Some people ask me how I create the things that I do, what inspires me, and why I do what I do. This post is to give information as to some of that.
First I’ll start with the creative process.
It’s easy to make CSS shapes with solid colors by using borders, but it’s more difficult to make them with gradient backgrounds. The main trick is to use pseudo elements and `overflow: hidden“ to cut out the desired shape. There are many more shapes that this technique could be applied to, include many listed here, but I didn’t include them for brevity. See them on CodePen.
It’s obvious: we want to enhance the way we interact with the world. Everything from virtual reality to smart watches show this trend. This isn’t a new desire, of course, but we are now on the verge of making new ways of interaction possible.
Today I’ll focus on what I’m most excited about in this new world that is soon to come: the ever growing internet of things and our interaction with it through wearable technology. Both seek to expand our human umwelt, allowing for new and better interactions with the world that surrounds us.
Most any time we go to a new place, we are looking to find activities to do. It could be anything from hiking to finding a trendy coffee shop. When I first came to study at the University of Georgia, I found myself in this situation, particularly in respect to finding activities for groups of people to do and activities to do on dates. Over time I came to know a lot of local places and activities, but it took a lot of talking to people and didn’t always come when I wanted it to. It would have been great to have a way to find out about all of those activities quicker and more easily.
My sophomore year, I created a quick little prototype of an app to do just this. I called it Palm Date. It started as a project just so I could practice UI animations but turned into something I could actually use on dates to help us choose activities to do. A gif of how it worked is below.