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Sep 4
Speaking of type...
Mark Boulton, a kick-ass web designer from the UK, just redesigned his personal sight and it is gorgeous. Well done, Mark. Also, be sure to check out Jina Bolton's new site, too.
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Sep 4
Jamie Latendress on Ikea's Verdana Switch:
It's tough, I get it. We have a faltering economy across the globe and no one is immune, not even IKEA. Any cost savings is worthy of consideration. Still, IKEA is a design focussed company. Good design has always been one of, if not chief among, their primary goals. It's hard to see them compromise something so central to their identity and brand.
Compromise is never easy for any company. In this economy, it's all about trade-offs.
While most will fervently disagree with me, I actually think Ikea's decision to switch to Verdana is one that *is* in line with their identity and brand. Their brand is about being affordable, practical and efficient - isn't Verdana all of those things?
It will be interesting to see if Ikea reverts back to Futura. My guess is they won't.
Moral of this story, brands are built on consistency. If you change something, there better be a damn good reason. In my opinion, Ikea has one.
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Sep 3
Thank you NAU
About a year ago, I discovered a wonderful clothing company called NAU (pronounced 'now').
They pride themselves on producing clothes from sustainable materials. Their quality is also unmatched. To make you feel even better about your purchase, they let you choose which organization receives a % of your total purchase. All of the organizations that benefit are dedicated to the environment and sustainability.
I received a 'We Miss You' email this week and I was shocked to find the unsubscribe option in the body of the email. To me, this is the ultimate sign of respect (at least for my inbox).
NAU, you rock.
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Sep 3
Storytelling power
If you've heard me speak about social media, you have probably heard me refer to my 'ah-ha' moment, which was at the February 2009 Social Media Club - Seattle event. Chris Heuer, the founder of Social Media Club International, was sharing why he thought there was a 'business case for social media'. Towards the end of this speech he said these words:
Bottom line, the business case for social media is storytelling. The brands with the best storytellers will win.
This statement blew me away. It was simple, true and ultimately the undercurrent of any great social media strategy.
As I was reading through my feeds this morning, I came across a blog post by Bruce Temkin that explained the psychiatry around why that's true:
The more that people can recognize themselves in a story, the more it will draw them into the content. So great communicators need to create narratives that relate to the people who they want to influence.
A story's power is directly proportional to the number of people that can relate to it.
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Sep 1
Additional Snow Leopard Nedery
Shawn Blanc shares his thoughts on some Snow Leopard tweaks. I would say that despite "no new features" in Snow Leopard, it's an entirely different animal - in a more refined kind of way. I can't wait to upgrade.Comments [0]
Sep 1
John Siracusa on Apple's pricing of Snow Leopard
To be clear, installing the $29 upgrade to Snow Leopard on a system not already running a properly licensed copy of Leopard is a violation of the end-user license agreement that comes with the product. But Apple's decision is a refreshing change: rewarding honest people with a hassle-free product rather than trying to punish dishonest people by treating everyone like a criminal. This "honor system" upgrade enforcement policy partially explains the big jump to $169 for the Mac Box Set, which ends up re-framed as an honest person's way to get iLife and iWork at their usual prices, plus Snow Leopard for $11 more.
via arstechnica.com
Like most things, the devil is always in the details.
Siracusa walks through each and every detail of the Snow Leopard release. Not for the faint-hearted (non-coder), but interesting, none the less.
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Aug 25
Bill Gates on the Mac:
To create a new standard, it takes something that’s not just a little bit different; it takes something that’s really new and really captures people’s imagination — and the Macintosh, of all the machines I’ve ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.
via minimalmac.com
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