Christopher Butler Vice President Hi, I'm Chris. I've been working at Newfangled since September, 2004.
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Authenticity?
August 26, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris| I saw this article recently on Authenticity in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, which I thought was pretty interesting- check it out.
Then, I heard this OnPoint radio program titled What is Real? in which host Tom Ashbrook interviews essayist Richard Todd on the "search for the authentic." Clearly, with the proliferation of more and more social networks, authenticity and relationships and how they are understood online are on the minds of many. This is probably what lead me to write my recent post on How I Met Two Interesting People Using Social Media. What do you think? |
Tags: technology social-media software
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Just because it's awesome...
August 25, 2008 at 12:30 pm by Chris| Watch this video (hat tip to Able for the link): |
Tags: video the-future
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Interview: David Lemley, Lemley Design
August 25, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
David LemleyPresident, Lemley Design David describes himself as a "Change Agent, Brand Catalyst + Hipster Dufus Wannabe" on his LinkedIn profile, but he is known by his colleagues and clients for directing brand strategy and creative development programs with an unwavering passion for design. He has written numerous articles for industry publications including Design to Branding Magazine, Design and Display Ideas, and Package Design Magazine, and has spoken at many events including the 19th International Brand Design Conference. CB: What fascinates you about the web? DL: Pseudo-Instant gratification. Access to information and the sense of control it affords (looking up people on Facebook or Linked-In prior to a meeting, changing flight times from PDA, making dinner reservations from the taxi, not to mention its revolutionized holiday shopping). CB: What would you change about it? DL: I would add a food replicating device like on the original Star Trek. Then it truly would be instant gratification. CB: Do you have a blog? If so, what makes your blog unique? DL: Yes, but its still under wraps. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? DL: Has to be the web. It has allowed us to serve a national client base form a tiny dock in Seattle without having to travel more than a couple times a month. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? DL: God has blessed me with lots of opportunities, many of which I have blown. I have learned quite a bit by making mistakes. In my office we have a mantra taken from Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth… “Learn to Make Mistakes Quickly”. CB: What makes you uniquely suited to your role at Lemley Design? DL: Having my name on the door over the past two decades has transformed me from a design rock star wannabe into a reluctant leader in retail Brand strategy and design. Having helped several amazing leaders change the world, I see the patterns necessary to create real, actionable change that will be relevant to the customers’ lives. CB: What makes your company a cut above its competitors? DL: Our clients’ vision. CB: If you had one sentence to pitch a potential client, what would it be? DL: Read my manifesto and let me know if you want to change the world. CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? DL: Exhortation. The ability to help others put the right stuff in the right order to create a real solution to their problem. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? DL: Reluctant shaman or beet farmer. |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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Read my interview on NotPaper.net
August 20, 2008 at 1:30 pm by Chris
I was recently interviewed by Aprile of NotPaper.net. She probably saw my comment on her interview with Able a few months ago and found my work then. You can read the interview here. |
Tags: design art
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How I Met Two Interesting People Using Social Media
August 20, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
In a previous post about social media (Social Media Tools and Synthetic Communities) I stated my ambivalence toward social networks that attempt to create communities using online technology and connectivity. However, I did note that, through Facebook, I had "reconnected" with several people I haven't heard from in years- some even a decade, and thought it was really neat to see how they had changed and grown and been caught up on all the interesting things they'd been doing. Since then, I've reflected more upon how social networks have managed to grow so rapidly and become fixtures of our culture. I think my initial distiction, which identified the difference between social media that utilizes existing communities and social momentum for the purpose of gathering and organizing information (think wikis and such) and those that attempt to create communities using online technology and connectivity (think MySpace or Facebook), is not really correct, or at least not all that interesting. But, I have realized the obvious: Facebook and MySpace aren't trying to create a community around a technology, they assume that communities already exist and offer a technology as a bonding agent, a bridge or a stimulator of growth. For example, given their current number, Facebook users aren't really a label-able community any more than humans in general are. There are just too many of them with too many things in common to pick one overall label (aside from the fact that they all have Facebook accounts). However, Facebook does allow for the creation of groups, fan pages, events, etc. that individual users can join. In any case, this particular tool is too organic at this point to be controlled in the way I originally thought. This is probably a good thing. The reason for it has to be that human beings naturally want to connect with one another, in any way possible, not that they truly desire to spend more time in front of a screen. How I Met Two Interesting People I've met many new people in the past six months, something largely made possible by social networks. I'll give two brief examples of how this happened: (1) At some point or another, I saw a "tweet" from Jeremiah Owyang mentioning that he liked the new design of the Cadence Systems website. I clicked the link and browsed the site, then bookmarked it under my "contentstrategy" del.icio.us tag because I thought it was a great example of a business-to-business-technology-services website content strategy. Afterward, I wrote a blog post reviewing the site as an "echo" of my recent WebSmart newsletter on developing an effective content strategy. Shortly after publishing the post, I received a comment from Tom Diederich, Cadence's social media/Web community manager. He, like any good social manager, was likely monitoring blogs for mentions of Cadence. I responded to Tom's comment and quickly tracked him down on LinkedIn, sending him an invitation to connect and asking if he'd be willing to answer some questions for one of my blog interviews. He agreed, we did the interview, and the rest is history. (2) Last month, I wrote a blog post on QA. Then, last week, Able answered a question posted on LinkedIn by Kari Ziegler, QA Manager at Web Associates, which was Quality Assurance in a Web Design Firm - Where do you see it fit in? In his answer, he posted a link to my blog post. Shortly after, Kari posted to her blog noting that she had received Able's answer and her interest in my thoughts on QA. I posted a comment to her post, then found her profile on LinkedIn, sending her an invitation to connect and asking if she'd be willing to answer some questions for one of my blog interviews. She agreed, and I'll be posting the interview soon. So What? Both cases had several key things in common. First, blogging: Had it not been for the act of blogging, neither of these connections would have been made. Second, online reputation monitoring: Had Tom Diederich not been monitoring the Cadence reputation online, he probably would not have seen my post reviewing the new site. Third, LinkedIn: In both cases, I used LinkedIn to find and connect with people I had never met before in person. Additionally, with Kari Ziegler, our connection would never have occurred without LinkedIn's Q&A feature, which I've written about before. Finally, and most importantly, these connections would never have been made without content that was interesting and relevant to me and the people I've connected to. Neither connection was made because I was online trolling for friends. They were made because Tom led a team that created valuable content and Kari was looking for a real, content-laden answer to her question. Content is really at the center of an online, technology-supported, connection worth making. Unfortunately, this means that someone likeJulia Allison will have to scrape together some real content soon or risk losing her 'net fame in the near future. |
Tags: social-media blogging software
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Interview: Eric Karjaluoto, smashLAB
August 18, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
Eric KarjaluotoCreative Director, smashLAB Eric is a Canadian designer, who is passionate about ideas and experience. He studied at the Emily Carr Institute and worked as a painter prior to focusing on design. He now guides creative at smashLAB, where he fosters an atmosphere of pragmatism and design-focused thinking. He is particularly interested in creating work that builds a dialogue with viewers and engages them in experiences. In 2007, he spearheaded Design Can Change, an effort to unite designers to address climate change. Eric is a member of the GDC and AIGA and writes about design at ideasonideas. CB: What fascinates you about the web? EK: I love that it's growing so fast. Every day it's a little bit different, and it's almost as though we daily gain insight into how it can be used, which we hadn't thought of before. CB: What would you change about it? EK: Not much. I like to think of it as the world's collective project. There may be some aspects that aren't quite as I like, but perhaps that's not the point. ;-) CB: Your blog, ideasonideas, is getting to be pretty well known, especially for having a very strong point of view. How has this affected your identity as a designer and smashLAB's business? EK: The biggest change for me is in being able to personally connect with a number of like-minds in communities I might not have been able to visit otherwise. As for business, I don't think we've seen a notable change; that being said, it wasn't ever really about that. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? EK: That's sort of a tough question. I kind of want to say, "all of it" but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for. I suppose the one I use most is still email. It's perhaps not the most exciting technology to mention, but it sure is tied into my daily life the most of any. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? EK: A number of people have helped me along the way. My parents always supported my desire to do something less traditional, and I'm very grateful for that. My business partner Eric Shelkie and I have an interesting relationship, as we share the same dreams but come to them from different vantage points. I learn to be more pragmatic through his influence. My wife and son have taught me that none of this is really that important anyway. (I think this may be the most relevant point to be mindful of in one's work.) CB: What makes you uniquely suited to your role at smashLAB? EK: I'm curious and I work really hard. CB: Every firm needs to be creative to keep consistently afloat in this industry. What are some of smashLAB's top survival skills? EK: We look for things that irritate us. Whenever we find something that isn't quite as we'd like it to be, we see potential for innovation. Beyond that it's all pretty basic. We love new challenges and get excited about things easily. It always seems that there's something new and fun to explore. CB: If you had one sentence to pitch your latest and greatest idea, what would it be? EK: Only come to us if you want to change. CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? EK: Once I decide upon something, I tend to obsess over it. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? EK: I'd just find a way to make things. (I suppose I'd just have to learn how to use actual tools.) Between that and my family, I don't know that I'd need much else. |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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Flawless... almost. Thanks, Microsoft!
August 15, 2008 at 10:30 am by Chris| I was in awe of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. It was incredible. If you didn't see it, here's a link to some beautiful photos of the event. However, it would have been perfect had it not been for the Microsoft blue screen of death projected during the lighting of the torch. Nice...  |
Tags: software video
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Which Ads Bother You?
August 15, 2008 at 9:00 am by ChrisWhen you type a URL into your browser's address bar, you expect to go straight to its homepage, right? That's why it drives me nuts when I encounter an advertisement first (see screenshot below). This is happening more and more lately. I even have seen this several times when visiting the New York Times' homepage, though it's somewhat unpredictable as they must use a more sophisticated cookie approach than Cnet. On the other hand, ads that pre-load media content don't bother me. Below are two examples, one from Cnet and the other from Hulu. Both videos load an advertisement first, but what I appreciate is that they also provide a time countdown to when the video you actually want to watch will begin. Knowing that I only have to sit through a few seconds of ads at the outset makes me much more likely to wait.   With Hulu content, the longer the video, the more ads the viewer must watch. Notice that on this screenshot, the white dots that appear on the video's timeline indicate when the show will pause for a commercial. I find this completely tolerable, but I wonder if it is because I've always associated commercials with television viewing. One thing that get's bothersome with longer content is that Hulu plays the same commercial over and over again throughout the video rather than varying sponsors. Hopefully they'll work this minor kink out. If you have to sit through commercials, variation makes the experience much more tolerable. Going back to the first type of ad, I wonder why I have such a hard time with them but not with the pre-loading ads on Cnet or Hulu? I think the difference is that if I click a link to an individual piece of content, like the video review on Cnet or the TV show on Hulu, I've made a specific type of decision where my expectation for the content is higher. However, if I simply go to a website, even if I go there regularly, I'm not certain that there will be any particular content I'll want to experience until I've had a chance to scan through the page. I'm pretty likely leave if nothing interests me, which is why encountering an advertisement before I've even had the chance to scan for content of interest is frustrating. I hope this is an advertising practice that dies out quickly. |
Tags: marketing user-interface-design
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Social Media and the Collective Visual Memory, Part 3
August 14, 2008 at 3:00 pm by Chris| At aTED talk back in 2007, architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas demonstrated a Seadragon zoomable UI-enabled interface called Photosynth. Photosynth creates incredibly detailed and spatial representations of places and objects by assembling the data from multiple images from social sources, like Flickr. The demo was incredible (I posted about it here). Fast forward to this week at SIGGRAPH 2008: The Photosynth research team demoed an update to their technology, and it's significantly better. See the video below: |
Tags: social-media user-interface-design software tagging
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Brand Tags
August 13, 2008 at 11:00 am by Chris| This website allows users to add tags to a particular brand in a somewhat 'free association' kind of way. Here's my tag for AOL (outdated) and then the tag cloud of other people's tags:   |
Tags: marketing business software
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Passwords on the way out?
August 12, 2008 at 9:00 am by Chris| Via Mitch, I saw this article in the New York Times about replacing passwords as a method for accessing private accounts online. I'd be interested in this for sure, though it looks (at first glance) like the big limitation would be for those who want to access their online accounts from multiple machines. On the other hand, I often find myself considering that kind of accessibility a necessity, but then I realize that I almost never access my email or any other online account from any machine other than my own laptop, so a hardware-specific option wouldn't be that bad. In the meantime, I'll continue to maintain my file of 54 different 12-character passwords and try to update them every few months... sweet.... "4nVs09QjxE5b" anyone? |
Tags: software privacy technology
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Interview: Tom Diederich, Cadence Design Systems
August 11, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
Tom DiederichSocial media/Web community Manager, Cadence Design Systems An experienced corporate communications professional, project manager, journalist, and teacher, Tom was drawn to online communities during the Internet's early days. He began "blogging" in 1996 (though he called it his "online journal") when working in Tokyo as a journalist to keep friends and family informed of his adventures there. Since then, Tom has worked to build online community at various companies including Intuit and Symantec, and now, Cadence. CB: What fascinates you about the web? TD: Its simplicity and complexity. Its evolution. I got “online” in 1995 and was blown away that first time at the monitor of my Mac when I logged in. All that information at your fingertips! I was working in Tokyo at the time and that first experience reminded me simultaneously of the movie “Blade Runner,” which was filmed there, and the novel “Neuromancer,” which was set in nearby Chiba City -- where I also lived a couple years earlier. CB: What would you change about it? TD: I’d make it easier to work with – the ability to create a rich, natural, interactive experience with an intuitive interface for both users and the builders of Web sites. Create what you want, how you want, and in your own style. No limitations. And to make it “aware,” that is, the site is able to learn, grow and evolve based on how it is used. CB: You've been blogging since before the term "blog" was coined. How has blogging changed since then and what makes it important to you? TD: I started my “online journal” in 1996. (Here’s a link to that first entry – since moved over to another server). It was very much a blog, though I didn’t think to post comments from the friends and family who sent them to me via e-mail. Back then it was just the fastest and most cost-effective way for me to stay in touch with them from the other side of the world. Today blogs are more than a novelty. Anyone can start a blog, at no cost, and in just a few minutes with tools like Google’s “Blogger.” And they are interactive. A blog is a conversation. I have two blogs today: one is a continuation of the “Diederich Journal” that began in the 90s; the other is a blog called “Conversations Matter,” a group of marketers, community managers, product managers and ordinary people who work in some capacity with social media. How else have blogs have changed? They are becoming an important part of doing business – they enable smart companies to cut through the noise (jargon) of the formal marketing message and deliver, for example, a particular employee’s point of view in everyday English (or whatever language you speak). That’s powerful, as it adds a level of credibility. It also enables customers and potential customers to join the conversation and make up their own minds whether or not they should take that business seriously. But for me, the most important thing that blogging is changing is the freedom and voice it gives journalists. I’m a journalist by training and spent a decade as a reporter in the ‘90s. I’m old school in my belief that journalists should be objective – totally objective. “Just the facts, ma’am.” The reporter then presents the facts in a manner that enables the reader to make up his or her own mind. Fox News, more recently CNN -- and now a growing number of formerly respected news organizations – have agendas. Their reporters have agendas. Why? They are owned by mega-corporations and those execs dictate what is and what isn’t news. Nowadays you often get a one-sided (or slanted) perspective on very select topics. Blogging, when in the hands of the independent journalist, cuts through all of that crap. They get the facts and then present all sides of a story. Of course, they don’t always check facts as carefully as journalists did in the old days -- which is also very dangerous -- but in those cases the readers generally come in and, like the editors of old, make the corrections via comments. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? TD: Like technology, my job has evolved over the years. I was a journalist; then a marketing writer; then an internal communications manager – and the leap to “social media” came naturally when I got my first experience working with a user community at Intuit. If I had to pick one, the technology that has had the greatest impact on how I do my job nowadays is associated with “online community” platforms, namely discussion forums and blogs. Companies specializing in enterprise community platforms include: Lithium, Telligent, Web Crossing, Jive, LiveWorld. There are many others. Getting the right platform is key to a successful community. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? TD: Three people: The late Phil Porter, who was my first journalism instructor at Ohio State. Later that summer I was an intern at his newspaper, covering Ohio politics and general news. Phil taught me how to ask the right questions, organize my thoughts and then put together a decent news story from my notes. A fringe benefit was that I went from getting Cs to As in English courses immediately following his Journalism 101 class. Also, Michelle Glover, my boss at both SGI and Intuit. She taught me how to survive in the corporate jungle. And how to write (and think) from the corporate perspective. Finally, Scott Wilder, the guy who started Intuit’s first online community – and today manages several of the company’s customer communities. CB: What makes you uniquely suited to your role at Cadence? TD: I’d have to say my life experience (as corny as that sounds) and my experience building and managing a successful customer community at Symantec, the Symantec Technology Network. Plus all of the great stuff I learned from Intuit’s online communities. CB: What makes Cadence a cut above its competitors? TD: Our new website puts community front and center – right on the landing page of cadence.com. I don’t think there is another company in our industry (or many others) that does that. [Editor's Note: I was first introduced to Tom after he commented on my recent blog post reviewing the new Cadence website. ] CB: If you had one sentence to pitch your latest and greatest idea, what would it be? TD: "Plastics.” Just kidding! (OK, this will have to be when technology catches up with my brain): "The creation of an online community platform that learns and evolves naturally based on user activity – like the human brain learns things such as how to play the piano.” CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? TD: This sounds like some new-age hooey, but it is “empathy.” I can tune-in to a person, or a group of people (even a huge group like an online community) and pick up on their vibe or “personality.” If I work at it, I can fit right in and do it very fast – in any situation or environment. That’s how I got along so well in the Peace Corps, and then working in Japan for seven years (I never did experience the culture shock that seemed to affect several of my fellow expats). This “super-power” works well in the trenches of Silicon Valley, too. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? TD: I’d get an old-fashioned printing press and become a newspaper publisher and literacy advocate/teacher. When the light of the Roman Empire was extinguished and the Dark Ages reigned, the general population slowly lost the ability (and desire) to read and write. Just imagine if we had not lost the collective knowledge stored at the Library of Alexandria… Mankind stagnated for centuries during the Dark Ages and illiteracy was, in my opinion, one of the main reasons. |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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View from the Corner
August 7, 2008 at 3:15 pm by Chris| Here's my view from the corner, taken just moments ago. See how excited Jason is (he's the third guy from the left)? He just put his first site live! Eric, you can see where we moved you, too...  |
Tags: newfangled
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John McCain asks a question on LinkedIn
August 7, 2008 at 11:00 am by ChrisJohn McCain asks, "What new ideas or technologies should we be investing in today?" using LinkedIn. I think it's pretty neat to see candidates using this technology in this way. |
Tags: technology strategy business
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A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan.
August 7, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris| I just read this quote in a short interview with T. Boone Pickens in the New York Times magazine. I think he's absolutely right! Planning is critical to the success of just about anything worth doing (not to say that some people get lucky), which is why we've been slowly placing more and more emphasis on strategy here at Newfangled and in our blogging. It's not because it's trendy, it's because it just makes sense. |
Tags: strategy business
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The Newfangled Response to The 5 Hidden Costs of Running a CMS
August 6, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris| Eric linked me to an article this morning called The 5 Hidden Costs of Running a CMS, which I thought could use a response from our perspective. In fairness to the author, it sounds like he is referring to the adoption of established enterprise-level content management systems, which in most cases require adaptation of systems around them. With the NewfangledCMS, our core code is the foundation for each development project, and is built upon in order to provide a custom solution for each of our clients. This difference allows us to provide a positive spin to each of the "5 hidden costs." The Cost of Training Every site that we build using the NewfangledCMS goes through several phases of development before it is ready for content entry. Prior to that point, we provide training to our clients (as well as a library of basic NewfangledCMS functionality videos) so that they will fully understand how to use all the basic tools of the CMS as well as any unique functionality that has been built for them in particular. There is no additional fee associated with this training. We also provide on-going support to our clients, which is covered by their monthly hosting/support fee, so if they ever have a CMS-related question, our Project Managers can do this at no additional or unpredictable charge. The Cost to Quality/Functionality I fused the next two points into one, because in my opinion the quality and flexibility of a site are mutually dependent. In this