Over 100 variations of illustrations created from the logo of a fried chicken restaurant in Venezuela by artist Juan Salas. It’s been a while since the last time I saw something this interesting.

Link: Transmutation: Los Primeros 100

“It is true that motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all. But motion without momentum is even less productive than no motion at all.”

Link: Startups: Motion vs. Momentum

If you want to grow, you need new customers. And if you want new customers, you need three things:

1. A group of possible customers you can identify and reach.
2. A group with a problem they want to solve using your solution.
3. A group with the desire and ability to spend money to solve that problem.

Posting here to remind myself for future projects.

Link: Three things you need if you want more customers

Just bought the CD today. Amazing stuff.

Link: mama!milk on MySpace

==Playlist 2009.02.23: mama!milk==

01 Rosa Moschata
02 Avant Fermentation
03 Antique Gold
04 Pale Anise
05 Anise
06 Intermezzo OP 32
07 Kujaku
08 Hourglass
09 Mano Seca
10 Rosa Mundi
11 Smokey Dawn
12 The Moon
13 Two Ripples
14 Sometime Sweet
15 Waltz, Waltz

The NYTimes.com’s recently announced article skimmer prototype (yet-unnamed) is described by its developer as “an attempt to provide the Sunday Times experience anytime”.

The keyboard browsing feature is simply a wonderful idea. Another proof of less is more.

Link: Sunday Browsing (on NYT.com Feb 13, 2009)

Image from Deviationmusic.net

==Playlist 2009.02.10: J Dilla==

01 JLJ Intro - Jay Loves Japan
02 Walkinonit - Donuts
03 Crushin’ (Yeeeeaah!) - Ruff Draft
04 Anti-American Graffiti - Donuts
05 Two Can Win - Donuts
06 Baby (feat Madlib & Guilty Simpson) - The Shining
07 So Far To Go (fet Common & D’Angello) - The Shining
08 The Official - JAYLIB
09 The Mission - JAYLIB
10 Let’t Take It Back - Ruff Draft
11 The Clapper - Welcome 2 Detroit
12 Featuring Phat Kat - Welcome 2 Detroit
13 Body Movin (feat J Rocc & Karriem Riggins) - The Shining
14 Won’t Do - The Shining
15 Don’t Cry - Ruff Draft
16 One - Welcome 2 Detroit

With a tragic story told about his friend Josh Harris and the Sundance-winning film We Live in Public, Jason wrote on his newsletter:

We’re all canaries in the coal mines now … We’re harvesting our lives and putting them online. We’re addicted to gaining followers and friends (or email subscribers, as the case may be), and reading comments we get in return. As we look for validation and our daily 15 minutes of fame, we do so at the cost of our humanity.

Fred, in response, points out that our social behavior evolves with changes in technologies and communication methods, and we as a society will be able to build real accountability while adapting this process. He then concludes with a following set of rules based on his own experience:

1. Keep your family out of it until they want to be in it

2. Be nice

3. Demand that others are nice back

4. Encourage the community to police the comments. Early on Jackson was my “bouncer” and now Kid Mercury has assumed that role

5. Take the nasty comments lightly and use humor to defuse them

6. Do not delete comments unless they are hateful to others, porn, or spam

7. Ignore the trolls even though it kills you

8. Be careful with photos. They greatest lesson I got was when I posted a photo of me on vacation looking smug. Bad move that I learned a lot from

9. Give more than you take

10. Enjoy yourself. Talking, discussing, and debating is fun. Keep it that way

The two articles can be found here. Great reads:
We Live in Public (and the end of empathy) - by Jason Calacanis
Living In Public Doesn’t Have To Be Destructive - by Fred Wilson

A fun, easy-to-digest visual representation of User Centered Design (UCD) process and its deliverables.

Created by Jeffery Callender and Peter Morvilled. PDF download available on the author’s website.

Link: User Experience Deliverables

“Part of being a successful artist is to make amazing art– seemingly effortlessly. But this is the rub– to make amazing work you have to make a lot of stuff that kinda sucks. That may seem obvious, but when you reach a place where you’re work is selling at a consistent pace and supporting yourself and your, ahem, habits, it’s very easy to feel like you’ve got it all dialed out. Making work that sucks suddenly doesn’t seem like an option, it feels like a waste of time. It’s very easy to convince yourself that everything that comes off your fingertips should be good and reflect your masterful craftmanship. When it’s not, failure is something to be disposed of quickly.”

Link: This Artist’s Life, Whitney Smith

Leave politics aside, the Obama campaign logo was a popular topic among design blogs during the election time. The interview with the design lead Sol Sender was just out on YouTube a few days ago (from the design agency VSA Partners). It’s great to hear the creative process and see the various design options being laid out in one page.

I really like the one in the final list (at 6:15). It is surprisingly inspiring.

Video Part 2: Sol Sender - Obama Logo Design Part 2 of 2
Related Article on NYT: The ‘O’ in Obama
Related Article on LogoDesignLove: Obama logo ideas that weren’t chosen