I haven’t had this Micro.Blog site for long, but I’ve written at my other site – Sketchbook B – for almost 15 years.1 Over time, my long form blog posts there developed a pattern. I had a basic structure with headers, footnotes, divider lines and a bio at the end. And I want to replicate some of that here and needed a post to experiment with. This is that post.2
I’ve already been using an H2 as a subhead and I like the way that looks. Like many writers, I often want to add footnotes as I write. Over on Sketchbook B, I used asterisks, but since I’m writing in Markdown, that’s kind of a pain in the ass. So I figured I’d go with superscript numbers, which is more conventional anyway.3 I continue to use divider lines to separate the body of the post from the footnotes, and a second divider line between the footnotes and a bio.
I’m not sure what I want to do with the bio. I found that most of my traffic came from Google, so the reader was dropping in on my site with no idea who I was. For now, I’ve decided to go with the shortest one sentence bio that I could and set it at the end in italics.
One aspect that I haven’t yet decided on is images. On my Squarespace-hosted site, each post had a preview image and I’d include a post image. So far on bobwertz.com, I don’t need a preview image, but I do think I want to create some type of standard post image to include under the subhead. I’ll keep experimenting, but I feel good about my basic post format.
I’m going to keep writing at Sketchbook B, but the content will be mostly Adobe Creative Cloud tips.
I’m using a trial of MarsEdit right now. And I really love the preview engine that lets me see how this is going to look, even before I post it. Looks like I’ll be purchasing a license.
I don’t love how the superscripts mess with the overall line spacing. It just feels wrong. I may try to come up with another approach.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
This year was unexpected. Just about nothing went as planned — sometimes better, sometimes worse. Looking back over my photos, I took fewer “artsy” shots and mostly focused on my family. Here are my favorite shots from the past year, starting top left:
Evening snowfall. We don’t get much snow in Columbia, South Carolina. When it snowed in the evening in January, every thing was peaceful and serene… and then it was fun and chaotic, when all neighborhood kids came outside to play in the snow.
Norah’s prom. Our oldest headed to prom and had a great time with her friends.
Jill’s birthday. There are nine candles on the cake. Not the correct number of candles, but the perfect amount of light.
Soda City Market. We headed to our local market and took this picture as we were leaving. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here — Jill hugs her kettle corn while Ryan proudly presents a giant carrot — but I love the shot.
Ryan playing the viola. Ryan started playing the viola this year and seems to enjoy it.
Sunrise at Hilton Head. Took a trip to Hilton Head with the family and woke up early enough to catch sunrise.
Lizzy’s birthday selfie. Here’s the thing… Our selfies are typically terrible and we have to take a bunch to get anything usable, but I grabbed this shot at Liz’s birthday dinner and we both like it. So it has to be one of my favorites.
Skee-Ball. I love skee-ball, and this beautiful skee-ball machine was at the arcade where we had Ryan’s birthday party.
This is the fifth year I’ve done a Favorite 8. You can see my previous posts from 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 on my other site, Sketchbook B.
Picking out my favorite pictures from the last year.
Back in 2018, Instagram users started posting their algorithmically-generated “Best Nine” — essentially the nine shots from the year that had the most likes. When I looked at mine, the images that everyone else liked weren’t necessarily my favorite pictures from the previous year. I enjoyed the process of digging through all the images from the previous year — many of which I had forgotten about. I curated and built my #Fav8 in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. If you are interested in learning more about the thought process behind Favorite 8, the 2018 post has the most detail.
This year, I’m not posting to Twitter, so I’m ditching the #Fav8 hashtag and just going with “Favorite 8.” Although on Micro.Blog, I’m thinking ❤️8️⃣ might be appropriate.
In the past, several friends have done this too, so this is just a reminder that it’s time to start working on selecting your Favorite 8 shots from 2022. I’ll probably post mine next week.
There’s lots of hype about Mastodon as people flee Twitter, but lately, I’ve been thinking about how brands will function on federated social sites.
If the big brands in the world are going to give Mastodon a shot, they aren’t going to just join an existing instance… they’ll host their own server for all of their related accounts. Let’s say you are a large international brand like Starbucks. Are you going to use @starbucks@mastodon.social? Not when you can have @official@starbucks.com, @news@starbucks.com, and @customercare@starbucks.com. If you run your own instance, you never have to worry about someone grabbing a handle you wanted to use. No worries about the content moderation policy on the instance you’ve selected. And because of the way ActivityPub works, your posts will be visible across Mastodon and other compatible services. As a bonus, it’s much harder for a fraudulent account to spoof you if you connect your federated social account to your primary domain name.
(In reality, someone will create a service to manage this for brands and charge big money for it, because there is no way a corporate IT department is going to accept the risk of running a Mastodon instance.)
When the internet was becoming popular, I remember being told that traditional media was just broadcasting. The internet promised more than just broadcasting, it offered “engagement.”
Don’t let people fool you. Engagement happened before the internet. People read the newspaper and talked about stories with their family and friends. They watched the evening news and discussed it at the water cooler at work the next day. They wrote letters to the editor to express their agreement or disapproval. They called radio shows to ask questions. They bought classified ads to share a job listing or sell a car. People engaged with media before the internet.
Instead, what the internet offered was an instant, two-way feedback loop between publisher and audience. Comments on blogs and news sites led the way. Then, social media provided the ultimate in real time engagement with metrics that let you track everything.
Instant response. Maximum engagement. Integrated with the content.
And how has that worked out? Thoughtful comments on blogs were quickly drowned out with spam. News sites were filled with reactionary opinions. Social media offered both reactionary opinions and spam and as a bonus channeled hate and harassment. Managing commentary takes as much staff and resources as creating the content, but people love providing their opinion and arguing their point of view, which drives traffic. And that traffic was the most important thing to the companies like Facebook and Twitter that sell the advertising that surrounds the hate.
As Twitter implodes and some people look for what’s next, I think we need to reexamine the relationship between publishing and engagement. Creation and commentary. True engagement is what follows when we create high-quality, beneficial content. We need to restore a focus on publishing the content, not just on the commentary. And our new technologies need to support that balance.
P.S. One of the things I like about Micro.Blog is the absence of metrics. No follower counts. No likes. No retweets. If you are used to obsessively checking how many likes your last post got, the absence of metrics takes a little getting used to, but it resets the balance between publishing and engagement.
P.S.S. It occurs to me that the most profitable company in the world, Apple, creates a lot of content without maintaining a traditional social media presence.
I’m been an AIGA member for much of my professional career. I was active at a chapter level for over a decade. Over that time, people repeatedly tried to reimagine the central organization, its chapter system and its funding mechanisms. No one was ever satisfied. They wanted to make it better, and then every designer would want to join and help change the world.
And yet, the organization got smaller.
AIGA has meant a lot to me and it definitely helped my career, but structurally, it’s been broken for a long time. It was built in a pre-Internet era. A time when the only way you got to see a legendary designer was to go to a conference or have them come to a local AIGA chapter. When networking was done primarily at the local bar. A time when being aligned with a large national organization gave you needed credibility and clout.
But now, YouTube means you can see all of your favorite designers deliver inspirational talks from the comfort of your own home. You can network with anyone, anywhere, anytime. The world changed, but the structure remained, and that was before the pandemic hit.
AIGA isn’t alone. Lots of member-based organizations are trying to figure out how to move forward. These organizations can bring value to their members, but they will need to embrace a different approach, building valuable online communities that may or may not be connected with local chapters.
In the end, we’ll see how AIGA’s latest re-envisioning works out. I’m optimistic, but time will tell if they are able to make the hard choices.
