LeviFig

Well, 90% of the time at least.

One of the main corporate values every company should strive for, no matter its size or funding, is brand equity. It usually takes a lot of time and effort, and can be destroyed in a matter of minutes following a drastic bad decision.

To work towards brand equity, a company needs to work with all its employees and instill its own corporate culture. I’m not talking about ping-pong tables or office Rock Band, I’m talking about values. “Customer First” or “Do No Evil” are interesting mottos but end up being a bit too broad and meaning little to nothing in the everyday routine if not backed up by a set of core values that every employee abides by and strives for.

That’s why outsourcing sucks. When outsourcing, companies hire what they call “collaborators” but don’t work with them. They give them work to do and expect the collaborator to get it done and get it done fast. There could be exceptions, but usually there’s no bond between the company and the collaborator beyond a contract: you give me this, I’ll give you that. How can a company instill their own corporate culture on a freelancer or someone else’s employee? Again, I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying it’s extra hard.

Bad examples of outsourcing or third-party services can quickly be found by googling complaints against major companies. Take Amazon or IKEA for example. They provide excellent service and shopping experience. Most complaints I’ve heard of them were because of their deliveries. Which one of those takes care of distribution? Neither. They sub-contract other companies, whose employees care less about the company who contracted their company. They’re working according to their company’s culture and towards its brand equity and not for those who contracted them. And let’s be honest: I’m not sure USPS/UPS/FedEx/etc employees are that worried about their company’s brand equity or culture.

Back in the IT world, why would companies choose outsourcing, something that takes away the main value a company can strive for? Because they want to increase their cash flow and hire more people than they can get work for. I’m not talking about outsourcing someone for 3 or less months either. I’m talking about companies that hire employees to work outsourced exclusively. I went through an experience where one of my managers informally asked me, around an office lunch, if I would be available to work outsourced. I was quite vocally against that prospect. I loved our company’s culture and “startup” environment. I would be working on a big corporation, at their offices and would rarely see my colleagues. Even though my role had changed into something I wasn’t particularly fond of, I preferred working there, with my colleagues, than going by myself, representing my company, into someone else’s office and team. I was still a junior and the burden of carrying my company’s brand equity was too much to bare so we parted our ways. Looking back, that was a good decision for everyone.

I just shared my particular experience to show that this feeling isn’t new and I just now chose to talk about it because of an interesting discussion on Twitter about IKEA. At first, it sounded like a complaint against IKEA. Then, I realized it had been a problem with the delivery, which isn’t handled by IKEA. At the end of the day, one thing is true: IKEA chose their distribution partner and is now suffering from lack of control over its own brand equity because their partner. I’m not saying IKEA should start their own distribution branch, but… should they?

As per usual, feel free to reply to me personally. I don’t think public comments are all too constructive, so if you want to counter my argument (please do!) or simply give me any kind of feedback, feel free to do so by email or hit me up @twitter.

As I was following the live keynote, when I first saw pictures of Steve Jobs holding the “thing” itself, I thought to myself “uh-oh… a giant iPhone?”. And even though I wanted one immediately, it didn’t produce in me the sheer amazement that the iPhone announcement did over 3 years ago (yup, the iPhone UI is still at least 2 years ahead of the competition, like Jobs predicted). I wasn’t sure I needed one, but I sure as heck tweeted my enthusiasm about the new wonder device coming from Cupertino. I couldn’t follow the whole live event, so I had to catch up on all the details later. The UI for Apple’s own apps looked amazing. The ability to run games on such a big screen was awesome. And iWork looks pretty decent. And then I watched the keynote video stream.

All I can say is that this truly is a revolutionary device. Not because of it’s OS’ innovative interface (we’ve all seen that on the iPhone/iPod Touch) or because we saw something we’ve never seen before, but because of the possibilities a multi-touch device with a screen this big brings to developers. After seeing Phil doing a demo of the new iWork apps I was awestruck! They are breath-taking, both in terms of UI (looks) and UX (User Experience). Now, I really wanted one. Just because it’s not a revolutionary UI doesn’t mean it’s not a revolutionary device. And in it’s class, it is truly revolutionary (think tablet PCs, aka “cheap laptops”).

