Blog

I do some writing sometimes. These are the fruits of my labour. Some thoughts, tutorials or other articles that can help the community

Basics

AI case study – The Editorial

Recently, I had the opportunity to delve into the world of creating an editorial-style whitepaper for Amsterdam Standard. Inspired by magazines like Times and Newsweek, I aimed to incorporate the characteristic illustrations that can be found in such publications. The whitepaper was on comparing employment costs between countries and the pros and cons of hiring in-house developers versus remote ones.

This case study showcases how Midjourney helped me bring the document to life, and what I learnt trying to get consistent images for each of the chapters.

Turns out getting a consistent style can be achieved, although it took a while to get to the perfect prompting system. As soon as the PDF becomes public I'll share a link to download.

Basics

Coding with chatGPT – dev log #1

Coding with chatGPT - dev log #1

When chatGPT broke free into the wild world, after watching a couple explainer videos, and after watching some more videos showing the future of GPT, I'm not gonna lie, I imagined things like the browser no longer being needed, as anything you might need, whether it be information, booking a hotel or ordering online could (will be) doable from an AI's interface.

Then I sat down and started prompting chatGPT
P.S. All images where created by Midjourney, using my prompts

Basics

AI case study – photography

Prompting - the act of providing cues to stimulate or encourage someone to take a specific action. At first glance this seems trivial, but a computer doesn't have the same assumptions as humans do. After many hours prompting with Midjourney and examining the generative art it created I have a couple observations I want to share with you.

Please notice the floating wine glasses and almost 3rd arm extending from the models body. This is the effect of my first prompt. The starting prompt was "a photo of a male model, in tuscany, drinking wine, golden hour"

All images seen in this post are AI generated

Basics

How graphics design evolved over the last 10 years

Those that started in graphics in recent years have it easy! Back in my day ....

I went to study Graphics Design many years ago, after working some years in agencies I got fed up with clients feedback, making logo's bigger and not being able to express myself. Doubting myself if I'm any good at this art anyway.
That's why I went into frontend design, into coding. But I always kept an eye on the graphics scene, to maybe make a return.

All images seen in this post are AI generated

Medior

Poor mans 3D effect in CSS

Let me show you how to quickly create a "3D" effect when hovering over a card in CSS. When your cursor in any of the 4 corners the card will look as if pressed in on that side of the card.

CSS

Technical

Does code quality even matter?

I once had contact with a project that ... well it wasn't the nicest piece of code I've seen. That got me thinking. I tried to compare this codebase with other projects I've worked on, even going back to times when I was a junior and learning by diving deep into topics I didn't know. So join me on this thought experiment, at the end of the article come up with your own outcome.

Basics

How to improve feat. easy to embrace pictograms

Improvement is a process, its not immediately tangible. It requires consistency, trial and failure, retrospective and many times, planning the next iteration. Here are some life lessons that either found out while building my career, or learned the hard way.

Leadership

Basics

[UI Quickie] – Quit using black and white

and this is why you shouldn't be using the base ones. Using pure black (#000000) or pure white (#FFFFFF) in your web designs might have a negative effect on your users experience.

Basics

[UX Quickie] Vertical Rhythm – keep your spacing unified

This is a quick introduction into why taking care of your vertical rhythm is highly important for great UI/UX and also dev results on your app or website.

Medior

The Three Little Pigs Retrospective

In SCRUM methodology a retrospective is one of the most feared, and sometimes most awkward parts of the process. But it doesn't have to be that way. A retro should never be a confession! There are ways to make the experience more fun and interactive. One method that we use at Amsterdam Standard is the Three Little Pigs Retro.

Yes, just like the fairy tale.

Leadership

Medior

Top 6 things that demotivate a dev, and how to avoid it

A developer, software engineer, programmer, (however you like to call them) is usually a pretty unique person. As Alfred once said "Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn".
Developers on the other hand want the world to run smoothly, seamlessly... like clockwork.

Medior

Taking ownership of your code

We know this phrase from the great Bible of corpo-jargon, but do you know what it means to be involved in a project? Being involved is a good thing, and your investment can bring a lot of return. Stop being a programmer with horse shades on your eyes. Get a feel for your project, get it all over you, just like in those videos you watch of girls wrestling in bubble baths. Yes those ones. Yes, I know you watch them.

Medior

Design is Discipline

So you are an artist? You want to do UX or UI design? You think that having that "creative feeling" and "good taste" for aesthetics is all you need?
Wrong ...