Elliot Jay Stocks4c168234dabe9d526c0000092013-05-15T11:14:23+01:00http://elliotjaystocks.harmonyapp.com/assets/4c1c89b8dabe9d0f84000001/feed_icon.jpgStudio diary 2013: part 2http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/studio-diary-2013-part-2/2013-05-15T11:14:23+01:002013-05-15T09:00:00+01:00Whilst listening to the iPod on Shuffle Play the other day, an old track of mine came on. It was one I wrote as part of a score for a friend’s short film, back in 2002 when I was in my first year at Uni. My wife remarked, ‘I quite like some of this older stuff — it’s a bit more accessible.’ We listened through the track (I usually skip any of my own stuff that comes on) and I found myself agreeing. It was one of those quick, throw-away, off-the-cuff compositions that — like the occasional quick, throw-away, off-the-cuff design — can actually turn out better than the stuff you spend months agonising over.
So, finding myself with a rare instance of that seldom-seen things known as Spare Time on Sunday, I decided to resurrect the track.
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Whilst listening to the iPod on Shuffle Play the other day, an old track of mine came on. It was one I wrote as part of a score for a friend’s short film, back in 2002 when I was in my first year at Uni. My wife remarked, ‘I quite like some of this older stuff — it’s a bit more accessible.’ We listened through the track (I usually skip any of my own stuff that comes on) and I found myself agreeing. It was one of those quick, throw-away, off-the-cuff compositions that — like the occasional quick, throw-away, off-the-cuff design — can actually turn out better than the stuff you spend months agonising over.
So, finding myself with a rare instance of that seldom-seen things known as Spare Time on Sunday, I decided to resurrect the track. The original version’s sounds had dated quickly, partly because the entire thing was composed and sequenced on my old MC-307, so I recreated it from scratch in Live and it was a nice excuse to play with my new Push. Here’s a rough mix of the song’s new incarnation:
No doubt it will continue to evolve as I revisit parts here and there and fine the mix, but given that the basic melody and arrangement are still holding up okay after eleven years, I’m pretty confident that this one will make it onto my next release, whatever shape that takes. Oh, and speaking of releases, I commissioned that rather awesome Skull Tubes artwork from the über-talented Stefan Weyer, our 8 Faces designer.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksYou should come to ConfShophttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/you-should-come-to-confshop/2013-05-10T18:00:41+01:002013-05-10T17:00:00+01:00On Friday 5th July, Keir and I are hosting a brand new event in London called Insites: ConfShop. Does the web industry really need another event? Well, we believe that ConfShop is different. Read on to find out why!]]>
On Friday 5th July, Keir and I are hosting a brand new event in London called Insites: ConfShop. Does the web industry really need another event? Well, we believe that ConfShop is different. Here’s why:
It takes the best parts of a conference (the social stuff, the ‘big picture’ lessons) and combines them with the best parts of a workshop (the small small groups, the ease of participation).
Drawing influence from last year’s Insites: The Xmas Special — which turned into a sort of intimate self-help group for webbies — and from grassroots events run by our friends like Brooklyn Beta and Greenville Grok, the key word of the day is inclusivity. Everyone on the same level. No silly speaker-audience divisions.
The format of the day consists of four groups of around 25 people, discussing four main areas (see below), with each session led by a ‘curator’. As the day goes on, each group will move between the sessions, and we’ll all reconvene at the end to draw some conclusions.
We might be biased, but we’d like think that we’re trying something new. There’s been a lot of snarkiness in the web industry of late — especially from the British web community, it has to be said — and we’re trying to dispel this misconception about ‘web celebrities’. Yes, we have well-known people leading the sessions (see below), but they’re not acting as speakers: they’re helping us curate the groups and keep everyone on track.
The topics we’ll be covering are:
Client work and products (how can we move from client focused-businesses to product-focused companies) — curated by Rachel Andrew and Drew McLellan.
Business issues (VAT, tax, accounting, pitching, contracts, finding work and beyond) — curated by Alex Hunter.
Working in the industry (work / life balance, keeping up, learning and more) — curated by Sarah Parmenter.
Side projects (how to find the time and create income streams) — curated by me and Keir.
Yes, this is a paid event, but we’ve made it as affordable as possible. Securing a large-enough space in London isn’t cheap, sadly! But we do have an incredible venue: Altitude 360 is right at the very top of the Millbank Tower and the views across the city are amazing!
So, if that sounds like your cup of tea, please come along — we only have 125 spaces. And if you’re a hater who’s been vocal about ‘web celebrity’ culture of late, you should definitely come along. This is the place to vent! And it’s also the place to collectively come up with solutions to our industry’s problems. Don’t be shy!
]]>Elliot Jay StocksTypographica’s favourite typefaces of 2012http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/typographicas-favourite-typefaces-of-2012/2013-03-18T15:04:46+00:002013-03-18T14:00:00+00:002012 turned out to be a good year: not only did the world not end, but some rather nice typefaces came into being, too. So it was with great pleasure and honour that I accepted Stephen Coles’ invitation to contribute to Typographica’s favourite typefaces of 2012.
]]>2012 turned out to be a good year: not only did the world not end, but some rather nice typefaces came into being, too. So it was with great pleasure and honour that I accepted Stephen Coles’ invitation to contribute to Typographica’s favourite typefaces of 2012.
As I mentioned in the review, I’m somewhat partial to slabs anyway, but Tabac Slab really is a beautiful face. I might even use it for a forthcoming new publication I’m working on. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksBeware the free, invisible servicehttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/beware-the-free-invisible-service/2013-03-14T11:29:27+00:002013-03-14T10:00:00+00:00Checking Twitter over breakfast this morning, my feed was alive with furore over Google’s decision to retire Google Reader, and I’m not ashamed to say that I joined in, too. Of course, we all know that RSS isn’t particularly well-adopted outside the web / tech industry, so it’s perhaps not entirely surprising to see Google kill (what they consider to be) a niche product. What is worrying, though, is that this is yet another example of a product meeting its demise because it’s free.]]>Checking Twitter over breakfast this morning, my feed was alive with furore over Google’s decision to retire Google Reader, and I’m not ashamed to say that I joined in, too. Of course, we all know that RSS isn’t particularly well-adopted outside the web / tech industry, so it’s perhaps not entirely surprising to see Google kill (what they consider to be) a niche product. What is worrying, though, is that this is yet another example of a product meeting its demise because it’s free.
