CEOs Who Use Twitter: Tweets from the Chiefs – BusinessWeek: Tweets from the Chiefs

In August 2008 we (BusinessWeek) reported on 18 chief executives who use the microblogging application Twitter to clue customers in on new services, help them with questions about their products, and generally get a little bit personal with customers, business associates, and the public.

Not even a year later, we bring you nearly 50 CEOs who find tweeting a personal and professional delight…

So read on to learn how Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, Zappos.com’s Tony Hsieh, and dozens more CEOs harness the simple powers of Twitter.

(via: BusinessWeek)

For benefits of my time-starved colleagues, I’ve listed down who they are. For further reading, their bios, why and what they use Twitter, click the link above or here.

1. Richard Branson, Virgin Group Chairman
2. Guy Kawasaki, Alltop CEO
3. Oren Michels, Mashery CEO
4. Phil Libin, Evernote CEO
5. Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO
6. George Colony, Forrester Research CEO
7. Gary Stockman, Porter Novelli CEO
8. Rob Howard, Telligent CEO
9. Tod Sacerdoti, BrightRoll CEO
10. Richard Rosenblatt, On Demand Media CEO
11. John Battelle, Federated Media CEO
12. Jeff Booth, BuildDirect President and CEO
13. Mark Cuban, HDNet Chairman
14. Bob Parsons, Go Daddy Group CEO and Founder
15. Ian Schafer, Deep Focus CEO
16. Mike Ferrari, SmartyPig Co-founder
17. Aaron Patzer, Mint.com CEO
18. Timothy Young, Socialcast CEO
19. Alex Yoder, WebTrends CEO
20. Edwin Ong, CastTV CEO
21. Avner Ronen, Boxee CEO
22. Diane Hessan, Communispace CEO
23. Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove CEO
24. Jason Alba, JibberJobber CEO
25. Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund CEO
26. J’Amy Stewart, Infonetics CEO
27. Tom Bedecarre, AKQA CEO
28. Marcel LeBrun, Radian6 CEO
29. Jay Adelson, Digg CEO
30. Peter Bordes, MediaTrust CEO
31. Kevin Rose, Digg Founder
32. Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com CEO
33. Jason Calacanis, Mahalo.com Founder
34. Michael Arrington, TechCrunch.com Co-editor
35. Loic Lemeur, Seesmic Founder
36. Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media CEO
37. Jack Dorsey, Twitter Chairman
38. David Sifry, Technorati Chairman
39. Christine Perkett, PerkettPR President
40. Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO
41. Jeff Bonforte, Xobni CEO
42. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems CEO
43. Shafqat Islam, NewsCred Chief Executive
44. Barry Libert, Mzinga CEO and Chairman
45. Eugene Lee, Socialtext CEO
46. Kel Kelly, Kel & Partners CEO
47. Lois Paul, Principal of Lois Paul & Partners
48. John Lilly, Mozilla.com CEO

Without a doubt, there are more out there. And I want to archive them all. So please feel free to comment in with names of those not in the list already.

This week, we are going to feature food and I would like to share something that I downloaded from forwarded email last time, it’s all about miniature people on food that bring the realistic environment.

As the images shown, one is a close up and the other one is long range. Apparently, the main thing is about the miniature people but the background is only food.  You can see how creative they are able to build in such matter. I love the finishing although it’s done by Photoshop I supposed? Enjoy!

Cool huh? :D

Personally, I like the ‘hairy’ kiwi fruit and which one do you like? ^^

Mobile Web Design Trends 2009 | Smashing Magazine

1. Simple options

One of the most intriguing things about mobile websites is the scaled-down options that are available to visitors. The mobile home page of Digg, for example, contains only 10 simple headlines and links, a log-in link and a few very basic navigation options. When it comes to mobile websites, simplicity is key. Because of the lack of space on the screen and Internet connections that are often slower, it’s important for visitors to have access to what is most crucial, and as little else as possible.

2. White space

White space is an important part of any design, and it’s something that’s usually a challenge in Web design because there is a desire to get as much as possible in front of the visitor. White space becomes even more of a necessity in mobile design because the typical screen size is so much smaller. A jumbled website would be very user-unfriendly and very difficult to pull off in the mobile environment.

3. Lack of images

As high-speed Internet connections have become more common in recent years, designers have been able to take more liberties with things like bandwidth-hogging video and images. The average visitor on a desktop or laptop wants to see a visually engaging website, and, as a result, images are heavily used. However, when it comes to mobile design, excessive use of images often does more harm than good.

4. Sub-domains instead of .mobi or separate domains

When the .mobi top-level domain (TLD) first became available, a lot of buzz surrounded the news. While some websites use .mobi for mobile versions of their websites, it is currently more common to see companies use a sub-domain or a separate folder on their primary domain. One of the major benefits of using a sub-domain is that it keeps everything on one domain, rather than spreading things out and potentially confusing visitors.

