How do we select the particular words that are linked within a sentence or paragraph, and does it matter for the user?

Here's an example:

John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' is on sale at iTunes for just $7.99.

How would you choose to link that up, and why? Is one more "effective" than the other, however you define that?

Cast your vote (or suggest an alternative) with a supporting argument.

The fundamental principles of design remain constant irrespective of organization size, technical discipline, and the like. Yet within larger organizations, the dynamics of applying these principles, the ability to produce quality output, and overall job satisfaction are a challenge at times. Learn how to hone your technical skills, and, more importantly, your soft skills, to effectively grapple with the politics and red tape that are common to larger organizations—or, for that matter, to client services work.

In my mind, this is a subject that's long overdue for being addressed in conferences, and I'm excited to take a shot at addressing it.

But I'd like your help. What are the issues common to "larger organizations"? I'd be willing to bet the majority of you reading this work at companies larger than most agencies and startups and therefore have experience and an understanding of the challenges I speak of above.

So, help me start a list of things I may address in the presentation. I'll start:

• Uninspiring workspaces
• Passionless employees
• An abundance of paperwork needed for anything and everything
• Legacy methodologies (e.g. waterfall software development)
• ...

What can you add?

What I wasn't prepared for, however, was the ginormocity of the thing. I came home to the largest and heaviest package I think I've ever received, and inside was a SumoSac.

Unlike the Sumo Omni, the SumoSac contains "shredded furniture grade urethane foam" which creates a very soft sitting space that can be reshaped to your liking. It ships vacuum-compressed and looks like a "giant brain" as my sons described it:

Slip on the cover and begin separating the foam as if picking apart a giant loaf of bread. Within a day or so, the foam will expand to fill the cover.

For those of us here in Utah, lounge seats of this kind are nothing new. LoveSac, a competing manufacturer, was started right here in Utah and essentially created the U.S. market for large, foam furniture. What sets the SumoSac apart from LoveSac, however, is cost. The SumoSac is about one-third the price of a LoveSac of similar size, and yet the quality and comfort seem comparable to that of a LoveSac.

Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about SumoSac is versatility. It sits in our living room as a comfortable place to land for home bodies and guests, serves as the perfect landing pad at the bottom of stairs for stunts in a house full of boys, and can be transported (albeit not easily because of its weight) for other uses. In fact, on Saturday we dragged it out back for a late-night movie on the lawn.

SumoSac is available for purchase currently only in the U.S., while the Sumo Omni can be purchased in the UK and Australia.

"Open Range" in Print August issue

I'm quoted in the August issue of Print magazine. It's brief, but hey, I'll take it.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

I've been enjoying this book on/off in audio format (available in iTunes) for a few months now. The World Without Us explores how our planet would "recover" from human presence if we suddenly disappeared. Give the chapter on plastic a listen and it's likely you'll never think the same way about plastic bags, water bottles, and the like.

Putting Your Email on a Google Domain

Not happy about the fact that your Gmail address shows rather than your domain when replying to email on your iPhone? If you're willing to spend a little time setting up your domain on Google (without switching hosts or nameservers), this may be for you.

House Industries Ampersand Tees

Nice.

Cooler Business Cards

The second installment in Inspiredology's series of inspiring business cards.

California's Continuing Fires

The fires are no longer headline news (thankfully for Californians), but some of these photographs are beautiful.

A word for @#$%&?!!!

Grawlix, that's the term.

Enterprise UI Summit

Are you an "enterprise" designer? Jive Software is hosting an event at the Sky Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, August 7-8. Airfare and hotel stay covered by Jive Software. Apply/RSVP if interested.

Logopond Awards 2008

I had a hand in judging these, along with several other judges. Not all of the winners are ones I chose to be featured, but good picks nonetheless.

Inspiration Series: Magazines

Plenty to be inspired by here.

iPhone NY Times GUI

Felix Sockwell gives a brief account of the iconography work he did for the NY Times iPhone app.

WebAnywhere, a Screen Reader On The Go

This software apparently allows blind users to have access to screen reader software from any computer. I wonder if there's a chance the rest of us (sighted) could use this for initial accessibility testing?

