Tag - design

Real Simple: corporation 2.0

July 10, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I ran into some Real Simple products today at Target as part of the browsing I’m always doing for new/innovative types of calendars, planners, and organizers.

After picking up a couple of their notebooks and journals, I noticed the RealSimple.com address on the back and checked them out.

How out in the woods have I been not to have noticed this company? They have a very interesting brand/identity. Real Simple is a:

  • TV show
  • magazine
  • website (which is mostly a for-pay walled garden)
  • and, not least, a products company that is making innovative and cool (if cheap) stuff that sells in Target, among other stores

    • I like it! Real Simple appears to be the iMac of companies … everything you need, in a nice wrapped-with-a bow all-in-one package.

    Corporation 2.0: branding, products, identity, media, relationship.

    Wow.

    [tags] real simple, branding, john koetsier [/tags]

Why I don’t have HDTV

June 28, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I love gadgets and technology and cool new stuff, but I don’t have HDTV.

Why?

This is why.

But the biggest problem is now we have 17 different boxes to power on to watch TV, and they have to be powered on in a certain order and with a certain remote control. And running Windows as the core OS of a PVR is just lunacy: I don’t want to deal with the blue screen of death, or spyware, or not having enough RAM to run my TV – I want it to just work. One night, my wife watched for several uncomfortable minutes as I tried to play a DVD on the HP PVR – there was something wrong with the disc, and eventually we gave up and watched it on one of our laptops in bed. All the while, she is mumbling how life has gotten so complicated that she can’t even operate our TV anymore and what is she supposed to do when I am not around to provide the necessary tech support?

Because when I upgrade to HDTV, I want a nice clean simple system that integrates at least three key functionalities with a minimum of boxes. That’s one box, btw, besides the actual TV itself, to do the following:

  1. TV
  2. DVD
  3. PVR

Whether the TV is satellite, cable, terrestrial or something else, I don’t care. I don’t want 5 boxes with 5 million wires. I don’t want a rat’s nest. I don’t want a living room server room. I don’t want mess. I don’t want complexity.

When someone builds that, let me know.

[tags] HDTV, TV, PVR, home theater, david strom, john koetsier [/tags]

Bumptop Piles: Apple, are you listening?

June 21, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Check this out.

It reminds me of Apple’s Piles concept, which never really saw the light of day. But this is much cooler, and may be a significant step forward in UI design … if some big company takes the hint.

[ update July 1 ]

Niko Nyman disagrees with the idea that Bumptop has possibilities. Some good points.

My rejoinder, posted as a comment on his post, and recycled here:

There’s absolutely no question that as a metaphor for 1.5 million files, the desktop fails, and fails miserably.

Where I see something like Bumptop as useful, however, is the transient stuff: the files for the 5 projects you have on the go right now. That’s what is on your physical desktop: not all 1.5 million pieces of paper you’ve seen/touched/needed/wanted at some point in your entire life. And that’s what’s on your virtual desktop.

However, ultimately you’re right. The question is: what do we have to replace the desktop metaphor?

[tags] apple, microsoft, UI, desktop, john koetsier [/tags]

iPod Video

June 19, 2006
John Koetsier
news

My new iPod just arrived – the 30 GB video version.

It somehow feels so much better than my 4th generation 20 GB version. It seems much slimmer (probably only a few millimeters), the screen seems much bigger (again, it’s probably not actually very much bigger at all) and overall just much more delicious.

Yum!

Now I’m figuring out how to get my music on the new iPod while leaving it on the old iPod. Hrmm … multiple playlists, sync these playlists to this iPod and those playlists to the other one … couldn’t this be a bit easier?

Grumble grumble.

[tags] iPod, video, apple, john koetsier [/tags]

Doing the unexpected

June 8, 2006
John Koetsier
news

If you’re involved in any kind of product development or marketing (and who isn’t in one or the other or both), don’t miss this post on the delight and magic of the familiar transposed into unexpected environments.

Wondering how to apply it to stuff I’m working on …

[tags] kathy sierra, passionate users, unexpected, marketing, product development, john koetsier [/tags]

Open source product design: hotfrosty

June 6, 2006
John Koetsier
news

OK, this is too cool to keep secret.

