Signal vs. Noise

VIDEO: Ken Burn’s documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright s

Matt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Ken Burn’s documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright shows Wright did the actual drawings for the famous Falling Water house in less than three hours! [via TSY]

INSIGHT: Designs take a leap forward when you kill

Ryan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:20:00 +0000

Designs take a leap forward when you kill the things you didn’t know you were holding on to.

Haystack: Two Week Anniversary + Latest Updates

Jason F. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Haystack is off to a great start. We launched two weeks ago on October 21st, and so far over over 2,500 web designers have been listed. Lots are finding clients as well. That’s exciting.

We’ve been hard at work improving Haystack. Here are some of the improvements we’ve made since launch:

Call to action footer

At the bottom of each company page, we’ve added a call to action after their portfolio shots. This way it’s easier to scroll through someone’s work and then get in touch with them. It says “Like what you see? Contact via email or web.” Here’s what it looks like:

Updated and New flags

We wanted to call out new listings and listings that were recently updated. So for the first 48 hours, a listing card gets a “NEW” badge. Any listings with updated descriptions or new portfolio images get an “UPDATED” badge. Here’s what they look like close up and also in context.

More...

New Car Camo

Jason F. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Car companies go to great lengths to hide new models from from the public (or car paparazzi) during road testing. They’ve gotta drive the cars, but they don’t want to give away their designs too early.

Car camouflage used to be handled with wraps, fake bodies, or fake pieces attached to the actual body. Like:

But lately I’ve noticed more companies using swirly decals or geometric stickers to mask the shape. Check these out:

I would assume once cars get deeper into the testing phase, and aerodynamics, wind noise, and overall ride quality need to be fined tuned, the bulky camp comes off and the swirly surface decals come on. But it does seem like the swirls are new in the last few years.

I wonder who’s behind them (since the same patterns are apparently used by different brands). Which company or inventor is the king of car camo?

(images from WorldCarFans).

VIDEO: Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

37signals — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company designs and builds small houses ranging from 65 to 837 square feet. He’s spent the last 10 years living in his tiny houses. In this video he gives a tour of a 96 square foot house.

Bug tracking isn't a network-effect business

David — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Facebook sucks you in because everyone you know is using it. You go to eBay to find something because you know someone is selling what you want to buy. Oracle wins in the enterprise because there are tons of experts and plenty of auxiliary software available. All these business rely heavily on the network effect: Their product is more attractive than the competition because of their market share.

Do you know what kind of software doesn’t have the advantages of the network effect? Ours. One Highrise user doesn’t give a hoot whether we have 10,000 or 100,000 customers. Jane Doe doesn’t benefit if we sign up any other customers this year. As long as there’s a sound business behind the product, she doesn’t care about anyone else. In other words, there are no network effects.

Bug tracking has no network effects

Do you know what other kind of software isn’t affected by the network effect? Bug tracking. I don’t care who else is using Trac as long as it’s great software. It doesn’t benefit us to know that the Shopify guys are using it too (short of just sharing tips and tricks). Again, no network effects.

I don’t think Spolsky notices a difference. In Does Slow Growth Equal Slow Death, he’s freaking out that a competitor (Atlassian, it seems) is growing faster than Fog Bugz and decides he has to get into market-share mode or face extinction. That unless he puts the turbo on growth, he’s going to be WordPerfect.

Bad decisions come from fear

Fear is ugly because it makes you irrational. Fear makes you jump to conclusions. Fear makes you reactionary. Spolsky’s reaction to the imaginary threat of extinction is all fear:

1) Build every feature any customer would ever want: Apparently, by having all the features anyone can ever imagine, Fog Bugz will “eliminate any possible reason that customers might buy our competitors’ junk”. That’s a faulty conclusion and a terrible idea. Software that tries to be everything to everyone generally sucks. It becomes bloated, hard to use, and in need of big up-front training. (Actually, that’s a pretty good definition of enterprise software right there).

2) Become a sales force-driven company: Hire a bunch of sales people and make them convince people to buy our software. This is even more enterprisey thinking. Side step the actual users, the developers, and go straight to management with steak and strippers. I’ve worked at sales force-driven software companies and they suck. The sales people will invariably promise more than you have and drive you even deeper into “build everything for everyone”.

Stay strong

Companies in non-network-effects businesses don’t become extinct because they only have 50% y/y growth. They become extinct because they fuck up a good thing and become their own worst enemy. They take a successful product and ruin it trying to reach for the moon. Joel, please don’t do that.

Jobs at the 37signals Job Board: Sydney, SF, Seattle, DC, etc.

37signals — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:48:00 +0000

Design Jobs

Harvest is looking for a UX Designer in New York, NY.

Scholastic (eScholastic) is looking for a Senior Web Producer in New York, NY.

HubSpot is looking for a Web Design and Usability Maven in Cambridge, MA.

Camelback Web Architects is looking for a Graphics Designer in Dallas, TX.

Fanbase, Inc. is looking for a User Experience Designer in San Francisco, CA.

TripIt is looking for a Visual Design Lead in San Francisco, CA.

View all Design Job listings

Programming Jobs

Online Buddies, Inc. is looking for a Web Developers (Junior – Senior positions available) in Cambridge, MA.

GelaSkins Inc. is looking for a Senior PHP Developer in Toronto, Canada.

Threespot Media is looking for a Front-End Developer in Washington, DC.

MyFDB is looking for a Rails Developer in Los Angeles, CA.

Angry Lapdog Productions is looking for a Rails Programmer in Seattle, WA.

Sharkey Media is looking for a Rails programmer in Sydney, Australia.

View all Programmer Job listings

More jobs

View all of the jobs at the 37signals Job Board. (The Job Board now has internships too.)

QUOTE: I have seen so many young entrepreneurs and

Matt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:00 +0000

I have seen so many young entrepreneurs and intelligent, experienced engineers come through the door with “great products that will change the way people and businesses function” and most of them fail. They fail because the mentality towards what a business should be and how it should be run is different now. Years ago when you opened a business you had fixed costs and you hustled each month to cover bills and grow so that you could do more than just cover bills soon. Technology is not an industry, in my opinion, it is a tool that is used to make an industry more efficient and effective… now I know this means that the production of these tools is an industry, but how many companies today really create tools and how many create cool crap that is dead in 6 months?

Investors use terms like “sexy” and “viral” and 22 year old CEOs use buzz terms like scalable, robust and enterprise but there is no meat to anything anyone is saying. No one asks “how do you make money, how quickly, how much, what are your CPCA…” oh and 22 and you are a CEO… really… get over yourself…

The illusion of success, the delusion of being the next Zuckerberg… are we fostering great minds or setting the next generation up for failure and disappointment?

—Comment on The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37signals by David Calabrese, a founder of marketing and SaaS companies.

LINK: "Jason Fried: The Way I Work"

37signals — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:12:00 +0000

"Jason Fried: The Way I Work"

Inc. Magazine profiles 37signals founder, Jason Fried, in their November issue (page 118-121). The piece is peek inside his typical workday.

[Launch] The debut episode of the 37signals podcast

Matt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:07:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce the very first 37signals podcast is now available! More to come soon…

Episode #1 (17:22, download MP3)

Like this episode? Please share it with your friends:

In this episode: Jason discusses his new CEO office hours and the most surprising call he’s received so far. David takes us behind the scenes of Haystack, the recently launched 37signals site that brings together web designers and clients. The discussion touches on why the site was created, how it works, and changes made to initial feedback. Then Jason discusses how nature can make you a better designer.

More details and related links at 37signals.com/podcast. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or RSS.

QUESTION: When's the last time you read your site or

Jason F. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:43:00 +0000

When’s the last time you read your site or web app aloud? Not just the big text blocks and the about page, but the headlines, field labels, buttons, error messages, and confirmation emails?

The early days of Bear Naked

Matt — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Kelly Flatley and Brendan Synnott were two high school friends who wanted to sell their homemade nutty granola. So they launched Bear Naked in 2002. Here’s the story of how they landed their first big account:

Our first big retail break was landing an account with Stew Leonard’s, the four-store Connecticut grocery chain. For months we bugged the buyer via phone. He ignored us. To get his attention, we decided to bring him breakfast one day.

We woke up at 6 a.m. and dressed in Bear Naked T-shirts. We borrowed china from Kelly’s mom, which we used to display fresh fruit, our granola, and Stew Leonard’s brand of yogurt. We were the first car in the lot at the chain’s headquarters. After we climbed the stairs to the office, the receptionist told us the buyer was on vacation. We were deflated!

But then, as we were walking away, we recognized Stew Leonard Jr. “Stew!” we yelled. “We brought you breakfast!”

He seemed impressed by our youth and enthusiasm and asked us into his office. He said he was used to brokers pitching 55 products at a time and that it was refreshing to meet young kids so eager to sell a bag of granola. After talking with us for two hours, he said he wanted to help us out. He decided to place our granola in his stores.

The article provides good inspiration for how you have to DIY it starting out. For the first few years, the duo ran the company out of Kelly’s parents’ home, bought ingredients at CostCo when distributors wouldn’t fill their undersized orders, crashed triathlons to give out samples, and worked as the company’s distributors, producers, and kitchen cleaners.