"Gorilla" Usability Testing with Silverback

Garrett Dimon beat me to it. A very thorough review of Silverback, a good app for guerilla usability testing (still in beta).

• Remote – Allows you to control your desktop computer's iTunes via Bluetooth wi-fi. Can't get the thing to work, and apparently I'm not the only one from all the discussion I've seen. Update: Finally got Remote working. This is awesome. Rating: 5 out of 5!
• Band - Play and record instruments such as piano, drums, and guitar with multi-touch. Rating: 3.5 out of 5
• PayPal – Nearly worthless. The only two things you can do are send payments and check your balance. How about being able to view and search history of payments? And why isn't a mobile web app good enough to do all this? Rating: 1 out of 5
• Twitterrific – So, this is the bomb on the desktop from what I've heard. I don't know if the UI for the iPhone version is the same as that of the desktop, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to use it; doesn't seem very intuitive. I remain a fan of the simplicity in m.twitter.com but welcome being convinced otherwise. Rating: 3 out of 5
• Starmap – Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of constellations. I can point out about a dozen in the summer sky. Naturally, this app appeals to me. What's interesting is everything looked dim when I first opened the app, until I realized it's meant to be viewed in low-level light (duh, at night). View by constellation name, star name, and more. Rating: 4 out 5
• Checkout SmartShop – This is an interesting one. Get pricing online and offline, reviews, and more by simply entering the barcode of nearly any product. This will no doubt come in handy when shopping around town, as I've already done this many times using amazon.mobi and the like. Only complaint is that it'd be much easier if I could snap a picture of the barcode and have the info pull up. Rating: 3.5 out of 5
• Labyrinth – Old news for any of you with a jailbroken iPhone. My boys enjoy playing this one. I was surprised to see how responsive and sensitive the accelerometer is. Rating: 3.5 out of 5
• BoxOffice – Showtimes for local movie theaters, rating scores from Rotten Tomatoes, and a few other things. Rotten Tomatoes desperately needs a mobile version of their site, and I was hoping this app would be a suitable substitute. Not the case, as it shows only number ratings and not critic reviews. Not bad, however, for an app that doesn't cost anything. Rating: 3 out of 5

What's on your iPhone?

Since March 2008, Authentic Jobs, Inc. has donated 1% of its total revenue to entrepreneurs through Kiva, which facilitates microloans to business owners in developing countries. Because Authentic Jobs offers job opportunities for individuals throughout the world, it's only fitting that the company extend its purpose by helping entrepreneurs throughout the world.

As shown on the Authentic Jobs lender page, so far this effort has amounted to 17 loans to male and female entrepreneurs in 13 countries. I'm committed to seeing the company donate long into the future.

Some recent listings and testimonials from Authentic Jobs are highlighted below.

Full-time (International)

• Toronto, ON Web Designer at The Globe and Mail
• London, UK Front-end Developer at Macmillan Publishers
• London, UK Client-side developer at Airlock

Full-time (U.S.)

• Tucson, AZ Applications Systems Analyst (Web Designer) at The University of Arizona Libraries
• Los Angeles, CA Sr/Mid-Level Flash Developer at 65 Media
• San Francisco, CA UI Designer at iList, Inc.
• Washington, DC Interactive / Web Designer at Illumen
• Boise, Idaho Front End Web Developer at Access Idaho / Idaho.gov
• Chicago, IL Interactive Designer at 4SIGHT Communications LLC
• Waltham, MA GUI/Web User Interface Designer at D2Hawkeye
• New York City Senior Designer at Thumbplay
• New York, NY Graphic/Web Designer at Indaba Music
• New York, NY Client-side UI Engineer at GoCrossCampus
• Henderson, NV User Interface Designer at VEGAS.com
• Conshohocken, PA Sr Front End Developer at TMX Communications
• Conshohocken, PA User Experience Architect at TMX Communications
• Houston, TX Senior Web Designer at Bishop Interactive

Freelance

• Anywhere .NET C# Web Programmer at MWI
• London, UK God-like back end developer at Thisadwillchangeyourlife.com
• New York City Senior Flash ActionScript Developer (Flex Experienced a Plus) at Magnani Caruso Dutton

Employers continue to find success with Authentic Jobs. Shannon Peterson of Shelf Reliance posted a full-time job and sent these remarks:

We got some very viable candidates! We didn't end up hiring from the replies from Authentic Jobs, but we were impressed with the resumes we got. In the end, we are glad we used your service.

