Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove,” Edwarde Tufte. Being a creative director with Microsoft and involved in the UI design of Windows Phone 7, Mike Kruzeniski believes the world of print design can heavily influence our interactive world. With web pages becoming more and more clutered with information, he says we are ready to let the UI get out of the way to bring the content forward. Take notes from Swiss typography designers, learn to love the whitespace and force a flow of the page or the experience of the site, the high res displays we are currently using can now handle it. So how do we convince a client this is a good look when we constantly hear that a web design is just repurposed print? He argues that print designers have been perfecting their craft for 400-500 years or more, shouldn’t they know what looks good and how to get a message across to the end user? I’m guilty of this myself, but why can’t we reinvent the look of the web or mobile apps? He says it’s time to remove the ornimental designs and overall fakery. Let’s move on and make the web beautiful.

I signed up for this panel expecting to learn about making print executions more interactive. In fact, it was just the opposite. In my favorite panel so far, Microsoft’s Mike Kruzeniski spoke about how the future of UI is (or should be) influenced by over 500 years of print design. Here are just a few takeaways.

• Unlike early days of graphic interface (think desktops, folders, etc.), the web has no need for physical metaphor. We don’t need to see a book icon, or physical book pages to understand its bookiness.

•Regardless of whether or not print is dead, print design isn’t.

• Good UI is guided by the same principles as good print design — color, type, hierarchy, and grids.

• Displays will eventually be everywhere. The looks of these interactive menus, ads, and maps should be crafted with the same thoughtfulness as their analog predecessors.

A terrific conversation about talent broke out at today’s sxsw panel on “do agencies need to think more like software companies?”.  It’s making me think about how organizations are transforming themselves through the power of Purpose and — in doing so — separating from their more plebian counterparts in the hunt to attract and retain the best people.

The conversation was basically about the way that agencies, software companies, and technology orgs of all stripes are all increasingly competing for the same (or at least similar) talented individuals to work for them.   Hey, people of great talent always have choices to make.  As for organizations, well, they are ultimately only as good as the quality of the talent they’re able to find and keep. This theme basically echoes points raised at the AAAA conference held earlier this week in Austin:  that talent is a number 1 priority for agencies now. (more…)

Listening to the panel about this year’s “next big thing,” I can’t say I was completely sold. Yes, group texting/messaging/chatting would be a great way to stay in contact with your friends during your annual ski trip (as all panelists enthusiastically agreed) but, well, what if I don’t like skiing?

What I was sold on was the idea that by focusing so much attention on growing follower counts we’re essentially losing our ability to speak freely. Instead of sharing what we think is interesting, we share what we presume our followers will think is interesting. A fact confirmed by each of the start-ups was that the more people who join a group chat, the less authentic the messages will be.

Conclusion: Social Media perpetuates politically correct, watered down conversations. (more…)

So Iceland’s economy tanked after the banking crisis of 2008 due the greed of unscrupulous politicians and bankers (I know, whaaa?!). After demonstrations and the resignation of their Prime Minister, the Best Party was formed by an actor and comedian through grassroots efforts  promising “free towels for everyone” and “a drug-free parliament by 2020″. Using satire to point out the current flaws in the system, their platform was stated as “openly corrupt”  as opposed to secretly corrupt and promised what they’ve coined as sustainable transparency. And they actually won the Mayorship as well as the majority of seats on the Reykjavik City Council. (more…)

#madscience  #gsdm #sxsw

What you need to know: DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency): a military run project where money, time, resources are picked and distributed to make some of the most advanced, new age ideas and the impossible come to life.  What sounds crazy to you?  How about a person with a prothetic arm operating the prothetic simply through thought?  That’s not a prosthetic…that’s a plastic arm transplant! And it’s happening…

They deal with robotics quite often. Coming straight off of Watson’s clear domination in Jeopardy, it seems computers are developing rapidly too.  What if we took a computer like Watson, with the capability of reason and put that in a robot that had the capability to physically be a human?  That’s the sort of work they are doing.

Using brain targeting to help fix potential areas of the brain. rid someone of PTSD symptoms, re-direct memories..

