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david currently keynoting railsconf europe in berlin (notes from his keynote). jasonkeynoting the mima 2007 summit in minneapolis, mn on october 3rd. storytelling at the in providence, ri on oct 10-11. ryanspeaking at the future of web design conference in nyc on nov 7. want us to speak at your event?we’re available to speak at your event, workshop, or conference. topics include getting real, conceptual interface design, rails/programming, collaboration strategies, and entrepreneurship. just get in touch by emailing email [at] 37signals.com with details. thanks.
why do so many companies selling cables show you this bird’s eye view…
...when what you really want is this view of the ends:
it’s not the cable that people care about. it’s the plug. the real question that needs to be answered: “will this fit where i need it to fit?” makes you wonder how often web apps miss the point and show people the cable instead of the plug: showing a list of features when people want benefits. telling facts when people want stories. showing screenshots when people want explanations. related: we were recently discussing common craft’s neat video tutorials that explain complicated concepts in “plain english.” lots of sites try (and fail) to clearly explain social bookmarking or rss. but common craft nails it. the videos aren’t fancy. they’re not techy. they don’t show off interface widgets. but they succeed where it counts: they show how these tools fit into people’s lives. they show the plug, not the cable. common craft explains wikis.
why do so many companies selling cables show you this bird’s eye view…
...when what you really want is this view of the ends:
it’s not the cable that people care about. it’s the plug. the real question that needs to be answered: “will this fit where i need it to fit?” makes you wonder how often web apps miss the point and show people the cable instead of the plug: showing a list of features when people want benefits. telling facts when people want stories. showing screenshots when people want explanations. related: we were recently discussing common craft’s neat video tutorials that explain complicated concepts in “plain english.” lots of sites try (and fail) to clearly explain social bookmarking or rss. but common craft nails it. the videos aren’t fancy. they’re not techy. they don’t show off interface widgets. but they succeed where it counts: they show how these tools fit into people’s lives. they show the plug, not the cable. common craft explains wikis. |
