Business

Save the Touchy-Feely for the Redwoods

In Business, Emotions, TILTHW, Work on 4 February 2009 with 14 comments

I was the new guy at the company, I’d just met Allison, and here I was laying my feelings out for her. She probably thought I was nuts. And for good reason. I hadn’t earned the right to ask her to care how I felt.

Don’t Work for Assholes

In Business, TILTHW, Work on 3 February 2009 with 102 comments

I didn’t like him, but what did I know? Maybe this is just how the freelance web design business worked. I took the gig. It was, of course, a nightmare.

What’s Your Suggestion?

In Business, Design, TILTHW, Work on 13 January 2009 with 20 comments

Critique sessions are rarely about suggesting solutions. In fact, to suggest alternatives would be insulting. It’d be like someone telling Picasso to make all those brush strokes blend in more.

Pixish, Spec Work, and Graggers

In Business, Design, Pixish on 20 February 2008 with 29 comments

This post also appears in Pixish News.
During the Jewish holiday of Purim, we tell a story about a dude named Haman. He was one in a long line of history’s baddies who tried to do away with the Jews. He was so evil that, to this day, every time his name is read aloud, everyone [...]

Paul Graham’s Six Principles for Making New things

In Business on 19 February 2008 with 1 comment

I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.
When I first laid out these principles explicitly, I noticed something striking: this is practically a recipe for [...]

How Pixish Happened

In Business, Life, Pixish, Stories on 10 February 2008 with 11 comments

With some stories, it’s hard to know where to begin. I could start with my obsession with photography and magazines that goes back to when I was a kid. Or I could talk about running a newspaper in college and working at HotWired in the ’90s. Or when I started a photography magazine and a [...]

I Love You, Too, V-Moda

In Bravo, Business, Customer Service, Technology, iPhone on 24 December 2007 with 2 comments

Blogs are so often used for the “I’m outraged at this company” kinda posts, I thought I’d go out of my way to mention companies doing it right. A couple days ago I professed my love for Uline because of their excellent customer service. Today I thought I’d give a little love to V-Moda.
Shortly after [...]

Uline, I Think I Love You

In Bravo, Business, Customer Service on 22 December 2007 with 2 comments

Uline is total packing porn. Anything that needs to go into another thing to go in the mail, you can get there. Uline catalogs are cherished items in our house. Favorite items in the last one: box of rags, air in a can, bogus paper, strapping tape.
I knew I liked Uline for the sheer packaging [...]

Rule 1 for Collaborative Media: Ask First

In Business, Community, Creativity, Crowdsourcing, Internet, Justice, Photography, Technology on 17 December 2007 with 27 comments

Here’s what happened, as far as I can tell.
Lane Hartwell is a fantastic photographer. She recently went full-time with her photography career.
A few weeks ago, an acapella group called the Richter Scales did a parody of Billy Joel’s song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” with new lyrics about the internet. They made a music [...]

What’s on Your List?

In Business, Journalism, NaBloPoMo, Writing on 19 November 2007 with Comments Off

So me and six thousand of my friends are participating in National Blog Posting Month right now, which means we’ve all agreed to post to our blogs every day of November. I don’t know about my fellow NaBloPoMo-ers, but today’s the nineteenth day of this and I’m getting to the bottom of the barrel. So [...]