Related: Do it yourself first [SvN]

INSIGHT: A great way to figure out the weak spots

Jason F. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:45:00 +0000

A great way to figure out the weak spots in your product is to demo it live in front of an audience (not just a couple people at an office). Talk through it and read the UI out loud as you click around and do stuff. You’ll notice all sorts of little things that can be improved.

Speaker's Tip: Don't tell the audience you aren't prepared

Jason F. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Lately I’ve been seeing more speakers hop up on stage at a conference and say “I didn’t prepare anything so I’m just gonna wing it.” Or they’ll let you know that they’re “Sorry about the quality of the slides – I put them together quickly on the flight over here this morning.”

I’m all for winging it, but when you say “I’m not really prepared” in front of an audience you’re showing them the ultimate disrespect.

People take days off of work, spend hundreds on a conference ticket, travel for thousands of miles, and pay hefty rates for flights and hotels to come hear you speak, and you tell them you didn’t have time to prepare a talk? What’s cool about that? The audience is busy too, but they found time to come to the conference. You can’t find time to properly prepare a presentation for them?

Now… Some of these unprepared talks have been wonderful. The spontaneity is great, and if a speaker knows their topic they don’t really have to prepare in the traditional sense. So it’s not the quality of the talks, it’s the qualifier. If you aren’t prepared, or if you hastily put together your presentation, just don’t tell the audience. Just perform at your best and keep the pity and embarrassment to yourself.

INSIGHT: UI that looked sexy in Photoshop almost always

Ryan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

UI that looked sexy in Photoshop almost always looks overdesigned when we try it for real in the browser. Here’s a hypothesis. Simple and useful designs just don’t seem good enough when they are dead pixels. They need to be brought to life before they can be appreciated. Until that happens we overcompensate with garnish.

PHOTO: Danish designer Jens Risom, who designed

Matt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Danish designer Jens Risom, who designed the first-ever Knoll chair, built a gorgeous weekend getaway home that was profiled years ago in Life Magazine. Check out the shots of the interior too (starts halfway down at linked page).

Behind the scenes: Haystack

Jamie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Last week we launched Haystack, a new way for clients and web designers to find each other. We designed early concepts for Haystack this past spring/summer. I thought you’d be interested to see some of the designs that we didn’t use, but helped get us to the final launch.

The Webdev Pages
Initially the idea was to base Haystack on the Yellow Pages. Designers, Programmers, and Agencies could create a free text-only listing. There would be multiple tiers of ad space that would sit prominently above those free listings. The consensus: Too broad: let’s focus on Web Designers. Not visual enough.

See a full-sized version

Company Cards
The design started to gel once we decided to focus on Web Designers. We created the company card. A quick glance gives you an idea about the designer’s work, location, and typical budget range. The company cards in a grid looked great, but all the cards were the same. We needed a way to differentiate Pro accounts from Free accounts.

See a full-sized version

More...

Making money takes practice like playing the piano takes practice

Jason F. — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Most of the people I know who are money-making-machines got started really early. Lemonade stands, car washes, lawn mowing, baseball card trading. I think the reason they are money-making-machines today is because they started early. They learned the skills of negotiation, pricing, selling, and market-reading early. They have more practice selling than most people. That’s one of the reasons they’re better at it than most people.

Making money takes practice, just like playing the piano takes practice. No one expects anyone to be any good at the piano unless they’ve put in lots practice. Same with making money. The more you practice the better you get. Eventually making money is as easy for you as piano is for someone who’s been playing for 10 years.

This is one of the reasons I encourage entrepreneurs to bootstrap instead of taking outside money. On day one, a bootstrapped company sets out to make money. They have no choice, really. On day one a funded company sets out to spend money. They hire, they buy, they invest, they spend. Making money isn’t important yet. They practice spending, not making.

Bootstrapping puts you in the right mindset as an entrepreneur. You think of money more as something you make than something you spend. That’s the right lesson, that’s the right habit, the right imprint on your business brain. You’re better off as an entrepreneur if you have more practice making money than spending money. Bootstrapping gives you a head start.

So if you’re about to start a business, or if you already have a business and you’re thinking about taking funding, or if you’ve already taken funding and are considering going back for more, consider the alternative. Don’t raise money, raise prices. Sell sell sell. Get as much practice as you can. Force yourself to practice. Force yourself to learn how to make money as early as you can. You may hate it in the short-term, but it’ll make you a great businessperson in the long term.

Product blog update: New features plus more storage for same price in Basecamp and Highrise

37signals — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Highrise
New in Highrise: Filter tasks by category
We just added a new feature to Highrise. Now you can filter your tasks by category. To filter by category, go to the Tasks tab. If you have any categorized tasks, you’ll see a pulldown with the categories you have used in the header of the page.

