Becoming a Director: The Undisclosed Challenge of Creation in a Straightjacket

As professional creatives, as designers, and artists in any medium, staff or freelance, we tend to share a common career goal. After entering the workforce and working in our chosen field for a number of years, we imagine naturally progressing to directing, where we will be inspiring teams of people in doing what we have done. We may further imagine rather loftier goals than that, but surely directing is part of our journey.

Although often eager for this promotion, few creatives understand the implications of directing, and therefor fail to prepare themselves adequately for the role. Let me state emphatically - the hardest thing any talented creative person will ever have to do in his/her career - and truly nothing is fraught with more hidden challenge - is face the moment of transitioning from being a person who makes things, to a person who directs people who make things.

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Crank My Projector: The Embarrassing Overuse of Scroll

If you want to identify an embarrassing trend that will iconify outdated, wrong-headed web design circa 2012 - 2014, you need look no further than this.

Though probably not in the way you expect.

For the better part of 2 years, and largely ushered to popularity on the back of scroll friendly platforms like iPad, scrolling has become one of the most useful but sorely abused and overused interfacing tools available to web developers today.

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Why I Prefer Closed to Open

The best work starts with an idea, a visionary seed, one that must be defended and guided through the myriad of decisions a project meets along its growth.

I often think of creative ideas like trees in a forest. In a forest, the trees that stand out, those that get your attention, that make you stop and marvel, those are the trees that are unusual in some way. The ones that defy the average vertical pattern. The tree that is bent and twisted against the norm. A tree that quite literally goes out on a limb.

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Google Glass Is Not About Hardware - The Solution Rests on Software Alone

There is a reason the word "face" is found in "interface". Your face (and its senses) is the primary conduit through which you receive information. And when we talk I tend not to look at your elbows, but at your face, since most of the information I receive comes from it. In addition to verbal responses, your face communicates non-verbally - where your elbows for example, tend not to. And this is why Google Glass, as conceived today in hardware, is doomed.

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Your App Should Not Look Like iOS7

In reading the frenzy of reactions from bloggers across the web to the design changes in iOS7, I have come across a sentiment that I believe is misguided.

Basically the message goes: "iOS7's UI is flat (etc.) to focus on content (etc.), and if you don't make your app flat (etc.) to focus on content (etc.) too, it won't look 'at home' in iOS7, it will look old and nobody will want it".

I'm paraphrasing but that's basically it. And I refer only to the belief that the aesthetics need to conform, that it needs to look more like the OS. I am not referring to functional adaptation.

Some of you might take issue with my use of the word "flat" (Vs deep or whatever). I know, that's incomplete because iOS7 is layered with its illusion of depth, light and materials. That's an important point - and I'll get to that. But for now I'm talking about the general practice of removing everything from the UI that doesn't communicate functionality, and of the focus on graphic minimalism.

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Google Glass Vs Recon Jet - The Difference is Context

Those of you who read this blog know I reflexively roll my eyes and exhale heavily any time the topic of Google Glass comes up.

And yet here I am today pointing to a similar product that I think, in principle, stands a chance. At the very least, if too niche to change the world, it makes functional and practical sense to me. Which is a lot more than I can say for Glass.

In fact when I saw Recon Jet (and Recon HUD) for the first time I didn't cringe in sympathetic embarrassment for the person wearing it, as I do when I see some bozo wearing Google Glass. It's not because I am particularly drawn to the design, or any particular feature. Rather, it's because the person who wears Recon Jet, as designed and marketed, arguably has a rational reason to wear it. The same reason he might also wear a helmet and shoes with clips.

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Google Glass? I'd Rather Get Laid

I was catching up with my super smart friend, Pär, who reminded me of a study that showed how iPhone users get laid more often than Android users. I currently use an iPhone and you know, on some level I think I can anecdotally corroborate that.

Ok well maybe you didn't buy that study.

