Design Challenges

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Black Clouds

We have been experiencing a low pressure system for a week now and I'm getting sick of the lack of sun. Today we were driving around and noticed the differences in colors of the clouds and the speed at which they move.

My wife asked why some clouds are so dark and others are not. I quickly pulled an answer out of my rectum, that it must be because of the concentration of clouds in one spot versus another and the ability for light to go through it. It sounded like a good explanation; she bought it, but after a few minutes had passed, she decided to question it.

I decided to do a little Googling once we arrived home, and I was surprised to find that the answer wasn't much different than my "hot air" explanation, here is what I found:

"There are two things going on to make some rain clouds to appear very dark. The first is that some clouds, especially thunderstorm clouds such as nimbocumulus clouds can tower to great heights with tops 15 to 20 km (50-60 thousand feet) above the earth. Plus these clouds, which tend to produce very heavy rains and hail are very dense, being full of water vapor and raindrops at lower altitudes and ice crystals at high altitude.

As a result, it is more difficult for sunlight to pass through these clouds than it is for light to pass through neighboring clouds which aren't as high and dense. More of the light is reflected back into space or sideways because there's more obstacles. Plus, there's more absorption of the light on its way through the cloud, because the light will bounce around very much and take a very long total path before finally coming out the bottom of the cloud."

Source: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070410085440AA32jGJ

The bottom line is that you have to be quick in your feet and it doesn't hurt to blurb out the first rational thing that comes to mind. Some make think you're an idiot for offering an explanation without knowledge of the topic, but 9 times out of 10, you will contribute to the conversation and even if you're wrong, most will appreciate the effort. Just be prepare to take whatever is thrown at you.

Labels: Design, Freedom of Speech, Google, Jacksonville

Sunday, February 08, 2009

2009 Superbowl

Last weekend, I like many others, went over to gather with some friends and watch the most important American sporting event of the year. It occured to me that sports have gotten stale. This year most folks were not excited to watch the game. I don't know if it was the teams, or the half time act (sorry Bruce), but most people where not looking forward to the gathering. I do know that it wasn't the host, he is one of the most likeable guys around, but most people decided not to make the party.

TV and other media mediums are also suffering from being stale. Magazines and newspapers are a dying medium, not because people don't want to read, or be in the know, but because they have evolve to get the information from the Web, in a more instant manner. As such these mediums re-invented themselves to provide up to the minute news, and the latest information in the niches for their audience.

It is time for footbal to re-invent itself. After a great debate during the party, here are some ideas the NFL can use to provide a more entertaining experience and a greater challenge for the teams.

1. Why do a simple kick to a goal post. This just doesn't seem to be a big challenge. Most teams earn the extra point after the sweet touchdown. After all, how hard is it to get an oval shape, leather wrapped, piece of rubber through a Goal posts that is 10 feet high and 18 feet, 6 inches wide. I propose that they make the goal post more interactive to provide a better challenge. For example, if the team is 50 feet from the goal, then the post should remain as is. For every 10 feet they move closer, the post should become 3 feet narrower, so that when the team is at the goal line, the post should be 6 feet wide.

2. For an added more challenging experience with a bigger reward, the team can then opt for a three point conversion by allowing the goal post to sway from side to side.

3. Another addition to the match is to learn from the very popular sport of orchestrated wrestling (WWE). Teams can opt to give up one of their time outs in exchange for sending in a special player at any time in the middle of a play from any spot of the sidelines to block that very special, yet fabulous play as seen during the 2009 superbowl. I'm speaking about the 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison. Think how funny and amussing it would have been to seen a Cardinal run in a pick up Harrison and run him all the way back to the starting point and convert that interception into a touchdown. Of course, this would be quite a challenge, first to knock down a 250LB player and then pick him up and run him back. This would yield a 14 point conversion, surely to put some distance between the two teams.

The bottom line is that altough this are mere farce suggestions, every industry should find a way to reinvent themselves. A way to captivate the audience they once secured, to get back the dollars they once had. If every series ran the same plot line, if every movie had the same theme, they would cease to exist, but why are we still watching a game which has not changed over the course of its history. Sure, players have change, but the game has not. I started following the game, but two years, all I can say is that I'm already bored and not looking forward to the same all next season. The NFL needs to do a better job to sell me back on.

Labels: advertising, brand, Entertainment, Freedom of Speech, techniques, Video Games

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sad Economics Time

The New York Post just posted a story titled "BETTER SIGN OF TIMES". This comes about because the NY City SANDWICH BOARD Man got a job.

