Designed by Humans

What makes a beautiful app interface, a stunning icon, or that little bit of UI magic that shows the care poured into the design process? Our returning guest is Gedeon Maheux, co-founder of Icon Factory, who joins Jae and James to talk about how human design will always beat out generative AI and how the latter is having a substantial impact on their business. Do you have a favourite app design, or maybe an icon that always gives you a certain feeling? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server (https://discord.gg/VTEG3sAvan) . If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page (https://ko-fi.com/crossedwires) . Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. (https://ires.net/backblaze) Episode Links • Mastodon Links: • Jae: [email protected] (https://mastodon.me.uk/@jae) • James: [email protected] (https://mastodon.me.uk/@jsbilsbrough) • Gedeon: [email protected] (https://mastodon.social/@gedeonm) • IconFactory: [email protected] (https://iconfactory.world/@Iconfactory) • IconFactory (https://iconfactory.world/@Iconfactory) • Louis Mantia's Blog (https://lmnt.me/blog/the-talk-show.html) • Previous Appearances by Gedeon: • Can You Hear Me - iPhone 16 Event (https://podcast.crossedwires.net/episodes/can-you-hear-me-2) • Weaving a Tapestry (https://podcast.crossedwires.net/episodes/tapestry) • A Good Day to Podcast (https://podcast.crossedwires.net/episodes/trektech) • Ollie, Space Karen, and an API (https://podcast.crossedwires.net/episodes/ollie) Chapter Times 1. 00:00:04: Introductions 2. 00:07:17: The State of the IconFactory 3. 00:16:36: App and Icon Design 4. 00:27:22: Designing for Liquid Glass 5. 00:46:26: Icon Variety 6. 00:52:51: More Than Just Icons 7. 01:13:10: Closing Thoughts Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/RoccoW/Weeklybeats_2014/Ace_of_Clubs)