Remember that hotfrosty thing I’ve been talking about a bit lately?

Well, tomorrow I’ll be meeting two fashion design classes: one grade 11, one grade 12. And we’ll be having a little design contest.

It’s focused on one of the hotfrosty core products.

I think this is going to be good …

. . .
. . .

(Incidentally, some of the best product ideas, enhancements, and refinements lately have been coming from my wife, Teresa, who has been pounding out prototypes and dreaming up innovations. Thanks!)

[tags] hotfrosty, open source, design, innovation, creativity, product development, john koetsier [/tags]

Custom iPod skins by iFrogz

June 1, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I bought the coolest iPod skin today … at the coolest store.

It’s iFrogz, and they sell iPod cases. But not just any iPod cases – custom iPod cases.

First you pick your iPod, then you pick your “wrap” color. The wrap color will be on the front and back of your iPod. You pick a band, which will go around your iPod, and, if you want, you pick a “screen.” The site is heavily Ajax-ed, so it’s fast and all happens on the same page.

Here’s the site:

See that iPod with the custom skin? That’s my custom skin, and here’s a close-up:

Did I mention this was fairly cool?

Here’s the best part: even though it’s custom, it’s still less than a standard 1-color iPod skin … about $30 versus $34.

[tags] apple, ipod, ifrogz, ipod skin, cool, design, john koetsier [/tags]

Making business beautiful

May 29, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Is your business beautiful?

That sounds like a strange question – mostly because it is. But it’s a good question. It’s a question more people should ask of their business, processes, strategies, marketing, and products.

Why?

Well, think about it: what is beauty?

Beauty is the marriage of structure and function. It’s elements in careful but dynamic balance. It’s symmetry and simplicity. And above all, beauty is memorable.

Structure and function

Structure is only present where it is functional. All that is not functional is not structural. It has been abstracted out. All that is functional grows out of the structure. There are no missing pieces, and nothing is glued on as an afterthought.

Functions that are structural are solid; they are embedded in physical reality or organization. Structures that are functional are needed; they are not waste or empires or holdovers from a previous age. Are all the structures in your business functional? Are all the functions in your processes structural?

Balance

Is your business in balance? Example: your product portfolio. Do you have a mix of products at varying stages in their life cycles? Some that are new and still incurring product development costs. Some that are in young and still growing, finding their feet. Some that are in middle age: cash cows that will must be milked to the fullest before they dry up. Some that are tottering around on crutches that need to be put out to pasture.

Symmetry

Symmetry is an attribute of processes. If you mapped your workflow, would you find dangling loops? Winding paths? Dead ends?

The more symmetry, the better flow. The more loops, the more cost you’re building into your model.

Simplicity

Simplicity is as much as needed and no more than what is required. Simplicity is as simple as possible and complex as necessary. Are all your moving parts radically simple? If your company is more than two years old, and if you are not married to continuous process improvement, the answer is no: stuff happens.

Stuff accumulates. Over time, stuff overwhelms. Stuff is money, because stuff burns time. Which means that stuff is also lost opportunity. Getting rid of stuff is giving yourself the gift of focus.

Memorability

Is your business, marketing plan, product, division, whatever, memorable? Memorable things make an impression on people. Things that make an impression on people have a chance to matter. Things that do not make an impression on people do not, by definition, matter.

You want to matter. You want your business to matter. The only way to matter is to do something remarkable. What do you do that is remarkable?

. . .
. . .

Making your business beautiful is making your business lean. And focused. And proportioned.

Is your business beautiful?

If not, surgery is the only option.

[tags] business, process, improvement, beautiful, simplicity, john koetsier [/tags]

Strawberry Frog

May 29, 2006
John Koetsier
news

A company with a conference table this cool:

And one that is still bold enough to put a Flash movie as the first thing you see on their site (remember skipintro?):

… must be a pretty cool company. And indeed, if you check out their guiding principles (aka ‘frogism’), they are:

1. StrawberryFrog means working SmarterFaster.
2. We are humans – everyone is entitled to fun in their lives.
3. No one is big enough to be independent of others; none of us are as wise as all of us.
4. Ideas can come from anywhere.
5. Ideas need time and space to grow.
6. We spend other people’s money as if it were our own.
7. The best research is subjective, creative, informs and inspires.
8. Be honest.
9. Don’t mistake comfort for good work.
10. When we develop work we ask ourselves: is it wonderful? Does it move you? Does it make you curious? Is it a simple idea? Is it culturally authentic?
11. Keep it simple, not simplistic.
12. Trust your instincts.
13. Take chances.
14. We don’t have to be big; we have to be good and profitable.
15. No excuses.
16. Smile.

