Dylan Mullins | UI/UX Designer

Blog Wayfinding: Is “Next” Newer or Older?

by Dylan Mullins on July 23, 2011 — No Comments

It is with much heartache that I must confess the hapless shortcomings of my portfolio. As of today, the content of my Work section is almost identical to what it was when I first shipped this site live back in September of 2010. (I still can’t believe I’ve been through over ten portfolio designs in under 10 years of owning this domain.)

Since this site is built on the WordPress platform, it was my expectation that updating work on-going would become a trivial task.  That has not been the case. It almost goes without saying that no matter how powerful the tool is that runs your front-end, if you don’t have the time resources allocated for maintaining such a tool, it’s going to fall behind without fail.

I’m a pretty busy guy these days, so add to that my on-going responsibilities to my clients, and it becomes much clearer how I have lagged behind so easily. I also ventured into yet another start-up company three months ago, so that has been eating up free time too. There’s also those other super important factors in life like personal time for myself, and family time with my fiancée and our dogs. All of that combines for one busy person, who at the end of the day, wants nothing to do with updating his portfolio of work.

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Things I Love About Internet Explorer

by Dylan Mullins on June 2, 2011 — 2 Comments

After reading a long and informative—but damning—post on Quora about the origins of the Internet Explorer browser, I was motivated to write this post on what I love about Internet Explorer.  I’ve used the infographic above for the sake of simplicity and straightforwardness.

Springpad, App Review

by Derek Kapa on May 18, 2011 — 1 Comment

I am super thrilled to have my first ever guest post this week from my good friend, Derek Kapa. Read his byline at the bottom, and check out his portfolio of great work!

Ok, I have a bit of a confession to make. This year, 2011, marks the first year I have owned a smartphone. Although keenly interested in technology, I am by no means an obsessive gadget freak. I still hold on to the belief that there is no good substitute for old-fashioned human interaction and, being a bit of a stubborn pollack, did not previously see the benefit of having a smartphone. Yet when my mobile service contract expired earlier this year, I found myself in the market for a new mobile phone. Long story short, I ended up purchasing an HTC EVO 4G on a whim. And let me tell you, I have never been so thoroughly impressed with a device. However, one thing that became apparent after a few weeks of ownership was that the selection of quality apps for Android devices is quite meager in comparison to its major competitor, iOS.

Now I don’t consider myself App obsessive, but I was on the hunt for any useful App that didn’t completely offend my aesthetic sensibilities (which for Android users can be a heck of a challenge). Enter Springpad, a simple—yet powerful—task management app available for Android and iOS devices.

Features
At it’s core Springpad is an exceptionally easy-to-use task management App. The fine folks over at Spring Partners have crafted a finely tuned task-management experience which allows you to quickly and easily create & organize tasks via either an elegant mobile App, or the distinct web interface. Adding a task is as simple as clicking a button and labeling the task. You can also add extra notes in the form of text, audio, video or bookmarks. For advanced users who like to micromanage their tasks you can add dates and categorize them.

All of this comes packaged up in a beautiful, simple-yet-elegant user interface which makes performing something so mundane as creating a task-list attractive and painless. Before you know it you’ll have multiple lists for all the things in your life that well, require a list!

Summary
I have never found myself so task-oriented since utilizing Springpad’s free task management services. The App works like a charm on my Android phone: it synchronizes seamlessly to a linked web account (for those of you who hate using mobile keyboards you can enter all of your tasks using the web UI), has an intuitive and beautiful interface, and is just plain useful. And, having started using Springpad to organize tasks for both my professional and personal life, I fear that I am becoming just a slightly more efficient human being (*gasp!*).

I really can’t say enough good things about Springpad. Should it happen to turn into a paid App I would gladly dole out some cash for it. All other Apps take note: Springpad is elegant and powerful in it’s simplicity, and most importantly, useful.

Derek Kapa is a graphic designer living and working in Southeast Michigan—the best state in the Union—and bides his time between work, freelancing, lifting heavy objects, and video games. You can click the following link to view his graphic design portfolio.

Soles for the Soul

by Dylan Mullins on May 12, 2011 — 1 Comment

Not to allay greater hopes of technological progress, but it seems that in this modern age we have become so focused on creating products and services as rapidly as possible that many of us are ignoring our own relationship with the process of creation. What it means to be a creator has been reduced to an “anyone and everyone” mentality, where if you can get in, get out, and make a couple of bucks, then society deems you a success. It’s not often you hear about the other side of that coin; the inventors and creators who do what they do for a reason that isn’t centrally motivated by money.

Last week I had the supreme pleasure of accidentally happening upon Soles for the Soul, an ecologically-minded handmade footwear business. A week later—after some minor back and forth with the owner—I submitted my order for a pair of Ares shoes from Soles for the Soul (rest assured that the delay in getting my order was my own fault). I found Soles via Facebook through a friend, of a friend, of a friend—I guess that’s just how things work these days, huh? My friend-twice-removed posted a really classy looking shoe design on his profile, announcing he had just received his order. I clicked through to the photo to get better details in the larger photo, and I knew right away that I needed to get myself in a pair. The photo caption (and product design) spoke to the sustainable materials used, which got me burning to do whatever I could to get an order in and talk to the people behind this operation. So I did just that. After a brief back and forth on Facebook, I had a direct line to Soles for the Soul, and its sole proprietor, William Conklin. So I picked up the phone to talk about the shoes, the materials, the vision. Here’s what Mr. Conklin had to say for himself.

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