The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress for over 250 years.

To learn more about the RSA, visit: http://www.thersa.org/

This is a great video plus animation by the RSA Group which discusses motivation and what drives us. A great visual storyboard is presented on a whiteboard to convey the narrators point. Definitely worth a watch.

Dalton Conley, a Dean of Social Sciences at New York University and an author of multiple books argues that technology, in most cases, is tearing families apart. As more and more technologically advanced gadgets are being released, people are becoming more distracted by them. People have developed increasingly poor social habits and manners as they answer their telephones at the dinner table, text each other instead of simply conversing, and much more. Everyone seems to be too immersed in their individual social media to see beyond it. In some cases, I would say this is true, however, I feel like this is primarily based on the individual. I believe that technology has always been a tool, and an obstacle for man.

Sure, these same technologies help us to keep ourselves organized on a daily basis and keep in touch with those who are important to us, so its more about how we embrace it and use it as a tool. If you happen abuse it to the point where you’re a social slug that’s stuck behind a computer updating your twitter account every hour, that’s your personal choice. I agree with Conley’s statement that in order to be intimate with our families, we need time alone. This reaches a point where you need to ‘cut the electronic umbilical cord’ and give ourselves the opportunity to connect with people on a personal level and be the social beings that we are. I believe part of this has to do with the way we are raised. Dinner should be one time in the day where families can come together and enjoy each others’ company. He mentions making a no-screen rule as punishment and also a way to give them time for themselves. I think this could be effective as a punishment, however, I think its highly based on the individual. If you don’t want your children to text or answer the phone at the dinner table, then perhaps you should set a good example for them, and not allow it to happen in the first place. Be the change that you want to see.

Natalie Jeremijenko, a tech-obsessed artist, engineer, and blogger for the website HowStuffIsMade.org has a differing opinion on the subject. She argues whether technology is tearing families apart, or rather bringing them closer together.

It’s doing both at the same time. We can use technology to connect with one another or to disconnect. The question becomes: To what extent do we exercise that agency? And why don’t we feel more in control of it?

She begins addressing this issue by talking about the popularization of it in her household. While in agreeance with Dalton on the subject of ‘cutting the electronic umbelical cord’ and giving oneself time to reflect, she also talks about the idea that we are the ones in charge of our lives, not the technology. If we choose not to take some quiet time off from the world to contemplate and reflect, they we may not need it.

On another note, she comments on Dalton’s punishment of taking away the computer from children by simply stating ‘bring it on.’ She believes that facebook is the type of social tool that kids should use to interact, get school assignments from friend they may have missed, and so much more. ‘School is social, and a social technology like Facebook can be a worthy partner.’ This is true because much of what we learn in school is how to function socially. We learn from interacting and responding with others. Sure we can’t learn all of this behind a computer, but it doesn’t mean the this can’t be supplimented by social interaction online as well. If anything, I think this is supported by the fact that most schools nowadays are embracing the idea of computer labs, video conferencing, and other technology to help enhance the education of their students.

With all this being said, I think we all need to take in consideration that technology isn’t going anywhere, and at this point I don’t think social media is either. We are all in charge of our lives so whether or not we use these tools to enhance our lives is completely up to us. ‘We’re the authors of our own lives—we’re not under the remote control of our technology.’

1856 - The first ever example of image manipulation is known as “The two ways of life” by Oscar Rejlander.

Courtsey of http://www.museeniepce.com/

Oscar Rejlander’s ground breaking picture is made up of 32 different negatives, a completely new technique in his time. Today, this would be less then a hours work for a skilled Photoshop designer.  To Oscar Rejlander defense, he was the first and if it wasn’t for the spark of creativity he started, todays image manipulation programs would most undoubtedly be lacking. his Innovations can be attributed to many such as…

George Melies 1861-1936
He was known as one of the first “Cinemagican”  because he created and help develop much of the in-camera tricks used today. Any film lover should know “A trip to the moon”, a great example of Melies ability to use special effects and motion graphics. I believe wikipedia puts it best,

“He was very innovative in the use of special effects. He accidentally discovered the stop trick, or substitution, in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his films.”

