In the meantime I have been making headway in a couple regards. See below:

1. A site redesign. Ideas are on paper, doodles in Photoshop, and now all that remains is a large chunk of free-time. Easy. I am excited to get a site up that reflects a little better the things I’ve learned in my first 7 months with the FORGE crew.

2. Talking to some friends about a little design collective / outlet possibly starting up this fall. I (and many of my friends) love to goof around and might as well make an official home for it all.

3. Speaking of goofing around, I just finished a print I want to get printed up. It’s a collection of random inside jokes, mustaches, and monocles. Oh and boxing. I made a desktop background for anyone who wants it below. Details about prints are forthcoming!

That is all for now…Cheerio!

Forms are ugly. Really, we’re talking about boxes you put type in with little labels. I used to strive to find ways to make them crazy and cool and unique, then I read a book that totally changed my view of web-forms and hopefully will change yours too. Everyone hop on over to Rosenfeld and get Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski. This book will totally change the way you approach those mundane web-forms also know as sign-ups and checkout processes. Learn to love the form. I know I have.

Here’s a little sneak peek of my upcoming project, A Modern Eden. I’m currently working with the dudes at FORGE and the mighty Chance Graham to unleash some beautiful animal-inspired products for babies, kids, and adults. Prints, apparel, and even an iPhone/iPad app are forthcoming. Follow me on twitter for more details and sneak peeks of the illustration process!

There are 2 problems with this. First, the paper lists pile up pretty fast, and steal valuable real-estate in my (already expensive) moleskins. I would much rather fill that space with sketches and ideas for my illustrations and work. Secondly, the lists are physically inside a book or on a piece of paper. I usually end up leaving it at home when I need it at the office, and at the office when I need it at home. I am forgetful like that; just ask my wife.

To solve both these problems, I have recently been using TeuxDeux, an online to-do list that allows me to simply list my tasks, and access them from work and home and anywhere in between.

The design is beautifully simplistic, which is perfect for someone who doesn’t need a lot of bells or whistles. You can add tasks to a specific day, or to a general list underneath, which allows me to track tasks both immediate and long-term in the same application. Tasks can be dragged from day to day if deadlines or plans change.

When tasks are completed they can be struck-through or deleted off the list completely. I like to just strike-through so I can look back at my list and (hopefully) feel a nice sense of accomplishment.

As an application it may not be as robust as others, but leverages it’s simplicity and price (it’s free) instead. It has definitely helped me take my to-do list addiction digital, and helped me stay on task in the process.

Check out the TeuxDeux site, and be sure to watch the awesome demo video! Or watch the TeuxDeux Demo on Vimeo.

Do you use something else to track tasks? Paper? Web? Feel free to leave your to-do list style in the comments below.

Program Overview

The only bad news about Coda is that it is Mac only. Sorry PC guys. It, like Dreamweaver, has a code editor as well as full ftp integration. You can simply and easily push files to your live server, and preview your code changes in the program itself. It’s perfect for a guy like me who doesn’t like to work locally and push things live, but work on my live server in its production environment.

Why Coda?

Like most web designers I learned to code HTML and CSS using Adobe Dreamweaver (I actually started off way back in the day with Adobe GoLive *ouch*). After using it for years I was underwhelmed by its complicated layout, usability and poorly integrated FTP/file manager. These problems don’t exist in Coda.

The layout is simple and intuitive, making it easy to find your way around from the very first usage. The site management is simple as well. Click the “add site” button, enter your local and remote site information and it’s off to the races. As a bonus Coda uses your site nickname as well as a generated preview thumbnail to let you easily and quickly move between your different domains or projects. These are the type of extras that really impress someone who is looking for something usable and beautiful at the same time.

File management is also intuitive and easy in Coda. Files can be edited in the right section of the program and then saved at will. The program keeps tracks of edited files that have yet to be uploaded, which makes it a breeze to get the files uploaded without browsing through your entire site structure. You can upload file by file, or use the programs batch of edited files. FTP transfers go quickly as well.

Coda has many other features that make it a great program, including the use of Books, which can append the program’s code-language library. If you have a Mac and are unsatisfied with your coding program give Coda a try. I know I’m happy I did.

For more information check out the Coda site!

I know that this is not the end all be all program, so if you like something better or have a suggestion feel free to leave a comment below!