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UIE, SXSW recaps and a new site coming soon

Posted by D. Keith Robinson in Thinking on April 2, 2008 | 0 Comments

For those looking at the Blue Flavor blog for the event recaps and samples I promised, first of all I want to say I’m sorry for being late! I’ll probably get to them soon, but we’ve really got a whole lot going on right now and not near enough time to tackle everything.

(If you follow me at all you can probably see it’s been a roller coaster the last few weeks!)

For those of you just waiting on a new post, I’m sorry about that two, but I think both of you will live.

One of the main things we’re trying to finish up is a new site. My goal is to get that up next week and as soon as we’ve done that, I promise I’ll get those samples and such up for you!

Hang in there, lots of fun stuff coming soon, I promise.

Problems, Not Features

Posted by Tom Watson in Information Architecture on March 17, 2008 | 9 Comments

Clients have proposals. They come in all sizes and shapes, from formal RFPs to an idea hastily sketched on a back of a napkin. But there is one thing they all have in common: Requirements. And each of those requirements almost always calls for a feature. Like a blog. Tagging. sIFR. Some AJAX. These days, even a site that sells toothpicks seems to need a rotating AJAX-powered image gallery.

Often times, we web pros spring into action when confronted with this dilemma. We draft estimates, outline how all these “necessary” features might fit within a client’s budget, and use our design and development skills to build something that doesn’t look like a cobbled-together mishmash.

I understand why almost every client requests these intricate features. They see a site that does something they really like. They love how you can zoom in on Google maps or drag and drop things into a shopping cart, for example. It’s easy to make that leap from “they do that” to “we should do that, too.” Unfortunately, it’s also a fundamentally a flawed approach.

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Austin-bound, part 2

Posted by Kevin Tamura in News & Events on March 3, 2008 | 0 Comments

Despite separating my right shoulder in a bike race this past weekend, and even though I’ll have to take it easy this time around, I’m looking forward to Blue Flavor’s annual trip to SXSW in Austin, TX. Here is a list of events I’m most excited about, along with some that Jeff mentioned in a previous post.

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Blue Flavor, Austin-bound

Posted by Jeff Croft in News & Events on March 2, 2008 | 5 Comments

Wow, it’s hard to believe South By Southwest Interactive, the annual geek-fest for interactive professionals in Austin, TX, is only a few days away. We at Blue Flavor are all excited for another year of great sessions, great networking, and great fun. Keith and Nick will be speaking, and the entire Blue Flavor crew will be in attendance.

The schedule of talks and panels has recently been released, and in going over it, I thought I’d highlight a few sessions that seemed particularly interesting to me.

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Brooklyn Boy Flies the Coop

Posted by Nick Finck in Announcements on February 29, 2008 | 5 Comments

Today I’m sad to report that one of our family members will be leaving Blue Flavor. Garrett Murray, our Senior Developer, has decided to move on.

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Some thoughts on the role of style in design

Posted by D. Keith Robinson in Design on February 21, 2008 | 6 Comments

Over the last year or so I’ve grown to be a big fan of the writings of smashLAB’s Eric Karjaluoto.

His most recent piece, provocatively titled Fuck Style, is the latest in a list of very insightful commentary on design, the business of design and the role design plays in the world around us. Among other interesting topics. If you’re interested in design, I suggest giving his work a peek.

His latest also really, really got me thinking. Mainly because I’m in the midst of a pretty major redesign of the blueflavor.com site. A redesign that many will view as very personal and highly stylized—something that Eric seems very much against.

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AT&T to offer free Wi-Fi at Starbucks

Posted by Brian Fling in Mobile on February 12, 2008 | 4 Comments

If you are like me, you’ve always wondered exactly how long Starbucks would get away with charging for Wi-Fi at its 15,000 locations. We found out yesterday that the answer is six years.

Starting this year Starbucks will be ditching T-Mobile as default Wi-Fi provider in half of its retail locations in favor of AT&T. Starbucks is opting to go the route that independent coffee houses have known for some time: if you give away Wi-Fi, customers will come in droves. Free access will be limited to two hours, so I don’t think we’ll see any start-ups forming at your local Starbucks. This is good news nonetheless.

My take: Frankly, I prefer to do my geekery at the small coffeeshops, but the big news here is the extension of location-based services, which Starbucks and Apple initially introduced with the Wi-Fi enabled iTunes Music Store. This allowed iPhone and iPod Touch users to hear and buy music currently playing in Starbucks locations. AT&T and Starbucks plan to “provide customers with location-specific information, more ‘digital experiences,’ and a sense of community online in each store.”

So today we mobile geeks got hit with a double whammy of good news: more free Wi-Fi and more location-based services.

PS. I also wonder if there is a third bit of news hidden in the announcement, that AT&T may leverage its current 3G network to offer the wireless service instead of using fixed lines, which would expand 3G coverage across the country and simultaneously lower access costs.

Microsoft buys Danger

Posted by Brian Fling in Mobile on February 12, 2008 | 1 Comments

Yesterday at the Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM) in Barcelona, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Danger Inc., the makers of the Danger Hiptop also known as the T-Mobile Sidekick.

My take: The move is a good one for Microsoft, who relies on third-party hardware firms like HTC to deliver the Windows Mobile platform to consumers in the form of mobile handsets (Microsoft also released their latest update to the platform yesterday). It’s about time they bring some of that expertise in-house.

