A Feed Apart is the official twitter aggregator for An Event Apart. It was originally created by Pete Karl and Nick Sergeant at the AEA Boston 2009. After a resounding success and in anticipation of the AEA Boston 2010, Pete and Nick decided to have A Feed Apart reprogrammed and redesigned.
One day Nick approached me while we were working together at dwaiter and asked me if I wanted to redesign AFA… My answer immediately was “HELL YA!” My task was to create a new look for AFA. This included a logo, icons and a user interface.
The AFA logo and twitter avatar
I started with the obvious which is the logo. We were not sure if we wanted to go really far from the look of AEA or to stay fairly close, so we ended up in the middle. The new logo has resembling elements from the AEA brand while having its own unique look. I came up with ten different variations.
We all agreed that we liked number 4 to be AFA’s twitter avatar and number ten as the official logo. The logo got tweaked a bit too after some nice feedback from Andy Birchwood on dribbble (http://dribbble.com/shots/14991-A-Feed-Apart-Logo)
AFA Icons
One thing the original AFA was missing were icons. Since I love pixel icons and this was a great platform to use them, I thought why the hell not! So I started with my iPhone. I know some of you might think, oh he is going to do some research on iPhone icon designs. That wasn’t why I turned to my iPhone though. The reason was this C64 Paint XL app
I was able to use it to create a huge family of pixel icons which I ended up utilizing some of for AFA.
AFA User Interface
One thing that really helped me with the design of the new AFA website was the old AFA site. Pete and Nick put a lot of thought into the original AFA which made my life way easier. Nevertheless I had to improve the interface and find better ways to show sessions and other elements in the website. I tried my best to stay true to the simplicity of the original AFA while giving it a visual enhancement. I can’t wait till AFA goes live in May. Stay tuned
Good work! I love the simplicity in both the logo and the interface. Looking forward to see the website live.
I have followed the AFA redesign on dribbble and it was really impressive, very interesting.
So much details, a really good looknfeel, to my opinion, this redesign is a success, really !
Congrats
Just amazing. The thought and time you have put into AFA is so appreciated by all attendees and speakers. AEA is a richer experience for your contribution. Thanks.
Ali, I love your attention to detail. I’ve also been following your shots on Dribbble and have been finding myself going back again and again for inspiration. Keep up the good work!
-Dan @SullDC
Thank you Dan, I am glad that you consider my work to be inspiring. Are you a player on dribbble?
Thank you for the great post – I had fun reading it! I always enjoy this blog.
I love this little write-up so much, and I love your work even more. Well done, sir.
Thank you so much for the kind words Zeldman. I am so proud that you like my work. Your words are nothing but a priceless award that I won’t forget.
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Thank you very much
I have followed the AFA redesign on dribbble and it was really impressive, very interesting.
So much details, a really good looknfeel, to my opinion, this redesign is a success, really