Archive for August, 2006
How I Blog
Seth Godin, who ruminates for a living, wrote a little something about how ideas are transmitted last year:
For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received.
No one “sends” an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefitsNo one “gets” an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
Seth hits the nail right on the head with this. When I’m deciding what links to post here, I’m essentially curating ideas, collecting them to “send” to you (and to myself, in a way). And unconsciously, these seven points factor into my decision on what to post here.
a. they understand it – I read everything I post and attempt to understand an article enough to represent it accurately when linking to it.
b. they want it to spread – I pick links and write posts based on ideas that I think are in some way important, meaningful, relevent, or good for the soul. And sure, I want those ideas to be more widely known or enjoyed, even if it’s something as simple as someone getting a needed chuckle from a video of a monkey teasing a dog.
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind – This factors into anyone’s motivations for anything. In George Orwell’s 1947 essay Why I Write, his #1 reason is “sheer egoism”.
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits – If I wanted to, I could post 30 links or more a day without too much more effort on my part, but in this case, part of sending the idea is making sure the reader has enough attention to consider it.
a. the first impression demands further investigation – I spend a lot of time on getting the description of some linked text, photo, or video just right, so that the reader has a good idea of what they’re getting into. Choosing a 1-2 sentence pull-quote that accurately represents the idea of an article is key in getting people’s attention in a productive way. “This is an awesome link” is only going to cut it so many times; you need to tell people what the link is and give people an honest reason to click.
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea – I assume visitors to the site are regular readers and that they have a good sense of what happens here, but I try to limit my reliance on jargon or “in-crowd” references so that everyone can follow along.
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time – If I do all that other stuff right, hopefully you’ll trust me enough to be receptive to the ideas I’m sending you. And if not, you probably won’t trust me for long.
Like I said, all this was pretty much happening unconsciously. I’ve worked consciously on bits and pieces of it, but until I read Seth’s post, I didn’t know that this was the end-to-end process.
Originally
from kottke.org
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 8, 2006, 4:32AM
Dave Werner’s Portfolio 2006
A Portfolio Center MFA student, this guy has a nice feel for what can be done with new media, flash and narrativity on-line. A good resource for other students to re-consider what is possible with media.
Hydrogen Atom Scale Model
The page is scaled so that the smallest thing on it, the electron, is one pixel. That makes the proton, this big ball right next to us, a thousand pixels across, and the distance between them is… yep, fifty million pixels (not a hundred million, because we\’re only showing the radius of the atom. ie: from the middle to the edge). If your monitor displays 72 pixels to the inch, then that works out to eleven miles – making this possibly the biggest page you\’ve ever seen.
Ben Hopson: Somebody Hire this Guy.
Somewhere between Hoberman, Calder and Muppet, Ben Hopson is a designer who’s Aesthetic Investigations of Motion in Product Design challenge the status quo: Why is it that the way parts move in most product design lack imagination, or simply default to the most obvious? Check out Ben’s movies, then read the text of what his explorations try to, well, explore. Then can somebody snap this guy up please, so we can get get mo’ motion in our ocean?
Our favorites (some with blue foam too!): Big Star, Tower Monster, Coil Puppet, and Exploding “T”.
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 9, 2006, 10:32PM
Ben Hopson’s investigations of movement
Check out these lovely investigations of movement — created by student designer Ben Hopson.
Super cute laptop bag that actually works
Soft goods designer Mary-Ann Williams creates a plethora of intriguing tactile goods including carpets, bowls, furniture, housewares and bags, mostly made of wool felt. Her Plisee laptop bag design falls into a genre that barely exists– where craftiness meets innovative function, resulting in a cute product that actually does something besides look cute. The looped felt is stacked on edge, not only providing excellent shock absorption, but also creating a flat, rigid base surface for the laptop when in use. They are available in a range of colors and in various sizes for PCs and Macs.
via josh spear
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 11, 2006, 3:23PM
ADAPT 2006 Conference
ADAPT ’06 gathers round today’s most renowned international and local digital art masters for this spectacular event jam-packed with hot-list speakers, exhibits, a job fair, parties and more. Some of Hollywood’s best digital artists will showcase the secrets behind their works, separated into 2-D and 3-D tracks, along with an exploration track.
ADAPT 2006 Conference
September 23-24
Montreal
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Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 11, 2006, 5:50PM
Lame $500 rotary cellphone
The Port-o-Rotary is cleverly described as “high-quality,” while we are forwarned to “realize the sound quality will not be as good as your pocket phone,” and that “this phone is for entertainment purposes only!” So with that said, if you crave terrible portability, stares from strangers and a ball-busting price tag, grab one today and pop in your SIM card.
via raw feed
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 14, 2006, 4:12PM
2 & 3D Digital Artists : Call for Entries
Netdiver is giving you the opportunity to get your best work shown to some of the top Hollywood studios who will be attending //ADAPT in Montreal, September 23-24.
Deadline: September 1
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 14, 2006, 8:29PM
Nulla chainless, hubless bicycle concept
Posted on Kancept, Bradford Waugh’s beautiful and clean Nulla bike design uses no hubs or chains. Post your own comments at this beta-stage product concept community.
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Aug 21, 2006, 5:44PM