It seems like everything is going to subscription pricing. I subscribe to a whole host of streaming services, bundles, news sites, and software. Many of them don’t always seem worth the money, but as I look at what I subscribe to, I realize that I don’t mind supporting products and creators that I love. So here are a list of services that I really, really like and happily pay for:
I backed the Micro.Blog Kickstarter and I’ve had a paid subscription ever since — even when I wasn’t using it every day. I’m happy to support a product with a viewpoint that aligns with my values, and Micro.Blog is that type of service. Now that Twitter is unstable, I’m glad Micro.Blog is my home base.
I’ve listened to Myke Hurley and Jason Snell talk about Apple and the larger tech industry on Upgrade since 2014. I listen to a lot of podcasts, but this is the one I listen to every Monday. Paying for the “+” gets me ad-free episodes and an extra segment, but, I’m just happy to support a show I love.
Jason Snell and Dan Moren write Six Colors. I get additional articles and an extra podcast on Friday afternoons, but again, a way to support writers that I like. (Dan also writes a series of science fiction spy novels that I like a lot. Check them out, too.)
A distraction-free writing app that lets me write in Markdown. I’ve used Ulysses for a long time and almost everything I write starts here (including this post).
I don’t spend a ton of time over on Fontstruct, but I love it dearly. Fontstruct lets you build modular fonts and export them. Tons of fun and a great community. It’s free to use, but the 5 euros helps pay the bills.
Notion is… a lot of different things in one package. I use it for tracking tasks, managing grad school projects, jotting notes and planning for the future. Well worth the $5 a month.
I’m a Ph.D. student. Zotero is a citation manager that lets me track all of the sources I need for my papers. It’s not the prettiest app, but it’s incredibly powerful. Free to use, but by $20/year gets me more cloud storage. In a couple of years, I’ll happily upgrade to the $60/year plan. Worth every penny.
I’ve been preparing for the demise of Twitter since long before Elon Musk made the offer to purchase it. In 2016, I wrote a post — Twitterless — about what would happen if Twitter “disappeared tomorrow.” I outlined a couple of key areas that would be problematic for me and possible solutions.
A year and a half later, I wrote a follow up post — Twitterless, Part II — that noted my progress on replacing the role Twitter plays for me, and the challenges that still existed.
Times are changing, though, and I honestly believe that we all need to be diversifying — and if possible, owning — our social media presence. Becoming less reliant on the big social media behemoths is the first step.
I ended that post with a promise to follow up on my progress, but as Facebook became more and more evil, I focused on moving away from Facebook. Replacing Twitter was pushed to the back burner.
Now that Twitter armageddon may or may not be here, it’s clearly time that I renew my quest to find an alternative. I figured I’d check back in on those questions that I asked back in 2016 and see how I’ve done:
I’d lose a bunch of contacts. Yep. I’m going to lose a bunch of people who follow me on Twitter. I’ve tried to connect with people on other platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, but I can’t find everyone, and you know what, I’m okay with that.
I’d change how I watch live events. This is still a problem as I noted yesterday. Live events are fun to follow with other people, and Twitter is great for that. No other service is quite like Twitter for those instant commentary events.
I’d have to rethink how I find articles and stories. I use Feedbin as an RSS reader, but that’s not my only solution. I subscribe directly to The New York Times and The Washington Post. And — as shocking as it might seem — I also get a lot of value out of Apple News+, which I get with our Apple One bundle. My local paper, The State, is included in with Apple News+ and I catch a random assortment of articles from sources I don’t normally read. It’s a nice way to diversify the news I see every day.
I’d have to rethink how I share content. When I wrote this, I felt like traffic to my blog was coming primarily from Twitter, but over time, that lessened and most come through search engines. I’ll still create and share, but I’ll just use whatever channels are available at the time.
I’d change the way I use Facebook/Instagram. I once thought that Facebook and Instagram might provide a solution. I’ve mostly left Facebook, and Meta seems to only care about the Metaverse now anyway. I’m not that interested in Instagram now that it’s trying to be TikTok. I don’t feel any better about Facebook than I do about Twitter.
I’d try to find a replacement. I backed the Micro.Blog Kickstarter back in 2017 and I’ve had a paid account ever since. I originally connected Micro.Blog to my Squarespace site, which worked well over the years. I believe in the idea of a feed-based, open social media platform, but because I was still using Twitter, I didn’t fully commit to using Micro.Blog.
I’ve still got Sketchbook B and it’s still hosted on Squarespace, but I made the decision this summer that all of my future blog and short-form posting will be hosted on Micro.Blog, specifically, bobwertz.com. Why? I love the community, and the platform lets me easily post my content and crosspost to other services if I want to. It also lets me follow people who post on Mastodon, and they can follow me at @bobwertz@bobwertz.com. I like writing my blog posts in Ulysses in Markdown and the just post them directly to my site. I feel Micro.Blog gives me the best of all of the potential options and I’m happy with that choice.
Looking back, I think I’ve prepared pretty well for the potential downfall of Twitter. I’m not leaving completely, but I’ve got one foot out the door and I feel good about the solutions I’ve worked out for me.
If Twitter ceases to be enjoyable, I’ll leave. To be honest, I’ll miss it. I joined in 2008 and 14 years is a long time to use any service. It’s part of my daily routine. At the end of the day, though, if a service isn’t making my life better, I’m better off without it.
One thing that Twitter excels at — which will be difficult to replace — is commentary during live events. Last night, I was able to follow a range of commentary on several college football games and the World Series all from my Twitter feed.
It’s not just who I follow, it’s also the way the service is constructed. When following a bunch of live events, you need to use the non-algorithmic timeline. Twitter still, begrudgingly, allows for that. Facebook has many of the people I follow on Twitter, but the comments are jumbled, appearing whenever the algorithm decides, often incoherently out of order. And I can’t see following my South Carolina Gamecocks on another large service, like Linked In. 🤣
Perhaps the real question is if I need the stream of commentary at all? I get value out of live commentary from sports journalists and other fans. I feel like it ads to my enjoyment, but I enjoyed watching games before Twitter existed. Maybe live events is one of those areas where I need to reexamine my reliance on social media.
This post was originally posted on April 22, 2021 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Apple has one of the most recognizable logos in the world. Which isn’t surprising because they are the largest company in the world. I’ve been watching a couple of trends over the last few months about how Apple uses their logos and this week, those trends have become even more apparent. For brand managers and designers, I think there is something interesting going on and it’s worth digging into the mystery.
The logo is “missing.”
Apple isn’t afraid to use their logos. All of their computers have prominent logos. They include logo stickers in all of their boxes. Apple’s logo is everywhere. But on their new iMac, which was released this week, Apple’s logo is on the back, but not on the front. The last few generations of iMac’s have featured a prominent logo on the back and a second logo on the “chin,” facing the user. The new iMac has no user facing logo.1
The new iMac doesn’t have a logo on the front, but still sports a prominent mark on the back.
But the iMac isn’t the only recent Apple product with an interesting logo story. I first noticed Apple’s changing logo use with the introduction of the AirPod Max, which has no Apple logos at all on the product. There is plenty of room for a logo on the side of the headphones, but there is none to be found.
A large space for a logo… but there isn’t one.
