What My Parents are Teaching Me About the iPad
My parents bought an iPad this Christmas. I took the time to help them get it set up and was amazed to see how they reacted to it. Here are some things that I learned from parents while observing them with an iPad.
1. It’s computer not a tablet. (My dad calls it a computer, tablet is completely foreign concept).
2. Cloud storage is really confusing if the only thing you have known as storage is 3.5” discs and CD-ROMS.
3. The FOX News iPad app is horribly designed, yet it will be main source of news for my dad.
4. Multiple email accounts for different people on the same iPad can be confusing.
5. They don’t understand why there is an app designed for the iPad and that same app is does not have a desktop version.
Keep in mind my parents are very intelligent people, however it was interesting to see them to interact with this new technology.
Simplicity Wins
The Amazon Kindle is flying off the shelf. More than likely the $199 price point and Amazon’s brand recognition are driving sales. However, I don’t think that is what will sustain grow their sales. It’s the simplicity of the whole thing.
It will be the simplicity of UI design, the integration of the Amazon store and the simplicity of setting up the device.
This will inevitably lead to people sharing their Kindle Fire experiences with others, which is the most powerful marketing of all. Simplicity wins. In the long runs, simplicity beats features, celebrity endorsements and overhyped design. Simplicity of message, function and design is powerful combination that can be rarely beaten.
Details
I love design that has detail, but there comes a point when you are adding details for the sake of the details themselves. Unless those details add to the functionality of the design, then they need to go. I see too many designers these days add details, because they have either lost a vision for how the design should function or they don’t know when to quit and move on.
If you find yourself adding detail and your are not sure why, step away. Walk away from the design and give it room to breathe. You will not create a better design by adding details to a design problem that does not call for those details as a solution.
Yes, some of the greatest designs in the world have details. However, those details usually contain a functionality that delights and even surprises the user. Achieving that is not done by whimsically adding details, but rather through thoughtful consideration. That kind of thinking is rare. Instead of thoughtful consideration, we are becoming inundated with mediocre design that is being passed off as creative work and then sent around the web thanks websites like Pinterest and Tumblr.
Lay off the details. Chances are you don’t need them.
The When/Then Trap
I have to have an iPad.
What I find amusing is people who are dying to get an iPad, but simply can’t answer the question “What are you going to use it for that your current computer can’t do?”.
The underlying point I am trying make is that promise of new technology and what it will do always fall short. The problem is when we put our faith in a new plugin, software, device that will somehow make us more creative or help us finally complete that project that we have been putting off. It won’t. However, by waiting for the new technology, we then put off working the very thing we know we need to be doing.
You know you are in trouble when you hear a “When/Then” statement. It simply goes “When I get X, then I will do X”. It never happens, no matter how bad we want it to. We will inevitably find an excuse for why we can’t get it done and then the cycle repeats itself.
So go ahead and buy an iPad, I know you probably will. However, don’t plan it helping you do what you are supposed to be working on right now.
Fine Tuning vs. Tinkering
Apple fine tunes products. Just take a look at the new iPhone. They spent days figuring out which glass to encase the phone in. The user interface icons were painstakingly chosen and refined. Everything is fine tuned and you can feel it. This fine tuning is possible due the fact that Apple just focuses it efforts on a few projects and sets it’s own internal deadline for releasing a product (in other words only they know the release date).
Microsoft tinkers with products. Just look at the amount of money they spend on R&D ($9.5 billion). Why do they get so little return on that money? Because more than likely they have hundreds if not thousands of projects going on at the same time. At that rate you really can’t fine tune anything, especially when you announce products almost a year in advance. This of course throws a public deadline around your neck, which has Microsoft rushing to get it out the door. Too many products, with a lot of tinkering and public deadlines is a complete mess.
Tinkering is okay in the creative process. Sometimes by tinkering with something you can make a new discovery. However, tinkering doesn’t need to take place when you are trying to get something out the door.
Fine tuning though, is a must towards the end of a project. Fine tuning provides the user the feeling that what they are experiencing has depth and was carefully thought through. Fine tuning is what separates the amateurs from the professionals.
