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“The truth is that most everyone has plenty of ideas that could work out to be great businesses. The kicker is most often the right execution, that they’d be responsible for anyway, at the right time, which is almost impossible to predict. The value of The Perfect Idea is very small indeed.”
- David Heinemeier Hansson, There’s No Room for The Idea Guy -
mrgan: The Panic Status Board - one of the things I’ve been working on lately. Read Cabel’s writeup! This is a thing of pure beauty. We’re already seeing how we can do something similar at Ext.
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How to present designs to a client:
Gavin Elliott reviews the ways to present designs to a client (browser comp, flat, via a service, etc.) but then also goes a step further by interviewing several leading designers like Tim Van Damme and Sam Brown.
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The Myth of the Rational Buyer: How Too Much Thinking Can Hurt Your Brand:
FastCompany discusses a book by Harvard scholar Gerald Zaltman, How Customers Think, that suggests only 5% of consumer purchasing behavior is based on rational thought:
Especially in these tough times, people want simplicity and authenticity. That’s the exact thing most great designs provide naturally, and the distinction that helps brands earn a place in consumers’ hearts.
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Microsoft’s Creative Destruction:
A great little op-ed in the New York Times by Dick Brass, a vice president at Microsoft from 1997 to 2004.
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“While it’s true that traffic is now again actually worth something, the give-everything-away-and-make-it-up-on-volume strategy stamps an expiration date on your company’s ass.”
- Evan William, creator of Twitter, 2005 -
“That’s the true value of estimates. That it sets up conversational constraints that can be used as boundaries for trading concessions. Not that they’re nails for your own self-erected cross.”
- David Heinemeier Hansson, It’s not a promise, it’s an Estimate -
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.”
- Calvin Coolidge (via Joshua Blankenship) -
Wise men said, a fantastic Flickr set with quotes on creativity, entrepreneurship, and marketing from the industry’s leading professionals.
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Teehan+Lax have uploaded the slides for their Evidence Based Design presentation, analyzing how designers “bridge” art and science when working with clients. I’ve always found this conflict/balance of creative and logical an integral part of any design—personally, I tend to fall a bit on the analytical side of things. You?
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101 Things I Learned in Interaction Design School:
This looks to be a great blog series about interaction design and general business procedures. Some of my favorite posts so far have been about balancing being right and being employed and being wary of ill-defined scope.
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Danc has posted a great deck about productivity in the workplace, detailing “the idiocy of prolonged overtime” and “the unintuitive connection between doing more and making better products.” I couldn’t agree more.
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“And now here we are. Right here in your own backyard, an American company creates a brilliant phone, and that company hands it to you, and gives you an exclusive deal to carry it — and all you guys can do is complain about how much people want to use it. You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem. You are what’s wrong with this country.”
- Fake Steve Jobs to Randall Stephenson of AT&T -
“Often, the “wrong” things you choose to do are what set you apart and make your product unique. They’re the spice that make your dish special.”
- Matt Linderman, Inefficiencies are what make you special -
The past few weeks have proved quite life-changing for me. Readers may have noticed a few comments on Twitter, but I think it’s time to get a few things out in the open. First up: I’ve moved. I’m no longer based in Philadelphia, but now living in Palo Alto—the heart of the silicon valley.
This was not an easy switch by any means. I’ve lived in the northeast for my entire life, surrounded by excellent friends and family. My roommate in Philadelphia has been my best friend for almost 20 years. I made the final flight about 2 weeks ago, and—though I certainly get homesick occasionally—I’m doing well out here. I have two great new roommates and, let’s face it: A California winter is a pretty welcome change to a northeastern one. The town, too, is very lovely, even if the neighbors can be a bit raucous. But I’m finally settling in. My car was delivered, we have a few crucial bits of furniture, and hopefully the house will finish coming together early January.
Now the “why.” I’ve taken the position of creative director with an amazing up and coming company, Ext JS. For those who have never seen it, Ext JS is a great Javascript company, with something for everyone. For those looking for a solid base Javascript framework, there is Ext Core—a fully open sourced (MIT) Javascript framework which rival jQuery. Then there’s the main product, Ext JS. Ext JS is a set of combinable, cross-browser UI components that make creating rich internet applications super easy, and built on web standards (Read: NOT Flex). For Java-heads, there’s even Ext-GWT, which allows you to write your web app on GWT for the utmost in performance and optimization.
Our company doesn’t have the best image. The framework itself could use a few new themes, our website is in serious need of an overhaul, and our social media efforts are a bit weak. The product rocks, though, as many of our clients and customers will attest. This is why I’m honored to take the role of creative director—the level of potential is simply enormous. We also have a lot of tricks up our sleeves. I can’t disclose all of the details now, but I can say we could use a hand. If you’re a Javascript nut who loves UI (and there have to be a few reading this blog…) give me a shoutout. At any rate, it’s an adventure, and I’m loving every second of it.
What does this mean for you, my dear readers? Well, first off, the sabatical is off. As of now, I’m resuming a normal (whatever that means) publishing schedule for this blog, WebKitBits, and jQTouch. I also hope to start publishing a bit more original content—describing the trials and successes of rebranding a company and giving it an appropriate presence. And dear contest participants, please forgive me, I’m picking the winners this week.
There are many more things to discuss, but I think that’s enough for one post. A sincere thank you to all the friends and family who are helping me through this transition—for those in Philadelphia, I miss you dearly. And for my readers—any questions or points I missed that you’re curious about?