Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design? As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the ‘Ten commandments’.)

Good design:

• Is innovative - The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

• Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

• Is aesthetic - The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

• Makes a product understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.

• Is unobtrusive - Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user's self-expression.

• Is honest - It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

• Is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today's throwaway society.

• Is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

• Is environmentally friendly - Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollutionthroughout the lifecycle of the product.

• Is as little design as possible - Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 

`I don't much care where--' said Alice. 

`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. 

`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation. 

`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'"

On November 2nd in Ottawa, the Embassy of the United States will be presenting a conference on innovation and entrepreneurship, entitled The Canada-U.S. Partnership: Enhancing the Innovation Ecosystem. To mark the event, the Embassy partnered with Canadian policy think-tank Canada 2020 to hold a contest for youth and potential entrepreneurs.

The contest asked for written or video descriptions of product or idea that are not only socially or commercially viable and innovative, but that also enhance or is enhanced by the close Canada–U.S. relationship.

After carefully reviewing the submissions, two winners have been picked:

• TitanFile.com, a new process for sending and receiving confidential documents. The service allows users to transfer and store files over a secure connection, notifying users when their files have been accessed and ensuring that all recipients are verified before they gain access.
• FloorNav3D, an interactive 3D program that allows visitors to "virtually visit" a location or property from their web browsers. The program is scalable, and can be used for anything from product demonstrations, to interactive showrooms, to blue prints and floor plans, to larger projects like golf courses and amusement parks.

Full text: http://canada.usembassy.gov/news-events/2011-news-and-events/october-2011/24-october-2011-innovation-competition-winners-announced.html

The Workers

And the darkness was upon the face of the workers

as they spake unto their Group Head saying:

"It's a crock of shit and it stinketh."

The Group Heads

And the Group Heads went unto their Section Heads and sayeth:
"It's a pail of dung and none may abide by the odor thereof."

The Section Heads 

And the Section Heads went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them:

"It is a container of excrement. And it is very strong. Such that none may abide by it."

The Managers

And the Managers  went unto their Director and sayeth unto him:

"It is a vessel of fertilizer. None may abide it's strenght."

The Director

And the Director went unto Vice President and sayeth unto him:

"It promoteth growth and is very powerful."

The Vice President

And the Vice President went unto the President and sayeth unto him:

"This powerful new Plan will actively promote the growth and effciency of the company."

The Policy

"And the president looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good, and the Plan became Policy."

(From "Repositioning") 

TitanFile had some good coverage in this Weekends Financial Post 

I just received an email message from paypal, subject was "Milan Vrekic, visit PayPal's new Merchant Learning Centre today"

This is a great example of an excellent, actionable message subject so let's look at it:

"Milan Vrekic, visit PayPal's new Merchant Learning Centre today"

It starts with personalization, they get my attention by putting my name first "Milan Vrekic". It is then followed by a call to action "Visit paypal's new merchant learning centre" and finally a time constraint is applied to the end of the subject line "Today!" (might have as well be "now!" or "right away!").

This is a great trick to apply to activation emails. Think "John Doe, activate your accoung and start using AWESOMESERVICE today!"

eMail I received from Dal this morning:

"Your Job Posting ID # 19175 has expired. 

If you have selected to receive your applications through myCareer, login to your account to:

view applicants
repost your job
select interview candidate(s)
request an interview date
Thank you for recruiting at Dalhousie."

Telling me that my "Job posting 19175" has expired tells me nothing. Especially if I have several postings listed.

Acceptable and much more friendly version would be:

"Your Job Posting ID # 19175 (Senior Python Developer Wanted) has expired, with the posting ID linked.

To get the web site up quickly: PHP
To program in expressive and powerful language: Python
To hang around programmers who call themselves rockstars: Ruby
To really learn to program: C
To reach nirvana: Scala
To get depressed: SQL
To devolve: Visual Basic
To get a guaranteed, well-paying job in a cubicle with your own stapler: Java
To do the same thing with acronyms and certifications after your name: C#
To achieve magical sense of childlike wonder that you have hard time differentiating from Megalomania: Objecive C