jon crowley (.ca)

I’ve recently started using an Android phone (Nexus 4) for the first time in more than a year. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is how notifications are addressed.

iOS treats notifications with urgency. This can be subtle urgency (a bar at the top of the screen) or disruptive urgency (flashing the screen on from sleep mode to show you the update). This motivates a pattern of responsiveness. An iOS notification wants you aware of it now, and wants you to decide if you’ll address it.

Android notifications are much less interruptive. They live on the top status bar, changing nothing about the UX when triggered. The sleep mode notification is a small light, flashing almost lazily. The notification menu offers detail and control, but the overall feeling is one of being aware of what has happened, more than being aware of what is happening in the moment.

As a continuous partial attention sufferer, I’ve noticed the switch to Android has improved my focus, but ruined my responsiveness. I have to check to be aware, rather than being aware by default.

Given these systems are intended to offer the same function, and use the same basic elements, I find the differences fascinating.

Meme standards being applied to print advertising. Everything is digital these days.

Technology doesn’t make me farther away from things. It makes me closer to things. 

The issue, however, is that it can make me closer to things that aren’t important, than I am to the people who are sitting next to me. That’s not really a failing of technology, but instead a failing of my ability to prioritize my attention and focus properly.

I’ve been thinking about this a fair bit today, as Paul Miller of the Verge starts his journey back into the internet, after a voluntary year of disconnection.

Something I consider a lot, as a person in the marketing/communications space, is the paralysis of choice. The need to strongly differentiate between everything else in a product category, so when someone’s standing in an aisle or scrolling through Amazon, they have a reason to pick you.

This is the issue most people have with smartphones and social media - even in person, you are competing for someone’s attention with the sum total of human knowledge, between 2 and 5 networks comprising the majority of social connections they have, and probably a book, a dozen saved articles, personal and professional email, and everything else.

It’s both not shocking at all that the phone offers a seductive trap for people who are generally curious, and totally shocking that we’re all taking it so personally. 

When you’re with someone, and they look at their phone, they aren’t choosing another person over you for 30 seconds, even though it feels like it. They’re choosing all of the other people, and things, and stories, over you. And that they come back, and feel guilty about it, is stunning.

Going all the way back to 2009, Mike Arauz made an important point: your competition is everything on the internet. He was talking about brands, and how they are competing for the attention of youth on the internet. But the game has changed. This is now true for human interaction.

You, as an individual person, are competing for the attention of other individual people, with the sum total of collected human knowledge and attention. You. Right now. If they check an email, or open a notification, they are essentially stating that they aren’t reasonably sure that you are the most interesting thing in the world, at that moment.

Think of the inverse. When someone connects with just you, and leaves the phone in a pocket, or face down, or even leaves the text message window open and converses is real time with just you, ignoring all other possibilities…

They are saying you are the most important, most interesting, thing on the planet.

From a professional perspective, I would strongly suggest sending someone that message, as often as you can.

From a personal perspective, I hope you’ve found a group of most important things on the planet, and that you treat them as such on a regular basis.

Watching The Verge’s ‘Top Shelf’.

I’m truly amazed at how often I end up watching Verge content on my tv. They’ve done a best in class job of creating video content, expanding the definition of a news site.

Because it isn’t a site, really. It’s a network. The groundbreaking thing is that Vox Media treats it like one.

(I’m delighted at how awkward this picture is.)

Four Pins does a great job demonstrating how to do a native advertising / sponsored content disclaimer, while keeping a style and attitude that reflects the outlet and audience.

And really, someone does need to pay to keep the lights on.

adteachings:

A work of pure naughty genius.

I’m sure they’ll get complaints, but I’ll bet no one can wipe the message from their memory.

Tee hee.

Client: Kmart
VP, Marketing Planning: Andrew Stein
VP, Creative: Mark Andeer
VP, Chief Digital Marketing Officer: Bill Kiss

Agency: Draftfcb
Chief Creative Officer: Todd Tilford
EVP Executive Creative Director: Jon Flannery
SVP Creative Director: Howie Ronay
VP Creative Director, Copywriter: Sean Burns
Agency Producer: Chris Bing

Production Company: Bob Industries
Executive Producers: TK Knowles, John O’Grady, Chuck Ryant
Producer: Brian Etting
Director: Zach Math

Maturity is overrated.