The Nay-sayers

When the iPhone came out I heard one-too-many big shots in the tech industry going “No way I’d buy one”. Those were the ones that rushed to every single touch smartphone device that was announced after the iPhone. What did most of them do after 1-2 years? They bought an iPhone. And even while they’ll complain about some things on it (as do I and most people that truly love the device), they’ve come to understand the reason behind the subject of most of their complaints. When was the last time you understood the reason behind anything Microsoft did that you disliked? Ya, I thought so. So, anyway, I wasn’t surprised to see them all back in full-force, bashing the iPad. All I can say is: I’m sure you’ll get one before 2012… :)

It’s a Big iPhone/iPod Touch

So, you think the iPad is just a big iPhone/iPod… Really? Have you actually seen the keynote video? Have you seen Apple’s own apps, like Calendar, Address Book and the iWork “trio”? There’s no way those apps could’ve been developed for the iPhone screen and UI! Did you notice the drastic reduction in tables in the iPad interface? Everything looks incredibly smoother and more “interactive”. The iPhone had severe constraints in terms of size and that’s okay: it is a phone after all! [I know, I know, much more than that, but stick with me here for a second] The iPad opens incredible opportunities for developers. And this time, they have and SDK from the get-go. I can’t even begin to think what amazing apps will come out soon. Before its launch, I saw a few “leaked” (read: fake) videos. The one that caught my attention because of the high level of details was for an IKEA app. Go watch that video now. I’ll wait. — Pretty amazing huh? :) Yes, I know it was fake, but that seems like possible from a functional standpoint. Besides, we all saw custom interfaces for iPhone apps (think TapBots and their amazing apps). The truth is, the AppStore (and the iBooksStore) will be the killer feature for this device. And once apps that truly use all the potential of this device, a new version will come out that will keep pushing the boundaries. And yes, I know that because I know Apple! :)

Disappointments… Are You Sure?

Of course, no device is ever perfect. But I heard some complaints that I have a hard time agreeing with.

1. No multi-tasking: I do believe multi-tasking is truly overrated. It is probably one of the prime reasons for decrease in productivity. Besides, it’s a device that does productivity really well, but it is also stellar at entertainment. One of my top iPhone feature requests also applies to the iPad: a quick way to return to the previous application like, for example, the Home button double-tap. Because iPhone apps are increasingly more aware of each other and are getting better at saving current state on exit (my favorites on that are Tweetie 2 and Instapaper), the lack of the ability to quickly return to previous app is becoming a major flaw in the iPhone/iPad OS.

2. No Flash: Where’s the problem on that again? Want my opinion? The iPad saves me the extra step of installing Click2Flash! Seriously though, Flash is a handy tool but it can’t become something web developers rely on. There’s little that can only be done in Flash now that HTML5 supports video so well. As to websites that use Flash for their user interface, well… I don’t use them and so shouldn’t you!

3. Big bezel/size: Well, any less and you’d be mis-touching it’s screen, which would be incredibly unpleasant. Besides, if it was any smaller, you wouldn’t have enough screen real estate too build amazing apps like Keynote and Pages! iWork is probably the single most revolutionizing piece of software on the iPad. Don’t get me wrong, Calendar and Address Book are quite amazing, but the User Experience on iWork is something beyond “pretty” and “nice”.

4. Closed filesystem: That’s probably one of the few problems I see with the iPad. Looking at how iWork opens/saves documents reveals its closed nature. You navigate their gallery wherein lie your documents. I’d love to see a “Pro” version of the iPad, with a more OSX-esque filesystem. Maybe not the entire OS, but perhaps an Finder-like app from Apple themselves. On the other hand, 90% of the users are better off not having access to the filesystem, and for the other 10%… I’m sure a jailbreak will come soon enough. :)

5. No Camera: Really?? You see yourself taking pictures with a device the size of a closed Macbook Air? As to the front-facing camera (for iChat Video, for example), I can see a new version coming out in 1-2 years including that. Besides, Apple didn’t even include iChat with this release and I’m sure they’ll release it at some point (along with some sort of multi-tasking, to run iChat Agent in the background and quickly switch to it).

