I had an opportunity recently to do some design work for a now-just-released app for iPhone.

Although visual design is not something I have ever studied in a formal setting, it’s an area of interest to me, and something I believe is as much a matter of inherent taste as it is of formally stated rules. As with good writing, there are guiding principles and empirically derived standards, but ultimately, you become a good writer by reading good writing, and by practicing it.

So I’m always up for more design, as the opportunity presents itself. Read on…

A couple years ago I became interested in ambigrams, particularly [the work of John Langdon](http://www.johnlangdon.net/gallery.html). At the time, I got a hold of [his *Wordplay* book](http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767920759/uwmike-20), and began experimenting with [some of my own designs](http://uwmike.com/articles/2006/01/11/ambigrams/).

I recently had a breakthough in figuring out how to create a surprisingly readable ambigram for my [mechatronics engineering class](http://tron09.com/). There was a general approval, and we ended up having the design embroidered on about 80 quality Campus Crew hoodies.

As someone with an amateur’s interest in typography and letterforms, I’ve found the doodling of these invertible designs to be an incredibly practical way to teach oneself the fundamental definitions of letters. Read on…

I’ve written before about the [power of JavaScript as a visualization tool](http://uwmike.com/articles/2007/01/08/javascript-visualization/). Then, I’d been talking about it in conjunction with straight-up HTML and SVG. Now I’ve got a neat new demo to share that takes advantage of Canvas.

You’re going to need Firefox or Safari to view this, but [check it out](http://sandbox.mikepurvis.com/js/clock/).

The genesis of this idea comes from Louis K’. Thomas’ [logarithmic clock](http://www.latenighthacking.com/projects/2005/logClock/), which [showed up on reddit](http://reddit.com/info/1thgm/comments) recently.

I had wanted to experiment with some more interesting visuals than what Thomas had in his original. I’ve always been fascinated with polar functions and spiral geometry, and this seemed like a fantastic opportunity to explore this area. Thinking of a traditional clock face, I mused about the feasibility of bending the log clock into some kind of round display that was less obviously just a mathematical plot.

Hopefully I’ll have more time at some point to write about the process of creating this, but for now, enjoy!

Brandon pointed out to me the new website for the [Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Department](http://www.mme.uwaterloo.ca) has launched, featuring my logo in the document footer, similar to how [ECE](http://ece.uwaterloo.ca/)’s is.

My understanding is that there will be an official unveiling in the summer term, at which I’ll be asked to give a brief explanation of process and inspiration. So you can all come out to that with your clappers and big foam fingers… or just know that the inspiration was doodling on a tablecloth at [Montana's](http://www.montanas.ca/), and the software used was the excellent [Inkscape](http://www.inkscape.org/).

Ever since Dave Shea [linked to them](http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2005/11/10/pizza_and_pa/), I’ve been fascinated by [John Langdon's Ambigrams](http://www.johnlangdon.net/ambigrams.html).

I got his book Wordplay for Christmas, which is a fascinating series of new ambigrams, interspersed with philosophical musings and other treats.

Mike

Throw a little [Wicked-Worn](http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000024.html) in a blender with a new liquid CSS technique, some dropcaps, and it’s a new look for uwMike!

Eleven and a half hours late for the [Official Reboot](http://www.cssreboot.com/), but I needed that little something extra to amuse myself during the past week of working on my UWaterloo Co-op Work Report.

Right now, I have to get rested up for the first day of summer term tomorrow.

Mike

p.s. watch this space for more on that new liquid layout trick…

p.p.s. If you’re looking for the prior layout, it’s archived [here](http://www.uwmike.com/layout/pastel/).