You’ll commonly see mobile versions of websites at such addresses as mobile.example.com, m.example.com, example.com/mobile, example.com/m and other ones along these lines. Some actual examples are m.twitter.com, mobile.washingtonpost.com and netflix.com/mobile/. Of course, there are exceptions to this trend, but as you look at the mobile versions of major websites, you will see more sub-domains than .mobi.

5. Prioritized content

Because of the simplicity of these pages and the general lack of many options, the content displayed is highly prioritized – for the visitor. While advertisements have largely become an accepted part of the Internet, most mobile websites are ad-free. The content available on a mobile website is typically of the highest priority to the average mobile visitor, not the company, although in the end the company benefits by having a more usable website.

You can see an example by looking at the mobile version of The Onion. Like most news websites, TheOnion.com does have ads with its stories. The mobile version, however, is ad-free.

Common Challenges in Designing for Mobiles

1. Variety of screen sizes

Because mobile technology is always changing, screen sizes are changing, too. Fortunately for designers, modern mobile devices typically have bigger screens and higher resolutions than those of a few years ago, but of course those older phones are still in use.

The results of the study show that 240 x 320 (a.k.a. QVGA) should be the standard for mobile development. Many newer mobiles and smart phones have larger screens, but smaller ones are largely a thing of the past.

2. Lack of understanding

One of the biggest challenges that many designers face is just the intimidation of dealing with a new aspect of design. Because mobile browsers behave somewhat differently than desktop browsers and because the environment of its users is not the same, the designer needs to gain some understanding and familiarity.

3. Rapid change

Like any other technology, rapid change is a constant. Of course, Web designers need to stay on top of the industry in general, and the mobile Web is no different. As technology and trends continue to change, the mobile Web will evolve accordingly. The challenge of change isn’t really anything new to designers; the mobile Web just presents another area in which designers need to stay up to date.

4. Testing challenges

One of the most significant challenges in designing for mobiles is the wide variety of phones in use. There are, of course, some things you can do so that a mobile website is tested as well as possible. To start with, the simplicity of mobile websites in a way makes the testing process easier because there is less that can go wrong. With a careful design and some well-planned testing, it’s possible to be fairly certain that a website will be displayed properly and, more importantly, usable on the vast majority of mobile devices.

5. Deciding on what is essential

If websites are to contain only what is most essential, the website owner or designer will have to determine accurately what content is most important. This may seem pretty simple, but taking a website that’s loaded with content, images and maybe even video, and weeding it down to just the essentials can be quite a challenge. Keep in mind that the goals of mobile visitors are often vastly different than those of visitors sitting at a desk.

Here’s the link to the full article: Mobile Web Design Trends | Smashing Magazine

For a gallery and showcase of the best in Mobile Web design, here’s a link to one of our previous articles: More Web Design Showcase.

All the movements on the web site are controlled by sound and music.
So change songs, upload your own music, play on your keyboard or sing into the microphone.

Visit the site

Adobe Creative Suite4

 

Here are the upcoming online and live events from Adobe to help you get to brilliant faster:

http://adobe.vintedge.com/edm/42_CS4_eSeminar/edm_SGMY.html

Check out this clip, for those designers who working day and night and get bang from your boss and sales person for fully Flash or Ajax stuff for couple of hundreds bucks! This guy is our hero! Jess Gibson’s documentary, The Draplin Thing.

This time, into Smashing Magazine. Read full article here. Dive straight into point 5 – Hand Drawing Used Extensively and you’ll find his work among other greats.

Is it time for a Joshua-Rames collab on Brainiacs at Work skin design?

I started work on the project. He agreed over the phone to pay, so because I charged low at the time, I had about 1 day of work ahead of me. After presenting the designs by email, and a few rounds of revisions, he was just lost from my sight. After some months passed by and several emails were sent, I finally heard back from him. His email read as “Your designs are not acceptable and I am not paying you anything”.

After some days I was shocked to see their Product Catalogue. They used one my designs.

From this incident I actually learned the following things:

Get a contract

Many have a negative view of contracts, thinking they are meant to fool people with fine print, or that its a reflection of the trust you have in them.

Even if I’m working for a family member or friend, I make them sign a contract. It’s just the thing to do. No one ever balks at signing a contract when setting up a bank account or buying cell phone service – why should they when contracting a designer to produce marketing materials? In fact, a contract is protection for both you and your clients, plus it adds respect to the work you’re doing.

There is a great   free contract template for designers from AIGA. You can customize it to your liking, and be sure to change the American information to suit whatever country you live in.

Charge enough to be competitive

Along the lines of adding perceived respect to the work, charge enough money. Even if its a small client that doesn’t have a lot of money, or a non-profit client, remember that they don’t realize the level of effort that goes into this stuff. If you’re charging low just so that you’ll get the project, the client usually won’t appreciate it, and therefore won’t think twice about making unnecessary revisions, or requesting additional items.

If the work is a gift from you to them, in the case of non-profits or friends, make it clear that you are doing them a favor and charging less than the work is worth – this way they’ll appreciate it and be happy to pay you promptly with a minimum number of revisions. If you don’t appear to value your work, your client surely wont.