I guessed the AirPods Max was the only Apple product without a logo, but I was wrong. For some reason I assumed that my AirPods case had the Apple logo on it, but guess what? It doesn’t. I checked Apple’s website and the AirPods Pro don’t have a logo either. (Although according to Apple’s website and an iFixit teardown, the chip inside the AirPods Pro has a tiny logo printed on it.) My Apple Watch has a tiny Apple logo on the bottom on it, but it’s not visible when it’s being worn. Apple doesn’t include logos on any of their wearable products.2
A promotional image from Apple of Apple Fitness+ trainers. I count five Nike logos.
But that’s not all. I’ve been trying out Apple Fitness+ and there are tons of visible logos. Nike logos. All of the instructors seem to be wearing Nike gear. There are no Apple logos. No special Apple Fitness+ shirts. No little Apple “watermark” in the corner of the screen. An Apple logo isn’t hidden somewhere on the set.
AirPod competitors, with prominent logos on the case or the earbud itself.
I checked Apple’s competitors. Amazon, Samsung and Microsoft all include their logo on the charging case for their AirPod competitors. Sony and Google even managed to get their logo on the earbud itself. None of the competing smartwatches that I looked at had logos, although Samsung etched “Galaxy Watch” into the crown for some reason.
In the fitness space, Peloton employees sport logo apparel while they lead classes. And the instructors on Nike’s fitness apps obviously sport Nike gear.
So what’s going on? I’m not sure.
My first reaction is it’s just an issue of taste. Placing logos all over a product is tacky — especially for wearables. And Apple is showing their superior taste by acknowledging that consumers don’t always want to be sporting company logos. Maybe? But lots of premium and luxury brands include logos on their products. And Apple isn’t exactly shy about using their logo.
It’s not about the logo size. Even the Apple Pencil has a logo. And as I mentioned, the chips inside the AirPods have logos printed on them. (The chips… inside the case… that the consumer never sees…)
The absence of a logo is even stranger when you realize the original intent of a trademarked logo: to clearly identify the manufacturer. With a company like Apple, whose designs are ripped off more than about any other tech company, their logo is the part of the design that absolutely can’t be legally copied.
My best guess is that Apple thinks that their product designs are unique enough, that they don’t even need a logo. People will know AirPods are an Apple product when they see them. The Apple Fitness+ workouts feel like Apple even if their logo isn’t present. I don’t think any other company can make a desktop computer that looks like the new iMac. Apple’s presence is understood because of the overall production quality and design. A logo isn’t necessary.
The logo is “incognito.”
Typical corporate logo standards are incredibly strict. Apple doesn’t publish their internal brand guidelines, but it’s clear they do allow some more playful uses of their mark. For example, they often use illustrated versions of their logo to promote their media events, like they did for this week’s Spring Forward event. Allowing logo variations in large corporate identity systems isn’t uncommon, but those variations are typically used for structural identifications between organizational divisions or product lines.
But Apple is using logo variants that align with their values.
Apple’s environmental logo version, on Earth Day.
In 2014, Apple started using a logo with a green leaf in their retail stores on Earth Day. This logo seems to be used mostly in Apple retail, but showed up this week on the Apple home page for Earth Day 2021 and their updated environmental statement.
Apple’s Privacy logo version is probably the most used of their variations.
And in this week’s presentation, they showed their privacy Apple variation, which is often animated and turns the leaf at the top of their logo into a lock. It’s used in ads, videos and sites when Apple is talking about their commitment to privacy. What’s smart about this approach is that Apple is using their logo to not just communicate their identity, but also their corporate values.
(It’s worth noting that there are a couple of other logo variants as well: a gift that is used during the holidays and a version for their Marina Bay Sands retail store in Singapore. And I’m sure there are others as well.)
What lessons can we take from Apple’s approach to logo management?
Apple’s visual branding is clearly effective. Repetition and consistency are the foundation of contemporary brand management, but Apple has decided to not use their logo in some places and change it in others. This ongoing shift in logo usage isn’t accidental or ill-considered. A couple of lessons to think about:
Everything doesn’t need a logo. In the 1990s, branding meant putting the logo on everything, but is it really necessary? (It isn’t.) Logos are important, but they aren’t the only way you communicate your identity. Apple’s using their logos smartly, and not over using their marks.
Differentiation happens with the design around the logo. Apple’s products are identified by their look and feel. Yes, the logo is part of that, but Apple’s visual branding extends far beyond just their logo. Their brand is expressed as much through the surrounding elements — type, color, materials — as it is through their logo. Their visual differentiation extends far beyond just their logo and their identity is stronger for it.
Think about how a visual identity can reflect a company’s values. Most of the time, visual identity reflects an organization’s structure, but connecting your visual brand to your corporate values is potentially more powerful. Apple uses logo variations that support their beliefs, not their hierarchy.
We’ll never hear from their branding team and Apple doesn’t publicly share their logo and branding guidelines. We’ll just have to watch as they rollout ads, events and products. But it’s clear that Apple is diverging from the standard brand playbook here and I think we should pay attention to where they go next.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on July 4, 2019 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I grew up loving magazines. Any time I’d be interested in something, I’d head to the magazine aisle in the bookstore or grocery store and look for magazines on the topic. Computers, cars, boats, science, model railroads, photography, sports, baseball cards, comics, design and more. It didn’t matter what I was interested in, there was at least one magazine on the topic.
Growing up in the pre-internet days, these magazines provided the info I was looking for. Detailed, up-to-date, authoritative info about whatever geeky habits I was interested in. Even the ads were informative and useful. I subscribed to some of them. Others, I’d buy if the main topics that month interested me.
The internet destroyed these publications. The first blow came from blogs. Authoritative people writing about the things they loved that people could read for free. The second blow was Google, which could route you to exactly what you were looking for. For various reasons — mostly related to monetization — the blog revolution failed to really take hold. Google’s search engine algorithm seemed to reward people with better SEO tactics over more authoritative sources. When I search Google for resources today, it’s hard to tell if what I’ve found is up-to-date or reputable. More often than not, I’m led to dated post of questionable origin that barely answers my question.1
I was excited about the introduction of Apple News+. Access to hundreds of magazines for $10 a month. The service is nothing world-changing. I’ve absolutely gotten my money’s worth and will continue to subscribe. Surprisingly, though, I discovered I’d already filled the need for a detailed, up-to-date, authoritative source for my geeky habits: podcasting.
I use podcasts the same way I used special interest magazines as a kid.
If I’m interested in a topic, I find a podcast. Computers, design, photography, business, pens, science fiction, pop culture, sports, meditation and more. I subscribe to many of these podcasts in Overcast2, while others I only listen to a few episodes. Even the ads are informative and relevant. Podcasts are how I learn about and explore new topics.
Some people think of podcasting as an evolution of talk radio. Others feel it’s more an audio form of blogging. I suppose I don’t have an issue with either of those opinions, but for me, podcasts serve a vital role as a replacement for the special interest magazine.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
And let’s face it, these sites are covered with annoying ads that make reading the content difficult. ↩︎
Overcast is my preferred podcast app. It’s significantly better than the default app and if you haven’t tried it, you really should. ↩︎
This post was originally posted on January 13, 2019 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the language we use to talk about social media and content creation on the web. And as I’m writing about social media — especially microblogging and the indie web movement — I feel like we need a phrase to refer to platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others that try to lock in users and leverage their private data to sell more ads, compared to the other newer services with revenue models that are less interested in ad sales or lock in.
I know that we already use “indie” and “indie web” as a way to differentiate between the two approaches, but I’m not sure that meaning is clear to a broader audience.
I’m going to go with “captive social” and “open social.”
Captive Social. Social media networks and services that make money through advertising, leveraging their user’s private data. Captive social networks benefit from gathering as much data on their users as possible and using that data to sell more relevant ads to users. To be profitable, that also means that they benefit from having users spend as much time as possible engaged with their platform. Examples of captive social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Snapchat.
I think my time in the insurance industry has partially inspired this terminology. Captive insurance agents are contractually obligated to only sell products from a single vendor. But I think the term is appropriate for the relationships we have with social media platforms. We are locked into each service silo with very little interoperability between competing platforms.
Open Social. Newer social media networks that are aren’t interested in trapping your data. They benefit from interoperability and the sharing of data between services. Their profitability isn’t based on leveraging personal user data, but on the value you derive from the service.
The inspiration for the terminology isn’t open source, it’s open web standards. I was a Mac user during the years of Internet Explorer dominance — when you sometimes couldn’t access a web site if you didn’t have the right browser. The open web standards push in the early 2000’s freed us from that nightmare and led to expanded browser choice. I hope that open social can have a similar effect on social media that open web standards had on the web.
Open social does have a distinct meaning from indie web. Indie web aims to separate itself from the corporate web, but open social is not necessarily limited to only small companies and decentralized platforms. A large corporation could build an open social platform, as long as they weren’t profiting from trapping your data and locking you into their service.1 The difference isn’t the size of the provider, but instead, their goals, objectives and business models.
So here are a couple of examples of captive social and open social in context:
I don’t know why you spend so much time on those captive social sites.
I’m going to focus on open social platforms like Micro.Blog and limit the time I spend on captive social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Hopefully, open social platforms will have the same impact on the web that the open web standards movement did.
It’s a subtle change — a language shift that I think will help when we are having discussions with people who are concerned about privacy and the power of social media, but who aren’t comfortable hosting their sites or maintaining a server.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
I recognize that the concept of an open social network from a large corporation might seem absurd in today’s environment, but you never know. ↩︎
Designers don’t want to admit it, but math is important to the profession.
This post was originally posted on September 29, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
My first class in graduate school was a quantitive research class and I really enjoyed the statistics side of things. As I’ve told my designer friends this, they typically respond with something along the lines of “Ugh. I became a designer so I wouldn’t have to do math.” I’m not surprised. I’ve heard the same from designers and students over the years, but I’m increasingly irritated by it for a few reasons:
Designers use math every day. I’m not sure where the myth that designers don’t need to understand math comes from, but it’s not true. I use math pretty much every day in my work. Especially geometry and algebra. Understanding foundational mathematical concepts makes you a better designer.
It steers talent away from the field. Let’s say you’ve got a talented high school kid, who also happens to be good at — or maybe even like — math. Tell them enough times that math isn’t important for designers and they’ll find a different career path. As an honors student, I was told repeatedly through school by well-meaning adults that I didn’t want to take art classes because they weren’t rigorous enough. As a result, I initially looked at options like architecture and engineering. It took me a while to circle around to design.
It undermines the profession. The reality is that designers struggle to be taken seriously by big business. We’ve fought to get a “seat at the table” and prove our value beyond just crafting the look and feel of something. As much as we don’t like it, the “language” of business is often based in math. Ignoring the importance of math simply makes it harder to communicate with business decision makers.
I think the challenge is separating our feelings about “math class” from our feelings about “math.” I didn’t enjoy most of my high school math classes. My algebra and geometry teachers weren’t my favorites. Because I scored a high enough score on my AP Calculus test, I was able to exempt all of my college math requirements, so I haven’t taken a math class in almost 25 years. What I’ve come to realize is that while I disliked the way I was taught math, math itself is pretty amazing. And useful.
Don’t misunderstand me… I’m not expecting designers to line up and take refresher math classes. AIGA chapters aren’t going to start holding day-long math workshops. All I’m saying is that embracing the idea that math is an integral part of design only helps the profession as a whole.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on August 9, 2018 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
The bathroom at my office has four sinks and three soap dispensers. Each soap dispenser has a clear plastic front so the cleaning crew can see how much liquid pink soap is left and refill it if necessary.
Sometimes, the first two soap dispensers are low on soap, but the last one, furthest from the door never seems to be low on soap.
You could draw conclusions from this single data point that no one uses the dispenser. And you would be right.
But why? Maybe people prefer the sinks closer to the door? Maybe it’s not in the most convenient location? Maybe there are too many soap dispensers?
The soap dispenser is broken. It hasn’t worked in at least 8 months.
But I imagine the cleaning crew has no idea. They are only looking at that one indicator: Is there soap in the dispenser?
Just a reminder that often, our data tells us what’s happening, but not necessarily why.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on January 7, 2018 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I made a red velvet cake last week.
From scratch. It was a recipe that my mom made when I was growing up, but it was originally my Grandmother Wertz’s recipe. My grandmother died when I was very young, so to me, red velvet always makes me think of my mom.
My mom passed away almost 17 years ago. She taught me to cook many things, but this red velvet cake was not one of them. All I knew was that it was difficult, and that she messed up the icing the first time she tried to make it. I can make pretty much anything that she made, but I had never tried to make the red velvet cake. I’ll be honest – I was scared. Scared to fail. Afraid that if I messed it up, I wouldn’t have someone to call for advice. I was on my own. So I never attempted it.
A few weeks ago, I started thinking about making her red velvet cake. I don’t know what triggered my urge to bake the unbakeable, but I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I got the recipe from my sister and decided to bake the cake Christmas Eve. (Because obviously, we had nothing else to do that night…) I ran to the grocery store and got the ingredients. I found our fanciest cake stand. And I pulled out the Kitchen Aid mixer that my parents gave us as a wedding gift.
The recipe wasn’t that hard, but like most older recipes, it was procedural. Lots of steps and precise measurements. The cake batter came together okay, but the icing was another story. This recipe doesn’t use a cream cheese icing like a lot of modern red velvet cakes do. It’s more like a butter cream. I ruined the first batch of icing and had to make a second batch. About 1:00 Christmas morning, I finished icing the cake. It looked exactly like I remembered.
Christmas evening, after dinner, we cut into the red velvet cake – giant pie-sized wedges like my mom used to cut. It tasted like I remembered. Not too sweet, perfect texture. Even the kids loved it. I will freely admit that I teared up a little upon realizing that I had successfully pulled it off.
As I think about the year ahead, I realize that many of the things I’ve been scared of… many of the things I’ve put off attempting… the fear is all in my head. In 2018, I’m going to put those fears aside, branch out and try new things.
(And now that I can make the red velvet cake, I’m definitely going to bake it again.)
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
A year ago, I decided to lessen my reliance on Twitter. Here’s my progress so far…
This post was originally posted on January 3, 2018 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
In the last year, the narrative has shifted from Twitter’s possible sale to issues with abuse and hatred. Twitter increased the character count to 280 and that’s worked out fine, but its user growth is still flat. As Twitter tries to jumpstart the service, I still believe the likelihood of Twitter imploding within the next few years is high.
I thought I’d revisit my areas of concern from my previous post and share what I’ve done to mitigate those issues.
I’d lose a bunch of contacts. My first concern was that I’d lose a bunch of contacts that I only had on Twitter. I’m a little less concerned about this than I was a year ago. I’ve slowly started to connect with more people, experts and brands on other services like LinkedIn and Facebook. I’ve still got a ways to go and will continue to expand the roster of people I follow on other services.
I’d change how I watch live events. I’m still using Twitter during live events. For me, this is the hardest to replace. During the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl this week,1 I kept up with commentary from reporters and friends on Twitter. Following commentary on live events is challenging through Facebook. Posts don’t appear in sequential order because of their algorithm.
