Delicious Monster co-founder joins Apple interface team

[AppleInsider]

Mike Matas, the young man behind Delicious Library's stunning graphical user interface, has accepted a position at Apple Computer where he will have the privilege of working on the development of the Mac OS X user interface.

In a posting to his blog on Thursday, Matas, 19, formally acknowledged that he would relocate from his native home in Seattle, Wash. to join the Mac maker in Silicon Valley. "I am moving to down to Cupertino, CA where I will be designing user interfaces and drawing icons for Mac OS X at Apple," the designer said.

In joining Apple, Matas will depart from Delicious Monster, a company he co-founded with Wil Shipley only a year ago. The first product of the company, Delicious Library, billed itself as "The greatest media cataloging software in the world," and instantly became a runway success.

Written by Shipley and graphically orchestrated by Matas, Delicious Library generated a $54,000 profit in its first day of sales last year with no formal advertising. Since then the software has moved on to win several awards and generate the company "a small fortune in its first six months," according to a presentation made by Shipley at this year's Apple developer conference.

It was also at the developers conference that Delicious Library took 1st place at the Apple Design Awards for 'Best Mac OS X User Experience' and runner up for 'Best Product New to Mac OS X."

"In the near term his leaving won't have much effect on Delicious Monster as a company," Shipley said of Matas in an interview with the DrunkenBlog. "We still have the same people answering e-mail and doing the website and running the store and helping write our software."

Despite Matas' departure, Delicious Monster will proceed with plans to release Delicious Library 2.0. The major update has been on the drawing board since the release of version 1.0, and in development since the release of version 1.5, Shipley said. He'll be working off designs created by Matas in completing the project.

Prior to forming Delicious Monster, both Matas and Shipley were employees of The Omni Group, which Shipley co-founded and helped lead for ten years. The software company originally developed software for the NeXTSTEP platform and now creates applications for Mac OS X. It was there that Shipley and Matas formed a relationship, Matas squeezing in hours around his high school curriculum.

"He's going to be on a team of really talented interface designers, so for him this is a great opportunity to grow and it's also an amazing chance for him to really influence the entire industry," Shipley said of Matas. "He was always able to challenge me and keep me thinking, and I think I've done some of my best work with him."

You can see a sample of Mike's graphical work at MikeMatas.com.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Matvei]

wasn't he a big poster here before or am i mistaking him for someone else?

had quite a bit of trouble with spelling at that time if I recall.

Anyhow, good luck to him.

[Anders]

Hmm. Good to see the boy is doing fine. But I hope his spelling have improved </Granny voice>

[Jambo]

Originally posted by Matvei
wasn't he a big poster here before or am i mistaking him for someone else?

had quite a bit of trouble with spelling at that time if I recall.

That's Mike

[Anders]

CONFORMED

He was Michaelm8000 on the boards. Try make a search for him.

[ZO]

Gret giong MM!!!!!

[Placebo]

Oh my gdo. I knue he hda it ni him.

GREAT GOING MIKE!

[hmurchison]

I find this kind of odd.

Working for Apple is a dream for many but Apple doesn't pay particularly well and Mike goes from being a President to one member of a team. I guess the thing is can you derive the same pleasure working for an iconic company like Apple that you could fostering the growth of the company you co-founded?

We'll know soon enough. Great job Michael!! We will always be your "peapole" here!!

[nathan22t]

Put him to work on a new mail icon.
And listen to him when he asks for more consistency.
Hopefully Leopard is better in the GUI department because of his contributions.

[BuonRotto]

Originally posted by hmurchison
I find this kind of odd. <snip>

He's young. I think it makes sense to try a lot of different places out sooner than later. Remember, he's going to be learning from the other folks at Apple at least as much as they learn from him.

[NOFEER]

why hire someone probably at big bucks for icons, he will develope interfaces for new apple products, vpod,home entertainment server/ hub. more goodies for us maybe for os 10.5 for mactel hmmmmm

[rok]

Originally posted by hmurchison
I find this kind of odd.