But what if the reverse were true, that say - being outed for owning a specific device actually resulted in getting laid measurably less? Lets say that was demonstrable. This hypothetical device will cause a woman or man, who might otherwise have found you attractive, to actively avoid you.I mean, guys, seriously, would you use that device in public? Be honest. Use this device and chances are, you will get laid less. Do you reach for it on your way out for drinks with friends? After all that time in the gym? Really.

"Well that depends. What does this device do?" you ask.

You think that matters? Well, what would it have to do? That's a better question. To make up for the likelihood that all the beautiful people across the club will see you with your Googly-eyed face brace, roll their eyes and laugh to their friends. It would obviously have to make up for a period of forced unogamy. That's a tall order.

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Native Advertising: Ad Agencies Dip Their Little Toes In The Deep End

Native Advertising as popularly defined (pick one) is nowhere near "the big idea", and further underscores a dark truth concerning the fate of every ad agency in the business.

As is often the case in the one-upsman world of advertising Native's definition is still in the land-grab phase. But in short:

"Native advertising is a web advertising method in which the advertiser attempts to attract attention by providing valuable content in the context of the user's experience."

In other words, theoretically without employing traditional interruptive tactics, advertisers would deliver brand messages in the form of - gasp - honest to goodness desirable content, products or services that users might be willing to seek out and pay money for, except that it's probably free.

In yet other words the same old ham-fisted, ad industry bozos are trying (still) to clod their way through yet another little bit of age-old interactive media obviousness as though it's some big new idea.

In truth, the underlying observations that have inspired today's "Native Advertising" breathlessness have been openly in place for over 15 years.

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Messages From the Future: The Fate of Google Glass

Man, time travel sucks. I mean think about it, you know all this stuff- and I mean you really know this stuff, but of course you can't say, "You're wrong, and I know, because I’m from the future."

So you pretend like its just your opinion and then sit there grinding your teeth while everyone else bloviates their opinions without actually knowing anything. Of course my old friends hate me. I mean I was always a know-it-all, but I really do know it all this time, which must make me seem even worse.

Anyway I was catching up on current events and was surprised to realize that I had arrived here smack dab before Google started selling Glass.

Truth is, I'd actually forgotten about Google Glass until I read that they are about to launch it again. Which itself should tell you something about its impact on the future.

So here's the deal on Google Glass. At least as far as I know - what with my being from the future and all.

It flopped.

Nobody bought it.

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My First Message From the Future: How Facebook Died

It was a hot, sunny Boston morning in July, 2033 - and suddenly - it was a freezing London evening in Feb 2013, and I had an excruciating headache.

I have no clue what happened. No flash, no tunnel, no lights. It's like the last 20 years of my life just never happened. Except that I remember them.

Not knowing what else to do I went to the house I used to live in then. I was surprised that my family was there, and everyone was young again. I seemed to be the only one who remembers anything. At some point I dropped the subject because my wife thought I'd gone crazy. And it was easier to let her think I was joking.

It's hard to keep all this to myself though, so, maybe as therapy, I've decided to write it here. Hardly anyone reads this so I guess I can't do too much damage. I didn't write this stuff the first time around, and I'm a little worried that the things I share might change events to the point that I no longer recognize them, so forgive me if I keep some aspects to myself.

As it is I already screwed things up by promptly forgetting my wife's birthday. Jesus Christ, I was slightly preoccupied, I mean, I'm sorry, ok? I traveled in time and forgot to pick up the ring that I ordered 20 years ago… and picked up once already. All sorts of stuff changed after that for a while. But then somehow it all started falling back into place.

Anyway - that's why I'm not telling you everything. Just enough to save the few of you who read this some pain.

Today I'll talk about Facebook.

Ok, in the future Facebook, the social network, dies. Well, ok, not "dies" exactly, but "shrivels into irrelevance", which was maybe just as bad.

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Why Apple's Interfaces Will Be Skeuomorphic Forever, And Why Yours Will Be Too

"Skeuomorph..." What?? I have been designing interfaces for 25 years and that word triggers nothing resembling understanding in my mind on its linguistic merit alone. Indeed, like some cosmic self-referential joke the word skeuomorph lacks the linguistic reference points I need to understand it.

