Back in the days of floppy disks and record players, computer terminals ruled over. Programs made to run in the terminal are not very intuitive or user-friendly. Now, however, with the rise of the mouse and much faster computers, GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) have become the new norm.

Creating a program with a UI is a much more involved process than creating a terminal application. The result is, however, a program that is far more user-friendly and easy to navigate. Despite having a background with web design and development, I have always been interested in the design and development of native UI’s. There are multiple ways to create user interfaces depending on the operating system that you are developing for and the programming language you are using.

Python

Tkinter

Probably the first thing that comes to the mind of a novice programmer when the topic of GUI’s comes up. That is not at all surprising, given it’s very simple to learn syntax and has small overhead. However, Tkinter is horribly old, with its first release being in 1991. Due to this, by default, it does reek of Windows 9.x. Still, this doesn’t stop many from using and loving it for its simplicity.

Kivy

Kivy will not likely be your first choice when developing a GUI application with Python. However, it stands out from the crowd by being one of the only cross-platform GUI libraries for Python designed with mobile/touch devices in mind.

C++

C++ with the Microsoft .Net framework is a perfect duo. If you are developing for Windows, it’s a no-brainer. C++ is a highly powerful and performant language that can be used for many purposes.

In the future, I would love to see more cross-platform libraries for building UIs that are not web-based. There is nothing like the feeling of a well-built native app.

Identity is important both online and in the real world. So much relies on others being able to recognize when something is made by a certain other person, this is further emphasized online when it is so easy for others to copy or pretend to be you. Therefor a personal identity is highly important.

Today I want to introduce a new Aidan Murray. No not a clone, it’s still me here behind the stories but a new personal style and online identity. This includes a personal logo, brand colors and other related graphics. These graphics are used in multiple places such as in emails and as the Favicon of this very page. Now about the designs themselves? Why don’t you take a look for yourself…

New Logo

For my brand, I want to keep a modern/futuristic design style in mind for all of the graphics. With that in mind, my new logo features a simple, almost minimal design that features my initials. This felt like a great way to develop a recognizable logo that would stand out from the crowd.