Flash Catalysts

Flash catalysts

Adobe labs has dropped a gem for designers who have lagged behind in understanding the web (thanks Russ). Truth be told, this is wizard, but still an interesting product to get more copies of Flash sold. So if your a designer looking to improve you skillset and learn a little about Flash (its about time) please look into this.

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcatalyst/


From the looks of it, this is a great bridge tool for creative teams to "motion comp" ideas for tech teams. I will update more information with the beta comes out.

One Laptop One year later.

One Laptop One year later.

After months of launching the one laptop per child initiative, which followed years of Nicolas Negropontes championing his vision of globally connected children, the project turns to mainstream media to help get the message out.

The goal, Mr. Negroponte says, is greatly increasing the donation program, “Give a Laptop. Get a Laptop. Change the World.” For $399, a person can donate an XO laptop and also receive one. Or donors can simply donate $199, to give a child a laptop, at www.amazon.com/xo.

Some of the proposed adds are actually quite clever, but can they spur the masses into giving? The project had mixed results as a tech grass-roots cause so hopefully these spots will push people to contributing despite the fact that consumers are clutching to their wallets right now.

Source: NYTimes

If the end end product can't be Green, the process can be.

If you are involved in design, you need to understand how design the environment. This is not exclusive to your product but also to the lifecycles of your vendors and the supplies that you use. If we are making a site about Green initiatives, shouldn’t we try to implement a cradle to cradle (see McDonough post below)thinking process in how we make our sites?

To develop truly a sustainable product, we must be experts in which design solution is environmentally preferable.

They have listed out some steps for designers looking include sustainable practices

http://designcanchange.org/#act/becoming_sustainable/intro
http://www.pre.nl/ecodesign/ecodesign.htm

Great Resource for in-depth Green for designers.

http://sustainability.aiga.org/

Calculator based on using certain paper stocks
http://www.mohawkpaper.com/resources/resources-calcs/

Tap Water Revolution

"Why would you want to pay more for a product whose quality is worse than the water that flows from the faucet in your home? More than 99.9 percent of Americans live in homes where unlimited amounts of fresh, treated water is available...so turn on the tap! City tap water, from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water."

Check out the site: http://www.tappening.com/

They are doing a great job to promote tap water and reveal the cons of the bottled water industry.

The Corner

Just like most of the country I have been into the popular HBO series "The Wire" for the last few years. Each year focuses on the inner workings of the inner city drug networks, the under funded police force, the politicians trying to appease all sides while serving their own interests and the newspapers who report on it all. For all groups, information is vital to staying ahead or falling behind.

The new site http://nyc.everyblock.com/ would be crucial if I was one of these characters. It is a repository of community information, real estate, city violations, crime, photos and much more. Now I’m able to play in my own “Wire” series and feel as if I know all the dirt on my corner. It is also a great example of repurposing dry statistics in an interesting manner and calling out issues that neighborhoods face.

Cradle to Cradle

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/104

While everyone should read William McDonough's revolutionary book cradle to cradle I have noticed that people dont like to read that often. Watch this 15 minute lecture from TED to get an idea about his thinking.

Social Causes: Kristof

Some great examples can be found in this article about social cause champions who are using the interactive world to advance their ides

"Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways. Bill Drayton, the chief executive of an organization called Ashoka that supports social entrepreneurs, likes to say that such people neither hand out fish nor teach people to fish; their aim is to revolutionize the fishing industry."

Full article
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Friday Night Downfall

For a show to succeed in primetime these days it must have an online franchise that can serve as a way to include viewers and generate new media advertising revenue. The ny times looks at the downfall of NBC's Friday Night Lights in this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20wwln-medium-t.html?ref=magazine

Mission

A space to document the role of the digtial/interactive world in the world of Design Management.