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A Sci-fi Geek's Guide to Raising Children, Part 3Battlestar Galactica Edition!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Twitter of Oz -- Post #3

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:58:00 +0000

The following is Part One in a series documenting the making of The Twitter of Oz -- a modernized retelling of The Wizard of Oz through Twitter. Each of the main characters has their own Twitter feed and will tweet their experiences in real time as they try to get a Brain, a Heart, Courage and a Home.

I'm working on this at Visual Goodness where I'm Creative Manager. These are my notes as the world unfolds on Twitter.

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Summary of the story in the past few days:

Cowardly Lion -- Trying to find self-help solutions. He'll be my comic relief. He even considered at Scientology for a moment.
Dorothy -- Becoming increasingly annoyed at Aunt Em. Saying stuff like, "Who does she think she is? My Mom??!"
Tin Man -- His wife has left him and his mistress won't meet with him. He's utterly depressed. Continues to cite Beatles lyrics. Went out drown his sorrows late last night. Saw a flash of light, found himself along the river. Walked home in a daze. Back out again tonight.
The Wicked Witch -- Failed to kill the man she's been hired to kill last night. Used Incediaria spell. Figures she needs a more powerful spell. Ends up on a researching rampage.
The Wizard -- Suggests @witchwest actually miscast the spell. Ends up giving some guidance on different spells she's considering for the second time around.
Glinda -- Still trying to convince Wicked Witch to not kill the man she's been hired to kill.
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I've created Facebook pages for the witches, Tin Man and Dorothy. If i had more time and more hands, I'd build them out. For now, I'm forwarding the Tweets to their respective Facebook statuses.

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People are starting to follow. One in particular -- raggedj -- has begun actively communicating with Dorothy and the Tin Man. I've started to actively follow him back and build a conversation. Even asked him (as Tin Man) whether he should go and drink again given what happened to him the previous night.

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I revealed more of West and Glinda's backstory together. Back in school (college) West was embarrassed by her skin color, had no confidence with boys. Glinda believed otherwise -- felt that West had more to offer. They went out in Glinda's new car (I uploaded a photo via Tweetie on iPhone). They meet with Boq. Glinda locks West out. West is forced to talk to Boq. They hit it off. It's the start of her life as a self-confident person for the next year.

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I've begun mentioning spells:
- "Incendiaria" is a powerful fireball spell.
- "Elephanteum Rage" summons freaked out Elephants to trample on command
- "Lightning Strikes" Lightning bolts
- "Hornet Hordes" summons a swarm of hornets to attack
- "Flight of Daggers" sends a column of daggers at a target

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NOW LIVE!!! thetwitterofoz.com and twitterofoz.com. The both lead to http://www.visualgoodness.com/twitterOz

The Twitter of Oz - Behind the Scenes Post #2

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:50:00 +0000

The following is Part One in a series documenting the making of The Twitter of Oz -- a modernized retelling of The Wizard of Oz through Twitter. Each of the main characters has their own Twitter feed and will tweet their experiences in real time as they try to get a Brain, a Heart, Courage and a Home.

I'm working on this at Visual Goodness where I'm Creative Manager. These are my notes as the world unfolds on Twitter.

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If you want to communicate with youth using Twitter, don't use Twitter by itself. Hook your Twitter feed up to everything: Facebook, web sites, mobile apps. Kids don't know what Twitter is yet. They might not ever know. For this target audience, Twitter is best served to function as a CMS.

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The single Twitter of Oz page is up. More changes coming soon.

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I learned the hard way that Twitter limits the rate of API calls from a single set of credentials (i.e. a single IP address) to 70 an hour. I've read elsewhere that the number is as high as 90. Some places cite blocking people for up to 24 hours. So, here's a tip: When developing a 3rd party API that's pulling Twitter feeds, use dummy content for most of your testing. Only connect to the live feeds when necessary.

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I might eventually open up Facebook pages for each of the characters. This goes back to the idea that youth doesn't know what Twitter is, but they know Facebook. I told my 19-year-old cousin Michelle that she was one of the ongoing inspirations for Dorothy. She wants to follow Dorothy now, but doesn't know how. It would be too much of a hassle for her to open up a Twitter account and have her visit Twitter every day. I suppose she could sign up at Twitter then use the Twitter Facebook app to follow Dorothy. But, really it's just easier for Michelle to befriend Dorothy and see her updates on her wall.

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I gave the Wicked Witch a name: Maggie Gregory. It's an homage to Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked who named his Wicked Witch Elfaba as an homage to Frank L. Baum who wrote the original Wizard of Oz.

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I've played around with contacting Gregory Maguire. Might still do it.

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Right now in the story, the Witch has just been hired by a woman kill her cheating husband. The Wicked Witch comes home and is a bit troubled by the request. Her boss/lover (the Wizard) encourages her to carry out the request. "It's a paying gig."

Also, today was Glinda's bday. It's a convenient way to talk about Lion's origins (she originally got Lion as a gift, but quickly forgot about him when the next shiny thing came along)

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Tomorrow is the first time I'll publicly talk about the project -- at AKQA.