So tinker all you want on the front end, just make sure you fine tune on the back end.
No One Cares
“Well, right now we have a lot going on…”
Clients here this a lot from creatives. It’s a defense mechanism. However, here is the problem.
No one cares.
No one cares that your pipeline is full and you can’t handle much else. No one cares if three other clients have the same needs. No one cares how many hours you have to work. Guess what?
They shouldn’t.
It’s not their job to understand what else you have going on. It’s their job to pay you for the results once you deliver. It’s not there job to care about your well being.
So what do you?
First, you remind your clients that you genuinely care about what they are working on. Let them know that their needs are your needs. Second, do what you can to make yourself a partner with your client. Third, subcontract what you can within reason.
Remember that when no one cares, they shouldn’t. That’s your job.
Yes, My Office is Empty
The number one comment I get when people come into my office is “Wow this is place is empty.”. Some people appreciate the minimalistic aesthetic, others see at as a cold place that is not very inviting.
It’s not that I don’t like want clutter or think of less of people with clutter. In fact, I think the complete opposite. Often a place that looks decluttered does not mean the individual who owns the office has decluttered mind. For me, it’s all about minimalism.
Minimalism to me is all about getting rid of the unuseful, that unnecessary, that which does not serve the ultimate goal. It’s why I don’t have a stapler, a tissue box, diplomas on the wall or a bookcase full of books that I have read (or pretend to have read).
I see offices that are filled with things and I start to wonder if people are not building tombs to enshrine themselves in. It seems to me, the more stuff you have in your office the less likely you are to leave that place. You have invested too much into it. It has become your second home. You will spend more waking hours there then you will any other place.
I don’t think it has to be this way. Your office can be anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in a building provided by your company with a window or cubicle. Pick up your stuff and go outside. Surprisingly, there is big world out there and you can have your office anywhere you like. You can work from a museum, a starbucks or the middle of a park. Try it. You will find that whatever you thought needed in your office, you really didn’t need.
It’s time we recognize minimalism as more than just a empty space and really a way of thinking. We need to see that this attempt to make our offices look like the inside of a Chili’s resturaunt is actually quite disturbing. That the same place that you fill out your monthly expense report is probably not the best place to dream your next big idea.
Think big, dream big. You can’t do that in a corporate tomb. Go outside, the world is waiting.
What You Can Learn from Storage Wars
I have taken a recent fascination with a show called Storage Wars. It’s a show about people who bid on abandoned storage units with the hope the that unit actually contains something of worth. Despite the appearance that the show is about luck, there is actually a great amount of skill to buying the right storage unit.
What makes buyers so good at what they do, is their ability to see the value in something that most people don’t see. I think that’s what separates people who can execute an idea from those who can’t. People who can execute understand what the ultimate value is of what they are doing. They see the goal when no one else can see it.
Of course there is a certain amount of risk involved. Not every storage bin is filled with valuable items, just like every effort might not pay off. However, the more effort, the more chance that this whole thing will pay off.
How to Never Miss an Email from Your Boss
I walked in my office the other day to flurry of activity. Apparently, our new VP sent out an email that stated that the first five people to respond to him could have lunch with him that afternoon. I however, do not usually check my email until I arrive in my office, so I was out of the running.
This led to me to think, what if the VP emails me personally? Will I be quick enough to respond? How can I know when he emails me without constantly checking my email?
To solve this issue, I set up an account with the service If This Then That (IFTTT for short). Using this service is I can set up sms notification to text me, every time my VP emails me. It is very easy to setup and the service does a lot more than just sms notifications. It can use up to 36 different channels (services like Gmail, Delicious, Tumblr, etc…) to creative hundreds of different actions.
Of course it is free, however if they start charging, I would pay if the price was right.
Manager or Maker
You are usually on one of two teams, the manager or the maker. I have been on both teams. The maker longs to control their future and sees the manager as the one who controls it. The manager sees the maker as the one with freedom and less responsibility.
This is all true if the maker works for the manager. However, if the maker works for themselves then he or she controls the future and has the freedom that comes with it.