case, I would argue that using our CMS allows us to deliver higher quality than we would be able to deliver building a custom site without one. With a site that does not use a CMS, the ability for a user to make content changes would rely upon their development ability. With a CMS, you can manage the maintenance of the site among users that don't have development skills. In fact, our CMS has user controls that allow our clients to assign particular content type maintenance to individuals and groups so that work doesn't get inadvertently undone. From an efficiency point of view, the CMS has the edge here. However, it is true that a CMS might lock in certain kinds of functionality, so with an out-of-the-box CMS solution, flexibility might be limited once it's been implemented. In our case, the CMS is customizable, so new functionality upgrades can be handled with much less effort than a site built without a CMS. The Cost of Redundancy and Complexity Since our CMS is based upon a core code kernel and then customized for each specific project, this is not an issue for us. However, there is basic functionality that we put in to any site we build, like activity reports, user account management, site backup, etc., that doesn't get used by everyone, but that's not a significant problem to our clients. In most cases, when they are reminded that they have that functionality available to them, they are pleased. Because we focus so much on thoroughly prototyping our projects, each site is built with the specific functionality set needed for what the project was planned to do- nothing less, and usually not much more. The Cost of Commitment Our CMS is included with any project we do. That means We give free and unlimited NewfangledCMS user licenses to every client - large or small. We do this because we believe in the positives of using a CMS so strongly. I appreciated Paul's conclusion though, which I've quoted below: So am I suggesting you should avoid content management systems entirely? Not at all. The benefits they provide are real and cannot be ignored. However, I am saying that you should go into the process of selecting a content management system with your eyes wide open. A content management system is not a magic bullet that solves all your content woes. However, it can be a useful tool is selected carefully.It's true that a CMS is not a magic bullet. We believe, though, that a carefully selected CMS solution, like ours, is ultimately a significant benefit. |
Tags: web-development software newfangled
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Google Insights Tools
August 6, 2008 at 8:00 am by ChrisGoogle released another analysis tool recently called Google Insights, which will help you understand interest for search terms over time, specific regions and within specific categories. The graphs they present show numbers between 1 and 100, a metric which is explained in the help text below:
"The numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don't represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100; each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. The numbers next to the search terms above the graph are summaries, or totals."I searched for "web development" and noticed some interesting trends. I suppose this should have been obvious to me, but the term is on the decline in general, but still a fairly popular search in our country with a score of 63 (see image below):  However, the search term, while still on the general decline, is relatively on the rise in third-world nations (see image below). Notice that globally, the United States no longer makes the top ten regions for this search term:  On the other hand, the search term "blog" is (predictably) on the rise, while the term "weblog" is declining. After all, who says "weblog" anymore (see images below):   Anyone who is interested in measuring the terms associated with their area of expertise should try out this tool. Notice it allows you to export your search results as a CSV, too. |
Tags: google search analytics
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How to Keep Your Job or How to Do Your Job Well?
August 5, 2008 at 10:00 am by Chris| Via Jeremiah Owyang, I just read this Business Week article titled How to Keep Your Job in Hard Times. I'm sure that many people have potential lay-offs in the back of their mind as the economy seems to be continuing its decline, so the simple advice given here is probably pretty solid. However, I also think that the two main points (Be Visible and Cultivate a Mentor) are applicable to anyone who desires to do their job well, and especially to grow professionally. The only change I'd make would be to reverse them in priority (First cultivate a mentor, then be visible). |
Tags: business strategy
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Interview: Debbie Millman, Sterling Brands
August 4, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
