Some sweet visuals over at URTD. Head on over and see Slovakian designer Ondrej Jób’s body of work.

Transparency and the alpha channel are good friends. Transparency and the web development process, on the other hand, are just getting to know each other.

There was a time when the alternate designs never saw the light of day, so it’s interesting to get a peek behind the scenes at MSNBC, and see how they ended up with the final result.

No, having a cool name isn’t enough, Leesa Leva is one fab illustrator. A self-described “illustrator, insomniac, and puppy cuddler,” she can also apparently design a mean web page as well, as evidenced by her “I Love Birdy” page on Virb, which has drawn a lot of attention. Head on over and browse her portfolio now or skip on over to her blog instead.

Khoi Vihn, the respected leader of the NY Times’ interactive efforts, is engaged in a Q and A on the Times Media and Advertising section, so get over there and inquire. You have until the 25th to do so.

And in case you’ve missed it, check out his excellent blog, Subtraction, as well. 

Having sat idle for too long, my old friend and personal design site Filter9 has undergone a transformation. Rather than exist a static collection of music, art and etc, it’s now a flowing collection of music, art and etc that I will be updating continuously as new works roll out.

Featuring my personal art and photography (some of which are available for purchase), it also showcases music from a community of undiscovered artists who forge ahead regardless of the world around them. Oh, and some of my tracks are in there too. (wink).

Here’s to a new F9. Hope you like it.

While NY Magazine online has been consistently one of my favorite sites, it’s been mostly because of their interesting use of typography and graphic treatments. Where their previous site had a sense of dimension and flow, their redesign launched this week does not. It is a clusterfizzle of elegantly designed content. Even though the front page is beautiful in its design sensibility as the route has followed for years, they’ve missed the mark in terms of usability. They have failed on an epic scale to give their audience a scannable page that has depth and compartmentalization. Instead, they’ve delivered a dense, overly-packed ‘tabloidy’ portal with no clear focus. (I think even a few simple heavy lines could have saved the day.)

They do succeed in some areas. The top nav anchors well. Its boldness is refreshing and makes good use of space. The drop down menus are expertly handled, with a clean break between content and utility. The dark top nav bar helps to ground the page and gives quick access to core features. They also succeed on interior pages, where there is more of a traditional column structure. Though, even here there’s still room for better demarcation. All in all, a moderately successful effort that ultimately falls short of being great. If I were to grade the effort, I’d give it a solid B.

And no, not just because they are linking us. Rather, instead because they offer high quality sites, with an emphasis on rich design. Inspiration sites have become a dime-a-dozen, but Design Flavr stands out in front of the pack.

According to site director Andrew Greig, it “is a breed of website that hopes to deliver the latest and freshest art and design straight to you with no frills and no hassle.” Call me biased, but I tend to agree.

BBC recently relaunched their portal. Though I find the design lacking in some respects (feels a little one-dimensional, visually), the customization options are implemented well. They are very similar to something our Experience Prototyping group proposed for AOL Dot Com.

One caveat is that it would be nice if the colors updated as you select them and if the options were less prominent. Site done by Fantasy Interactive. (Note: Apparently, this was incorrect information. Still not sure who created the site, but it appears as though it was done internally).

…and, what SXSW event would be compete without Robert Scoble (pictured, left). The man is everywhere!

So, I slithered into the conference center Saturday morning after an appalling breakfast at a Chowhound recommended spot. I won’t go into the gory details, but suffice it to say, avoid El Arroyo at all costs.

Went through the usual registration process, which was much shorter this year. It also felt alarmingly spacious this year, even with press reports of attendance numbers being much higher than in previous years. Almost immediately, I stumbled upon former co-worker/serial entrepreneur Jesse Thomas and his co-partner-in-crime Leslie Bradshaw. Together we explored the hall and made our way down to Screen Burn, which was twice the size as last year and much more interesting. They’ve added a competitive gaming “arena,” which looked akin to an American Gladiators set. Shortly after, bumped into Chris, the fifth party from yesterday’s fiasco and we struck up a short convo.

Ambled about for awhile, then spotted Tim Ferriss, who I consider a mad genius. Proposed my pared-down, snail’s-pace approach to his 4-Hour Workweek methodology, which he seemed to take with good measure. He offered that he was currently dealing with a “water obsession” that I didn’t get the full details on. Generally, he seemed like a cool guy, approachable and not ridiculously full of himself, like could be imagined.

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The cable channel AMC has caught my attention with it’s new foray into series television. Its show “Mad Men” from Sopranos alumnus Matthew Weiner last season was excellent, on par with the quality of that legendary crime/family show. HBO passed on “Mad Men,” which left it in the capable hands of AMC.

Now, it introduces us to “Breaking Bad,” a show about a high school chemistry teacher named Walter White, who is liberated through a terminal diagnosis. Drugs, guns, high drama and suspense. Looks like my kind of show. We’ll see if AMC can keep the quality level high or if “Mad Men” was a fluke.

Check out the superbly-designed promo site by mono and Unit9.