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Kisai Stencil LCD watch keeps it vague, outlines the time (video)
The Kisai Stencil is the latest fan-submitted design to make it through to Tokyo Flash's online shelves. It brandishes the same always-on LCD display of its stablemates, with the time displayed through a combination of lines and dots, with the digits taking up the full width of the watch's display. The Stencil arrives in five different display colors, alongside both white or black leather strap options and arrives on Tokyo Flash's trademark early-bird discount; buy in the first 48 hours and you'll net a $40 discount, dropping the price down to $99. Obtuse timepiece fans can take a closer look in a video right after the break.
Mega-super TUAW shootout of the iPhone UI sketchbooks
Part of my work requires me to mock up iPhone apps, often to show developers how I would redesign a user interface to work better than something they've come up with. Over the past few months, a number of paper sketchbooks have appeared on the market, all designed expressly for this purpose. I decided to try out all of the sketchbooks that I could find in a cursory Google search, just to see which one would work best for me. Of course, that meant that I had to write a review!The three products I discovered and tested were App Sketchbook (US$16.99), iPhone Application Sketch Book (US$14.99), and The Developer Sketchbook for iPhone Apps (US$19.99). All of them are designed for the same reason, to let iPhone devs or business analysts describe how they want an application's user interface to look. Follow along as I take a look at these three sketchbooks, as well as a metal stencil template for drawing UI elements.
Sketch an iPhone app UI with a special stencil
This is really neat. The folks at Design Commission have produced a stencil to assist with the iPhone/iPod touch UI prototyping, brainstorming sessions, flows, interaction techniques, etc. that you'll do before you begin coding.Of course, it includes all the standard iconography and buttons. Doesn't it make you want to just break out a fresh sheet of paper and set to work? If you want one, act fast, as they've only produced 100. Each kit ($16.95US) comes with the stencil and a Zebra mechanical pencil. A matching letter-sized template can be downloaded from the website as a PDF.Now go and make the next killer app!
Flickr Find: iPaint myMac
Satta van Daal is a talented stencil artist from Germany, now living in Australia. His canvas? A vast array of old Macs: from SEs to LCs to PowerBook 100s. He decorates them with everything from vignettes of Steve and Woz to carefully recreating the look of Susan Kare's original one-bit Mac icon set. If you live in southeast Australia, and have an old Mac you're willing to let go of, he might turn it into his next work of art. He plans on showing his art in an expo titled iPaint MyMac later this year in Melbourne, and hopefully Sydney soon after. You may like his t-shirts, too. [Via Team Teabag.]
Super Mario street art
Some Mario street art showed up in Miami, made by artist BilliKid. We have to say, this art is perfect for its South Beach location. The bright, bold colors just scream Miami, as far as we're concerned, and the stenciling looks excellent. BilliKid's art will be heading to Switzerland next, to be put in a gallery at Vantard from April 26th to May 26th with other famous street artists's works.Did any of you Miamians happen to see this stencil sitting in front of the Victor Hotel? (Check out the picture after the break to see it in context.)
Painted and sprinkled with fairy dust
We were galled to hear that Tinker Bell isn't technically a noblewoman, excluding the Peter Pan pixie from taking part in Disney's Princess Games, but it looks like she'll be making an appearance on the Wii anyway, despite her common fairy blood. AcidMods administrator CyberPyrot stenciled Tink's outline onto his console and coated its shell with flip flop paint to add a touch of fay magic. Depending on what angle you're viewing it from, the casing's color can appear as blue, green, or purple.There was an anxious moment, however, when a saboteur made a poisonous attempt to ruin the artwork. CyperPyrot held Tinker Bell's fading light in his trembling hands and turned to the audience, begging them to clap and yell out, "I do believe in fairies!" The viewers chanted the phrase over and over again, and wouldn't you know it, Tinker Bell was revived and cured! Think happy thoughts and take flight past the post break for more photos of the side panel project in-progress.
Graffletopia
OmniGraffle is fantastic. Its useful, shiny, and it allows me to show people what my thoughts look like visually, even if it scares them a bit. Perhaps one of the most useful applications of OmniGraffle is for plotting out infrastructure of some kind; network maps; flow charts; company hierarchies. The only issue with OmniGraffle out of the box is that it comes with a fairly paltry selection of symbols and shapes to use when creating your masterpiece. Is that purple square the Executive VP of Finance, or is it the refrigerator in the break room? Lucky for those of us too lazy to go looking for images on our own, Patrick Crowley of iCalShare has setup Graffletopia, as site dedicated to OmniGraffle stencils. (A stencil is a collection of reusable images or symbols.) Some of the stencils available are amazingly well done, and include such specific categories as Cisco network switches and Sun server hardware. All stencils are provided free of charge, and users are encouraged to submit their own.