This is great for the Sandwich board man, but a better economy this does not make. There are two weeks left till Christmas and stores are running more and more sales, TV and online advertising campaigns. This is due to slow downs and decline sales from 2007. As well, this year temporary help numbers are down for the season and many stores have chosen to not hire and cut their regular employees to part time.

The bottom line is that the media tends to create big hype. We are now in tuned to their efforts to persuade us to one side or another. Proof is that we have know elected the First Black President. We as a people are capable of making better choices. Newspapers are almost all gone. Magazines have downsized, the print publications of the past with hundred and hundred of pages have decline, some to single digits. Wake up America! We are in a state of economic depression; it is time to do all things possible to build a nestegg. The rich keep getting richer because in these times they are able to buy stocks at an all time low price, they can afford to float cheap real estate. If you would have planned better, you too would be getting wealthier, stop blaming the man, and start placing the blame on yourself.

Labels: brand, Florida, Freedom of Speech, Jacksonville, lawsuits, marketing, Politics

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Print, Web, who cares, just be informed

Recently I had a friendly discussion with a colleague on the topic of print versus digital publishing. The mediums are very similar in that they provide information.

That is were the similarities end.

When an individual sits down to read a newspaper or magazine, they do so as a leisure activity, a way to pass time, which yields knowledge. At the same time they are limited to the information provided by the author/writer. If the user has questions, they cannot interact or find a quick answer within the same media vehicle. The reader is left to ponder and resolve their own thoughts and ideas on the piece. Readers usually find themselves reading the piece two or three times looking for clues that will help them come to a conclusion.

When a reader opens a browser, it is done with the purpose to satisfy a hunger for knowledge. They seat at this dinner table and start with a search, one or two key terms. They dive into the topic at hand and quickly find themselves jumping from one topic to the next, all trigger by the information they are receiving. Like in print, one topic leads to questions, the difference, the reader has a quick satisfaction. The need to think is drastically diminished. A reader simply needs to turn back to the search box and be ready to face a multitude of choices and options for an answer.

This medium is able to provide a great deal of information to be consumed. The hunger never seizes, but merely a level of satisfaction is achieved that allows the reader to walk away from the table empower with applicable knowledge.

The bottom line is that there is a need and room for both mediums. Writing for the Web is a whole different art form than that of print. The Web is a medium of collaboration where a reader is provided a multitude of opinions and ideas that lead to a conclusion. Where as Print is a medium for those seeking one experts opinion allowing the reader to either accept the conclusion or form their own with at their own capacity.

Labels: Blogger, brand, Freedom of Speech, Google, Politics, reuters, Search Engine, SEO, Web Searches

Monday, July 14, 2008

You are ready for an update

I recently read an entry on Eric Shanfelt's blog entitled "Publish Web First, Print Second" which further reinforced my accounts from a previous entry Instant Information entry. I have discussed this topic to death, which by the way is endless, in the past couple of month. I have discussed it with colleagues, friends, and just about anyone I know who is interested or willing to hear it.

Yet, little change has taken place. We all continue, day in day out, to use the Web site as a landfill. A place to dump all information, whether relevant or otherwise, and continue to save the best for print. I have also noticed that this is the case for most sites for which I visit and receive a magazine.

It dawned on my this evening that perhaps is not our sites or our processes that need an upgrade, but ourselves. We are at cross roads, a place where digital media is changing the way we obtained our information. We are at the point where most jobs are going digital, yet change hasn't taken place. People still walk into their desks and the only digital they see is their email. I'm referring to the mail clerk all the way up the food chain to the CEO.

I can assure you that less snail mail is receive every day than digital mail. We have completely revamped our immediate communication avenues, but have yet to see that we no longer wake up and go outside to pick up the paper. We instead turn to Google news, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com or some other .com avenue to be feed our daily dose of information.

Then why is it that most publishers insist in saving the best content for print? Because the senior level editors fear for their jobs, they fear that the pimpled face twenty something is going to come in and replace them.

My mother always told me and re-enforce two important things that I carry with me to this day:

1. Go into any career you want, just make sure you work to be the best in your field.
2. Always associate with smarter people, they will teach you new things and take you to the next level.

I used to think my mother was crazy, but what 12 year old wants to listen to their parents, let alone pay attention to any advice they might have to give.

The bottom line is that if you give the new generation a chance for expressing their ideas, and you surround yourself with the best and the brightest, you will rise in your career as you will have the best team working for you. If you insist in keeping them in the dark basement and cultivate them as mushrooms, they will grow to resent you and you will miss out in sharing ideas and growing your company to the next level. Ever noticed the Windows Update icon that pops up near the bottom right corner of your PC? A little box typically pops up notifying you of yet another update/upgrade to your current flavor of Windows. Don't you wish you came equipped with such an enhancement. Time to update!