Debbie MillmanPresident, Design Group, Sterling Brands Debbie Millman has been in the design business for the last 20 years fulfilling her dream of working in branding and furthering the meaning, purpose and stature of brands in our culture. Debbie is a Partner and President of the Design division at Sterling Brands, one of the leading brand identity firms in the country. She has been there for twelve years and has had the good fortune to work with clients such as Gillette, MTV, Star Wars, Nestle, Pepsi and Campbells. Debbie is a board member of the National AIGA, and teaches at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is also an author on the design blog Speak Up, a contributor to Print Magazine and she hosts a weekly internet talk show on the Voice America Business network titled Design Matters. She is the author of "How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer," and "Essential Principles of Graphic Design." CB: What fascinates you about the web? DM: So much fascinates me about the web! I am obsessed and addicted to the web and I am enthralled by the power to find information, to uncover new places, voices, opportunities and opinions. I also love that in many ways, it is a great equalizer. Almost anyone can publish, create, and communicate when you are online. [Editor's Note: I'll say! Debbie is way out of our league. Only the equalizing power of the internet, and Debbie's kindness, of course, could make this interview happen.] CB: What would you change about it? DM: Any new innovation is not without its foils; if I could I would prevent the sexual abuse and misuse currently being employed in the dark corners of the web. CB: Do you have a blog? If so, what makes yours unique? DM: Yes, I have a blog. Nothing makes it unique, other than the fact that it is mine. CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job? DM: My iPhone. It is the one device that has everything I need: the Internet and email, a phone, GPS, music, and a camera. It also looks really cool. CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career? DM: Probably every single person in my book, How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer has influenced my career. That is part of what was so remarkable about being able to do that book. I think almost every single person featured in it had a profound influence on me, and on the way I think. If I had to pick specific people out, I’d say Carin Goldberg, Paula Scher, and Emily Oberman. Some other people that aren’t in the book that I might also add to the list would be Ellen Lupton and Marion Bantjes. Aubrey Balkind, my former boss at Frankfurt Balkind, said two things to me that impacted my career. One statement was that he would hire me, but not as a designer. The other was when I was leaving. I told him that I was going to work in brand identity, he just nodded his head and said, “You’re going to’ do well in package design.” When I left, I started working full-time in package design and that really was my niche. I found what I was meant to do in graphic design from that point. CB: What makes you uniquely suited to your role at Sterling Brands? DM: I take new business and design presentations very, very seriously. I prepare every second of every day--as every experience and every observation of the world contributes to how I present and what I present. I read a tremendous amount: newspapers, magazines, blogs, news sites, and media sites, basically anything I can get my hands on or head around. That being said, I also do a substantial amount of research before I make a professional presentation: I investigate everything I can about a company and gather and read as much as possible. I believe that presentations are as much about communicating how much you understand a potential client as it is about communicating who you are and what you stand for. I also believe in relentless preparation--Rudy Giuliani used to say that for every hour he spent in court, he would spend four hours preparing! I don't necessarily go to that extreme, but I do prepare quite a bit. I like to try and have as a goal that nothing unanticipated will happen (which is virtually impossible, but it's a goal!) and to insure that, I find it is helpful to visualize every scenario and rehearse as much as you can. It is also helpful to anticipate the questions you might be asked--as well as the worst-case scenario (what will you do or say if your client hates everything???) in order to get you through anything that might happen. I also find it is beneficial to instill preparedness in others. I also make sure that I have a sound strategic point of view and philosophy. Who we are as designers and what we believe in is as important as our ideas. CB: What makes Sterling a cut above its competitors? DM: I am not exactly sure! Maybe our passion, our intelligence and our honesty? Maybe our talent? Maybe our funny personalities and alarming wit? Maybe you should ask our clients. I think they are more qualified to answer the question. CB: If you had one sentence to pitch a potential client, what would it be? DM: “How can I help you?” CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power? DM: Two things: One: I can write mirror backwards. In script and in print, and I can also write simultaneously frontward and backwards with both hands at the same time. You can see an example here: Two: Sometimes, I can tell what people are thinking about design and instantly understand what will and won’t work in the marketplace. Kind of like Cayce Ballard in Pattern Recognition. But that only happens sometimes. CB: If the world's technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume? DM: I would be a peacemaker. |
Tags: web-development interview design technology business blogging
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The Benefits of a Coordinated Project, Schedule, and Billing System