The Twitter of Oz - Behind the Scenes Post #1

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:11:00 +0000

The following is Part One in a series documenting the making of The Twitter of Oz -- a modernized retelling of The Wizard of Oz through Twitter. Each of the main characters has their own Twitter feed and will tweet their experiences in real time as they try to get a Brain, a Heart, Courage and a Home.

I'm working on this at Visual Goodness where I'm Creative Manager. These are my notes as the world unfolds on Twitter.

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Publishing Setup:
- Multiple Twitter accounts
- Managed through a single Hootsuite account
- Tweets written ahead of time with scheduled pub dates & times

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All of the characters' first tweets begin with a statement of love:

Dorothy "i luv toto, but i hate kansas"
Wiicked Witch of the West "I'm in love!!"
Tin Man "The song says it all "I give her all my love That's all I do And if you saw my love You'd love her too I love her""
The Wizard "I am in love."
Glinda the Good Witch (of the North) "<3 my laptop <3 http://ow.ly/Iqn"
The Cowardly Lion Tweet #1 -- "I love to scare the crap out of the squirrels in the morning." Tweet #2 -- "Okay, maybe not squirrels. Chipmunks, maybe. Or maybe ants. But they don't scare very easy either. Or at least they don't show it."

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I decided to make the Wizard not Tweet on Sunday for a couple reasons. Less work. Also supports his conservative views.

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The TinMan is still human when we start. He's married. He's in love with another woman. He quotes Beatles' lyrics.

He makes a reference "Norwegian Wood" (2009.03.07 - SAT 7p). The song was originally inspired by John Lennon's extramarital affairs. John Lennon said he felt like Cynthia had tricked him into marrying him. He said:

"Norwegian Wood" is my song completely. It was about an affair I was having. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair ... but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell. But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with.

As you'll soon see, Tin Man's Twitter feed will quickly become his own "Norwegian Wood"

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I checked the weather in Kansas on Dorothy's first day of tweeting. Coincidentally it was a day of light rain. She complains that she either wants it to outright rain or be bone dry. She hates meek weather. Coincidental foreshadowing.

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I'm trying to give each character a style of writing -- or typing at least.

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Dorothy is a composite of my wife's younger cousins: Jenn, Melissa, Michelle, Andrea, Angela and Kim with a sprinkling of a few my own family members: Mel, Lisa and Jackie. Their tone of voice, concerns and values will be the key to me sounding like a young woman longing for a place she sometimes thinks she hates most: Home.

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I'm currently working on getting all of the Twitter feeds onto a single page. Hopefully it'll be up tomorrow? Ha!

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The Scarecrow will be the last character to go live. In the original book he was only one day old when Dorothy found him.

Interactive Spring Cleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:47:00 +0000

For many of you, the Internet has become an absolute integral part of your daily life. Here's a quick list of things I recommend for all regular Internet users:

New Passwords
From bank sites to social media sites, it's a good idea to change the passwords to these sites at least once a year. They define your identity on a financial, technical and personal level. If you can, keep separate passwords for each of your sites. If not, at least keep different passwords for your financial and personal sites.

If you're on a Mac, you can use 1Password to track all of your passwords. To check the strength of your passwords, you can use a site like Microsoft's password strength checker or Password Meter.

Update Profiles
Okay, enough with "the sky is falling" attitude. Now's a good time to update your personal and professional information from LinkedIn to Flickr to Facebook. With the economy the way it is, it's good to keep your public ID as updated as possible. Update your skills, update your goals, reach out and network. New people will need to know who you are now, not who you were a year ago.

Delete Unneeded Cookies
WARNING: Geek Content Go into your preferred browser and clear those cookies you don't need. Personally, I clear all of my cookies. That way I start from zero and rebuild a useful cookie library.

Organize Your Bookmarks
Just as you do with the cookies, go into your preferred browser and clear those bookmarks you haven't had a use for in months. At the very least organize them into folders.

Remove Friends
Remove your link to those Facebook connections you really don't pay much attention to. It will help reduce the information overload. Like Clay Shirky said, "It's not information overload. It's filter failure."

Remove Unnecessary Email Alerts
Transit delay email alerts are the bane of my inbox existence. They were supposed to useful, but ended up cluttering my email even more. So I stopped them. If you have the same kind of problem, execute the same solution.

Look for better aggregators
Look for one-stop-shopping tools that bring multiple online accounts together. If you have multiple chat accounts, consider using Beebo. If you have multiple Twitter accounts, HootSuite.

There's a great article on managing multiple profiles over at Mashable.com.

A Sci-fi Geek's Guide to Raising Children, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:24:00 +0000

I'm a proud father of two: a girl and boy. I'm also a science fiction fan. One thing I've noticed is that there isn't a ton of entertaining and relatable information on raising children for us sci-fi geek dads and dads-to-be. What's a guy to do?

A Sci-fi Geek's Guide to Raising Children is my attempt at addressing that (black) hole. It's a series with personal advice on being a father but in science fiction terms. So, here's Part Two (you can read Part One, too).

Parents Really Do Have Super Powers. explained via comic superheroes of the past
You may not believe this, but parents have real-life super powers. These are actual and working super powers that all parents have at different levels.