So actually yes, it would be really nice if the word ornamentally looked a little more like what it meant, you know?

So Scott Forstall got the boot - and designers the world over are celebrating the likely death of Apple's "skeuomorphic" interface trend. Actually I am quite looking forward to an Ive-centric interface, but not so much because I hate so-called skeuomorphic interfaces, but because Ive is a (the) kick ass designer and I want to see his design sensibility in software. That will be exciting.

And yet, I'm not celebrating the death of skeuomorphic interfaces at Apple because - and I can already hear the panties bunching up - there is no such a thing as an off-state of skeuomorphism. That's an irrelevant concept. And even if there was such a thing, the result would be ugly and unusable.

Essentially, every user interface on Earth is ornamentally referencing and representing other unrelated materials, interfaces and elements. The only questions are: what's it representing, and by how much?

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Advertisers Whine: "Do Not Track" Makes Our Job Really Super Hard

So the Association of National Advertisers got it's panties all twisted in a knot because Microsoft was planning to build a "Do Not Track" feature into the next version of Internet Explorer - as a default setting. Theoretically this should allow users who use Explorer 10 to instruct marketers not to track the sites you visit, the things you search for, and links you click. A letter was written to Steve Ballmer and other senior executives at Microsoft demanding that the feature be cut because, and get this, it, "will undercut the effectiveness of our members’ advertising and, as a result, drastically damage the online experience by reducing the Internet content and offerings that such advertising supports. This result will harm consumers, hurt competition, and undermine American innovation and leadership in the Internet economy.” This is about a feature which allows you to choose not to have your internet behavior tracked by marketers. I'll wait till you're done laughing. Oh God my cheeks are sore.

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The Crowd Sourced Self

There is a guide available for anyone who wishes to learn how to be a better person. One that explains, in detail, what the greater population thinks is nobel, strong, and good. It also clearly illustrates the behaviors and traits that our society looks down on as weak and evil. If one were to follow the examples in this guide, one would make more friends, be more loved and trusted, and have more opportunity in life. It also shows why some people, perhaps unaware of this guide, are destined to be considered pariahs of society, doomed to a life of broken relationships, challenges and limits. I'm not talking about the bible. I, of course, am talking about the dueling memes, Good Guy Greg and Scumbag Steve.

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The Secret to Mastering Social Marketing

Social Marketing is huge. It's everywhere. If you work in advertising today, you're going to be asked how your clients can take advantage of it, how they can manage and control it. There are now books, sites, departments, conferences, even companies devoted to Social Marketing.

Through these venues you'll encounter a billion strategies and tactics for taking control of the Social Marketing maelstrom. Some simple - some stupidly convoluted.

And yet through all of that there is really only one idea that you need to embrace. One idea that rises above all the others. One idea that trumps any social marketing tactic anyone has ever thought of ever.

It's like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy is in Cairo meeting with that old dude who is translating the ancient language on the jeweled headpiece that would show exactly where to dig. And suddenly it dawns on them that the bad guys only had partial information.

"They're digging in the wrong place!"

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AdBlock Works Like Magic, Ad Agencies Collectively Wet Selves

The poor ad industry. It just keeps getting its ass handed to it.Well here we go again.

For years I have wished there was a magic button I could push that would eliminate all ads from any web page. A friend responded by suggesting that that's stupid, and you shouldn't have to push a button, it should just happen automatically. Well, right. Duh.

I was then introduced to AdBlock for Chrome and Safari.

Install one of these browser extensions and like magic you will instantly and miraculously be browsing an ad-free internet. It is the Internet you always imagined but cynically never thought you would see.

Literally, no ads - anywhere. No popups, no overlays, no banners, no stupid, hyperactive, take-over-your-screen "cool, immersive experiences" designed to earn some half-rate art director a Clio at your preciously timed expense. Nope - all gone. Cleaned up. Nothing but pure, clean, content. Exactly what you always wished the internet was.