New in Highrise: More storage, same price
Good news: We’ve just added more file storage to all paying Highrise accounts — at no additional charge. We hope this additional storage helps those who are already near the limit, and encourages others to attach even more files to their contacts without worrying as much about hitting their limit.

Now all Highrise accounts include SSL security
As of today, all Highrise plans — including the free plan — include SSL secure encryption. Prior to this update only Solo, Plus, Premium, and Max plans included SSL. To turn SSL on for your account, click the Settings link at the top of the screen and scroll down to the SSL section.

[Case study] How Basecamp helped Design Extensions grow from a 1 man shop doing under $50k/year to a 5 man shop doing over $250k/year
“Any tips or tricks for other customers? Once a project moves from a production status to more of a maintenance/on-going project that may not be accessed on a regular basis, but we still want to leave active, we move them to the company ‘ZZ Maintenance.’ This helps separate the projects we are in and out of every day from accounts we might only be in once a month.”

How GetFave.com uses Highrise to manage sales leads
Through a feature our programmers have developed, we can feed leads into highrise on demand. Then, these leads are randomly distributed to our sales reps (users/people) and tasks to call the leads are automatically created. The sales reps use HR to manage the entire sales process, from calling and setting meetings to taking meeting notes and referring back to them. We use tags to categorize the leads. I like the note taking and I also like the ability to create tasks.

Basecamp
New in Basecamp: Thumbnail previews of images on the Files tab
Today we added a new feature to make organizing image files in Basecamp even better. Now files such as JPG, TIFF, PNG, and GIF images uploaded to Basecamp show a thumbnail preview on the Files tab. You can click the thumbnail to zoom-in for a larger preview. This makes finding files easier and brings image zooming available elsewhere in Basecamp to the Files tab.

More...

Leave a little to the reader

Ryan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Jonny Trunk’s Recommendations tip you off to music you haven’t heard without just handing it to you. For example, here’s something Jonny recommends:

A quick scroll through Amazon will show you which Mingus album he’s talking about. But that small effort on the part of the listener changes everything. It’s fun to get new music, but it’s even better to discover new music yourself. By leaving the legwork to the reader, Jonny also leaves some of the joy of discovery. Besides, good music is always better when you earn it.

It goes beyond music too. The best moments are those Kathy Sierra ones where we think “Aha! Yes! I kick ass”—and those usually happen not by following instructions but by connecting the dots between the instructions.

PHOTO: Article in today's Chicago Tribune on 37signals' CEO Office Hours.

Matt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Article in today’s Chicago Tribune on 37signals’ CEO Office Hours.

Where every post is a unique design

37signals — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:22:00 +0000

Spreading some design love in our internal Campfire chat room…

Ryan Singer: Another gem from Jason Santa Maria’s blog where every post is a unique design:

Jason Zimdars: Yeah, love his work. Another guy that constantly redesigns his site at a super high level is Tyler Thompson. Love his stuff.

Launch: Haystack - a better way for web designers to find clients and for clients to find web designers

Jason F. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:49:00 +0000

A few years ago we launched the 37signals Job Board to answer a question we heard all the time: “Do you know where we can find a programmer or a designer? We need to hire one but we don’t know where to find one.” Since then, over 5,700 jobs have been posted, and many positions have been filled.

Another question we hear a lot

So there’s another question we’ve been hearing a lot: “Can you recommend a web designer to help us with a project?” or “Do you know any good web design firms in Chicago? Or New York? Or Denver?” Now we’ll have an answer to that question as well: Haystack.

Here comes Haystack

Today we’re launching Haystack. Haystack is a site where web designers (firms and freelancers) can answer the three basic questions a client typically asks at the beginning of a search:

What does your work look like?
Where are you located?
What’s your typical budget range?

This is what clients want to know. Haystack lays it all out for them. Browsing on Haystack is like browsing dozens of web designers sites, but browsing them all on the same page. It makes finding the right web designer significantly easier than the old fashioned way (finding and browsing dozens of different designer’s sites). Clients can favorite firms they like and review them all on one page (that’s nicely printable and sharable, too).

What’s it look like to clients?

Here’s what Haystack looks like to a client who’s browsing to find a web design firm. They can filter by city and typical budget range. They’ll see pictures of matching designer’s work so they can hone in visually:

View in more detail

What’s it look like to designers?

Adding yourself or your company to Haystack is a quick two step process. You upload a picture that best represents your work, you choose the major city that’s closest to you, and you select your typical budget range. We then create a Haystack listing card for your company. The card is created as you’re filling out the form so you can see exactly how it’s going to look.

