Archive for May, 2010
NY Times Interview with Brian Lam of Gizmodo
Posted in Gadgets, on May 29th, 2010 by Carlos.
The NY Times has a one-on-one interview with Brian Lam, editor of Gizmodo who is under heat from the law and John Gruber alike, for his role in the iPhone 4G prototype fiasco.
It’s interesting to read about Gizmodo’s ousting of the Apple employee who lost the prototype as being simply being a human interest story (which he defends in the comments of the article as well). I still think it was a rather douchy thing to do.
The interview doesn’t focus too much on the specifics of the iPhone 4G story given it is currently under legal investigation. It makes for a good read though. NY Times
How Did it Start?
Posted in Business, Guest Posts, on May 12th, 2010 by Carlos.
This post was originally published on the How Did it Start blog as guest post. Please check out their blog!
We asked Carlos Perez, owner of Pérez Design + Communications Inc., how he got his start.
How Did It Start?
I had been doing design work on-the-side since 2001, but I never took it too seriously. My commitment lay with my full-time job and employer, while the business added a little (and I mean a little) extra pocket change. In 2005 I had opened up a bank account, registered a business name (Pérez Marketing Communications) but I didn’t really know what I ever wanted to do with it in the long term. In fact by the fall of 2007, I was ready to call it quits on my side business as it really wasn’t generating much business, nor was I particularly seeking it. Paying $12 a month on a business bank account I barely used really started to feel like an unnecessary expense.
Things turned around in October of 2007 inside the Wells Fargo Theatre in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO. I was one amongst hundreds in attendance of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) Design Conference. My employer at the time allowed us to visit one such conference a year, and it was my first and consequently last that I would take advantage of. I was listening to some pretty incredible people speak about the influence of design on society. But oddly enough, it wasn’t the big speeches with moving words that really got me. It was the people I was sitting with in the audience. A substantial amount of people had a glow of blue on their faces cast by their MacBook laptops as they worked on a variety of projects. I had left my IBM ThinkPad at the hotel… it would have been embarrassing to reveal it in that crowd. I didn’t know if it was true or not, but in my mind, I was sitting amongst self-employed folks working on stuff that they really loved. I saw people working on brochures, invitations, websites, logos and more. At the time, I had quite a cool job as an Industrial Designer in a high-tech company, but oddly, after seeing these other designers work on such a variety of projects, I began to feel jealous.
Free the Foxes Gives Your Website Visitors Browser Choices
Posted in Web, on May 11th, 2010 by Carlos.
File this one under “things I wanted to do, but never got around to, and then someone beat me to it”. Free The Foxes is a lightweight script that detects the browser that your web visitors are using and gives them a popup if they are using a sub-standard browser. I’ve loaded the script onto the Keys That Click site, so users running IE6 and IE7 will be prompted with a window like the one above telling them that they should upgrade their browser for the best user experience. Really IE7 works fine on this site, but trying to get everyone to upgrade, even if it’s just to IE8, should be every web designer’s mission!
Installation takes seconds, and customization options include being able to choose which browsers will trigger the popup window. It would be nice to see a less intrusive approach such as a bar at the top of the window that slides down when clicked. I do wish the name was a little less FireFox oriented, but it’s not that big of a deal. Go check it out! [Free The Foxes via Web Resources Depot]
A Creative Moleskine Pen Holder
Posted in Design, Miscellaneous, on May 9th, 2010 by Carlos.
When I picked up a new Moleskine notebook last week, I discovered a problem that I didn’t encounter with other notebooks I used in the past – I had no where to put my pen! Previously I had always used notebooks with spiral coils which would conveniently house my pen when not in use. Given the fact that the clip on my pen is oddly shaped, I couldn’t just clip it on the front cover, well not without it creating a massive bump and causing my self-diagnosed OCD to kick and drive me nuts, that is.
I hunted online for some solutions which included using leather straps, metal clips or even duct tape. Then I came across Kate Lightfoot’s blog, ScarlettCat, where she has a quick how-to on creating a simple pen holding solution for your Moleskine. Her solution includes using a hammer, a nail, a button and a needle and string. As you can see in the photo below, the button is used to hold the elastic strap in place. It still keeps your Moleskine shut, but also gives you a place to put your pen!
With a little determination, but more importantly, a lot of help from my wife (I can’t be trusted with a needle and string), I put my brand new Moleskine under the knife nail. It was a surprisingly quick and easy exercise, even with having to restring the button after my first attempt at it, which left the string bound too tightly and didn’t leave enough room for the Moleskine’s elastic strap to fit underneath! That’s when my wife took over and did it the right way. In fact, I think it took longer for me to decide on what button I was going to use!
6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Name An Article With Titles Like ’6 Reasons…’
Posted in Blogging, on May 7th, 2010 by Carlos.
When it comes to being an active participant, I’m relatively new to this design-related blogosphere. I’m not an expert blogger. I don’t make any money off of it. So, perhaps what I’m going to say won’t be popular amongst others out there who have been doing this for a much longer time, are successful at it, and even make money off of it. But heck, it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.
Here it goes. I hate posts titled with a number of reasons, tips, suggestions, anything that I need to, nay, MUST, know. For example: “198 Reasons to use HTML5″, or “83 Inspirational Photographs to Get You Thinking Creatively” or even “6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Name An Article With Titles Like ’6 Reasons…’”. Yes, I made those up (well except for the last one, that’s real), but that style of title/article seems to be very common on many design blogs. These titles continuously fill my Twitter feed and frankly, I just ignore them now. And that’s a shame – just because the title is like that, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any good information in the article itself.
Is it perhaps time to let this trend die and go back to focusing on letting the content speak for itself? In a stroke of complete hypocrisy, here are my 6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Name An Article With Titles Like ’6 Reasons…’
- It’s Overwhelming. Sure I was joking with numbers of 198 this, or 83 that… but I’m not far off from what actually goes on out there. More isn’t always better. Really, it rarely is.
- It Provides Useless Information. Does posting the number of steps, tricks, reasons, etc. really make the title more compelling? For example, take this: “23 CSS Tricks You Should Be Using” vs. “CSS Tricks You Should Be Using”. Does adding the number truly add value to the article and entice people to click to read on? I honestly don’t think it does.
- It’s Less Personal. Presenting your title with a number in it seems rushed and less personal. Take the example in Reason 2. The title without a number seems a little more calm and personal. You’re presenting some useful information to the reader. Throw a number in and all of sudden you’re just rushing to get the reader some information and moving on to the next topic.
- It Becomes Noise. There seems to be so many articles titled like this now, it’s so easy to get lost in all the noise. As I mentioned, my Twitter feed is full of these now. Numbers no longer impress me.
- Quality over Quantity. I’m not saying that all the articles that have titles like these don’t have valuable information to share, but the title can really turn people off, in my experience at least. How about reducing the number of items in your post and choose the really good ones, rather than throwing a whack load of options at the reader.
- I Just Wanted to Have Six Reasons. Useless point? Exactly.
Please, don’t interpret this as a dig to the many talented and well intentioned bloggers out there that provide us with endless streams of suggestions, tips, and general know-how. Like I said, just because the article title isn’t my favourite, it doesn’t mean that the content isn’t good. Maybe it’s just a matter of presenting it differently so that it feels like you are trying to have a dialog with your readers, rather than just naming off a list of items and moving on your way. Alas, my readership is low, so I’m sure this won’t make much of a difference out there, but at least for my part, I promise not to participate in titling my articles in this manner. Well, starting after this one at least.
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