Hate to Love it

Bottom line to the iPad is: it is a revolutionary device. The reason why some didn’t think so was because they expected the same “WOW” factor the iPhone had 3 years ago. I’m pretty sure Apple thought of the iPad during the iPhone development. They probably thought “Hey, this iPhoneOS is really awesome and this multi-touch is terrific. Too bad we can’t build 10in iPhones. Ya, that’d be awkward… Oh, wait!”. I love reading on my iPhone, mainly blog posts and articles. I can’t see myself reading a book on it. I bought “Classics” when it came out and I don’t think I got past page 4-5 on any of the books there, and I love its gorgeous interface (so did Apple!). The idea of reading such short blurbs of text per screen is annoying and reading book becomes a daunting task that way. I’m still the guy with a couple of notebooks, one of them for taking notes while I read a book… on paper! I love books: their smell, their touch, the experience of reading them on a coffee shop, etc… But because of my traveling lately, I’ve suffered from having some books in one place, some books with me, some books in other places and it sucks. Not to mention how expensive it becomes when moving to a new country: books are heavy and airlines don’t like that!

Buy a paper book, get the e-book version for (almost) free!

The iPad opens a new possibility for authors and publishers. It allows them to include color pictures, videos, graphs, links, etc right on their books. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be to have an animated sequence at a chapter cover page, or a small screencast on a technical book. Can you think “live links”? Ability to link to webapps or videos or code that can be updated if the need ever comes? Can you think of “in-book purchases”, where you can buy a new revised print/edition for a discounted price? The possibilities are now wide open. I bet Apple will do to books what it did to music: standardize. Book prices will become more standard (not the cheapest) and small publishers and authors will have a new audience and way to reach potential buyers. Anyone who’s gone through the process of self-publishing can probably attest for that better than I, but I’ve heard it’s not easy, nor the price/quality—in terms of the actual print, not the content—is as good. If you’ve bought 37signals “Getting Real”, you know what I mean (awesome book, highly recommended).

But I still love the paper…

Well, don’t tell the tree-huggers that, but I know what you mean. Like I said before, the feel of reading a paper book is incomparable to any other reading experience… now! We might see that change in the future, and even though I’m a bit conservative on that, I can’t deny that it will be the future (and no, it wasn’t Apple who started it).

A few questions remain…

I still have a few questions about the iPad though. Like:

• Will Safari have a limitation in terms of number of tabs like its iPhone counterpart? Will it “blank” my other tabs all the time, forcing a reload on tab switch?
• Will I be able to buy an iPhone app and have access to iPad optimizations once I install it on the iPad?
• Will iPad apps be able to include an iPhone-optimized version in them? Or will I have to buy the same app twice?
• Will developers be able to provide in-app purchases for optimized version of their existing apps? What about the other way around—iPad apps with optimized iPhone versions?

But the biggest one in my mind is: “How soon will the jailbreak be released?” (along with “Will Apple mind that too much?”).

Also, was this what Apple had in mind when they created iWork.com? Maybe that will become a way to share documents between devices, like the iPad and a Mac… ;)

Final Remarks

In my opinion, this is a transition device. Apple is once again writing history. Brace yourselves as this is the path that personal computing will be taking. No, laptops and desktops won’t be going away soon (if ever), but personal computing is way more than that. The iPhone revolutionized the personal communications device segment. The iPad will do so for the personal productivity and entertainment segment.

Also, these are my initial thoughts and I don’t presume I’m right and everyone is wrong. I’m not a hypocrite and I’ll be vocal about what I think. But I don’t mind being proven wrong or disagreed with. You can contact me by email (check my homepage for that) or @levifig on Twitter. :)

You had a great idea. You try designing it. You’re frustrated. You give up.

