If you’ve never heard of Clayton Christensen, I suggest taking time to read his technology masterpiece, ‘The Innovator’s Dilema.’

You may remember a previous blog post I wrote about BackLitBox.com and their amazing illuminated picture frames. It’s a great product, I absolutely love mine.

After seeing a twitter buddy create a chalkboard wall of apps, it sparked an idea in my head that I couldn’t shake. After a short collaboration with the creator of BackLitBox, I’ve come up with a new application for these LED illuminated boxes.

App Icons.

Sure they’re not for everybody, but if you are in the business of making apps, there’s no greater way to showcase the symbols of your hard work, tireless branding, and company character than your own application icons.

Scott Jensen, a brilliant designer from Ender Labs in Salt Lake, graciously supplied the vector artwork to their amazing color schemes app, Onyx. With artwork in hand, the prototype box was quickly assembled. At first glance, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It is truly something that has to be seen in person. The only way to accurately capture the brilliance of these boxes digitally might be with some bracketed HDR techniques, but even then, the intensity might not be communicated. The material used for the icon print is actually not printed, it’s developed on a translucent film substrate, ideal for illuminated displays. It’s made just like a traditional photo, from exposed light. This production process yields levels of detail that are unheard of in traditional offset press and even digital printing processes. You can look as close as you want, you can’t see any halftone posterization or pixilation. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a hat tip to Scott for supplying such a detailed, colorful icon. There couldn’t be a better way to show off the color spectrum and vibrance that these boxes create than with the Onyx icon.

Right now, the site and online shop are being developed, and soon app developers will be able to submit their hi-res icon artwork files* and receive either 8″ or 10″ AppLitBoxes of their very own for display. They will look fantastic in design studios, agency lobbies, home offices, pretty much anywhere with a wall outlet.

I had the great pleasure of showing off two prototypes (an 8″ and 10″) to the folks up at Ender Labs on Friday. The reaction was unanimous. “Bad Ass”, “Holy Crap”, “Where do we order”, “Shut up and take my money” were among the responses. More importantly, they gave me some very valuable feedback, which will be incorporated into the product and the online shop. Can’t thank them enough. What a great group of creative, smart and talented guys. My only regret is that I wish I had more time to pick their brains and BS a bit about tech. Zach, Donald, Scott – you guys are the best!

There’s still a bit to be done before the site is live and taking orders:

• Working out pricing
• Acquiring hardware to daisy-chain boxes to one single AC adapter
• Finish and launch the online shop

Once these things are complete, an update will be pushed to twitter and all the usual channels. In the mean time, here’s a few photos I shot while at Ender to be used on the site. They’re great, but when you seen them in person, you’ll understand why a camera cannot capture the brilliance your eyes can.

** A quick note about submitting artwork for an AppLitBox **
Apple requires developers to submit an icon sized at 512px square. This size and resolution simply won’t fly in the print world. Hopefully the icon designer is aware of the constantly changing world of display resolutions on devices, and opts to create artwork in vector format (Thank you Scott!) or at least, using vector shape layers in Photoshop. This approach to icon design will be easily scalable to our printing needs and will provide the most crisp, way-beyond-pixel-perfect representation of your icon possible.

1. Objective-C for Absolute Beginners
   APress
   Link
2. Learning Objective-C 2.0
   Addison-Wesley – by Robert Clair
   Link
3. Programming iOS 4
   O’Reilly – Matt Neuburg
   Link
4. Graphics and Animation on iOS
   O’Reilly – Vandad Nahavandipoor
   Link

Oh yeah.

The iMac in my home office couldn’t cut it anymore. I had to have Xcode and Photoshop with me on the go. It turns out this little computer can handle everything I’ve thrown at it. If I need to render 3d, edit video, or watch 32 tabs of flash movies, my desktop will come in handy for that. The 11-inch Air is amazing. It crushes Photoshop CS5.5, with an average load time of just shy of 3 seconds. I’ve also been running Xcode without a hiccup, including some rather detailed XIB interfaces. I think it’s crashed only 2 or 3 times in 4 months, which by my standards is pretty decent for Xcode 4.2.

Outside of iOS development and design, the MacBook Air 11″ is without a doubt, the funnest computer I’ve ever owned. It’s small enough to carry with me anywhere, thanks to the InCase neoprene sleeve. I absolutely love this computer.

I’m pleased to say that somebody has created the perfect product, and made it better than I ever imagined. Faxon Moulder from Pleasant Grove, whom I have known from a local 4×4 club, has started up a neat little company called Backlitbox.com. The product is simple, clean and top notch. He makes illuminated picture frames directly from his customers’ photos. The detail in the images is tack sharp, and bursts into full color with the hundreds of tiny LED’s within the frame.

