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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Enough to Give
The dominant narrative, the one we hear and tell ourselves, is that we don’t have enough. Not enough time, not enough education, not enough energy, not enough money. And so we spend our time trying to get more of these things. Something happens though, when instead of looking at what we don’t have, we look…
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Never Roast Angry
One coffee-maker in Barista mentioned advice given to him by a mentor: “Never roast angry.” This, of course, is ridiculous advice, right? How could coffee-drinkers ever notice the roaster’s attitude when she roasted the beans that went into the coffee they’re drinking? But what if they can? What if your taste buds can pick up…
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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)…
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The Gift of Silence
In his 1994 interview with Charlie Rose, Fred Rogers (famous for his children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) emphasized repeatedly the importance of margins and silence, in life and in communication. In speaking of his (then) new book, he explains: “This book is about… the white space between the paragraphs, which I think is more important…
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The Joy Continuum
Now At any given time, there’s a lot going on. We interact with people, get work done, move through the world, take note of things. We have thousands of micro-experiences throughout each day. The Joy Moment There’s a moment when we actually appreciate a given experience. This doesn’t always happen at the same time as…
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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…