Twitter is simply the best option to handle streaming written commentary during an event. I’m sure I could use something like Snapchat, but I don’t know enough people on Snapchat for it to be useful for me.2
I’d have to rethink how I find articles and stories. This was a big issue for me, but I’ve kind of solved it… by cheating a little bit. I’ve started using Nuzzel3 to surface headlines from my social media services. Not familiar with Nuzzel? It’s a pretty simple service. You connect your social media services — Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn — and Nuzzel tells you what links your friends (and friends of your friends) are sharing. This works really well for finding the links and articles that your social circle is talking about… without actually going into Twitter or Facebook. It’s cheating because 95% of the links that come up are from people I follow on Twitter. I really like the service and I see lots of links I would have otherwise missed. I highly recommend it.
I’ve upgraded to Feedly Pro and I’m being more intentional about subscribing to interesting RSS feeds. I’m going to continue to expand my use of Feedly.
I find Facebook useless for finding actual news stories unless I want to know “27 Secrets from The Last Jedi” or some crappy, clickbait slideshow link. And LinkedIn seems equally useless for finding content that I’m interested in.
I need to give Medium another chance, but for some reason, I just haven’t been interested in building an account on Medium with people I follow and read regularly. Maybe that’s something to look into more in 2018.
I’d have to rethink how I share content. Sharing the content I create is another issue. I’m sharing more widely on other services, but I’m still using Twitter. For 2018, I’m shifting most of my short format posting to Micro.Blog with automatic cross posting to Twitter.
And to promote most of my blog posts or interesting content, I schedule posts through Buffer to several different services.
I’ve thought about reposting my blog posts and articles on Medium, but it seems like a lot of work to post everything twice. (And only posting to Medium is not an option for me. I want everything hosted on my site.) I may try Medium again.
I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but I can’t get into Dribbble. I love the concept and I love the community, but it just doesn’t match up with the way I work. Still, the community is great so maybe I’ll give it another shot in 2018.
And finally, Pinterest. For some of my content — specifically my shirt and product designs — Pinterest is a great service. But I haven’t really spent that much time in Pinterest personally, so that might be another avenue I explore in 2018.
I’d change the way I use Facebook. So Facebook… I really do think that we’ve reached the point where you have to have a Facebook account, unfortunately. In today’s communications environment, Facebook is a necessary evil. Over the last year, Facebook has had its own problems with hatred, fake news and discrimination, though, and I’d love to reduce my reliance on Facebook, too.
Facebook is a great place to share family photos, but for serious content, I don’t think it works well. I’ve started to build an audience for the Sketchbook B Facebook page and I’m going to continue to promote the page and hopefully expand the number of followers. That said, I feel like Facebook’s algorithm is going to hide my content unless I pay to promote it, which I may start to do selectively.
I’d spend more time on Instagram. I still love Instagram.4 A couple years ago, I switched my account from a personal account to a business account. The bonus was that I could see viewer metrics, but the drawback was that it would only let me cross post to my Facebook Sketchbook B business page, not my personal profile. Since most of my Instagram shots are family or fun shots, I want to cross post those to my personal Facebook page. I don’t really care about metrics so I recently switched back to the personal account.
I plan to cross post my fun family Instagram images to Twitter and Facebook more regularly. I also plan to manually repost from Instagram to Micro.Blog. It’s a little bit of work, but I like having everything on my site.
I’d try to find a replacement. A little over a year ago, I was guessing that if Twitter disappeared, someone would rise up and meet the needs of its former user base. I didn’t have to wait until Twitter disappeared. A few months after I wrote my post, Manton Reece launched his Micro.Blog Kickstarter project. Micro.Blog is a service that allows me to host my microblog posts — basically, tweets — on my own site and then share through a social media service. Manton’s done a great job so far, and I really think that Micro.Blog is the tip of the iceberg for a resurgence of the independent web. The service isn’t for everyone and it’s in the early days. Manton is still figuring out how some features will work, but I think it’s a great fit for me. (I’m going to write a lot more about Micro.Blog this month, including why I’m excited about it, and detailing how I configured my Squarespace blog to work with Micro.Blog.)
Reality check. I’m not completely giving up on Twitter, though. I’ve been a Twitter user since 2007 and Twitter is part of my daily routine. It’s just a less enjoyable part of my daily routine now. This year, I backed Twitteriffic for Mac on Kickstarter because I wanted my favorite Twitter client on my Mac.
Times are changing, though, and I honestly believe that we all need to be diversifying — and if possible, owning — our social media presence. Becoming less reliant on the big social media behemoths is the first step.
I look forward to revisiting my progress next year.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
I joke that I’m a grouchy old guy that doesn’t “get” Snapchat. The truth is that very few of my friends are on Snapchat and so it really isn’t that useful to me. If I had a bunch of friends active on Snapchat, I’d be there. Even if the interface is crap. ↩︎
I tried out Nuzzel based on Jason Snell’s recommendation on one of his many podcasts. ↩︎
I’ve used this phrase for years to describe changing jobs. Maybe I was wrong…
This post was originally posted on May 8, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Every place we work has its own dysfunctional elements. And when you change jobs, you move from one group of challenges to another. Every job has challenges. You choose which challenges you’ll face.
I had coffee a couple of months ago with some friends and one of them was in the midst of a job search. I relayed my standard “choose your dysfunction” advice. One of our friends piped up:
“I don’t know. I think that sometimes, we bring our dysfunction with us."
I still haven’t been able to get that thought out of my head.
Yes, it’s true that each job brings unique challenges. But it’s equally true the we cause many of our own issues. Too often, we blame the environment around us for something that we, ourselves, are causing.
The key to addressing those issues – to finding happiness or fulfillment or whatever you are looking for – is being able to tell the difference between the dysfunction you find and dysfunction you carry with you.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on January 20, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
The Kickstarter has two parts: A book and a service.
The book will detail a framework for independent microblogging… basically a standards-based system for posting and sharing Twitter-like posts.
The service is Micro.blog. And it’s a fascinating attempt to make it as easy as possible to host your own micro blog, basically a decentralized version of Twitter.
I think Manton’s got some great ideas. And I think his heart is in the right place. I love the idea of leveraging RSS for the underpinning of the service. I think 280 characters is great. The iPhone app supports Markdown. You can use your own domain for free or pay $5/month for Micro.blog to host your microblog. An API that others can use to hook into the service. And oh yeah, and the name is perfect.
The Kickstarter project was funded on the first day. And he’s now got a stretch goal — $80,000 — to help fund a community manager to shape the service and actively address the bullying and nastiness that is rampant on Twitter. I don’t know if he’ll make the stretch goal, but I love that he’s already thinking about this.
Also, remember in the early days of Twitter, before they cracked down on the API usage, when third party developers were extending and improving the service. I hope those developers throw everything they’ve got at supporting Micro.blog.
Many people are skeptical that Micro.blog will blossom into a sustainable full featured Twitter replacement. And I completely get that. Look at all the failed attempts to replace or replicate the functionality of Twitter of the years. It’s tough to build a large user base for a new social media site and it’s too early to tell if Micro.blog will take off — after all, the service hasn’t even launched yet. But I think the service and the concept are the right idea at the right time. I’m looking forward to using the service and watching it develop in the coming years.
I’m excited about Micro.blog and about the plan to use RSS to power what is essentially an independent version of Twitter. If you are concerned about the future of Twitter and social networks, I really encourage you to head over to Kickstarter and back the Indie Microblogging project.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
This post was originally posted on November 19, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
This man loves to create.
