umi.io

30 Mar

I moved to California yesterday. I did some things. I start my new job on Monday.

11 Mar

These are old. Maybe 15 years old. I’m not ready to develop them yet.

The last few weeks have been crazy. It’s been difficult to get a moment to write something up about whats happening. At the very least, what I can say, is that I’m excited to be doing this dance with companies that I have a genuine respect for.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

15 Feb

I’m back home from San Francisco. I’m posting this photo because I wish I was able to take a vacation, but there’s way too much work to do.

While I was extending my stay in SF I had loads of last minute interviews with crazy tech companies (which I’ll write about later). I learned that good people will quickly connect rare talent with other good people. It seemed like decision makers didn’t hesitate clearing their busy schedules to get four or five hours of face time with me before I left town.

I’m humbled and forever grateful to everyone that reached out to make intros, drink beers, sip coffees, watch foosball, and help me figure this whole thing out.

All the follow-ups and offers are starting to roll in, and soon I’m going to have some decisions of my own to make. Maybe I should take a vacation.

Meanwhile in Hawaii

Pow Wow 2013 started this week and we launched a their new website and Kickstarter Campaign for their documentary & coffee table book. You can check it out here.

4 Feb

That crazy mind control tower off in the distance up there is controlling our fate. And it turns out my fate was to come to San Francisco, and then extend my stay for a week.

It’s hard to explain why, but its mostly due to all the love and outreach that everyone has given me since I got here, and since I wrote this. For the next few days I’ll be working out of the HoneyLabs offices in the Mission, and the later half of the week I’ll be somewhere … else.

Since my last post, I’ve gotten 2 job offers. But I don’t feel like I’m the best fit for the teams or the product. So this week I’ll be meeting with people and visiting offices that I’ve only really read about online. I’m pretty jazzed. If you live in SF, hit me up, I’d love to hang out.

I hope a week is long enough.

31 Jan

I’m working out of the Simple Honey offices in the Mission. The view of SF from the office is incredibly humbling and it reminds me of why I’m here.

Today has been a pretty crazy day. I had some facetime with a bunch of people that really want to help me find a fit in the Bay. Though I’m worried I may have to extend my stay beyond what I was planning, that may be a really good thing. I’m looking forward to seeing how the next few days unfold.

30 Jan

San Francisco / Take me to your leader.

~~I’m flying from Hawaii to San Francisco in about an hour~~. It’s super last minute, but good things often are. For as long as I care to remember, SF has been a destination for me that seemed more magical than any other place. We’ve been having a long distance relationship for quite some time.

As a designer working in Hawaii, things are … interesting. The ecosystem is starting to take shape and the tech community is beginning to mature. Slowly but surely we will have what other major cities proudly refer to as a ‘startup community’.

Though as an individual, I feel that I’ve personally hit a motivational ceiling. There have been times over the last year that I’ve questioned my place in this community that I love. Almost like I’m desperately seeking some sort of intangible fuel that doesn’t exist. If you know me, you understand that money does not motivate me, amazing offices with eames furniture does not motivate me, ornament, flash, and more cowbell does not motivate me. What motivates me is talent and ideas.

Being surrounded by talented people will always inspire you to push each other and to think differently every single day. The plain truth is, the talent pool is very shallow in Hawaii. I’ve always felt that great talent attracts even more great talent, and ever since I quit my shitty job over 2 years ago I’ve run into some of the most talented people that I never knew existed. Working in proximity with these awesome people has been amazing, and being mentioned in conversation alongside their names is the most humbling thing ever. At the time, that was the motivation that I needed to push me through, to get me to where I am now.

But the formative years are over. The ecosystem is evolving, the talent pool will be growing, and there’s going to be a paradigm shift. I’m finding myself again, craving the push to think differently. I’m now motivated by becoming great at what I love doing. And I love making products. I believe that if you want to be great at something, you don’t do it by being better than everyone else. You do it by surrounding yourself with greatness, with people that inspire you. Or by eating lots and lots of ice cream.

I’ll be looking for a startup in San Francisco that mirrors my perspective.

I’ll be looking to work with people that not only love what they do, but they love the place where they do it, the reasons behind it, and the users they do it for. Because it’s not about us, its about them. Everything that we do as designers has an effect on something greater than ourselves. Every pixel counts, even in illustrator; because the pixels don’t care who you are, as long as you have intention behind your work. And thats a responsibly that is often taken for granted. But I’m truly in love with the craft, and I’m obsessed with making cool shit.

I just wrote a love letter to San Francisco.

And if you happen to know someone who is in the position to help me out, I’d appreciate it if this post somehow crossed their path.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, ping me at: jon@umi.io

I’m coming for you San Francisco.

Take me to your leader.

15 Jan

Starting yesterday I’ll be working remotely from the north shore of Oahu for a week.

I’ll explain later. Right now I’m working.

(Source: umi)

3 Jan

2013 | Day 3

FAIL HARD

(Source: tumblr.com)

1 Jan

ONWARD

2012 is over. LINK

19 Dec

Everyone in your company should have basic design literacy.

If you can accomplish this as a pillar of your company’s culture, the handoff between operations, design, and programming will become more of a dance, and less of a process.

There is no reason why a company should aspire to greatness with the mission of being ‘design focused’ and not take a holistic design approach to everything that they do.

Team Building
Strategy
Communication
Data Organization

These are all either forms of design or are components that are positively impacted by a well designed plan.

Perhaps the term ‘design’ has been pigeon-holed into a visual-layer, functioning at the tail end of a business machine. But I always chuckle when a entrepreneur evangelizes their newest endeavor by telling others that they ‘designed their strategy to accomplish XYZ’.

There is only one kind of design; the action of problem solving.

(Source: umi)

11 Dec

I work too hard for this shit.

7 Dec

Been working on the umi.io 2012 Holiday promo for the last couple days. Trying to sneak in a few lines of code here and there between agency work, and I’ve been completely neglecting my blog.

For that I apologize.

Work has been crazy lately, in a good way. Our Agency operations are starting to run smoothly, prospective clients are starting to find us based on our quality & vision, and our team is shipping work confidently.

For those of you that don’t give a fuck about the Agency, umi.io has all sorts of developments rolling out of the mothership.

This week I pushed out the Home of the Brave Website, updated collaboration work on the portfolio, started work with POW WOW, relieved my interns for the semester, moved into a new office in Chinatown upstairs from Manifest, and hired a new human to crank on production work at the Agency.

Next week I’m invading Russia.

Every pixel counts.

(Source: )

1 Oct

ME
“They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.” - Shelley

ME

“They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.” - Shelley