Crooked Pixels

I grew up playing basketball. While a full court game with ten players was almost always the ideal way to play, a half court game only required a single available basket, and the smaller area made the sport more accessible for the out-of-shape homies. Injecting Full Court Fun into Half Court Mechanics Some of the […]

I remember not being able to finish the original Super Mario Bros. on NES. I can now beat that game handily, like riding a bike. There’s a lot to be said for the iconic levels from that game and how memorable they are after all of these years. Now, as a UX and design professional, […]

Toronto winters get cold. A morning walk to the office becomes an arctic expedition, so many pedestrians commute through the world’s largest underground shopping complex to stay warm. It’s not a perfect system, but as someone with an admittedly bad sense of direction, I’m interested in the PATH’s wayfinding problems. Because it’s a neighborhood of […]

Recently, both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times disappointingly pushed the myth that the Web is in decline, and that Native Apps are taking over. Saying that native apps are killing the web is incorrect. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s a misunderstanding of what the web is and how content works […]

The closest I’ve come to using an iPad as a sketchbook replacement is FiftyThree’s Pencil and Paper. The pair make a nice interface, but the fat stylus tip makes it a bit crude. I’ve also tried Evernote’s Jot Script 2, which is more accurate but laggy. Besides my distaste for Evernote, FiftyThree’s Pencil wins only […]

Our office bought an Apple Watch to try. I’ve been wearing one since it came out.I’m a stranger to wearables, so I’ve nothing to compare it to. Before the Apple Watch, I hadn’t worn a watch in over ten years. Small Spaces Transitions should be minimal, since holding your wrist up becomes strenuous after just […]

David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear when I wasjust old enough to understand. With a dramatic closing and opening of a curtain, the landmark appeared to have vanished, even on “radar.”I was amazed. But then I was skeptical. This was a grandiose trick. I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but I suspected […]

My mother is a retired hairdresser. During her career of thirty-plus yearsshe styled tens ofthousandsof heads, from teaching hairstyling in the Philippines to eventually running her own salon in Canada.As her son,I’ve been treated to many different but socially acceptable hairstyles growing up. I’ve had perms, streaks, I even had Dragonball Z hair at one […]

When I started smoking as a teen, I was well-aware of the health issues. In Canada, photos of lung tumours are printed on the packaging for everyone to notice. I knew it was bad news, but there was something inherently bad-ass about smoking that my younger self succumbed to.Part of smoking’s charm is fashion. It […]

When I was around 10 years old, every Saturday my dad and I would go on a trip to the video store to pick up movies.Back then, there was a video rental store by our house called Bandito Video. We had a VHS at home, and we safely watched the slow death of the Betamax […]