I think I would like to work at a company like that. Wouldn’t you?

[tags] strawberry frog, advertising, business 2.0, netherlands, john koetsier [/tags]

Premature optimization: the root of all evil

May 25, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I have to post this – I ran across it again today.

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

– Donald Knuth

The whole quote is actually “Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming,” but it’s much more impressive in the short form, don’t you think?

I think it’s true in a lot of settings, business processes included. Why? Optimization, by definition, makes a particular engine/application/process better at doing a particular set of things.

The problem is that when you pick up one end of the stick, you pick up the other end too. When you optimize for X, most often you are de-optimizing for Y, and probably Z as well.

When you do that too early … you don’t really know enough about the problems you’re facing and the problems you’re going to face to know what to optimize. You’re actually better off having a un-optimized process, running through some iterative cycles, and then optimize it once you know more.

Note:

There are cases where you do not want to optimize at all. Example: the internet. Since it is so radically un-optimized for any particular thing, it has provided an incredibly huge field of opportunity for an enormous number of applications, protocols, and uses. That’s why, for example, France’s Minitel never became anything even close to the web.

. . .
. . .

Knuth is an author and computer scientist.

[tags] donald knuth, optimization, systems, minitel, improvement, john koetsier [/tags]

ZDnet blogs: asking for your life history on the first date

May 24, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I occasionally run across an interesting post on ZDNet blogs, and today I wanted to post a comment to one … until I saw the registration form.

Most blogs want just 3 pieces of information from you in order to post:

  1. your name
  2. your email address
  3. your website address, if you have one

That’s it. Finished. Now you can post your comment.

That’s fairly simple, and adds very little friction to contributing to a conversation on someone else’s blog.

However, on ZDNet blogs, there are 22 separate fields or pieces of information they ask you to fill out! Unsurprisingly, most of their blogs generate only a few comments.

I understand ZDNet wants to enhance their relationship with readers (and possibly generate more revenue per visitor) but this is insane. In case anyone’s listening at ZDNet, here’s a good way to enhance my relationship with you:

Make it easy for me to begin a relationship.

Here’s ZDNet’s sign-up form:

[tags] ZDNet, blogs, comments, conversations, signups, friction [/tags]

Simplicity test

May 19, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Both of these companies say they’ll make your life simpler. They both make software for managing business processes, among other things.

Which one do you believe?

iRadeon go to iRadeon

37 Signals go to 37 Signals

Which one do you believe? And what does this tale of two screenshots say about your website?

[tags] simplicity, webdesign, web 2.0, 37 signals, iRadeon [/tags]

On focus groups and market research

May 19, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I saw a great quote today on Mike Hirshland’s blog.

“If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.'”

The quote is Henry Ford’s, and the lesson is that asking people what they want is usually – repeat, usually – not likely to give you the inside track on a revolutionary new product, service, or idea.

Why?

Because most people will simply give you incremental improvements on already-existing ideas. We’ve got horse now, we want faster horses. We have buggy whips now, we want better buggy whips.

(Incidentally, this is reminiscent of Detroit’s answer to falling interest in American cars: more horsepower.)

I think there’s only two guaranteed ways of coming up with new ideas:

  1. Be a little crazy and outside-the-box yourself, and take something you’re passionate about to the nth degree.
  2. Watch people – the right people – who are trend leaders in the ecosystem that you’re trying to enter.

So the focus group is out: observation of key people (mavens in Malcolm Gladwell-speak).

In both cases you are pushing the edge, or reinventing the standard. But neither of the two approaches, of course, give you any guarantees about the quality of your new ideas.

