Logbook is the first product from “Transmissions”, a group that is building Mac OS companion apps for our products.

Logbook allows you to keep your Backpack Journal updated from your Mac menu bar. You can update your status and log journal entries without having to log into Backpack. Logbook is $12.99.

It’s slick and very well executed. I’ve been using it for a while and it’s really encouraged me to keep my journal updated. We’re excited to see what other apps they cook up that work with our products.

Promotion

They’re running an exclusive promotion for Signal vs. Noise readers: They will give away 10 licenses, chosen at random, for readers who email [email protected] with the subject “SvsN Contest”. Good luck!

Mattijs asks:

I am developing an internet product and I am rapidly approaching the point at which I will need to set a pricing scheme for this product. Problem: I have no idea what to shoot for! I have done some research which shows a wide range of similar products with varying pricing schemes. When 37signals was developing Basecamp, how did you come up with pricing?

When we first priced Basecamp in Feburary 2004 the plans were $9, $19, $39, and $59. There wasn’t much science behind it. We asked ourselves a couple questions:

1. What would we pay?
2. What numbers feel right?

What would you pay?

I think this is the most important question. If you are designing a product that you are going to use then it’s fair to ask yourself what you would pay if you were buying it from someone else. The numbers we came up with seemed fair and reasonable. $9 seemed like a good toe-dip, and $59 seemed like a good top price. We have since changed our prices, but those numbers worked great for an unknown product for an unknown market.

This line of questioning resulted in a course correction when we were designing and pricing Campfire. Originally we were going to price Campfire at $5/chat. The idea was that people would create a temporary Campfire chat room to coincide with a meeting or conference call. We felt $5/meeting/call was about right.

But then we thought about it some more. We asked ourselves would we actually pull out of credit card and pay $5 for something we might only use for a few minutes? We decided no. That changed the entire product focus. Gone was the idea of temporary event chats and in was the idea of a persistent chat room that never closes. Then we adopted the Basecamp-like monthly recurring fee schedule. I’m confident that was the right choice.

What numbers feel right

There’s a big psychological and emotional side to pricing. A friend who worked at Wal-Mart once told me that Wal-Mart never prices anything ending in a 9. They always end in 8 (or 6 or 4) or something other than 9. They want the customer to know that Wal-Mart is always working hard to shave an extra penny off the price — hence the uncommon 8 not the familiar 9.

We’re not that scientific about our prices. Maybe we should be, but we’re not. Our current pricing lineup for Basecamp is $12, $24, $49, $99, and $149. We’ve had these prices in place for a few years now and we like the mix. It feels right. Each tier is roughly double the previous tier, but we deliver more than double the benefits.

For example, at Basecamp Basic ($24/month) you get 15 projects and 3GB of file storage. At Basecamp Plus ($49/month) you get 35 projects (more than double the Basic tier) and 10GB of file storage (more than three times the Basic tier). So the price is double but the benefits are more than double. This pattern continues throughout our pricing plans.

We’re experimenting with some new post styles here at Signal vs. Noise (quick quotes, links, photos, etc.) These will allow us to share quick bits that we find interesting without doing a full blown post. You can see a couple of examples in the two previous posts. These posts will show up indented and, for now, comments are disabled on them. Still tweaking so stay tuned.

Last week, the entire 37signals team went to York Harbor, Maine for three days. (We stayed at The York Harbor Inn.)

So what happens at a 37signals company trip to Maine? We talk about what we’ve done and what we’re about to do. We have breakout sessions to work on projects in small teams. We eat lobster. David talks about racing cars. Joshua plays flamenco guitar. We watch SNL clips. Ryan teaches us how to meditate. Jamis explains how to use an abacus. Jamie shows some of his fave ‘80s skateboard art. Sarah gives us a lesson on banjos. And more.

Plus, there’s rock balancing on the beach. Lots of rock balancing.

Why the random subjects listed above? We decided to let everyone give two different talks. One on work stuff, one on whatever. Here was the setup:

The first 15 minute talk will be on 37signals. What would you like to see us do next year? What sort of things would you like to work on next year? What do you think we can do a better job on? What’s good and what’s bad? Where are we failing? Where are we kicking ass? Everything is fair game. This is your chance to get good/bad/other off your mind.

The second 15 minutes will be about something else entirely. You’ll teach or talk on something that has nothing to do with work. If you’re into butterflies, tell us something interesting about butterflies. If you’re into golf, what’s fascinating about golf? Got a hobby that you just love? Tell us about what you love about it. Share whatever you’re finding interesting these days. Let’s all expand our horizons a bit.

During our typical one-day meetings, this sorta stuff isn’t possible. It was definitely nice to have the extra time to stretch out.

Music in video: “Captain Bacardi” by Antonio Carlos Jobim (Album: Wave)

Found this happy honeycrisp apple at the farmers market Saturday.

I just got the first issue of Ferninand in the mail, and I have to say it has been a long, long time since I was this impressed by a magazine.

The entire thing (and their website) is the work of just a few people, led by designer Lester Nelson. All proceeds go toward opening a graphic design tutoring center in the Philippines for artists who can’t afford traditional art education.

We’re lucky to live in a time where anyone can publish a book on their own, anyone can record an album in their garage, anyone can even print their own magazine. But not just anyone can make something this beautiful, this well-designed and considered, for such a great cause as this. Check it out, a great preview is available online and a copy is just $10.

Well done, Les & team!