The Healing Factor
When your child gets a minor bump or scratch and they have tears streaming down their cheeks, it's amazing what a few kind words and a kiss on the boo boo can do. Usually the super power is executed in the following way...

1 - Ask where it hurts. Once you get a clear definition of the location, determine whether the wound is beyond your powers (i.e. figure out quickly if the kid needs to go to the ER.)
2 - Ask for permission to kiss the wound. Once you receive permission, go ahead and kiss the wound.
3 - Ask if the boo boo feels better. If the child says yes, your super powers have taken immediate effect. If the child says no, return to step 1.

It's amazing how powerful this super power really is.

The Calming Effect
Is a friend of family member having trouble soothing a crying infant? Take the child in your own arms and sooth him with what you feel the child needs (i.e. a different position, a pacifier, a few soothing words.) Voila! You have a formerly inconsolable child now calm and relaxed. Call it instinct or call it a super power. It works.

Mom Hands
C'mon. Tell me this isn't real. I haven't the faintest idea how neither my mom nor my wife feel the searing heat when they pull that hot plate out of the oven. Or maybe they do, but their super power is really to withstand pain.

The Stranger Shield
Your child knows you have this power before you do: hiding behind mom or dad effectively makes the child invisible to strangers and unwanted family members. Sometimes the stranger will say, "I can see you!", but no, to the child the stranger really can't. (This is a derivative of the short-lasting Peek-a-boo super power where an infant is amazed at how you can magically teleport from in front of their face to behind your hands and back again.)

Telepathy
Okay, I'm cheating on this one. But really, as a parent you find yourself able to read your child's mind rather painlessly. (Although I've heard this power fades quickly as the child enters their teen-age years.)

A Child's Personality Will Morph Like Multiple Dr. Who's explained via (Who else?) Dr. Who
A wonderful aspect of raising children is watching them form their own personalities. You see the result of your influence, your family's influence and the environment's influence (Please, no nature v. nurture emails). But as they grow, so does their sphere of influence: they begin to go to school, they make new friends, there are new people teaching them. Most importantly, their communication skills augment by leaps and bounds. All of a sudden they become a completely self-reliant organism. You realize you've only gotten the ball rolling. This kid's got a personality engine of her own. Just like Dr. Who, there seems to be a new person who has the same memories, feelings and core personality -- but they're obviously different. You compare one personality/Dr. Who to the next.

Is It Time for Return of the Jack-of-All-Trades Graphic Designer?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:39:00 +0000

As Adam Savage joyfully pointed out, the full phrase is "Jack of all trades, master of none though often better than a master of one." With the economy's downturn and little hope for a quick turnaround, commercial artists everywhere are wondering how they can survive in an industry whose budgets are chopped first. The safest position might very well be where many designers my age were about 13 years ago -- the highly-valuable designer who can do everything.

From print design & production, to interactive design and coding, that single talent may prove to be small and medium companies' golden fleece. The reason is obvious: more design and production from a single talent.

I'm 34 Years Old
For the past 6-7 years, the industry shifted away from this media-ambidextrous artist. The Jack of all Trades had to specialize or die off: design? IA? animation? coding? video? Some felt invigorated. Most would say they missed the other skill sets. I fit that description. Now is there is opportunity to return to those roots and seek shelter in the comfort of being able to work across media. This time, we're armed with a key intangible: experience.

I've been approached for more and more work lately -- and of varied type of projects. From sites to photography to blog set up to brochures. Sadly, I've been too busy with the full time job as Creative Director at Visual Goodness to reap the rewards of freelance. However, the demand is there.

Companies are down-shifting to smaller operations for their creative work. The key will be how well the well-rounded designer can leverage their expertise and intelligently manage the work into a consistent workflow.

I know a few creatives who have recently chosen to go for this brass ring. Those creatives range from former production artists to former Creative Directors. The one thing that was common among them is their respective wide range of talents. I wish them the best of luck.

A Sci-fi Geek's Guide to Raising Children, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:04:00 +0000

Unbelievable Fireworks Photography Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:43:00 +0000

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

This is NOT an original technique. However, I DID take these pictures of Labor Day Fireworks in my town. You can also see them on Flickr. Now to the good stuff.

How Did I Do It?
I had my camera on a tripod. I set my ISO down to 100, my aperture to f/9.0 (though I switched it up a little here and there during the show but not far off) and my shutter speed up to 1 second (again, I switched up here and there during the show.)

Now here's the key: set your lens to MANUAL focus. Furthermore, set your focus to the closest range possible. In other words, if you were to photograph the fireworks, they would be blurry as hell. This will create the billowing effect.

The trick is to snap the photo right before the fireworks burst happens. Over the course of the exposure, turn your focus ring all the way to infinity. In other words, if you were to photograph the fireworks on infinity, they would be crisp and sharp.

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

What's Happening?
As the burst is captured from blurry to sharp, the camera's sensor picks up a trail of light that goes from fat to thin.. So, early in the exposure, the burst's lights are billowy and large. Toward the end, they're small and sharp. The time elapse in between captures the color and full shape of the streaking light.

The Flickr post from which I learned this technique actually calls for you to use a wireless remote to snap the shot and focus. I don't have that luxury. The funny thing is, it contributed to some unique tentacle-like structures.

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

VIEW LARGER | FLICKR LINK

Adam Savage and Fascination with the Dodo

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:03:00 +0000

I have this obsession with people's processes. It's my personal belief that art can be defined as the end product of a series of decisions. The person who makes those decisions is the artist. The decisions along the way are the creative process.

Everyone's creative process is different and the reasons are as numerous as there are people in the world. That's what makes art such a personal expression. And when you mix unique decisions with extraordinary thought and technique, then you have a master artist.

Adam Savage of Mythbusters is a master artist. If you have a free hour, I encourage you to watch all 12 parts of his speech at The Last Hope conference this past July in New York City. He talks about his obsessive nature and answers questions for 40 minutes.

He goes into his obsessive nature and how it drives his process of creating things. (He has a portable hand-held laser scanner that fits into a suitcase for Pete's sake.) Furthermore, in the Q&A he addresses requests to bust the WTC melting steel "myth"; a threat from American Express, Visa, Discover, et al to NOT explore the hackability of RFID technology (Part 10), and some equally AMAZING and hilarious slow motion footage from the episode about methods of sobering up.

Oh, one more thing. He reminds the crowd of the full phrase of a famous saying: Jack of all trades, master of none, though often better than a master of one.

Part 1 of 12
Part 2 of 12
Part 3 of 12
Part 4 of 12
Part 5 of 12
Part 6 of 12 (I'm dying for him to do the Monster Cable vs. Wire Hanger myth.)
Part 7 of 12 (He has a great quote. Someone had denigrated the quality of 3D/CGI space ships in film and thanked him for his work on creating hand-made models for film. His response, "By the way with the CG vs. models while I totally agree do remember that there are a whole bunch of people out there who spent, you know, 25 years building models. And you're seeing the results of all their work. Whereas, the whole CG industry isn't 25 years old yet. And I really do see, because I have a lot of friends at Industrial Light and Magic that moved from models into building virtual models. That the quality of model making that's coming out of the virtual world is increasing rapidly as people get past the learning curve. And of course we all know that where the rubber will meet the road in the next 10 years both in CG and rapid prototyping is in the interface, is in people's ability to feel like they're really interfacing with the virtual object.")
Part 8 of 12
Part 9 of 12
Part 10 of 12
Part 11 of 12
Part 12 of 12

My First Published Photo: Yankee Stadium, Behind Home Plate

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:19:00 +0000

I just received news that Everywhere Magazine has decided to publish one of my photos. Just in time, too: they're about to cease publication. Oh, well. It's at least very good to know my photography is considered to be at a level that's worthy of publication.

Thank you, Everywhere Magazine! And thank you Tes for bringing me to the game!

Wedding Photography and Me (and Them, too)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Jhanice and Terence take a dip

<--Begin self-depricating sarcasm-->

I've been told a number of times and in rather flattering terms that I take striking pictures at weddings. Admittedly, it's a nice ego boost. When people saw me with my DSLR, they kindly gave me a clear view of my subject. People would be more likely to pose for me (or more importantly act natural for me). It was as if they thought of me as a professional simply because of the camera gear I was using.

But this past wedding season has been different. WAAAAAAAAY different. It's because of Them. Them is the new bunch of people sporting brand new Nikon and Canon bodies. Sure, it means that my ego won't be fed nearly as much (boo hoo). But it also means I need to be much more creative if I want my shots to stand out, dammit. What use is it if I'm shooting the same exact moment in the same exact style as Them? Dammit.

Now, don't get me wrong: I love the fact that more people are taking photos with better equipment. It challenges me to take better, more meaningful photos. Not to mention, photography is a good conversation starter with strangers and even better when you're all shooting the same event. But come on. I feel less special now. Because of Them.

<--Okay, I'm done with the sarcasm. For now.-->

Yvie dancing

So, here are some of the things I've been doing lately to make my wedding photos stand out above Them photos:

Shoot from the Hip -- and Lower
I've been known to take a lot of photos blindly. In other words, shooting with the camera down at thigh level. This is especially effective when photographing children. I also like to shoot at ground level. Yes, that means laying my camera very close to or even on the ground. It gives a new perspective to the scene in retrospect.

For example, look left at the photo of Yvie. Shooting low allowed me to capture her with the sun backlighting her quite nicely. Mix that with the light bouncing back from the floor, you get a shot that wouldn't have been otherwise possible. (In fact, a couple of Them watched what I was doing and began the same kind of shots. Dammit.)

Stand Where Nobody Else is Standing
Okay, so this one may seem like an obvious one, but it works. And for so many reasons:
1 -- You end up with unique angles that nobody is capturing at that moment. (Just be careful -- you might also be the only one not capturing the most fun part of the day.)
2 -- You get the advantage of having more people in the subject's background.
3 -- Because there are more people in the background, you are able to capture crowd reactions quickly.

The Secret Weapon: Post Process
So usually one of the biggest differences between me and Them is the fact that I've been working with Photoshop since version 2.0 (yes, I know there are ton of people who've used it since 1.0--congratulations.) This gives me a leg up when color correcting, cropping and creatively coloring. (FYI, I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for 97% of my adjustments.)

