I trust that everyone is staying safe during these challenging times. Compared to many other regions across the world, Vancouver is holding up well. How are you coping with everything? Personally, I've been blading along the seawall on most days and making steady progress with my work. To keep things brief, I'll spare you a lengthy monthly update. On another note, I started two new design projects last week.
Take care and stay safe
Random Design Observations
It’s impressive to see that the design of web and mobile applications has significantly improved across the board. Even large companies that were once slow are now fast and beautiful. Banks, SaaS providers, government micro-sites, and everything digital looks stunning, which is great news for consumers. However, for digital entrepreneurs who rely on design as a competitive advantage, it presents new challenges.
In North America and Europe, the evolution of digital product cycles has been as follows:
- Web 1.0: Any usable web service, or one with a sales team
- Web 2.0: Social features are added, and social growth is prioritized over design
- Mobile 1.0: Any usable mobile app, design is not a priority
- Web 3.0: UX and design matter, becomes a startup beachhead
- Mobile 2.0: UX and design matter, becomes a startup beachhead
- Mobile 3.0: Mobile apps must be beautiful, perfect, fast, secure, and glitch-free, or users will delete them
- Web 4.0: Mobile is the priority, but now it’s time to improve website and desktop experiences. The focus is on creating beautiful, perfect, fast, secure, and glitch-free experiences.
Over the past 6 to 12 months, we’ve witnessed an increase in designer-focused tools such as Sketch, Figma, and Zeplin. These tools help standardize and speed up the process of developing digital products, which means that all the low-hanging fruit related to mobile is officially taken. Legacy businesses are entering or finishing the Mobile 3.0 cycle. The next wave of competitive design, especially for early-stage startups, will likely be focused on 3D, Audio, AR, VR, Space, Household, Food, and Health.
TLDR - low design barrier is leading to a world that is more visually appealing, but increasingly difficult to stand out.
Product:
I'm working with a Vancouver based marketplace and postponed my travel plans to Asia and Europe. Under NDA, can't share much. Looking for a second consulting gig and wire-framing / sound-framing an audio based application.
Interesting Links:
- “Less - Alcohol Tracker” mobile app from Kevin Rose - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/less-alcohol-tracker/id1484828892
- Ever see a Winnebago Heli-Home in the early 70s? Asking price was a cool $ 300,000. Only 8 were sold.
- Bookstore that sells one book. Morioka Shoten is a tiny bookstore of “a Single Room with a Single Book” in Tokyo
- Audio Podcasts are down, mobile app usage and video is way up
- Simulating the lost games as hyper-realistic audio broadcasts - NBA.FM
- Amazon has secretly been working on a cure for the common cold
- Augmented-Reality Startup Magic Leap to Explore a Sale
- A modern day quarantine love story
- Enjoyed this podcast with former CPO Brian Norgardformer, discussing the future of Augmented Reality and AirPods.
- “Space Intersects Internet“ Workshop (LEO + 5G/IoT constellations) LEO’s (Low Orbit Satellites). Want to build the AWS of satellites? Early and exciting..
Personal:
Books:
- Finished: Art Of War, Mindset
- Reading: Principles, The Great CEO Within,
Film / TV:
- Contagion
- 28 days later
- 28 weeks later
- I am Legend (alternative ending)
- Her - worth revisiting
Music:
- Crate diggers club - a community of digital crate diggers, who share unfamiliar gems.
- Been djing some weekend on twitch!
That's all.. Let me know what you liked, want to see more or less of.
Kenny
twitter.com/allbombs
A few photos from March
