When Rachel Beausoleil started working on her latest album, she approached me about designing the artwork. We sat down and threw around some ideas before she even started recording, but didn’t come up with anything solid because I didn’t have a sound to go on. All I knew was that it was a medley of songs, not like her last album where the songs followed a theme.

One day I came home to find a recording of the album in my mailbox, yet to be mastered. She named the album after the eponymous track, The Dawning, which is a jazz arrangement of the famous song Aquarius, a personal anthem of hers.

She gave me her notes soon after, so I put on the album and gave it a good listen, feeling a certain clarity from her sound. It made me think about dawn, and space, and sunrises, and hot colours, so I incorporated those elements when laying out the text, as well as some bokeh to give an off-focus glimmer.

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It started with this tweet by Jay Hori. I was all like, “What? What blog design book?”.

Jay told me the name, so I found a copy of “クリエーターのための3行レシピ ブログデザイン” through HMV Japan, and they shipped it to me.

I flipped through the book and noticed that some of my web design idols were in there, like Dan Cederholm of SimpleBits and Shaun Inman¹. I wonder if Dan or Shaun know they’re in this book. That’s right, I’m on a first name basis with them. We hang.

When I got to recipe 57 (they label all their design tricks as “recipes”), I saw a picture of my website. My experiences with therapy were on the front page, along with me saying “Sometimes I come out feeling like a monster, like some horrible, fucked-up person.” I guess they don’t use English copy editors, and my curse-filled words may give English speaking Japanese people the impression that Canadians are psychological monsters.

But aside from my own words, I realized it was the only thing I could understand. I had to ask someone who could read Japanese. Someone who just came back from studies there, and wasn’t allow to speak or write English for a month. Maggie. She sent me this:

Your site is being used to explain “Navigation through simplistic icons”. Or like, simple, low-key, uncomplicated. The right side introduces Wordpress and Moveable Type and talks about their uses of templates and template customization, then introduces your site as doing something (can’t understand the word) with the background in contrast to how you use simple/clean icons as your navigation.

On the left page, under the screenshot of your site it says “Displaying navigation through minimum design. Designated using CSS, the minimum use of files is excellent.” Bad translation. The way you use your files (I’m guessing this refers to the actual number of pages and stuff on your site) is also quite minimum and that is nice.

Cool.

And with the code for my comment bubble right in front of me, I had to wonder about the legal implications. It probably wasn’t legal for them to publish my source code, which is why they didn’t contact any of the owners of the websites to tell them that they were published. I hear the copyright laws are notoriously lax in Japan.

1. Regarding his use of the old flash header that was a wave, inspired by anime. Shaun and I were also featured in the Perishable Press minimalism in web design series. [↑]

I wanted a bolder look this time, since my last pair is much more subtle. Actually, they’re still my current pair, as I wear one or the other, depending on the mood.

They didn’t sit quite correctly on my face (or most Asian faces, the sales rep told me, as we have narrow nose bridges), because they don’t have nose pieces. The frames would be too low for my face and my eyelashes would brush against the lenses, so I had to order some nose pads to add on myself, et voilà. A perfect fit.

Of note is the logo on the arms. This is the first time that I’ve seen the Versace logo like this, but further research indicates that it’s an uncommonly used alternate logo. I thought it was because the regular logo would have lines that are too fine for small representations, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, as I’ve seen it even smaller on watches and bracelets too. Which is just as well, as I wouldn’t care to wear anything with the Medusa’s head on it.

You may have noticed that I’ve adapted my popular version 10 layout into a lifestream¹. I quite enjoy the concept of the lifestream, where you can see a person’s latest activity that’s up-to-date by the minute. A change like this means a bump up to a full sub-version number, 10.3

The key to all of this is my new iPhone 3GS. The technology has roughly caught up to my needs, so I decided to get one this year. Apple tends to announce new iPhone generations every summer, which means I’ve been planning this design update for months now.

So with this fancy new iPhone I can write tweets on-the-go, stay up-to-date on the people I follow, and check my @replies, all with the Tweetie application². I once had my tweets integrated into the blog, but decided not to stick with this because the frequency with which I use twitter meant that the sheer number of tweets was flooding my RSS feed. Then one day, the realization dawned on me to exclude that one category from my feed, et voila! A simple workaround that lets people subscribe to my twitter stream if they so choose.

