There where two interesting stories this week about emerging digital markets. First, we heard from Amazon that the sale of ebooks has now surpassed the sale of hardcover books.
Traditional marketing is pretty simple. You ask your graphic designer to create a beautiful presentation of your product. Next, you give a magazine a handful of money to buy exposure to a certain amount of people. That’s it. You create an ad, pay money, and get exposure.
Two days ago I wrote an article about "top-level domains", and I came up with the idea that we should simply eliminate them, and base the internet on digital identities. In short, instead of baekdal.com, my address would simply be 'baekdal'.
To make a great product, you need to pay attention to the little things. You should stay away from "things" that get in the way, but at the same time, embrace those that help you progress.
One of the most important lessons I have learned from making web experiences, is that the little things are much more important than the big stuff. It is the little things that kill you.
One of the main reasons why I don't like open-source is that it tries to compete in an already saturated market. It is like trying to make "an alternative to wine" in the wine districts of southern France. It is not going to work.
One of the big "issues" for a lot of people on the internet is how do I become a success? How do I become the best? How do I beat the competition? But, you know, it is not that hard, unless your definition of success is to be "bigger than Google".
Unless you have been living under a rock (or don't care about Apple), you probably already know about the new MacBook lineup.
Today I received a letter from my insurance company. They asked me if they could get my approval for sharing my insurance data between the companies in the insurance group. This is a quite common request, as it is illegal to share financial data without approval (in this country).
If you give me two glasses of good red wine, I will probably be able to tell them apart - and I will certainly be able to tell which one I like the most. But that doesn't make me a wine connoisseur. While I can tell which one I personally like, I cannot tell you which one is actually the best one. To do that, I need experience.
Back in 2006 I wrote the article "The Battle between Usability and User-Experience", where I illustrated that usability and user experience are two different things. Since then, I think, the problem has grown in proportion.
I often write about efficiency because it is the most important element in creating a great user experience. But efficiency is not just about getting things done, or doing something as fast as possible. Efficiency is really about optimizing the user experience.
There has always been a lot of talk about simplicity. "Make it simple" is a very common approach to creating better products. But, unfortunately a lot of people think that you can achieve simplicity by removing features and creating less. This is rarely the case.
Creating a usable product is one of the most important things you can do. Where would Apple's iPhone be if it wasn't because it was so damn usable? But many products have a kind of hit-and-miss approach. There is no overall plan; usability is done in areas that seem right at any given moment.
The question of online privacy is a very hot topic. Many people have an opinion, many companies talk about it - but few really protect your privacy.
I was recently pointed towards NSyndrome - a viral campaign for the new Nokia N95.
Bloomberg is undoubtedly one of the biggest players in the financial industry offering a wide range of products for people in and around Wall Street. One of their products is the Bloomberg Terminal. It is a 17" dual screen setup that displays the financial information from Bloomberg Profession Services - all in one tightly packed system.
Making usable graphs is not as simple as it sounds because usable graphs are highly rich on detail, while showing a general trend. But, adding too much detail will make it hard to read, and you see the wrong trends if you don't.
Imagine if we lived in a world where Blue was the only color. All our houses would be painted Blue, we would have Blue cars, Blue shoes, (Blue-ray), Blue refrigerators, and Blue sidewalks. Many people even have Blue hair and makeup. Blue is how the world works.
How do you create great products? Those kinds of products people really like to use, that they want other people to use and that has long-term potential?
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