10% inspiration

I tend to skip the initial thought process and attempt to jump straight into the design part. I’m not talking about those creative bursts where you open your favorite graphic editor and in a few minutes you come out with something really cool. I don’t know about you, but those bursts usually happen with something I don’t need and end up in my “playground” folder for some laughs a few years later.

Too often, I open Fireworks (74.38% of you will do so with Photoshop) and start trying to come up with a design directly from an idea in my head. Sometimes it works out all right, sometimes I waste a few hours before giving up and trying something else. I can’t help but think that I’ve thrown away more than a few great ideas because of that. Now, this tends to happen more often when doing graphic design (e.g. logo, stationery, etc) but it can happen when designing a layout for a website. This happens way more often when designing for a personal or new project than when redesigning or working for a client with very tight specifications. This brings me to the probable cause.

Refueling the brain

I’ve been reading a lot more lately. I’ve always enjoyed reading as a kid, but the advent of the computer+internet caused me to lose that, replacing it with “text scanning” and “topical reading.” I won’t go into that right now, but going back to reading really helped broaden my horizons. I’ve been reading about how our brain works—how we think—and also about design and design theory. One of the things that all those books had in common was what I’ll call “the call for thinkers.” We need to think about design just as much as we think when we’re decorating a house. Unless you dislike your house or have an absolute lack of taste, you will think about your decisions when buying furniture and decoration for your house. Moreover, you enjoy looking and being at well decorated house (even if someone else did it). So, why don’t we think about design the same way?

I remember reading somewhere how we need constraints when designing. The more constraints the better. When that one great idea comes to your head—your shining moment—you probably didn’t have any specifications or constraints. It could be a great idea. It can have an amazing potential, but if you try designing that spark before you develop it into a full-blown flame, you run the risk of losing it.

90% perspiration

Mark Boulton, in his “Designing for the Web” book (amazing read) writes about types of briefs. Along with the Client Brief, the Technical Brief and the Creative Brief, there’s the Idea Brief, which is supposed to be “short, concise and describe the project aims.”

An Idea Brief is sometimes the most difficult to write. It needs to be short, concise and open. Good starting points for Idea Briefs are:

• “How to…”
• “We want to…”
• “How do we…”

They start the sentence off in the right way — by asking a question. It’s the designer’s job to come up with the answer.

If you’re anything like me, this is not easy. For me, an idea is not a good enough until I can visualize a great design/layout for it. I guess I need to *see* it to *believe* it. But this is keeping me from releasing some good ideas, always waiting for that “great” design. I’m not talking about when you’re working on a design of someone else’s idea, that’s different. But get your idea rolling, learn programming and start building it.

The hard way

You might be reading this and thinking: “This is nonsense” or “I’m not a coder, I’m a designer”. Let me tell you something I’ve been slowly realizing (too slow, perhaps): designing is not about the looks. Got that? Designing is about the flow, it’s about the color balance, the grid, the whitespace. It’s about the interaction, the experience. So think before you design. I’ve had some great ideas that I left to die simply because I worried too much about the looks way too soon. Don’t fall into the same mistakes I have. This idea is neither new nor revolutionary, but I keep making the same mistake over and over again. So maybe this is a selfish article, but please:

Think first; build second. Design later.

PS: If you wish to let me know what you think about this article, please do so by replying to this tweet. Thank you.

Last year, in January (2009) I decided to put forth what I codenamed “Operation: Focus”. Basically, I decided to focus my attention in the few areas I wish to dedicate more time. Also meant toning down the attention I gave some of my chronic distractions.

