Bill Buxton, the great Microsoft UX designer wrote me a nice note out of the blue one day. Needless to say, I was blown away:
Dear Gary,
I just stumbled across your blog and had to drop you a note. I love your drawings from almost every perspective — imagination, whimsy, depth, technique, … Just really nice work. You just made my day (week?).
Thanks for sharing them! Any time we overlap somewhere, I’d love to buy you a beer. J
All the best.
Bill Buxton
Tangible moments of connection like this, with people you admire, fuel your excitement to persist on your chosen path. I had also seen him talk at Siggraph and loved his description of his favorite tangible interface — a whale bone carved to reflect the coastline of Nova Scotia (i think). Even if it was pitch black in a storm, given its tactile UI, you could still run your finger over the edge and locate your port of call.
To thank him, I worked up and sent him the cartoon below.