[tags] trends, malcolm gladwell, tipping point, creativity, innovation, market research, focus groups [/tags]

Kill the reset button in HTML forms

May 16, 2006
John Koetsier
news

In this age of user-centric design, the HTML reset button is past its useful lifespan.

I reached this important and passionate conclusion only after getting bitten in the ass by a reset button today. That’s the offending form, above, and there is that unnecessary Reset button that I clicked.

The reset button serves one function, and one function only: it clears all data from the form. Under what circumstances does the user need that fuction?

First scenario: fill & submit
In the first use-case, someone fills out a form and submits it. The reset button is not needed.

Second scenario: fill, error, submit
Or, someone could fill out a form, realize that they’ve made an error, and need to go back and correct it. The likelihood that every field is incorrect is extremely low … so again, the reset button is interface cruft.

Third scenario: fill, change mind
Finally, someone could fill out a form online, then decide that they don’t want to submit it after all. Well, all they need to do is leave the page. Click through to somewhere else, or close the browser. Once again, the reset button is unneeded.

Unneeded, but dangerous too
Not only is the reset button not needed, it’s dangerous.

Like me not paying proper attention today, some users will fill out forms, attempt to submit them, and accidently hit the wrong button. The consequences of this user action are instant, severe, and irrevocable.

All the data you entered (2-5 minutes of work, depending on the number of form items) is gone instantly, without a did-you-really-mean-to-press-that-button. And there’s no undo command that will recover the data. So the only recourse is to re-type the data. (Or give up and just leave.)

Why? Why? Why?
One good way of improving any process is asking why again and again – even about mundane elements that everyone just takes for granted.

If the above is true – and I’m not overlooking some important purpose – the Reset button on web forms is not only largely useless, it’s potentially dangerous both to the user and to the website proprietor who wants to hear from visitors/clients.

So why is it still there? Why do so many web forms – probably the vast majority of them – still have a Reset button?

For geeks only
Could it be that the Reset button’s major purpose in life is developer debugging during the web development process?

While building a site or a form functionality on a site, a developer will submit data to a form multiple times to ensure that all fields are working as they ought, all data is being saved correctly to the database, and an appropriate thank you page follows successful submission of the form. (Not to mention security testing, buffer overflow testing, etc. etc.)

During this process, it’s very helpful to have a reset button to change the data, wipe out data that is auto-completing because your browser is set up to auto-fill certain fields, and so on. So it makes sense to include a Reset button.

And that’s the only purpose I can think of for the Reset button. Which means it’s time to get rid of it.

That will simply your interface while reducing the possibility of user error … all while not taking an iota of functionality away from your visitors.

Slam dunk!

[tags] html web webdesign websites forms reset buttons [/tags]

Slashdot (re)design contest entry

May 15, 2006
John Koetsier
news

My colleague Carl Forde has thrown his hat in the Slashdot redesign ring with a really, really cool refresh of the Slashdot look and feel.

Check it out here.

Here’s what Carl has to say about his design:

  • XHTML 1.0 Strict validates cleanly,
  • retains the top left curve and Coliseo font
  • header & logo are echoed in the article intro presentations
  • renders properly in Firefox, Safari, Opera, Camino
  • the # mark in the logo: it can refer to the unix root prompt, C#, music or telephony, all nerd interests
  • narrower columns are easier to scan than wider ones
  • sixteen articles in two columns of eight, nerd numbers if ever there were any
  • topic icons light up on mouse over
  • poll choice can be made by clicking the text next to the desired radio button (Fitt’s Law)
  • the expanding/contracting menu on the right requires JavaScript to work
  • the toggle JS routine has a commented out call to update the user’s profile, the idea is that when a user is logged in, each time a slashbox is opened or closed, the change of state would be sent back to the server and recorded in the person’s profile. Next time the page is requested, it would render the way the person last saw it. for example the login box (see next point)
  • note that the login box is closed, this is done simply by having it inherit from two classes: content and closed, and having the title box’s class assigned appropriately, this should be easy to add programmatically
  • enjoy

Flickr kinda flickring in and out

May 12, 2006
John Koetsier
news

I recently purchased a pro account on Flickr, and I love it. Except …

Except when I can’t upload.