Your card is then added to the mix so clients can spot it as they browse the site. Everyone who is listed also gets a dedicated page where they can describe their company in more detail and display their work at full size.

Does it cost anything to be listed on Haystack?

Nope. Any web designer can list themselves or their company for free. Free listings include one image, and a small Haystack listing card.

We also offer a Pro listing for $99/month. The Pro listing includes room for a 6-image slideshow, your logo, and a listing card that is four times as large as the free listing. Pro listings also appear above free listings.

View full size

How will we be promoting Haystack?

We’ll be promoting Haystack through a variety of web-based ads, targeted local advertising (“Looking for a web designer in Boston?”), links on blogs, mentions in newsletters, and promotion to the 37signals customer base (which is made primarily of small/medium businesses). We’ll be bringing the traffic so you’ll be getting the exposure. All for far less than it would cost you to reach the same number of people.

If you’re a web designer, get listed today!

Get listed on Haystack today! We hope Haystack helps you land great clients. And if you’re a client, we hope Haystack helps you land a great web design firm.

QUOTE: *Q: Do you need a $10,000 camera system to

Matt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Q: Do you need a $10,000 camera system to shoot like a pro? A: No, I don’t think you do. A camera is essentially a tool, just like a hammer. You can take pictures whether it’s just a simple point-and-shoot or a serious professional camera. It’s just a matter of knowing what to shoot, when to shoot and how to shoot it…Having better equipment can give you better control over how to take the photo, but I don’t think it necessarily makes you a better photographer. Someone who’s a good photographer can take a photo with their telephone nearly as good as they could with a professional camera.

—Travel Photographer Robert Caplin

Related: Gearheads don’t get it [SvN]

Who would win in a fight between Erlang and Rails?

37signals — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:21:00 +0000

O’ReillyGMT interviews our own Mark Imbriaco.

Here’s an interview I did at Erlang Factory with Mark Imbriaco of 37signals about Campfire. Among the high end topics we discussed – how did Campfire come about, how was it written, how do the rest of 37signals regard it, what Mark is learning this year and, most importantly of all, who would win in a fight between Erlang and Rails!

QUESTION: What's so good about "taking it to the next level"?

Jason F. — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:37:00 +0000

What’s so good about “taking it to the next level”?

Comparing apples and oranges in foreign countries

Matt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:46:00 +0000

The US cover of Freakonomics is a play on the old “comparing apples to oranges” phrase:

Well, it looks like comparing apples and oranges is a strange concept in many places. Check out the different analogies used on the cover (green egg yolks, banana corn, three headed scissors, etc.) from editions in foreign countries:

(L to R: Chinese, Denmark, Estonia)

(L to R: Indonesia, Norway, Hungary)

Announcing CEO Office Hours

Jason F. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:17:00 +0000

When Wesabe launched, their then-CEO Jason Knight posted office hours. During these times (noon – 4pm pacific), anyone could call and talk directly to the CEO. You could be a current customer, prospective customer, or anyone else curious about Wesabe. I really loved the idea.

The idea reminded me of professor’s office hours in college. Dedicated time set aside for one-on-one with your professor. I didn’t go often, but when I did I found it really valuable.

Announcing our office hours

So it’s about time we try office hours at 37signals. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3pm to 5pm central time, I’ll be standing by to take calls from customers, prospective customers, or anyone who has a question about 37signals. You’ll find the phone number and additional details listed on the Office Hours page.

Let’s talk about it

You can call and ask product questions, pre-sales questions, suggest feature requests, lodge complaints, offer praise, share ideas, discuss recent blog posts, or talk about good or bad experiences using our products. Anything that’s on your mind is fair game. I’m here to listen, share, and be available to help in any way I can.

I have no idea how this is going to work out, so it’s deemed more of an experiment than a permanent fixture, but let’s see what happens.

For the technically curious, I’m primarily using Grasshopper to manage the calls, numbers, and messages. During office hours, Grasshopper forwards all calls to one of my numbers. During off hours, Grasshopper plays a recording. Cool tech and a nice product.

I look forward to talking to you soon.

A walk in the woods can make you a better designer

Jason F. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:36:00 +0000

This weekend I did a quick Q&A session at LessConf via video. Thanks to Allan from Less Everything for making it all work out.

One of the last questions went something like this: “What sort of things outside of design can make you a better designer? What else can inspire you to be a better designer?”

I’m glad someone asked because I’ve been meaning to talk/write about this for a while.

