As MacHeist is underway, I thought I'd share with you guys a little peek into its design process.

As John Casasanta, Scott Meinzer and I began to finalize details on Heist a couple months ago, we realized that what we were going for (spy themed, campy stories, etc.) would require an extremely capable web designer with a distinctive style. This had to look different from all the forums and blogs out there. It had to look amazing. And it had to be designed fast.

So my first pick for the project was Adam Betts, who I had worked with previously on the original design for MacThemes. What he had created for MacThemes, in my opinion, was fresh nearly three years ago, and is still fresh today. And the amazing thing was, he had come up with the general visual idea and details in a matter of days. So, after a few days of chatting with him, I convinced him to join the project, and he got to work.

Below are a few snapshots from the process over roughly two weeks (click for full size):

Notice something? Adam had the fundamental pieces of the design nailed from the beginning. And from there, it was a matter of relatively minor changes. (Combo code entry, site background, etc.)

Of course the design job isn't over quite yet... but I think it's safe to say that people are loving what Adam came up with. Major props to him.

Voila, the final product

So the Apple Design Awards were announced today, and the biggest news from it, of course, was Inventive / Widget Machine co-developed iClip lite taking home the award for Best Dashboard Widget.

But wait, going back a bit, this was the first ADA ceremony I had the opportunity to attend, and the whole thing was a pretty awesome experience. The event was held in a pretty atmospheric room, complete with a fog machine, purple lighting, and thumping music, and the second coolest part (besides accepting the award) was the opening video sequence, which featured all of the entered applications flying past the screen. Really, really cool.

After each of the winners were announced, runners up first, winners second, the winners were demoed by Apple User Experience Evangelist John Geleynse, who did a pretty good job showing off all of the winning apps. (I wouldn't have wanted to be in his shoes, demoing Scientific Solution winner, EnzymeX! (By the way, the developers of that application have a great article about the infamous ADA "cube" trophy which is a pretty interesting read.)

Accepting the award with John was unreal. That's about all I can say at this point, I'm still recovering. I really wish UI designer for iClip lite Piotr Gajos and programmer Chris Willis could've made it out here to experience it.

So anyway, more photos and more reactions to come soon, for now, a complete list of the winners, listed in chronological order of announcement:

Best Student Application:
Runner-Up: PhotoPresenter by Arizona Software
Winner: LineForm by Tribar Software

Best User Experience:
Runner-Up: Boinx FotoMagico by Boinx Software
Winner: iSale by equinux

Best Widget:
Runner-Up: WeatherBug Widget by WeatherBug
Winner: iClip lite by Inventive and Widget Machine

Best OS X Graphics:
Runner-Up: Unity by Unity
Winner: Modo by Luxology

Best Automator Workflow:
Runner-Up: Lecture Recording Workflow 1.2 by the University of Michigan School of Dentistry
Winner: Build Real Estate Catalog/Ultimate Productivity Action Pack

Best Developer Tool:
Runner-Up: F-Script by F-Script
Winner: TextMate by MacroMates

Best Game:
Runner-Up: Wingnuts 2 by Freeverse
Winner: Sims 2 ported Aspyr

Best Scientific Computing Solution:
Runner-Up: FuzzMeasurePro by Christopher Liscio
Winner: EnzymeX by Mekentosj

Again, more on this tomorrow, but wow, pretty amazing experience!

As promised, today brings a new addition of "Pimp your App". The target? The beloved multi-protocol chat application, Adium. I can't think of any other app that really encourages customization as much as Adium, so while I'll be recommending various modifications available on the Adium Xtras site, I knew this Pimp your App had to include something else special. So of course, as many of you readers know, in an interview earlier in the week, Adium icon artist Adam Betts promised to release an updated application icon along with other goodies today. And I think you'll agree that he delivered in spades once you see what he came up with. Continue reading...

I've worked with artist Adam Betts in the past, namely on MacThemes, and he is pretty much one of the top icon artists out there. One of his creations, of course, is the now pretty iconic Adium duck, and he was happy to sit down for a bit and chat about its history, and its future. Thanks again to Adam, and enjoy! Continue reading...