Libraries are important. There’s specific irony in me saying this, as I haven’t had a functional library card in about 5 years, and I haven’t borrowed anything from a library myself in about 4. But I remember what having a local library meant to me when I was younger, and I know what a library would mean to me now, if it was designed in a way that let me learn how I see fit. So, this is how I would design a 2013 library.

I’d keep the shelves and stacks, and keep a modified version of the dewer decimal - based lookup system that has been a constant in my life. I’d also duplicate it. A physical collection of key works and classics would be available on the lower floors, but there would also be an expanded digital selection above - imagine a selection of eReaders organized in a library style shelf, but instead of a book, you would pick up a device pre loaded with the entire history of an author. Or with a curated selection of an entire genre or knowledge area. Instead of loose references, links would drive you to a map of where to find the next volume.

Checkout would be automatic for physical books, and members could check out digital documents in an eReader (to be picked up, pre-loaded with your selected material, at the front desk) that would hold a 1-month charge. If the battery dies, you bring it back - setting a tighter timeline feels unnecessary, and ignores the truth - people will pirate or buy the stuff they aren’t willing to let go of.

Library cards would be RFID based, if only to ensure that no one can access the higher levels without a passcard, and to let library employees know when the guy who has a dozen eReaders currently checked out has stopped by. At a certain point, losses will happen, With cheaper eReaders clocking in at prices not too different from a large, high quality hardcover, I wouldn’t consider this a priority.

Connectivity would be a must, but I’d recommend it be limited to specific work stations, and to a wifi network that (outside) mobile devices could connect to. Libraries are, in part, about information in an isolated context. If people just wanted the internet, they’d stay home.

I’d dedicate an entire floor to periodicals - either print or entire archives dumped onto full colour tablets, or desk bound touch screens. Paper is important, though - the more physical copies the better, with digital stepping in to supply an option for rare, or fragile documents.

I’d have a ‘collaboration floor’, probably either at the very bottom, or very top, of the building. Heavily soundproofed, with enough large tables, whiteboards, and vending machines filled with markers, notebooks, post-its, etc. If a city was looking for a place to put entrepreneurs-in-residence, or mentors, this would be a logical start.

And plugs. Plugs everywhere, in the top of desks, in the side of lounge chairs, not just against walls or in one corner.

A library used to be a repository of knowledge - then your cellphone became a repository of knowledge. I’d argue the next step is to make them a place of learning and collaboration, of depth rather than breadth, and of creation rather than consumption.

Or maybe It’s been too long since I was in a library.

popculturebrain:

“Cinemoasic” Poster: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ | CBM

This GIF set was officially released by the studio as a poster.

I love watching the world change.

This, by the way, is the kind of digital work that more agencies and brand should be looking for: something that feels like art, that serves a purpose, and that doesn’t just copy an offline medium, but extends it.

Gif posters, cinemagraphs, personalization, these are ideas that let digital be more about art, and less about optimization. I feel like we, as an industry, have leaned too far in one direction for too long.

Stuff like this is a good first step.

I apologize in advance - but I’m going to talk about the cloud.

I’m starting to get worried about the number of platforms I’m beholden to - my only solace comes from the fact that they are mostly independent platforms, so losing any singular one, won’t cost me everything.

The exceptions to this rule: Google, and Apple.

I rely on Google for: email, web software, search, browser, syncing across devices, and sporadically, cloud storage and mobile OS.

I rely on Apple for: (nearly all) hardware, desktop OS, mobile OS, mobile software, desktop software, cloud storage / sync (iCloud), music (iTunes) home entertainment (apple TV, iTunes again) and content (App Store, iTunes) across all platforms.

When I feel uncomfortable with Google, it’s because of the depth of information that Google has on me, just from my search history and email.

When I feel uncomfortable with Apple, it’s because of lock-in: nearly all of my devices and software is Apple, and I rely on it heavily. Leaving would cost me thousands upon thousands in content, software, and charger plugs (seriously, I have dozens).

So, I’m trying to find independent solutions for more of my digital life, shifting to a model based on Jamaica’s motto: out of many, one people. Instead of buying in fully to any ecosystem, I’d rather create my own, out of multiple services. To do anything else makes you a pawn in someone else’s turf war.

(Ironically, the tools I use currently more or less insist on my being on either Android or iOS - they only (meaningful) players in mobile.)

This is why I’m interested in services like App.net, Dropbox and Rdio. Services that 1) are independent from OS overlords and ecosystems like Apple and Google, 2) charge money from the outset, so I can make the assumption they will be around for a while, and 3) either invest in being platform agnostic, or encourage independent devs to invest in making them platform agnostic.

I’m thinking about this today, because Apple has apparently banned an issue of the comic Saga, which I read through the Comixology iOS app, from being sold via the App Store. While there are several ways around this (buy it from comixology.com and download, buy it in store, buy a PDF from the publisher, etc), the real issue from my perspective is that it makes it clear we’re all computing in benevolent dictatorships. And that they are less benevolent than we thought.

So, my advice is to take a good look at what you’re buying into, when it comes to platforms. Aim for resilience when it comes to picking services, rather than just convenience or cheapness.

Make your own ecosystem. All the pieces are there.

(And seriously - if you see me, remind me to stop using iBooks to buy reading material.)

EDIT: Comixology has claimed responsibility for Saga #12 not being available in the iOS app store, and cleared apple of all responsibility. My point still stands

laughingsquid:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Post Sign at Concert Asking Fans to Put Away Phones & Cameras During Show

Dear everyone cheering at this (especially musicians), I have a short reminder for you.

When I was a teenager, people bought CDs. Lots of them. People bought CDs and listened to them at home, in a discman, whatever. And then, mp3s, and winamp, and then napster became popular.

I didn’t stop buying CDs, though. I would download music, but getting a whole album took FOREVER. It was slow, and painful, and a good way to get a couple of singles, but not a record.

Then a funny thing happened. CDs started to intentionally stop working, when I put them in a computer. CDs started to have several warnings in them, regarding piracy. CDs became user hostile. 

I didn’t stop buying CDs because of mp3s. I stopped buying CDs because artists and labels decided they were in charge of how I could enjoy their art, after I paid for it.

That’s what this is, or at least is the first step towards. This is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs telling people who paid to see them, how they may and may not enjoy the show. And while people staring at a glowing rectangle during a concert can be frustrating, no one I know has stopped going to shows because of it. 

Shit like this, though? That’s the reason I stopped buying CDs more than a decade ago.

Facebook Home is your protection against FOMO, according to this new commercial.

FOMO (fear of missing out) is arguably the predominant driver of social media usage, and a common response to social media sharing - there is now a machine in your pocket, filled with carefully curated streams, all of which are not-so-secretly aiming to make you feel like you should have been there, that the user who posted that picture of video is leading a better life than you.

The ad above, which drops other people’s lives into the protagonists, is a great example of an unfulfilled promise - Home won’t help you avoid missing out, it’ll just make it easier for you to find new things to feel upset about missing.

Home is a brilliant tactical move, taking my assumptions about Facebook’s mobile strategy and proving I was thinking far, far too small. Facebook isn’t just leveraging it’s network effects to make Facebook apps a simpler solution than the ones that come with your smartphone. Facebook has created the smartphone equivalent of a kit car - it looks so much like a facebook phone, but it still runs on the low end unleaded Android that powers the majority of smartphones.

Facebook’s real promise with Home? They’re making social observation a truly passive activity - you don’t need to open an app, you don’t even need to unlock your phone. You are on the receiving end of an ongoing stream of ‘What’s Up?’, whether you specifically desire it, or not.

Facebook just unveiled the smartphone equivalent of leaving a show on in the background while you work. I’m interested to see what that turns into, once it’s in the hands of the public.

(And that’s okay.)

Back in fall, I wrote a short presentation that explains my stance on brands, content, marketing, and social media. I’m reposting it now, because I’m considering expanding it into a short eBook.

Need a Job? Invent It - NYTimes.com

Education is in such dire need of disruption that it terrifies me. What scares me the most, is that I had this education, but only because the public school system decided I was ‘smart’ enough.

After a round of standardized testing, a month or so of classes focused on problem solving skills, and a one-on-one session with a developmental psychologist, I was identified as ‘gifted’ (seriously, this is the word they used) and invited to basically take an advanced track of the public education system from grade 4 until grade 12. Other than gym, art and computers (which had no gifted option) and math (which I have always been terrible at) I didn’t take a ‘normal’ course until my final year of high school.

