It’s time for the design community to follow in developers’ footsteps and fundamentally realign its focus. We need to think about products over posters and people over page views. We need this to happen at every level: in design schools, in design writing, and in the things we celebrate online and in person. We have a new purpose: elevate design and help change the world.

Good stuff, great message from An Important Time for Design on A List Apart from Cameron Koczon.

A Defining Moment

I felt there was one voice we still hadn't heard from, that of the people in the industry who actually have shaped Flash in the last 10+ years and those who will shape the future. Those who make the work.

An interesting article from Rob Ford over on thefwa from November of last year where industry leaders were asked for their opinions about Adobe's decision to discontinue support for Flash on mobile devices. This may seem like a small thing to many, but for those of us who have been working with digital and interactive mediums for the last decade or so it is a pretty big shift in perspective. Flash, in many ways, helped shape the Web that we know today and provided for a level of creativity that was difficult to match with other tools (and in many ways still is). It is understandable that this news has brought with it so much intense debate, and I believe that we will look back on this period of time as one of those defining moments in the history of the Web -- a next step in evolution.

For now, I think that Flash will move from being a primary Web creation tool to a niche product that is used in on-line gaming, video, and desktop applications. It still has its place, and likely will for some time.

Nevertheless, the Web changes daily, and it only makes sense that the tools we use change as well. There is one key theme in the article that I think is worth repeating -- things that any designer working in this space should remember:

The best digital experiences transcend technology. There will always be new tools, and a constant need to adapt to an ever-changing market.

Great advice.

A Case for the Digital Designer

The design profession has expanded broadly and rapidly into digital media over the past ten years. This phenomenon has brought a wealth of new people, skills, research and techniques into the profession and allowed us to accomplish things we never could have dreamed of before this growth. There were (and still are) many benefits to this expansion, but also a few drawbacks. And as I look across the digital landscape, I fear we are beginning to loose our identity. As designers, we are so caught up in defining ourselves by the most recent niche or specialization to materialize in the industry that we are failing to realize the impact this is having on our field -- that with every new title or label that surfaces we are eroding our identity more and more.

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Guidelines for Digital Branding

Every day I read articles and see comments about how branding (and subsequently marketing) is changing because of digital media, and how this is a necessary change to survive in the world that we now live in. This may be true, but very few brands are making this change successfully. 

Too often companies rush in to establish an on-line presence thinking that the existence of a Web site or a Facebook page means that they have 'arrived' and that all of their customers will suddenly flock to them with open arms simply because they are posting news articles or re-purposing their twitter feed. 

They are subsequently disappointed by the lack of engagement. They try to use the number of followers or friends or likes or page views as a metric to justify the time and effort spent despite the fact that the awareness of their brand is nonexistent and the participation in their programs has not increased at all.

So why is this? Why are brands struggling to make an impact with digital media?

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The Emotional Side of an Experience

A successful experience, whether online or off, requires both intellectual and emotional attributes. The intellectual attributes provide for the tasks necessary for information gathering, learning and comprehension. The emotional attributes spark our curiosity, keep us engaged, and build trust.

In the past 10 years or so, we have seen a definite push towards emphasizing the emotional side of an experience, and with good reason. Emotional attributes are largely responsible for audience awareness, engagement and loyalty and are seen by many (including myself) as the cornerstone of emotional and social branding.

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