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Jam Tracks and Black Keys
As a jazz student turned web designer, I’m a sucker for articles that draw parallels between music theory and our industry. This one is simple, but it makes a great point.
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How Basecamp Next got to be so damn fast without using much client-side UI
DHH on how 37signals has managed to make the next version of their flagship product so fast. Bottom line: cache everything.
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Behind the scenes: Reinventing our Default Profile Pictures
The smart guys at 37signals have redesigned the ddefault avatar for Basecamp in a clever, fun, and unexpected way.
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Behind the scenes: 37signals.com Redesign
Great post by Jamie at 37signals about the process of redesigning their main site. 37 has always had a terrific grasp of interaction design, usability, and messaging, but recently they’re really stepped up their game on the visual end, as well. Gotta think Jamie has had something to do with that. Really nice to see the design iterations for what is, ultimately, a really nicely-done site.
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Sites that landed jobs at 37signals
An interesting look at some sites that caught the attention of the folks at 37.
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Why we don’t skip Photoshop
Yesterday, our friends at 37signals started an interesting discussion on their blog with a post entitled Why we skip Photoshop. But the post actually has very little to do with the actual tool (Adobe Photoshop), and is really more related to workflow.
37signals doesn’t do a visual composite phase in the process of developing their products. Instead, they jump directly from rough sketches (on paper or in their heads) to development using HTML and CSS. At Blue Flavor, we go from rough sketches to creating high fidelity visual comps that look as close to the finished product as possible before diving into HTML and CSS.
So who’s right? The answer is simple: we both are.
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SvN: Little tweaks, huge impact
> Southwest Airlines started flying slower about two months ago, and projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes.
Wow, insane. And awesome.
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SvN: Are you sure you want to be in San Francisco?
While I’m not sure I agree with David’s assertion that being in the Bay Area can actually hurt your chances at being a successful web startup, I absolutely agree with the idea that there’s no need to be there — you can build a great web app just about anywhere.
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Incredible typography on the Seed Conference site
For anyone who still thinks it’s not possible to create beautiful typesettings using HTML and CSS. Well done, Coudal!
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Wired: Keep It Simple, Stupid
Wired’s story on 37signals is a good read — fair, balanced, and interesting. There are a few factual inaccuracies and a few odd comments (like “they would rather fail than adapt,” in the last paragraph), but overall it’s quite well-done.
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37signals: 10 ways to “get ink”
A great post from Matt over at 37signals about how to get publicity. I’ve had a few people write me asking how they can get their blog “out there” — I’d think all of these tips apply equally well to individual bloggers as they do to companies like 37.
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Ask 37signals: Getting real breaks a stalemate
If you ignore the tired “getting real” brand masturbation, there are some really good thoughts in here.
In fact, that could be said about pretty much every post on SVN.
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37s: Lessons on shutting down a service from Yahoo! Photos
Couldn’t agree more with 37signals on this one: the Yahoo! Photos shutdown has been extremely well-handled. Well done, Yahoo!
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Crain’s interview with Jason Fried of 37signals
Jason talks about structure, competing with free stuff, getting people to pay, and more. Probably nothing new here, if you read SvN, but it’s still great stuff. I’ve had my share of negative things to say about the guy’s smug attitude at various times, but lately I’ve felt like he’s been much more down to earth and not so full of himself. And, he’s always had the good to back up the ego. Check it out.
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The 38th Signal
Awesome.
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Highrise: Early stats, Cases for all, the new Solo plan, and more disk space!
I’m really impressed by 37signals response to their customer’s feedback about the pricing structure and limitations of the launch version of Highrise.
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Highrise
The latest app from 37signals looks like another beauty. You can get a limited free account, but it seems like you have to pay $50/mo. for the cases feature, which seems like the most killer part of the deal. Nonetheless, $50/mo is a small price to pay for someone who really needs this kind of app (and there are lots of those people). All in all, looks great — which is no surprise, judging by the quality of the other 37signals apps. Check it out.
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SvN: A spoon or a jackhammer?
Although it’s not exactly what Jason is saying in his post, I think the spoon/jackhammer comparison applies even more directly to agile web app framework versus monolithic Java environment discussion. Rails is their spoon. And if Rails is a spoon, Django is a spork. :)
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37s SvN: Election night graphics
SvN looks at various graphics for election night.
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Getting Real: now online, for free
I read the PDF version of the 37signals book quite a while ago and really liked it. I don’t believe all of their methods will work for everyone, but at lot of them will work for a lot of people, and that makes it worth your read.
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37signals featured in a video on Apple’s site
Nice short profile of 37signals (specifically, Jason and David) and their use of Macs at 37signals. Even if their attitudes and personalities seem a bit over the top at times, there is a lot to like about 37signals’ philosophies and processes. I hve a great deal of respect for these guys.
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500 responses to the question, “What is Web 2.0?”
37s asked 500 of its Basecamp customers “What is Web 2.0?” The results are perhaps the strongest evidence yet that “Web 2.0” is a completely meaningless term. There are some damn funny answers in there, though. My favorite? “It means rounded corners, gradients, DHH, 37s, beta, and no clear revenue plan.”
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Backpack Calendar
The long-awaited Backpack calendar is available — and it’s quite nice. 37signals did their usual bang-up job with it. I’m dissapointed, though, that it doesn’t support iCalendar’s to-do lists (it only handles events). This is not limited to Backpack calendar — gCal and several other web-based calendar apps that claim to support iCalendar also ignore tasks. Why is that?
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Fireside Chat: Richard Bird, Jim Coudal, and Carlos Segura
Another great chat transcript at SvN, this time with three longtime professional designers. Well worth reading. As a sidenote, it’s great to see 37signals posting things to SvN again that aren’t stories about how great they are.
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Fireside Chat with Khoi Vinh and Jeffrey Veen at SvN
A nice idea from the guys at 37s, Khoi and Veen joined them in a Campfire room for a informal chat. Haven’t read it fully yet, but I’d listen to Khoi Vinh read the phonebook, so you can bet I will.
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SvN: Real world Getting Real™
37signals lays claim to all uses of common sense, rebranding it “Getting Real™.” Basically, if you do something smart, you’re Getting Real™. Be sure to pay your license fee.
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Basecamp API
Cool of 37s to do this. I’m not sure the Basecamp API will prove as useful as a photo (Flickr) or maps (Google) API, but I’m sure some creative people will come up with interesting things to do with it, no less.
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SvN: A hiring tip
Assuming all things are basically equal, always hire the better writer. I couldn’t agree more.
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TaDaList, free from 37signals
Discussion topic: why does everything the guys at 37signals do absolutley rock?
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Stand Up For Your Rights
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Jeff Croft
I’m a digital product designer and developer in Seattle, WA. I currently work with nGen Works, and recently co-founded Lendle, a Kindle book sharing service.
Some of my clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Copious, The New York Review of Books, The Lawrence Journal-World, and the University of Washington.
I’ve authored two books on web and interactive design and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world.
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