For some reason, some photos just won’t upload. They’re taken with the same camera, and they’re in the same photo management software (iPhoto) as dozens of others that worked, but these won’t upload.

You can try the iPhoto uploader or you can upload via Flickr’s web uploader: no dice. You can re-save them with Photoshop as fullsize JPEGs or re-save them as smaller images: no dice.

The worst part is the complete and utter lack of feedback: the upload just sits and sits and sits, spinning, switching. Red blue. Blue red. Red blue. Blue red …

Please, please, please at least time it out and tell me what’s wrong with the image – or Flickr.

[ update ]

I used the Flickr Uploadr and finally managed to get my Photoshop-saved JPEGs to upload. Whew!

[tags] flickr, problem, uploading, photos [/tags]

iPod Hi-Fi that doesn’t suck

May 12, 2006
John Koetsier
news

This is what iPod hi-fi should have been:

Compare that to Apple’s iPod HiFi:

There’s no comparison. Minimalist design can be only so minimalist before it starves to a sad, pitiful, weak little end. And that’s what Apple’s iPod HiFi does, in my opinion.

See more at Geneva’s site. Note that you can actually play CDs in the system … and that it includes an FM tuner.

The stand is just amazing … I have a wonderful Harman Kardon system with Bose speakers, but I’m smacking my lips just thinking about it.

It’s the whole package that makes the Geneva system so much more compelling to me. iPods, CDs, radio: everything I might want to listen to. Apple’s iPod HiFi just isn’t a big enough solution … maybe it’s just too simple.

[tags] ipod, ipod hifi, hifi, home stereo, simplicity, design [/tags]

Google Calendar tip

May 8, 2006
John Koetsier
news

This month I’m using Google Calendar exclusively for my calendaring and scheduling.

I don’t really know if I’ll continue to use it or not, but I’m immersing myself in it as part of a project at work in which I’m investigating a variety of different media/applications for staying organized.

One thing that bugs me (beside the fact that I need to use Firefox – Safari is not supported yet) is that it appears to always start the page view only at the first event. So if my first scheduled event for a week is at 10:00, that’s where my calendar view starts. There’s no configuration or preference for what hours of the day you want your to display.

But I like to see more of my work day … about 7:30 to 6:30. So here’s a work-around:

Create an event on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM (or however early you want
your average day to start being viewable. In event details, make it
repeat weekly.

Presto: all your calendars now show from 7:00 AM on …

I’m sure Google will eventually come up with a feature to make this
work-around superfluous, but until then it works!

(Also published in Google Calendar help.)

[tags] google, calendar, tip [/tags]

Tables, tables, tables

May 3, 2006
John Koetsier
news

What’s wrong with table based web design? Well, nothing, obviously:

Yum.

Of course, I realize that even if you’re using tables, you don’t have to turn the border feature on, but still … it’s not cool.

(The person whose site this is may be an incredibly wonderful “product coach,” for all I know. Just don’t go to him for web design. Or any design.)

Sidewalk: cool, simple forms

April 26, 2006
John Koetsier
news

This is a test of Sidewalk. Sidewalk lets you create web forms very, very simply, and stick them on your website without any application development whatsoever – and very little technical ability or knowledge at all.

Here’s my first test … tell me something that’s cool:

The best thing about this is not that anyone can do it. (OK, maybe it is.)

But the second best thing is that I don’t have to get a developer to build something. Two minutes with this tool saves me getting a developer to build something … and saves that developer an hour of his time.

The other reason that this kind of service is really, really important, is that every company or group that has a website occasionally has the need for some totally out-of-the-box wild blue-sky widget on their site. The CEO wants to check if people who buy green widgets like salted herring, or something like that.

Well, in a traditional development world, that’s somehow got to be fit into a site or application data model. It never will. And it never should.

And now, it never has to.

Credit:
I saw it first on Emily Chang’s eHub blog.

[ update May 1 ]

Two other players in a similar space: Wyacracker, and The Form Assembly. Cool thing about Form Assembly is that you can also do file uploads.

H2O

April 22, 2006
John Koetsier
news



H2O

Originally uploaded by johnkoetsier.