How many apps and services that you know and love are only in existence because they have a business model? Or, put differently: how many of them would be killed if they were bought by Google? Apparently SnapSeed for Mac is another casualty in Google’s spring cleaning. (I can only hope they don’t kill the iOS version, which is — in my opinion — one of the best apps out there.) As Dalton Caldwell said in App.Net’s manifesto, ‘with a free, ad-supported service, [the service’s] customers are advertisers.’
Of course, there are exceptions. Google killed Sparrow last year, even though it was a paid app. It’s unlikely Gmail or any of Google’s core services will disappear purely because they’re free. And there are plenty of excellent free apps out there with no clear business model. But I still think that Google Reader’s demise highlights our over-reliance on free services; specifically, free invisible services. It struck me that this is the first time I’ve been upset about an invisible service being killed off.
I say ‘invisible’ because I’ve never, ever used Google Reader’s web-based front-end. I use it merely as a back-end service to sync feeds within Reeder, which I have on my iPhone, iPad, and Macs. Perhaps these invisible services are the most important in our digital lives, and therefore leave us the most vulnerable. Imagine if DropBox closed its doors. I think my world would implode.
Except that DropBox is a profitable company, with a service that is paid for by its users. Its customers are users, not advertisers.
I like Google a lot. I think they put out some great products, and I believe that they’re genuinely improving our lives with their forward-thinking technology. I want Google Now on my iPhone. I can’t wait to try Glass. If they build the first robots and flying cars and spaceships to Mars, I’m there. But I think we should all remain just a little bit sceptical about the advertising revenue at the core of the company and the free products — from any company — that are not funded by users’ money.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath, now is a great time to fall back in love with Shaun Inman’s Fever (although it’s worth reading Shaun’s advice). I was a long-time Fever user and only let it slide when I decided I needed cloud-based syncing across multiple machines, but I’ve now realised that Reeder can use Fever as a back-end. Sadly that’s only Reeder for iPhone for now, but I expect the iPad and Mac apps will see an update pretty soon in the wake of yesterday’s announcement. There are plenty of other alternatives out there, too. And, as Marco Arment suggests, perhaps Google Reader’s death will foster a new wave of innovation for RSS apps and service.
That’d be nice.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksHello, I’m a human beinghttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/hello-im-a-human-being/2013-03-04T15:07:01+00:002013-03-04T12:00:00+00:00Hi there. My name is Elliot and I’m the human being behind this blog, my Twitter account, and the numerous other forms my identity takes online. I’m the human being who reads your nasty, snide, and downright unnecessary tweets. They may be sent to my digitally-abstracted Twitter account, but they are read — and felt — by me. The human being.
I know a few other human beings, too. They are the real, living, breathing, emotionally-responsive creatures behind the accounts at which you so readily hurl your abuse.
]]>Hi there. My name is Elliot and I’m the human being behind this blog, my Twitter account, and the numerous other forms my identity takes online. I’m the human being who reads your nasty, snide, and downright unnecessary tweets. They may be sent to my digitally-abstracted Twitter account, but they are read — and felt — by me. The human being.
I know a few other human beings, too. They are the real, living, breathing, emotionally-responsive creatures behind the accounts at which you so readily hurl your abuse.
There are many generous people out there who are kind enough to take the time to say nice things, but unfortunately — as many of my friends will attest — it’s the nasty comments that always seem to stick; the tweet that could so easily have been framed as constructive criticism, but has instead taken the form of a personal attack. Of course, the very fact that someone uses a personal attack devalues any argument they might make — so many of these people clearly have some sort of bitter agenda against so-called ‘web celebrities’ — but that doesn’t make it any less upsetting to read. And no, ‘enjoying an argument’ isn’t an excuse to be rude to another human being.
I’m not a religious man, but I abide by the concept of treating others as I would wish to be treated. Online communication is not an exception for me. Why should it be for anyone else?
]]>Elliot Jay StocksResponsive web design: the war has not yet been wonhttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/responsive-web-design-the-war-has-not-yet-been-won/2013-03-01T16:55:19+00:002013-03-01T16:00:00+00:00Responsive Web Design. All the cool kids are doing it. We extolled the virtues of Ethan’s holy trinity of fluid layouts, flexible images, and media queries, and slowly but surely everyone dropped fixed-width designs for websites that flex and bend to every scenario, and adapt to every device.
Or did they?
]]>Responsive Web Design. All the cool kids are doing it. We extolled the virtues of Ethan’s holy trinity of fluid layouts, flexible images, and media queries, and slowly but surely everyone dropped fixed-width designs for websites that flex and bend to every scenario, and adapt to every device.
Or did they?
Well, no. As widely adopted as the RWD process is, there are still numerous designers, developers, freelancers, and agencies who continue to opt for the safety of fixed widths, or adopt the process in a semi-complete sort of way — like making several fixed designs that adapt to specific device sizes, or change only when the screen is at a mobile-like resolution.
It’s easy to dismiss this crowd as old-school agencies, or print-focused creatives who don’t ‘get’ the web, and they certainly do account for a large amount of this RWD-wary crowd. But I’ve noticed a whole bunch of very web-savvy people (whose work I respect, and many of whom I call friends) who seem not only adverse to the idea of adopting the RWD process, but actually quite vocal in their opposition.
So today I’d like to address these arguments and — hopefully — dispel some of the myths that are preventing a huge number of talented people from embracing the inherently fluid nature of the web.
RWD is not mobile design
With no disrespect intended to the talented folks behind GoCardless, my heart sank a little when I read their blog post about why they’ve decided to ditch responsive web design. Their argument hangs on the premise that only 2% of their audience were visiting the site on a mobile device, and thus it wasn’t worth the extra time and effort to make the site responsive (more on that in a second). Although the article is well-written and eloquently substantiates their rationale, I can’t help but feel that they’ve misinterpreted the meaning of RWD: namely, that it is not simply mobile design. Nor is it tablet design, nor game console browser design, nor screen-on-your-futuristic-fridge design. RWD, in my opinion, should be device agnostic.
Allow me to elaborate. From the very first responsive site I created, I made the decision to introduce media queries only when it felt natural to re-adjust the content, rather than when the screen width reached a device-specific dimensions, like ‘iPhone landscape’ or ‘iPad portrait’. I’ve always encouraged others to follow the same process, if for no other reason than it stops us thinking about specific devices, and in turn makes our sites more future-proof. A hardware manufacturer might introduce a brand new product tomorrow that changes the world and uses completely different dimensions. If you adjust your design when it looks right, you won’t have to worry about retro-fitting your media queries for new devices.
