Waiting on hold yesterday after pressing 5 buttons, getting cut off, being misunderstood by the automated “I can speak English but I can’t understand it” attendant, and finally getting the wrong answer reminded me that frustration is exponential.

Someone sent me this quote yesterday:

“The details are not the details. They make the design.”
-Charles Eames

I think that’s a great way of putting it. It’s also one of the reasons I like the Patterns series by R.BIRD. In many ways it’s all about the details.

For example, take their latest report, Crunch, where they take a look crunchy things like cereal, crackers, chips, candy bars, etc.

They look at things like packaging texture, windows that reveal the product, illustration, colors, typography, mascots, and more. It’s a dissection of the details that make the design.

Other recent reports include energy drinks, children’s cold medicine, and women’s razors. Good stuff.

Here’s another simple invention: The Hercules Hook. This one is for hanging pictures or other items on drywall. Billy Mays does the hocking.

The hook/hanging business seems primed for a renaissance. 3M’s quickly expanding Command Adhesive line seems to be doing really well too. It’s always cool to see new products address problems that seem like they’ve been solved long ago. It’s a reminder that room for improvement is plentiful.

What’s interesting about the Hercules Hook is that while you still do need to put a hole in the wall, you don’t need any tools anymore. All you need is your hand and a little muscle. So while the end-game remains the same, the effort needed to get there is reduced.

It’s definitely a novel alternate solution to traditional hammer, nail, and hook system. Neat thinking.

We were debating a Backpack feature in our Campfire room today and the word “can’t” came up a few times.

Seeing that word describing different competing solutions reminded me that there are different degrees of can’t. The problem is that can’t is an absolute that’s actually relative when it comes to software design.

You have to ask yourself which can’t wins. Is it “We can’t launch it like that because it’s not quite right” or is it “We can’t spend any more time on this because if we do we can’t launch” ? The outcomes of those two scenarios are night and day, yet they both sound like there are no alternatives. In this context, can’t kills priority which is why it’s an especially dangerous word.

And that’s the problem with using absolutes in debates. They can be healthy when a decision absolutely needs to be made, but they can also box you into corner by pitting two opposite absolutes against each other. That’s head-butting, face-saving time. Can’t squeezes out middle ground when there is usually middle ground to be reached.

Moral of the story: Be careful when attaching absolutes to your position. Attaching absolutes is like throwing a Hail Mary pass—it’s an all or nothing play.

I’m a sucker for novel inventions that solve real problems. Enter the Endurus XCR Boa by The North Face. It may not solve a problem that a whole lot of people face, but it’s a real innovation for long distance runners.

In The Perfect Human, Dean Karnazes — a man who ran 50 marathons in 50 days — shares his 12 secrets for success. Among them: Go laceless.

One of the biggest annoyances in long-distance running is lace management. After banging out 50 miles, it can be hard to squat or even bend over long enough to tie your shoes. The North Face recently responded to Karnazes’ complaints and came out with the $130 M Endurus XCR Boa. Its laceless upper is enmeshed in thin steel cables that connect to a tension dial at the back. A simple turn cinches the shoe onto the foot. No more slowing down to fiddle with laces.

I love it. Turn the dial to tighten or loosen the shoes. Neat thinking. And according to The North Face, “This unique closure automatically micro- adjusts with foot movement to eliminate pressure points, kind of like a suspension system.” Further reading about the lacing system if you’re interested.

How about a happy story to start off 2007: After the only grocery store in Truman Minnesota closed, 17-year-old Nick Graham bought and re-opened it to help save his struggling community. People are even volunteering to help him stock the shelves. What a wonderful story. The kid’s got a great James Stewart-like voice too.

A new year, a new job? Find or fill your position on the Job Board. We’ve also added live search to the job board. Just type something in the box and the results filter dynamically. Enter things like “Chicago” or “New York” or “Boston Rails” or “NY PHP” or “San Francisco Design” or “Senior Designer” to find the right job.

Brontes Technologies, a 3M Company is looking for a Web App Developer in Lexington, MA.

TheLadders is looking for a Software Engineer in NYC.

The New York Times is looking for a LAMP Developer in NYC.

Facebook is looking for a PHP Performance Engineer in Palo Alto, CA.

The Integer Group is looking for a Web Developer in Des Moines, IA.

The SAVO Group is looking for a Web Developer in Chicago, IL.

Outside Source Design is looking for a Flash Developer in Indianapolis, IN.

Meetup.com is looking for a UI/Web Designer in NYC.

