Published By
Ryan
on
Sep.26.2008
at
8:00AM
Twitter Fail Whale
According to Twitter it promotes itself as:
...a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
But, a smart business can use Twitter for so much more. Here are a few ways to try out Twitter with your business
Exclusive deals
Give your customers a reason to add you to their list with Twitter-only deals, specials, and sales
Create transparency
Share company news, projects, and extra insight into your business and your customers will feel more engaged and involved.
Give important updates
Provide customers with holiday closures/hours, in-store events, website upgrade notices, and more!
Find new clients
Go to search.twitter.com and search for something like "Find a web designer" to find people who need your services.
Provide customer service
Create a Twitter presence to tackle problems, resolve issues, answer questions, and arrange service.
Listen to your customers.
Follow every single one of your Followers because those are your customers and they are sharing everything about their demographic with you.
Full of Design uses Twitter. Corey and myself both update our homepage via our Twitter accounts, and that's just the beginning. We're slowly, but surely, building our community and we hope to see you in our twitterfeed soon.
Published By
Ryan
on
Sep.05.2008
at
8:00AM
Photo by bdunnette
Every summer I manage to car camping with family and friends a couple of times. This summer was no exception.
When we head north we pack enough magazines to fuel a campfire in the event that wood has disappeared from the face of the earth. We've never had to resort to burning our periodicals, but I often manage to read a couple of them from front to back.
This trip was no exception.
The interesting thing was that Popular Mechanics and Wired both had interviews with designers (Saul Griffith and Philippe Starck, respectively) discussing design sustainability.
Both Starck and Griffith maintained the same opinion: in order to reduce the waste we produce we need to design better. Better design leads to products being kept longer, which leads to less trash, which, ultimately leads to a smaller carbon footprint.
Griffith referenced the ultimate example of this idea:
The Harley-Davidson culture in [the United States] potentially has an ethos more matched to the world's problems, because they love and polish and repair and keep that motorcycle in perfect shape.
The problem with this concept is technology.
Moore's Law (technology doubles in speed, and drops in cost by half every 18 months) creates a harsh reality for technology in design. How do you design for something that is constantly improving?
Both Starck and Griffith made note of this idea
Take the computer: It was the size of a room, then a briefcase. Now it's a credit card. You cannot dematerialize a chair completely, because you must continue to sit on it. —Starck
We have failed so far to conceive of electronic devices that we want to keep for 25 years and that are capable of lasting that long. —Griffith
The answer is certainly not a clear one. Companies have stepped up to the plate and started applying the same ethos that these designers hold true to their hearts.
Apple's iphone is a beautiful little piece of technology. Courtesy of apple.ca
Apple constantly creates products that not only function well in today's technology market, but they take the time to make sure that the product looks good on your shelf, desk, or in your hand.
Their computers hold value for years. My 4 year old laptop was still worth a third of what I paid for it new. PC computers simply don't hold that kind of value. Is it Apple's attention to design that helps keep the value so strong?
Dell's new Desktop Studio Hybrid courtesy of Dell.ca
Other companies have started to apply beautiful design to their computers. Dell recently announced a new media computer that has had designers around the world buzzing about the great look of Dell's new computer.
While great design certainly makes the decision to toss the old out for something newer and better a little more difficult, it still doesn't solve the dilemma that the guts inside the beautiful package don't hold water to the new tech emerging on a seemingly daily basis.
An example of modular technology courtesy of apple.ca
Most computers are modular; you can upgrade memory, storage, video cards, etc. but eventually even this method of replacement reaches a saturation point and leaves us desiring a new computer
When we solve the problem of tech overload we'll truly have a great design.