RWD does not have to take more time, or cost more money
Perhaps the biggest obstacle preventing people from getting behind the concept of RWD is that it takes more time to build responsive sites, and more time equals more money. Well, I won’t lie to you: it does.
To begin with, anyway.
Once you overcome that initial struggle of adapting to a new process, designing and building responsive sites needn’t take any longer, or cost any more money. The real obstacle is designers and developers being set in their ways. I know this because I was one of those people, and to those of you who’ve now fully embraced RWD, you may well be nodding in agreement: we all struggled with it to begin with, just like we did when we moved from table-based layout to CSS.
For those of you who are unconvinced, I imagine you’re keen to point out that different views mean different designs, and that will always mean longer design periods and higher costs, right? And what about complex sites? It’s all very well when you’re designing simple one-page blogs, I hear you cry.
Well, again I think it’s all about changing the way you work. Changing the way you think about web design, really. For a start, get out of Photoshop. Don’t design a ‘desktop’ view as a flat file and a ‘mobile’ view as a flat file, or something between, or anything for that matter. Now has never been a better time to embrace designing-in-the-browser. Sure, that’s a challenge, and if you’re not particularly code-savvy, there’s certainly an overhead there while you acquire those extra skills. But if you’re a web designer, you should be able to write code.
I say this not to create some sort of elite, or to chastise those who don’t yet have that knowledge, but because knowing your way around markup and CSS — and therefore being able to quickly try out what works and what doesn’t work in the browser — is the biggest step you could ever take in making RWD part of your process instead of an add-on.
Add-ons take extra time and cost your clients more money. Integrated processes don’t.
(As an aside, if you’re like me and like to keep things simple, you might find my 1000px responsive grid helps avoid some of the tough maths often associated with RWD.)
RWD is worth it
If you’ve read everything I’ve written so far, I’ve hopefully got across two key points:
RWD is about making your site adaptable to any scenario, without worrying about specific devices and their proprietary dimensions.
RWD doesn’t need to take more time and therefore doesn’t need to cost your clients more money. At least not after you’ve rethought your approach to web design, anyway.
However, there may still be some of you out there who are still asking the simple question, ‘but is it worth it?’ And it’s actually a very valid question, especially in those circumstances — such as when you or your company are adapting to a RWD workflow — when it can equate to more time and greater costs.
The answer, as always, is: ‘it depends.’
Some desktop-optimised designs work fine just as they are on tablets, which was one of GoCardless’ main points, and probably the main reason they saw RWD as simply designing for mobile. But aside from just telling you that responsive sites are far more likely to be future-proof as the plethora of computing devices grows, it’s worth looking at some actual statistics.
At the end of last year, Time magazine found that moving to a responsive design worked wonders for them. Craig Ettinger, general manager for Time.com, has detailed the positive increases in interviews for magazine.org and adweek.com.
In conclusion
I could go on about why I think Responsive Web Design is a great idea for your websites, clients, colleagues, and of course users, but the thought I’ll leave you with is this:
Create a new HTML document, add some content, don’t add any CSS, and view that document in a browser. What do you see?
The web has always been fluid; we’ve just wasted a good number of years forcing fixed pixels onto an inherently responsive framework. The time to stop is now.
This post came out of the presentation I gave at Responsive Day Out in Brighton, UK, on 1st March 2013.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksComing soon: Countdone for iOShttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/coming-soon-countdone-for-ios/2013-02-21T11:25:59+00:002013-02-21T10:00:00+00:00Just before Christmas I had one of those moments where you wake up in the middle of the night and you have an idea for an app. I’d always assumed that these moments were mere myths, but there I was, experiencing one for myself. I went back to sleep and when I got up in the morning, I fired up Photoshop and started mocking up what I’d seen in my head. Later that day I asked Sarah for an iOS developer recommendation and just a few days later the app build was underway.]]>Just before Christmas I had one of those moments where you wake up in the middle of the night and you have an idea for an app. I’d always assumed that these moments were mere myths, but there I was, experiencing one for myself. I went back to sleep and when I got up in the morning, I fired up Photoshop and started mocking up what I’d seen in my head. Later that day I asked Sarah for an iOS developer recommendation and just a few days later the app build was underway.
Fast-forward to now and my very first iPhone / iPod Touch app is almost complete. The last few bugs are being ironed out. I’m putting together the last few assets. Soon — very soon — we (Viewport Industries) will be submitting it to the App Store.
So I thought it was time for a sneak peek: a genuine photo of the app running on my iPod Touch. Say hello to Countdone for iOS!
]]>Elliot Jay StocksDesigners I would recommendhttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/designers-i-would-recommend/2013-02-20T10:12:20+00:002013-02-08T10:00:00+00:00On the occasion when I have to turn away a potential client project — usually due to time constraints, but really for any reason — the client almost always responds with the question, ‘so which designers would you recommend we contact instead?’
Up until now, I feel like I’ve done a pretty bad job of answering that question. Usually it involves me searching through my sent mail for the last time I answered it, only to find that I didn’t answer it very well that time either. And that’s if I can find such an email; if I can’t, I usually cobble together a very short list of anyone that comes to mind at that particular time. In doing so, I’m doing a disservice to the client — because there are probably many more people I could recommend — and to my designer friends — because I could probably be sending a lot more work their way.
So, this post is an attempt to change that. It may see edits over time, but I’m intending it to be a place I can send clients who ask that question. One simple link. Nice and easy.
I also hope that it might become a semi-useful (albeit slightly biased) resource for anyone else out there looking for designer recommendations, especially as these recommendations are personal ones. A personal recommendation is infinitely better than a cold search around the web, isn’t it?
]]>On the occasion when I have to turn away a potential client project — usually due to time constraints, but really for any reason — the client almost always responds with the question, ‘so which designers would you recommend we contact instead?’
Up until now, I feel like I’ve done a pretty bad job of answering that question. Usually it involves me searching through my sent mail for the last time I answered it, only to find that I didn’t answer it very well that time either. And that’s if I can find such an email; if I can’t, I usually cobble together a very short list of anyone that comes to mind at that particular time. In doing so, I’m doing a disservice to the client — because there are probably many more people I could recommend — and to my designer friends — because I could probably be sending a lot more work their way.