Keep Shooting AFTER a Moment Has Passed
Some of the best shots at a wedding are of the bride and groom after their first dance or cutting the cake. This is because they're returning to a normal state -- they're not performing for the camera anymore. They're much more casual and natural. More often than not they're immediately re-living the moment with a family member of friend nearby.

Helen outdoors

Shoot Wide Open
Okay, so this is a little bit of photographer's jargon. Shooting wide open means having your aperture as large as possible (that means bringing the f-stop to as SMALL a number as possible -- confusing, I know.) Luckily, I have a fair array of large-aperture or "fast" lenses. So, even if there are more people bringing in DSLRs, it's rare to find another non-professional at the party with a lens array equivalent to mine. It's a pain in the butt to lug an extra lens or two to the wedding, but it pays off when you get a truly unique shot.

So, what are the advantages of shooting wide open?
1 -- You end up with shots that use natural lighting. In other words, I don't have to rely on a flash. To me, the shots end up matching my memory of the event much better so there's a more organic connection between the photo and the actual event.
2 -- Bokeh (sorry -- another photo term.) It's defined loosely as the soft blur that occurs when things around your subject aren't in focus. The larger the aperture, the softer and more buttery the blur or "bokeh". But be warned, your depth of field becomes very shallow. In other words, lean just a half inch forward or backward and your subject can be completely out of focus.
3 -- Because there is more light pouring into your camera, your shutter speed is much faster. That means you're more likely to get crisp photos when people are moving.

Bonus Amateur Tip: I shoot wide open in the broad daylight with the help of 2- and 4-stop neutral density (ND) filters and low ISO. Why is this a big deal? Well, when you're in broad daylight, shooting at f/1.2 is simply not possible because the camera can't flip the shutter fast enough to compensate for the extra light. My Canon 20D can "only" go as high as 1/8000th of a second. But ND filters block the amount of light coming in therefore letting the camera shutter catch up to the amount of light coming in. (That's how I got the shot of Helen above.)

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Photos courtesy of me.

Your Turn: A List Apart, The Survey, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:43:00 +0000

The fine folks at A List Apart just launched The Survey, 2008. It's your turn to help define what's going on in the Interactive Design industry.

You can still read the results of the 2007 Survey. It's a bit different from the idea.org survey I took part in late last year because this one concentrates on freelance contractors and owners of (or partners in) small web businesses.

The Idea.org Study Results—Factors That Improve Online Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:44:00 +0000

Idea.org has released the findings of their study titled Factors That Improve Online Experiences authored by Sathish Menon and Michael Douma. You can download the PDF as well. I took part in the study a number of months ago so it's nice to see the fruits of an important study. Usually you have to pay to see the results of the work

There were three subject groups: nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public. The findings are quite interesting. Here are some of the findings with my favorite parts highlighted by yours truly.

Designers underestimate the thresholds for an effective site.

Respondents consider a site “effective” when visitors are satisfied with respect to enjoyment, can find information somewhat easily, and never get lost in the site. By at least one point on a five-point scale, visitors have higher expectations for effectiveness than do designers. Nonprofit organizations believe that effective sites do not have “information gaps between what visitors want and what the site provides” and that visitors are at least “somewhat satisfied” with their sites. Designers should give greater consideration to overall effectiveness, thereby reducing the chance of failure for a user to find the information they seek.

Goodness, the definition of an "effective" site is so elusive. It's nice to find a definition that can be backed up with some data.

Good visual design and up-to-date information are critical.

Over 80% of designers and organizations believe that good visual design is important. A healthy 50% of the visitors agree. Fully 80% of visitors and organizations believe that up-to-date information is very important. Only 60% of designers believe that to be the case. When budgeting for your project, don’t be overly seduced by fancy graphics and multimedia. Invest in strong, clear design and simple methods to quickly deliver current information to your visitors.

Yes, we all know this, but... must... drill... this... into... client's... brain.

Visitors want information fast.

Web site visitors are looking for simple, accurate, fast, and easy to navigate web sites - preferably with links to information they seek. A significant number of comments revolved around the need for speedy access, including but not limited to download speed, in order to find the information visitors are looking for. Even in a broadband age, visitors value fast sites, both those that are fast loading and those that quickly deliver sought-after information.

Visitors want a broad range of topics.

Relative to designers and organizations, visitors more strongly believe that a broad range of topics is important. Visitors believe sites can be more effective by helping visitors find interesting information - even if they are not looking for it. Designers and content developers can provide ample sidebars that link to other recommended pages, and extensively cross-link to other pages based on keywords.

Again, information that we all kind of knew, but never had facts to back up. But for designers, I think the value of these two findings would be more evident if their order were reversed: A broad range of topics does not always equal fast information retrieval. It's a fascinating challenge.

This is where designers really need to rely on strong information architecture (IA) and rock-solid development: Set up a logical organization of the information and have solid, efficient technology to deliver that content. That includes incorporating a site search function assuming time and budget allow (boy, talk about a loaded statement.) But I digress...

Visitors still need handholding.

