Here’s what this Burger King cup says on the side:
Maybe you want a lot of ice. Maybe you want no ice. Maybe you want your top securely fastened, or maybe you want to go topless. Hmmm? Maybe you want to mix Coke and Sprite. Maybe you want to let your cup runneth over (we wish you wouldn’t.) Whatever you do, make sure to have things your way.
Alex Bogusky, partner and executive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, Burger King’s lead agency says the burger chain decided “to create a dialogue with the consumer” using the immense amount of white space available on its current packaging. The packaging is an extension of the “voice of the brand.”
Voice of the brand, eh? Funny, because the whole bragging about things you can get anywhere (e.g. “Maybe you want a lot of ice. Maybe you want no ice.)” sounds a lot like the fast food version of Saturday Night Live’s First CityWide Change Bank:
Maybe Burger King should end it’s cup copy with this: “We can handle special requests like that, usually in the same day.”
It’s the small touches that won me over. Well designed, a bit of attitude, and useful.
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App store reviewer Jragon on Sketches. Should good software have ‘a bit of attitude’?
Campfire See your team’s Twitter posts inside Campfire
“Last week, Des suggested that it would be great if we could see things that team members were posting on Twitter from inside Campfire…A small script now runs every minute and pulls in the feed and posts new updates to Campfire. Now we can keep a track of the conversations we’re having outside Campfire, inside Campfire. I’ve published the source code to the script on GitHub if you’d like to play with it yourself.”
Backpack Home organization expert on Backpack: “It’s like magic! My respite of order in a chaotic world.”
“I log in to Backpack from home on Sunday and note on the Writeboard what I plan to cook for those evenings. I also list what ingredients we’ll need to buy at the Farmer’s Market or grocery store. I can even include a link to the recipe, if applicable. He can do the same for his cooking days. We can also make note of who will go to the grocery store, and whose turn it is to clean up the kitchen each night. The end result is a comprehensive meal plan for the whole week, including menu and shopping reminder list, which we can either print out or access from work, home or on an iPhone!”
Man, has Hulu nailed online TV viewing or what? First off, they have a huge library of content that people actually want (e.g. SNL, Family Guy, Daily Show, Colbert, Kitchen Nightmares, etc.). And then they really execute on having a usable, effective UI.
You do have to watch ads with Hulu. But just one at a time. The timeline lets you fast forward to anywhere in the show and also displays where the commercial breaks are located. That means you can go to any part of the show you want as long as you watch one ad first.
A timer lets you know exactly how long you’ve got to go when ads are displayed. Watching the single ads Hulu shows takes the same amount of time as fast forwarding through a whole normal commercial break on DVR. Result: You actually wind up watching more ads on Hulu than you do on a DVR but it takes the same amount of time.
You should never hire anyone for something you haven’t first struggled to do on your own. It’ll teach you most of what you need to know to actually interview candidates, it’ll allow you to understand the nature of the work better (do I even need to hire or can we outsource?), and you’ll know exactly what a job well done will look like. It’ll also give you a sense of whether the job is big enough for a full-time hire yet or if you can skimp by on your own (the latter is preferable if possible).
Jason didn’t hire me to help him program Singlefile (now defunct) before he had a sorta-just-barely-working prototype running off his own PHP skills. I didn’t hire Mark to do system administration before I had spent a whole Summer setting up a cluster. Jason didn’t get Sarah on board to do support before he had first done it for years on his own.
The benefits of having done the work yourself before seeking help doesn’t stop at hiring either. You’ll be a much better manager of roles that you’ve already held than when you’re completely in the dark about what it takes to perform. You’ll have empathy available when the going gets tough and it’s not their fault — and a stern voice when it is.
Don’t let big titles scare you off either. What does a business development person do? Find out by trying it on! Call people, make a few deals. Think you need a usability tester? Try a simple session on your own first with friends. No, it won’t be perfect. That’s okay. What you’re paying in initial execution will be repaid many times over by the benefits above.
A map of the world that reflects casualties from war in the second half of the twentieth century. (via Re-Mapping The World)
“4 artists paint 1 tree” was originally a segment in a 1958 episode of “Disneyland” on TV. This short film served as a promotional spot for their upcoming film at the time: Sleeping Beauty. However, it goes much deeper than that. With Walt Disney’s narration we get a glimpse of the creative philosophy at Disney and the legendary artists working there at the time. This philosophy can be applied to what you’re doing even if you’re not in the business of animation. If you design websites, develop software, or even run your own small business you might take away something that will help you find your own way of doing things.
Advice to art students
Walt begins the segment by telling us that the Studio frequently receives letters from art students asking how one should paint and what styles one should imitate. Walt says:
Students become confused by honest admiration from one school of painting, mixed with the recognition of the success and popularity of another style, along with advice to follow a still different approach.
Walt’s advice is what artist Robert Henri says: “Be yourself. Don’t imitate anyone.”
“4 artists paint 1 tree” was originally a segment in a 1958 episode of “Disneyland” on TV. This short film served as a promotional spot for their upcoming film at the time: Sleeping Beauty. However, it goes much deeper than that. With Walt Disney’s narration we get a glimpse of the creative philosophy at Disney and the legendary artists working there at the time. This philosophy can be applied to what you’re doing even if you’re not in the business of animation. If you design websites, develop software, or even run your own small business you might take away something that will help you find your own way of doing things.