512 Pixels

RSS Sponsor: Wet Frog Studios →

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Thanks to Wet Frog Studios for sponsoring the 512 Pixels RSS feed this week!

Wet Frog Studios is the freelance design business run by Aaron Mahnke, out of the Boston area. Aaron is known for his minimal-yet-powerful logo designs, as well as a number of podcast album covers, book covers, and a growing selection of iOS app icons.

Focusing on creating identities for new and existing projects, Aaron helps clients all over the world create consistency in their brands. Whether you are launching a new blog, or building the next Instagram, you might want to start your identity search with Aaron. He’s professional, affordable and easy to work with. And he has a beard. Which is supposed to be important, right?

I’ve worked with Aaron on numerous projects, including the Forkbombr → 512 Pixels transition. He’s a great designer, and unlike some people in the field, won’t try to screw you over. I can’t recommend him enough if you have a logo or brand you need to have created or massaged.

On the Gamification of Apps and Strongly-Worded Opinions

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Ben Brooks:

It’s that thing where an app developer thinks it would be really neat to make parts of their non-game app into a game. I hate it, and I think it’s bullshit.

[…]

And it makes the software developer look like a dick.

It’s time to put an end to this.

And Dave Caolo:

Ben is understandably frustrated with the practice. It’s silly at best and manipulative at worst. I don’t understand why it makes him so angry. His short, 209-word post contains “dick” twice, “hate” twice and “bullshit” once. Then it ends with what seems like a virtual call to arms.

I agree with Dave that Ben laid it on a little thick. I know that’s kind of Ben’s deal on his site, and I respect that, but name calling is kinda lame. The guys at Realmac are all super, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know a couple of them since meeting at Macworld.

They don’t seem like dicks to me.

Ben’s choice of words aside, I don’t think the addition of “secret” UI themes in Clear is a bad thing. The app itself — its gestures, etc. — are playful and light. The “gamification” doesn’t get in the way of using the app, and the “awards” don’t add any functionality. It simply adds new free themes.

What’s so wrong with that?

Enterprise Enjoying Last Flight

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Collectspace.com:

Space shuttle Enterprise took to the air Friday morning (April 27) for the first time in more than a quarter century, but the two hour flight is also to be its last. Its final destination: the Big Apple.

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Enterprise had been on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center since December 2003. It arrived in Washington 18 years earlier on Nov. 18, 1985, completing what was thought by many to be its final landing. While the shuttle never flew in space, it performed vital approach and landing tests in the late 1970s.