Johann's Online Notebook
Home / Blog / Weekend in Shenzhen 2026/06/08 #personal My wife and I spent the weekend in Shenzhen and I used the trip as an excuse to test out two things I've been excited about: the new Halide Mark III on my iPhone and my Fujifilm GFX 100S . We spent most of our time in the 南山区 (Nanshan) area, which has become our go-to part of Shenzhen. Coffee was, as always, a highlight. We visited Root & Loop…
Home / Blog / WWDC 2026 — Apple's Big AI Moment 2026/06/07 #personal As I'm writing this it's less than 24 hours until Apple's annual developer conference starts into its 2026 edition. Apple is expected to finally deliver on its promises it made years ago to turn the technology underpinning all modern LLMs into actual products and integrate those deeply into its various operating systems. A few…
When OpenAI announced ChatGPT Atlas (their AI-enabled browser that can interact with web pages) I was curious but skeptical. The demos looked impressive, but like many new AI features, I wasn't sure if it would solve any real problems I had. Then I ran into a perfect use case: testing a bot interface with more than 40 questions . OpenAI's Atlas browser. The problem For work I was working on a…
After looking at some big third-party apps experimenting with Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language in their UI, I wanted to dedicate a follow-up post to a few indie developers. Indie apps are usually more willing to embrace new platform conventions early so I was excited to see what ideas they have already had the chance to implement over the summer. Here are some standout examples: Tot (by…
When Apple unveiled its new design language Liquid Glass at WWDC this year, many people argued it would be largely ignored by big third-party developers. After all, most of those developers (read: major companies) already have their own well-established design systems that they try to use across platforms like the web, Android, and Windows. So why would they suddenly conform to Apple’s new Liquid…
While using my MacBook this morning I randomly felt like sharing some of my favorite macOS menu bar utilities I use all the time. So here are three quick recommendations: Online Check by Sindre Sorhus Online Check can't fix your bad internet connection but what it does is almost as useful: It notifies you the second your internet drops out or comes back online again. It doesn't sound like much but…
There is no doubt that language is central to almost any user experience. Regardless of how well an interface may be designed, if the user who interacts with it does not understand the language that interface is displayed in that is probably a non-starter (and iconography can only take you so far after all). But if language is so vital to the user experience, here's a question for you: Have you…
Welcome back to "Fixing Things", my mini-series where I present small UX/UI-hiccups and how to fix them. This third installment is about a literal rounding error. What triggered me to write about this was the Genki Sushi app on iOS. Genki Sushi - for those of you who are not familiar with it - is a chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants active in Asia and some parts of the US. In the last few…
Welcome to the first installment of "Fixing things", my new semi-regular mini-series where I'm planning to showcase and try to suggest fixes for those little UX/UI hiccups we come across in our everyday use of technology. I want to keep each entry in this mini-series as concise and to the point as possible so I can't use the excuse that it "would take too much time to write a blog post about every…
In my last blog entry I talked a bit about the idea of not getting too used to the tools you are using for your work and to remember to mix it up once in a while. Well, as it turns out that was perfect timing because today I am going to start a new experiment. One of the tools I spent the most time working with in the last year or two definitely is Figma. Figma is a great tool for anyone doing…
As a UI/UX generalist I spend a good amount of my time working with a set of cutting edge tools that continue to change in some way or another every single day. The reasons for these changes are manyfold. Some new tools pop up all the time (recently it's mostly ones doing something with AI), existing tools get updates with new features (lately also mainly centered around AI), some tools get bought…
There are a number of design principles in the field of UI/UX that have engrained themselves so deep into my mind I can't help but notice when a design violates them. One of those principles is "Show, don't tell". To me this principle means that a good user interface should know when it is necessary to tell the user something explicitly. The flip side of this is that it should also know when to…
From the outset 2025 has all the potential to be a really bad year for the world. I don't think I can or want to list all of the factors that lead me (and probably most of you?) to this conclusion but I think the big ones should be clear to anyone who has been following the news at all this past year. But this post is not about how bad things might get. Instead I want to focus on the only thing I…
It's almost the end of the year again and as I'm writing this I'm already packing my bags for my flight to spend Christmas with family and friends back in Europe. 2024 coming to an end also means that I have lived in HK for another year. My wife and I moved here in 2022 and it turned out to be a great decision for both of us. We are both really appreciating being able to explore, learn about and…
I have written about my experience with using different mapping apps before. When I travelled to South Korea last year, I had to switch to using KakaoMap for a week because Google Maps is not really available in South Korea. Let's just say it didn't go well... Since then I've sticked to GoogleMaps as my main mapping app of choice and had no reason to switch since. That was until last weekend, when…
This is just a short rant about one of the worst UI changes Apple made as part of their Photos.app redesign in iOS 18. Please take a look at the following simulator screenshots. The thing you will probably notice right away is that the image is way smaller on the second one. The reason for this is that the controls at the top and bottom of the screen are no longer overlayed. As a result the image…
I upgraded my phone last Friday, swapping my beloved purple iPhone 12 mini for a new iPhone 16 Pro (in the much more boring natural titanium color). Generally, I always try to skip a few phone generations and "only" buy a new one every 3 to 4 years or so (and I won't go into the story how the life of my iPhone X tragically got cut short by an accidental rollercoaster ride in the washing machine…
After documenting my current desk setup with the previous post today I also want to update my 'everyday carry' with this post. As I am mostly working from home these days this is really more like my 'occasional carry' - the stuff I take with me every other day or so when I end up spending half a day in a co-working space or a cafe to get some stuff done outside the house. The bag - Ucon Acrobatics…
The website relaunch seemed like as good a time as any to document my updated desk setup. Here we go: The desk - EKOBOR I-Mini Standing Desk I got this desk late last year and I am very happy with it. EKOBOR was the only brand that I could find in Hong Kong offering powered standing desks with such a narrow width as I needed (turns out HK apartments can be quite small, who knew?). I use this desk…
When you're reading this I have actually managed to successfully relaunch my website. Welcome to my new personal space on the internet! Why though? This relaunch was actually motivated by a few different factors: First of all I want to thank Louie Mantia for his wonderful article on 'how to make a damn website' . Reading this piece motivated me to switch from my previous website which was hosted…