Require an initial deposit

A great way to sift through the people who are looking for free work, charge 30-50% up front. If they weren’t planning on paying, or wanted to wait and see if they liked the work before paying, they’ll drop out quickly. At least this way, they drop out before you’ve spent the hours designing.

I’ve never had any reputable clients express concern about up-front payment. They assume that the work will be done well, and on time.

Communicate in writing

This I didn’t do from the beginning – communicating by email can be a life saver. Make sure the client fully understands what they’re getting, how much it costs, and that they are paying for a service, not a product. Your getting paid is not determined upon whether they like what you design – they need to be sure you’re right for them (by looking at your work and checking your references) before they commission you to do the work.

Emails keep track of these types of interactions so that, in the event you get screwed out, there is a record for legal purposes.

Make sure the client is the right fit for you

Everyone can learn from this lesson, because it’s something that even many large design companies struggle with, not just freelancers:

If the work isn’t interesting, the client isn’t reputable or the person you are talking to gives you a bad feeling, don’t work for them.

There is enough work out there that we don’t need to say yes to everybody that asks for a quote. There are many low-lives who own companies, and who you can tell from an initial meeting or phone call that they are going to be trouble. Trust me, no matter how tempting the money may be, you actually save more money by turning these prospects down!

Accept work only from a client who is the right fit for you, and who you feel will be pleasant to work for.

Bottom line

I had a request for a logo from a person who was starting an IT company. He said he already tried 2 designers earlier and they were not up to his mark. He asked me to start the work immediately.

Instead, I sent a formal email stating that the work would be started upon sign-off on the budget and 30% payment up front. I quoted the price for the project. My email was short and concise, and more importantly, didn’t waste too much of my time – I never got a reply back from him.

Design, while fun, is still a business—and as such, safety nets need to be in place so that you’re protected and can make a fair profit from your skills.

I was really surprised to discover an article about this wheel. Here is a bit of overview of this magnificent structure.

About The Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is the spectacular centrepiece of the £84.5 million ‘Millennium Link’, the UK’s largest canal restoration project, developed by British Waterways to reconnect the Union Canal with the Forth & Clyde Canal, re-establishing east to west coast access for boats.

Apart from being an engineering and design wonder, The Falkirk Wheel is a great day out. From the stunning Visitor Centre and basin, set at the heart of a natural amphitheatre of landscaped grounds, you can view the revolution of The Wheel or go for a stroll to see it from all angles.

The Design

The original concept of a wheel to act as a boat lift actually dates back to 19th Century Europe, but it was first seriously considered by British Waterways as a solution for Falkirk in 1994. Dundee Architects, Nicoll Russell Studios presented a Ferris Wheel type design that was used to secure Millennium Commission Funding for the Project. The development of the project was then secured by a consortium led by Morrison-Bachy-Solentache, and that included Scottish architects RMJM. The combined team then reappraised the original designs of the Wheel. The objective uppermost in all their minds was to create a functional boat lift that could raise and lower boats swiftly whilst celebrating the reconnection of the two historic canals with a structure worthy of a new millennium.

How Does It Work?

The Falkirk Wheel lies at the end of a reinforced concrete aqueduct that connects, via the Roughcastle tunnel and a double staircase lock, to the Union Canal. Boats entering the Wheel’s upper gondola are lowered, along with the water that they float in, to the basin below. At the same time, an equal weight rises up, lifted in the other gondola. This works on the Archimedes principle of displacement. That is, the mass of the boat sailing into the gondola will displace an exactly proportional volume of water so that the final combination of ‘boat plus water’ balances the original total mass.

Each gondola runs on small wheels that fit into a single curved rail fixed on the inner edge of the opening on each arm. In theory, this should be sufficient to ensure that they always remain horizontal, but any friction or sudden movement could cause the gondola to stick or tilt. To ensure that this could never happen and that the water and boats always remain perfectly level throughout the whole cycle, a series of linked cogs acts as a back up.

Nice place to take photographs, right? What I can say about this is great design with good use of money from the Government to preserve the canal and promote tourism to the country.

For more information about this wheel, please go to The Falkirk Wheel

Straight to the point, one button navigation. Some of the featured works are really random, really funny and what I’d call “idea-food.” Hop on to www.ffffound.com

His website – rames.blogspot.com contain links to some lots of beautiful, well-done photoshoped image collections. Most of which were created himself from scratch combining his love for photography, image compositing and photoshop. Personally I’m proud and would like to see more of this kind of surprises coming out from the team.

Well done Rames!

To me, being creative is not about good design. Not about good typography. Not about good colour schemes.

It’s about good purpose. Does the work you do serve a purpose? Does the design you create help someone, some client or some owner achieve something? A goal?

Taken into context. Everything is beautiful. Yet not every beautiful thing is well designed. Can your work stand up from the rest of the other beautiful things? Can it be called well-designed?

It should. If ther ever was a designer’s goal, this should be it.