The main differences between gifted classes and the regular stream was that way less time was spent ‘teaching’ (in terms of lectures and repetition), and much more time was spent ‘learning’ (independent study, group work, etc). Much of the time, I was able to define my own projects, determine my own interests, and back myself into corners regarding deadlines. This was invaluable by the time I got to university, when NO ONE CARED about whether or not I knew how to teach myself new subjects.

It’s disturbing, though, that this experience of being taught how to learn on my own, rather than being taught a set range of knowledge, was essentially limited to people who the school board were fairly sure would already ace the tests that were coming up.

Most of the knowledge I have learned in school was biased, inaccurate, limited, misleading, or irrelevant by the time I turned 25. The skills I was taught regarding self-determination, identifying a problem, doing meaningful research, and synthesizing new information quickly and impactfully, create far more value in my life than mere knowledge ever could, and I say that as a knowledge worker.

Life lessons for digital natives.

Strategy: conducting research and experiments to determine what the parameters should be, in solving a problem.

Creative: experimenting and defining the ideal way to satisfy, and if possible exceed the assumed potential result of, those parameters.

Production: experimentation and creation of an object based on, and if possible exceeding the value of, that ideal creative solution.

Questions / arguments / important missing elements?

This is also how I think about publishing ideas and arguments, rather than just leaving them in a notebook. An audience will make you work harder than a moleskine does.

(Great illustration from Bloomberg Businessweek’s article on next-gen interfaces.)

Google Glass is definitively the product launch to watch this year, but not because its going to be a success. Rather, watching markets and individuals react to this product is going to be a huge driver of insight into the acceptability of our boundary-pushing in the field of human computer interaction.

The idea of taking interface experiments out of the lab, office, or even living room, and putting them into constant use, is intriguing but also disconcerting.

The standardization of the touchscreen is just step one. It’s interesting to consider how social responses to these technologies is going to shape the next iterations.

thisistheverge:

MakerBot announces 3D ‘Digitizer’ prototype to scan your world, then print it out

MakerBot founder Bre Pettis today announced the Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner prototype it intends to sell alongside its Replicator 3D printers. The scanner uses a combination of cameras and lasers to scan an object and create a digital file that can then be printed using one of MakerBot’s replicators. The company says you won’t need any experience with design or 3D modeling software to make use of the scanner, and wants to see it used by businesses, educational facilities, and in the home.

This is much, much bigger news than anything else that has happened in relation to 3D printing.

This is replicator 1.0 - 3D photocopying, if you will. Definitely something to keep an eye on.

Every start up on the planet is being told, and telling people, that the key to success is releasing a minimum viable product, seeing how people respond, and innovating over time. I’m beginning to wonder if this approach is leading to iteration fatigue - a feeling of irritation at the assumption you will try something every six months, for three years, until it becomes useful.

The best example of this is Path. When Path 1.0 launched, I tried it for a short period of time, and eventually gave up. I loved the vision (a private social network), but felt the execution was too limiting. Essentially it wasn’t enough of a tool to really develop a community around.

Down the road, when Path 2.0 shipped, I downloaded it again. It was still a great concept, and now had significantly more functionality, but still lacked a community. Given I know a literal pile of early adopters, I had to wonder how many people tried it in 1.0 form, and never came back. Despite having half my local start up scene in my Path friends, my feed was essentially auto-updates from Nike+, and Foursquare posts from two friends. I stopped using Path again.

Path 3.0 launched recently. I’ve decided not to care, mostly because there’s not a good enough reason. Path showed promise since the initial release, but the slow growth into a full-featured tool has been too slow, and I’ve lost interest in testing an immature platform for the sake of testing an immature platform.

I see businesses do this all the time. Ship something early, see how people respond, and then iterate. It’s beautiful in practice, and can work if you’re shipping something that people crave on an intrinsic level, something that truly fills an unmet need. 

But the increasing popularity of this approach leads to people shipping unfinished crap.

As a business, you may learn a lot from releasing  something as early as possible and getting people to play with it. As a brand, what you’re doing is building an impression of incompleteness from day one.

Viable isn’t good enough, especially if your brand is important to you. When the best companies say MVP, what they mean in Minimal Features, Best Execution. But shipping something incomplete is the same as shipping something broken. And when every company is doing this, even the hardcore early adopters lapse into iteration fatigue. 

awelltraveledwoman:

We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we’re aproaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter:
‘Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended’ They pay for their order, take the two and leave.

