Punchkick

· 9 minute read

Five coworkers chatting on couches and chairs around a coffee table in a bright office with angled windows

Punchkick is a mobile-focused research, design, and software development product studio based in Chicago. See my experience there in my work history.

From 2014 to 2016, I was the primary writer and editor for its website and blog. We had an aggressive content strategy back then, churning out thinkpieces on the state of the technology industry hoping to drive organic traffic.

While the content was ostensibly intended to drive leads seeking custom mobile software development, given that we were publishing 3–5 posts a week, I was able to also use it as an outlet for my ideas, and in some ways as a continuation of the tech-focused content from earlier blogs.

Most of the pages have been taken down since Punchkick was acquired, but this day, some of my best writing on Apple, software, and technology in general was published on this silly little corner of the web.

Archive

2017

2016

A photograph of someone using a Microsoft Surface device with a stylus in tablet orientation.
Pixel and Surface are turning the electronics industry on its head
Even with the Cubs winning the World Series and national politics inspiring breathless headlines, perhaps one of the strangest things about 2016 has been the transformation of some…
An image of an iPhone 6s resting on a wooden table, running the Apple Music app in iOS 10. The home screen of Apple Music shows the new, bolder headers that are central to the new iOS 10 design aesthetic.
Apple’s new design style in iOS 10 is a statement on accessibility
When iOS 7 was first previewed to the public at WWDC 2013, it seemed Apple was obsessed with extending its devices’ thinness to its software. Fonts were ultralight,…

2015

Image of Apple Music running on various devices, including a MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch, and iPhone.
Apple Music’s design is broken
Apple’s new streaming service launched to massive hype this summer, bringing a new Beats Music–infused flavor to Apple’s iTunes-centric media ecosystem. Apple Music transforms how Apple approaches media…
Screenshot of typeface documentation for the San Francisco display font, showing sizes and alignment guides.
What’s in a font? Working with San Francisco
Because the Apple Watch display is so small, and because there are so few items that can be economically displayed within Watch apps, the elements that designers have…

2014

Image of a Nexus 6 device sitting on a table next to a pen, a notepad, and a bowl with kiwi, figs, and almonds.
More Android than Android
Android’s new poster child
An image of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg presenting at a conference, with a large visualization of the Facebook social graph behind him.
Facebook forever
Until as recently as last year, Mark Zuckerberg thought of Facebook as a web company. Now, he says, mobile is the company’s “big focus” moving forward. In this…
Illustration of Material Design components across a laptop, tablet, and phone form factor in neon green and purple colors.
Material design for consumer apps
In recent years, Google has put an increased emphasis on the design and consistency of its products’ web and mobile interfaces. At this year’s I/O developer conference, the…