So, this post is an attempt to change that. It may see edits over time, but I’m intending it to be a place I can send clients who ask that question. One simple link. Nice and easy.
I also hope that it might become a semi-useful (albeit slightly biased) resource for anyone else out there looking for designer recommendations, especially as these recommendations are personal ones. A personal recommendation is infinitely better than a cold search around the web, isn’t it?
Disclaimer 1: Before we get to the list, I’m going to freely admit that the vast majority of the people I’m recommending here are friends; many of them close friends. To the naysayers who will inevitably moan about this blatant favouritism, I say this: of course I’m going to recommend my friends. It’s human nature. But also it indicates that I know what they’re like as people, and that can often be more important than actual design skills.
Disclaimer 2: Please note that for those designers employed by day at companies, only those who still freelance on the side have been included on the list below (which makes me a bit sad — there are many former freelancers I would’ve loved to put on this list). I’ve also omitted independent designers who create products rather than do client work. Oh, and if they’re part of a studio, they’re probably in the ‘studios’ list a bit further down.
Disclaimer 3: Feel free to leave a comment if you’d like to recommend someone for the list, but please bear in mind that I will probably only add them if they also happen to be a mutual friend or if I absolutely love their work, and can see that they’re consistently good across a number of projects.
I’m sure I’ve missed some folks, so please expect some revisions. Either way, I hope this proves useful. I’m thinking of doing a ‘developers I would recommend’ list as well. In fact, how about illustrators, writers, speakers, etc.? If you’d like to read them, let me know.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksSomerset to San Francisco in pictureshttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/somerset-to-san-francisco-in-pictures/2013-02-05T08:05:52+00:002013-02-03T22:00:00+00:00Last week I was in San Francisco, doing some work with my friends at Typekit. Being in SF has given me the chance to reconnect with old friends, make a whole load of new friends, and indulge in some great food and drink along the way.
Sunny California has been quite a contrast from snowy Somerset, so I thought it’d be fun to record the last week or so in (iPhone) photos, along with a few notes about where I’ve been for posterity.
]]>Last week I was in San Francisco, doing some work with my friends at Typekit. Being in SF has given me the chance to reconnect with old friends, make a whole load of new friends, and indulge in some great food and drink along the way.
Sunny California has been quite a contrast from snowy Somerset, so I thought it’d be fun to record the last week or so in (iPhone) photos, along with a few notes about where I’ve been for posterity.
Friday 18th January
Snow! For some reason snow always seems to bypass our part of the country, so it was nice to finally get some of the stuff. I don’t think I’ve seen snow like this for years, so Sam and I were like kids! Ozzy enjoyed his first proper taste (literally) of snow, too, eating every snowball we threw his way.
Saturday 19th January
Braving the snow, Sam dropped me off at Bath and I caught the train to London, deciding it’d be easier to stay over to get the plane in the morning. It was also a great opportunity to see some London-based friends, and I even got to sneak in a quick beer at Lowlander Café. Andy, Jess, Francis, and I tried out Mildreds — a fantastic veggie place just off Beak Street — and ended up at The Crown & Two Charimen, where they serve one of my all-time favourite beers, Tripel Karmeliet.
I got a Go Native apartment just down the road from Paddington. I’ve stayed with Go Native before and can thoroughly recommend them: serviced apartments are way cheaper than hotels and often located just off the beaten track. The Hyde Park complex is particularly nice.
This is the reception, not the room!
Sunday 20th January
I walked a couple of minutes over to Paddington and jumped on the Heathrow Express. Yes, you pay a premium, but you can’t argue with fifteen minutes from London to the airport. Adobe very generously paid for Business Class flights, which meant I had access to the Virgin Clubhouse. Honestly, it’s like a James Bond villain’s lair. Upon Sarah’s recommendation, I had two or three Virgin Redheads and found myself pleasantly floaty prior to boarding.
The flight itself might’ve been the best I’ve ever had. Our route took us very far north, crossing Iceland and Greenland before descending across icy northern Canada. The views from the window were stunning.
We landed just after lunch — local time — and although my body clock said it was bedtime, I was determined to stay up in an attempt to beat jet-lag. (It didn’t work: I work up at 5am virtually every day during my visit.) I arrived at The Fairmont in the Nob Hill neighbourhood…
Look at that lobby!
… and found myself with some impressive views from my room to the north of the bay, with Alcatraz peeping around from the corner of the adjacent building.
What to do for dinner? I hadn’t made any plans to meet anyone, knowing that I’d be in an antisocial post-flying mood, so I looked through some dining recommendations on Foursquare (a service that becomes so, so, so much more useful when you’re in The States) and took myself off to E & O for some of the best Asian fusion food I’ve ever eaten. I made the mistake of ordering far too much, but it was all so good I quickly accepted that this week I was going to get put on a belly and not worry too much about it.
Monday 21st January
When you walk out of The Fairmont and turn left, you’re presented with the steep hill down to Market and this is steep even by San Franciscan standards.
It was a beautiful morning and a great start to the week. As I descended the hill, crossed Market, and headed down 7th to the Adobe offices on Townsend, I realised that it’d been years since I’d commuted to work, and even more years since I’d worked in a corporate environment. Surprisingly, both made for a very pleasant change.
On my walk ‘home’ that evening, my perception of San Francisco geography slipped into place and I realised that I was walking past Sightglass, where I’d met a client for coffee just over a year ago. I vowed to make a visit the next morning.
Tuesday 22nd January
And so, waking up far earlier than I needed to, I set off on my commute with plenty of time to hang out in Sightglass. Initially, I was dismayed to find they had no WiFi, but actually it was a blessing. Freed of the distractions of the internet, I was able to get all of my emails done, ready to be sent when I got into the office.
The view from Sightglass’ mezzanine level.
Being quite fond of routine, I decided that’s what I’d do every morning: head down to 7th and spend an hour or so catching up on yesterday’s email over coffee and breakfast.
Tip: get to Sightglass early! Artisanal coffee takes time and a queue can build up very quickly. 8am seemed to be the perfect time; by 8.30 it was nearly always packed.
On Tuesday night I got to see some very good, very old friends: Kyle Meyer, Tim Van Damme, and Maykel Loomans — all new(ish) residents of San Francisco due to Facebook and / or Instagram. I was also happy to see that Irish GBOLLee Munroe is now firmly established in SF and up for beer, as well as Pusle designer Tuhin Kumar.
