Made by Many opens the kimono, exposing their design process

by Alex Rainert 02.24.2010

The team at Made by Many is building a neat little visualization tool for SXSW to give their readers a simple + visually compelling way to keep up with the team’s activities while they’re in Austin.
Not only is the mini-product idea itself clever but they’re also exposing their ongoing iterative design process to their readers [...]

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Enabling a community to learn more about itself, thanks to Hunch

by Alex Rainert 02.19.2010

To be totally transparent, I signed up for Hunch during their beta and subsequently went back a bunch of times to explore and answer questions but felt that I never really grokked the full meaning of what they were doing.
Fast forward a few months, Chris Dixon posts a link to a Hunch Census Widget [...]

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The nookafesto makes me want to stand up on my chair and say “Oh captain, my captain.”

by Alex Rainert 02.17.2010

As far as design and product development goes, how can this list not get you totally fired up. Pow!
Nooka speaks of a world of the tomorrow that is happening right now. It seems gloriously unattainable but is here in the palm of our hands. It is optimism, it is progress, and it is our future.
Universal [...]

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“Buzz launch wasn’t flawed, Google’s intentions are”

by Alex Rainert 02.17.2010

“What Google lacks is not infrastructure, engineers, money, time or even great ideas. It’s the ability to delight users. What Google is missing, in other words, is strategic design.”
Great piece from Kontra showing how the flaws with Buzz began way before the botched launch last week.

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WIRED’s iPad demo video should inspire designers and publishers alike

by Alex Rainert 02.17.2010
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The Puma Phone: an underdog shows everyone else what “different” means

by Alex Rainert 02.17.2010

Am I going to ditch my iPhone for a Puma phone? No. I am, however, really impressed by how Puma has chosen to enter a space that’s already way over-saturated. In an industry full of me-too-ing, they clearly recognized that the only chance they have to make any mark is to come to market with [...]

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Morsel: bite-sized daily health tips delivered to your mobile phone

by Alex Rainert 02.16.2010

I really like the approach to health education GE is taking with Morsel. Naturally, the value ultimately rests in the quality of the content but as far as the way it’s presented – daily, bite-sized tips to living a healthier life that you can check off as “done” – makes it easily digestible, particularly for [...]

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Square offers up a master class in product demos

by Alex Rainert 02.11.2010

via squareup.com
The Square demo video is everything a demo video should be: clear, concise, informative, funny, good-looking and memorable. Come to think of it, that’s what we should all strive to be.

Update: My friend Dan astutely pointed out something I meant to mention – they managed to make Apple’s UUID process not a total [...]

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I’m going solo. I want you to meet Tinker. Let’s work together…

by Alex Rainert 02.08.2010

Today I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for years. I’m starting my own studio and I’m calling it Tinker. 

As those who know me might expect, Tinker is going to focus on strategy, experience design and product development in the mobile, social and emerging tech space. If my initial projects are any indication, I’ll be [...]

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Design in the Wild: Cultured Code’s Roadmap Transparency

by Alex Rainert 02.04.2010

This is one of the best examples of a company publicly showcasing their product roadmap. My other favorite is Dropbox’s Votebox section (login required) – bonus points for letting their users vote on what they want to see and have the amount of votes they have reflect their engagement with the service.
Both of these reflect [...]

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