The Fireworks Project Logo is Done

I'm really excited to be done with our logo. It seems silly, but this is a big milestone for the Fireworks project. We're an open, online company, and we designed this logo using only online collaboration tools. Most of the credit is due to Martin Hipp, who did the lion share of the graphical design work. Why is this significant? Because, if we can learn to design, build, and innovate using online collaboration tools, then we can engage with and share ideas with anyone in the world who has access to an occasional internet connection. Our talent pool then becomes much larger than just the people who work within the 4 walls of a typical brick and mortar organization. So, while a logo is not such a big deal, leaning to design and build something online is a big deal. So what did we learn? Constant communication is key. Use twitter, instant chat, and news groups to leave messages and critique to everyone working on the project. Do this constantly. Nobody should go more than a day without either responding to an ongoing discussion or starting a new one. We didn't do this very well and the project lost momentum whenever we lost contact. When designing it is also very easy to get caught up in a design contest of sorts. This should be avoided, because it is an inefficient use of everyone's time. Instead of trying to create "knock your socks of" designs right out of the gate, the whole team would be better served if each member worked on creating minimal sketches of their ideas. Each sketch should only have enough detail to simply communicate the idea, and nothing more. A sketch could be on any medium, but for graphical design it is often easiest to use the typical computer graphics tools. In general, the guidelines I outlined in a previous post still hold true. Now, with our first project under our belt, I'm really excited to keep moving and learn how to improve our online workflow. Our next project is our website, and you can follow along here.

The Fireworks Project Website Design

At the Fireworks Project, we are in the midst of designing our home page. We are an open, member managed company, so we are working with a team from around the globe without any face to face collaboration time. There are some challenges, but it is going to be interesting to see what comes out of it, and a big sense of satisfaction in having done it. So at the time of this post we are in the layout and navigational wire frame phase. We have some constraints, and a couple of wire frames that we are currently working on. Remember, that this phase of the design process is focused on layout and navigational elements, so although suggestions for colours, logo, and other graphical elements is welcome, what we really need to hear is your thoughts on the layout. So let's get down to business and get some critique. Concept A is available here. Concept B is available here. 1. The first bit we need some comments on is the content switching mechanism we are using. The problem: Our home website needs to reach late adopter users of our software, whom we target. (They are not on Facebook or Twitter and often enter URL's into the Google search bar). The site also needs to reach technically proficient graphical designers and user experience designers. And, to make things even more difficult, we also need to reach an open source community of developers. Each of these knowledge domains has a unique language jargon used within the domain, and cannot be mixed with others... A content strategists nightmare. The solution: Available in Concept A and B are content switching tabs on the left side of the relevant content area which you can see in this screen shot on the left. JavaScript code smoothly transitions the content from one knowledge domain language to another. Pitfalls: Accessibility issues will have to be worked out for users that have to use screen readers or are unable to use a mouse. Awesomeness: We don't need to have different websites, which creates brand confusion, and we don't have to have different URL's for different content types. 2. Our second sticky bit is the layout of the navigational elements. The problem: As a company focused on user experience, we want more than 1 word hints on our navigation buttons indicating where they will take you and what you will find when you get there. This means our buttons are going to be larger than normal to fit the extra text. The Solution: Well, we don't have a good solution yet... So, a little help would be appreciated. Concept A lays them out horizontally, while concept B lays them out vertically. Personally I like the look of horizontal navigation, but in our case the typeface within them would need to be quite small to fit 5 large buttons across the top of the screen along side a logo header. While the vertical buttons in concept B provides plenty of space for large text, they complicate the layout of the rest of the page by hanging down so far.

So, help us out and lend your expertise in the comments here. And while you're at it, if you are not already a member of the Fireworks Project, then check it out.

Open Cloud Manifesto

I hate the term 'cloud computing'. The term is constantly redefined by firms slapping the 'cloud computing' label on all their products to encourage a sale. What's more, it is mostly just a bunch of ideas that have been around for a while, and now the technology industry seems ready to embrace it as a way to push more product. But, we have to admit that, love it or hate it, cloud computing is going to define the future of our economy, our social structure, and our culture. At the Fireworks Project we are betting all our money on one horse named cloud computing. It is a big leap of faith, but then you don't cross a chasm by taking little steps. But, there are a few things that need to get fixed first. So, the trick to making all this work is to, first, get the IT industry to make up its mind about what cloud computing actually means. The second problem, which is just as hairy as the first, is to decide on the standards that will actually make the whole notion tangible. There are many well established standards that can simply be applied "as is", but there are a couple of holes that have yet to be filled in, despite the valiant efforts of Google and WHATWG. The technology industry can benefit greatly from a multilateral agreement, and avoiding an all out nuclear war of proprietary protocols. I'm advocating the Open Cloud Manifesto, which has set up a discussion forum to explore cloud computing, of which the Fireworks Project intends to be a part of. Also, some interesting reading material on cloud computing by Time O'Reilly if you have not read it already.