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- August 22, 2006
GTD Gmail
August 22, 2006Read moreReader Jonathan Fricke passed along this link to GTD Gmail, which is a plugin for the Firefox Web Browser that integrates “Getting Things Done” with Google’s GMail service.
I haven’t tried this myself, not being a regular Gmail user, but I liked the premise:
GTD is built on the notion that a person’s mind is a very ineffectual place to store their todo list. It aims to move these lists somewhere else, freeing the brain to concentrate on the task at hand. Enter Gmail… […] Gmail has long been identified (see Bryan Murdaugh’s Whitepaper) as a very good tool for GTD. It has a simple interface, plentiful storage, effective label system a basic approach to storage (just Inbox and Archive). The ‘Conversation’ concept is perfect for efficiently linking tasks and other data – again promoting simplicity and personal effectiveness.
I like the idea of agregating tasks into a single workspace for simplicity, so if you’re already using Gmail as your primary mail system, a system like this probably would work out well. Maybe I should consider transitioning away from regular POP/IMAP. I’ve also heard of solutions that integrate into Outlook and Entourage, but I have traditionally shied away from Microsoft’s mail programs because once you’re in, you can’t leave because of their awful crash-prone mail exporting tools. At least, that was the case a few years ago.
Very interesting idea!
- August 22, 2006
Quickie Business Card Design III
August 22, 2006Read moreI got some more critical comments from some designer friends of mine. I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to cut still more stuff out of the card to clean it up. While it’s nice to make a business card into a miniature poster, you nevertheless have to make some pretty brutal edits to keep it clean and usable.
The primary functions of a business card, as far as I’m concerned, are the following:
- Provide contact information in a convenient form…
- In such a way that the recipient remembers who you are.
You could call 2 “branding”, but being memorable is the minimum requirement. I don’t really have a brand for myself yet.
Anyway, here are the Generation 6 card variations, taking many people’s comments into account. The horizontal format comment I think was actually important. Another friend suggested some wording changes, so I tried them. Finally I reduced the amount of information, so I had more white space to play with.
I’m leaning toward the horizontal version with the larger “dot story” and the arrow strokes. It needs to be tweaked a bit proportionally, but otherwise it’s my current favorite.
Designs inevitably get to a point where you can no longer tell what’s better or worse. I’ll probably choose the most shocking one (not that any of them are shocking anymore) and go with that one. What do you guys think? I need to walk away from these for a couple days.
For reference, here’s yesterday’s Generation 5 card design:
The BOLD versus NO BOLD Controversy
This issue keeps coming up…see Josh’s comment. Although I like the bold, I had to see what it really looked like:
Which looks better? I’m curious what people think.
The ARROWS versus NO ARROWS Controversy
I like the bit of organic “boxes and arrows” feel that these brush strokes add to an otherwise sterile vector piece. It draws in a bit of the paper-based stuff I like to do also. But someone suggested that they weren’t necessary, so let’s have a look:
Opinions?
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Continued in Quickie Business Card Design IV
- August 22, 2006
Bee Story: Part I
August 22, 2006Read moreI spent about an hour writing the first part of this story; at this rate, I think it will unfold over 2 or 3 parts, so I’m just going to release this part today. I’m making it up as I type incorporating the 9 elements that were submitted by readers Last Tuesday.
I did spend about an hour thinking about the elements and how they’d link together, but whatever comes out is going to surprise me just as much as it surprises anyone else. This is “straight through” writing; I will not go back and edit previous sentences unless it’s a grammatical problem. I think the raw dump might be interesting to look at in itself.
Commentary is welcome…the way the story ends is not set. I am not going to publically respond to any commentary until the whole story is over, so just talk amongst yourselves.
Enjoy! Or not :-)
- August 21, 2006
Quickie Business Card Design II
August 21, 2006Read more
I’ve playing with my business card designs again, printing off another 2 sets of 10 cards, this time on Avery 8879 Glossy “Clean Edge” Business Card templates. Design Notes follow.
- August 21, 2006
Making Sense With What You Got
August 21, 2006Read moreLast Tuesday I asked readers to suggest 10 ideas to incorporate into a single story for Tuesday, which happens to be Story Day on a friend’s website. I’m always ready to steal a good idea when I see one (credit due, of course), and I thought it would be an interesting design challenge.
Here’s what 9 individuals contributed as elements to be incorporated into the story (read the original comments for the full treatments):
- A bee facing management challenges.
- Bee dancing and finding new pollen sources in the face of two suns, which makes the dancing pretty difficult (there’s BEE SCIENCE behind this one!)
- Einstein & Relativity.
- An overachieving college student with height issues.
- A Hamster seeking Lettuce and Bee Companionship.
- Gojira on the loose.
- Some kind of “meta-pun”
- A flower in a field of flower. The coastline of an ocean. Both or either.
- The French.
At first glance the list seems pretty daunting…how the hell am I going to integrate all these elements into a single cohesive story? On the other hand, this is exactly what I love about design: the challenge of finding the underlying themes that make the ideas cohere together. It’s not unlike dealing with regular clients; if it’s challenge you want, lead a client meeting with the heads of engineering, sales, and marketing at the same table. The contradictions in need of resolution are awe-inspiring in their scope. You’ll need to go through the same process of identifying underlying common themes and principles, so that the overall strategy makes sense to everyone; I can see the relationship between creating a story from semi-disparate elements and what I wrote about story-based design.
Sometime late Tuesday I’ll post the story, written quickly in first-draft form. No promises whether it will be good. I’ve been reading some children’s books lately for fun, so doubtless whatever I come up with will have a similar vibe. We’ll see what happens… I’m a little bit nervous, but also excited by the challenge.
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Part I of the story is posted!