I saw Aaron Draplin for the fourth time on Thursday night when he came to the Half and Half in Columbia. Over the last years 15 years or so, between CCAS, AIGA South Carolina and Converge SE, we’ve had a bunch of awesome designers come through Columbia… DJ Stout, David Carson, Chip Kidd, James Victore, Seymour Chwast, Michael Beirut, Sean Adams, Sagmeister… and that’s a really incomplete, partial list.
But Draplin is one of my favorites.
What I love about Draplin is how much he loves to make things. Other designers are passionate about solving business problems. Or challenging convention. Or tackling large international clients. But Draplin loves to create things. Sure, he solves problems for clients, he challenges conventional thinking, he has some large international clients. But the thing that really seems to drive Draplin is putting things out into the world, which I really do feel makes him unique among the big names in design.
(It’s also the reason why Draplin’s work is known beyond the design world. Field Notes is loved by people all over the world and they love Draplin, too.)
If he comes to a town near you, see him. You won’t be disappointed.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
This post was originally posted on November 15, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
4 steps to simplifying URLs
I was behind a truck in traffic yesterday with an URL boldly printed across the back. And since traffic was moving slowly, I got a nice long look at it:
Okay. I may have changed the address to protect the innocent. But it was a really long address. And it looked really awkward.
I see addresses like this all the time and I’m not sure why designers don’t instinctively take steps to make these addresses more readable and easier to remember. I’m guessing that designers are simply using the addresses that are provided to them by copywriters and clients, but it really is easy to clean up.
Step one, get rid of the protocol.
You really don’t need to put ““ at the beginning of a URL. It’s called the protocol identifier and if you type the address into a web browser without it, the browser will add it for you. So all it adds is clutter.
Most websites don’t need the “www” to take you to the proper address. Again, unnecessary clutter. If your web site does require the www for the URL to resolve properly, you have two options: leave the www. in the address; or contact the person who set it up and have them fix it.
reallylongwebaddress.com/home
Definitely better. But can we make it easier to read?
Step three, do you really need that specific page?
Sometimes, you need to direct someone to a specific page on a site — a landing page or specific bit of content. But if it’s just “/home” or “/index” you can usually drop it:
reallylongwebaddress.com
Just make sure the shortened address takes you to the desired location.
And finally, can you improve it with intercapping or some other design treatment?
Web addresses sometimes have hidden words. And that’s not always good. For example, a reader may not see “Really Long Web Address,” but may instead see “ Really Long We Bad Dress.” Same letters, but completely different. Sometimes, you can insert capital letters into the middle of the URL to help the viewer read the address as intended. Or use color and type weight to make the address read correctly. For example:
ReallyLongWebAddress.com
URLs are not typically case sensitive so the capitalization doesn’t alter the address in any way. It’s just easier to read.
The bottom line: Use the shortest URL possible that takes the viewer where you want them to go.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
What would happen if Twitter disappeared tomorrow?
This post was originally posted on November 9, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’ve been on Twitter since 2007. It’s part of my daily routine and probably my most vital social media channel for finding and sharing news. But Twitter has had some lingering financial issues and when they recently tried to sell the company, no one stepped up to make an appropriate offer.1
Also, a couple of social media experiments have crashed and burned lately. Twitter announced that they were closing Vine.2 Talkshow had a bunch of potential but didn’t make it six months. And while Twitter is much larger, it’s not immune from financial reality.
Which got me thinking, what if we woke up one morning and Twitter was gone. Or more likely, what if Twitter changed so radically, that it was unusable? How would that change the way I get things done?
I’d lose a bunch of contacts. I follow a large number of designers, brands and local experts on Twitter — and no where else. If Twitter disappeared, I’d lose all those contacts and have to try and reconstruct the network on another channel. Not an easy task.
I’d change how I watch live events. During the World Series, I kept an eye on Twitter. During the presidential debates, I followed along on Twitter. During the University of South Carolina’s football game last weekend, I kept up with the score on Twitter. During election night coverage, sigh. Twitter is the perfect companion to a live event and I’d miss seeing what my friends and family think in real time.
I’d have to rethink how I find articles and stories. I find lots of inspirational links and content on Twitter. If Twitter goes away, I’m using RSS and Feedly much more aggressively.
I’d have to rethink how I share content. I share most of my blog posts through Twitter. If Twitter were gone, I’d have to share them somewhere else like Facebook or Medium.
I’d change the way I use Facebook. I use Facebook for family pictures and connecting with people I know and have met. If Twitter disappeared, I’d probably use Facebook more to connect with a wider audience. Maybe I’d invest more time into building the Sketchbook B page on Facebook. Post more links to articles on my Facebook feed. If Twitter goes away, my Facebook experience changes radically.
I’d spend more time on Instagram. Because I love Instagram, almost as much as I love Twitter. And I’m going to have some free time if there is no Twitter.
I’d try to find a replacement. If Twitter disappeared, I imagine several companies would rush to unveil a replacement. Or modify their social product to attract Twitter refugees. You know Google would retool and rebrand Google Plus, Linked In might try to be less of a train wreck. Even Snapchat might try to appeal to former Twitter users. Startups would start, and fail. Someone would try to resurrect App.net. I’d try them all, but I’m not sure there can truly be a replacement for Twitter.
But… reality.
So I don’t think Twitter will just shut down. At some point, the price to purchase the company gets so low, that someone will take a chance on them. I’m more concerned that Twitter, or a company that buys Twitter, will change it so completely, that it becomes useless.
This exercise had forced me, though, to start evaluating areas where I am too reliant on Twitter. I’m going to start connecting to designers and thought leaders on other channels. I’m looking for new avenues to find and share content. I’ll evaluate how I use channels like Facebook, Instagram, Dribbble, YouTube and Medium.
Twitter might not disappear, but it’s still best not to keep your eggs in one basket.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This was compounded by the fact that few established companies — like Disney — wanted to take on Twitter while abusive rhetoric is rampant. Let’s face it, Twitter has been a dumpster fire during this election season. ↩︎
This post was originally posted on October 17, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Some classes just stick with you.
I was talking with a friend a couple of weeks ago about influential classes that I took in college – classes that helped shape my world view and approach to life. I noted that it was interesting to look back and see what has stuck with me after two decades.
The more I started to think about it, I realized the same was true for high school and even middle school classes. Some classes just stick with you long after you take them. And decades later, it’s sometimes surprising which classes and teachers shape how you look at the world decades later.
I’m lucky to have had a whole range of amazing teachers at all levels. But a handful stick out in my mind today:
Speech Arts, 8th Grade, Batavia Junior High. I took a speech arts class in eighth grade and was forced to get comfortable with prepared and impromptu speeches in front of crowds. To this day, I think of Mr. McCloud’s class before I make a big presentation.
German, 9th-12th Grade, Aiken High School. I don’t use German as part of my job. I can read German without too much difficulty, but my spoken German is embarrassing because I haven’t really spoken German conversationally in a couple of decades. So if I don’t use German in my career, why was German so influential? Because Herr Lader and Frau Lader1 taught me about another culture and helped me understand things from a more global perspective. And as a bonus, it provided me with an opportunity to spend six weeks in Germany one summer and experience life from a different point of view. Randomly, German class is also where I learned about Bauhaus and Walter Gropius, a couple of my favorite influences from art history. I enjoyed it so much, that I went on to take three more years of German in college and my cognate2 is German.
