Population distribution of the United States in units of Canadas.
More things should be measured in units of Canadas.
(via ilovecharts)
msg:
I love the simplistic, beautiful onboarding experiences that betaworks creates for its apps. The screenshots above are from the first time you open the new Dots game betaworks released. The intro experience for Tapestry was really enjoyable too.
Credit for the beauty+joy of Dots and Tapestry should go to Patrick Moberg
Dear Internet User
Hmmm… let’s see here
Dear Adventure Seeker Nope, too exciting
Dear Traveler Extraordinaire Nope, too exotic
Dear Travel Deal Lover Nope, too many words
Dear Travel Lover Nope, too obvious
Dear Person Nope, too specific
Dear Internet User <— Perfect!
It’s not easy to write great copy, but even a little bit of bad copy can stink up your entire brand.
Tokyo’s subway system is arguably one of the most complex in the world. The map itself can be an immediate turn-off for any unfamiliarized straphangar. But exactly how do all these lines run underground, overlapping as they carry hundreds of thousands of passengers each day?
Tokyo University graduate student Takatsugu Kuriyama decided to answer that question be recreating an accurate three-dimensional model of Tokyo’s lifeline by using multi-colored tubes strung with wire. Different color liquids pulsate throughout all 18 lines, creating a staggering picture of what goes on below the streets of Tokyo every day.
No Gill Sans on this subway map :)
“Conviction and enthusiasm, that’s what we should all be aiming for.”
Charles Eames’ conceptual diagram of the design process, displayed at the 1969 exhibition “What Is Design” at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris. Pinched from Gloria Koenig’s…
I love the idea that it is (just) parts of people, organizations and societies that overlap to design new and wonderful things. There’s much more still going on outside of these intersections.
Nobody and nothing can be all things at all times… but that doesn’t mean you can’t make something wonderful anyway.
Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze: Interactive Feature: Stash Your Cash
Fun and informative! Part of the CBC’s series on Secrecy for Sale.
Found via klaatu and ilovecharts but I wanted to reblog something that showed how visual this is.
Every wannabe “luxury tumblr” should embed this.
Go CBC!
This is a great read by Philip Battin on Co.Design
Hitting people over the head with everything your experience has to offer or showing them every bell and whistle in your interface is going to become a thing of the past.
Experiences that challenge the individual to participate, reward participation, and result in a complex, unique relationship with the product/service/community are where it’s at.
It took a little extra time but I found it was so worth it. I try to remember that not all of my kids have a dad at home like mine was who never (even as an adult) fails to ask me how my day was. It matters. Sometimes it’s so important to know that someone cares.
So today I cared.
I always care, don’t get me wrong, but I went out of my way to make it known. Their faces went from extreme confusion to sheer happiness in a matter of seconds. Once they caught on there were kids fidgeting in their seats just waiting for me to call their name. Most of them wanted to share. And they were honest! For those who told they were having terrible days I promised to come talk to them about it during our classwork time. It was also very cool to see my kids turn it around and ask me how my day was when I was finished. It changed the entire atmosphere of my classes.
Then I read them a passage about Tupac so they could learn to pick out claims made in an argument. You can’t have a bad day when your teacher shows she cares and then spends a class period talking about Tupac. You just can’t. It’s a proven fact.
So then I went to Subway and noticed the teen girl making my sandwich looked like she could stand to know someone cared too. So I went for it. In my peppiest teacher voice I asked her how her day was. Y’all, there was an instant grin from this girl! She told me all about how excited she was for her shift to end in an hour so she could go to the movies. It was precious.
Caring matters.
(via kenyatta)
Could this blog post help you write killer web copy?
Oh hello there.
I’m just kicking the tires on a new copywriting technique I picked up this afternoon in “Copywriting for Conversion”, a webinar by Ryan Engley from Unbounce and Johanna Wiebe from Copyhackers (Spoiler Alert: It was awesome!).
See what I did there (with the title of my post) was “cushion” the promise I’m making (to help you write killer web copy) as a question.
According to Wiebe, cushioning helps me sound less like a pushy greasy sales person who is trying to trick you into clicking on the link to my blog post (or sell whatever I’m selling) by letting you decide: Will this help me or not?
Using this technique is more likely to make you want to find out more (and don’t even pretend like you don’t want to find out whether or not this post will help you write killer web copy), as opposed to a statement like this:
“This blog post will totally help you write killer web copy!”
Which, although totally cool what with it’s bold confidence and all, also kind of makes a reader narrow their eyes a little and think “Really? Yeah, right.”
So I learned about cushioning, for those days when I don’t want to sound like a pushy greasy sales person (which is pretty much all of the days btw), and a bunch of other cool tips.
While I would recommend heading over to the Copyhackers and Unbounce websites for all the details and more, Johanna shared 4 tips (one for each part of the AIDA acronym: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) with some great examples that I would like to pass along.
1. Attention: Losing is more important than gaining
Telling the customer what your product stops them from losing is more effective than telling them what they are gaining.
An example: Save time filing your taxes -> Stop wasting time filing your taxes
2. Interest: Be specific
Being vague is often a way to make copy shorter, but being specific and getting the customer to see that your solution really fits their problem is worth spending a few extra words on
Johanna’s example: Our virtual assistants work when you do -> You start work at 6am, your virtual assistant starts work at 6am
Ryan raised a great point that this copy change also makes “our” virtual assistant “your” virtual assistant, which can be powerful technique in helping the customer envision themselves using your product/service.
3. Desire: Free = No value
Depending on how it is used, offering something (e.g., a feature, upgrade, product, etc.) for free actually makes us care less about it. Instead, saying “This one’s on us” makes people realize that you are providing them value by offering whatever it is for free.
Johanna’s example: Free shipping -> We’ll pay the shipping
This is brilliant.
4. Action: Should sound effortless
Some of the words people put on buttons, like “Buy”, “Sign-up”, or “Submit”, create friction because they make you think of a whole process that needs to unfold. Instead, use words like “Go” or “Get”, or better yet, tell the customer you will do it for them.
Johanna’s example: “Buy” “Sign-up” “Submit” -> “Go” “Get” -> “Give me access” “Connect my calendar”
And that was just the first 4 minutes of the webinar (I know right?).
