Social Overload
Valeria Maltoni over at Conversation Agent has pulled together a nice summary of the topic that's been on everyone's mind: Are we being overwhelmed by social applications?
"Why do we need so many tools for social interactions? Have we suddenly become incapable of interacting with our friends, neighbors and colleagues?
Have we become so isolated in our daily work life as agents of our destiny that we need to have surrogate environments to hang out?
More importantly -- What about the work it takes to update all these networks? I have a hard enough time updating my LinkedIn! Has anyone thought about integrating?
And now that we have social networks are blogs obsolete?"
Quiet Structure
Andy Rutledge offers up a thoughtful piece of commentary on why he feels the CNN re-design is a success. The post includes visuals and is a must read for designers.
"One of the basic, overriding elements featured in CNN’s new website design and layout is something I like to call quiet structure. Quiet structure is achieved when you de–emphasize the structural elements; the containing boxes, structural lines, bullets, structural color elements, etc… and bring a rhythmical consistency to the layout. The result is that the content becomes more conspicuous and the overall clarity of presentation is greatly enhanced."
Everything in Flux
Kevin McCullagh says that design is changing in a myriad of ways. He's right—and it's not just design.
"The era of product design as practiced by a small band of gurus in Milan, London, Munich and New York is long gone. There are now thousands of competent product designers around the world able to 'give good form.' Design as 'styling' or 'form-giving' has become commoditized, and competing at this level is already a tough low-margin slog."
"I like to hire folks with a broad range of interests and who have switched fields at least once. Just as learning a foreign language gives you the confidence and knowledge to learn others, switching fields gives people the assurance and tools to tackle new problems."
See some related thoughts in Creativity 2.e
