I usually make my Christmas present wrapping paper themed, and this year's is very homemade and red. They look really nice and are very simple to do (and quite cheap if you have lots of arts & crafts material lying around).

Read full article

If like me you live in a house/flat with old wooden windows and doors, you will know that they let out a lot of heat and can be draughty. I made a few of my own draught excluders for hardly any money which look really arty. They are very easy to make if you have a sewing machine. You will also need: one large piece of fabric the length of the door or window sill you will be placing it on (cotton or calico), scrap fabrics and 2.5kg of lentils/split peas/other dried food/cheap stuffing.

Read full article

In user interface design it is often thought that creating metaphors and analogies to real life items helps users translate these concepts to computer versions more easily. For example the idea of a computer desktop with files and folders is directly analogous to real life desks with filing cabinets. The idea is that a user who has never seen a graphical operating system before would intuitively understand what a file and folder represent.

Read full article

It upsets me when papers make the effort to do proper usability studies and then misuse the results because they get confused by qualitative and quantitative data.

Read full article

Following on from part 1, here are some more creative ideas for presents. These however require very little artistic skills!

Read full article

Valentines Day is fast approaching and it's often nice to give a personalised handmade present. This is part one: for those who like making things. I'll do another post tomorrow for those who are somewhat artistically challenged.

Read full article

I found a really good article called the 10 usability crimes you really shouldn't commit and I have updated the website according to adhere to some of the principles - mainly making the website logo now a link to the home page and indicating the active form field for comments below. I didn't actually realise you could change the currently focused field in a form by adding in :focus. I disagree with the last point the article makes, about not justifying text because some people find it harder to read. I'm not dyslexic, but I personally find justified text much neater and easier to read than left-justified.

Read full article

I went to the Dean Gallery today with Steven since it was such lovely weather outside and we thought we'd do something cultural. The gallery sits opposite the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and houses a small, permanent collection of Surrealist and Dada art which is well worth seeing if you like Dalí, Miró, Ernst, Magritte, Picasso or Man Ray.

Read full article

I despair when I go into art shops and find how expensive good quality canvases are. You can get canvas relatively cheaply, but the quality is flimsy and they always have very thin wooden frames and pre-primed with this stuff that just feels fake. At art college we got taught how to make our own canvases (I feel like the plural should be canvii?), but unfortunately I no longer have access to a workshop with a saw, pre-cut wood, weird corrugated nails, reams and reams of free canvas fabric and a burly workshop assistant to hammer for me.

Read full article

From Lara's recommendation I went along to the arts & crafts fair being held in the gardens of St Johns at the West end of Princes Street called 3D/2D Craft & Design Fair with some friends. It runs until 30th August and is free entry.

Read full article

I browse Google news and Reddit every morning on my iPod and many of the websites that link from them look very poor on the iPod/iPhone. It's really not hard to make a website look good on a small screen but unfortunately mobile web usability is often neglected.

Read full article

I have made two new paintings called With You part 1 & 2. They are on 15cm square canvas and made of fabric, bubble wrap, tape, tissue paper, beads and a tonne of PVA glue:

Read full article

I've been experimenting with images and CSS on how to make an image look like it's been taken with a polaroid. You can see the results in the About me page. I still own a polaroid, and have about 2 photos left. Pity they don't make them any more :(

Read full article

Over the last two weeks I have been making three highland cows out of papier mache and fake fur fabric. I intend to give them away as presents, although I'll be sad to see my creations go! Scroll to the bottom to see the results.

Read full article