Working for Apple is a dream for many but Apple doesn't pay particularly well and Mike goes from being a President to one member of a team. I guess the thing is can you derive the same pleasure working for an iconic company like Apple that you could fostering the growth of the company you co-founded?

We'll know soon enough. Great job Michael!! We will always be your "peapole" here!!

nice to see we can all be happy for michael's happiness.

i dunno. it really depends on what kind of "dent in the world" mike wants to make. one could say that designing an interface for arguably millions around the world, when you take a lot of pride in your work (as mike should... he's fantastic), well, that's an opportunity not many could pass up.

hey mike, i know you have to turn in your AppleInsider membership registration at the door at 1 Infinite Loop, but try to remember some of us down here as we try to decipher icons that get leaked from your desktop (you just left your computer unattended for that one second...)

[nagromme]

Nice icons on his site!

I bet Apple saw one MORE UI style they liked that wasn't already in OS X and thought they'd add it to the mix

[sunilraman]

IMHO mike matas @ delicious and people like dave B @ iconfactory are one of the most talented UI designers out there. And they've got the energy and creativity to be able to continue to pump out some mad icons.

I'm happy for mike, at 19, getting into Apple interface team is awesome, no doubt they were suitably impressed, made an offer he couldn't refuse, and sealed the deal sometime around the bruhaha at WWDC ’05.

California law if i am not wrong still stipulates "at will" employment so if he feels things are not fitting in at Apple, he can always go back to Delicious anytime, and he's still young, so it's all cool.

[iShawn]

His blog seems very legible.

[sunilraman]

Originally posted by nagromme
Nice icons on his site!

I bet Apple saw one MORE UI style they liked that wasn't already in OS X and thought they'd add it to the mix

Apple UI has become a bit 'schizophrenic' lately, albeit is still a stellar example of modern user interface design.

I think that if Apple wants to blend a fresh look while still maintaining some consistency they need to have some sort of 'evolution plan'. that means... umnmm lost train of thought, just got a package in the mail... YEAH !!!!

*runs off*

[Mac The Fork]

It's inspirational to have seen the progression from his awkward first attempts to the level of skill he has attained in a few short years. I've seen other such developments, and the common element is perseverance. His success is the product of a process of diligent refinement.

[sunilraman]

Originally posted by Mac The Fork
It's inspirational to have seen the progression from his awkward first attempts to the level of skill he has attained in a few short years. I've seen other such developments, and the common element is perseverance. His success is the product of a process of diligent refinement.

Really? I thought (edit: assumed, i havent seen any of his early work) he was really talented from the get go. Hmm.. fork, maybe you're right. maybe I should NOT give up so easily on my stuff.

edit2: any links to his older work? i'll check out his blog...

[Frank777]

Well done Mike. Congratulations.

[dahacouk]

Wow! Apple has an "interface team"?!?!?!?!?!?... :-(

First, OS X is great BUT...

OS X interface is getting so inconsistent it's almost becoming a joke... I want to be able to choose the theme (albeit a choice of plain or metal) and the font size (albeit only one typeface) and I want this built in! Reasons...

Safari bookmark bar has grey lettering on grey background. Really bad for one's eyes. Let me have black on white please. Also, I want the font bigger.

Resizing an application's interface font is done differently in all applications - or not at all. This needs to be the same method in each app. Standardise! The fact that you can't do this is ridiculous. Font sizes in some applications are so small. I'm not talking about theme-ing here, Mr Jobs, just the ability to read information on my 23" LCD!

10.5 may have resolution independent technology but this wont address the issue I am talking about. The widget sizes are OK. But the fonts are too small. For example I want to set a minimum font system wide of 18.

I really hope we see some consistency across all apps and a little bit of user font size configuration in 10.5!

