Media
A confused view of the web
a confused view of the web, [is] that you never want to send people to another site, because (incorrectly) that means fewer page views on your own site Techdirt: Why Do Newspapers So Rarely Link Out?
Latest
Design
The instant, pre-conscious pleasure of seeing a well designed page
It’s the instant, pre-conscious pleasure of seeing a well designed page that makes you predisposed to find a beautiful design easy to use—an effect that lingers long after the slower, conscious behavioral and reflective levels of processing kick in and make you aware of how you feel about
Photography
Once the picture is in the box
Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks. Henri Cartier-Bresson, August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004 (More...)
Designed by committee
A camel is a horse designed by committee. Several attributions, according to Wikipedia
Your first site version
If you review your first site version and don’t feel embarrassment, you spent too much time on it. Mark Goldenson, 10 lessons from a failed startup
The trick with free
The trick with free is you need to leverage the free part to increase the value of something that is scarce and that you control, which is not easily copied. Techdirt’s Mike Masnick, Free Gone Wrong... Or Free Done Wrong
The premise that software will do all their hard work
Some build their hopes and businesses on the premise that, in the end, software will do all their hard work. That is just wrong: For one, software always needs work. Hard work. And second, software works - loyally and almost exclusively so - fine for me. @BasL
Design
Screen design method
1. List all the things a screen should do. What should the customer be able to accomplish? What information are you sure should be displayed? Which affordances are necessary for customers to start a process or reach a goal? Label these things with numbers. 2. Look for any numbered items
Photography
None of them is the truth
All photos are accurate. None of them is the truth. Richard Avedon
Work
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. That’s the only reason I can think of to spend the time and resources. If your goal isn’t to change minds, perhaps you should consider a different approach. Seth Godin on The hierarchy of presentations
Design
When you listen to your users
The bottom line is, when you listen to your users, you get vanilla. feature creep. boring. It takes a dictator to create the iPhone and change the course of an entire industry. Michael Arrington, Techcrunch
Old Media
Preserve the old forms of organization
The curious thing about the various plans hatched in the ’90s is that they were, at base, all the same plan: “Here’s how we’re going to preserve the old forms of organization in a world of cheap perfect copies!” Clay Shirky, Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable