Design & Engineering

When Designed in California™ meets -40°.

Blending the old with the new in the renovation of our 1920s home, adventures in custom lighting fabrication, and learning how to model in 3D.

Written shortly after the formalization of Black Pixel's Web Services team, this post features our go-to tools and technologies for developing great experiences.

Originally authored for net magazine, this article details how to create an immersive media experience with the Philips Hue API.

Hacking Ikea's sit-stand desk with a Raspberry Pi to support realtime height feedback and programatic control.

Designing and building a new website for multihyphenate Anna Akana, including a custom Node.js service that pipes realtime social statistics to the UI over WebSocket.

Thoughts on inspiring people and recreating sketch notes on the web.

Using CSS pseudo elements to expand on what's possible when styling visited links.

Writing a lightweight Markdown-based blogging engine in Ruby with Sinatra.

An interview with Herman Miller for their Lifework blog.

Blog post accompanying a portfolio update that included future-looking support for 5k displays 2 years before they existed.

Fond memories of an intro to design and creative work.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is an audio and video recording studio on wheels, dedicated to providing students with a hands-on opportunity to learn about digital production. In 2006 it was in town while on tour with the Black Eyed Peas, and I was selected to represent my school division (~15,000 students at the time) to spend a day on the bus.

Together with 5 other students from my city, we wrote and recorded a song, shot a music video, and learned about post-production on the bus. We also got to hang out with will.i.am, who used the studio when it wasn't occupied by students.

Looking back, I think of this as an inflection point in my life; it opened my eyes to what's possible with software, and began a lifelong affinity for Apple computers (who sponsor the bus) and the creative work they foster. I got my first Mac, recorded my band's first album, and made my first website the following year.