The search is over. Many have heroically tried. But a decisive winner has emerged. Behold! the most elegant and usable conference badge design ever: This badge is from The Web and Beyond 2010, held in Amsterdam two weeks ago, where I spoke and saw many excellent sessions. Let me explain the mechanics of this great … Continue reading A Book on a Hook
What is interesting about Wikipedia? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not how it it is made. A “wiki” is a content source powered (in general, completely powered) by social software technology, with people collectively creating and refining the content. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is the quintessential wiki — while there are other major wikis, … Continue reading Pedia Tricks
When it comes to social media, it is easy to be dazzled by big numbers and strong opinions. But often what is really needed isn’t a comprehensive strategy with metrics and targets, but a charming and intelligent human personality. The majority of people who today call themselves social media experts, even the legitimate ones who … Continue reading Social Media Charm School
Let’s say you own a big building full of valuable stuff. How do you make sure that the night watchman patrolling your factory floor or museum galleries after closing time actually makes his rounds? How do you know he’s inspecting every hallway, floor, and stairwell in the facility? How do you know he (or she) … Continue reading Who Watches the Watchman?
Two weeks ago, BusinessWeek’s next Design and Innovation blog asked for my thoughts on this month’s Facebook home page redesign, as a kind of follow-up to my thoughts in those same virtual pages a year ago. I was asked to opine on the new design without having viewed the actual live site, which was launching … Continue reading Web 2.0 Incomplete
In his Time Magazine Person of the Year interview, Barack Obama said “it turns out there’s some spending that has to be done on information technology, for example, that we can do very swiftly.” If recent speeches by the new President are any sign, I sure hope he’s talking about rural broadband access. Like many … Continue reading Tubes for the Sticks
Bruce Nussbaum, BusinessWeek’s editor and blogger on the design and innovation beat, has declared that “‘Innovation’ is Dead” and that “Transformation” is the new “key concept” of 2009. He correctly observes that the word “innovation” is overused in the business world. This, of course, has been obvious for a long time to a great many … Continue reading Innovation, Transformation, Therapy, Practice
Newsweek invited four “hot” design firms to “reboot” the brand of the Republican party to appeal to younger voters. Not an easy challenge. And while the design work itself looks good, I think each of them missed the big picture objective by failing to speak to core Republican values. First up is Pentagram. Pentagram proposes … Continue reading Grand Old Redesign
What do you do with a video camera? You video. I’ve always wanted to coin a phrase or invent a word, to have a term of my own invention be spoken by thousands or even millions of people every day. An astonishingly large number of my friends and peers have done exactly this, some spectacularly … Continue reading Video is a Verb
Disagreeing with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, as I did two weeks ago, is like walking into a minefield. Although Gruber has a cutting wit, he is thoughtful and respectful when it comes to discussions of technology and design. But when you spar with Gruber, you also step into the ring with his readership, tens of … Continue reading Adversarial Design, Part 1: Collaboration Through Disagreement