The answer: Nature. Spend some time outside. Take a walk in the woods. Stroll through a prairie. Visit the desert (especially the Sonoran). Climb a hill. Get down on your knees and look at the grass. Plant a garden. No space? Get some plants or flowers and put them on your desk. And if you’re lucky enough to live near botanical gardens, visit a few times a year during peak seasons.

What you’ll experience are ridiculously good designs. Millions of iterations are folded into what you see. Everything is the product of a million successful tries. The colors and shapes and structures and textures are manifestations of survival. If it’s alive it’s good design.

Then look closer. Check out the subtleties. It’s not just green, it’s a dozen shades of green. That red may be orange from a different angle. Then flip it over. There’s a whole new design lesson on the underside.

Explore the seasons. Spring is especially enlightening for designers. It’s redesign season. From brown and dead and woody to green and alive and soft. Colors burst through, new textures emerge. And it’s not just visual. It’s temporal too. Different things popping at different times and in different ways. Each design is an idea. And each one slightly better than last year.

How does this make you a better designer? For one, just spending time around so many things that work will positively influence your design thinking. Some people like surrounding themselves with beautiful objects, furniture, and art. A walk outside is a better value.

You’ll also begin building a deeper understanding and appreciation for subtlety. Nature can be loud, but it usually whispers. You’ll also sharpen your observational skills. Great designers are great observers. You’ll learn more about color than any color wheel or book can teach you. Lastly, you’ll clear your mind and fill it back up at the same time. Very few things can achieve a simultaneous refresh and refill.

Take a walk outside and look around.

Don’t just try to steal a share of the existing market, create a new one

Matt — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:46:00 +0000

Target people who have never used a product like yours before. (It’s what Clayton Christensen calls “competing against nonconsumption.”) These people don’t know a solution exists or the ones they’ve tried were too expensive or confusing. These folks aren’t picky (yet). They just want something simple that works.

That means you can win by creating something that’s good enough to meet these basic needs. There’s always more customers on the low/simple end than the high/expensive end. (The low/simple end may not demo as well to the press at a trade show, but it’s what a ton of people actually want.)

Three examples:

1. Nintendo goes after people who aren’t using other video game systems. While Xbox 360 and Sony one-up each other trying to reach experienced, demanding gamers, Nintendo goes after newbies. The Wii’s controller makes video games so simple that a three year-old can play it. And the company is thriving because of it.

2. The Jitterbug is a cell phone created for senior citizens and others who find traditional cell phones too complicated. While fancier phones offer tons of features and apps, the Jitterbug stays simple and focuses on what its demographic cares about. The phone has a large screen and keypad, offers a landline-like dial tone, has an extra powerful speaker, is hearing-aid compatible, and there are no contracts involved.

3. Nearly half of all undergraduate students in the US now attend community college. Why? They are more affordable, have more lenient admission standards, offer online degrees, and focus on market-driven degrees aimed at nurses, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and EMTs. All that means they are able to enroll students who otherwise might never wind up in a classroom.

If you build a simpler, more affordable alternative to what’s out there already, you can bring new people into the fold. You don’t have to grab a piece of someone else’s pie — just bake a new one.

Related: How Obama targets nonconsumption [SvN]

Rework + Crush It! Promo

Jason F. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:28:00 +0000

Like the rest of the world, we’re big Gary Vaynerchuk fans. So when Gary asked us if we wanted to team up with him to sell some books, we said HELL YEAH WE DO.

So here’s what Gary and I came up with:

Buy a copy of Rework and Crush It! together and you’ll get access to a private 3-hour video Q&A session.
Buy five copies of each and you’ll get access to the Q&A session + a free ticket to a day-long business seminar with Gary and me in Chicago (exact date/location TBD, but after Rework is launched March 9, 2010).

Get the details and check out promo at the Crush It! site. We hope you enjoy the books, and thanks for supporting both of us!

LINK: Javascript for paging posts with 'j' and 'k'

Ryan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Javascript for paging posts with 'j' and 'k'

Matthew Hutchinson cooked up some Javascript for paging through posts on your blog with the j and k keys ala ffffound.com. Here’s an example of the code in action.

QUOTE: The main form of communication about buildings

Ryan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:52:00 +0000

The main form of communication about buildings that have not yet been built is the artists’ conceptions of the imagined end state. Those sketches do, in fact, carry enormous weight around boardroom tables but, of course, they are an absolutely impossible way to deal with reality and so produce the same dead garbage.

—Christopher Alexander on designing step by step versus planning everything up front.

37signals in the news discussing free vs. pay

Matt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:37:00 +0000

A couple of recent 37signals mentions at Entrepreneur Magazine re: charging for products…

Harness the Power of ‘Freemium’

As for when a web service should start charging, Fried’s answer is simple: immediately. Charging from the outset tells users that the product has a specific value, Fried says. Trying to charge for something that was previously free can undermine the product’s value, causing potential customers to ask why the service is suddenly worth more than it was in the past.

