From: Gleanings To: Ungreeted Subject:

From: Gleanings To: Ungreeted Subject: Gleanings: You say goodbye, but i say hello OPENING THANG I said goodbye […]

From: Gleanings
To: Ungreeted
Subject: Gleanings: You say goodbye, but i say hello

OPENING THANG

I said goodbye to Egreetings last night. Bought by American Greetings, they shut their doors yesterday. The generous former CFO rented out Cafe Du Nord and provided a spread complete with little wild mushroom appetizers and plenty of free flowing liquor. The founders gave speeches and handed out awards to longtimers.

Some people were angry, blaming this mistake or that for ending what was a truly amazing place to work. But others, including myself, were just happy we could have been part of it in a time when you could do insane things and they would work. It was a company that allowed you to grow as fast as you could– grow as fast as it was growing.

Egreetings took chances on people. I went from shy temp writing marketing copy for the greetings to Information Architect running around quoting Jakob Neilson in hopes of making a great product. I chatted with a former waiter who ended up heading the production team. It was a little bit company-as-cult, but you know, that can be okay. It’s nice to know the product you’re making doesn’t hurt the environment or cause cancer, and even makes people smile. I remember times when we were up at 2 a.m. screaming about the database or cursing javascript that didn’t work, and someone would yell “Hey, it’s not brain surgery. We get this wrong, nobody dies.”

I also rememer many times, riding on a plane or a taxi or anywhere strangers suddenly start talking to you, I would be asked “Where do you work?” and I’d say “Egreetings.com” and they would reply “Oh, I love those! My sister (brother, wife) sent me one and it made my day.”

Kinda cool.

I couldn’t help but think as I watched the founders, Tony and Fred, up on the stage: that’s Noel and Gabe and me up there. Foolhardy and hopeful and trying to get a product we believe in off the ground.

And tonight Carbon IQ is holding its housewarming. Will we grow big? Will we stay small? Will be get bought, as Egreetings did, but a larger older company? Will we quietly go under with no fanfare? I don’t know. We’re in a strange business, in strange times. But damn I love an adventure.

Good bye Egreetings. Hello Carbon IQ.
Fasten your seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

DESIGN MATTERS

“Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. It can irritate or soothe your eyes, raise your blood pressure or suppress your appetite.”

IA MATTERS

“This white paper discusses information architecture in terms of retail ecology theory and how it translates to e-commerce. It begins by defining what a retail ecology is, and then discusses how the information architecture of e-commerce sites can change for four different types of retail ecologies”

“Developing Schemas for the Location of Common Web Objects”
By Michael Bernard

Why user experience disasters happen at the start of web projects
Requests for proposals for web projects describe the desired solution but often lack basic information about the problem that will be solved by the application. To design a usable user experience you have to understand the problem first: who are the future users, what are their current practices and what are their needs? The main barrier to this understanding is that some corporate cultures lack the courage to really listen to users.

Dan Bricklin: Metaphors, Not Conversations. (tomalak.org)
A good metaphor aids in developing trust between the program and the user. Its strengths and weaknesses are apparent. It is a tool that the user can work “with”. It provides a “space” of some sort that can be explored and manipulated for the user’s purpose.

USABILITY MATTERS

Developing User-Friendly Flash Content (xblog.com)
“The original intent of this white paper was to provide Macromedia Flash developers with the knowledge necessary to create user-friendly Macromedia Flash experiences on the Web. The need for this paper has never been more crucial, since many of the most vocal Web critics have recently portrayed Macromedia Flash content in a negative light. The claims that Macromedia Flash content is bad for the Web or that Macromedia Flash and usability are polar opposites are both myths.”

Paper Prototyping Kit
“Paper prototyping is a technique that enables technical and non-technial personnel to cooperatively design user interfaces for GUI and Web applications.”

Testing Paper Mock-Up of Homepage

BLOG OF THE DAY

“I’ve broken two yo-yos in two days. I’m running out of them. I can never tie the strings right so they work as well afterwards. I wish I was better at yo-yoing.”

APROPOS OF NOTHING

need a domain name but run out of imagination? there’s always snotpocket.com or docomofo.com…

matt writes:
“perfect for a friday”