I can also take pictures with the built-in iPhone camera and e-mail them to Flickr directly from the phone, which will automatically create a Wordpress post and embed the picture in the entry³. And coincidentally enough, the maximum width for images posted to Flickr is 500 pixels, which happens to be exactly how wide the main column of my blog is. It’s like it was meant to be.

So there are two new categories: one for tweets, and one for snaps. Both of them display with CSS styling unique to each category and an icon to denote the type of post. A note on the “snaps” icon; I tried to find something that would represent both a camera and an iPhone, because the iPhone isn’t a pure camera, nor is it just a phone. I decided to use the camera app icon built into the iPhone, which says both. There are no comments allowed on these entries because I don’t care for discussion on such fleeting things. If someone really wanted to comment, they could post a reply through twitter, or a comment through Flickr.

So unlike most other life streams, this blog is not exactly an aggregator of various service feeds because there’s a unique Wordpress blog entry created for every one of my Flickr posts and tweets as well, each one retrieved from within the Wordpress loop. I did this to retain a little independence from services like Flickr or twitter; if I ever chose not to use them anymore, my blog won’t explode into a ball of fire with all the missing entries.

With all of this snazzy integration in place, I can post things quickly and on-the-fly, as long as I have internet access. Which is almost anywhere, now that I have a 3G data plan. Version 10.3 is a reflection of that.

With my ever increasingly busy life, the ability to post snippets of things comes as a welcome change to my regular entries, which often take days to write.

1. If you’re seeing some strange rendering issues, they’ll probably clear up if you refresh the page. [↑]
2. This also helps me avoid text messaging charges, which is how I wrote tweets before, when I was out in the real world with no internet access, though my new data plan has unlimited texts anyway. [↑]
3. In an ideal world, I could send the picture to a Wordpress e-mail address or post it using the iPhone Wordpress application, but the post-by-email option of the former doesn’t allow attachments, and the latter has very crude image uploading options with only one set width available for resizing. [↑]

I’m a visual person. Personally, I’d rather people visit my site instead of adding my feed to an aggregator. It’s a sad fact that the number of subscribers to my feed nearly doubles my daily visitors. The look of my site is a reflection of my current personality and mindset, and even though it hasn’t changed in a while, it’s still relevant. I’ve held off using a feed reader for as a long as possible, because I believe that a site’s look is as important as the information that it conveys.

But my blogroll keeps growing, and I’ve reluctantly turned to using an aggregator to keep track of the sites I read on a daily basis. It’s a lot more efficient, but cold, and boring, and I feel like I’m missing out on something the writer is trying to say.

Web design is a frequent itch for me, as inspiration comes from everywhere. Quite often, I come across a beautiful site that has a clever element here or an interesting pattern there, and get the urge to redesign my own.

But as there’s no such thing as a perfect athlete, there’s no such thing as a perfect design. Minimalism, while functional and accessible, tends to lack personality. Style — while beautiful and full of character — tends to be biased and stagnant. I find myself in a constant state of flux between the two ideals.

Right now, I’d love to have a bigger canvas, something like Days With my Father, where I can display my photos in a much larger format (because, really, the impact of a photograph is lost when it’s small). I’d love to have items organized by columns fit that perfectly in a grid, aligned along natural vertical rules. I’d love to have something a little more complex, something that invites a viewer to explore further.

But I’m happy with this one. It does what I want. It looks right, no matter what day or mood I’m in.

Having a design that matches my situation is important to me, which means they generally don’t last longer than a few months, as I tend to evolve within that time. There have been many times that I’ve written, “This is the last redesign for a while”, only to be unsatisfied in some way and to change it within a few months. I unveiled the current one at the beginning of the year, and it’s probably the one I’ve been most satisfied with. Whenever the itch strikes me, I browse through the archives and admire how clean everything is, and how different types of content seems to work in the same area. Then I realize how hard it would be to come up with something better, and the itch goes away.

So no redesign for a while.

Promise.

