Are designers the enemy of design?
“Business men and women don’t like the term ‘design.’ I think they think it implies drapes or dresses. Even top CEOs who embrace design don’t want to call it that. They want to call it ‘Innovation.’ That has a manly right to it. It’s strong, techie. These folks are perfectly willing to use the word ‘vision,’ whatever the heck ‘vision’ is. They like ‘Imagination,’ whatever the heck that is. But they don’t like ‘design.’ Go figure.”
Typography in music notation
“Layout should be pretty, not only for its own sake, but especially because it helps the reader in his task. For performance material like sheet music, this is doubly important: musicians have a limited amount of attention. The less attention they need for reading, the more they can focus on playing itself. In other words, better typography translates to better performances.” [tx ML]
Southwest Airlines' chief apology officer
“He composes about 180 letters a year explaining what went wrong on particular flights and, with about 110 passengers per flight, he mails off roughly 20,000 mea culpas. Each one bears his direct phone line…[Years ago, the President of Southwest] learned that a law client who was promised something in two weeks but received it in one was vastly happier than a client who was promised something in one day but received it in four. ‘Under-promise, over-deliver’ became her mantra.”
Learning interaction design from Las Vegas
“Looking at the casino experience in particular you have the idea of tiered functionality. Anyone can slide a quarter into a slot machine and play without any knowledge or training. From there to the high-stakes poker game every level of the experience is really good and readily available. Each tier is its own rich experience. Yes, the high-stakes poker game is given special treatment, but the slot machine is the bread and butter of the casino.”
“Facebook Sneak Preview” will show upcoming feature additions and changes before they go live
“My bet is that this is their response to the user backlash and protests last year after after Facebook made some fairly dramatic changes to the site. With the new group, Facebook can ease users into the new stuff, and also get their feedback before it goes live. It’s an easy way to build consensus and dissolve criticism before it gains any steam.”
SXSW Podcasts
Web Typography Sucks, The 4-Hour Workweek: Secrets of Doing More with Less in a Digital World, A Field Guide to Design Inspiration, Opening Remarks: Kathy Sierra, etc.
ESPN.com’s march (information) madness
“To the editors of ESPN.com, I simply request that you (a) kill the pop-up ads, (b) tear the home page apart, (c) take a look at what the NYT has been up to in terms of integrating textual and multimedia content, and (d) don’t try to cram every conceivable product onto the homepage.”
Smokin’ Aces director shows poster designs that didn’t make the cut
“It’s a rare opportunity to see all the unproduced movie posters that never make it to your local movie theatre lobby. As most film advertising art directors and designers will tell you, sometimes their best poster design work never sees the light of day beyond their own portfolios.”
Filmmaker Jorgen Leth on using limitations in "The Five Obstructions"
“When I have something to work against, it liberates my imagination. I believe very much in authentic inspiration. I’m not about calculation.”
Fuzzy math at Verizon
Ridiculous conversation where a customer tries to explain the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars to Verizon customer service. [via RVV]