Find 10 minutes today to write an email to one of those people who influence you most. The web is a huge anonymous place, and many of us work isolated from others. You just might make someone’s day.

Here’s my email by the way: Keep Reading

I have absolutely nothing to say about truncated RSS feeds. I could care less.

However I do want to see more of this online:
http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/416273227/feed-me-atlantic

And this:
http://www.marco.org/438103070

and even this:
http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/439434786/entitled-to-care
(Although I do wish the tone sounded less aggressive)

But what I really like is this:



(This is Marco, who Merlin’s article is written in derogatory response to, saying he like it via Tumblr.)

I really look forward to a time when the internet is filled with thoughtful public responses and passionate dialog. We all win when it’s like this.

Even when I write, sketch, or draw in a notebook I never plan on letting someone else see, I have an imagined audience. I feel like someone is looking over my shoulder looking at all my crappy sketches, and stupid thoughts.

Things like this Flickr set make me feel pressure to have gorgeous creative notebooks. I feel like if I don’t, then I’ve somehow failed, or I’m not doing it right.

A while back though, I gave myself permission to use my notebooks for “junk.” Not for finished art. Not to frame. Not to brag about. But to really quickly get ideas out of my head, and thought through in a visual way.

My notebooks aren’t going to be in a museum 500 years from now like DaVinci, and that’s ok. My brain kicks out lots of ideas and 90% of them are bad. I use notebooks to record and sort those ideas, most of which aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

Giving myself permission to treat a notebook like a tool, not something precious, has been a good thing in my life. Do you have self conscious thoughts like this that keep you from being more productive?

“The value of presence is sometimes in its absence.”

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there, and isn’t vital. It might not seem important to everyone, but background information is the core of every single project we work on. I found this out recently when I was trying to be articulate during a project… it turns out it didn’t matter how eloquent I was; I didn’t 100% grasp what we were doing. I could have said the same thing eight different ways and it still wouldn’t have made sense. The biggest communication barrier was that I didn’t even know I was missing information. But then someone connected those dots, filled me in.

It was my missing link.

Suddenly I was able to put the pieces together, and it made all the difference. So next time you find yourself in that situation- either you or with a co-worker- it might help to take a second and make sure everyone’s on the same page… and essentially working toward the same goal.

We used to call ourselves “motion designers.” People who flirted with a new type of design where things moved, videos played, and content was immersive.

I’m ashamed to say I wasted a lot of my formative years learning Actionscript, keyframe animating, and some BS catchphrase called R.I.A. design.

I bought the Macromedia pitch pretty wholeheartedly. While Zeldman was preaching standards, I was still obsessed with the idea that the internet would turn into something like an interactive television.

I still think it might, eventually, but we’re further away from that now than ever. I’m glad the industry caught its breath, and a dose of sanity about interface design, but I miss “motion design.” Keep Reading

A question we get asked quite a bit is how to explain Jumpchart to clients… so we worked a little something up:

(Client’s name,)

You’ve probably heard us mention Jumpchart in bits of our conversations- here’s a little more information on it as we move forward.

When putting together your website, there are certain steps we take as a studio to make sure we give you the best finished product possible. The first step is figuring out what order your site’s pages will go in, and what content will go on which pages. The next steps include designing and programming. Jumpchart is an online tool we use specifically for the first step of this process.

It gives us visual access to what the site will look like from a navigational and content point of view. We understand it can be a little tricky to imagine your site without design incorporated, but Jumpchart helps us optimize the layout and content of your site: the backbone. It gives us a really solid foundation to build on.

Here’s what will happen: You’ll receive an invitation to the Jumpchart we created for your site. When you accept the invitation you’ll be able to see progress we’ve made, as well as make your own suggestions in the comments section. You can even edit content on the actual pages. It’s like a meeting room between us- but we don’t all have to be there at the same time!

If you have questions, please let us know- we’re all about collaboration and communication.

Thanks!

An interview with Wes Anderson -Via Bobulate

I really like Wes Anderson films for all sort of reasons I can’t quite describe. But scenes like this go a long way towards explaining it.

I find it absolutely amazing that even after Apple has proven itself over and over and OVER again at being fantastic at what they do, there is doubt about this company being the ideal catalyst for “people being in love with their content.” I just don’t get it.

“Apple would prefer not to do this,” McQuivey continued. “But it just doesn’t have the leverage it once did. Apple can’t dictate terms or position itself as a digital savior.”

Read the entire Media Maverick story here.

If you manage to make it to the bottom of the article, you’ll be rewarded with this gem: “By pioneering (the apps), Apple is stuck doing what’s right for consumers.”

(head explodes…)

“Old-school Usability espouses the idea that user activities are onerous tasks that they want to get out of the way as soon as possible. While this is true in some cases, usability is now widely understood to be more of a hygiene factor – something that can cause dissatisfaction if missing, but its presence cannot take you beyond lack of dissatisfaction.” - 90percentofeverything.com

The story about how Betty Crocker made their product more complicated in order to make it more interactive, and emotional. Really great stuff.

“Thankfully, you’re still small, and this leaves you with a huge advantage when it comes down to getting personal. Plus, in recent years, the tools have changed drastically. As a result, your size becomes a little like a superpower you didn’t even know you had. “ Eric Karjaluoto -From the ever growing ebook Speak Human.

via Swis Miss