“My feeling is that you should begin charging right from the start…The longer something is free, the less it’s worth,” he says…

“The best advice I can give regarding pricing is this: Have a price. Don’t be afraid to charge for your work. And make it a number you’d pay yourself,” he says.

Radicals and Visionaries

“You pay for everything in your life except some of the stuff on the internet,” Fried says. “That’s the built-in human behavior we’d like to mimic. The problem with this free thing is, if you’re going to hook people on free for four years, and all of a sudden start charging for things, that doesn’t work very well.”

Entrepreneurs are getting the wrong message from the Klondike buyout of YouTube and the “ridiculous” valuation of Facebook, [the founders of 37signals] say, pointing out both companies are still hemorrhaging cash and haven’t figured out a way to make money. Free is a bubble that will burst when investors run out of patience.

“I’ve been talking to startups, and people have this notion that all they need is eyeballs, all they need is a lot of users and then something magical will happen, and then they’re going to be a huge success,” says Heinemeier Hansson. “That’s going to lead to a lot of unavoidable failures.”…

“The answer,” Fried says, “is to be fair on prices, deliver great services that your competitor can’t and simply outlast free.”

PHOTO: Maya Lin's original competition submission

Matt — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Maya Lin’s original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Architectural drawings and a one page written summary. It was chosen from 1,421 entries submitted.

INSIGHT: "Because it sucks" is not a reason to redesign

Ryan — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

“Because it sucks” is not a reason to redesign. “It sucks” leaves the scope wide open with no measure of success. It’s a sure way to scrap the good decisions you made along with the mistakes.

Instead, start the redesign with a question: “What is right about this design?” Use that perspective to identify specific problems and then target those exact problems.

Susie Buffett's only TV interview

Matt — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +0000

“Why business loves Charlie Rose” discusses Rose’s interview with Susie Buffett, Warren’s wife.

Rose’s interview with Buffett’s wife, Susie — three months before her unexpected death in 2004 — was both authentic and touching. It was the only TV interview of her life; she gave a glimpse of why Warren treasured her and how they made an unconventional marriage work. It was one of Rose’s least affected, most nuanced performances; mention it to [Buffett friend Bill] Gates and you can hear him well up a little.

Below is the interview. I remember watching it when it originally aired and thinking that she seemed like a really amazing lady. Warren really does know how to pick ‘em.

Product Blog update: Color coded categories in Highrise, McSweeney's iPhone app creator credits Getting Real and Basecamp, etc.

37signals — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Highrise
A novel idea: Use Highrise to keep track of fictional characters’ lives
“If your story is very character heavy, keeping track of all the people in your novel, who they are, and how they interact will be vital to making sure the continuity isn’t interrupted. It may seem silly to treat your fictional characters as real people, but using an online CRM application like Highrise (which offers a free account good for 250 characters), can be a great way to keep track of the people in your book. Create an entry for each character and treat them like real people, attaching notes about their interactions, histories, and characteristics as you write.”

New in Highrise: Color coded categories for tasks and deals
“Today we released a new feature to better organize your tasks and deals in Highrise. Now you can set a custom color for each task category or deal category. For example, you can make your ‘call’ tasks red, your ‘followup’ tasks blue, ‘meetings’ green, or anything you like. Color-coded categories help you organize your work and add a touch of personality to your account.”

Basecamp
McSweeney’s iPhone app creator says Getting Real and Basecamp made it possible
“As McSweeney’s are based on the west coast of America and I’m currently living in Zürich, Switzerland we had a major time difference to contend with. We started using Basecamp that same day, and have used it ever since for everything from reviewing screen designs, to hammering the copy into shape in Writeboards, to keeping track of deadlines and development to-do lists. A second project also served as an excellent platform for our closed beta stage, giving our testers a place to collect the new binaries and leave feedback.”

Zendesk adds integration to Basecamp
“Here at Zendesk we use Basecamp to qualify, plan, assess and discuss the hundreds of feature requests we harvest from customers, stakeholders and of course ourselves. Some of these feature requests are spawned of support tickets. In stead of having a manual copy-and-paste workflow, we implemented a Basecamp Target that enabled us to create a message in a Basecamp project directly from a support ticket.”

More...

VIDEO: When we were growing up it seemed like my

Jason F. — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:10:00 +0000

When we were growing up it seemed like my friend Adam used to practice violin every hour of every day. It paid off. Check out more at Pianafiddle where his two-man band improvises Bach to bluegrass.