Courtsey of wikipedia

Could you imagine what film and media would look like today without the advancements in special effects and motion graphics that these founders of Illusion made. In a lot of my work I still use techniques like timelapse photography and the stop trick…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another neat feature of this application is the ability to switch between your AM and PM tasks or even days, with only the flip of a finger. I liked this personally because if you’re as busy as I can be a times, all those tasks pile up and get to look a little intimidating! So in a way, this is feature is helping to organize your day, and ease your mind.

As a designer, one of the most interesting things about this application was reading about the development of it in another review. Created by Jake and Georgia Yanchar, two former New York City lawyers, Diacarta is said to have evolved from daily organizers that Jake would draw daily in his Moleskine notebook. I think this only says alot about the application and its simplicity. If one person can organize their life from a few sketches in a notebook, and turn it into a iPhone application, it just might be worth a try! You might be surprised!

To unite “scattered design ideas,” we need to start a the beginning; providing ourselves as well as our clients with an idea of where we are, where we are going and exactly how we plant to get there.

“Think of the website creation process as an epic journey.”

With all of this in mind, a well planned website ensures the delivery of a compelling and captivating experience for the client as well as the user. In this article, I’ll discuss how to fuse design and development; making the two work together to understand the kind of story which we want our website to tell, as well as going about on how to tell the story.

Telling The Story

Telling the story of a website is one of the prevalent forms of communication.

“We all tell stories, It’s one of the most natural ways of sharing information, as old as the human race. … Stories help gather and communicate user research, put a human face on analytic data, communicate design ideas, encourage collaboration and innovation, and create a sense of shared history and purpose.”

Storytelling for User Experience Design

As the quote says, there is value for experience designers in story telling. Story telling drives art, aesthetic and function, this is accomplished when an overarching plot is communicated with the help of thematic or “same-subject” devices. Think of the different forces that drive your favorite movies or music. Did you like the character development? The cinematography?  What other forms of artistry contributed to your resulting experience?

Storytelling when applied to design allows designers to understand narrative. It helps designers obtain an idea of who we are telling the story to. In addition to just determining who the story is told to, designers begin to accumulate tools such as textual elements that can be used to shape the story at hand. Compare this list of elements that filmmakers and web designers use to create specific experiences.

Here are many interrelated parts that account for the experience which a film and website provides. Film is coordinated in service of a story meanwhile web is not coordinated at all. We can use the concept of storytelling to give our clients an idea of where we are headed. Actually applying storytelling to our websites is difficult work but luckily can be achieved with prototypes.

Prototypes

Generally a prototype is a rudimentary version of something designed to exhibit both form and functionality in a reasonable and realistic way. A great way to think about prototypes are like miniature models; skyscrapers for example. Prototypes are not perfect because by purpose, they are pragmatic. They require feedback.

A variety of considerations go into the process of creating a prototype and therefore yield a variety of benefits to those that put them into practice. The question I frequently explore is this: how can I collaboratively develop and present my client a prototype of their ideas? Sometimes this requires elements such as content management systems, regardless of the technique employed, the goal is the same: to obtain a more accurate idea what the final website will look like and more importantly, how it will function.

Unlike static wireframes or photoshop mockups, dynamic prototypes create context. If designed well and executed properly, those who engage them tend to make remarks about functionality rather then design asthetic. This otherwise prevents the need for numerous variations of prototypes for the client. If a prototype does not work the way the client anticipates, it can be quickly discarded, replaced or changed. Before we task ourselves with changing a prototype’s visual or interactive design, we give thorough consideration to all factors related to the experience we are attempting to create. Changing particular elements will offset other elements of the desired experience, these elements are called related factors.

Adding multiple prototypes ensures that web design elements are not nearsighted or closed off and will allow the viewer to experience the design as a story; leading the viewer through a specifically engineered experience.

