Archive posts: 2008

Can we really?

Two whole days have passed, and I am still in awe. I can't seem to shrug off the incredible sense of pride and fulfillment that the results of the elections have given me, and I'm not even American! I have come close to full fledged tears running down my face, when I see the many photos and reactions to tuesday night's remarkable events, if only because it seems our world, not just the people of America, have been looking for a...

The elephant in the creative room; When numbers drive change

More often than not, designers and creatives sit in rooms dimly lit by the light of projectors, viewing what must be an endless stream of PowerPoint presentations. Most can visualize this and immediately get the urge to gag. But the truth is for the average designer, projects begin and end this way. And unlike what school so often makes you believe, projects are not always ideal, not always perfectly defined, not always understood by all those...

How the strongest brand of 2008 became the image of man in persuit of a goal

I have spent the better part of a day indulging in one of my favorite show in the world; the West Wing. This indulgence has in its wake, left me thinking about the outcome of the November elections and more importantly the electoral process of the United States. What has even sparked a greater interest is how I have now developed a keep sense of respect for one of the candidates, merely for his teams effort in positioning him in a visual...

Live Diggnation was in my backyard

I was a little hesitant. But i showed up with the general idea that a) i would not be disappointed and b) regardless of what i saw i would not take it heart or to seriously as i usually tend to take things. And so I walked into an auditorium of what must have been the biggest room of compounded geekdom that night, to watch and listen to the irreverent humor of 2 guys whom have i think pioneered the world of online video podcasts. Simply to...

The broad reach of a powerful stroke

You know its easy to say something looks good. Your eyes sit on the image, object or thing (for the lack of a better word), and feel at home. Great paintings, while classical or contemporary, have an appeal that let us identify it as good or great. While there will undoubtedly be disagreements as to what is great and what is not, in general we all have a similar understanding of what something good is. Case in point, beautiful women would not...

The art of teaching web design

After reading a friends blog post on weather or not people in the web design/development profession needed degrees, I thought that a couple of important questions needed to be asked. First and foremost; If the nature of our business is clearly represented by and eternal changing playing field, then is the auto didactic nature of most of its...

Be proactive! Take the Survey

Yes kiddies, I took the survey! For all you web professionals, designers and developers alike, do not forget to visit a list apart and take action by completing the survey that speaks to our field and our needs as professionals! This is really important as it helps build strong knowledge base of who and how our profession is practiced. This also helps...

A brush with fame

Life kind of trips you up with surprises. Thursday i got an IM from my cousin saying, "wanna go to coldplay" i said yeah! then she said "ohh do you want to meet the band?" I was like what? Come friday night i saw one of the best concerts ever and I got to meet the band. That was the trippiest thing ever. And after all that, and always thinking im prepared, i had a camera, but i made it into none of my final shots cuase go...

Getting your users/Customers involved

The art of listening to the masses The food service industry has always been kind of the first to acknowledge that the customer is always right. Recent trends in web design and usability standards have focused on the "customer " in a whole new way. By catering to the need of the user, design has guided...

Midnight Storming of the Castles

Midnight in the Valley of good and evil What happens when you gather with a person who shares a passion and history for tech companies like the one you secretly pretend you don't have. I had dinner and glass of wine, by the end of dinner i had agreed to drive through silicon valley looking for the companies and corporations that shaped technology in my lifetime, and i decided that it needed to be documented with a series of sporadic...