The study asked about hypothetically providing visitors with personal assistance using a site. About 70% of organizations and visitors believe that a personal guide would increase the effectiveness of a web site. Only about 50% of designers believe the same. Designers tend to overestimate the clarity of their designs.

This could be because designers are more removed from the end users, and overestimate the clarity of their work. Designers also believe visitors are very satisfied with respect to enjoyment more often than do organizations and visitors. Designers of large sites do not believe in personal guides, perhaps due to additional navigational aids like local search engines. There could also be a degree of skepticism about how much a human being could help navigation on a complex web site.

This is the most shocking finding for me. I am not a fan of having a video personality weighing down my navigation through a site. I think a site's navigation needs to be strong enough to avoid the need for a personal guide. If you disagree, that's fine. Just watch your head when you tell your client how much it costs to write, shoot, edit, key and then integrate all of that video. Let me say it now before you click away: I told you so.

Pieces of the Pixar Pre-Production Process

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:38:00 +0000

I love Pixar. I love their films. I love their artistry. And I'm fascinated with their process. There's a great e-mail interview with Dr. Michael B. Johnson who runs the Moving Pictures Group at Pixar. The article is part one of a series by Adaptive Path Blog (via John Gruber's Daring Fireball.) In the interview, he discusses various aspects of the pre-production process.

On Prototyping
They created a story reel workflow built around proprietary software called Pitch Docter:

I also started working on a digital storyboarding tool for Pete Docter, who had just finished Monsters Inc. I originally called the tool “Pete Docter’s Tool”, a nod to Pixar’s original animation system “Motion Doctor Tool”, but then Angus MacLane suggested “Pitch Docter”, which is what we went with...

...On Ratatouille, for the first time we had many of the story artists working full-time in Photoshop, leveraging its brushes, layers, and actions to streamline their workflow. They used Photoshop in conjunction with Pitch Docter, which let them time out their pitches, add sound and dialog, and round trip with Editorial...

...The important take-home point, though, is that Pixar loves their films so much, we make them twice :-). Compared to the final product, the first time we make it is sketchy and rough - but the most important thing is that it’s still a film. To be clear - our prototype exists in the same medium as our final product. This allows us to judge it by the same standards that the final film will be judged...

He goes on to make a very interesting point regarding prototyping:

I think this is an important lesson for a User Experience Designer to understand - paper prototypes and ethnographic research are great, but if you’re trying to build a prototype that you want use as a blueprint, it should exist in the same medium as the final product. My group (which does lots of ethnographic research and Photoshop/OmniGraffle prototypes) firmly believes in this, and practices it daily.

How does this translate into an interactive workflow? Basically, this means creating a click-through prototype (a version of the interactive experience with clickable buttons and active sections but minimal design, layout and animation.) This allows people to immediately understand the tempo and flow of an interactive project through experience as opposed to relying on their imagination. (A tip 'o the hat to former Visual Goodness Director of Operations Nick Kierstead for coining the term "Temporal Spec" which was a document that defined the cause & effect of every interaction over time.) This rapid prototyping is something that Visual Goodness executes when time and budget allow.

(In fact, it's a necessary step in every live video project we create. We shoot someone on green reading through script and acting out all interactions with the site or banner. It raises the level of creative possibilities and cuts down on uncertainty.)

The thing is, most interactive budgets don't have the space to allow for a full prototype. Until interactive as a medium can consistently guarantee the same measurable impact that broadcast does, interactive budgets will stay where they are and prototyping will be stuck in the land of R&D and rare flexible budgets.

Angry People == Bad Information Flow

One of my heuristics for thinking about how we (the designers and technologists) can help with production management is to look at where people are getting mad each other. This usually indicates some frustrating breakdown in the information flow. When people are getting bad/late/incomplete/stale information, they get frustrated. These projects take a long time to make, and like any business, there are always going to be areas where communication breaks down. When that happens, our team works on fixing the information flow.

What's this tells me is that Pixar has strong leadership. (Huh? WTF?!? How do you figure that?) Pixar's problem is the keeping a smooth and constant flow of information, not what to do with the information. Let me explain.

Too often, people are saddled with naked information and are left asking, "Okay, what is this supposed to mean for me?". If the people you lead understand the goals of the group and their roles as individuals inside that group, then they're ready for that steady stream of information. It's incumbent upon strong leadership to set those goals and define roles in order for them to efficiently dismiss or act on that stream of information like a kid plucking the wings off a fly. It's about molding and maintaining a constant context and framework for the information.

On Production Management and Morale
He goes on to quote Pixar director Brad Bird:

“In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget–but never shows up in a budget–is morale. If you have low morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about 25 cents of value. If you have high morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about $3 of value. Companies should pay much more attention to morale.”

It's one of those quotes that makes you hope to dear Lord on high that they have empirical data to back this statement up. And then you give the deed to your house to obtain said proof.

Things to Remember When Youth Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Needless to say, this list was outdated before I could post it.