At Monk’s Kettle, I think I had one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten, as well as some great beers there and in The Sycamore. Interesting to see some of the grittier(ish?) side of The Mission on the way, too.
Wednesday 23rd January
Just around the corner from Adobe, a brand new place called Gung Ho has just opened up, serving some really good Korean food and local beer. It seemed like a good excuse to have lunch with Meghan from FontShop (who are just a few blocks away).
On Wednesday evening I was meant to meet up with Erik Marinovich, who designed the cover to 8 Faces #5 and shares a studio with my mate Jessica Hische (sadly absent in England, ironically), but with Erik encumbered by the flu that seems to be doing the rounds at the moment, I had a quiet night in to myself. I opted for dinner at the recommended-by-everyone-I-spoke-to Tonga Room, in the basement of my hotel. The indoor swimming pool and half-hour ‘rain’ was… interesting. I also ate the biggest — and most flavourless — scallops known to man.
Thursday 24th January
On Thursday evening I strolled over to King Street train station and met Craig Mod (a friend and collaborator I’d known for a while, but never met ‘in real life’) and we headed to North Beach for some pizza at Tony’s. With a short wait for a table, we wandered around the neighbourhood and took in the views from some of the hillier streets…
… before being called to the restaurant for some utterly incredible pizza.
Craig vs. pizza.
After dinner we visited the beat-tastic bookshop City Lights, where an author was doing a reading, before getting a nightcap at Comstock Saloon. The bar feels like you’re stepping back into the 1920s, but without any tackiness. Somewhere upstairs a lady played piano and sung jazz interpretations of Neil Young songs.
My last day at Typekit! Actually, that’s not true, since I’m still working with them back home, but it was my last day working on-site. Having made a big presentation the day before, Friday felt like an easy day — a wind-down from the week that had been.
My last morning visit to Sightglass.
Every Friday, the team get together and discuss the week that’s passed, focussing mainly on stuff that’s shipped or decisions that have been made, which I think is a great idea. On that note, I’ve learned a lot from Typekit’s approach to meetings in general: talk about one specific thing, and reach a conclusion (or decide on a course of action) by the end of it. I feel like this was a real eye-opener, as someone’s who’s prone to ramble on about anything and everything at any given opportunity.
At the end of the day, we all popped round the corner for beers at Grand Pu Bah, and I felt genuinely sad to be leaving behind this new set of friends — an extremely talented group of people. Hopefully I’ll see you guys soon. Jeff, Ryan, Bryan, Greg, Paul, Sean, Libby, Mike, Dillon, Ivan, George,Nelson, and Christopher, thank you so much for an incredible week.
At 8pm I caught a cab over to Central Kitchen and enjoyed the seven-course taster menu with Veen, his lovely wife Julie, the insanely talented Naz, and his wife Jen. My goodness. That food was incredible.
Saturday 26th January
Packing up my bags and waving goodbye to the distant speck of Alcatraz from my window, I headed back down to The Mission, just a block away from the previous night’s dinner, and met Erik Spiekermann and his wife Susanna for breakfast at Universal Café. Oh my! Have the poached eggs with smoked trout and all those other lovely ingredients.
After breakfast, Erik and I sat out in the sunshine and talked about type, design education, the superiority of Europe’s public transport systems (sorry, Americans), and how there are far too many cool things happening to keep track of. I think I spent most of the morning laughing — somehow I always forget how laugh-out-loud funny Erik is.
Then I got a cab to SFO. Unfortunately, I arrived ridiculously early. San Francisco is the only city I’ve ever visited where the airport is actually close to the city itself (about twenty minutes’ ride from downtown), so, tip: don’t worry too much about leaving too much time; stay a little longer in the city with friends and enjoy that coffee and sunshine.
Sunday 27th January
I’m now back home in Somerset, where the snow has now melted. I’ve missed my wife and my dog like crazy, so being back with them couldn’t have come sooner, but I had a fantastic week in San Francisco, and I hope to be back very soon!
]]>Elliot Jay StocksStudio diary 2013: part 1http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/studio-diary-2013-part-1/2013-01-10T12:53:25+00:002013-01-09T17:00:00+00:00Over the Christmas holidays and a number of days in December, I was lucky enough to dedicate some time to my seldom-served hobby of music-making. I’ve been threatening to make some new music for a while now, so it seems only fitting that my first post of 2013 should be the first part in documenting the creation of that music.]]>
Over the Christmas holidays and a number of days in December, I was lucky enough to dedicate some time to my seldom-served hobby of music-making. I’ve been threatening to make some new music for a while now, so it seems only fitting that my first post of 2013 should be the first part in documenting the creation of that music.
I feel more excited and energised by music-making now than I have in years, and I think there are two very specific reasons for that:
The first is that I’ve stopped trying to create something that’s ‘complete’. I’m composing, recording, mixing, and re-mixing as I go, letting unexpected outcomes shape the music rather than fit the tracks to any specific ideas I have in my mind. Everything is about experimentation and each new render of a song sounds totally different from the last. It’s completely different to the way I approach design, and has allowed me to create a number of solid ideas within a relatively small time frame.
The second reason is that I’ve abandoned the ‘Sourhaze’ moniker I’ve used for music-making for the last eleven years, freeing myself of all the baggage that came with it; specifically the really old guitar-heavy albums on which I attempted to (cough) sing. The music I’m making now couldn’t be more different and is — hopefully — much better. The new music does have some stuff in common with the last Sourhaze EP I put out (for which you can now once again pay what you want, by the way), but I still see this as a separate beast. (I’ll go into the new moniker, ‘Skull Tubes’, at a later date.)
As well as the overall enjoyment, I’m happy to say that the last few weeks have been very, very productive. I have a bunch of new songs; some in their very early stages, some surprisingly near completion. My plan for the weekend is to gather them all together and work out which ones need my immediate attention, with the aim of finishing three to go onto the first EP. So far it looks like I’m going to stick with the plan to release a new EP every two months, with a properly mastered album at the end of the year.
I’m going to be compiling a couple of medleys soon, too, to give you all a taster of the various tracks I’m working on. After all, how I can I ask people to subscribe if they have no idea where things are heading? Until then, though, here’s a little teaser: a rough mix of a new song called ‘Not A Place To Forget’. If you don’t see the player below, you can listen directly on Soundcloud.
