The Blog Studio

I’m going to let you know surprising things in this blog post. Even though I don’t know how to drive, I’m really into cars.  Even though I work as a professional geek my entire education and half my working life have been centered around really, really obscure and nerdy books.

I was watching a Top Gear clip on YouTube, with Michael Gambon (you probably know him as the bootleg Dumbledore from Harry Potter or as Philip Marlow from the BBC Singing Detective). When Clarkson is talking to Gambon, he mentions a Beckett theatre production he was performing in. In this incarnation of the play there is no spoken dialogue. Only a recording of an actress is heard, while a man (Gambon in this version) lays on a bed. There is is a camera above him, that is just focused on his face and throws a tight close up of his face onto a huge screen the audience can see. The camera gets closer and closer to his face as the play progresses. It’s a play called Krapp’s Last Tape, and despite having premiered in 1958, it feels and acts like it’s from the future.

What does this have to do with anything?

Many people argue that Samuel Beckett is the best writer in English to ever wake up pissed at the world. That’s not my opinion (Jane Austen FTW!), but it’s a solid argument I can respect. In the play Gambon is discussing, there are many parallels between what we create on the web and the way the play is stage. No dialogue. A disembodied, recorded, mechanically provided voice. Watching someone on video. Being stuck in front of a camera. Watching a piece of technology while actually being there in person. There are probably dozens of more significant parallels we can draw between this staging of Beckett’s play and the web, social media and technology.

I’m starting to wonder, possibly even be slightly worried about high art and technology not getting frisky enough. If Beckett created this play that is so relevant to how we’re using technology now, what is being created right now that will be relevant 50 years from now? There are certainly plenty of interesting futurists out there, like Ray Kurtzweil and Douglass Rushkoff. Still, I view them as brilliant technical people, not artists in the Beckett sense, though of course, these kinds of lines can get blurry at the edges.

I’m putting this out to you, people of the interwebz, because I sincerely want to know the answers. Who are the tech Beckett’s at work right now that people will be discussing over SkyNet 50 years hence?

We’re just settling in to 2011 here at The Blog Studio, and we’ve been thinking about the New Year for quite some time. We know it’s going to be a big one for us. There is a lot of great stuff shaping up. We’re really excited to get cracking on some huge new projects, where we’ll have the chance to create some truly innovative work.

Starting a New Year is a good time to look forward, but it’s also a great time to look back. What did we learn? What can we change? What can we do better in the future? Personal resolutions are one thing, but we find work, especially tech resolutions much more interesting (We bet you do as well. No one wants to hear about how much less we’re going to drink, eat and smoke in 2011).

We threw this questions out to each other: What changes in your work patterns are you going to bring to bare in 2011?

Lucia - President

In 2011, my goal is to have all documents using consistent and clear naming conventions. Our business is growing and we are adding amazing individuals to The Blog Studio team. My goal is to ensure any new members of our team can easily find any files needed and instantly know what version of the file they have based on the naming structure that file was saved with.

We deal with many files: revisions of logos, designs files, web code, among others. I’ve worked with many companies and find their naming conventions to be unnecessarily long and confusing. The key to useful naming conventions is keeping them simple and clear, even to those outside the organization.

Jess - Design

For my New Year’s Resolution my goal is to: Maintain and organize my reference files a.k.a My Goodies Bag. My Goodies Bag consist of fonts, vectors, images or textures files I use on projects. 

Having a well kept Goodies Folder makes your design life so much easier. Start by dividing and concurring your files into smartly named folders, you can base the names on file type, style, topic or even use. In my Goodies Bag, my most organized folder is my ‘Vectors’. Within that folder I’ve divided my files based on ‘Style’, ‘Patterns’, ‘People’, ‘Borders’, ‘Icons’ and so on. 

Might take some time in sorting out your files and diligence for the upkeep but in the long run you’ll be much happier.

Mike Caputo - Development

I should be doing the backup thing for my personal computer- after I lost my 500gb HD last month… Dropbox works great.

Mark - Managing Director

In 2011 I Will Stop Organizing.

Systems are sexy. If you’re a geek you love systems: systems for organizing your music, backing up your data, navigating the transit system, and making french toast. If you’re a geek you have more systems than you realize and probably spend more time maintaining them than you realize.

I recently did a time audit and was horrified to find I spend a full 30% of my waking hours organizing information.

Systems are great because they let our brains focus on the tasks at hand (I don’t have to worry about where my wallet is because if it’s not in my breast pocket it’s on my dresser) but they’re supposed to help us, not be the reason for our existence.

So in 2011, my resolution is to stop mucking around with systems and reaping their rewards instead. Of course my history of system mucking has created the systems that work for me so I’d like to share what I’ve learned in hopes of sparing you some time.

Web clips are the organizers greatest challenge. The randomness of topics is outstanding (eg. cute kittens to optimizing server farms) and it comes in all formats (text, photos, videos, and links).

There is one golden rule: every piece must have only one home. In other words, if someone asks you to find a note you’d know exactly where it is. The natural corollary from this rule is simpler systems are better (more on this later).

Of all the notebook software I’ve tried, I like Evernote, it’s excellent for several reasons.

Everything goes in: text, images, links, audio clips, PDFs
It goes in anywhere: phone, email, Twitter, Read It Later, a browser plugin
And is everywhere: Windows, Mac, a browser, iPhone, Android, BB, even Palm

Evernote uses tags like Gmail for organizing - very flexible but if you have too many you’ve just created a complicated system inside a simple one, not good. Use ‘Movies’ instead of ‘ActionMovies’ and fight the urge to sub-categorize. Keep it simple and you will use it more.

It helps to think of tags in two groups: (1) the type of content, and (2) the topic. For example, my types include Tips, Tools, Thoughts, and News. My topics include Movies, Motorcycles, Tech, Design, Gaming, and UX/UI. Each note has one type but can have multiple topics. When I add a note I ask myself ‘What type of information is this?’ and ‘What is it about?’

Finally, I have a list of tags with the ‘my’ prefix: myPeopletoMeet, myStories, myGoals, myExperienceIt, and myProjects. That yawning kitten video is funny but not something that’ll change my life. But The Death Race, now that sounds like something to do. TAG: myExperienceIt. I check that tag for planning holidays.

There’s a strange satisfaction to nerding out in systems but they’re ultimately tools and not tasks. So in 2011 I’m going to start using them properly and doing something with that extra 1/3 of my life.

Happy New Year. May you have good health, good friends, and good fortunes.

Mike D - Strategy & Outreach

I will be anal about backing up my files in 2011.

It seems most people become backup fiends after suffering from a major data loss catastrophe. Luckily, I haven’t had that happen in quite some time (the last time I lost a ton of data it was on a 486DX, so that should put this in the correct time frame).

How am I going to accomplish this? I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching on the web, and picking the brains of my friends who do things like run server farms or spend most of their days on #Rails. So I’ve got a plan.

I created a folder that contains all my truly irreplaceable documents. Work documents, blog posts, contracts, proposals, strategy sets, writing, and photos. I have this folder synced to Dropbox, the wonderful cloud storage service app. Whenever a change is made to one of these documents in this folder, it gets updated and pushed to the cloud for safekeeping. I also created an Automator script, which will backup this same folder each day at midnight, by saving it to a USB stick drive, which lives permanently in my USB hub.

Next, I setup Time Machine, the OSX backup program, to do a complete system backup of all my files each day at 3am to an external hard drive. With the Time Machine backup, I’m able to do a full system restore if a real disaster unfolds, or I spill a bottle of wine onto my Macbook.

With this system I have all my one of a kind work stored in 4 places: on the hard drive of my Macbook, on an external hard drive, in the cloud and on removable media, with the stick drive. Unless the entire Eastern Seaboard gets hit with a comet, a la “Thundar The Barbarian” my data is as safe as possible.

Thundar the Barbarian

Feel free to check in with us, and put the screws on a few weeks from now to see how we’re doing. You can always leave us comment and let us know what we can do to make our resolutions stick. Don’t be afraid to call us out, it keeps us all honest. 

Developers. Those mysterious folks hiding behind the dual monitors, drinking Mountain Dew and performing mysterious functions we can’t comprehend.  They’re the backbone of the modern way we do business.  It can be a challenge effectively communicating with developers on a project. Let’s face it, it isn’t easy to manage someone who’s performing a task you may not fully comprehend yourself.  Here’s a few guidelines that will help your projects run smoothly from beginning to end, and make your developers love you.

1. Get it all out in the beginning - Let your developer know the features and functionality you’re looking to create right from the beginning. It’s much easier to set the course correctly in the beginning, than it is to change directions midt-sream. Clarifying objectives in the beginning, allows for planning the big picture, so dropping in new ideas at later stages in the project can really slow things down.
Source

2. Answer the phone - There will be times that your developer needs clarification, or wants to check a specific detail with you. It’s possible they can’t continue working on your project until you provide this information, so being prompt about providing the data they need will keep your project rolling along.

3. It’s a bad idea… - You may have a great idea, that your developer shoots down.  There’s probably a good reason for this. Listen to them, they’re probably saving you from making a big mistake, or helping you avoid a problem down the line. Are developers infallible? No, but if you don’t trust their judgement you should be working with someone else.

4. Fast or Good - Deadlines are always a sticking point. Everyone wants their project completed as quickly as possible. The reality is that good work takes time. It’s important to create a development schedule that is realistic for your needs, and also for the developers schedule. They may have other projects, and every developer hates rushing.
Source

5. Detail problems - At various points during the development cycle, you’ll run into snags, bugs and corrections you need fixed. The key here is to provide as much detail about the problem as you possible can. Don’t just send an email stating, ‘Hey, something is broken on this page.’ Send a clear description of the problem, including links, screenshots, the operating system and browser, and anything else that seems relevant. You can’t provide too much information in this situation. Most importantly, explain how the function should work when it’s operating correctly. Your devs will love you for this.

Clear communication, and speaking the language of development is what will make your project launch on time with minimal hassles. We also hear bribes, including micro-brews, ergonomic chairs and Warcraft gift cards are effective at solving problems. Remember, your developer can only work as hard as you let them. 

You want economic stimulus, we got it right here! For the remainder of the month of November 2008, all new design projects will receive an automatic $1000 discount. Please note: this only applies to new design projects with contracts signed by November 30 2008. So act quickly! Fill out the RFP form, or get in touch

Why on earth are we doing this, you ask? Well, it’s simple really. Adam, Mike, and Lucia are super busy with some top-secret development work, leaving me with a bit of time on my hands. I’m sitting here feeling all guilty while the rest of the team is slaving away, so I thought I’d try a little experiment to see if I can single-handedly book a couple of new projects between now and the end of the month.

To be clear: we’re talking full-on custom design here people. Check out our portfolio of work to see what I’m talking about. We’re also talking full service. Read a few testimonials from past clients to get a sense of the kind of service we’re known for.

This is very much a limited time promo though, as we have a couple of new projects starting up in the new year that will keep us all occupied. So if ever you’ve thought about having a completely customized blog or website built just for your needs, act now, and buy yourself a flat screen tv with your savings!

Just how much traffic of a spike will a redesign cause? Obviously it’s different in every case. Since we relaunched our site last week, we’ve seen traffic jump by an average of 300%. If we were an ad-supported site, that would translate into significant increases to our bottom line.

To be sure, this won’t last forever, but after a traffic spike, the daily average is always higher than pre-spike levels. Statistically speaking, the extra traffic should result in an increase in requests for work. I expect that we’ll recoup our investment in just a few months.

As the blogosphere matures, we’re starting to see a lot of redesign work. Smart folks are realizing that a new design will help give them a competitive edge, and can result in significant traffic increases.

In addition to total visitors, a site that is well designed can increase the average number of pages viewed by each visitor. If your revenue depends on page views, a redesign can make a *huge* positive impact. Hmmm, do I smell a case study?