Introduction to this Blog

Written on July 22, 2007 by Avand Amiri. Takes about a minute to read.

Throughout my life, I’ve always had a knack for design. As a kid, I grew up in a house surrounded by fine art and lots of art classes. In my teens, I spent my Saturdays at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. However, along the way, I also feel in love with technology. I love computers, gadgets, iPhones, the internet, and especially web design.

So throughout my day to day trials and tribulations, I come across things that pique my interest. Design and usability flaws that are so minor that most people steam right over them. Some might call them insignificant, but I believe it’s important to be picky. It’s what ultimately separates the wheat from the chafe.

Simple things like why a refrigerator ice dispenser doesn’t revert back to “Water” after a few minutes of inactivity? Why North Face stores don’t have a coat racks? Why a brand new OS might have a wonderful animation library of fades and shadows but then abruptly blink to life when waking up. Why certain applications are huge successes, and others fall to the curb?

These are all questions that interest me, and that I hope to explore with this blog. The theme has a long chain to roam on but will stay within the intersection of design and technology, with a few usability and user experience tangents along the way.

I hope you enjoy it,

Avand

Thanks for reading! I'm Avand.

I’ve been working on the web for over a decade and am passionate about building great products.

My last job was with Airbnb, where I focused on internal products that helped teams measure the quality of the software they were building. I also built internal tools for employees to stay more connected, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, I was lead engineer at Mystery Science, the #1 way in which science is taught in U.S. elementary school classroms. For a while, I also taught with General Assembly, teaching aspiring developers the basics of front-end web development.

I was born in Boston, grew up in Salt Lake City, and spent many years living in Chicago. Now, I call San Francisco my home and Mariposa my home away from home.

I enjoy the great outdoors and absolutely love music and dance. Cars have been an lifelong obsession of mine, especially vintage BMWs and Volkswagens. I’m the proud owner of a 2002 E-250 Sportsmobile van, and he and I have enjoyed many trips to beautiful and remote parts of the West Coast to create good vibes.

What can I do for you?

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