The first episode of Design Details has arrived! For our opening show, we sat down with designer and developer Sam Soffes to talk about his latest project (Whiskey), building in public, brag-driven development and his interest in working as a designer.
This is our first episode and we’re learning a lot! We’d love your feedback or suggestions – give a shout on Twitter, @designdetailsfm or send us a private email!
Sam Soffes on the Web:
Website / Portfolio
Twitter
Github
Instagram
Nothing Magical
Whiskey Markdown Editor
Sam’s Blog
Sam’s Video Podcast
More About Sam
Hire Sam
Show Notes:
1:35 – We chat with Sam about his latest labor of love, Whiskey.
Tim Van Damme of Dropbox designed a theme
Sam is building Whiskey in public via feedback on Twitter and with public release notes
3:57 – Are there any downsides to building a side project in public?
4:27 – How do you stay motivated to keep working on side projects and client work?
6:30 – We talk about some of Sam’s older projects.
Cheddar (which we compared to Whiteboard)
Shares
7:50 – Discussion about the difficulty selling apps, including Cheddar and Roon
Ghost.org
Ghost Acquires Roon
Roon’s open-source Ghost theme
11:15 – How do you balance freelancing with clients and building your own side projects?
Nothing Magical
12:10 – We dive a bit deeper into the challenges of building Whiskey – what’s your product philosophy?
iA Writer
18:45 – Sam shares a brilliant product development hack.
Example of the changelog process
22:33 – What does it take to design a text/markdown editor?
Whiskey App Icon on Dribbble
Louie Mantia
26:05 – Sam has built several photo apps; we dive into the process.
Tiiny
Kevin Rose
Marc Hemeon
Marc Hemeon’s blog post on Building Tiiny
A screenshot of Tiiny’s onboarding instructions
Sam on Github
Over
Aaron Marshall
37:40 – We chat about Sam’s motorcycle trip through South Africa
Sam’s public photostream
Sam’s Instagram
Aaron Marshall on Instagram
43:52 – Dan Cassaro for Deus
44:01 – Sam tells us about designing an onboarding experience in Litely
Litely
Litely was named one of Apple’s Best Apps of 2014
48:35 – Should you develop an app for equity over cash?
50:50 – Sam talks about his move from development to design. Can taste be learned?
Aaron Draplin Takes On a Logo Design Challenge
57:27 – We briefly chat about prototyping and the tools Sam uses.
Sketch
Sublime Text
http://www.designdetails.fm/episode-1-feat-sam-soffes/