Excellent customer service at Graham & Brown

Jamie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:42:00 +0000

My wife and I are planning a redesign of our bedroom. We usually go for paint on the walls. This time, however, we are planning to use wallpaper. We found a company called Graham & Brown, and we decided to order some wallpaper samples before deciding on a final pattern.

My wife took a few hours to browse and add items to her shopping cart to review with me later. The next day we had time to look over her selections. Unfortunately all of the items in her cart had disappeared. She even created an account to make sure that the items in her cart would be saved.

She called Graham & Brown customer service to tell them about the problem. They quickly apologized and explained that the site had just launched. Their web team was working out some bugs, and they were glad to hear our feedback. Customer service also offered to send us the wallpaper samples that we chose free of charge. As we make our final wallpaper selection I’ll be happy to give Graham & Brown my business because of this great experience.

QUOTE: The nature of the personal computer is simply

Matt — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:41:00 +0000

The nature of the personal computer is simply not fully understood by companies like Apple (or anyone else for that matter). Apple makes the arrogant assumption of thinking that it knows what you want and need. It, unfortunately, leaves the “why” out of the equation — as in “why would I want this?” The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a “mouse.” There is no evidence that people want to use these things. I don’t want one of these new fangled devices.

—San Francisco Examiner, John C. Dvorak, 19 Feb. 1984

Chicago 2017

Jason F. — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:53:00 +0000

The 2016 announcement is just hours away. Will it be Chicago? Rio? Madrid? Tokyo? The favorites appear to be Chicago or Rio, but who knows. I’d like to see Chicago win.

As as Chicagoan, I’ve seen the campaign close up. A recent poll suggests Chicago citizens are about equally split on whether or not they want the games. The results show slippage from the 2-to-1 support found in an earlier Tribune poll in February.

I think this reveals a flaw in the local marketing of the games. And I think there’s a good lesson in all this: Chicago sold the features, not the benefits. Chicago didn’t tell its citizens why the games would be good for Chicago. Chicago didn’t lay out the lasting legacy of the games for the city. What’s really in it for us? Why should we really support it? What happens after they are over? 8 years of work for a few weeks of sunshine. Then what?

This is a bit of Friday-morning quarterbacking, but here’s what I would have loved to have seen: A campaign centered around Chicago 2017. Show us what the city will look like after the Olympics. Give us a reason to want the games for the decade after the games. Give us examples… If a kid’s 16 years old today, what will the city be like for her when she’s 26? How will the games make Chicago a better place for Chicagoans. Will it be a better place to grow up? Why? Will it be a better place to work? Why? Why would we want to put up with all the construction, traffic, congestion, and attention? Why will it all be worth it?

I do hope we get the games. I do think it will be great for the city. But I have a hard time communicating why. And if I can’t say why, I can’t tell other people why. Shallow support is barely support. That’s a problem.

The bad reasons — the reasons not to support the bid — are the easy reasons: Debt, higher taxes, corruption. A Chicago 2017 campaign could have given me the good reasons. They could have made the good reasons easier to remember and communicate than the bad reasons. I think Chicago 2017 would have put more people into the “I’m for the games” camp than just under 50% and falling.

PHOTO: As seen on AppleInsider. I wonder what is next...

Jamie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:13:00 +0000

As seen on AppleInsider. I wonder what is next…

Jobs at the 37signals Job Board: Trek, The Boston Globe, MailChimp, etc.

37signals — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Design Jobs

a la mode is looking for a Web Designer in Oklahoma City, OK.

INCISENT Technologies is looking for a Front End Engineer in Austin, TX.

The Garland Group is looking for a Lead Designer / UI Guru in Dallas, TX.

Citrix Online is looking for a UX Designer in Santa Barbara, CA.

SeamlessWeb is looking for a Junior Web Designer in New York, NY.

Sogeo Company is looking for a Senior User Experience Designer in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

View all Design Job listings

Programming Jobs

Boston.com / The Boston Globe is looking for a Programmer / Developer in Boston, MA.

Lumos Labs, Inc is looking for a Flash Developer in San Francisco, CA.

P’unk Avenue is looking for a PHP/Symfony Developer in Philadelphia, PA.

HUGE LLC is looking for a Ruby on Rails Developer in Brooklyn, New York.

VersaPay Corporation is looking for a Rails Programmer in Vancouver, BC.

MailChimp is looking for a Programmer in Atlanta, GA.

View all Programmer Job listings

Miscellaneous Jobs

Trek Bicycle Corporation is looking for a Web Producer in Waterloo, WI.

Weber Marketing Group is looking for a Associate Creative Director / Writer in Seattle, WA.

More jobs

View all of the jobs at the 37signals Job Board. (The Job Board now has internships too.)