- Txt message over phone calls.
- A lot of them take more pictures with their cell phones than make phone calls.
- Yes, they spend time at Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. But don't forget Google.
- The SATs are harder than the ACTs.
- The ACTs are harder than the SATs.
- Actual conversation:

Youth Sometimes those games on web pages are fun.
Me Games? Like on AddictingGames?
Youth Yeah, those too. But the ones on other pages, too. Like those... (pointing)
Me You mean ad banners?
Youth Yeah.
Me You find those games in ad banners fun?
Youth Yeah... like sometimes.

- Email is for communicating with older people.
- When communicating with youth, be yourself. That means you too, Brands.
- "History is a harder subject now because there's more of it to study."
- Music is still the common language. So is the price of gasoline.
- Download music before buying music. Listen in the car.
- In-game advertising adds to the realism of games. They're pandered to in real life, so why not in the game?
- They still listen to their parents.
- Download time trumps video quality.
- Word of mouth trumps download time.
- Sorry, the fact that your 3-year-old knows how to use a mouse is not all that special.
- WTF is youth marketing?

What Does the Recession Mean to Designers?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:33:00 +0000

Despite the country's current economic situation, the American public is still willing to spend money on an item or two that easily falls outside the definition of essential. If you want proof, take a look at the recent sales of Apple's 3G iPhone and Nintendo's Wii.

But with a smaller budget, consumers will likely be more selective with their spending. Furthermore, those decisions will not solely be based on cost. The general public will also include good design among the criteria.

People are more design literate than ever thanks to design-centric companies such as Target and the aforementioned Apple. They watch TV shows like Project Runway and Extreme Home Makeover. They've become familiar with principles of usability by virtue of the ubiquity of digital interfaces. With this literacy, the public is more qualified than ever to use design as a tool to validate which products and experiences are suitable for them.

In fact, you could extrapolate their design literacy to include their awareness of production techniques. Everyone seems to know what Photoshop is. There are countless behind-the-scenes video extras and online tutorials. And Martha Stewart has single-handedly demystified the process behind making beautiful experiences through simple, accessible design.

While good design should not necessarily be noticed by the user, that same user can now identify a product or service with high production value. And thanks to the Internet, they have the means to deconstruct and consume any design process. The process of the design itself has become a part of public consumption.

When you combine this heightened awareness with the country's tight economic times, you have a consumer who is even more selective and critical of design.

It's incumbent upon us as designers and creatives to be thoughtful of this new design awareness: design with ease-of-use first but back it up with a beautiful interface. We've known this for years. But design used to be about educating and leading the user. Now it's become a negotiation. Respect and acknowledge their design awareness and your design will have a better chance for success in a difficult economic climate.

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Photo courtesy of me.
And photos from yours truly on Flickr.

Why Place the Hands-Free Button So Far Away?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:16:00 +0000

We just bought a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. I love it. One of the best features is uConnect, which among other things allows me to make hands-free phone calls.

What I don't understand is why Chrysler's designers would choose to place this tiny hands-free phone call button at the farthest possible point away from the driver? My hands have travel the farthest distance to hit a very small button. That's doesn't sound like Fitts' Law to me.

There are more sensible locations they could have chosen:

Place it on the steering wheel.You know, one of two large buttons on the steering wheel itself? It would make sense that you'd want to keep the driver's hands as close to the steering wheel as possible. Specifically, replace the button on the steering wheel that returns the dashboard screen to cardinal directions/temperature. It's redundant--there's already another button on the steering wheel that gets me to the same view. Two buttons to get to the same place? Really? Why?

Replace the physical up and down "Scan" buttons to the left of the GPS navigation screen. They're much closer to the driver. Also, there are already TWO OTHER BUTTONS for the driver to scan radio stations: a set of buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and a touch screen button.

Derek Jeter Isn't Overrated.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Sports Illustrated asked 495 Major League Baseball players "Who is the most overrated player in baseball?". Derek Jeter came out on top. This is an ongoing debate.

The problem is context (as usual). They should have defined the term "overrated". If you're measuring his impact on the team's ability to win multiple championships, he's undeniably NOT overrated. If you're a Bill James follower and believe the statistics tell a deeper story, then he's CERTAINLY overrated.

But there's another factor here. Many naysayers can't make sense of the amount of adulation Derek Jeter receives. There's an outpouring of affection from Yankee fans. There's even a lot of respect from Mets and Red Sox fans. And I don't think it's simply because of the fact that these people are exposed to him more than the rest of the country. I think the understood, but un-said element here is that he's able to consistently perform at a high level, in championship situations in New York City.

Many of the stories from the recent All-Star game talk about players' awe of the historic ball park. Again, it's context. Many of these people are judging outside of the fuller context. How can you honestly call a player who performs in that same awe-inspiring venue, in the most pressure-packed city in the world "overrated". The answer is you can't.

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Photo courtesy of me.
And here are more Yankee photos from yours truly.

The Most Common Freelance Question: How Much Should I Charge Per Project?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:19:00 +0000

I'm a big fan of Flickr. And I'm an avid member of the Canon DSLR Group. Recently there was a question posted in the discussion boards titled "please help me out on pricing my photoshoots!". It's a common question among first-time freelance designers, animators and web developers. Although, my answer was directed at a photographer, it applies across skills:

My suggestion (not a pro photographer by the way) is to charge hourly.

