http://www.321goflight.com/tminus A software blog, brought to you by Go flight! Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:28:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In April of 2003, UPS released what has since become a very hotly debated brand update. Summarily, UPS retired Paul Rand's iconic 1961 package-and-shield logo and replaced it with "a two-tone, 3-D-look shield topped with a quasi-swoosh [and a wordmark] set in a customized version of [the common logo font] ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/paul-rands-ends December is gift-giving time, and if you're not very organized indeed, late November/early December threatens to be characterized not by a pleasant anticipation of quality-time-to-come and a much-needed respite from work and research, but instead by a certain existential dread, or at least a rather more ontic version, most often ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/make-snowflakes Thibaut Sailly does not like the Amazon Kindle. Not the whole ebook-DRM thing (which is also broken), but the form factor itself. For example: (Note:Edited a few words-- his English is not perfect.) "I don't have anything against asymmetrical designs... the volume itself is ok to me. But having symmetric elements (the ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/not-keen-on-kindle About six months ago, Adobe launched its CS3 line of design software, the first revisions of its products since the company acquired their primary competitor, Macromedia. Inevitably, new versions mean new branding. (I mean, how else is someone going to know it’s new, right?) So what did they do that ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/just-a-branding-machine Figuring out what a client really wants can be tricky business. Perhaps you see glaring problems, like voluminous corp-speak all over their site for children, and you may be tempted to focus on those. However, this client came to you to solve a particular set of problems and what's most ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/3-tips-to-discover-what-your-client-really-wants Take pause and appreciate with me a moment of enormous visual power, created "accidentally-by-design" in the convergence of flickr and lunch-in-a-box. Further proof that a simple framework can yield astonishing visual results, and of course that the world wouldn't start wobbling on its axis if we spent less time on ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/balance-starts-with-less-web-design-and-more-lunch-design The always-sensible Jeremy Miller drew my attention to this discussion today. He highlights this point, from Ron Jeffries: I think "requirements" always means approximately "what we think, right now, that we need". Limited Ink To borrow a phrase from Nick, Gak! This kind of talk actually changes the physical constants of the universe, ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/limited-ink I was on campus today taking care of some business and I had occasion to indulge myself with a Red Bull. While I stood there drinking, I started to think about which direction the label was facing. I could say I did this because I’m a designer and I’m always ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/zen-and-the-art-of-drinking-red-bull A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human. - Alan Turing In my first post on users, customers, etc. as friends, I touched on the idea that anyone who gives money, time, or positive attention to your business should ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/the-corporate-turing-test All things considered, this is significantly less inflammatory than it might be perceived, for at least three reasons (not including the fact that it has been asserted by GM himself before): The computer-industry-vs-the-speed-of-sound principle: the plain fact is that we're still talking about 10 to 15 years - "an eternity in ... http://www.321goflight.com/tminus/posts/moore-predicts-end-of-eponymous-law