Don’t Even Think About Buying Innovation

Palm hires ex-Apple designer, puts iPhone in its sights (via Daring Fireball)

Even though Palm’s Ed Colligan may not like it, Apple did go and “just walk in” to the mobile phone space when it announced the iPhone last month

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Apple has been working on the iPhone for over 2 years. It seems to me that Palm has “just walked into” the iPhone market. Palm has hired a brilliant ex-Apple employee to help them.
Palm – this won’t work, trust me.
This whole thing Palm is doing reminds me of the kid who gets his dad to do his 3-month science project for him the weekend before it’s due. Palm can buy innovative people, but they can’t buy innovation. As my friend Jory said, innovation has to be woven into the whole methodology of the company you’re working for.
This was also written about on the NY Times.

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Uncategorized

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Busy With Creative Work

Updates to this site have slowed a bit since I’ve start working at Schematic as an art director. It’s a good feeling to be busy with creative work!
Each day I’m meeting more and more talented people. I’ve already found out our Senior Software Developer, Roger Braunstein, wrote the new Introduction to Flex 2 book. Along with that another one of our head developers writes the Flash ‘Bible’ series.
I’m sure there’s many more Schematic achievements that I’ll discover the longer I’m here…

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Uncategorized

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Unhappy Cogs in AIGA.org Redesign

Update: Since writing this I have read Jason Santa Maria‘s (creative director at Happy Cog) post on the AIGA redesign and he sheds some light on the project, and it’s something I’ve definitely experienced in my career, when you’re designing with what sounds like too many cooks in the kitchen:

The site was indeed spawned from a select number of templates. Because this was a small project for a big organization, we set out to help point them in the right direction. We created the overall design and a handful of templates for their crew to implement as what we were calling “Module 0”; basically a stepping stone in the process. So, many of the pages you see on the site weren’t specifically created by us, but were derived from other templates. Because this is a client site, there is an inherent collaboration involved; meaning, we obviously didn’t impose this site on AIGA, but worked with them to get to where they wanted to be. This new design, though you may not feel the same way about it as you did the last one, reflect the direction AIGA is headed. So, the responsibility for this site lies with Happy Cog, AIGA, and our associated working partners.

from The Many Faces of AIGA by Andy Rutledge:

I don’t write many “posts,” but rather try instead to write substantive articles. With the redesign of AIGA’s website, however, I’m compelled to say something so that students of design don’t once again swallow AIGA’s tripe for sweet cream. This design is an abomination.

I comely agree with Andy. What happened AIGA?! Looking at the new AIGA.org is like chewing on paper, just no flavor, nothing. Yes, I know its wonderful that they’re using these amazing little “divs” instead of tables, but I’ll tell, they should have spent more time on making a design with some clarity than they probably spent obsessing on CSS.
Jeffrey Zeldman (founder and creative director of Happy Cog who redesigned AIGA.org) always has struck me as someone like Hillman Curtis – a person whom I appreciate more for his non-design related work than I do for his design accomplishments. There’s no doubt both of these men know how to design, but that’s not where they shine. Both of these guys have produced great books and know how to write, how to articulate their thoughts and that’s very important.
I’ll remember Zeldman for his blog, his book Designing With Web Standards, his publication A List Apart and his conference, An Event Apart.
Will I remember him for his redesign of AIGA.org …unfortunately, I think I will.

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Music

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Think the Opposite

Resign. It’s the best way to show people you mean business.
If people constantly reject your ideas or what you have to offer, resign.
You can’t keep fighting and losing, that makes you the problem.
If you are good and right for the job, your resignation will not be accepted.
You’ll be re-signed, on your terms.
If they accept your resignation, you were in the wrong job and it is better for you to move on.
It takes courage, but it is the right move.

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Philosophy

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Partners, Not Vendors

AdCritic.com: 2007 Creatives Roundtable (via Gawker.com)

Last month, Creativity invited 11 highly talented and highly opinionated creative honchos from a diverse range of idea shops to deliberate on what they need to do, and who they need to be in order to get a brand message across in today’s unpredictable advertising climate.

I found the six interview video clips mildly informative. I think this might be due the fact that we’re watching the creative directors talk, opposed to seeing what they create, so it’s not their fault.
With that said, one statement did stand out for me from William Gelner, Group Creative Director at BBH. He said, “The best clients are looking for partners, not vendors.” This is great way of working with clients and it can only make better, more integrated work that elevates the client’s brand and message.
While a vendor does their job and then shoots out an invoice, a partner gets inside their client’s head, always there to guide the messaging as it evolves and changes. If you’re serious about the creative field, there’s really no reason you wouldn’t naturally become a partner with your client. Your enthusiasm, determination and creative vision should come through to your client and when they see it, they’ll have no choice but to jump on it.

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Business

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