Greenwala - The Green Social Network

Social networks are not created equal. First, the primary function of a social network must be established. Is it a job seeker's social network (OC JobTalk), a video sharing network (Vimeo), a political network (Rock The Vote), a network to reconnect with friends (Facebook), or even a specific interest network (Greenwala)? After the function has been decided, the design must be implemented. To me, a unified design must be prominent or the network will never reach its full potential. Factors such as user interface design, visual hierarchy, available community functions like blogs/videos/groups, the ability for users to intuitively navigate back and forth through the network connecting to the people they want, and many other factors contribute to a social network's success and must be easy to use.

I recently joined Greenwala, "The green social network". This year Greenwala is combatting deforestation by planting a tree for every member who joins. Its goal is to plant one million trees and create a million-member community engaged in the green revolution. That ambitious challenge alone sealed the deal for me when I signed up earlier this month.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first arrived at their homepage. But, I like what I see and I like what I get. A large interactive component featuring videos, products, articles, and contests. An easy, and prominent interactive navigation bar. A large news feed similar to Facebook's that updates in real time with user generated content. When you join as a member, all of your relative content (profile, blog, classifieds, videos, events, friends, groups, and photos) and a large personal photo is consistently in the right column of every page. I appreciate the large photo and information throughout the website because it makes each page feel personalized for me.

Overall, Greenwala meets my expectations of user-centered functionality and appealing design, and it exceeds my expectations for a social network with a cause. The cause to go green should be on everyone's mind right now (Greenwala posts the figures to prove that).

Find and connect with me on Greenwala, have a tree planted in your name, and learn how fun it is to go green.

Plane Stupid Polar Bear Commercial

In an analysis of this video by NPR's "All Things Considered," Andrew Revkin addresses that the claims made by Plane Stupid are true, but more importantly asks whether the analogy is strong enough to influence people to change their minds to begin with. Are polar bears the strongest metaphor of the impacts of excessive greenhouse gas emissions and climate change? Meaning, can people really relate to the polar bears of the Arctic, when most people will never set foot on Arctic tundra? Possibly, to most people, the Arctic will only be a place they visit in their minds. Unless people are exposed to videos, programs, and movies such as those seen on PBS or the National Geographic Channel, the general public might not consider their everyday consumer choices, or use of air travel to commute, as the video targets, to be affecting the arctic.

What other analogies could be drawn to the carbon emissions from air travel, and how would they be illustrated?

(While it is true that current air travel carbon emissions are less than a few percent of all emissions globally, when the world population reaches 9 billion people in 2050, how will all of those people choose to traverse our tiny, pale blue dot?)

Nationwide Insurance: Empty promises?

Yeah, it's a great environmental installation, but, what the heck is up with the Nationwide logo? Empty promises? You missed a spot? iPod? Pantone swatch? What does an empty box represent for an insurance company? Look at that copy on the building. It dwarfs the logo. The logo has no presence. The letter forms all merge together when seen on that scale.

INDEX: Design to improve life

Ultimately, I want to design to improve life.

http://www.designtoimprovelife.dk/

Favorite Quotes from GETTING A DESIGN JOB by RitaSue Siegel, IDSA

Favorite Quotes from GETTING A DESIGN JOB by RitaSue Siegel, IDSA
Here I present a collection of my favorite quotes from Getting a Design Job, a free, 67 page PDF formatted book written by RitaSue Siegel of IDSA. All quotes are by RitaSue Siegel unless otherwise noted. The PDF book is available on AIGA's website. Click here for the link.



"Today, designers are held to a higher standard. Their cognitive skills—thinking, imagining, remembering, learning, perceiving, making judgments and reasoning—are considered essential to getting the most from the design process, as well as in making a valid choice from alternatives that will impact an organization’s bottom line —“economic, social and environmental.”




"Organizations today expect their designers to play a central role in the job of innovation."




"Designers have learned to explain the value of design by how it contributes to innovation, branding, identity, positioning, ergonomics, communication, user experience, interaction, sustainability, emotional triggers, meaningfulness, aspirational behavior, the adoption cycle, etc."




"In design schools, aesthetics increasingly has become subtext and students learn early to define and defend their designs in business terms."