Media Law, Freshman, University of South Carolina. After spending a semester with Dr. Collins, you look at the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and our legal system in a different way — understanding the balancing act of personal freedoms and necessary governance. A tough class, especially for a freshman.3
Political Psychology, Junior, University of South Carolina. This was an odd little Honors College seminar. A small class with lots of readings and lots of discussions. I learned about why we make the decisions we make and the factors that influence our government and our leaders. I come back to those discussions frequently, especially in today’s political climate.
There are many others, too. A middle school shop class introduced me to woodworking and drafting. High school and college history classes fostered a love of the past. An intro to art class equipped me with many of the tools that I still use today. A class on mysticism in Eastern Orthodox Christianity whose lessons seem to come up at the most random times.
Looking back, many of the classes that I loved and enjoyed were outside my major and outside my career needs. But they are undoubtedly a significant part of who I am.
We force kids to decide on career paths earlier and earlier. I see many students today rushing through school, laser-focused on taking classes that will advanced their specific career needs. And while we want them to be focused, I worry that many of them are missing out on those random classes that might not help them in their chosen career, but might help them become a more well-rounded person.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
Yes. I know I should call you Art and Lisa. It’s just so hard. ↩︎
This post was originally posted on September 12, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Real jobs have deadlines.
As a designer, I hear “As Soon As Possible” an awful lot. Most people are shocked to learn that ASAP is actually my lowest priority. Jobs with concrete deadlines are always in line ahead of jobs with no real deadline.
Understanding why the client needs something ASAP is the first step in understanding whether you are dealing with a crisis or a “crisis.” There are a couple of reasons why clients avoid giving you a real deadline:
When can you get it to me? If the client is asking you to set a deadline, the project probably doesn’t have a firm due date. It likely needs to be done quickly, but they don’t want to look stupid and throw out a date that is impossible. Or they are hesitant to suggest a date that is too far out in the future. So they throw it back to you. In that case, sit down and start developing a schedule that works for everyone. If they need it faster, they’ll let you know in the process of setting the timeline.
Everything is a rush! For some clients, everything is a rush. Every email is marked high priority. So don’t overreact and rush into the project. Ask for a specific timeline. This is client’s normal operating procedure so stick to yours. If it’s a real rush, they will tell you.
It’s going to take forever! Some clients have no idea how long a project is going to take. So they are anxious to get started. Asking for a deadline will diagnose that immediately. I once had a client call in a panic and rushed over to meet them only to find out that we had four months to complete a simple poster series. Crisis averted.
My boss wants it now! Sometimes, the client is panicked because their boss is on their back. They may not even know when the project is really needed. Work with them to set a schedule to share with their manager. Have them confirm the schedule will meet the manager’s needs and get back to you. 99% of the time, the manager will be fine with the schedule.
I need it yesterday! Some clients ask for the world. And the ability to travel back in time. Setting a timeline is important here, but so are problem solving skills. I’ve seen clients ask for 50,000 brochures on a very short turn, only to find out it was because they needed 1,000 for a trade show. (We ran the 1,000. Then ran the larger print run later.) The clients are typically panicked and aren’t thinking straight. By focusing on the timeline, you can help them figure out what they really need and give them the best solution for their problem.
Sometimes, the client really is asking for the impossible. Tell them. But here’s the key, after you tell them that you can’t meet their deadline, tell them what you can do for them.
Oops! Sometimes the client makes a mistake and forgets to make a request or communicate a deadline. And this is where you can play the hero. Set a timeline for how to get them what they need and do your best to help them out.
Designers drop the ball sometimes, too. If it’s your fault, apologize and own the mistake. Then, move heaven and earth to make it right.
In every single one of these scenarios, communication is key. Be up front about the schedule, challenges and costs. Remember that the client is often under a lot of pressure and may not be thinking straight. Most importantly, don’t take the ASAP request personally. Just view it as what it is… an opportunity to save the day and build a better relationship with your client.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on March 23, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
All professionals need a personalized email address and a home on the web. And Gmail accounts and Facebook pages don’t count.
I saw a branding consultant recently without a branded email address. Who hires a brand consultant who doesn’t invest in their own brand?
I saw a company trying to recruit managers… just email an AOL account. (In case you are wondering, the company wasn’t recruiting for AOL.)
I was trying to find out information on a store in town and all they had was a Facebook page that hadn’t been updated in a couple of months.
I don’t really care what your business is — from a home-based business to a large corporation — if you don’t have a real email address with your own domain name, I’m less likely to take you seriously. And if your only web presence is a Facebook page, you don’t have a real business.
Look. I get it. It’s easy to get by with the free accounts. A penny saved is a penny earned. Absolutely. But investing in a domain name and a Google apps account? It’s not that expensive. Without your own domain, you send a message to all your clients and potential clients that you can’t or won’t invest in your own company.
It used to take some effort to get on the Web a decade ago, but now, services like Squarespace provide great solutions for small businesses and take care of hosting, e-commerce and more. Like Gmail? That’s fine. You can customize your address with Google Apps. Other services like Hover can help you get your domain and email set up. There are seriously hundreds of services to help you look professional. It’s not that hard and not that expensive.
Having a professional online appearance is every bit as important as dressing appropriately or speaking intelligently. It’s a necessary investment that lets people know that you are serious about your business.
Unless you aren’t serious about your business. And then, I guess, any email address or website will do.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on January 12, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
2015 was a long year for me. Literally. My 2015 was three hours longer than 2014 because I rang in the new year on the West Coast. For me, 2015 was 365 days and 3 hours long.
But here’s the thing with stealing time. You don’t get extra time, you have to steal it from somewhere. My 2016 will be three hours shorter1 — unless I celebrate the new year in a different time zone again.
I have lots of projects on my plate at any given time. Add to that my family, my job, organizations, teaching and more. (And oh yeah, I start grad school this week.) I’m always stealing time from somewhere.
I’ve been bad about stealing time from sleep. I tend to stay up late and get a lot done after the kids go to bed. But I need to dial that back and get to bed a little earlier each night. I’m aiming for an extra hour of sleep a night, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that’s 7 hours a week… roughly 15 days over the course of a year. So I’ve got to make some adjustments.
Right now, my plan is to be more efficient and make the most of the time I have. Maybe I’ll be more effective working with more sleep. But efficiency will only get me part of the way.
After that, it’s about prioritizing my projects and commitments. We’ll see what projects make the cut and which ones go on the back burner.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
Actually, 2016 will be longer than 2015 because it’s a leap year. ↩︎
This post was originally posted on December 11, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Today at work, I mentioned that I had participated in a Future Problem Solving competition and, much to my shock, someone else on my team not only knew what it was, but had also participated in one as well.
When I was in junior high, we lived in Illinois and the Future Problem Solvers Bowl was an after school program where we worked with teams to examine scenarios and work through a problem solving process. We went to regional and statewide competitions where we were presented with a scenario and had to work through the process to develop a solution and then present our conclusion.
When we moved to South Carolina, there wasn’t a Future Problem Solvers Bowl in the state. But in retrospect, I still use many of the tactics that I learned every day.
The Future Problem Solving Process is:
Identify challenges
Select an underlying problem
Produce solution ideas
Generate criteria to judge solutions
Evaluate solutions with criteria
Develop an action plan
It’s basically the foundation of a good design process. And in competition, you learn to apply the process quickly, under pressure, with a team and then present your findings.
I hadn’t thought about Future Problem Solving in years, but in retrospect, I can’t imagine a better foundation for my design career.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
This post was originally posted on November 13, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I get asked a lot what it’s like to have three kids. Mostly from people with two kids thinking about whether they want to have another. Sometimes, the question comes from younger couples who are thinking about having kids.1 And I always struggle to answer.
