sanhaus is rich graphic design, web production, and multimedia by visual designer Keith Brock

Balsamiq – it’s not just for salads

kurb77 — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:37:37 +0000

For years I have used the standard Adobe Suite for mockups and prototypes for web design, InDesign layout concepts and everything in between. Adobe is the de-facto standard for a reason, but my problem has always been quick mockups. It sometimes takes more than a few minutes just to fire up photoshop, get your menus in order and start from scratch. Small software builder Balsamiq has a deliciously quick answer that is sure to wet the appetite of any pro designer / developer.

Mockup’s is a light Adobe Air driven application for both OS X and Windows and even has a web based solution. It allows quick and easy mockup creation with a great set of library assets to boot. Using a sketch style across the asset library allows the finished mock to have teams concentrate on the fundamental UI/UX flow -vs- articulating the heavier load of style. It comes jam packed with tons of features and never deviates from it’s core simplicity and UI approach – this in of itself allows the user to keep focused on the task at hand without getting bogged by overbearing menus and interface porn. I only wish I knew about this earlier, it would have saved me tons of time. Check out Balsamic Mockups now!

Featured – OS X Keyboard Shortcut Poster

kurb77 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:59:25 +0000

It’s always nice to get a bit of recognition from the community at large. I was recently contacted through my flickR account about an OS X Keyboard Shortcut poster I did recently, something I’ve been meaning to design for a while if not for my schedule. So with a nice cup of coffee, Photoshop, and this idea I’ve had in my head for a few years now I went at it non-stop. I wanted to keep with a wallpaper-centric design inline with Apple’s notorious simplicity and ease of readability while providing and easy access point for some of the most used keyboard shortcuts most often used. If you’d like to see the full-res version please go to my flickR stream by clicking here. I will also be offering this print for sale shortly – see below for details.

Also, I will be offering this poster as a hi-res print and currently in contact with Apple about licensing – if you’d like to be notified of when this poster will be available please contact me here with the subject “OS X POSTER” and I will add you to my list and notify everyone when it’s ready – enjoy, – Keith

The Foresight of Jobs

kurb77 — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:49:58 +0000

This is an absolutely terrific video interview of the late Steve Jobs in which he professes and outlines, with great accuracy, technologies which most of us now take for granted. The internet, e-mail, instant messaging, networked projects, intranets, etc. Given by the master himself before most of the technologies even had definable names and meaning. Enjoy.

What’s a 960 Grid?

kurb77 — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:12:04 +0000

A great new tool for web designers is the 960 Grid plugin and download from, well, the 960 Well what the heck is a 960 Grid anyway?

The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem.

This is a great and simple to use tool that can make the life of a web / graphic designer all the much easier. Learn how the pros design using the 960 grid.

A Digital Line in the Sand

kurb77 — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:14:58 +0000

Visual designers typically have multitasking in the blood – it’s one of those inate characteristics that send us in the zone, the zen of design. So where has the current trend of employers mixing and matching job titles come from? For example, web designer – typically the definition for this creative title assumes one who designs the website i.e., color, theme, overall branding etc. – seems pretty straight forward. Butt, in some common markets it means a designer who is also a programmer. This is where my above description of multi-tasking comes into play. There is nothing wrong with having a professional role that slightly crosses over into another discipline, again however, a designer is not a programmer and vice-versa. As a designer I certainly know my way around web based programming languages for the benefit of creating workable output for my design work, should this quality assume I am an expert programmer?, no because if it did I would be a programmer by definition.

For some recruiters in the tech industry this line in the sand is small, but visible. It seems as if combing roles over professional qualifications is either a fast way to grab contract work for said agency or there is just a plain disconnect on what the true definitions and contrasts between creative and programming professionals really means.

Industry Beauty

kurb77 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:11:46 +0000

For those who will always remain behind the movement of beautiful hardware / software design from Cupertino this video timeline montage will leave you inspired =)

Anatomy of Apple Design from Transparent House on Vimeo.

OS X Snow Leopard Safari Bug Demo

kurb77 — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:42:52 +0000

I am unsure if this bug has been reported yet but I’ve discovered it while trying to simply drag an image from a web page to the desktop – when dragging over the address bar in Safari it disappears and requires a relaunch. Click video thumbnail.

Visual Form & Function

kurb77 — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:36:19 +0000

This is a perfect example of a symbiotic relationship between light and form, and of course the camera tracking / panning adds an additional measure of time – this is great work.

The Node from Murat Pak on Vimeo.

Excellent Time Lapse Nature

kurb77 — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:31:35 +0000

For a great video of some really terrific panoramas and wide angle park shots check out the following video by simply clicking on the thumbnail.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Light Painting

kurb77 — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:11:20 +0000

This is a great example of terrific and innovative artistic exploration using today’s technology. This team has devised a way to “extrude” image frames output from what looks like Cinema 4D to an iPad over long film exposure – this allows the team to “extrude” the light and the results speak for themselves. Awesome.

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.