I hope you like what you hear! It’s a rough mix for sure, although this is one of the tracks that’s a little closer to completion than the others, so I don’t foresee any major changes apart from a tighter mix.
Looking forward to sharing lots more music with you in the coming weeks and months!
]]>Elliot Jay Stocks2012 in reviewhttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/2012-in-review/2012-12-31T18:05:32+00:002012-12-31T17:00:00+00:00With just a few hours left before we see in the new year, I thought it was about time I wrote my annual review of the year that has been.
All in all, I think 2012 has been one my favourite years, and I can say with absolute certainty that on Friday 31st August, I had the happiest day of my life, when I married Sam. People always say their wedding days are the happiest of their lives and I cynically thought this was just a cliché, but actually it really did turn out that way! It wasn’t just the act of getting married — it was that we got to share the occasion with (most of) our closest friends and family.
With just a few hours left before we see in the new year, I thought it was about time I wrote my annual review of the year that has been.
All in all, I think 2012 has been one my favourite years, and I can say with absolute certainty that on Friday 31st August, I had the happiest day of my life, when I married Sam. People always say their wedding days are the happiest of their lives and I cynically thought this was just a cliché, but actually it really did turn out that way! It wasn’t just the act of getting married — it was that we got to share the occasion with (most of) our closest friends and family.
Our wedding photos were taken by the fantastic Julia West.
Sam and I had a lot of fun designing our wedding stationery, from the invites to the menus, from the website to the thank you cards. I’m planning to do a blog post covering each stage in the process, but for now here’s a photo of our letterpressed invites, which were expertly printed by Blush Publishing:
1000mic card, letterpressed on both sides with two colour plates. Photo by Blush Publishing.
Oh, and before the wedding, I had the pleasure of travelling to Munich with my best friends in the world for my stag-do, which — thanks to the fine chaps involved — even had its own branding, complete with temporary tattoos. Long live the memories of #münchenstock!
After the wedding, Sam and I briefly returned to work, and Keir and I finally released the project we’d been working on for most of the year: the 256-page beast known as Insites: The Book! It felt incredible to get it out into the world and the reaction (as far as I’m aware) had been 100% positive. We suffered quite a few set-backs, so when the photos started to roll in from customers who found the book on their doormats, it was a big day for us. We also held a launch party in London for friends, colleagues, and contributors, which gave us the opportunity to celebrate the conclusion of a project that we’d begun almost a year beforehand.
One of the wonderful press photos taken for us by Marc Thiele.
After the book’s release, Sam and I headed off to The States for our honeymoon. We hired a car and spent two weeks driving around New England. We covered a lot of ground — New York > Boston > Salem (Gulu Gulu have an incredible selection of American and Belgian beers!) > Stowe (possibly the highlight of our trip and home to the Alchemist Brewery) > The White Mountains > Lake Winnepesauke (where I spent my 31st birthday, just down the road from the setting of On Golden Pond, which is a film as old as me) > Bar Harbor > Portland (the other one) — and had a fantastic time, fuelled by some amazing American craft beer. Unfortunately, we brought Old England’s weather with us.
On top of Mount Major, overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee on my 31st birthday.
We returned home to a flood warning — that’ll teach us for buying a house right next to a river — and then had several more in the weeks that followed, right up to a couple of days ago. Fortunately, we only got a tiny amount of water in our house on one evening and it was absorbed by the towels we had down. Other parts of Somerset got it a lot worse.
With all the wedding planning, honeymooning, near-flooding, and book-releasing, I unfortunately had to delay issue #6 of 8 Faces. Rather than coming out in the usual pre-Christmas slot, I’ve put it back to early February.
Apart from all that, I feel like I’ve learned a few important personal and professional lessons in 2012:
Despite giving up client work at the beginning of the year, I realised that I actually quite missed it by the end of the year, so I’ve recently started taking on selected client projects again. I think the key is having a healthy balance between self-initiated products and client work, and being picky about which ones you take on.
Learning to delegate and share tasks amongst others has allowed me to get projects out the door and take a healthy step back from the process. Most importantly, it’s bought me time to focus on other things and time, I’ve finally realised, is our most valuable commodity. That also ties into my next point:
These days, I find myself less interested in the day-to-day minutiae of design (make this box wider, add a border here) and instead more concerned with the bigger-picture, more conceptual idea of the role that design plays. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped getting my hands dirty with CSS and what not — far from it — but my interests have shifted.
The concept of publishing — as broad an umbrella term as that may be — is now very much where my interests lie and I have a few projects in the works that continue and expand upon the publishing experiments I’ve been involved with so far. The forthcoming client work I’m doing also relates directly to this field.
I’m lucky enough to have some wonderful friends. Seriously, some of the best specimens that humankind has to offer. Thank you — you know who you are.
The year ahead
I’m not going to set any specific goals for 2013. There are too many potential ‘ifs’ in the air right now in terms of projects that will have big impacts on time if they happen. But I’m confident that I’ll be able to follow-through with my plan for releasing new music throughout the year, release the sixth, seventh, and eighth issues of 8 Faces, get in a decent amount of travelling (I’ve announced three speaking gigs so far, but there are many more lined up), continue work on the novel I began the other day after planning it in my head for the best part of the year, and release my first iOS app. The latter is in development as we speak (thanks for working during the holidays, Shane!), so you can expect to see that pretty soon.
Thanks so much for your support over the year, folks. It would mean nothing if no-one bought my products, came to see me speak, or replied to my ramblings on here and Twitter. Saying ‘thank you’ can often sound shallow, but — honestly — I appreciate it more than you know.
I wish you all a very happy, healthy, and creative 2013!
]]>Elliot Jay StocksThirty-threehttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/thirty-three/2012-12-24T10:54:16+00:002012-12-18T11:00:00+00:00Do you ever hear a song that takes you back to a particular moment in time? Opening notes or chords so deeply ingrained in your subconscious that you can almost ‘become’ a past version of yourself in an instant? I can think of a few songs that have that effect on me and most are seasonal. This time of year, December specifically, there’s a song that’s been playing in my head since I was fifteen. That song is ‘Thirty-Three’ by The Smashing Pumpkins (Spotify / Rdio / YouTube).]]>
Do you ever hear a song that takes you back to a particular moment in time? Opening notes or chords so deeply ingrained in your subconscious that you can almost ‘become’ a past version of yourself in an instant? I can think of a few songs that have that effect on me and most are seasonal. This time of year, December specifically, there’s a song that’s been playing in my head since I was fifteen. That song is ‘Thirty-Three’ by The Smashing Pumpkins (Spotify / Rdio / YouTube).