Netflix nails it
“Netflix nails the customer experience. From site design, to emails, to packaging, to coding, the company is a champion at delivering a great experience.”

The casino experience
“From a design/experience perspective, casinos are fascinating places.”

Fear, shark attacks, and “Will it scale?”
“Allocate your fear properly. When it comes to building a web app, some things create more fear than they should.

Fireside Chat: Dan Cederholm, Jason Santa Maria, Ryan Sims, and Greg Storey
“The guests chat about what they’re working on, Korean design, Web 2.0 hype, and whether RSS is killing creativity.

Design Decisions: Backpack page blank slate
“So for the new version of Backpack we’re working on right now we wanted to rethink the blank slate. We wanted to get to the point faster. Make a better connection between what you can do, how you can do it, and where you can do it.

The power of rough edges
“If your goal is to speak with a unique voice (like at a personal blog), be more human (a small company trying to emphasize intimacy), show off a distinct style, or stand out from the crowd? Then some rough edges and discord can work wonders. Consider it a shabby chic approach to web design.

The difference between trying something and using something
“There’s a big difference between trying something and using something. Trying something is more common than using something. That’s why most products are optimized for trying.”

Define your own success
“The best way to be successful is to define your own success. Success can be tiered too. If you want to eventually run a public company you can still be successful on your way there. If you want to stay small you can fight growth and remain successful too. It’s up to you, not up to someone else.”

3 ways to make money with your software
“There are three primary ways to generate revenue from web-based software. Let’s take a look.”

Buzzwords say all the wrong things
“These buzzwords are often a mask. People who use them are covering up their ideas — or the lack thereof. They are overcompensating. They don’t have anything substantial to say so they try to use impressive sounding words instead. But people who abuse buzzwords don’t sound smart. They sound like they are trying to sound smart. Big difference.”

“The man behind Apple’s design magic”
“This push for innovation in manufacturing is a big reason why Apple changes the rules of what’s possible. Most companies buy off the shelf stuff which means things look and feel the same (i.e. usually like crap). Apple’s efforts to discover new materials and production processes enables them to build things no one else can build.”

Confidence in people, process, and purpose
“If you trust the people, the process, and the goal, you don’t need all the bullshit trust-builders like specs, documents, and promises to make you feel secure. You can just make something good.”

The false fight between fun and business
“You don’t have to work hard to work well. You don’t need sinister eyebrows or only 4-hour sleeps or a booked calendar to be serious. But somehow that image sticks so bad that we tend to view fun as the opposite of Serious Business Stuff™.”

In-store good or at-home good?
“Every company/product has to choose priorities: In-store good or at-home good? First-minute good or lifetime good?”

Writing words vs. writing software
“Whether we’re authoring software or prose, rewriting is key. Rewriting is when you turn good into great. It’s true for books, blog posts, marketing copy, interfaces, code, etc. For all of them, we grind it out. We get something down, share it, get feedback, revise, and then do it over again. We get where we’re going via lots of wrong turns.”

Pretty Propaganda: USSR in Construction
“In the 1930’s, the Soviet government wanted the world to believe it was living the dream: rapid modernization, economic miracles, etc. To support this cause, it created the magazine USSR in Construction, home to some of the most innovative graphic design of the past century.”

The dance of people in public spaces
“Architect and set designer David Rockwell was hired to design the ‘interior experience’ (arrival, departure, retail space) of the new JetBlue terminal being built at JFK Airport (Gensler handled most of the architecture). Looking for a new angle on movement vs. environment, Rockwell took a strange turn: He hired choreographer Jerry Mitchell to help him.”

Complicating simplicity
“Gah! Trying to read about the ‘Simplicity: The Art of Complexity’ (er, what?) conference. But the description at the conference site is the exact opposite of simple, clear writing.”

John Sawatsky and the power of simple questions
“According to Sawatsky, smart interviewers don’t try to sound smart. They are transparent. They stay away from leading (yes/no) questions, charged words, and drawn-out statements.”

Picasso, Paula Scher, and the lifetime behind every second
“Charging hourly vs. charging per project is always an interesting dilemma for designers/programmers who do client work. If you charge hourly and you solve problems quickly, you wind up being punished for your efficiency. But if you charge per project, you often face scope issues (i.e. endless revisions or changes in direction seem to become the norm).

The long road to simple: creating, debating, and iterating “Add an event”
“That ‘Add an event’ box at Backpack’s new calendar looks simple enough. But sometimes simple takes a lot of work. How we arrived at this screen is a good look at the process we use to solve design challenges.”