How to keep co-workers away
A hilarious video displaying a technique that may help web designers get more quiet time without distractions and requests from co-workers.
Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.
Why do people still think spec work is okay?
There’s a heated discussion that seems to boil to the surface every now and again about the validity of “spec work”. Typically it’s thrust into the conversation when some new project/venture/company puts out some request for some spec work. The lines are then drawn in the sand with conscientious, objective, honest designers & firms on one side and the soulless, firms that regularly practice this technique going to bat for the group or individual that proposed the project that brought this discussion up again.
I somehow missed the most recent rise of the discussion yesterday when a request was made for a slide design for the upcoming Future of Web Design conference.
The discussion can be found in the comments of the post on Carsonified’s blog.
Mark Boulton was kind enough to expand on the subject and outline some facts and thoughts around the topic of spec work.
But I think Zeldman sums it up the best.
Spec = asking the world to have sex with you and promising a dinner date to one lucky winner.
So after all that, how can anyone still think that spec work is okay?
The Crisis of Credit, Visualized
Next to some of the appearances Bill Clinton has made, this video is some of the most intelligent explanations and discussion about the U.S. Credit Crisis. It’s also fantastically illustrated and well designed.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
Floating signs
Having experienced some of the ridiculously tall signs in the Mid-West first-hand, I found this collection of altered photographs is especially hilarious.
Just another reason I’m not a fan of the Facebook
The Israeli-based site face.com has developed a tool they’ve dubbed Photo Finder, that scans Facebook photos for your friends, using facial recognition software. While an amazing feat of software engineering, this creps me out.
Artistic Engineering
Last week Google lost a great designer. On his site, Douglas Bowman announced that last Friday would be his last day at Google. I was sad to hear that such a power couple like Bowman and Google were breaking up, but I knew Bowman must be moving on to something better (which he says he’ll write about in the near future).
As many followers and fans of Bowman and his work at Google wished him well, and contemplated the effect that the loss may have on Google’s applications that we’ve come to know and love, others took offense to his candor about why he left and the venom spewing followed soon after. Read the rest of this entry »
How to create repeating patterns
I’ve always been amazed by a good repeating pattern. Any attempt I ever made took way too long and always ended in frustration an an absolute crap pattern. So to find a good pattern like the ones by Travis Beckham and the ones on BittBox, was gold for me. I always figured there had to be a fairly easy/simple way to create them, but I was just too intimidated to try and find out how.
At the urging of a co-worker, I finally checked to see what Google had to say on the subject and found this fantastic tutorial/explanation. So now I’ll hopefully get the chance to work on some patterns of my own.
Learning the hard way
Design Reviver wrote about the top “10 Things They Don’t Teach You In Design School“, all of which are so true, and many of which I wish I’d known before I graduated. Regardless, here are a few of my favorites.
5. You should backup your data on a regular basis
One of the hardest to learn, but as long as you don’t back up, you will always encounter a time when you wish you did.
6. Start networking, now!
Easily the one on the list I hate the most. But I know it’s necessary. I’m working on it, tomorrow.
7. Make sure your client signs a contract
This one is so, so, so important and is rarely even mentioned in design schools. If you’re doing work that you expect to get compensated for, no matter how big or how small, get a signed contract. This one can be almost as devastating as not backing up your files.
10. Your printer will stop working when you need it the most
One everyone experiences, and just another example of Murphy’s Law effecting the design industry.
An amazing interview with an absolutely amazing person, in the least likely of places
Last night Archbishop Desmond Tutu graced the U.S. with his presence on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Tutu shared his thoughts on a range of topics from race, to America and forgiveness to  Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he chaired in his native South Africa. This is one of my favorite excerpts from his appearance.
The thing is, that you and I, and all of us, even when we don’t accept it or understand it, is that God created us in such a way that, I can’t be human on my own. I wouldn’t know how to walk, as a human being. I wouldn’t know how to think. I wouldn’t know how to speak, I would not know how to be a human being, except from learning from other human beings. And so our humanity, is bound up with one anothers. And, and you see, we saw it as …. if you carry out a policy that de-humanizes others, in the process, you are dehumanized.
-Â Desmond Tutu on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Shining a light on some dirty political secrets
Senator McCain has warmed up to technology in a big way. He’s using Twitter to expose some ridiculous pork-barrel spending projects and he’s found some good ones.