My standard answer is that when you have three kids, you have to switch from man-to-man to zone. You lose a little control. You are outnumbered. And while that is completely accurate, it sounds scary and intimidating, which isn’t at all what I want to communicate. I love having three kids.
My other answer is that with three kids, how far apart they are really matters. I’ve had friends with three kids under four years old. For us, our oldest was seven when her brother was born. Those are two radically different situations. But that doesn’t really answer the question.
Sunday morning, an interaction with the kids gave me the answer I was missing. We were waking up and getting ready for church.
Middle child: What are we doing for breakfast?
Me: I don’t know. We’ll probably have a small breakfast now and maybe go to brunch after church.
Youngest: WHAT! We can’t go to a restaurant! We need to go to church! (He LOVES Sunday School.)
Me: We are going to church. We might go out to eat after church.
Youngest: Why can’t we eat at church?
Me: Because they aren’t serving breakfast at church.2
Oldest (from another room): We’re having breakfast at church?!?
And that’s what it’s like having three kids — like adding a person to a game of telephone. It gets a little bit crazier. Funnier. Unpredictable. Often delightful and occasionally frustrating. But never boring.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
When my wife and I got married, we weren’t sure we wanted kids. ↩︎
And I was very surprised when they actually had breakfast at church. ↩︎
This post was originally posted on September 29, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
A few years ago, I stopped at a fast food restaurant in rural, upstate South Carolina where a car was circling the drive thru over and over and over. She’d drive up to the ordering station and wait a second. Then the car would drive to the window, pause, and then drive around again. This happened a couple of times. It was very strange.
When I walked in, I nodded toward the car at the window and asked what was going on. The woman shrugged, obviously embarrassed, and said “Just improving the drive thru wait times…”
Lots of people wonder how something like the Volkswagen 1 emissions test scandal can happen. It’s actually very simple:
Set a specific goal.
Figure out a test to measure it: a survey, a timer, a standardized test, etc.
Make sure everyone knows how important the test is.
Provide rewards for people who achieve the test objectives. And penalize people who don’t meet the test objectives.
Smart people will eventually figure out how to do well on the test, even if it now has nothing to do with the original goal.
Management pats themselves on the back for great test results.
The test no longer reflects reality.
This cycle is everywhere in business today and manifests itself in different ways. Most of the time, it doesn’t involve fraud and cheating. But this process is why:
Engineers design products (cars, cell phones, etc.) that meet specific test objectives, but not real life usage.
Customer service reps in banks, car dealerships and retail stores remind you over and over to answer “highly satisfied” on a random survey.
Teachers teach to the test.
Managers make short sighted decisions to stay under budget.
Advertisers make really annoying online ads to improve click through rates.
Fast food workers fake drive thru response times.
If you connect success on a metric to an employee’s financial well being, that employee will change their behavior to meet the test objectives. And yes, sometimes, if the pressure is great enough, they cheat.
I’m sure those fast food workers wanted to have good drive thru response times to make their boss happy. I doubt there was a financial incentive. Maybe if the boss was happy, their life would be easier. Or perhaps they were afraid of being fired. Whatever the reason, they cheated to meet their test objectives. They lost sight of — or more likely, were never told — the reason for the test.
The test itself isn’t the problem. Testing and evaluation is a key part of management in a corporate environment. But today, it’s really easy to test and measure everything. Over reliance on metrics in management makes the test more important than the goal. And that never ends well.
You’ll simply get what you test for.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
I’m a VW owner. My car is not a diesel, but I doubt that I’ll buy another Volkswagen even though I’ve been happy with my car… ↩︎
This post was originally posted on June 13, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’m more of a college basketball fan, but lately, I’ve been watching some NBA playoff games. And now that the finals are upon us, we get to see the world’s best basketball player in LeBron James against the world’s best shooter in Steph Curry.
There’s a really interesting contrast here. LeBron James was anointed as the next Michael Jordan in high school and some of his games were televised. He was 18 years old when the Clevland Cavaliers drafted him first overall. He was an MVP in Cleveland. Took his talents to Miami and won two championships. This year, he returned home to Cleveland to try and win a title for his hometown. And now he’s led Cleveland to the finals to compete for the organizations’s first NBA championship.
Despite the fact that he was the son of a former NBA player, Steph Curry didn’t have a single major college scholarship offer. He was considered undersized by most programs. He played his college ball at Davidson near Charlotte, NC and made a name for himself in the NCAA tournament. He worked his way through the ranks, proving himself at every step along the way. And he’s now led his Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals.
One player took a direct route to success. Another took a more circuitous path. And while it makes a great story, it doesn’t really matter. These two world class athletes took different paths. But now, they are in the same place. We tend to focus on the path someone has taken to succeed. But there is rarely a single path to success and that’s a great thing.
Some people are obsessed with corporate paths to success. They downplay the victories for companies they don’t like or understand.
Look at consumer’s perceptions of Apple and Google. Apple fans hate Google’s tendency to give products away and make money via advertising. And Google fans lament the perceived high cost of Apple products and their limited customization. Apple’s been around since the 1980s, grew fast, crashed and then grew into the most valuable company in the world. Google was founded in the 90’s, started fast and continues to expand into new markets. They have taken different paths to success, but they are both successful. Yet, commentators discount their successes because they don’t like or understand the path they have taken.
Other people are obsessed with paths to individual success. Getting into the best colleges. Belonging to the right organizations. Having the right things on their resume. This pressure starts very young. My kids have educational opportunities that didn’t exist for me. Inquiry-style preschools. Magnet elementary schools. Enrichment programs. But the result of this is that everyone is focusing on the “right” path earlier and earlier.
In the design world, I hear these all the time. You’ve got to go to a big market to be successful. You can never grow in an inhouse environment. You’ve got to work at an agency or large design firm before you strike out on your own. Someone actually once told me that I’d never get any where if I didn’t learn Flash. And while some of these bits of advice might be the most direct way to achieve success, it is by no means the only way to become successful.
You can’t completely disregard the path someone takes. It helps shape them and make them the person they’ve become. But we can learn something from Curry and James. Your path doesn’t really matter if you are focused on your goals.
Just because you don’t follow the accepted path doesn’t limit what you can accomplish. And if you do follow the direct path, it doesn’t minimize your accomplishments. Two amazing basketball players – Lebron James and Steph Curry – that have led their teams to the exact same place via two very different paths. But this week, they are both competing for an NBA championship.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. His blogging journey started in 2008 with a Squarespace hosted blog.
This post was originally posted on May 14, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Why are so many people and organizations obsessed with acronyms? Especially acronyms that spell another word. From small nonprofits and churches to schools and large corporations, really bad acronyms are everywhere.
NASA’s Messenger Probe crashed into Mercury after a long and successful mission. And as I read CNN’s account of the mission, I was stunned by the fifth paragraph:
Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was launched in 2004 and traveled more than 6½ years before it started circling Mercury on March 18, 2011.
Wait. So the Messenger probe is actually M.E.S.S.E.N.G.E.R.? Or is it Me.S.S.En.Ge.R.?
NASA designed a space probe to fly to a planet named after the messenger of the gods. And NASA feels like they need to construct some bogus acronym to justify the name “Messenger.”
Acronyms are fine if they really help people remember and understand the program or product name. But in most cases, the acronym simply becomes a name and slowly loses all connection to the meaning.
And the worse case scenario is that you are so obsessed with creating an acronym, that you select a poor name in the process. Avoid creating acronyms just to be clever or just to justify a name choice.
Your best bet is always to give products, organizations and programs strong, appropriate names.
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Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