I had the chance to help Fax put together a promotional video for his boxes, in return for a custom box. I chose an image of a red fern, taken in Moab, Utah several years ago. The result is amazing. My family and friends can’t believe how clear and vivid the image quality is.

If you’re looking for a great holiday gift, you have to check out Backlitbox.com!

**December 19th Update**
Backlit Box #2 is here. This one turned out even better than the first in my opinion. I took this shot in Arches National Park a few years ago. It’s a two-minute exposure with star trails, one of my favorites.

Go get a backlit box!

I’ll add some higher quality photos, but for now, here’s a fast iPhone pic:

To recreate my simple method, start a new Empty Application project in Xcode, and paste the following code into the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method of the AppDelegate.h implementation file:

NSArray *familyNames = [UIFont familyNames];
for (NSString *familyNames in familyNames) {
   NSLog(@"Family: %s", [familyName UTF8String]);
   NSArray *fontNames = [UIFont fontNamesForFamilyName:familyName];
   for (NSString *fontName in fontNames) {
      NSLog(@"     Font: %s", [fontName UTF8String]);
   }
}

It doesn’t get any simpler. We’re making an array of objects filled with the default fontNames in the UIFont class, and outputting them to the console in list form.

Let me save you some time firing up Xcode and just click ‘Read More‘ to view them all.

