Category: Uncategorized

Design and Marketing

One of the things that keeps me very busy at the moment is writing my thesis,
being a mandatory part of getting my master’s of science degree. I have
a background in Economics but convinced the faculty that design is an economic
entity of importance, especially related to high technology, marketing and branding.
The task was not easy, design is traditionally, within the academic field of
Economics and Business, not looked upon as being a strategic element. Naturally
I begged to differ. Anyway, I was blessed with a supervising professor that
“gets it.” He’s not a designer but a marketing guru, yet he
talks about Apple and Target and the way they used design to differentiate their
offering from competitors. Whenever I have a discussion with him he reminds
me of the fact that design matters, now more than ever.

(more…)

I have been rather busy lately and posts have been rare — this entry will explain some of the reasons but will probably leave you with more questions than answers. Bear with me. In a few weeks time you will know why. Right, let’s start some rumors.

First. I will be moving to Italy in September. Some of you may know why, yet some of you may have to wait a little before understanding what the heck is going on. It may not come as a surprise to you that this new endeavor is design related. This decision will change my life and career. Trust me.

Second. I will have my own blog. Yes. I must be the last designer in this business not to have his own blog. That will change. I’m currently working hard to get everything ready and figure out how to hack my way through Movable Type 3.0. Yes, I did cough up the $69. Six Apart needs to make money too, you know.

So why leave SB? There are a few reasons. First and foremost I want my own design. Something I can play with and change the way I see fit. Furthermore my own blog will be associated with my voice more clearly. Expect some thought provoking content in the future. So when will it launch? Ah, good question. I can’t let you know an exact date at this time. But in a few weeks is probably realistic. Don’t worry, you will hear about it.

Third. You probably noticed that there have not been any new issues of FAST, Weekend Reading and Guru on Paper. Again this is due to the lack of time at the moment. As any blogger knows, quality content takes time. Blogging in general takes time and dedication. In the coming weeks you should not expect a whole lot of posts. But I will be back (you know how to pronounce that…)

Some links

To avoid posting an entry exclusively about me, here are some links to noteworthy stuff related to design, usability, blogging and what not.

• 
  90% of All Usability Testing is Useless
  
  Lane Becker — Adaptive Path
  
• 
  Thousands of Blogs Fall Silent
  
  Michelle Delio — Wired
  
• 
  Brand You Survival Kit
  
  Tom Peters — Fast Company
  
• 
  That Wicked Worn Look: Part 4
  
  Cameron Moll — Authentic Boredom
  
• 
  Movable Type Pricing and Licensing Structure Changes
  
  Jason Kottke

  Note: I think Jason is wrong to a certain degree. Pricing can not be a matter of iteration using customer feedback but of market and business dynamics. If customers set the price you will be out of business before even selling anything. Now if only Jason had enabled comments.
  

Saturday afternoon and nasty hangover. “The airbag.ca domain can not be found.” Retry. No luck. What? Greg? Greg? No Greg? What? Dude, you can’t do this to me — you’re like my cup of coffee and cigarette in the morning, ermm, afternoon. This is so unfair. What am I supposed to do without your witty words, thoughtful commentary and stylish design?

Check email. Hurray, email from Greg!

So, it appears that thousands of Canadian domains have been suspended and are pending immediate removal from the world wide web. Uh? I’m not sure as to why this is happening, or the rationale behind this decision for that matter. In all honesty I don’t give a rat’s ass — airbag is alive and kicking, allbeit at a new address:

http://www.airbagindustries.com

Update your bookmarks, links and blogrolls! Now!

What makes a great company? Their dollars? Their products? Their services? No. Eventually it’s the people, human capital, that makes a company better than good. Business Logs is a new venture created by three talented individuals, each one of them adding their expertise to create a company that can help a business move forward by using online communication tools. These individuals are Paul Scrivens, Mike Rundle and Matthew Oliphant.

Personally I’ve always been interested in business in general and high technology. Using blogs as a means to improve communication is nothing new. Using blogs as a means to make money is nothing new either. But how about combining the two? Blogs are definitively catching on in the corporate world. Business Logs aims its services at those companies that see the power of blogs in business. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, how they will tackle problems and what different strategies they will develop in the future. I wish them nothing but good luck.

We are pleased to announce the availability of our first eBook, in PDF format, entitled “Budget Design: Increase Profit by Improving Process.” We postponed launch several times due to our busy schedules — but Dan e-mailed me last night to announce that the web site was live and that downloading can start as of now. Many thanks to Dave Shea for adding his stamp of approval by way of contributing the foreword.

The best part? We offer it free for 7 days! Yup. Free. So get it for free while you can. After 7 days we will charge $9. That’s still a bargain. The payment phase will be an experiment of sorts, to see what kind of interest there is in this sort of publication. Please let us know what you think. Leave a comment here or send us a message.

As for me, I’m somewhere in Europe waiting to catch a flight to Greece. Vacation indeed. Dan e-mailed me that he was catching a flight too (nice timing, eh?) so I decided to find a moment to write up this entry. See you all again in 10 days.