An interview with AisleOne's Antonio Carusone

Other than working on AisleOne and The Grid System, you work in what many would call a traditional, Madison Avenue advertising agency in a design and usability group. How do you think traditional advertising and communication agencies are responding to the changes in marketing communications that we’ve seen over the past few years, and how are Ogilvy coping with digital?

Traditional agencies are changing a great deal. They’re finally realizing that online is the future for them so they’re taking it seriously. More and more of their business is moving away from TV and print and into the online world and they’re shifting their agencies accordingly. Ogilvy for example has a UX group, which I’m a part of, that focuses strictly on site and usability design. The industry is changing.

When did you start AisleOne, and why?

I started AisleOne in March of 06 as my own personal inspirational gallery. I posted all kinds of things that inspired me. No on really read the thing, it was just a place for me to store all of this great stuff that I was finding.

You’re in the middle of redesigning AisleOne. What has made you decide to redesign the site now, and how is it going?

Historically, I’ve updated the design every 6 months to a year, this current version lasting over a year now. My knowledge and skills in design keep evolving so I always find problems with my old design that I want to improve upon.

The new design is moving rather slow, I haven’t had much time to really work it out but I do have an idea in place. The new design is being designed for a 1280px wide screen. 1024 is old news. I’m also focusing on some great keyboard navigation features. I personally love key navs and think they provide a better viewing experience. I’m working with Emil Olsson of TypeNeu, he’s handling all the sweet Wordpress programming. He’s built an excellent prototype.

Tell us more about The Grid System and what you set out to achieve by launching it?

A lot of designers either don’t want to be bothered with grids or simply don’t understand them, so I created The Grid System as a platform to educate all types of designers on the values of using a grid. I’ve received a great response so far and the readership keeps growing each day. I plan to add more useful content and features very soon.

On Twitter you recently announced that you and Duane King of BBDK have been approached to produce a book on grid systems. Can you tell us more about it?

We’re currently finalizing the last details with Laurence King Publishing. They’re a great group of people and we’re excited as hell to be working with them on this. Also, we’ve been able to commission a grid legend to write the foreword. More on that soon!

You are involved with the Thinking for a Living platform that Duane King talked about in his siteInspire interview. How did you get involved with the project, and can you tell us anymore about the exciting developments due soon?

I met Duane through email and he immediately made an impression on me. At the time TFAL was just getting off the ground. The booklet was out and the site had just launched. I loved what he and BBDK we’re doing with it and I wanted to be a part of it. Lucky me they agreed! Since then other brilliant people like Frank Chimero and Ian Coyle have joined the network and it’s really going to be something special. The Grid System and AisleOne are part of the TFAL network and we have a few sites planned out that will launch very soon. TFAL is also getting a major re-design that’s going to mind-blowing. Can’t wait.

What are your top three websites that you look towards for design inspiration or for thought leadership in design (apart from siteInspire, obviously…)?

Thinking for a Living is definitely one of them. When it comes to thought leadership it would definitely have to be Frank Chimero. The guy is so smart and talented that it scares the hell out of me, but in a good way. For straight up design inspiration it’s hard to name only 3, there are so many that I love, but some are 80 Magazine, Swiss Legacy, FormFiftyFive, Swiss Miss, Canadian Design Resource, ISO50, and TypeNeu.

Who do you look up to in the web/interaction design community that you haven’t met yet but would really like to go for a beer with?

Some of the people that I admire, Khoi Vinh and Tina Eisenburg, I’ve already met. Both are awesome. Jason Santa Maria is definitely someone I respect and I’m actually meeting up with him next month. Would love to meet Mark Boulton and Naz Hamid one day. I think Your Majesty does amazing interactive work, but I know those guys. Firstborn has always impressed me.

— Posted on October 21st, 2009 by Daniel in: Interview

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