I'd buy from them and make my own paint. I remember buddies asking me, "Why do you do that?" And I said, "You know why? You're using the same blue, the same red, and the same green as every other schmuck that walks into that paint store. And I don't want to do that!"

I'm using the same principle to pick colors for my work now. I want colors that make people say, "Oh, look at this combination of orange and green and blue - I never would have thought to mix those." I want to have that effect on people.

I take a lot of digital photographs just to extract color. I go to an arboretum here on Long Island at different points in the year and take pictures of the orchid show or the Christmas poinsettias. Nature does a pretty good job of blending. You'll get a flower that starts with green, goes up to yellow, and blooms red. So already I've got a red, a yellow, and a green that all complement each other.

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Ever feel like you were unsure of whether to join or support a particular social issue campaign? You might ask yourself, "Why give these folks money or time if their cause is not generating support from others?" Well, someone's got an answer for that now.

At thepoint.com (alpha version) you can be a committed activist (in escrow). According to their web site - "Campaigns are at the center of The Point. Find a Campaign that addresses a problem you have. Join it and do nothing now. If and only if enough people commit(the tipping point) the entire group takes action to solve the problem."

Although this is an interesting application of technology for mobilizing individuals around a cause, there is something unsettling about someone committing to a cause, if and only if others join them. Maybe we're old-fashioned, but when you believe in something, you work for it without contingencies. Your passion is, perhaps, what motivates others observing you. Promising to fight at a later date, in other words, misses the moment and deflates the psyche.

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Walmart has made several marketing blunders in the last 12 months. Most noted is their attempt to go 'upscale' in their advertising and product lines. But few observers noted that their web presence was a bubbling cauldron of customer discontent. The problem: accessibility.

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