Popular opinion among smart, skilled, hard-working people seems to go something like this: Something is wrong with a society/world that values and rewards outgoing people, who talk up their strengths, over good or even great people who do not. Ah, self-promotion. Is there any other skill in the world of which smart, skilled, hard-working people […]
An elephant is long, limber, and slightly tapered. Like a giant roll of cookie dough, but with fewer chocolate chips and a lot more muscles! And an insatiable appetite for peanuts! Imagine somebody came up to you on the street and announced this proudly to you. What would you think of them? Let me take […]
It’s Time to Redesign The Sales Page! Part 2 (Part 1) So, last time on “It’s Time to Redesign The Sales Page!” we talked about why I decided the Freckle Time Tracking sales page had to be totally redone. Namely: We weren’t proud of the design, so we didn’t promote it We didn’t believe it […]
I spent this weekend at CURUCamp—that is, Central European Ruby Camp—here in Vienna. It totally kicked ass, I got to hang out with friends, make new friends, and learn stuff. (Plus, thanks to Jürgen the organizer, I now know a place where I can get a decent mojito in stodgy old Vienna. Good thing, too, […]
Before the Redesign So you’ve got this product. So I’ve got this product. It’s totally unique, the only entry in its field, and everybody knows it. It’s a rookie entry into an extremely crowded (if not particularly well-differentiated) field. Almost nobody knows it exists. It’s a time tracking application, and it’s called Freckle Time Tracking. […]
Jon Trelfa writes in with a nerd dilemma as old as time. Or at least as old as the goddamn “web 2.0” moniker. I’ve tried the “if you build it, they will come” model and thus far my great-idea has been sitting with zero hits. I’ve done the SEO stuff to increase ranking as well; […]
I’m trying something new here at Slash7. To put it simply: I’m taking your questions! Next week, I will answer one marketing (pimpin’) / product design / interaction design / graphic design question a day, right here on slash7. You should ask me about your site colors, or a tough usability problem you’re having, how […]
Obnoxious but required: if you like the sound of my SXSW talk, wouldja vote for it? John and I will be going either way but it would sure be fun to help spread the multi-talented love. Also, based on my experience last year, I feel like SXSW could use a few more well-prepared presentations rather […]
Wow, what a week. I just got back from Portland, where I hung out with tons of great Ruby folks, said and did lots of potentially embarrassing things, and gave a talk on designers and developers, working together. (“You got designer in my developer!” “You got developer in my designer!”) Downloads Grab the goods: Slide […]
There are so many things one could write if one were to, say, formulate a list of rules for design (and designers). I’m going to just stick with one, for now. The very first rule: Don’t insult the customer (Customer/viewer/user/reader/whatever) American Airlines obviously needs to learn this lesson. I mean, where can one even start? […]
