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March 25, 2008
Epic Lolz
Over Easter we insulated our roof. It was quite easy job, but I'm not going to write much about it as this post is entirely an excuse to show this picture:
No animal abuse was involved: he climbed up the ladder into the loft and stayed there until we moved him to put down more insulation.
Posted by Noel at 11:17 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 14, 2008
Welsh's First Corollary to Weakliem
Weakliem’s First Rule of Application Development states, roughly, that design is less important than functionality. While I agree in principle I think his proof is lacking in a number of places. Specifically, he states: “Recall that when Google first appeared, most search engines embraced the design philosophy still in evidence at MSN.com: bright and noisy, yet roughly equivalent in functionality. Google was positively audacious in both its austerity and its function. ... Similarly, My employer’s website is frequently ridiculed for being amateurishly designed” What I think he forgets is all design, however amateurish, still conveys something. Google's (to my eyes incredibly ugly) logo said “hey, we're a bunch of geeks having some fun” which exactly matches the company culture and helps attract all those PhDs that Google employs. Similarly Gordon's employer's website looks like it was designed by someone's cousin, but that is the right look for its clients. It gives the website credibility with the consumers who put down a large chunk of change for a holiday they can only afford once a year. Good design is design that is right for the target audience, which can be something very different to aesthetically pleasing design.
Posted by Noel at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 07, 2008
Of Interest 07/03/2008
- TRIZ is a methodology for creativity. Worth looking at.
- The iPhone SDK has got every geek drooling over his keyboard, and for good reason. I think this model will work.
- Is 1000 True Fans the path to happiness? The argument goes that 1000 true fans will provide sufficient income for an artist, and that isn't that many people. Assuming your work requires only you to produce it this seems a plausible number, but I think the scarcity of true fans is a big roadblock. You might need 100,000 fans before you get 1000 who are really into what you do.
- Looking at what you can do with rather more than 1000 true fans, interesting workplace experiments from 37Signals. I like the four-day week; funding passions is too normative; the release of the iPhone SDK means discretionary spending accounts gets the thumbs up from Dave.
Posted by Noel at 04:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 03, 2008
Of Interest 03/03/2008
- This Wired article, though not very deep, gives a nice overview of Internet business models.
- I don't normally like rants, but found this one well written and amusing. Also, the Jakob Neilsen style bolding of important phrases: I think it works. Look for more strong on Untyping in the future.
- We're going to London on Wednesday presenting at QMUL on the work we've been doing for the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. If you fancy meeting up, drop me a line and we'll see if timetables can sync.
Posted by Noel at 08:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack