July 23, 2008 | Papa Smith

Pattern Tap is alive

Thanks to all the awesome tips on getting B paci-free and diaper-free. I’ll be sure to let you know how it all goes over the next few months…whether you like it or not.

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite things around the web world: this adorable bag, these microwave tips (toasting nuts, who knew!?!), this silk jumpsuit, these amazing bentos, these salt & pepper shakers, this HAWT bedding for the boys, this print, and these earrings.

Moving away from my consumeristic obsessions and on to more important things…

Matthew’s pet project that he has been s-l-a-v-i-n-g over (aside from also working his rear off with Squared Eye) is now officially up and running. Check in out. Pass it on. In his words…

Pattern Tap is the name of the latest work from Squared Eye (my design shop).

Pattern Tap is inspiration for designers

Pattern Tap was built because I had accumulated over 700 images on flickr of different web interfaces I thought were useful to look at again, but always had trouble sorting through when I wanted to again.

Thus I worked with a great developer by the name of Chris Pollock to create our own tool that would help sort the best looking and most important interface design elements into easily sortable collections and sets.

We made it ridiculously usable!

By that, I mean that we put a lot of energy into making the app really easy for all kinds of designers to use for their own purposes. A designer can create a “set” easily and store any of the images they find in the tap as they see fit. Maybe they want to store images that help them think about better navigation? Maybe the designer found some images in Pattern Tap that are perfect inspiration for their next client project? Either way, its easy to set it up.

Maybe we’ll have a little passive income through this project.

I’m pretty sure I’ve invested over 300 hours into this project (all people involved), and thankfully most of its my time or barter time. One of the benefits that could come out of this project is the possibility of passive income through focused advertising. Focused advertising is limited to ads that are directly related to the interests or business needs of people that are using the site.

For those who aren’t designers

I’m looking for ways that the framework of this project might have other purposes. Someone mentioned collecting office furniture and design for inspiration. Some other folks have mentioned collecting images of hairstyles. If you have any ideas, feel free to throw them at me!