So…what’s your dream? Whatever it is, DARPA can figure it out…

#BigBroBigScreen

Big picture thoughts about surveillance options and intelligence processes considering legal and personal ramifications.

This panel is still making my head spin: I left the room and immediately declared to my fellow surrogate that I wanted to read the full terms of the Patriot Act. (not my typical reading material)

The format was simple.  Show clips from “Minority Report”, “The Departed” even “The Simpsons Movie”: these movies in some form or fashion brought about questions of surveillance and intelligence.  Then came the big questions. Is this actually possible technology wise?  Would we do this?  If we did collect certain information, where does the information go? If it’s possible, is it legal? If it’s legal now, is it a violation of our civil liberties?

The panelists were an amazing group to have in one room: ACLU, the government, EFF – all people on the front lines dealing with these issues and fighting them every day.

Can the government tap into my cell phone? Technically yes. Would they? Not without a warrant or probable cause. Can they tap into a whole city?

Should we be able to use people’s brain waves, DNA, retinal scans, personal thoughts and send specific marketing messages (a la Minority Report)?

Who owns your DNA? Is that something that should be collected?  Who has access to that information?  Drug companies? Can I be denied insurance for a potential DNA problem because somewhere, somehow my DNA is published material?

Can I/should I be denied a job because of a particular DNA pitfall?

These fights will not be solved today or through discussions.  These will be fought over through long legal battles.  Legal battles that these panelists will be directly involved with.

I would tell you more about it…but I’m afraid they’re watching me.

I attended the Gamechanging: Turn Your App into a Cooperative Game session thinking I’d learn a simple list of popular co-op game features and interaction possibilities that you could just infuse into your own game design/narrative. And though I certainly appreciated the discussion of many elements of social gaming (e.g., encouragement of longer game play by discarding alienating win-based game models; the promotion of diversity in team-based endeavors where you succeed by having a mix of skill sets), the thing really sticking with me after digesting all the material is a pretty radical notion to me.

Esteemed presenters Thor Muller and Buster Benson discussed a net result of social gaming interaction is the opportunity to alter many people’s behavior patterns for the better. Using his health-focused social game Health Month as an example, Benson reported that we may not go the gym or eat vegetables — despite the best of intentions — for ourselves consistently, but we may well go the extra mile when a team is depending on these behaviors for group points or success. To extend this notion, what if doing good for ourselves and others for the satisfaction of being part of a team effected a sea change in human behavior collectively? What if the continuous mental conditioning from positive changes and lifestyle choices in the name of ‘our teams’ reached a tipping point? Think of social teams and their goals becoming super large. Goal today: Eat your vegetables. Goal tomorrow: Decide to join with others to eradicate any of our greatest social problems and ills.

Super original, never been done before blog title: check

Don’t tell anyone, but I skipped the first panel I was supposed to go to today. I think it kind of worked out for the better.

I ended up in Rebooting Iceland: Crowdsourcing Innovation in Uncertain Times. The panel basically discussed how the collapse of the economy in Iceland lead to a country whose people were more involved with the political process. Once the banks failed, people realized the corruption associated with the current leadership of the country and took a proactive role in government. Instead of waiting for the powers that be to dictate change, they took matters into their own hands by taking a sampling of Icelandic citizens and gathering them together to see what THEY thought the country’s vision should be. Using technology set up to analyze massive amounts of text, representatives at the assemblies were able to determine common threads and goals among them. From there, they were able to figure out which political figures were most in tune with the people. There wasn’t a particular organization putting all of this together, just some people who saw how things were and realized they could be better. Awesome, right? (more…)

A recurring theme in a few of my panels today was a reminder that we no longer have to start from scratch with every new project or technology platform we create for our clients.

Or, just because there’s a budget to build a custom search feature or a coordinate heavy geo-position system, doesn’t mean you have to. Take advantage of existing technology.

The same reasons that tech start-ups no longer require millions in up-front VC money, massive amounts of hardware and newly developed software to launch a product can be applied to the world of marketing and brand platforms.

The key is to have talent around that knows what’s out there and can apply it at the right times to the right projects.

So reinvent yourself. Become resourceful. Keep reading Wired. Dive into the tech blogs. Stalk a Google employee. And stay curious.