Given the lackluster sales of the Zune in the portable music space, Microsoft’s lousy history in the handheld computing space, and increased competition from Apple and Google in the smartphone market, Microsoft may finally have an opportunity to highlight its investments into portable technology. With Danger they’ll be able to leverage the existing Hiptop industrial design team, the active Hiptop developer community, as well as the existing Sidekick consumer base to launch new mobile products and services that might have a shot at becoming something more than just a press release.

In a sick twist of business irony, it is assumed that Microsoft purchased Danger to compete with Google’s Android. The co-founder of Danger, Andy Rubin, also founded Android (which Google bought in June of 2005).

AOL Announces Open Mobile Software Platform

Posted by Brian Fling in Mobile on February 12, 2008 | 1 Comments

Yesterday at the Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM) in Barcelona, AOL announced it will release an Open Mobile Software Platform sometime this summer. From their press release:

The new open platform will help stimulate innovation by providing developers with ready access to the tools and source code they need to build and distribute applications across all major mobile device platforms and operating systems including BREW, Java, Linux, RIM, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. As a result, developers will be able to create applications for a wide variety of mobile devices.

It may surprise many that AOL has been very active in the mobile space for sometime. In fact they were the previous owner of Tegic who pioneered the T9 text prediction software that is on most phones up until this past summer.

It is obvious that AOL is following Google’s lead by trying to use open tools for the mobile medium as a content delivery platform. The strategy is that releasing tools and software for the average developer thereby lowers the bar to publishing and therefore allows for a greater opportunity to embed AOL content and services into it.

My take: More tools in the mobile space is definitely a good thing.

That being said I don’t know why anyone would invest in mobile apps these days. I strongly feel that the Mobile Web is the future of mobile. We need to see better support for desktop web standards on more handsets so we can make more always-on web applications. The browser is the only mobile app that matters these days.

Edge Cases are the Root of all Evil

Posted by Brian Fling in Thinking on February 11, 2008 | 11 Comments

In the restroom in of the La Patisserie in Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District, someone scrawled Bark Dust is the Root of All Evil. While that may certainly be true, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Edge Cases are the real Root of All Evil.

Ever trustworthy Wikipedia defines Edge Cases as thus:

An edge case is a problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme (maximum or minimum) operating parameter.

But I think I’ll stick with “Root of All Evil.”

Why do Edge Cases get that special place of honor above the love of money, boredom or that special feeling after having a der Wienerschnitzel Chili Dog (you know what I’m talking about)?

Because Edge Cases kill inspiration. They extinguish the bubbling of creative juices with some minutia that will probably never matter anyway.

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Leaflets is a Finalist!

Posted by D. Keith Robinson in Announcements on February 8, 2008 | 2 Comments

It looks like we’ll be attending The SXSW Web Awards this year as Blue Flavor’s Leaflets project has been nominated and is a finalist in the Mobile category.

We’re really proud of the work we’ve done with Leaflets; showcasing how a great, engaging and useful mobile experience can be done. We hope to build on that experience in 2008 so expect some more news from Blue Flavor on the Mobile front.

See you in Austin!

The Immutable Laws of Web Design and Development

Posted by Brian Fling in Thinking on February 7, 2008 | 30 Comments

Occasionally smart people say pretty smart things. The computing world likes to call these pearls of wisdom laws. They also like to name each law after the person who coined it. Take, for instance, the most well-known of all the computing world’s laws, Moore’s Law, which is named after Intel founder Gordan E. Moore.

In the web industry we have no such laws. While computer software and engineering is a science, web work isn’t. I view web work as an amalgamation of a variety of crafts and disciplines, like behavioral psychology, art and design, information sciences - and, since the end medium depends on technology, part computer science.

Given that last bit, it makes sense that some computing laws would apply to the world of the web. Since I have an awful time remembering them, I figured I’d write down the ones that have been helpful to me in my career in the web industry.

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D. Keith Robinson to Speak at the UIE Web Application Summit

Posted by Tiffani Jones in News & Events on February 7, 2008 | 0 Comments

Our own D. Keith Robinson will be speaking at the UIE Web Application Summit from March 26-28, 2008 in Coronado, California.

In his 90-minute talk, Keith will offer inspiration and great suggestions for communicating design decisions to anyone on your team. With a thoughtful process and useful deliverables, you can get your intent across - and the job done - more quickly. Come hear him talk about Making The Translation: Critical Web Application Deliverables, on Friday, March 28th.

South By Southwest 2008

Posted by Tiffani Jones in News & Events on February 7, 2008 | 7 Comments

Blue Flavor will rock SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, from March 6-12! The whole team will be there, Nick and Keith are speaking, and we’re co-hosting the best party of the week…

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Reflections on Web Directions North

Posted by Tiffani Jones in Thinking on February 6, 2008 | 3 Comments

Disclaimer: I have worked for Blue Flavor for about two weeks, and Web Directions North marked my first true introduction to the industry. So what follows is a newbie’s take on Web 2.0, via WDN and Whistler — the highs and lows, you might say.

I’ve had time to recuperate from the past week’s exertions, and it just feels like the moment is right for a debriefing. Here are my fast-twitch reactions:

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