This is the sequence of pages you get when you try and download Skype using Google Chrome.

On the main Skype landing page select which platform you want to download for. In this case I was going for Windows.

I don’t want or need an upgraded account, so I click on the “get Skype” link.

This forces me to sign in or create an account before giving me the download. Oh well, I’d need to create an account anyway, may as well do it now. The form’s not very long either, and most of it is optional.

Slightly odd spam-filter verification, but whatever. I fill in the text from the box and click “create account”.

Oh bums, there’s been an error create the account on the web site. Still, Skype handily suggests that I can download the program and then create a new account from within it. Great! They even provide the download link. Let’s click that…

…and we get to – hey hang on, we’ve been here before! Yes, it turns out you are in a loop here. You can’t download Skype without an account, but the web page isn’t letting me create an account. Brilliant web page design, Skype.

(So, did you spot what the problem was? It’s that verification system of course. You can’t see their captcha in Google Chrome. Or Firefox. In desperation I eventually tried Internet Explorer. And on that page IE popped up saying that the security certificate for some page elements was out of date, and would I like to display them anyway? And on saying that yes I would like to view these dodgy elements, it turns out that it is the captcha. So the bit of the website designed to stop spam bots from creating dummy accounts is so insecure that at least two browsers won’t show it by default. Double brilliant web page design, Skype.)

This was something I really picked up on a couple of weeks ago when I had to take a couple of flights as I was coming back from holiday.

I’m assuming you all know what baggage carousels are. Certainly if you’ve ever checked luggage for a flight you will presumably have stood at one at the other end of your trip (unless you weren’t really that bothered about your luggage anyway).

For the benefit of those who’ve never had the sheer joy of experiencing the safest way to travel (and most tiresome way to spend the last hours of a vacation), here’s a picture that neatly includes the key elements.

The key thing about the baggage carousel is visibility. Passengers need to be able to see their luggage, so they can take it away, and gradually empty the thing. And what’s the best place for you to both see and pick up your baggage? Why, right next to the carousel of course.

Except, if everybody stands right next to it, suddenly your visibility goes isn’t so good, because there are now people to your sides blocking your view down the length of the carousel. And anybody standing back from the carousel at this point won’t be able to see anything at all, for the mass of bodies.

It struck me that it’s sort of a Prisoner’s Dilemma. Overall the best results for me are going to be if I stand next to the carousel – then I will either have great visibility and be close to the luggage (if everybody else stands back), or poor visibility and be close to the luggage (if everybody else stands close).

The worst result of all for me occurs if I stand back (no visibility, and having to walk to the luggage, if everybody else stands close), and even the “best case” for me there is just great visibility, though having to walk forward to grab my luggage.

So my self interest says I should stand as close to the carousel as I can, even though if everybody agreed to stand back behind the yellow line (like it bloody tells you to do anyway) we would all get the second best possible results and everyone would have a better and more pleasant experience.

Incidentally yes, I did think all of this while I was stood back from the carousel. Having already been awake for over twenty hours and having had a nine hour flight followed by another hour flight, I was in no mood to jostle my way forward and fight for a position amongst the annoying self-serving idiots that I had already be forced to endure at close proximity in a flying metal tube.

I hate flying.

Yes, I know it was only a couple of months ago that I last messed around with the look of Mainly About Games, but this time I’ve done a fair bit more.

For a while I’ve not been entirely happy with how it looked, and though the odd tweak here and there worked for a little while, I started asking myself questions. Like “why is it this shade of blue”, “why are there space invaders on it”, and “why are the columns random widths”. The answers were all pretty much “because it’s been like that for ages”.

So I decided to have a proper change around, and remake the theme using more actual good design process. Things like using a grid so that the columns are proper widths. Or counting the average number of words per line and making sure it’s an amount that doesn’t hurt your brain to read. Or picking a colour scheme that uses complimentary colours. Or having more deliberate use of space and dead space.

Possibly the hardest thing was deciding on a new logo. I’d already set my mind on getting rid of the old one, I thought it was a bit cliched. Pixels and Space Invaders. Taking a quick look through some other game related sites, these themes are used a lot. I bet none of those guys even worked on Space Invaders (I didn’t!)

The problem was finding another icon that says “video games”. There are a few that are instantly recognisable, but most (like the invaders) are specific to one game or series, and I didn’t really want to keep along those lines. Even a company like Apple has a hell of a time finding a simple icon that says “games” to people – just have a look at the mess of an icon they have created for the Game Center. In the end I settled on the idea of an arcade cabinet (also not entirely representative of what I do, but oh well!).

And hey, I got to try out making some vector art as well. I tried out a few packages, trying to create the graphic I wanted with each demo version. The only one I got any real progress with was Sketch. If you’re looking for a cheap vector app, you can get a trial from their website.

A round of feedback from my chums later, some quick compatibility testing on our other laptop (so hopefully it works ok for you – it seems to be slightly more resolution than browser dependant) and here we are.

Hope you like it!

“Gigantic space laser platform” is not much of a disguise.

It suddenly seemed so insane how serious everyone takes an industry whose goal is supposed to be entertainment.

From Team Meat’s postmortem of Super Meat Boy on Gamasutra.