I am an Apple superfan, I admit it. It takes a lot for me to admit that the mothership can do any wrong, even when they do. But I have to admit, the magic UX/UI team over at Apple seem to have missed the mark regarding the keyboard on the iPad.
September 19th, 2010
Written by Cynthia Thomas
@deziner
Creativity: Thought or Expression?
Translator friend @raffel just recently captured and shared in a blog post notes surrounding a discussion that was held at lab hours a few weeks back. The topic: the definition of creativity. The discussion was spawned from the talk myself and @rohdesign did for @mke_ux about sketching. In the talk, we discussed the notion that sketching is not drawing, and that people discount their ability to be creative because of their inability to draw well. My stance? Creativity is the act of thinking outside the the expected.
September 6th, 2010
Written by Cynthia Thomas
@deziner
The “A-Ha” Moment
You’ve had an a-ha moment, right? I mean we all have at some point or another. The clouds open up, the waters part, and there is the answer, the thought, the solution we’ve been struggling to find. A-ha moments also take the form of validation expressions. “A-ha! I knew it!” can be one of the most satisfying feelings, even though we don’t like to admit it. We seek these out, sometime rely on them to move ahead. Especially in creative fields, where our whole goal is to connect dots that others may not see or fathom a connection. The “a-ha!” is what we live for.
September 4th, 2010
Written by Cynthia Thomas
@deziner
Demolishing Non-Words: A Crusade
You all know what a non-word is, right? There is a plethora of them sprinkled heavily in the business, marketing & digital worlds. You know… like “strategic” and “engagement” and even “experience.” Ask 10 people what these words mean or how to achieve them and you will get 10 answers. Or at best, a very well played “well, you know it’s based on the strategy” type answer. Non-answers = non-words. Nondescript. Undefined. Not understood, yet implemented and success measured against them.
Tagged with: business, collaboration, commnications, crusade, Digital, leadership, non-word, practice, teamwork
September 1st, 2010
Written by Mark Fairbanks
@markfairbanks
Growing up with hope, growing up with digital Pt. 2
I originally wrote and published this post way back in March, before the Translator site had even launched. Subsequently, it never got tweeted or spread, because we were busy writing new stuff that got sent out into the digital ether. But this being the first day of school, I thought it would be a good time to give this story its due. The post is about my memorable experience at Milwaukee College Preparatory School as a guest speaker during career day.
It’s interesting to see what has changed in the last five months. The iPad isn’t new, and is beginning to show up in schools. In fact, my alma mater Racine St. Catherine’s (yeah, St. Kate’s) is using them this fall. I’ve also seen some of the wonderful things Spreenkler and Romke de haan have done to foster community development, getting kids involved in digital projects.
Of course, the one thing that hasn’t changed is change: the constant, daily evolution and increasing pervasiveness of digital. It’s an ever-expanding, never-ending story. For all of us working in the business, that makes every day the first day of school.