So I spent a day browsing the net - ad-free - and thoroughly happy about it. But I began to wonder what all the poor agency people were going to do. Surely they are aware of these, right? I mean AdBlocks developer, this one dude, has 2 million customers, and the number is growing.

Hey, Agencies, are you getting this? ...Yet? Not only do consumers routinely wish they wouldn't happen by the product of your full effort, they are now able to affect the medium to destroy you. Or rather, destroy your ancient, irrelevant tactics.

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Steve Jobs

Years ago my business partner at Red Sky, CEO Tim Smith, used to tell a story about having met Steve Jobs in a most unusual, almost comic, situation. Tim has, after all these years, felt the pull to write it for posterity, or therapy maybe.

It's a great read. If you're a bit stunned at the loss of Steve Jobs you will appreciate it as I did.

Read Tim's story here.

I never met Steve. I always thought I would some day, egoist I am.

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Rhapsody Acquires Napster, Apple Terrified

Wow, maybe doctors could deliver this news to test your yawn reflex.

It's rare that something is so unbelievably boring that it transcends being ignorable and actually makes me want to write something about it, but man, did the folks at Rhapsody pull it off. Now that I think about it - I never thought of Rhapsody as having "folks at" before now.

Both music service-cum-companies have hovered so far down the food-chain of cultural relevance that I'm sure those of you who are old enough shared my first thought which was - "Wait, there is still a Rhapsody AND a Napster?"

The whole thing is so low-rent, it smacks of having happened on EBay. "In your cart: (1) Napster - size: small, and (3) Pair Mens Socks - Black."

Like those Batman sequels with the nipple-suits where they started pulling in 3rd tier villains like Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, you wondered who the bozos were that went for that.

I mean, once it went "legit" who the hell kept using Napster anyway? BestBuy - of all companies - bought Napster. Someone at BestBuy must have thought that was a big idea. "Gentlemen, my kids seem to know all about this 'Napster'. Can you imagine if we had the Napster? Why, we could appeal to 'generation x' and bring our brand into the new millennium using the world wide web."

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INTERACTIVE AXIOM #4: Usability's Equivalent Exchange

THE EASIER YOU WISH TO MAKE IT FOR YOUR USER THE HARDER AND MORE EXPENSIVE IT WILL BE FOR YOU TO CREATE.

This is a natural law in Interactive development; an equivalent exchange. And there is a point in the development of every project I have ever engaged in that this axiom hits the table.

It's ironic on some level that you, the developer and client, have to endure quite a lot of complexity, difficulty and cost - more than beginners initially expect - to make the user's experience conversely simpler and more effortless. But it's a fact.

That's because interactivity is not about a single path or way of doing things (though many clients walk in thinking it is). It's about potentials and variables. You are creating an environment where the User should have the freedom to move where he wishes. This naturally imposes development of varied and redundant pathways and functions. And the more options the User has, the more rigorous I.A. (information architecture) and U.I./U.X. (user interface/experience design) must become.

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INTERACTIVE AXIOM #3 : Embrace The Limitations

EMBRACE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

Arguably more commandment than axiom, I believe my old creative staff would concur that this was, and still is, the most often repeated, most useful, and most practical axiom to come out of our years in interactive development.

Embracing the limitations of the technology will make your work look, behave, and function better than the vast majority of the world's web sites, apps and other digital executions. There is simply no way around it.

It requires that you follow these basic steps:

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Hey Adobe, Flash is about to get Hyped

No, no, not the way it sounds, but I do love the irony.I'll admit it. I hate Flash. I've hated it for years. I hated it when it replaced Shockwave with a time-line based interface that bore every resemblance to every other time-line based interface, except that it didn't behave like any other time-line based interface. And not in a "wow, welcome to the future!" way either. No more of a "uh… why doesn't that just work intuitively?" way. So we all had to start over and learn to fiddle with Adobe's cryptic tool so we could create interactive pieces that were lighter than a .dcr.

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