Constructing the Prototypes

Prototypes should be quick and painless to create. Just because static HTML is the easiest way to create these rudimentary elements, it does not mean it works this way for our clients. Using tools such as Adobe Photoshop, sketching paper, power points and Adobe Fireworks is a great idea because the medium is easy to understand for our stakeholders. It is a safer and a more clear way of articulating their ideas and is more arguably valuable than creating inaccessible prototypes.

Final Thoughts

With regards to web development, prototyping is not considered as often as it should be. In fact, it is often too forgotten until after the initial website is developed or even launched. When designed early and often enough, prototypes will begin to generate context and questions; the challenges that arise are usually addressed in time for a developer to answer. Once these challenges are resolved, the developer can farther begin to design an experience for the user, much like a story. We must promote multiple prototypes as a part of the design process in order to improve the experiences we create for our clients, viewers and customers.

Although no one can meet ALL of the demands set forth, especially the common — free, perfect, now — prototypes can help designers move into the right direction, a direction that clients, consultants and users can agree upon.

You’ll need:

CSS Edit
Facebook Like Box Form

and fill out the info you want.

Click Get Code:

Copy the URL that the iFrame option gives out and load it up in css edit

Select an element and open up it’s respective stylesheet.

Style the elements that you want and paste them into a new stylesheet.
Save this style sheet on a remote server.

In order to reference your new stylesheet you are going to have to use a little FBML. Go back to the “Get Code” dialog box and copy the XBML snippet.

Replace ‘like-box’ with ‘fan’

Add your css url to it and voila!

Example:

<fb:fan profile_id=”1855986685″ stream=”1″ connections=”3″ width=”190″ height=”480″ css=”http://www.yoursite.com/style.css?2“></fb:fan>

Be sure to add “?” and a number at the end of the URL. Facebook caches the stylesheet. Adding the ? and number allows to see your changes.

Finale.

Follow the directions on how to enable XFBML on your site and paste in your short-code for the like-box and you’re done!

Note: So far i haven’t figured out how to do this using the frame method.

Now LinkedIn takes the connection a step further by allowing you to find your connections who are on Twitter and then interact, all within the (somewhat ugly) LinkedIn interface.  Support for Twitter Lists is included…have you started your “LinkedIn Twitter List”?

Starting today, LinkedIn’s Tweets application will allow LinkedIn members to easily find and keep track of their LinkedIn connections on both LinkedIn and Twitter.

If you haven’t installed Tweets yet, you can add it by going to the Tweets install page.  Once you’ve installed the Tweets application, you can easily access it from anywhere on LinkedIn using the “More…” menu at the top of the website.  After installing, it took LinkedIn/Twitter a few minutes to display my connections properly, but worked like a charm afterwards.

Check out the full story on the official LinkedIn Blog.

Typography in Learning

One of the main ways we use typography in our daily lives is education. Schools rely on heavily on the use of printed type on a daily basis to educate their students all over the world. From students simply learning to read and write to college students striving to earn higher education, type helps to make this all possible.

Typography between Friends and Family

Beyond spoken language, typography has always played a role in personal relations between people, whether it be through the use of handwritten notes, birthday cards, friendly e-mails, or even scrap booking. Although we may not always think of these as normal uses of typography in terms of design the very nature of typography and design is communicate so with that being said, this is a very successful use. Typography in personal communication gives people control of how their communication will look and even the feeling that could be transferred though the medium.

Typography in the Workplace

In the business place, typography plays a very important role in day-to-day operations. From simple correspondence between e-mails or letterheads, business cards, e-newsletters, or even blog posts like this one, typography helps lay the foundation for the way this information is presented between co-workers, clients, or even complete strangers who are recently finding out about you. A uniform typeface throughout a company’s stationery can help create a voice and a sense of consistency for the way it is represented to others.

Another important use of typography within the workplace of course is marketing. The importance of trade and the communications that are needed for trade to exist are all due to the use of the right type. Advertising and a connection to the customers both rely of how the product information is showcased. The wrong kind of type can cause a product promotion to fail in the consumer market. A good example of this would be the Coca Cola typeface. Regardless of where you are in the world, the Coke typeface is recognized all over. This is due to clever use of typeface and strong execution. Whether or not you happen to drink Coke, I’d be willing to bet if you saw their logo you’d know what it is almost instantly, and this is great use of typography.

