This is how I made a graphic I’m using to represent “the world”.
About Jamie
He is Filipino.
Behind the scenes: Reinventing our Default Profile Pictures
Mister Default
Here he is: our default profile picture. You may know him as “Generic Avatar”. He’s the picture you get when you create a new account and profile on Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire. Mr. Default is a standard guy. He’s found everywhere on the web (in variations): message boards, comments, activity streams.
He forces everyone to look like him regardless of gender, race, and physicality. He’s also very boring.
Time for a change
People don’t usually have a picture on hand to change the default avatar. What happens is none of the default pictures ever get changed. Basecamp looks boring when everyone is Mr. Default. Splashes of color and personality from peoples’ pictures bring life to a product.
We want your first experience with Basecamp to be colorful, welcoming, and friendly. First, we’ve improved the flow for replacing the default avatar. Additionally, we’ve improved the default profile pictures. Say goodbye to Mr. Default.
Literal Icons
Initially I thought about approaching the pictures like the game Monopoly. Everyone has a different icon much like the pieces in that board game: an iron, a thimble, a race car, etc. Here are some sketches from that session.
I had been experimenting with a painterly style for a different project, so I tried that with this literal icon imagery.
Jason Fried’s feedback: Having literal and distinct icons might cause people to want to switch one out with another, or not find a suitable match. Would we need to build an interface to “choose your default icon”? Too complicated. Maybe we should go abstract.
37signals Office Surface Textures
Another idea I had was to try our office surface textures. The 37signals office is made of so many great materials. Basecamp is basically our office. Perhaps it was worth a try.
Jason Fried’s feedback: We want people to see Basecamp as theirs not ours. This isn’t about 37signals. Who wants to be represented by cork? Also the imagery feels too masculine. Let’s go softer and more cheerful.
Abstract Paintings
I liked the painterly style of the first batch of icons. They were colorful and cheerful. What if I tried some abstract shapes and patterns?
Jason Fried’s feedback: These are closer. The patterns might be too distracting. Try shapes and lines like that one on the upper left.
Refining the Abstract Paintings
Concentrating on shapes instead of patterns was a big breakthrough. The shapes started to take on face-like features.
Jason Fried’s feedback: Loving these. These are great!
Jason Zimdars’ feedback: When I see these I think of cars. The headlights and grill make a face. I wonder how they’d look with a slight smile?
I’m very happy with the way these default profile pictures turned out. When someone creates a new Basecamp account they will be randomly assigned one of these custom painted pictures. As you’d expect, each picture can be easily swapped with their own personal photo.
The difference now is straight away, out of the box, Basecamp will have color, personality, and vibrancy as you start managing and completing your projects.
Steve Gadlin, Basecamp customer, received $25,000 from Mark Cuban on the television show SharkTank last Friday with his unique business idea: $10 cat drawings. He wants to draw a cat for you. What are you waiting for?
There’s a movement in the art world called Outsider Art. Art that’s produced by people outside of the “mainstream” art world. It rejects common art conventions established by popular artists of the past. It is raw.
Web design is at a similar point as the art world when Outsider Art broke. Mainstream web design lately is so clean and glossy. So pixel perfect. And yet so homogenous. Think it’s time for an Outsider Web Design movement?
My friend calls this the Lazy Tax
Cheap distribution model
Apple with iTunes has ushered in an era where CDs and DVDs are fast becoming extinct. CDs and DVDs require packaging to be produced, space in warehouses to store, and discs to be fabricated. Presumably offering the music and movies on iTunes is cheaper because all the costs to manufacture have been cut. The savings get passed on to the customer.
The Lazy Tax
Video games are different though, and I can’t really figure out why that is. You can get the game L.A. Noire from Amazon for under $19. It ships free (if you’re a Prime customer) too. The only problem is it comes on disc. You have to load it into your console when you want to play. You have to find someplace to store the game when you’re not playing it.
You can download the exact same game for $40 on Xbox Live. It gets saved to your console. You don’t need to insert the disc to play. You don’t need to store a case. You don’t have a box laying around.
My friend calls this the “Lazy Tax” because you pay extra for the convenience of not having a disc to insert into your console when you want to play. This doesn’t make sense to me though. App stores seem to be the future, so why are game manufacturers still encouraging gamers to buy physical media?
Jamie: Human nature is odd. We crave new things, but simultaneously dislike change.
Phil: Not that odd; we like to choose and hate to have things forced on us. We usually embrace the changes that we have chosen for ourselves.
Last Call to Enter: Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest
Last Call for Entries
December is the final month for the Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest. We still have 4 brand-new 32GB iPads and a MacBook Air to give away. The grand prize of $5,000 USD will be awarded at the end of the month!
How to enter
Entering is easy, all you need is your 37signals ID information (what you use to log into Basecamp). You’ll get a special code to send to friends. We’ll keep track of your referrals. You’ll have a chance to win some great prizes. Get started in seconds.
Winners around the world
We’ve been surprised by the winners so far. They’ve stretched across the globe from places in the US and Canada all the way to Australia and Ukraine. It’s truly amazing how far Basecamp has come—all through word-of-mouth!
First Round Winners: Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest
We’re happy to announce the first round of winners in our Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest:
iPad Winners: Darren from Victoria, Australia uses Basecamp at all three of his businesses: Pro Blogger, Digital Photography School, and FeelGooder. JoAnne from Smithtown, NY uses Basecamp at Lighthaus Design, Inc. and Getting Real Health.
MacBook Air Winner: Michael from New Hope, PA is a Basecamp fan, best-selling author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur.
Tell your friends about Basecamp for a chance to win
We still have 9 more iPads, 2 MacBook Airs, and $5,000 cash to give away. Every friend that you sign up for Basecamp also gets $10 off their first month. Here’s how it works:
- Sign up with your Basecamp account at https://tellafriend.37signals.com.
- We’ll give you a special link that you can tweet, share on Facebook, or email to your friends.
- Every person that signs up from your link for a paid Basecamp plan will get $10 off their first month.
- Every person you sign up counts as a chance to win one of our prizes.
This contest ends on January 2, 2012. Sign up today and start saving your friends $10 off their first month.
Tell friends about Basecamp. Save them $10, you might win great prizes.
Basecamp became the world’s most popular web-based project management app because happy customers have recommended it to their friends and colleagues. It’s been amazing to see how Basecamp’s popularity has risen primarily through word-of-mouth.
Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest
We want to help you spread the word to your friends, so we made the Basecamp Tell a Friend Contest. Here’s how it works:
- Sign up with your Basecamp account at https://tellafriend.37signals.com.
- We’ll give you a special link that you can tweet, share on Facebook, or email to your friends.
- Every person that signs up from your link for a paid Basecamp plan will get $10 off their first month.
- Every person you sign up counts as a chance to win one of our prizes.
This contest ends on January 2, 2012. Sign up today and start saving your friends $10 off their first month.