August 1, 2008 at 9:00 am by Chris| I've posted several articles on resourcing in the past, specifically on introducing the concept, differentiating between the delivering and resourcing roles, how timekeeping is necessary, and how shifting the culture of project management is necessary. I shared a good amount about how we measured our data, but I didn't speak much about the actual tools we use to coordinate our projects, schedule work, and keep track of billing. We use an open-source program called dotProject to manage our complete client roster and all projects from start, to finish, to ongoing upgrades. Believe it or not, before we started using this program (not so long ago- in 2006), we managed schedules and tasks with emails and whiteboards. You can imagine why we needed help! Because the tool is open-source, we've been able to customize it enough to fit how we work, as well as tie it in to an existing admin system we built long ago to keep track of sites on our live and development servers, maintain prototypes, and catalog design layouts.  In the image above you'll see the dotProject screen showing a client of ours and the beginning of a long list of tasks we've set up in our system since the start of our relationship with them- from prototyping to recent upgrades to their site. It's simple to set up a new client, manage all of our contact information, tie the record in with our admin system and begin setting up tasks in minutes (I've "whited-out" a good bit of the info here for privacy purposes).  This next screen (see above) shows the task level for a record in our system. You can see that you easily set up a new task, assign it to a client record and employees pretty simply. Once it's in the system, we use logs to track progress and questions along the way. Every time a log is posted to a task, all the employees assigned to the task receive an email alert. Remember how I said that before using this system we used whiteboards to plan our production schedule? It's embarrassing, but pretty common in smaller shops. Now that we've grown, it was just no longer feasible to manage things that way. What we needed was a visual tool showing our production schedule from a "bird's eye view," that was also sortable and flexible by resource. Our engineering team built just that and tied it in with our dotProject system so that all active tasks would appear in our visual traffic view (see image below).  These tools are incredibly helpful. At this point in our company's history, we're doing more work for more clients than we've ever done, and we have more people internally than we've ever had. We also have two offices, one here in Chapel Hill and the other in Providence, Rhode Island. Between the growth in number and complexity of what we do, and the size of our staff, there's obviously too much room for error with whiteboards and emails, but there's also room for error in our current system. After all, it's just a tool. However, the foundation on which the tool rests is our process. 
In March, Mark wrote about our project anatomy, noting that it is what holds us accountable to our process while still allowing for growth. We started by printing it out on paper- our idea was that if it worked on paper (click image at left to download the entire anatomy in PDF view), it would eventually work as an online checklist that was integrated with our dotProject and Admin system. We eventually finalized the anatomy and built an online tool that allows our Project Managers to track the process and ensure that no step- especially not QA - is overlooked (see image below). The benefit here is that by keeping our data in a centralized system that everyone at Newfangled can access, we create a sense of transparency across the company in addition to having a flexible and efficient tool. Although I didn't show screenshots (for obvious reasons), our system includes a detailed billing interface that tracks budgets from quoting stage through invoicing as well as provides sales reports. We're continuing to expand and improve our system. The more we use it, the more ideas we have for how to improve it. |
Tags: software project-management business resourcing
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Flipping Niche Websites... the Next Bubble?
July 31, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris“All of our advertisers are saying, ‘We want this niche or that niche,’ ” he said. “They never say, ‘We want to advertise on a site about nothing.’ ”So says Philip Kaplan, owner of AdBrite.com, as quoted in this article about flipping niche websites in the New York Times. I guess he's right. The advertisers don't want to buy in to sites about nothing per se, but they are apparently ok with shelling out for ad space on websites about bird cages... By the way, the owner of Bird-Cage.com bought the domain for $1800, rebuilt the site, sold some ads, and then sold the site for $173,000. Looks like a bubble just waiting to pop to me. |
Tags: web-development search marketing strategy
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Blog Comments: Love 'em or hate 'em?
July 30, 2008 at 2:00 pm by ChrisI read this humorous article this week in Time magazine by Technoculture columnist Lev Grossman, which wonders whether reader comments on web articles and blog posts add or subtract value from the content they are attached to. Here's a somewhat harsh but exemplary bit of it:A random example: on June 11, a user called way21337 uploaded a video to YouTube. It's titled My new gerbil, and it shows, in fact, a black-and-white gerbil snuffling around cutely in somebody's hand. It is 11 seconds long. By press time, it had acquired 102 comments. Let's take a look! They begin with NewTyhuss, who writes, "sweet!" Things start going south with comment No. 4: "id hit it." (Good one, ZRace67!) After a week, we're down to eldergod: "why dont u shove that gerbil up yur *&% and quit posting stupid videos." bwalhof writes, "kill yourself. fast." And so on.Ultimately, Grossman shares in the lament in response to this kind of commentary and hopes that the "standards of real world, offline politeness" will win the day. I hope he's right, but I think that the more pessimistic view, that "a kind of communal game in which whoever is cleverest and pushes the most buttons wins" is under way is what keeps many companies from opening up their online content to user comments. Any comments from you? bwalhof, are you out there? |
Tags: blogging web-development marketing strategy