So I’m 15 again. Christmas 1996 is approaching. On my Christmas list is ‘Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness’, the Pumpkins’ epic landmark two-disc album. ‘Thirty-Three’ is a song on disc two, but at this point I’ve yet to hear it — I have to wait until Christmas Day for that. But here I am on a cold Saturday morning, thumbing through CDs in a small independent (and ultimately doomed) record store in my hometown of Orpington, Kent, about to hear the song for the first time. In the ‘singles’ section, ‘Thirty-Three’ is a new release. There are two versions available, each with different b-sides. I buy the version that includes ‘The Last Song’ — an absolutely beautiful track that features a guitar solo from Billy Corgan’s father — ‘The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)’, and ‘Transformer’.
Of the days that followed that purchase, I have no specific memory. I assume I played the single a lot — especially the first two songs — in the run-up to Christmas, and I know that I did indeed receive the full album on Christmas Day. But the specifics are irrelevant: the residual feeling is what mattered (to me, at least).
At that time in my life, I’d recently broken up with my first girlfriend and, being a rather emotional and — let’s face it — somewhat pathetic fifteen year-old (long before the term ‘emo’ was coined, of course), life was filled with a sense of bittersweet melancholy, fueled by the discovery of music that remains poignant to this day. Life also had an air of innocence: I lived at home with my parents, I was mid-way through high school, and I’d yet to start my first job. The web had just started to turn into ‘a thing’, but I wasn’t aware of it.
This little bout of reminiscing has no point. There’s no deeper meaning hidden behind the story of me buying ‘Thirty-Three’ just over half my life ago. The number is not even relevant to my age (I won’t be thirty-three for another couple of years yet). It’s simply that I’ve been asked to provide a thought for December, and this is what’s in my head. ‘Thirty-Three’ is playing on perpetual internal repeat because it’s cold and it’s December and Christmas is approaching. And all of those factors combined offer me a gateway back to 1996.
That’s been the case every year since I first heard that song. I wonder if that’ll always be the case?
]]>Elliot Jay StocksQuatrohttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/quatro/2012-12-24T11:00:49+00:002012-12-13T09:00:00+00:00I’ve had a very personal relationship with Quatro (Sans / Slab) for a number of years now. I loved its first incarnation — the Ultra weight of the Sans — and when I came to do the branding for Brooklyn Beta, I was able to use the then-beta (see what I did there) version of Quatro Slab, thanks to the generosity of designer Mark Caneso. Over the years, Mark and I have become friends, and in that space of time he’s expanded both the Sans and Slab from Ultras to full, multi-weight families.]]>
I’ve had a very personal relationship with Quatro (Sans / Slab) for a number of years now. I loved its first incarnation — the Ultra weight of the Sans — and when I came to do the branding for Brooklyn Beta, I was able to use the then-beta (see what I did there) version of Quatro Slab, thanks to the generosity of designer Mark Caneso. Over the years, Mark and I have become friends, and in that space of time he’s expanded both the Sans and Slab from Ultras to full, multi-weight families.
So when I designed Insites: The Book, I had the chance to work with one of my favourite typefaces on a much larger scale, setting the body type and pull quotes in the Regular weight of Quatro Slab and everything else in various weights of the Sans. It made a lot of sense, since I’d already used the Ultra Sans for the Insites logo when we did the tour, and it also meant I could use yet another beta version, as — at the time — Mark was putting the finishing touches to the full Sans family.
Anyway, if you love Quatro as much as I do, you might be interested to know that we’ve teamed up with Mark to offer a special promotion:
The first 2 people to purchase the Quatro family between now and 23rd December will receive a free copy of Insites: The Book — both the physical boxed edition and the digital bundle;
]]>Elliot Jay StocksA new model for the musician-to-listener relationshiphttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/a-new-model-for-the-musician-to-listener-relationship/2012-11-28T17:04:46+00:002012-11-28T17:00:00+00:00The other week, I wrote about my interests in personal music collections in the era of the cloud; a subject I approach from the perspective of hobbyist musician, former major record label employee, and web person with a vested interest in the changing face of publishing. Today, I’d like to gather some further thoughts on music, but this time exclusively from the viewpoint of the musician.
Perhaps this is because I’ve seen so much recently about how little artists are getting paid by the likes of Spotify and Rdio; perhaps it’s because I’ve just read Rolling Stone’s ‘Survival of the Fittest in the New Music Industry’; perhaps it’s simply (selfishly?) because I’m trying to take off most of December to work on some new music of my own.
Whatever the reason, I think we — that is, creators and publishers with a niche audience — are in a unique and fortunate position to experiment with new models. I discovered this when I started publishing 8 Faces magazine, I refined it a little when we published Insites: The Book (with its physical and digital formats), and now I want to rock the boat with music.
]]>
This post was originally published on Medium. I’ll be writing about my experience of publishing on this new platform soon.
The other week, I wrote about my interests in personal music collections in the era of the cloud; a subject I approach from the perspective of hobbyist musician, former major record label employee, and web person with a vested interest in the changing face of publishing. Today, I’d like to gather some further thoughts on music, but this time exclusively from the viewpoint of the musician.
Perhaps this is because I’ve seen so much recently about how little artists are getting paid by the likes of Spotify and Rdio; perhaps it’s because I’ve just read Rolling Stone’s ‘Survival of the Fittest in the New Music Industry’; perhaps it’s simply (selfishly?) because I’m trying to take off most of December to work on some new music of my own.
Whatever the reason, I think we — that is, creators and publishers with a niche audience — are in a unique and fortunate position to experiment with new models. I discovered this when I started publishing 8 Faces magazine, I refined it a little when we published Insites: The Book (with its physical and digital formats), and now I want to rock the boat with music.
So, this is a manifesto of sorts; a framework for an experiment I’m going to start in the new year.
It’s much more difficult for someone to intuit the breadth of a digital magazine containing twenty articles than a digital magazine containing, for example, five.