Today, there is an understanding in the US that design adds value, not only to differentiate one organization’s products, communications, environments, experiences and services from another’s (an earlier mantra), but also that design can frame and mold the quality of the emotional and/or rational experiences people have with them at every touch point.



"The best designers use heads and hands. We want designers who create thoughtful, meaningful designs that pay attention to details and have emotion and craft in them as well as reason and cleverness.”
- Dan Saffer at Adaptive Path



“What the eye admires, the heart desires."
- Chuck Jones of Whirlpool



"Design has evolved away from traditional form giving to becoming an integral part of corporate strategy."
- Niti Bhan




"[Design thinking] is the perfect complement to analytical thinking. Design thinking is based on insight, experimentation, and prototyping, while analytical thinking is data and planning based."
-Niti Bhan




"We work and live in a global economy. It makes sense that design for global companies be done locally and globally."



"At one point, I asked my co-workers to please not use the words brand, strategy and interactive, unless their use contributed to understanding or definition. Now user-centered, ethnography, persona, scenario, belief system, storytelling, journey, co-creation, story boarding, sustainability and design thinking have joined the lexicon along with design planning and one from the mid-80s: design language. "



“Competitive advantage lies in the ability to create an organization driven not by cost efficiencies but by ideas and intellectual know-how.”
- Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones




In the 21st century, capital is easier to come by than talent.
- Roger Martin and Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, “Capital Versus Talent,” Harvard Business Review, July 2003



"The capacity for creative thinking is common to all."



"Competency" means adequacy; "talent" means an ability of superior quality.




The following observation sums up the basic frustration for anyone involved in recruiting and assessment:
For designers to be successful in a job:
■ Talent is necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Passion is necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Training is necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Team orientation is necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Knowledge is necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Technical skills are necessary, but not sufficient.
■ Effective management is necessary, but not sufficient.
Talent [and passion] are the only necessary conditions for job success that employers cannot provide to their employees and schools cannot provide to their students. And there needs to be chemistry.
15 Bob Gately, IT recruiting consultant,
Hopedale, MA, TechRepublic
blog, March 2, 2006, modified

Did this Sprint mailer need to be this big?

Look how big that thing is. Heavy paper. It came in the mail. How much did it cost to produce and mail that? It's not particularly attractive and the only reason I opened it was to see what the layout was like... I'm on T-mobile and have no intention of canceling my agreement before it's over. I suspect a normal person in my situation would have trashed this in a second.

I think the main thing that got me was that I ripped it when I opened it because the flaps weren't designed right...

Reading about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has gotten me excited about designing for social change. It makes me think about where I want to be in 20 years. It makes me think about what kind of designer I want to be and who I want to influence. I don't think I will ever be content with myself if I am not working for social change. I believe that everything we are doing today will directly influence what the world looks like in 100 years -- just a moment in time. I believe that as a designer, I have a responsibility to help make society aware that the choices they make, however small they may be, directly effect their neighbors on all corners of the planet.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. It takes 5 years for a piece of plastic to leave the shore and reach the Garbage Patch.

I met Timm Kekeritz (Interaction Designer at IDEO in San Francisco), at the AIGA LA Student Portfolio Review this past April where he gave a lecture titled "Design Should Matter." The presentation asked designers to aim their design at influencing society to reduce consumption.

At the end of his presentation I asked him this question: Isn't there a conflict when you design for clients who promote consumption, like CocaCola for example, and in turn telling consumers not to buy CocaCola? CocaCola won't be happy that you're influencing their consumers not to buy their product.

He told me he had thought that question would come up. His response was slow, but honorable. Timm told us that as designers, we should influence our clients to change their business practices and their products.

Design has power, and I believe that strong design can be an effective source for social change.

Welcome to my design blog!

Hi. I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now, and here it is. Stay tuned as I customize it and fill it up with everything that inspires me, as well as projects I'm working on.

Yours truly,
Brian

Bkmrk'd

These are my two most frequented design resources. My Saturday mornings at Tuttle-Click are spent browsing these great design resources.

PagePlane is a constantly updated design blog maintained by Chuck Green.

The Logo Factory is an online design studio based out of Canada. They do a great service for new designers by providing case studies and offering design tips.