You’d have to be a seasoned comic art aficionado to recognize the name Alex Niño. Even when he was his most prolific you’d have had to be reading comics like Heavy Metal, Creepy, and The Savage Sword of Conan in the 70’s and early 80’s. Unfortunately all the innovative comic art at that time was pushed to the fringe titles. And Niño’s work was clearly before his time.
This November the Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn (of all places) is hosting a month long exhibit dedicated to his work. I’m hoping to trek out and catch some of this amazing work first-hand.
November 4th - 30th
Opening reception November 4th - 2-4pm (no mention if the artist will be present)
Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, CUNY
Art Gallery - Arts & Science Building 2001 Oriental Blvd, Brooklyn, NY
That’s what Jeff Jarvis’s new book aims to answer - not just for tech companies, but in many other industries.
In the above video he gives quick examples of this, such as crowd-sourcing automotive design and restaurant menus.
I have to say, those have to be the most un-compelling, and frankly, ill-advised ways to look at your business that he could have stated.
There’s a widely used axiom (source unknown), that goes like this…
If you asked a group of Porsche owners what they wanted they’d tell you things like, “smoother ride, more trunk space, more leg room”
They just designed a Volvo.
While crowd-sourcing can provide critical input, it’s not the formula for brand differentiation.
It’s also not universally loved within Google.
Former Google employee and Lead Designer, Doug Bowman explained his departure from Google on his blog...
“Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.”
Putting aside Doug’s interests here, it’s clear that Google has removed the human element, the emotion, out of the design process. Now, maybe this works for a company like Google that creates things for the masses, but there are many many businesses that don’t. And even some that do, such as Apple, wouldn’t be who they are if they democratized their product creation.
For certain companies, and for specific applications, crowd-sourcing can be a powerful tool. It’s working for Google. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the new paradigm, period.
I typically don’t slam a book before I read it. And I’m sure that there’s more to glean from Google than democratized design. But between this video and the Amazon user reviews, I’m having second thoughts about picking this one up.
In celebration of once again missing the circus that is the San Diego Comic Con, I’m posting a long overdue review of an entirely different kind of event.
In June 2002 a buddy of mine, who’s really into comic books and does a lot of design work in the field, dragged me out to this indie comics convention. As I had associated indie with underground (you know, the R. Crumb-type books) I wasn’t too excited to go.
A hearty congratulations to my buds at Seattle-based design firm Artefact. They recently won Best of Category (Interactive) in I.D. Magazine for their work on Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with both Principles Gavin Kelly and Rob Girling in the past when they were at Microsoft. They were probably the most challenging and rewarding design engagements that I’ve had in my career to date.
It’s been exciting to witness the genesis of their relatively young company and to see them quickly garnering peer praise. I’m confident that in the near future that, more and more, you’ll be hearing Artefact mentioned alongside Frog and IDEO.
HunterGatherer is a design, illustration, animation and production studio based in Brooklyn, NY.
Their organic, hand-made aesthetic creates a playful and expressive quality to the work. The dedication to, and joy in, their craft is evident. And as they put it, their unique process enables them to create a unique output. How many designers do you know that use a table saw on a regular basis?
The interview below was created to celebrate the launch of some new products developed for Incase.
A hearty congratulations to my buds at Seattle-based design firm