You’re reading Signal v. Noise, a publication about the web by Basecamp since 1999. Happy !

One thing to remember in economics is that you can’t do one thing in economics. There are always other effects that come out of it.


Warren Buffett. This issue of interconnectedness often comes up in software design too. Today’s performance tweak or new feature is tomorrow’s design constraint. Also reminds me of side-effects in functional programming and why ‘purity’ in code can be such an attractive windmill.

Learning from Harley-Davidson's comeback

Matt Linderman
Matt Linderman wrote this on 38 comments

From 1973-1983, Harley-Davidson’s market share went from 78% to 23% as Japanese manufacturers flooded the market with high quality, low priced bikes. Unable to compete on price against the Japanese producers, Harley had to establish other market values and improve quality. A Case Study of Harley Davidson’s Business Practises looks at the management, marketing, and manufacturing techniques that brought the company back.

The company started to use an emotional appeal that hooked into something bigger than just technology/features:

“The real power of Harley-Davidson is the power to market to consumers who love the product.” Harley-Davidson’s President and CEO, Richard Teerlink says the bike represents to America, “the adventurous pioneer spirit, the wild west, having your own horse, and going where you want to go – the motorcycle takes on some attributes of the iron horse. It suggests personal freedom and independence” (Executive Excellence 6). Brand loyalty for Harley-Davidson is emotional. They are considered more than motorcycles-they are legends. It is an American icon brand. The Harley-Davidson symbol is based on a pattern of associations that include the American flag and the eagle; reflective of the passion and freedom Americans enjoy…

A desire to escape the routine and become anyone you like. While their competitors base their advertising on product technology and features, Harley promotes: a mystique appearance, individualism, the feeling of riding free, and the pride of owning a legend. With Harley, you can live out your fantasies, as well as experience camaraderie with fellow bikers.

Telling a story makes such a deeper connection than a feature list.

HD No feature list here.

Continued…
squarepusher-site.jpg

Flash hiccups aside, the latest incarnation of Squarepusher’s website is still bold, fresh and interesting. I like the trend that’s grown steadily over the last couple years toward background elements that stretch to reach the vertical or horizontal bounds of the browser window. The combination of stretchy elements and fixed elements produces a figure/ground relationship that adds depth to the site and makes it more immersive.

babymop.jpg

The first time I saw my baby nephew crawling around all over my place I thought, “Wow, I should put some Swiffer pads on this kid and turn him into a human Roomba.” Looks like someone beat me to it with “Baby Mops” (above). Love the little horsey on the outfit too. Of course this is a joke…right?

Matt Linderman on Oct 29 2008 10 comments
photo.jpg

1. Who the fuck designs this shit? And 2. Gotta love the white remote.

Jason Fried on Oct 29 2008 50 comments
introduction.jpg

Pixlr is a free online image editor, jump in and start edit, adjust, filter.” I dig the way the arrows/text add a touch of context to these screenshots.

Matt Linderman on Oct 28 2008 7 comments

Product blog update: Backpack case study, calendar tip, Propane for Campfire, etc.

Basecamp
Basecamp wrote this on 1 comment

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Backpack
Basetwo Media: “Backpack’s ease of use encourages collaboration from all of our employees.”
“After having tried a variety of other online tools, shared calendars and a Wiki, we’ve that found Backpack’s ease of use encourages collaboration from all of our employees. Best of all, it’s fun to use.”

Basetwo 2

Backpack Tip: Jump to a specific date/month
Video shows you how to jump to a specific date/month in the Backpack calendar.

Basecamp
Owner of Adam&Co. (a design firm): “Basecamp CHANGED my life for the better”
“It really has made my life sooooooo much more manageable and I have to say – I didnt thnk about how I could leverage it to deal with non-work things until this situation arised. We have a growing list of contacts on there so everyone has the most recent numbers, a constant to-do list that we each can knock stuff off of as we accomplish it rather than each of us doing the same things twice – as well as a journal of events so we all have the same story. It’s truly been incredible.”

Continued…

Brown: So are you going to run for governor?

Barkley: I plan on it in 2014.

Brown: You are serious.

Barkley: I am, I can’t screw up Alabama.

Brown: There is no place to go but up in your view?

Barkley: We are number 48 in everything and Arkansas and Mississippi aren’t going anywhere.

Jason Fried on Oct 28 2008 9 comments