How much? The short answer: enough to make it worthwhile.

My long answer is based on how I first figured out how much to charge for my freelance design work years ago:

1 - Figure out how much you would ideally like to make as an annual salary doing this for a living.

2 - Break that down into cost per week and therefore cost per hour.

3 -Multiply that hourly rate by three (once for your time, once for overhead and once for profit) and use that as your hourly rate. Honestly, it's not the definitive way to do it, but at the very worst it'll be a start.

On top of that, charge separately for post production. Don't ever forget post-production. Clients either assume it's part of the process or that photos magically come out of the camera perfect.

Post production is an important and time consuming element that's often misunderstood. It's important for the customer to understand that part of your skill is in the darkroom (albeit digital). Hell, show them before and after shots. Hopefully, it'll get them to appreciate the process more and, therefore see your services for what they are: more than just pointing and shooting.

In order to charge what you're worth, it's often necessary to show your worth.

Alex Rodriguez Swings for the Fences

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Alex Rodriguez Swings for the Fences
Originally uploaded by mrosal

This has been one of my post popular photos I've posted to Flickr. It's garnered a modest 2,800 views to this point.

If you're not a Flickr member, you'll be interested to know they've updated their metrics. They now provide a much more detailed set of data regarding how often photos are viewed day by day and more.

I hope to get to the Stadium at least one more time this season. Perhaps night photos.

Remi Year in Review 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:15:00 +0000

To the world wide web Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's my annual Remi Year in Review. I created this one in Final Cut Express the night before Christmas Eve. Only took about 6 hours. The music is courtesy of MySpace music hit Marie Digby. The song is called "Bring Me Love".

AmazonMP3 -- Great Service, But Beware the Bitrate

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Amazon launched their AmazonMP3 service yesterday. I tried it and I like it. Easy to use and great prices. There are currently 2 million songs in their library (there are 6,000,000 in the iTunes Store.) Best of all, every song in their store is DRM-free. In other words, there are no digitally-managed rights. You can place you music on as many computers, iPods and cell phones as you want.

There's one important note regarding the quality of the music: your iPod's battery will drain much faster when using these 256kbps bitrate MP3s. Because of the higher bitrate, the device playing the music works harder to play it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the higher (though nearly imperceptibly better) sound quality, but this drain on the battery is something every iPod owner should be keenly aware of. This goes for every kind of iPod: Shuffle, Classic, Touch and iPhone.

In fact, an Apple Store Genius said that the company suggests using songs on an iPod with bit rates in the 128-160kbps range. So, beware the bitrate and battery combination.

Job Interviews (from the other side of the table)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Rosal) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:22:00 +0000

Visual Goodness is looking for an Interactive Art Director. And, as most good interview candidates do, people Google my name to get an edge in the interview. So, if that's what you're doing, here's your inside information. Otherwise, consider the following a bit of insight into my interview process at Visual Goodness.

Getting the Interview
To increase your chances of securing an interview for a creative position at VG, be sure to supply two key elements: a well-written introduction about yourself and an online portfolio of work you've done. Good writing skills are a huge advantage. It shows a broader ability to communicate.

Your introduction should reflect your personality, strengths and your present career goals. Your personality will give us an idea of how you'd fit in with the team. The interview will definitively determine the personality match.

Your career goals should convey your deepest professional desires--if you had a choice, what is that one thing you'd love to do for a living right now? Ideally, those goals should match the position you're applying for. If they don't match, that's not the end of the world. If you're an excellent talent, sure of what you want to do and we realize we could use said talent and desire, we'll make room for you in a different capacity.

The most important thing is to be forthcoming and transparent about yourself as possible. It makes for a more comfortable interview and eventual employment.

The Interview
I start my interviews with a simple question: Would you like to talk about yourself first or for me to talk about Visual Goodness? There is no wrong answer to this question. Really, it's to set an informal tone for the interview. The best interviews are those that flow like a regular conversation. With that in mind...

Be yourself. That means talk the way you normally talk. Dress comfortably and professionally. Answer from the gut, not the answer you think we want to hear. Don't be afraid to discuss your creative interests outside of work. Most of, if not all of the creatives at VG have very active creative lives outside of work. It's good to know if you're a well-rounded artist. It's usually an indicator of someone who thinks "outside the box" (I hate that phrase.)

Present your work in context. Answer the following questions: Who was the work done for? How was the project challenge handed to you? Did you receive initial concepts and/or designs? Did you concept and/or design the project? How large was the team? What role did you play? How long did it take to finish the job? Were there any peculiar aspects of the project?

There are no guidelines in terms of what order to show your work. Generally, show the work that's most pertinent to the position you're applying for. Mix in and be able to identify your favorite project and your most challenging project. For some people the answer might be the same project.

Asking questions about VG is not required, so don't feel obliged to do so.

Finally, be prepared to talk about your availability and rate -- both hourly and day rate.

While these guidelines may not apply to all job interviews, I believe the basic ideas of self-awareness and honesty about yourself will not only help you find the right job, but also help you weed out the wrong jobs. If the employer doesn't like you for who you are, then you wouldn't have been happy there anyway.

Good luck and I hope to see you across the table soon.