After my Perishable Press interview, and having Version 10 featured in a Crestock article titled “13 Minimalist Designs You Really Should See”, this site has seen a surge in design-related traffic. But increased exposure is a double-edged sword. Higher profile sites make you a bigger target for security issues, spam, and design robbery.

Such as the case with eric-akmal.com.

Does this look familiar?

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10.0 is currently being featured at Perishable Press, the first in a series of articles exploring minimalism in modern web design. From the article:

Equivocality’s new minimalist design is very impressive. The site appears clean, bright and refreshing and navigates with natural simplicity. Jeff has eliminated clutter to focus on content, which is strongly unified within the site’s sharp, spacious design. Attentive visitors will revel in the site’s exquisitely restrained details, such as the subtle texture provided by the bleached background grid, or the dynamic interplay between complementary typefaces, Arial and Avenir. Overall, the design’s thematic neutrality and universal approach inspire visitors to relax, focus, and enjoy.

In addition to a detailed site review, Jeff Starr did a mini interview with me. I’ve come across Perishable Press several times through my Wordpress wanderings and it was great to work with someone I’ve always known but never met.

Introducing the tenth version of equivocality.com.

Surgical Style

When approaching 10.0, I knew I wanted a notebook feel, so I used a grid background to give the hint of paper. The idea was minimalism. Single column, no more icons, and super stripped-down meta data.

It’s still based on the good old 480 pixel-wide column, although it’s broken down into a grid with two main columns, which is used for the footer and other varying pages. The dates on the left side are bullets that break out of the grid to help visually separate entries, and for a bit of style. Otherwise, it can be a little boring.

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I’ve officially retired my old notebook, the one I’ve been using since 1999. Starting in my first year of university, it went everywhere with me. Long trips, short trips, camping, in the bath, you name it. I even included it on my list of what I was bringing to Hong Kong. It’s filled with so much randomness: doodles, code, thoughts, quotes, lyrics, bad poetry (my own, of course), lists, ideas. One day, I’ll scan them in and document them.

But alas, it’s full.

As a replacement, I bought a set of three Moleskine Cahiers. They’re thinner and lighter, which is exactly what I’m looking for; it took me over eight years to fill my last one, and I didn’t need something that would last that long.

I do have several pocket size Moleskine notebooks scattered around the house and in various bags for use in situations such as riding the bus, but those are rather difficult to write in unless sitting at a desk due to their small size.

These cahiers are a little different. From the insert:

THE MOLESKINE CAHIERS are journals with heavy-duty cardboard cover, in black and buff with visible stitching on the spine. The last 16 sheets are detachable and there is a wide pocket for loose notes.

The pages have a delightfully smooth feel to them, and absorb ink without bleeding. I’ll be keeping one in my backpack, one in my shoulder bag, and one in my camera bag. I need them now more than ever.

There’s so much to write and so little time.

On a whim, I went to Zone after work. I’ve been in a decorating mood lately. I spent about an hour in there, just gathering design ideas with what they had.

I picked up a pincushion plate and some potpourri for my coffee table, replacing the glass bowl I had before, and lined it up with the edge of the chaise lounge.

Decorating my house has always been important to me, but I’ve never rushed into it. Part of the reason why it’s so empty right now is because I want to put up my own pictures, and I never had enough with which I was satisfied to fill the walls. I don’t want photos of memories — what I have at work — I want pictures that set a certain mood. Another thing that makes it hard is that I’ve never liked non-functioning decorations; candles you’d never burn, baubles that don’t do anything, knick-knacks that clutter shelves don’t make sense to me.

Part of me wants to go out and buy everything at once and be settled, but another part of me never wants to finish.

Otherwise, I’d lose the thrill of the hunt, and the pleasure of adding another thing that’s just right to the right place.

equivocality 8.0 has arrived. Though arriving with little fanfare, I felt this design update was important enough to have it’s own entry.

8.0 is an evolution in the design of this blog. I wanted a layout where the information was presented with less clutter, while maintaining the minimalist feel. There’s a reason behind every margin, every line, every shade.

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I was talking to Pat the other day and the subject of my sizable debt came up. Debt used to trouble me. I did everything I could to stay debt-free, and was successful until this year. For some reason though, I stopped caring about money. “You must be really happy”, he said, “if something that big doesn’t bother you anymore”.