I ask my friend: “What are those ‘suspended’ coffees?”
My friend: “Wait for it and you will see.”

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers - three for them and four ‘suspended’. While I still wonder what’s the deal with those ‘suspended’ coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square infront of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in throught the door and kindly asks
‘Do you have a suspended coffee ?’

It’s simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm bevarage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwitch or a whole meal.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such cafés or even grocery stores in every town where the less fortunate will find hope and support ? If you own a business why don’t you offer it to your clients… I am sure many of them will like it.

Source : [x]

Oh my. This is so good.

Karmic rebalancing is a nice social meme.

soupsoup:

“You go to a cafe and you bring a copy of Sartre and Le Monde. There’s a cute dog under the table next to you. So after you read the news and the philosophy, you may pet the dog, flirt with someone at another table, and talk about some trivial gossip. All these things are part of being human. You don’t become stupid when you turn away from the philosophy and pet the dog. People are complex and multifaceted. When you talk to people who say it dumbs down the audience to have cute animals, the truth is nobody has a choice: because Facebook and Twitter are perfect Paris cafes.” - Jonah Peretti

The more Jonah Peretti talks, the more I like Buzzfeed.

evangotlib:

joncrowley:

I start my day with a dark roast and the dark knight. Also about 30 browser tabs.

Can someone please tell me where to get this mug NOW.

KTHANKSBYE.

The mug is available at DieselSweeties.com. I have two.

I start my day with a dark roast and the dark knight. Also about 30 browser tabs.

App Switcher Concept: Multitasking Redesign for iOS

austinkleon:

Just tossing this out there.

1, 2 and 3 are the keys to my life.

But seriously: Do what you are good at, you’ll love doing it every day more than you will being mediocre at something in which you cannot tolerate mediocrity.

Friendly Thai.

vasta:

Amazing art installation by Tomás Saraceno. (via)

this is so beautiful.

ryanpanos:

JAY SHELL’S “THE RAP QUOTES” via Juxtapoz

Multidisciplinary artist, Jay Shells, has recently been creating legitimate looking signs containing rap quotes that reference specific locations in New York. After compiling over 30 signs, Shells set out installing these signs in the locations mentioned in the quotes. The artist has quoted many well-known rappers such as Jay Z, Mos Def, Kanye West, Gza, Nas, Jeru the Damaja, DJ Premier, and many more. Check out others via The Rap Quotes.

Culture in context.

Quick, someone try to argue this would be better in augmented reality.

Tokidoki desk army are getting their own space. Batman and Munny had to move.

3liza:

i think we all learned a valuable lesson today, and that is: if you aren’t yelling at a racist so hard that he literally starts crying in public, you can yell harder

Like every time before, a racist in a uniform is weak and a coward.

I’d love to live in a world where we stop pretending outing someone as racist is a worse thing than being racist.

Is Bowes calling my choice of whiskey ‘protestant swill’.

Amazing. I need to get back to NYC.

This week’s holy trinity. Islay scotch, kentucky bourbon and irish whiskey.

Apparently for comics fans, the tumblr ask box is the new hybrid guidance counselor / google search.

Growing Up: Are Toronto’s new condos built to last? | Toronto Star

The condo market in my city.

Lazy Sunday with water damaged businessweek.

buzzfeed:

Ugh, I hate how much I like them. 

I feel like this show screwed up too many people I know. You probably shouldn’t fall in love forever at age 8.

True.

kristaferanka:

Hisako Ichiki!

loooooove this girl. Definitely one of my favourite things coming out of Whedon’s and Cassaday’s Astonishing X-men run.

She is easily up there in my favourite X-men of all time. Can’t believe ive never drawn her before.

Sort of a companion to Jake Wyatt’s Armor piece. I loved his so much, and the idea, I was really glad when this was suggested to me. 

This also marks the first time ive ever drawn an Eva. 

Gonna definitely be doing more with her.

How could I not love this character. Her powers involve Pink and Glowing. its like a dream to me. 

Armor is one of my favourite X-characters, and also has the worst damn codename.

Working from home due to sinus nightmares.

This kitchen table set up makes me think I read too many design magazines.