Teresa and I were out shopping this afternoon … our main floor bathroom is about to get blown up and redone.

High time, too …

We saw this sand-blasted glass sink and faucet – beautiful. Unfortunately, due to irritating facets of reality (namely, pipes, placement of, and bathroom, dimensions of) it just won’t work for us.

We await our next home, which we will build, and which will be perfect in every detail.

. . .
. . .

(Remember how you make God laugh? Tell him your plans.)

Websites: $10K per page?

April 19, 2006
John Koetsier
news

A Portland consultant says that good websites cost $10K per page. Yes, that’s 10,000 dollars.

For evidence, he cites the following:

Way back when, someone once wrote that, when you total up the true costs, a high-quality professional corporate web site costs $10k per page. It doesn’t matter how you do it – it doesn’t matter what kind of platform or technology you use… from Zero to the final, high-quality site will cost $10k per page.

I’m sorry, but I could not agree less. This is a ridiculous statement.

Put aside the fact that the cost of development tools and backend applications has gone down to approximately zero in the past few years (thank you, open source!). Put aside the fact that the frameworks and content management systems and information management systems have kept getting better and better.

Just look at the statement at face value, and it’s obviously off-base. Here’s how to prove it.

  1. Pick a major, corporate, well-done site. Say Sun Microsystems’s.
  2. Google only that site for the company name, in this case Sun.
  3. Note the number of results: in this case, over 48,000,000.
  4. Reduce the number by a factor of a hundred, as the company is likely to have a lot of pages with a lot of mentions of its name: 48,000. This is a guesstimate of the number of web pages at all the various Sun.com domains, and sounds fairly reasonable, if not low. (Remember, Sun has developer sites, partner sites, documentation sites, you name it … all adding up to many, many pages.)
  5. Multiply 48,000 by the $10,000 figure cited: $480,000,000.
  6. Case closed.

Yes, that’s a whopping half billion dollars. Trust me, Sun has not spent that much on its website.

There’s a vital clue to the thing that the consultant isn’t grasping a couple of paragraphs in:

To start thinking about “true cost” you need to understand all the actual costs that go into a site. So let’s imagine that you need a 10 page corporate web site. Say it’s a simple marketing site – pushing the message and the brand in order to create brand awareness, brand affinity and to create demand for the product

10 pages? 10 pages? “Simple marketing site?” These are not corporate websites – these are Mom and Pop business card websites.

And “pushing the message and the brand in order to create brand awareness?” Umm … business card website, circa 1997.

Today, websites have to actually do something … and thanks to a thousand free tools, platforms, frameworks, applications, and scripts, can do so quite cheaply.

Cases in point:

  1. The cost to build Dropsend: $50,000
  2. The cost of building Jotspot: $100,000

Need I repeat myself? Case closed.

Renoir

April 12, 2006
John Koetsier
news

While in San Antonio a week ago, one of our local sales consultants took me to the McNay Art Museum.

The McNay has a beautiful collection of works by well-known masters, but one piece that caught my eye in particular was a Renoir. But it was a Renoir with a difference – it was a sculpture.

Renoir started sculpture late in life, when his hands were already almost crippled by rheumatism. He worked with other artists, such as Ambroise Vollard and Richard Guino, to instantiate the visions in his mind.

Here, Washerwoman:

renoir-sculpture.jpg

Hotel California

April 11, 2006
John Koetsier
news

Just finished watching Walk the Line, the life story of Johnny Cash.

The movie was great, Joaquin Phoenix was amazing, Reese Witherspoon was really, really good. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. And the soundtrack was way too good – I couldn’t believe Phoenix and Witherspoon were doing the signing.

One thing that caught our eye was an umbrella at a hotel that Cash and company were staying at during a tour, early in the movie. It was exactly the same as one we just saw on our recent California road trip. Made of metal, with alternating blue and white stripes:

hotel-california.jpg

Retro cool – these things must last forever!

. . .
. . .

By the way, this movie must have been hard for Phoenix in at least one way: while Johnny Cash lost a brother at a very young age, he lost his brother River a little later in life … to the same kind of drug-fueled whirlpool that Cash became trapped in at one stage of his life.

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