Taking all of this into consideration, pay closer attention to your surroundings and see if you notice how much typography is a part of our daily lives. Although it might not all be good, because there is definitely bad design out there, look around and take in how typography is designed around us to present information. Look at an ad and try to experience how the typography is intended to make you feel, or look at a street sign and consider that someone designed it to make your life just a little easier.

Soon enough we could all be tapping away our flight time with an iPad for entertainment, courtesy of the AIRLINE.  Seriously. How much  better would the whole “travel” experience be if more airlines started offering this as an option?  In fact, it could help turn the air travel industry around.  Well, maybe not, but it would certainly be a good perk in a world of paying for carry-ons, no in-flight meals (not even those salty peanuts, much less the dry turkey sandwich in plastic wrap), and extensive security waits.  I know I would rather fly knowing an iPad was waiting for me.  I saw this on BitRebels.com originally, and the details are on Bluebox Avionics’ website where the company goes on to say:  “It leverages the power, flexibility and quality of the most advanced consumer device ever produced.”

I must admit, I own an iPad and look forward to using it the next time I have to travel.  But for those who don’t already own one, this could be a deal-changer.  The idea that flight attendants could simply pass out iPads so that passengers can stream movies, music, games, and flight information, along with exploring 200,000 other applications, is certainly a bonus.  Imagine the saved weight and cost of all those small LCD’s built into headrests, the delivery hardware, wiring, etc – one can only imagine it being a BARGAIN in the long run.  Apple would sell more iPads, undoubtedly, and content creators will be scurrying to provide in-flight special applications, news, and movies, as well as networked games.  It would be pretty intense to race your fellow passengers in an in-flight networked game of  RealRacingHD on iPads.

According to Bluebox: “The concept is simple: consumer technology has leapfrogged the once state-of-the-art systems produced by the long-established manufacturers, and it is now mature enough to offer an IFE solution that’s more flexible, more powerful and more secure than any proprietary alternatives.”

Coming on an iPad to a flight near you, as soon as this July!

Website: www.absolut.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2370223690#!/ABSOLUT?ref=ts

The strategy of the brand was to avoid affiliating the product with one particular lifestyle and the ads were to have a timeless yet contemporary theme to them. Absolut Vodka prides its ads in crossing the line between advertising and art using different medians such as paintings, limited edition bottles, shirts, and sculpture. Many famous artists have done work for the company, including Andy Warhol and Keith Harris. TBWA’s branding campaign for Absolut Vodka was listed as one of the top ten campaigns of the twentieth century by Advertising Age and many awards including an Effie and Kelly awards which are possibly the most prestigious awards in the advertising business. Below are examples of some of the more famous advertisements created by TBWA for Absolut Vodka and really illustrates their strategy of targeting a broad audience and not one particular lifestyle.

The following is one of their controversial ads depicting an image of what Mexico controlling the territory the had control of during the Mexica-American War. This was part of the 2007 In An Absolut World campaign in which the company posted various scenarios of what their audience might think a Utopian or “Absolut” reality would be.

The company also hired Actor, stand up comedian Zach Galifinakis along with writers and stars of the Tim and Eric show to write, direct and produce three viral videos called A Vodka Story to expound farther into the online media world. Embedded is the first of the three videos with links to the second and third below it.

AVodka Story Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0QtJMKt1s

A Vodka story part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EQcvKCFFW4&feature=related

A Vodka story part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx6LAT-FqxU&feature=related

The final piece of media is a little bit more recent marketing move which involved collaborating with Jay-Z on a benefit concert on September 11, 2009 which also coincided with the release of his newest album the blueprint three, which is now officially certified platinum. Just yesterday TBWA released a mini documentary they produced called “NY-Z” which was 15 minutes long and was all about that show. This documentary originally premiered on Abolut’s web page. Here is the video embedded from Absolut’s Youtube page.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can also find a large collection of their print ads under the Absolut Gallery link at www.AbsolutAds.com.