Category: Design

  • Print’s Finest Hour

    We get a bundle of flyers at our doorstep every week. I call this our “fire-starter delivery service”. Paper flyers feel like a waste of time, trees and ink. In the past, we printed things on paper because that was what we had. Paper was the best way to share information and keep records. We…

  • Who’s it for?

    Often as designers we start a project by looking at the latest design trends, or by trying to mimic the coolest new website that all the other designers are talking about. Too often, the user’s needs take a back seat to our need to flex our design-trend muscles. Often we skip the first, and most…

  • Building, Gardening and the Development of the Web

    In a recent interview, Paul Coelho drew a contrast between building and gardening. When you construct a building, you essentially build it and leave it. Buildings require some attention once they’re built, but usually only when something’s broken. Gardens, on the other hand, require constant attention. You can’t just build a garden and walk away…

  • When is it Good Enough?

    The first 80% in any project gets you close. That’s the easy 80%. That’s the part that makes you say, at the outset, “this shouldn’t be too hard”. It’s the last 20% that takes 80% of your time and money, and causes 100% of the frustration. These are the decisions you deferred till later, the…

  • Brand Love: Maallust

    The best brands don’t just look cool, but they tell a story. I saw a great example of this during a recent trip. While visiting Holland earlier this summer, we decided to visit the Maallust Brewery in Veenhuizen. Our only exposure to the brewery was a brochure at a local restaurant and thought it looked…

  • Raising the Connection Machine

    We often speak of the Internet and new technologies as something happening to us, taking over every industry, consuming our attention. One of my struggles with media and new technology is our infatuation with the new, without questioning whether some technologies really make our lives significantly better. The connection machine (thanks Seth Godin for the term)…

  • The Medium is the Message

    An important but often overlooked key to effective communication is how your listener receives what you have to say. Often we carefully rehearse our own words and stories, but fail to think about our audience’s posture and mindset. Is your audience ready to hear what you have to say? Of course, when the stakes are…

  • A City Without Ads (Cidade Limpa)

    See São Paulo’s skyline and you’ll notice one key missing feature.  There are no billboards.  Nearly 10 years ago – at the protest of the advertising industry and general approval of its residents (and minimalists everywhere) – São Paulo banned outdoor advertising. The city’s outdoor ad landscape was out of control at the time, so…

  • You Just Pointed to All of It…

    Often design feedback has me feeling like Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon. Users take a look at a website and say, “I don’t like… (pointing their finger in circles around the design) thaaaat…” The weakness of many user surveys is that they can reveal how people feel about a certain design, put they…

  • How to Sell Your Idea

    One of the most difficult parts of bringing a new idea to life often isn’t coming up with the idea itself, it’s getting others on board. Just because your idea makes perfect sense to you doesn’t mean that anyone else will instantly get it. Helping people cross that bridge requires a lot of effort from…