Like many today, though I grew up in an analog era, my entire professional life has been spent thinking about, designing and building digital products. Entire industries are being redesigned on the fly -- whether they like it or not. As a designer who can help define and shape these massive changes, I'm incredibly grateful. This is exactly why I do what I do and couldn't imagine doing anything else.
Since 1998, I've had the opportunity to work on a variety of products and platforms in vastly different creative environments - from co-founding my own startup, dodgeball.com (sold to Google in 2005) to leading a team of 14 amazing designers at a large digital agency. I've worked closely with a variety of startups and clients including Target, foursquare, Panasonic, HBO, Nokia, freshdirect, Vevo, Verizon Wireless and CBS. These vastly different experiences have shaped my view of what Tinker can be:
- I strongly believe that the energy and necessary efficiency that drives startups can help evolve the creative consulting model to be what it needs to be going forward.
- I partner with companies large and small to drive experience vision and product development in a way that takes advantage of the technology available to us today and accounts for a new generation of people that are inherently mobile and social.
This approach to creative product development is the spirit that drives Tinker Studio.
If all this jives with how you see the world, and you'd like to work together, get in touch at hello@tinkerstudio.com.
Tinker is led by alex rainert, who's happily based in Brooklyn, NY.
I regularly write about innovation in design at everydayux.com (grab the feed). Check out some of the recent posts below on the left. More frequently you can find me on Twitter (follow @arainert). It's the best way to get a good sense of how I see design and the role it plays in today's world of product development.
- NY Jets’ new stats dashboard makes for beautiful (and useful) real-time infoporn
The moment I saw screenshots of Roundarch’s work on the real-time stats dashboard for the New York Jets’ new stadium I was smitten and not just because I’m a huge fan of the Jets (as well as Rex Ryan’s leadership model). I love how they’ve taken really complex information that spans different categories (food, parking, [...]
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- PlayStation Controller Button Labels Demystified
Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had [...]
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- Flipboard captures something we lost along the way
There are a lot of reasons Flipboard is special and they absolutely deserve all the attention (and melted servers) they’re getting. I suspect that many folks don’t even realize the potential they have to really have a profound effect on how people consume content going forward, particularly as we continue to find ourselves with more [...]
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- Inception Visualized = drool-worthy
Awesome awesome visualization of Inception. The more I think about and talk about the movie with others, the more I need to see it again. (via Inception Infographic by ~dehahs)
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- IDEO, takes some cues from Apple and delivers an ATM designed from the user up for BBVA
In 2007, Spanish bank BBVA engaged IDEO to rethink the way their ATMs worked. In 2009 the fruits of that labor began to see the light of day and the companies have done a really great job highlighting their insights and subsequent designs. The average ATM experience is nothing special so the opportunity to innovate [...]
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- Just b/c Earl turned out to be a total puss doesn't mean we don't get to wake up to 80 degree weather tomorrow, right? Bring on the Fall!
- Check out these Flinstones-style pork chops! @thepiggery really outdid themselves this week. http://flic.kr/p/8xSMhH
- @stenro @mikeodea @sarahmcsimmons I found it to be not remarkable enough to really recommend. You hit up Lucali in Carroll Gardens yet?
- Hold up! Calexico's here too? It's our duty to sample the goods while we're here. (@ Calexico Carne Asada Cart) http://4sq.com/bdciyO
- Holy smokes, this park is great! (@ Brooklyn Bridge Park - Pier 1 w/ @superkb) http://4sq.com/dgczIB
- Informative infographic on how student loans may not be the "good debt" we're trained to think it is: http://j.mp/che2OY
If you've got a project that you think might be a good fit, you can reach me the following ways: