Almost every novel I read makes me want to write, just as most cookbooks make me want to cook and many photography books inspire me to take photos. I have yet to come across any inspiring books on web design, though, and I suspect it's because web designers don't do as much pure design as the title implies. In other words, perhaps web design has failed to become an artistic medium and simply lacks the material to make an inspiring book.

So I wonder if web designers could become better designers if they emulated the Architect's system of getting an engineer's opinion only after his or her imagination has been inked on paper. That is, perhaps we should free ourselves from writing html and css as a profession. Such a strategy might have a better chance at reproducing the radical genius of Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry, if only because web designers could stop handicapping themselves with their fascination with code and the limitations code implies.

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Khoi wrote recently about a topic that I'm still surprised people debate, whether designers -- interface or otherwise -- are also marketers, salesmen, etc. In my mind the contrast between the Bank of America and Commerce Bank illustrates perfectly just how deeply designers are involved in marketing:

Regardless of which website is better in terms of design, aesthetics, ease of use, user experience, etc., each one is marketing in it's own way, unavoidably. I'll let you take a stab at who each website is marketing to, and how each website tells the story of their respective companies. Also, what kind of a bank markets to kids on it's homepage? "Hey Kids!"

I read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius over the last few weeks and for whatever reason it got me thinking about my dad, circa my wide-eyed eight year old image of him. More specifically I'm thinking of the year or so when my older brother and I lived with him in Sawyer's Bar, California (we knew it then as the most isolated town in California, and a former miner outpost; later as a hideout for some of the state's largest cocain distributors). He was a firefighter for the National Forest Service then, a strong, bearded, outgoing 32 year old father of three. He'd often head out to fight fires for weeks in the summer, sometimes with only enough notice to scribble us a note in the wee hours of the morning so we'd know where he would be when we woke up and got ourselves to school. He'd return after a few days or a few weeks with a longer beard, a scruffy yellow suit that looked like it weighed a hundred pounds and he'd grab one of us up with one arm while he carried his ax and chainsaw into the house with the other. Or something like that. All I remember from that year are his manly feats, stuff worthy of idolatry by any 8 year old boy, let alone a shy son. I remember, too, the hearty laugh and understanding smile he gave me when, for example, I flew wildly off the back of my horse trying to follow him, scared witless, up an impossible mountain.

But honestly, I never fit the part. The cowboy hat that my mom gave me so I could look like him made me look goofy (luckily he stopped wearing cowboy hats shortly thereafter). I didn't feel comfortable on the back of horse until I was 16. I still can't sail single-handidly, not if my life depended on it. Despite the jealousy I harbored for my dad's adventurous nature I wasn't really interested in anything except books and chess, briefly, until computers and the internet came along. When I travel I sometimes worry. I have no idea why we were living in Sawyer's Bar, without electricity, except that it allowed him to fight fires (rest assured it had nothing to do with the cocain). But when I think about the texture of the fried cheese my dad would sometimes make as we woke up those winter mornings I can't help think that if it wasn't for my dad's adventurous personality I wouldn't be here, in Brooklyn, thousands of miles from him, running a little web company (if you could call it that). The fact is that whenever I do anything that requires a bit of courage I have to think about my dad and what he would do [it!]. And I kick myself for not being more like him and having to think about it. Girls? I'm helpless. My dad? I don't know how he does it (though luckily, again, those times are long gone).

The other weird thing (haha) is that my dad would tell us about the adventures he wanted to go on, or was planning, or went on, and they all sort of became unspoken aspirations of mine. I think of sailing around the world pretty often. Or at least to Hawaii. I consider the fate of Donald Crowhurst with a moment of silence (not really). I often think that I should be riding across the country on a horse, or getting married in Mexico and starting a coffee farm, but I don't know why, exactly. Clearly I'm still baffled by a lot of what my dad did and does, but I'm glad to have his dreams floating around in my head, pushing me ever so slightly to do new things or at least reflect upon the character my dad has developed through his many adventures; cheerful, funny, thoughtful, self-reliant, etc etc.

I've been in Brooklyn for a year and a few days now and I'm reminded that I should get to know my dad better. Maybe I'll get a better hold of myself and all these crazy dreams of mine in the process. Oh, and I have no idea what's wrong with my brothers, they turned out fine.

p.s. sorry if you've been getting random updates via RSS, I've had to mess with some things during this most recent redesign.

Over the past month Rumplo has been written about in some great publications, including a writeup on Khoi Vinh's Subtraction, the UK Guardian Observer, the Swiss paper Sonntags Zeitung, Woman's Health Magazine's list of the top 100 websites, a few more times over at the wonderful Swiss Miss blog, and elsewhere. It really makes me happy to see people enjoying Rumplo for so many different reasons :D

I'm wrapping up the design end of our next app, which should launch sometime in July. Links and details coming your way very soon.

Update August?

Rumplo launched early last week. Whew. It took a bit longer than we expected to launch, but it's finally here. I'm also happy to report that we were picked up by Josh Spear, SwissMiss, Thrillist, and Uncrate. Woo Hoo! If you get a chance to check Rumplo out be sure to let me know what you think.

I finally got iMovie to export this short video I made in July, so here you have it, a few highlights from my trip. There’s a few notes about the trip below, too, enjoy!

Portland was by far the highlight of the trip, aside from seen friends and family in California. I didn’t actually see much of the city in the few days I was there, but the people I met were kind, charming, interesting and intelligent—the kind of people you’d like to have as neighbors. And the parts of the city I did see, the downtown coffee houses and hip shops, the sprawling farmer’s market on the University Campus, and the mountaintop views were all equally charming. I did start drinking coffee while I was there (considering my company it would have been nearly impossible not to), mostly from the “third wave” coffeehouses like Stumptown et al. It was good, but in the end I had to give up on the long hours of productive work it induced in me in favor of a clear head free of headaches. If I had to leave New York for another American town it would be Portland.

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