Alec Rosen of Option4 Interactive posted a freelance job and offered this feedback:

We got excellent results and I do have enough contacts to build the entire web 3.0.

Post a job or find one at Authentic Jobs.

Towards the end of chapter 7, "Problems, solutions, and the design process," I found myself underlining all kinds of stuff. Quoted here are a few excerpts.

There are no optimal design solutions

Design almost invariably involves compromise.... Rarely can the designer simply optimise one requirement without suffering losses elsewhere.... There are no established methods for deciding just how good or bad solutions are, and still the best test of most design is to wait and see how well it works in practice. Design solutions can never be perfect and are often more easily criticised than created, and designers must accept that they will almost invariably appear wrong in some ways to some people.

Design solutions are a contribution to knowledge

Once an idea has been formed and a design completed the world has in some way changed. Each design, whether built or made, or even if just left on the drawing-board, represents progress in some way.... Thus the completion of a design solution does not just serve the client, but enables the designer to develop his or her own ideas in a public and examinable way.

The process involves finding as well as solving problems

It is clear from our analysis of the nature of design problems that the designer must inevitably expend considerable energy in identifying the problems. It is central to modern thinking about design that problems and solutions are seen as emerging together, rather than one following logically upon the other.... [B]oth problem and solution become clearer as the process goes on.

Design is a prescriptive activity

[D]esign is essentially prescriptive whereas science is predominantly descriptive. Designers do not aim to deal with questions of what is, how and why, but, rather, with what might be, could be and should be. While scientists may help us to understand the present and predict the future, designers may be seen to prescribe and to create the future, and thus their process deserves not just ethical but also moral scrutiny.

Designers work in the context of a need for action

Unlike the artist, the designer is not free to concentrate exclusively on those issues which seem most interesting. Clearly one of the central skills in design is the ability rapidly to become fascinated by problems previously unheard of.... Not only must designers face up to all the problems which emerge they must also do so in a limited time. Design is often a matter of compromise decisions made on the basis of inadequate information.... Designers, unlike scientists, do not seem to have the right to be wrong. While we accept that a disproved theory may have helped science to advance, we rarely acknowledge the similar contribution made by mistaken designs.

On that note, I vote for celebrating "mistaken designs" much more than we currently do as a community. Who's with me?

Update II: All 50 posters have been ordered. Shop closed. (Thanks everyone!)

In January 2008, a team of 30 designers assembled at the Salt Lake City Library for their First Annual Design Review. Posters were designed in celebration of the event, and this is the one I designed.

I'm pleased to finally offer this artwork for public purchase, each signed, letterpressed, and shipped with care. Poster measures 16"x24" and is printed on Crane Lettra Pearl. Letterpressed by Bryce Knudson of Bjørn Letterpress in Provo, Utah.

Buy a copy or view additional photos.

Architecture in Switzerland is a stunning collection of inspiring photographs, complemented by commentary from author Philip Jodidio. Published by Taschen, this book is one of several titles of its kind, and it was gifted to me for Father's Day.

The commentary on each building is brief and appears in English, German, and French. I just love this quote, speaking of architect Mario Botta's "Tour de Moron":

There is an intentional contrast with the natural setting here, as Botta says: 'In these mountains above the sweeping plateau, the helical tower -- like an arrow driven into the terrain -- comes across as an unexpected and somehow disquieting sign. Tourists and wayfarers seeking idyllic landscapes are thus drawn into the reality of austere, authentic beauty that can be found only in a place where, alongside nature, the mark of humanity is also visible.'

A few spreads from the book (click for larger photos at Flickr):

In the meantime, why not post the questions and answers here? I figure I'll give it a go and see if I can't do it with some sort of semi-regular cadence in the coming months.

Q: I'm very discretionary when I use italics and rarely use it. However, I saw that you pull Warnock Pro off wonderfully in your An Event Apart slides. How do you determine the appropriate use of italics in headlines or copy other than grammatical purposes?

