For those haven't seen it yet, and for those that can use it, I highly
recommend checking out Shaun Inman's Fever, released this morning.
http://feedafever.com/
IMPORTANT NOTE: The application is not a hosted service. To use it,
you have to a web server running and be able to configure it. I'd
rather not talk about that decision on Inman's part because I think
it's not worth discussion, and I completely agree with his choice
given his goals. The bottom line is that Shaun likes to work solo,
doesn't have the ability to create a hosted service on his own without
a lot of extra capital or resources, and doesn't want to get into all
it would entail to convert his work into a truly hosted solution.
That's his prerogative.
From an interface design point of view, however, there's a lot that's
highly relevant to the people on this list.
* Shaun has a full story behind the inspiration and execution for the
design of the product, which is based around concepts of temperature.
Hot, cold, things that are catching fire, measuring temperature and
using that as the means to communicate feed activity. The execution is
deeply embedded into every aspect of the product, from the color
palette to the language. People who like to create stories and use
visible metaphors can see a great model for how to do it successfully
with Fever.
* The visual aesthetic of the design is top notch, as is always the
case from Shaun. Without the aesthetics, the product would fall flat
and lose a lot of it's impact, not to mention the utility the
aesthetic provides to the overall product interface.
* The interaction is very dynamic, and utilizes the best of what's
possible inside of a web browser and on the iPhone.
* The mobile version of the site is fully integrated. Once you install
it and run it, you can simply point Safari to it on your iPhone and
you get an entirely optimized interface for mobile use that directly
scales from everything happening in the browser version. Lots of
lessons here to garner about how to move between mediums and scale for
the device or platform while retaining full design integrity in the
process.
I've said many times that I think guys like Shaun Inman are the model
for interface designers, if not now, then at least 5 to 10 years out.
Whether you ever achieve his level of ability to design great
interfaces both from a visual and interaction level simultaneously,
while also being able to code it, is not the point. The point for this
community, in my humble opinion, is to make the goals lofty, and aim
to become or create designers of his caliber going forward. Shaun's
work is the epitome professionalism in this medium.
As I said, if you have the ability, I can't recommend more than to go
out and buy Fever, install it, and learn from it.
--
Andrei Herasimchuk
Chief Design Officer, Involution Studios
innovating the digital world
e. [email protected]
c. +1 408 306 6422
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