[Fireside Chats are round table discussions conducted using Campfire.]

Guests
Dan Cederholm
Jason Santa Maria
Ryan Sims
Greg Storey

Topic: Design
This was a long one so we’re splitting it up into three parts. In part one, the guests chat about what they’re working on, Korean design, Web 2.0 hype, and whether RSS is killing creativity.

Matt Linderman
For starters, what’s everyone working on or excited about these days?
Ryan Sims
I have been feverishly working on a new site called Virb.com
Jason S. Maria
We just launched the Philly office of Happy Cog, and I am working on a few sites right now, like AIGA and a secret site for typefaces.
Greg Storey
Airbag is working with the guys who made World of Warcraft. We do not have a new office.
Ryan Sims
By the way – great work on Amigo, Jason.
Jason S. Maria
Thanks!
Greg Storey
So Ryan… I know you’ve been working on Virb for a while. What are the challenges in designing a site that will compete with Myspace?
Ryan Sims
Well, besides the fact that we’re constantly designing for the lowest common denominator and still trying to make it look nice, it’s been a breeze. ;)
Matt Linderman
Dan, how is Cork’d going?
Dan Cederholm
Cork’d is going well, thanks. It’s been an interesting ride so far.
Dan Cederholm
The main obstacle right now is giving it time and attention
Jason S. Maria
How about those other entities? I smell coffee… and beer…
Greg Storey
Yeah, where is Brussel Sprout’d
Dan Cederholm
:D. That’s just it—just handling wine has been a lot of work. But for the t-shirts alone, they should be launched.
Jason S. Maria
I’m so thankful someone came up with a new naming convention
Dan Cederholm
Brussel Sprout’d was canned after the spinach scare
Greg Storey
Jason, how is Flickr’d coming along?
Greg Storey
;)
Jason S. Maria
ridiculo.us
Dan Cederholm
lol
Matt Linderman
What site(s) that you visit are impressing you these days?
Greg Storey
Matt, mostly anything from Korea is impressing me these days
Matt Linderman
anything from korea!?
Greg Storey
I love the hybrid of technologies, styles, and compositions
Greg Storey
Compare the American version of World of Warcraft to it’s Korean counterpart and you’ll see what I mean
Ryan Sims
I love that the novelty of all this is wearing off (XHTML, CSS, Social Networking) and we’re starting to put more focus on practicality.
Greg Storey
Korean online design has a lot of visual depth/hierarchy that’s not found in other regions
Greg Storey
Greg Storey
Ryan Sims
Interesting.
Greg Storey
Now if we could get the web to put down the web 2.0 pipe…
Jason S. Maria
So many businesses are just finding out about all that hype
Jason S. Maria
Most of the job emails I get now begin "I just founded a new startup…"
Dan Cederholm
Jason, too true. "I’m launching a beta of __ and it needs AJAX"
Greg Storey
Bad enough some clients think they can art direct…
Greg Storey
When I get calls for new work I throw the need for real research back at the client
Greg Storey
Too many people think that throwing a Flickr badge, blog, and Myspace page on the web is going to equal dollars
Greg Storey
This morning I told a client that he needed to stand in amongst his customers and ask them what they want, how they want to use it
Jason S. Maria
I haven’t really been blown away by anything online in a while. I think I’m finding more inspiration offline
Jason S. Maria
Or, the things I find most interesting online are people doing wonderful things with existing technologies and techniques.
Jason S. Maria
Just when you think you’ve seen everything a font has to offer, someone does something new while everyone’s attention is occupied on some new technology or something
Dan Cederholm
Greg, inspired by your "Boxes" post, I started a draft called "RSS Killed the Blog". The fact that I never finished it is fitting. But I wonder what you guys think…
Greg Storey
RSS certainly helped kill the creativity of what blogs once were
Greg Storey
now we’re all writing on the same blue-ruled piece of paper so to speak
Dan Cederholm
I feel like RSS made blogs into article vehicles
Jason S. Maria
I think density killed blogs
Greg Storey
ditto
Dan Cederholm
interesting
Greg Storey
and
Greg Storey
Web standards, to an extent
Greg Storey
ducks for cover
Ryan Sims
Blasphemy!
Ryan Sims
;)
Jason S. Maria
haha
Jason S. Maria
Why do you say that?
Greg Storey
Why do you think the title is called Boxes
Greg Storey
Whereas we used to design first, code second…
Dan Cederholm
a table is a series of boxes too
Greg Storey
standards brought boxes
Jason S. Maria
Boxes in design and organization have been around longer than electricity :D
Dan Cederholm
I think the title, description format has created a forced template for writing
Greg Storey
Web standards brought boxes and columns… it’s not limited to such but I think a lot of designers today learned how to construct websites with columns and boxes
Greg Storey
a lot of today’s online design reflects that
Greg Storey
I said it was one part, not totally responsible
Greg Storey
I agree with Dan
Dan Cederholm
I don’t know if I agree that web standards is responsible for that. Certain popularized CSS techniques, perhaps.
Jason S. Maria
editorial and content heavy design
Greg Storey
Blog design
Greg Storey
we were talking about blogs right?
Jason S. Maria
Newspaper design hasn’t changed so drastically to ditch columns
Jason S. Maria
They found something that works for that kind of communication
Jason S. Maria
So they stuck with it
Greg Storey
Geocities vs. Wordpress
Jason S. Maria
There is a reason why boxes and columns work for that kind of content
Greg Storey
that’s what my article was about
Ryan Sims
But I like boxes.
Ryan Sims
And grids.
Matt Linderman
Tumblelogs like http://project.ioni.st/ present an interesting alternative.
Dan Cederholm
Matt, I think tumblelogs are much like the blogs of the old days
Dan Cederholm
based on date, IIRC
Dan Cederholm
rather than title/description
Greg Storey
yep
Dan Cederholm
I went from reading blogs solely on their sites, to just about exclusively in a newsreader. Now I’m just unbolding things.
Greg Storey
we should all try to create something akin to Jason Kotte’s old Osil8
Greg Storey
Greg Storey
It was independent of a recorruring format
Greg Storey
now that’s just me
Greg Storey
but I realize that publishing through a title/post format has stiffled my own creativity

This is part one of a three part chat. Part two of this chat. Part three of this chat.