A: Boy, that's a tough question to answer. Part of it is merely personal preference, admittedly. However, when it comes to presentation material, I typically base the decision on the content. If it's a quote, I don't hesitate to use italics. To me, italics say "quote" much better than non-italics. And if you notice in my slides, most of the text in italics are quotes (in addition to a few definitions).

But at the end of the day, I have a fascination with italics and use them whenever I feel they're appropriate. Of all the ones I've used, Warnock Pro's are probably the most elegant. I really enjoy Epic's italics, as well, especially the ligatures (though the punctuation is a bit heavy). Of course, there are many others -- Mrs. Eaves, Garamond Pro, and the list goes on.

In light of yesterday's introduction of iPhone 3G, I remain convinced the mobile web's future is incredibly promising. So, for the remaining lot of you whom are still holding out to to embrace the mobile web, I'm offering special discount pricing on my book, Mobile Web Design.

Use these links to purchase a discounted copy for a limited time:

• $10 - PDF version (41% off)
• $14.95 - Print version (25% off)
• $16.16 - Print version @ Amazon US (19% off) (at time of writing this was Amazon's price, which I have no control over)
• £14.73 - Print version @ Amazon UK (5% off) (same thing I just said about Amazon pricing)

PLEASE NOTE: My book offers very little content on iPhone development and is instead device-neutral throughout much of the book. I intentionally wrote it that way to help the reader understand the opportunities and limitations of mobile in general and not that of a specific device, as there are many more phones in the market worldwide than just iPhone. (You can find iPhone-specific development guides here.)

However, as Aaron, myself, and others have been wrestling with establishing in-house training material, we've found a one-page checklist to be a necessary supplement to our approach, in addition to workshops, design reviews, and so forth:

When I wrote the below checklist, I attempted to answer the question, 'What concise pieces of advice can I give to designers that will have the greatest impact on accessibility in the majority of cases?' Again, this list is not the perfect solution, nor is it the only solution, but I believe it is a good first step, and it gives our developers and designers a place to start from.

Available for download is Aaron's checklist (PDF):

You can also find these guidelines in text format in Aaron's article.

We're posting this publicly with the hope that 1) it'll be of benefit to the community and 2) you offer your critique and feedback. Please consume, print, and critique it.

Update: Video showing how Aaron Cannon uses the web.

The first review was written by The New York Times' seasoned film critic A.O. Scott, filling in for Roger Ebert. The second was by Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper of the Ebert & Roeper show. The two reviews side by side couldn't possibly contrast each other more appropriately, so much in fact that I tore the page from the magazine, stored it in my bag, and only yesterday did I find the yellowing page in a scattered pile of papers.

Here are the two reviews:

A.O. Scott (sitting in for Roger Ebert): Happy Feet is the new computer-animated spectacle directed by George Miller. Elijah Wood gives voice to an emperor penguin named Mumble, whose feet replicate the moves of the great tap dancer Savion Glover. The movements of the penguins in this move are beautifully rendered, as is their icy, watery habitat; there are some fine dance numbers and some thrilling action sequences. Happy Feet is an overstuffed stew of themes, plots, semiclever pop culture references, and familiar characters. And, I confess I'm a little worn out by all the cartoon pleas for interspecies understanding that we've been getting lately, but Happy Feet was made with enough skill and enough heart to get a thumbs up from me.

Roeper: I'm with you all the way on this one; I'd give it a mild thumbs up. I mean we see in this movie a lot of themes that we've seen in a million other animated movies about the kind of runt of the litter, from Nemo on down. In the last 15 minutes, they get into this whole man-vs.-nature thing. It's rendered OK, but it comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden we're seeing almost a different form of animation as well. I think kids will love it, because the penguins are cute. Also, I appreciate that at the beginning of the film they told us who some of the actors were.

Notice the contrast? A.O. Scott's review flows well. The tone of his piece is engaging. I get his point. Roeper's review, on the other hand, lacks any semblance of organization. It reads as if he just spit out terse remarks in response to a question about the movie. The last three sentences are totally disconnected, especially the concluding one. What's that all about?