Cheers Daniel

[rok]

mike is about the only person i have seen who, as steve would say, "gets it" with regards to what steve is trying to do with the apple interface. steve doesn't like... no, he HATES user interface "guidelines." steve attends the school of "i'll know it when i see it. why can't any of YOU see it?!?!" and i believe (and mike, feel free to blush when you read this) that matas is the "johnny ive" that steve has been looking for in software interface.

but mike, try not to bust out laughing when steve comes to your door at 4 a.m., soaked to the bone (even though it's not raining), holding a sunflower and saying "i just had a GREAT idea for iTunes 7! here, take a hit of this..."

[grabberslasher]

Originally posted by rok
mike is about the only person i have seen who, as steve would say, "gets it" with regards to what steve is trying to do with the apple interface. steve doesn't like... no, he HATES user interface "guidelines." steve attends the school of "i'll know it when i see it. why can't any of YOU see it?!?!" and i believe (and mike, feel free to blush when you read this) that matas is the "johnny ive" that steve has been looking for in software interface.

but mike, try not to bust out laughing when steve comes to your door at 4 a.m., soaked to the bone (even though it's not raining), holding a sunflower and saying "i just had a GREAT idea for iTunes 7! here, take a hit of this..."

Bahahahahaha



Well done Mike! :wub:

[a_greer]

Originally posted by sunilraman
Really? I thought (edit: assumed, i havent seen any of his early work) he was really talented from the get go. Hmm.. fork, maybe you're right. maybe I should NOT give up so easily on my stuff.

edit2: any links to his older work? i'll check out his blog...

A lot of people who are tallented from the get-go fail, it is how you can master your tallent.

A man may be a gifted carpenter, but if he hasn't built a house before, there is a bit of learning to do...

luck is 1%talent, 49%perspiration and 50%preperation

[Anders]

Originally posted by a_greer
tallented

[MacCrazy]

Originally posted by rok
mike is about the only person i have seen who, as steve would say, "gets it" with regards to what steve is trying to do with the apple interface. steve doesn't like... no, he HATES user interface "guidelines." steve attends the school of "i'll know it when i see it. why can't any of YOU see it?!?!" and i believe (and mike, feel free to blush when you read this) that matas is the "johnny ive" that steve has been looking for in software interface.

Hardly, Mike's designs are tacky to say the least and Ive is minimalism - the opposite ends of the scale.

[Bronxite]

Originally posted by MacCrazy
Hardly, Mike's designs are tacky to say the least and Ive is minimalism - the opposite ends of the scale.

Ive was hardly a minimalist, Apple's design has only turned that way in the last few years and if you have noticed Ive is hardly in the forefront anymore and rarely takes credit for new hardware

[sunilraman]

Originally posted by MacCrazy
Hardly, Mike's designs are tacky to say the least and Ive is minimalism - the opposite ends of the scale.

hmm, i think "tacky" is a bit harsh. i'll refrain from any comments about blue lights in your pc case

[dr. zoidberg]

Originally posted by Anders

tall-ended perhaps?

[the cool gut]

Originally posted by Anders
CONFORMED

He was Michaelm8000 on the boards. Try make a search for him.

Nice job in "outing" him. This will only ensure that him and Mr. Jobs gets off on the right foot.

[sunilraman]

Originally posted by the cool gut
Nice job in "outing" him. This will only ensure that him and Mr. Jobs gets off on the right foot.

heh. finally we actually got an AppleInsider actually on the inside now

[Gene Clean]

He ain't no AppleInsider no more I'll grant you that

[MacCrazy]

Originally posted by Bronxite
Ive was hardly a minimalist, Apple's design has only turned that way in the last few years and if you have noticed Ive is hardly in the forefront anymore and rarely takes credit for new hardware

Ive may have used bold colours for the original iMac and curved plastic but the essence of the design was similar to the Bauhaus movement: form follows function. Incidentally Ive took the credit for the PowerBook, PowerMac, iPod and iMac - all minimalist and all new!

Originally posted bu sunilraman
hmm, i think "tacky" is a bit harsh. i'll refrain from any comments about blue lights in your pc case

Bit confused by your post - the Mac OS has been getting more curvy and translucent and less minimalist - but Mike's icons are truly tacky. Of course this is only opinion.