Rikcat Industries

This morning I came across this article on netbooks in my feed reader and a quote at the end of the first page really stood out. “In the process of creating a laptop to satisfy the needs of poor people, she revealed something about traditional PC users. They didn’t want more out of a laptop—they wanted less.” That’s a pretty profound statement that all designers should consider when making a product or design.

There is a sweet spot between simplicity and complexity, a sort of supply-demand curve for an effective design. Although netbooks are cheaper to make and would see increased demand because of that, the constraints of having to make the product cheaper for a specific demograpic enabled innovation. That innovation opened up the product to a mainstream audience.

As designers, we should embrace restrictions and constraints. It’s the essential difference between art and design. I’ve talked about simplicity a bunch of times in previous posts, but this article has illustrated that simplicity can also be an innovation.

From time to time I get emails from people asking about design education & career advice. I have a different perspective on this topic because my path was different than most designers. I went to a small art school that was primarily an illustration & sequential art school called the Kubert School. The school did not offer a degree, but I learned a lot in a short period of time. After completing the program, I felt that I learned a lot but wasn’t equipped to do a real world job. …

There is no doubt there are many more reasons then just three to love Flickr, but these are my top three. My first exposure to Flickr was in late 2004, prior to them being bought by Yahoo. Its early use of Ajax, in place of editing and other user interface enhancements, made Flickr stand out and unique. Below are some of the features and qualities that make Flickr my favorite site and one that I visit and use everyday. …

I’m a huge proponent of open platforms and open API’s, so when Google announced Open Social I was excited. After thinking about it for a bit, I’m not so sure about it now. It’s great for developers to have exposure to these host services’ large user-bases, but at what cost to the hosts brand? The thought of a Facebook style Vampire application on Linkedin just doesn’t sit right. …

There have been a lot of XHTML/CSS services that have popped up recently. Seems like anyone with a text editor and a copy of Web Standards Solutions is setting up shop. I’ve seen a range of prices from $150-$300 per page, but I’m sure in this case the old adage is true: you get what you pay for. …

A couple of weeks ago, someone posed the question “Does IMing make you more or less productive?” on Linkedin’s Answers forum. I thought it was a really good question and I can see how IMing can make you less productive, but I also know the value of using it in a team environment.

I find IMing to be an invaluable tool for working in a team. Email is a passive medium where response times are not immediate and can get lost in a rapidly filling inbox. …

Currently, there are no standards for HTML e-mail and coding HTML e-mail involves reverting to the coding practices from 1999. Tables are a must for structure and this is limited CSS support for most email clients. There are so many different e-mail clients and testing for all of them is a nightmare.

Recently, there was a post on the Campaign Monitor blog about the need for standards in HTML e-mail. Having toiled with HTML e-mail for years, it would be a huge step forward if e-mail clients would render HTML to some standard. Even if it isn’t the exact standard that is used for web browsers, anything would be better than the current state of HTML e-mail. …

Wow, I just read this article called “The Nature of Talent” over at Freelance Switch and I couldn’t agree more with its author. I’ve been feeling and saying this for years about how people perceive talent. It’s a great article on the subject and I’ve added my two cents below.

Talent and creativity is not some magic fairy dust, it’s hard work. I’ve had many people over the years say “you’re talented” and I’m always gracious and accept their compliment, …

About a month ago Facebook released Facebook Platform. It’s a way in which people and companies can build applications within the Facebook social network. It received a ton of buzz when it was released and a lot of misguided people anointing it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, some of the hype is starting to run its course. I noticed two articles recently, one from Jason Calacinis and one on Wired.com that are starting to look at Facebook with a more critical eye. …

As a web designer, I have to deal with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) a lot. (between you and me, a lot more then I would like to). My opinion on SEO is that it is 99% best practices, good marketing and good content. The other 1% percent is the gray area that takes up a larger percentage of my time. SEO is important, but it’s not some magic elixir that is the answer to all your site’s problems. I try to design for human users and not for Googlebot. …