Great writing doesn't typically come by chance. And in my mind, it's an art anyone of any trade should strive to master -- designers, marketers, developers, and yes, film critics.

I don't pretend to be an expert in the instruction of great writing, but I'm certainly no stranger to the application of it. So if you were to ask me what my guiding principles for authoring have been up to this point in my career, it would probably take me a while to come up with a list (it did for the one below). It might resemble something like this:

• Lead with a question, story, or compelling one- / two-line summary
• Transition logically from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph
• Use a thesaurus along the way to add flavor and variety
• Write passionately throughout, keeping the reader (and yourself) engaged in the topic
• Be casual in tone once in a while to break things up
• Revise, revise, let it sit for a while, then revise again
• End memorably, succinctly, summarily, or all three

That's it. No magic formula, just a few salient points. Of course, I'm making the practice of writing sound much simpler than it really is, but at the end of the day it isn't an elaborate science. It just takes practice, good editing, and passion about the topic at hand.

"Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over," wrote Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon. Go write a building -- as articulately, thoughtfully, and beautifully as an architect would.

Among the how-to design inquiries I receive by email, the subject of this entry is (surprisingly) near the top of the list in terms of quantity. One reader asked the repeated question this way:

I noticed all the little 'frilly' bits (for lack of better word) around the site; I'm wondering whether you made these yourself, or if you found them somewhere else?

Perfectly put. "Frilly bits" seems to aptly describe what are typically called ornaments, fleurons, vignettes, embellishments, or in some cases, frippery. Type ornaments, also termed printer's ornaments, have been used in conjunction with type for literally hundreds of years. Of course, nowadays it's all too easy to abuse these design elements, adding them merely for decoration rather than communication. But in the hands of an accomplished designer who knows how to use them appropriately and in moderation, type ornaments can serve to beautify and enhance a design.

Frankly, I feel a bit sheepish posting about this as it seems so rudimentary, but if anything it gives me a resource I can point readers to when the question comes up again. So, what follows are 25 resources for ornaments, fleurons, and frilly bits.

(More after the jump.)

Type Embellishments One (also known as Type Ornaments One)

Some recent listings are highlighted below.

Full-time (International)

• South London Web Designer at Down2Earth
• Stockholm Java-utvecklare at Unikum - Unikt lärande AB
• Rotterdam Senior Interactive Designer at Studio Dumbar

Full-time (U.S.)

• Anywhere CSS Zen Master at SmugMug
• Work from home Code Mechanic at EllisLab, Inc.
• Cupertino, CA iCal Software Engineer at Apple Inc.
• Cupertino, CA UI Engineer at Apple Inc.
• Los Angeles, CA Web Designer / Client-Side Developer at Casting Networks, Inc
• Los Angeles, CA User Interface Engineer at Synctree
• Palo Alto, CA Graphic Designer at Facebook
• Redwood Shores, CA Visual Designer / Production Designer at Navigenics
• Jacksonville, FL Multimedia Design at City of Jacksonville
• Laurel, MD Web Project Manager at LMD
• Brentwood, TN--Near Nashville Flash Expert Wanted at DaveRamsey.com, Top 5,000 US ranked website
• Chattanooga, TN E-Commerce / Social Networking Developer at MNDCreative, LLC
• Brooklyn, NY Interaction Designer at HUGE
• New York, NY Web Designer at Polar News Company
• Provo, Utah Web Developer at BYU - Harold B. Lee Library
• Bellevue, WA Social Application User Experience & User Interaction Designer at Livemocha

Freelance

• FLEX Developer at TEKsystems
• Senior Web Developer at Liquid Digital Media
• Social job site needs web designer with emphasis on User Experience at BizFavors

Speaking of freelance listings, the very same day the gentleman stopped me in the hall, I received this email from Katrina McKinnon of Motive Media (Australia):

I posted a freelance position on your site yesterday for 75 bucks. Within these few hours I have received a hundred or so responses -- a few of them exceptional, most of them good and only a few absolute duds. That's quite possibly the best 75 I've spent for a while. Thanks for making the service you made. I appreciate it.

Post a job or find one at Authentic Jobs.