Labels: advertising, cms, content management, CSS, Customer Service, Freedom of Speech, marketing

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Women are equal to problems

Since the dawn of time women have been declared as problems. If you believe in the design explained in the bible, where a God created man and then woman, then woman sinned and caused a lifetime of damnation by eating the apple, then you can certainly understand why women are designed to be a lifetime of problems for the male specie.

I received an email from a friend today mathematically proving that women are problems.

Here goes the algebraic proof:

1. To find a woman you need time and money.

Woman = time x money

2. As we all know, Time is money.

money = time

3. With some substitution based on the two statements above, the formula is rewritten as:

Woman = money x money

Which in turn is the same as:

Woman = (money)²

4. Since day one we all being thought that money is the root of all problems

money = √problems

5. Therefore

Woman = (√problems)²

6. Lastly we solve and as you can see Woman equals problems

Woman = Problems

The bottom line is that we were always thought, since we were little boys to adulthood, that women will get you in trouble. Think about it, when you were young, way young, you found that girl next door icky. You, as you came of age, progressed to think that she was cute. You then tried everything you could to get her attention, think about it; how often were you grounded for staying out late, doing stupid things, etc... You finally got her, she was all into you, you were thought about the birds and the bees, you didn't listen to your parents, and you rushed thought things, next thing you know she was nothing, but trouble. Lucky for me my wife is nothing but a gem, no trouble at all. I can't wait to see the proof that men are the problem, after all, the nightly headaches must come from somewhere.

Labels: Design, Freedom of Speech, initiative, techniques

Sunday, February 17, 2008

"Winning" Super Bowl shirts end up in Nicaragua

The superbowl this year was a little different for me. Besides being the most boring one I ever watched, I was accompanied by a few friends and colleagues. I never had a superbowl party before, but the turnout was good and everyone claimed to had fun.

Why I am writing about this today, when it happened such a while ago, mainly because I just read story about shirts ending up in Nicaragua. Shirts that were premade with thoughts that the Patriots were designed to be te dream team, with an undefeated season, they were expected to be superbowl champs. Instead, the Giants came out of nowhere with Manning making an exciting fourth quarter manuvering and claiming victory!

Back to the story, "shirts and caps proclaiming the victory of the New England Patriots -- when the American football team actually lost the latest Super Bowl -- have ended up in the hands of poor Nicaraguan children." This is a great act of charity and donation for an empoverish country, but what of the erronous information on them? Should the shirts really be given out even though many are to benefit?

What a dilemma? Erronous information being circulated around a third world country or a nice act of kindness.

The bottom line is that we must put our own selfishness aside for the greater good. I think Voltaire and Locke had it right. These men influence the US founding fathers into creating liberty for all and for all to be free to do what is best for the common good! Locke always aregued that property is a natural right and it is derived from labor, but what labor is there involve in charitable things, but the labor of good. However, in his essay, the social contract, he postulates that an exchange of goods wold not take place if the parties involved whee not satisfied, in the aforementined sory and exchanged took place, therefore it must had been good. Children obtain useless shirts which would not have derived a profit while the manufacturer obtained a charitable tax write off and the gratitude of many.

Labels: advertising, Customer Service, demonstrations, Freedom of Speech, health

Friday, June 01, 2007

Google introduce Street Views

I was just browsing around looking for a street address on Google Maps, my destination for driving directions, etc., when I saw today that there's a new feature added named Street View.

I proceeded to play around with it and although only a few locations are available, I can see this being a great feature, once it goes global, specifically when you look at it from the Web designer's perspective where it can be used to create customs directions to any location and provide a picture of what the final destination is like. I can see many of my clients wanting this so that customers can find their way to the business fully knowing what the place looks like.

I can also see what the buzz is about in regards to privacy as the images do capture people in the streets. However, streets are public domain and if you just don't want your photograph to be taken then don't go out on the streets. After all there are a multitude of satellites rooming outer space constantly snapping photos and monitoring. My heart goes out especially to all those conspiracy theories out there who only see the man oppressing us down, total nonsense. Those folks are the first to cry out freedom of speech when it suits them, so understand that photograph are also a form of speech and Google is only looking to provide for the greater good.

The bottom line is that Google is constantly innovating for the public via its arsenal of free tools. It's time we provide them with the support and respect they have earned and keep them motivated towards providing for the general good of the public. Thanks Google!!!

Labels: Freedom of Speech, gadgets, Google, maps