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Time's Top 50 Websites of 2010
Congrats to Kongregate (one of our past clients) on their continued success and recognition!
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Empathy is just a few words away
- 24 Aug 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this article
3 comments Last comment by Jessy
I recently received a welcome packet in the mail from our overpriced health insurance provider, which encouraged me to head to their web site to setup my account. They assure me that it is going to change how I manage my health!
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CAPTCHA Challenge-Response
- 18 Aug 2010
- Ryan Gensel says... Check out this photo
2 comments Last comment by Gabe Da Silveira
What kind of user experience does an empty CAPTCHA field produce? If you guessed annoying and frustrating – you win!
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Don't forget the bigger picture
Using pictures to explain specialization.
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Use advertising to describe the experience
- 6 Aug 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this link
3 comments Last comment by Becky
One social media tip: first build a good customer experience“It’s no use spending time, money, or effort to entice people into a product or service if it just leads to a bad experience. Why? Because those people you carefully encouraged and nudged into your circle? They go right back into the cloud, spreading the news about their bad experience.”
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Fishing for a goal
- 28 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this video
1 comment Last comment by Donna
I’m thinking that our team should start doing things like this when we launch new features for our clients.
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Jacques Cousteau made it happen
- 21 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this quote
2 comments Last comment by Stacy
However, during the war, the German army was requisitioning almost all of the 35-millimeter film stock in Europe, for use in reconnaissance missions; not only was the film expensive, but now it was nearly impossible to find. This presented a problem for my determined father, who searched diligently in film shops all over France. Whatever the cost, he was determined to pay it. Wherever he happened to be, he found time to look for his precious film, until one day, he realized that he did not need movie film at all. He saw that any 35-millimeter film would work equally well, so he purchased rolls and rolls of film intended for still photography. Then, he and my mother would stay up half the night, under the bedcovers, gluing the film together 36-frame strip by 36-frame strip, so that it would be suitable for moving pictures.
from My Father, the Captain: My Life With Jacques CousteauA great example of Jacques Cousteau finding a creative solution to bypass external constraints that could prevent his projects from happening.
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Collection system
- 20 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this quote
3 comments Last comment by Stacy
There are three “collection success factors”: 1. Every open loop must be in your collection system and out of your head. 2. You must have as few collection buckets as you can get by with. 3. You must empty them regularly.
from Getting Things DoneAn old one... but rereading parts of this book always seems to initiate some new-found motivation to organize my cognitive space.
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There's a Cat for that
- 16 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this video
2 comments Last comment by Mag
The Oregon Humane Society released a new promotional video that looks familiar.
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In the final installment of our 5 part series, we feature Planet Argon, by Gary Blessington.
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Volvo is releasing an application that will put useful emissions data in front of potential automobile customers.
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I have no friends
- 15 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this photo
2 comments Last comment by Bet365link
Back in March I signed up for an account on Venmo because people said it was going to be a game changer. I thought I’d give it a go and planned to take a second look when time permitted. I haven’t found the time, but since signing up my only other experience with them has been a weekly email to remind me that:
- I have received no money
- I have sent no money
- I have no friends
- I am not active
- I need to make these emails stop showing up… but who has the time?
I don’t mind that status emails like this get sent out, but in this scenario.. it’s just not valuable. Is it necessary to communicate that nothing has happened?1 To be fair, Venmo is in beta and is working out the kinks. They are far from the only service that does this, they just happen to be the one that triggered this post (which I will be pointing them to). :-)
There’s a ton of information being sent to people’s inboxes every day. When we decide to communicate with our users, we should be mindful of the value of the information as well as how and when we ask for their attention. Is the email useful? Is it actionable? Or is it just undesired noise?
1 Context is fundamental here. If you’re a sales manager and your sales team has had zero sales… this might be valuable information.
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In part 4 of our 5 part series, we feature Planet Argon, by Robby Russell.
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Email wishlist - Send tomorrow
- 14 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this article
2 comments Last comment by Jamie
One google lab feature that I wish existed..
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In part 3 of our 5 part series, we feature Planet Argon, by Allison Beckwith.
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Today, in part 2 of our 5 part series, we feature Planet Argon, by Carlos Rodriguez.
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Painting Planet Argon, part 1
- 12 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this photo
2 comments Last comment by Sandra
We recently got together as a team to work on an art project. The goal for this project was for each of us to paint our own Planet Argon logo. Allison started us off by tracing our logo on five blank canvases with pencil. She then tossed acrylic paint supplies on the floor and said have fun.
Over each of the next five days, we’ll share each of ours.
Today, we feature Planet Argon, by Ryan Gensel
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Our favorite soundtracks
- 12 Jul 2010
- Robby Russell says... Check out this article
2 comments Last comment by John
A quick summary of our favorite motion picture soundtracks.
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Last year we were happy to sponsor (and participate) in the RubyConf5k. We helped sponsor t-shirts, which meant we’d have our logo included on the back of the shirt.
On the morning of the race, I was looking at the freshly-printed shirts and noticed, “203” above our logo. What did this mean? After a few minutes, I realized that this was our studio’s suite number!
So… the backstory.
On the day that we needed to send over the logo, Allison was out of the studio. I decided to look for a file myself and began rummaging through the Dropbox where our InDesign files are located in search of a B&W graphic with our logo in it. Apparently, the file I found had the number 203 at the top of the image but I completely missed that when opening it up.
Lesson learned? Always have someone else double-check something before it ends up being printed on the back of a t-shirt. :-)
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EpicWinApp
To-do list + RPG = clever spin on doing chores. iPhone app coming soon.
