I’ve been wondering why Apple chose to make the iPhone 4’s screen 3.5-inches when other comparable phones with Android and Windows Phone 7 have larger, more inviting screens. When you first see a phone with a 4-inch or larger screen, it seems like a much better experience. I thought it was a technical decision, and it could be, but since switching to an Android phone – a Samsung Galaxy S II, the “best Android phone you can buy, anywhere” – 15 days ago, I have realized another huge downside of larger screens: when holding the phone with one hand, I can’t reach the other side of the screen with my thumb.

Touching the upper right corner of the screen on the Galaxy S II using one hand, with its 4.27-inch screen, while you’re walking down the street looking at Google Maps, is extremely difficult and frustrating. I pulled out my iPhone 4 to do a quick test, and it turns out that when you hold...

Just a few moments ago, Adobe’s CTO Kevin Lynch took the stage at their annual MAX conference and explained the company’s Creative Cloud strategy. Part of that announcement is very big news for us: Typekit has been acquired by Adobe.

Supposedly, Adobe has been working on some enhancements to the WebKit type renderer to bring leading and kerning controls up to par with print layout systems. I wonder if this acquisition is related to those efforts.

Edit: here’s more about Adobe’s WebKit type enhancements: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2010/11/adobes-enhancing-webkit-for-better-typography.html (Via @bobspace)

Former Chief Executive Léo Apotheker is getting a $7.2 million severance payment, along with $3.6 million in accelerated vested restricted stock, along with a bonus of $2.4 million. Apotheker is also getting relocation expenses and free return airfare to Europe for him and his wife, up to $300,000 for any loss incurred on his California home and up to 18 months of health insurance for him and his dependents.

Diamond parachute.

Back in 2008, right before I dropped out of school to focus on design, I came across a small blue book called the Feltron 2007 Annual Report. I probably spent thee hours combing over every single visualization in all 14 pages, in absolute awe. As someone who is obsessed with numbers, tracking, data, and personal analytics, the Annual Report served as sort of an ignition source for my love of design. It is a masterpiece.

A few weeks later, as I was planning the next five years of schooling that would be required for me to become a doctor, I got a weird feeling… that maybe I should drop out and start designing instead. I’d always enjoyed designing things as a hobby, but for the first time, as I stared at class descriptions for multivariate calculus and obscure human physiology, I recalled the feeling of awe I got while I was reading Feltron’s report. It made my decision easy. I dropped...