From http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/tibrown/thesis/screenfaces.html

This fantastic article gets into the weeds (details) about typefaces made for the screen. Bottom line: use Verdana or Georgia. Read the article for the details (weeds).

Nice Web Type : Screen Typefaces.

I know the backlash against top (insert number here) lists mounts. However, this particular list is thoughtful and valid. I appreciate no. 5:

Agile is weak on architectural planning. While software architecture is not entirely like building/construction architecture, they do share some qualities, including the need for a well-defined architecture up-front.

This is particularly true or troublesome on the interactive side, when in addition to architecture, visual design and concept need to be established and integrated into the project. That said, awareness is half the battle, and making room for solutions like Sprint 0 before the development sprints kick off can help in some cases.

On the other hand, I thought it was amusing that one of the listed “weaknesses” is “Heavy customer interaction is essential.” I would think of this trait as a strength. Granted, customer interaction is ideal and might not always work out—indeed, a lot of Agile / Scrum “rules” may not execute perfectly—but that goes back to the essence of the methodology: it’s a framework. Use the overarching principles, and adjust as you go. It is not a hard and fast set of stringent rules. Like I tell my kids as they learn to drive, “just because the light turns green, doesn’t mean you should go. It means you should look and decide if it’s safe to go. Lights don’t stop cars; people stop cars.” You need to think, be aware, and adapt to drive the principle of remaining alive out there on the road, or in software or interactive development.

from http://www.flickr.com/photos/caseorganic/4793456173/

Cooper–one of my favorite design firms of all time–redesigned their website recently. Check it out.

Found this old link in my drafts. This guy’s rad. He’s on twitter, too (@thesambarnes). Check him out for yourself; start with this article:

Estimating time for Web Projects more accurately: Part 1 | Web Project and Website Management advice | Web Project Management Addict | thesambarnes.

[Update: Damn it. A Google search of "Facebook AOL" shows me I'm not the first one to think Facebook is the new AOL; Jason Kottke had chimed in on it (back in 2007!). O! well, chalk it up to one of those great-minds moments.]

I needed compare a couple files the other day. I instinctively went for Terminal and the command line. Worked fine, but left me wanted. Then, when I was looking up OS X SVN clients, I came across this amazing little diddy. Compares text files AND image files AND it integrates with SVN. As The Cure song once said, “simply elegant.” And, seriously, I was literally just thinking that there’s been no cool tools on OS X lately.

No, it’s not an ad. Puhleez.

Aki Spicer (@akispicer) works for Fallon as director of digital strategy. Right now the webs are abuzz about this deck, and rightly so–it is a fantastic read.

When it comes to wrangling the brand in this very connected, very noisy digital world, planning and its practitioners sit dead center in the middle of this marketing shift (“Shift Happens” … Great deck. Really.). And it’s not just a matter of connecting new dots of interactions in Facebook and twitter. Indeed, it’s about holistic thinking that sees all, commanding new tools for analysis and execution, and really understanding the change from telling to listening.

Nike+ dashboard screenshoot

Perhaps the best consumer example of digital’ promises–to bridge concepts and ideas to usable form. Just brilliant. From R/GA’s site on Adeek’s Agency of the Decade award:

Digital Campaign of the Decade: Nike+
If there was a knock against Nike Plus from the ad world, it was what it wasn’t: an ad. Which was, of course, the point. Created in 2006, it defined how a brand can build a self-sustaining platform by giving customers an easy tool—a chip in their shoe that connects to their iPod music player—to track and share their training progress. Nike Plus takes “Just do it” and actually helps runners get it done. Since its launch, Nike Plus runners have logged more than 100 million miles—enough for more than 400 roundtrips to the moon. It’s little coincidence that Nike steadily increased its running shoe market share from 48 percent in 2006 to 61 percent in 2008. Along the way it created something for brands to aspire to: a product experience that reinforces the brand message.

Full Adweek article.

from their site

This one’s new to me, and I love it. The Design Business Association, a UK trade organization for design that’s akin to our Design Management Institute, runs the Design Effectiveness Awards, in their own words:

The most important way of communicating the value of design is by measuring its true effectiveness. The DBA’s annual Design Effectiveness Awards are both prestigious and authoritative, the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria. Year after year, winning case studies demonstrate that successful projects require the integration of the design brief with business aims and objectives from the outset. This sets the stage for a transparent and accountable relationship between client and designer that provides the best creative and commercial environment for success.

Agreed.

Here’s the Interactive & Digital Media winner, but you must have a look through all the other categories.

I mentioned Google Wave in my last post, and tonight I came across this video. I’m neither a Pulp Fiction fan nor convinced this is the best way to exhibit what Google Wave is or is capable of, but damn it if I wasn’t entertained. [And, yes, I think Tarantino sucks, and Pulp Fiction is complete shit.]

[via Digital Buzz]