Clearleft offers free training to budding conference speakers | February 3, 2010

In order to get more people in the design scene speaking at events like SillSwap, BarCamp and even dConstruct or UX London, I’ve been toying with the idea of organising a free public speaking course. It would be held on a yet-to-be-determined Saturday at the Clearleft offices in Brighton and would focus on practical, hands-on tuition.

Posted at 4:57 PM | Comments (12)

The best products sell them selves | January 27, 2010

The concept of ‘Pull Marketing’ is all the rage at the moment. In the age of the Mad Men, selling a new product was easy. You’d be handed a commodity product like toothpaste or washing powder and set about building a brand to set it apart from the competition. You would then buy advertising space on a small number of influential marketing channels and wait for the sales to roll in. The growth of multi-channel TV, the commercialisation of radio and the rise of desktop publishing in the 80s fragmented audiences, making it hard to get the message out. However it was the appearance of the Internet that changed marketing for ever.

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Information Anxiety | January 23, 2010

One of the problems of working in the knowledge economy is the constant need to keep abreast of current trends and thinking. This would be fine if you worked in a mature industry or one with a limited number of books, papers and conferences appearing each year. However in the knowledge economy of the web, more information is being published every day than could be consumed in a year. What’s more, that pace is increasing.

Posted at 9:47 PM | Comments (28)

Good products are one in a million | January 20, 2010

1. I have an idea for a thing (1 million people)
2. I tried to build a thing (50,000 people)
3. I built a thing that works (10,000 people)
4. I built a thing that people use (1,000)
5. I built a thing that’s easy to use (50 people)
6. I built a thing that people enjoy using (5 people)
7. I built a thing that people love (1 person)

Posted at 11:55 AM | Comments (3)

7 Ways to Improve your Public Speaking | January 3, 2010

As a self confirmed conference junkie I speak at a dozen events each year, and attend many more. As such I’ve probably seen close to a thousand talks over the last five years. Because of this I’ve got a pretty good idea what makes for an exciting talk and how you can guarantee your session will suck.

As somebody who also organises two conferences, UX London and dConstruct I’m really keen on getting new talent into the speaking circuit while still maintaining quality. As such I’ve put together a quick guide to help both new and experienced speakers kick arse/ass.

Most of these tips aren’t new, but you’ll be surprised how few people actually follow them. However if you do, you’ll be well on your way to being the next Jeff Veen, Jared Spool or Jason Santa Maria.

Posted at 9:10 PM | Comments (29)

More on the sorry state of web design education | December 2, 2009

Yesterday I documented my thoughts and observations on the standard of digital design education. From talking to current and recent students I’ve shared their frustrations as they bemoan being taught out-of-date technologies by lecturers far removed from the daily practices of design. Through visiting degree show I’ve witnessed a slew of substandard work caused by an over reliance of tool based education and a lack of design thinking ( If I witness one more Flash portfolio in the shape of a designers studio I think I’m going to cry.) So where does this problem arise from and what can be done?

Posted at 5:39 PM | Comments (40)