It was true, but I never realized it until then. All the good things in life have easily outweighed the bad. There isn’t a single thing that I can point to and explain why, but it’s happened — gradually, progressively — over the course of the last year or so. I’ve become very comfortable with myself. I’m happy with who I am. The confidence I’ve gained, my luck in meeting Bronwen, the resolution of the situation with my mom have all contributed I’m sure. The small things don’t bother me anymore, and almost everything is a small thing. I still lose sight of the big picture every now and then and get in one of my moods, but they don’t last as long as they used to.

Now a new design.

I’ve had my own site since 1996, and looking back on all the different versions (around two dozen in all) I realize that they’ve all been dark — less than 30% grey. I used to be a dark person, and the designs were a reflection of this.

This new design serves two purposes. Metaphorically, the light grey (93%) represents my feeling of mirth. Technically, through various tweaking, I can take advantage of different design elements, such as strong (these were links in the last iteration) and emphasis. I also wanted to go back to the traditional underlined links, with a slight hover flourish. Pixel icons have been updated for extra playfulness. Also added is a colophon in the About section.

Not a complete layout change — really, it’s mostly colour — but probably the most drastic change I’ve ever made to the site.

And it fits perfectly with how I feel.

A design realignment

The problem with having a specific layout style is that it only caters to one mood or topic.

In an attempt to achieve even more universal mid-tone minimalism, I’ve re-aligned things a bit: more contrast, bolder titles, composition to a vertical rhythm, and a lack of that titular capital E that was taunting my sense of alignment.

Let’s see how long this lasts.

Blogging milestone

The number of comments I’ve received has exceeded the number of entries I’ve written, the latter of which passed 1000 this year. I remember when I first started in 2002, using a basic content management system I wrote with Perl scripts. It didn’t even support comments. Eventually I moved to Movable Type, and finally settled on Wordpress.

I’m glad to say that I don’t get any more of those random one or two word comments that never actually say anything, although they’re pretty common on other blogs.

They give me feedback, make me think, and further the discussion of what I say.

Balls of Fury

In this secret society, the competition is brutal and the stakes are high. It is the unsanctioned, underground, and utterly unhinged world of clandestine Ping-Pong tournaments. Down-and-out former professional Ping-Pong phenom Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) is sucked into this maelstrom when FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) recruits him.

Balls of Fury, a comedy that mixes ping-pong, matrix effects, and Christopher Walken, comes out in less than a month. George Lopez’s Scarface impression is spot on, and the fact that it’s based on Enter the Dragon (although the title comes from another Bruce Lee movie, Fist of Fury) gives it even more super awesome flava.

My friends agreed to come watch it in the theaters with me. Even Bronwen is going to make it, travelling over 700km to be here. I’ve been chomping at the bit to see this since John sent me the trailer last year.

A trip to New Hamshire

This Sunday, I’ll be flying to New Hampshire — with cohort Louise — for two weeks of training. The schedule is pretty open, with nights and weekends off, giving us a chance to travel and explore.

Confidence and sociability comes and goes in cycles for me. When I first found out about the trip I was at a low-point, so I wasn’t feeling strong enough to make extra plans. Such plans would have included taking a few extra days off to meet Maggie (aka number18) at my transfer in Philly on the way back. One day I’ll get to meet her and take pictures of her.

The good thing is that I’m on an up-swing right now, so the excitement is starting to settle in my brain.

New layout. Back to my old grayscale style, because that’s how I’ve been feeling lately. Neutral. Took me about three days, mostly from scratch. I was satisfied with the old one, until two months ago, when I began reading several design/typography/colour books at work. The powers that be let me spend around $300 on educational material, and as I explored each one with fervor and thirst, I began to notice all the fundamental design mistakes I made. Ignorance is bliss.

It’s Friday night, and with my legs curled under me, Dolly sniffs at my feet, looking for an opportune space on my lap. Fall is approaching. The window in my room remains open as soon as the sun sets. I’ve been overwhelmingly busy, and as a result, I haven’t quite caught up on any sleep in the last two weeks.