Craig is talking about magazines here, but actually I think this can be extended to all forms of digital publishing, and it sparked off a very specific thought in my mind: that the enjoyment of consuming digital media is increased when we only have a small amount to consume. I’m not referring to the ease of digesting messages in 140 characters; I’m describing the pleasure that comes with being able to savour something. A magazine with fifty articles is far more daunting to me than a magazine with just ten articles. I can consume ten. I get digest that small amount. But faced with a greater number — regardless of the quality of each piece of content — I’m far less likely to enjoy and appreciate each one.
And this is absolutely the case with music. Once again, I’m going to quote Rob Weychert:
Subscribing to Rdio is a different kind of investment. Rather than investing in one album, I’ve invested in all the albums, which is the same as investing in none of them.
So, musicians, I suggest this: release small and often. Put out a track — or small collections of tracks like EPs — on a regular basis. Seed them directly to your fans. Release sketches and demos and rough mixes and experiments. We no longer need to toil away for months or years at a time crafting a ‘finished’ album, because digital media — by its very nature — has destroyed the hitherto-held understanding of what ‘finished’ really is. We don’t need glass masters. We don’t need to go to press. The music industry is in such dire straits because of the same ‘skeuomorphic business models’ that Craig Mod blames for the magazine industry’s decline:
Skeuomorphism is traditionally attached to design decisions. We bring the mechanical camera shutter sound to digital cameras because it feels good. We render paper page flips in our digital reading applications because it’s familiar. But skeuomorphism also cuts into business models. Business skeuomorphism happens when we take business decisions explicitly tied to one medium, and bring them to another medium — no questions asked.
As a maker and publisher of any form of content that can be consumed — but most importantly distributed — digitally, freeing oneself of the business models inherited (by default) from the physical world is perhaps the most liberating step one might take.
Of course, this is nothing new. It’s been several years now since Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails (and many more acts in their wake) began to distribute music directly to fans, and allowed each buyer to decide how much they’d like to pay — including an option, for at least some versions, to pay nothing at all. I even experimented with this model myself, allowing customers to pay what they wanted for my last EP, with a minimum price of £1. I was astounded by the results: well over half of my customers chose to pay more than £1, with about 25% opting for £5 or £10.
However, despite its success, this model is still tied to the concept of ‘the big release’. What if listeners, rather than buying individual albums or EPs or singles, could instead subscribe to an artist’s entire musical output for a fixed period of time?
Release via subscription
This is not my idea. My old friends Francis and Dan of Idea Junction are working on just this: a service called Fanatomy that directly connects the musician and listener by allowing the fan to subscribe to the artist. This, I feel, could radically change the music industry for the better, providing the listener with real value and genuine connectivity, and the artist with funds to do what they do best. Much like backing a project on Kickstarter provides the maker with the financial means to success and sends a philanthropic message from the supporter — ‘hey, I believe in what you’re doing and want to help you get it in my hands’ — the subscription model proposed by Fanatomy offers huge benefits for both parties.
Right now Fanatomy is in private alpha and there’s not really much else I can reveal about it at this stage, except to say that I strongly believe in what they’re doing and that it’s influenced me to experiment with…
… my own take on the subscription model
I mentioned Kickstarter and the philanthropic power it gives buyers, elevating them from customers to investors. What if, like Kickstarter, you could reward early supporters, but use a subscription-based model? This is what I’m attempting to do with my forthcoming new music; this is the new model I’m proposing:
At the beginning of the year, the listener gets the option to ‘subscribe’ to a year’s worth of musical output for a very low price.
Approximately every two months, they get new music (probably three- or four-track EPs) delivered to their inbox.
At the end of the year, the best tracks are remixed, professionally mastered, and released as an album on vinyl.
During that year, new listeners can subscribe at any point and get access to all the EPs and the final album, but the price increases every month.
What this means is that everyone gets the same product — and that product is actually a series of regular digital releases and one physical release — but the earliest supporters get the reward of having to pay very little.
I’ve created a diagram to illustrate this model, which, if you can’t see it above, I’ve archived on Flickr.
Does this make business sense? Possibly not, if the price increases scare off potential new supporters. But if I can get enough low-paying supporters to fund the bulk of the work, it shouldn’t matter. Plus, even the higher-tier prices would never be prohibitive. I haven’t decided on them yet, but the absolute highest price (i.e: the cost of the subscription if the customer joins at the end of the year) will certainly be no more than the standard cost of a vinyl-plus-download package.
Putting my money where my mouth is
I’m not saying that my proposed model for this new musician-to-listener relationship will work. In fact, it could fail quite spectacularly! Also, I doubt it could even scale beyond small-time musicians like myself. But operating as a lone agent does at least afford me the freedom to experiment, and experiment I will. Blogging about it also means that I’m open to input, so if you see a flaw in the plan or have some ideas on how to improve it, please leave a comment — seriously, I’m all ears.
Watch this space. If you’re interested, you’ll be able to subscribe — using a refined version of the model outlined above — in January.
]]>Elliot Jay StocksHammerhttp://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/hammer/2012-11-22T10:30:18+00:002012-11-22T10:00:00+00:00Last week my friends at Riot released Hammer, an OS X app I’ve had the pleasure of beta-testing for the last fortnight or so. I’m spreading the word about the app’s release because I think it’s bloody brilliant and it’s massively sped-up my local dev work on my current project.]]>
Last week my friends at Riot released Hammer, an OS X app I’ve had the pleasure of beta-testing for the last fortnight or so. I’m spreading the word about the app’s release because I think it’s bloody brilliant and it’s massively sped-up my local dev work on my current project.
Hammer, in a nutshell, is a compiler that runs whilst you build sites locally, allowing you to do a whole load of dynamic-ish stuff with static files: includes, variables, ‘current’ classnames for navigation links, intelligent asset paths, auto-reloading, SASS compiling, published links for client-viewing… it’s great. For a more thorough overview with screenshots and code samples, be sure to check out Design Shack’s review.
A few people have missed the point of what Hammer is actually intended for, so if you feel like flaming, I’d advise you to read Andy’s blog post on the subject first. I’m in exactly the same camp as Andy: I’m a designer who designs in the browser with markup and CSS, but I sure as hell don’t want to deal with the command line for simple tasks. Plus, with MAMP often refusing to start Apache on my machines, I welcome an alternative. And I must admit, although I love Codekit for SASS and JS compiling (and auto-reloading), I no longer need it now that I’m running Hammer.
Let’s also be clear that Hammer doesn’t replace a dynamic environment; it’s for early-stage local development before you move into a database-integrated CMS of your choice. Go on, check it out.
