Cullmann Design Blog

Content network 5by5 is producing a new podcast featuring Mule Design’s, Mike Monteiro and Katie Gillum. The podcast is targeted at designers and people in the creative field, but unlike most content of it’s genre, it’s perspective is focused on the business of design. 

The show, Let’s Make Mistakes, is focused on converting people in the design business into people in the business of design. Although only 2 episodes into the franchise, it has already articulated that the craft of design-the profession of design-is one of industry and value and not to be sold short of it’s value.

You can listen to episodes in your browser or subscribe via iTunes. If you like the show, also check out Mike Monteiro’s Creative Mornings Speech, F**k You. Pay Me.

Famous for coffee and a saturating retail presence, Starbucks Coffee Company released a new service this week that will change retail exchanges from this point forward. The new offering, Starbucks Card Mobile, provides BlackBerry and iPhone users the ability to pay for purchases at over 6,800 retail stores using their smartphone.

The application acts as a gift card and is required to be attached to either a pre-paid Starbucks gift card or a credit card. When prompted, the user simply clicks a payment prompt in the application and presents the rendered bar code for scanning. A very simple and smart solution.

So why all of the fuss? Because the US has been lagging behind in the adoption of mobile payments and micro-payments. Both Asia and Northern Europe have been making use of this technology since the mid-2000’s for the purchase of municipal services (buses, trains, parking), books, magazines, cigarettes and fast-food. Imagine swiping your mobile phone over the parking meter while on an errand or using your phone as a replacement for your MetroCard?

Beyond the frivolity of the Starbucks applications (which is actually quite handy), this is an excellent case study for the American public to begin a relationship with mobile payments. The audience is right-people who tend to be oriented towards new and somewhat trendy things-and the pace of a coffee shop is just right to work the kinks out of scanning and the somewhat pavlovian response of standing a retail register with your wallet out. The sales of smart phones are projected to overtake feature phones this year. All of these devices can act as envoys for those documents that we never seem to have convenient: club cards, membership programs, spare keys. The devices that we are never without are the ideal housing for these pieces of our lives.

The adoption of mobile devices as a currency will likely be slow. There is little need for the replacement of our current system, but rather as a supplement to help us avoid some of the less convenient aspects of our monetary system. For all of those small-payments that require coins that we seldom have enough of and the situations that need a fast transaction, your phone will be the E-ZPass of your pedestrian life.

There are pitfalls to be aware of: viruses, security, loss of your devices that has so much personal and financial information, but like the widespread use of credit cards, these will all become a manageable hurdle to overcome for ease-of-use.

If you like coffee and have one of these devices, give it a try and see how future commerce feels.

2011 is going to be the year for typography in web design. With the rise of CCS3 and several fantastic font-embedding solutions, web designers and developers have a complete type palette without using images or unreliable font-substitutions.

To act as inspiration and as a model for how simple typography can be employed as an expressive element, I turned to the classic Blue Note Album covers from the mid 50’s. The designs use simple geometry and beautiful typefaces to create striking and icon designs.

The original designs, created by Reid Miles designer for Esquire Magazine, were a combination of Miles’ Bauhaus aesthetic and Francis Wolff’s photography. The covers are representative of a mood and a feeling that visually defines Jazz music. The use of high-contrast 2 color designs and modern typefaces feel as bold and sharp as the tracks themselves.

If you are not familiar with the Blue Note Designs, take a moment to see some of the more classic designs or pick up an album for the experience in it’s entirety.