This was 2009…

Here’s a quick run-down of my draft list I wrote back then and dug out of my Moleskine today (which I didn’t number/prioritize back then, but it will help me reference items later in this post):

1. Take more notes
2. Read more (and better)
3. Focus RSS on blogs with quality articles (drop news-only RSS feeds)
4. Use Twitter + 3-4 main sites for news
5. Budget + Save money
6. Stick to budget
7. New blog design/orientation (no comments)
8. Clean OSX install
9. Less app tryout
10. Better cataloguing of inspiration sources (eg. LittleSnapper)
11. Learn Rails
12. Release 1-2 projects to the public (non-work)
13. Incorporate version control into normal workflow
14. Commit to using a GTD™ app *religiously*
15. Study more guitar
16. Do more music production and composing/arranging
17. *WRITE MORE*
18. Enjoy the things of life more (eg. ice cream, coffee, time with people, etc…)

I definitely did a few of those. #3 and #4 were really taken from theory into practice without much effort; I did read more and better (#2); I started taking more notes than ever before, especially while reading books (#1); I did 2 clean OSX installs (once against my will—blame Bootcamp and having to do a stupid defrag to resize my partition to install it—#8); I started using Rails and even developed half an app totally on it (#11).

I mostly failed at remaining constant at others. I started a new blog design, but haven’t finished it (I hope to release in Q1 2010) (#7), I began cleaning my “Applications” folder and kept it somewhat clean (including moving all my apps to ~/Applications) but failed at not installing and trying out several random apps throughout the year (that is an old addiction of mine, along with signing up for every beta program under the sun—even though I am a good beta tester, that provides plenty of feedback); I started cataloguing inspiration sources and mostly kept it going, but I still have room for improvement there (#10); I still need to work on integrating version control into more projects and using it right (according to the “commit often” philosophy, #13); I bought and began using Things.app but still have a long way to go before I totally consider myself effective at it, but I owe that to my lack of “action” thus not needing much “action tracking” (basic premise of any GTD™ system, #14); I did start enjoying the little things of life more but failed to keep that mindset throughout the year… Sad… and something to work on in 2010, once again. :)

I totally failed at studying more guitar and doing more music production. I bought a guitar and a firewire audio interface early on and was committed to using them a lot, but other priorities and sheer laziness most of the time kept me from doing something I love and I’m good at… I can hear the voices of some teachers/mentors I had, mad at me for wasting talent with laziness. :( (#15 & #16).

As to writing more (which I emphasized with capital letters and asterisks), I consider it failed as well. Because I feel the need to make emends with my writing, I decided to join the Project52, a challenge to write (at least) a full blog post once a week (52 weeks) throughout 2010. Hopefully, having the added pressure of a deadline and timeframe will help me be a bit more conscious of writing.

Looking back…

Overall, looking back through my 2009, I think I managed to “focus” things a bit. I reckon I still have a long way to go but, interestingly, that desire for focus ended up stirring in me something else: ideas. For me personally, 2009 was the year of ideas: a lot of bad ones, a few good ones and a couple of really interesting ones.

Here’s to 2010!

I always struggled with the “action” part of any idea. I love having the idea(s) and working it into something feasible (and possibly profitable), but I always struggled either when starting or later on when the hurdles got bigger and bigger. I’ll call that the “blank page syndrome”. It happens to writers, developers, designers, and all sorts of creative people. It’s when you’re facing a blank page and can’t get around expressing your ideas in words, code, design, etc… Writers call it “Writer’s Block” but those same symptoms can be seen in all sorts of development and creative jobs as well. I need to address that by planning better and being more disciplined with my time. I think that in the year I turn 28 (good grief!) I am supposed to finally dump some of that “adolescent” remnant in me and move full-fledgedly into adulthood.

I love you, baby…

I couldn’t wrap up 2009 without mentioning that 2009 was definitely the perfect year in my love life. After 2 years, with lots of ups and downs (mostly downs TBH), I started dating the girl who I expect to spend the rest of my life with. Being currently in Portugal (2010 should see me back in the US, or so I hope) and her in the US, things weren’t easy (we weren’t together for most of the year) but those things definitely help solidify true love, getting past the initial feelings and growing in commitment and true love.

Cheers, Folks

Okay. So that was 2009 and a few quick thoughts of what will continue in 2010. Thank you for reading all this way and so here’s a toast to a great 2010 for you, both personally and professionally.

And yes, I’m code-naming 2010 “Operation: Action”. :)

PS: If you plan on providing me some (appreciated!) feedback to this post, please do so here (Twitter account needed… but you should have one anyway). Thank you.