 Family: Thonburi
       Font: Thonburi-Bold
       Font: Thonburi
 Family: Snell Roundhand
       Font: SnellRoundhand-Bold
       Font: SnellRoundhand-Black
       Font: SnellRoundhand
 Family: Academy Engraved LET
       Font: AcademyEngravedLetPlain
 Family: Marker Felt
       Font: MarkerFelt-Wide
       Font: MarkerFelt-Thin
 Family: Geeza Pro
       Font: GeezaPro-Bold
       Font: GeezaPro
 Family: Arial Rounded MT Bold
       Font: ArialRoundedMTBold
 Family: Trebuchet MS
       Font: TrebuchetMS
       Font: TrebuchetMS-Bold
       Font: TrebuchetMS-Italic
       Font: Trebuchet-BoldItalic
 Family: Arial
       Font: Arial-BoldMT
       Font: ArialMT
       Font: Arial-ItalicMT
       Font: Arial-BoldItalicMT
 Family: Marion
       Font: Marion-Regular
       Font: Marion-Bold
       Font: Marion-Italic
 Family: Gurmukhi MN
       Font: GurmukhiMN
       Font: GurmukhiMN-Bold
 Family: Malayalam Sangam MN
       Font: MalayalamSangamMN-Bold
       Font: MalayalamSangamMN
 Family: Bradley Hand
       Font: BradleyHandITCTT-Bold
 Family: Kannada Sangam MN
       Font: KannadaSangamMN
       Font: KannadaSangamMN-Bold
 Family: Bodoni 72 Oldstyle
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoOSITCTT-Book
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoOSITCTT-Bold
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoOSITCTT-BookIt
 Family: Cochin
       Font: Cochin
       Font: Cochin-BoldItalic
       Font: Cochin-Italic
       Font: Cochin-Bold
 Family: Sinhala Sangam MN
       Font: SinhalaSangamMN
       Font: SinhalaSangamMN-Bold
 Family: Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN
       Font: HiraKakuProN-W6
       Font: HiraKakuProN-W3
 Family: Papyrus
       Font: Papyrus-Condensed
       Font: Papyrus
 Family: Verdana
       Font: Verdana
       Font: Verdana-Bold
       Font: Verdana-BoldItalic
       Font: Verdana-Italic
 Family: Zapf Dingbats
       Font: ZapfDingbatsITC
 Family: Courier
       Font: Courier-Bold
       Font: Courier
       Font: Courier-BoldOblique
       Font: Courier-Oblique
 Family: Hoefler Text
       Font: HoeflerText-Black
       Font: HoeflerText-Italic
       Font: HoeflerText-Regular
       Font: HoeflerText-BlackItalic
 Family: Euphemia UCAS
       Font: EuphemiaUCAS-Bold
       Font: EuphemiaUCAS
       Font: EuphemiaUCAS-Italic
 Family: Helvetica
       Font: Helvetica-LightOblique
       Font: Helvetica
       Font: Helvetica-Oblique
       Font: Helvetica-BoldOblique
       Font: Helvetica-Bold
       Font: Helvetica-Light
 Family: Hiragino Mincho ProN
       Font: HiraMinProN-W3
       Font: HiraMinProN-W6
 Family: Bodoni Ornaments
       Font: BodoniOrnamentsITCTT
 Family: Apple Color Emoji
       Font: AppleColorEmoji
 Family: Optima
       Font: Optima-ExtraBlack
       Font: Optima-Italic
       Font: Optima-Regular
       Font: Optima-BoldItalic
       Font: Optima-Bold
 Family: Gujarati Sangam MN
       Font: GujaratiSangamMN
       Font: GujaratiSangamMN-Bold
 Family: Devanagari Sangam MN
       Font: DevanagariSangamMN
       Font: DevanagariSangamMN-Bold
 Family: Times New Roman
       Font: TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT
       Font: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT
       Font: TimesNewRomanPSMT
       Font: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalicMT
 Family: Kailasa
       Font: Kailasa
       Font: Kailasa-Bold
 Family: Telugu Sangam MN
       Font: TeluguSangamMN-Bold
       Font: TeluguSangamMN
 Family: Heiti SC
       Font: STHeitiSC-Medium
       Font: STHeitiSC-Light
 Family: Futura
       Font: Futura-Medium
       Font: Futura-CondensedExtraBold
       Font: Futura-CondensedMedium
       Font: Futura-MediumItalic
 Family: Bodoni 72
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoITCTT-BookIta
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoITCTT-Book
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoITCTT-Bold
 Family: Baskerville
       Font: Baskerville-SemiBoldItalic
       Font: Baskerville-Bold
       Font: Baskerville-Italic
       Font: Baskerville-BoldItalic
       Font: Baskerville-SemiBold
       Font: Baskerville
 Family: Chalkboard SE
       Font: ChalkboardSE-Regular
       Font: ChalkboardSE-Bold
       Font: ChalkboardSE-Light
 Family: Heiti TC
       Font: STHeitiTC-Medium
       Font: STHeitiTC-Light
 Family: Copperplate
       Font: Copperplate
       Font: Copperplate-Light
       Font: Copperplate-Bold
 Family: Party LET
       Font: PartyLetPlain
 Family: American Typewriter
       Font: AmericanTypewriter-CondensedLight
       Font: AmericanTypewriter-Light
       Font: AmericanTypewriter-Bold
       Font: AmericanTypewriter
       Font: AmericanTypewriter-CondensedBold
       Font: AmericanTypewriter-Condensed
 Family: AppleGothic
       Font: AppleGothic
 Family: Bangla Sangam MN
       Font: BanglaSangamMN-Bold
       Font: BanglaSangamMN
 Family: Noteworthy
       Font: Noteworthy-Light
       Font: Noteworthy-Bold
 Family: Zapfino
       Font: Zapfino
 Family: Tamil Sangam MN
       Font: TamilSangamMN
       Font: TamilSangamMN-Bold
 Family: DB LCD Temp
       Font: DBLCDTempBlack
 Family: Arial Hebrew
       Font: ArialHebrew
       Font: ArialHebrew-Bold
 Family: Chalkduster
       Font: Chalkduster
 Family: Georgia
       Font: Georgia-Italic
       Font: Georgia-BoldItalic
       Font: Georgia-Bold
       Font: Georgia
 Family: Helvetica Neue
       Font: HelveticaNeue-Bold
       Font: HelveticaNeue-CondensedBlack
       Font: HelveticaNeue-Medium
       Font: HelveticaNeue
       Font: HelveticaNeue-Light
       Font: HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold
       Font: HelveticaNeue-LightItalic
       Font: HelveticaNeue-UltraLightItalic
       Font: HelveticaNeue-UltraLight
       Font: HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic
       Font: HelveticaNeue-Italic
 Family: Gill Sans
       Font: GillSans-LightItalic
       Font: GillSans-BoldItalic
       Font: GillSans-Italic
       Font: GillSans
       Font: GillSans-Bold
       Font: GillSans-Light
 Family: Palatino
       Font: Palatino-Roman
       Font: Palatino-Bold
       Font: Palatino-BoldItalic
       Font: Palatino-Italic
 Family: Courier New
       Font: CourierNewPSMT
       Font: CourierNewPS-BoldMT
       Font: CourierNewPS-BoldItalicMT
       Font: CourierNewPS-ItalicMT
 Family: Oriya Sangam MN
       Font: OriyaSangamMN-Bold
       Font: OriyaSangamMN
 Family: Didot
       Font: Didot-Italic
       Font: Didot
       Font: Didot-Bold
 Family: Bodoni 72 Smallcaps
       Font: BodoniSvtyTwoSCITCTT-Book

Examples 1

Examples 2

And here’s my first one: