Journal

What is up with Flow?

I’ve had a few people over the past months contact me and ask what has been happening with Flow Well, we’re still working on it, but as one of the developers, Keeran, states on his blog:

While it is achievable to ship new products in a short amount of time, as we have seen with companies like 37Signals and Carson Systems, there are always going to be times, certainly in the early stages, where Real Paid Work must take priority.

Damn right, especially for a business which is only six months old.

Since returning from snowboarding a month ago, I’ve been consumed with Real Work and everything else, including the book, has been put to one side. Such is life and, as I’m learning, business.

That said, Flow is coming along and as I’m writing this, I’m working on the templates whilst a couple of guys at Beanlogic are working on the backend. It’s coming along. Slowly but surely.

Comments

Great to hear that you guys didn’t give up on it. I recognize the problem. I’m working on an own project too with some people, next to my design studio. But all the time paid design jobs get priority...it’s a shame.

Achtentachtig's Gravatar

Achtentachtig
Mon 19th Feb 2007
at 6:56 am

I’ve got about 5 projects that I want to develop for myself but clients keep paying me to ignore them…

Of course if I had a great book on design then I’d get through my workload faster ;)

Alun Rowe's Gravatar

Alun Rowe
Mon 19th Feb 2007
at 7:05 am

great - glad it’s still in the pipeline ... looking forward to it.  Whatever you do, don’t drop it entirely!

David Horn's Gravatar

David Horn
Mon 19th Feb 2007
at 7:51 am

I understand exactly what you mean!

Real Work has an uncanny ability to pull you away from a project you’re working on. I’ve been putting off a site restructuring for about 2 months now, thanks to Real Work. Of course, as long as it pays the bills.. ;-)

But I’m really looking forward to get Flow-ing.. :-)

Indranil's Gravatar

Indranil
Mon 19th Feb 2007
at 9:02 am

Glad to hear some news about Flow. And happy that you’re keeping the wolf from the door so that you keep it ticking over! I’m sure it’ll be a great product and worth the wait.

Owen Gregory's Gravatar

Owen Gregory
Tue 20th Feb 2007
at 6:57 am

Glad to see you didn’t give up on it. I can’t wait to try it out? Will we be getting any sneak previews or screen shots? Also, when is five steps coming out?

Zach Katkin's Gravatar

Zach Katkin
Wed 21st Feb 2007
at 6:57 am

I know the feeling. The false sense of security that Real Work brings tends to be addictive and has kept me from completing projects more often than not.

On a slightly unrelated note, I love the design for this site, well done! Beautifully minimal with excellent color use.

Steve's Gravatar

Steve
Thu 22nd Feb 2007
at 6:58 pm

I’m looking forward to it as well — excited to hear news about it.

Julian Schrader's Gravatar

Julian Schrader
Sun 25th Feb 2007
at 10:32 am

I am not a web guru, or CSS coder. I am a Graphic Designer with photographic tendancies.

I just wanted to say, that whilst I have been Blogging, looking at the huge amount of Blogs out there, from a design and typographic perspective…

Your Blog/Site is one of the cleanest, nicest, stylish I have seen. It is a joy to look at, easy to read and navigate.

I am glad the black/green is a good combination, as I have recently changed my color pallet on my rather antiquated Typepad blog. I get so frustrated with its lack of flexibility, plus my inability to design and construct what I know I can achieve had I the coding skills. Instead I have to accept the limitation of my skills and have a site that to me, stinks. I am a perfectionist, and when I cannot be in control of design then I suffer.

I am looking to combat this, by learning CSS and also moving to the Wordpress.org platfrom which I am hoping will allow me much greater flexibility.

I would very much like to however, start learning from a template that is close to being what I envisage. Enabling me to tinker and look at the structure, i prefer learning this way.

I have also looked at ExpressionEngine, but feel I will be totally overwhelmed with the learning curve.

I will be in contact soon, as I would like to ask you if as part of your services, you offer a sort of template-instant Blog design service which I would love you to do as you clearly have a superb talent.

Im sure praise is always welcome…

Graham Smith's Gravatar

Graham Smith
Mon 26th Feb 2007
at 1:46 am

Glad to hear it..

Snow bording again :D

Did you have snow?

I went in Jan with not much snow :(

Gabs's Gravatar

Gabs
Thu 1st Mar 2007
at 1:29 am

I noticed you linked to Billings 2. It looks like a nice app. Will Flow be comparable / do all that?

timfm's Gravatar

timfm
Fri 2nd Mar 2007
at 3:02 pm

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A picture of Mark BoultonI'm a graphic designer from near Cardiff in the UK. I've been a designer for over ten years now and primarily work on the web. I'm still partial to a bit of print every now and then though. I used to work for Agency.com in London as an Art Director before working as a Senior Designer for the BBC in sunny Cardiff. This was all before I took leave of my senses and formed my own design consultancy, Mark Boulton Design Ltd.

I've got a thing about grids and typography and occasionally ramble on about them to anyone who will listen.

If you're after simple, clean and effective web design; let me know.