Another new design change. I’m starting to think I spend more time in the backend than I do in writing things. Hopefully this version will stick around longer.
Along with the looks, the feed now pulls in shared items, so instead of separating everything out, it is now all in one place. In an effort to please an audience of one, I think I have at least successfully pleased myself.
Finish reading New design for JMO
Using the draft functionality is not really in my toolbox. I save drafts when they are one or two lines of an idea I’m not quite ready to flesh out. Other than that, I usually type what I want and then read it over once and hit publish. It’s a great way to get content out there, but not necessarily a great way to get good content out there.
Finish reading Not hitting Publish yet
In some ways having a small audience is great, because likely they are dedicated not because of what you are saying, but because you are writing it. It’s like reading some crappy James Patterson novel because he wrote it. It’s not about quality at that point; it is more about loyalty.
Finish reading Small Audiences Mean Loyalty
This idea centers around 3 men on the web. Ze Frank, Hugh MacLeod, and Merlin Mann.
Over the past 4 years, these 3 guys have defined, demonstrated, and explained how to be creative on the web. I want to share some of the wonderful things they have done, and then begin to discuss some of the common traits they possess and I how I plan to learn from them.
Finish reading Creative Work on the Web
I recently finished reading Merlin Mann’s epic on the new niche and how piss-poor the current ethics of web attribution are. It is a long read (with long sub-reads to precede it), but I highly recommend it. Things are pretty shitty in that area and only seem to be getting worse.
Finish reading Truly creative individuals
I saw some of these logo re-designs, and one caught my eye. So, I thought I’d take a shot at drawing something similar. Mine is actually a little more similar than I intended, which surprises me because I didn’t reference the original much during my drawing. Lots of colors, lots of helvetica, and lots of simple shapes. And I think mine is more banner-like. Imagine a set of these for the past 42 games with final scores included.
Finish reading Super Game Logo redesign…
I had another WeCycle meeting this afternoon. We recently got some feedback about needing some graphics in the business summary we have been working on. So, earlier this week everyone did some work on a big process flow diagram and theory of change and some very detailed charts, but nothing that could really be put in a two-page summary. So, this is where I was invited to come help.
Finish reading A productive afternoon…
Meg sent me a link to a How to hide an Elephant photochop contest. It reminded me of a story from a CP member interview. For an icebreaker, we asked someone to draw an elephant on the chalkboard and make it hidden. Also, it had to be a pink elephant (Cait’s choice). So, the guy began drawing an elephant in blue chalk. Cait and I were looking at each other with very confused looks. Obviously, we were surprised to see blue chalk instead of the requested pink. After the blue elephant was drawn, he began to trace around parts of the blue elephant in pink. Then it hit us like a pound of bricks: he hid the pink elephant behind a blue elephant. Brilliant! I had never thought of something so smart and so simple at the same time. It was pure genius. Someday I will tell this story in a fancy business presentation and adapt it to whatever we are selling or implementing or whatever. But everyone else will be in awe, and it will be a total win for my side.
Finish reading How to hide an elephant…
I know it sounds odd, but crappy poetry is important. That is, assuming you believe good poetry is important. Anything good is good because of comparison. Good poetry becomes more rare by the creation of bad poetry. Let’s say that there are a thousand poems, and only one is good. Now let’s say I write 200 crappy poems. Now there are 1200 poems, and only 1 is good. A good poem used to be 1 in 1000, now it is 1 in 1200. This seems obvious, however many people are unable to see it. After realizing this there are two other things that become obvious.
Finish reading Importance of crappy poetry