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The Next Microsoft

minimallyminimal.com

191–200 of 355 posts

Re: The Next Microsoft

#191
Some relevant writing on unsolicited redesigns from last year, worth bearing in mind in this context, by

- Lukas Mathis: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/05/15/unsolicited_redesig...

- Khoi Vinh: http://www.subtraction.com/2011/07/28/unsolicited-redesigns

- Andy Rutledge: http://andyrutledge.com/journalism.php

Re: The Next Microsoft

#192
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any ideas how to promote this kind of initiative in students?

Are you allowed to give your students assignments that involve redesigning existing brands? I did not go to school for design, so I really have no idea if this is allowed, but what would happen if you told the students that their assignment was to create an ad for Nike? I'd jump at something like that.

Or if you can't do that, tell them to invent a competitor and brand that?

Re: The Next Microsoft

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can go either way. Remember when dcurtis did a unsolicited spec redesign for the American Airlines website? We here at HN tore him a new one (justifiably so, it ignored so many critical aspects of the business, and came off as entirely impractical). When you do something like this, you better be sure you nail every single angle of it. FWIW, I normally hate spec redesigns - they're usually positioned in a pompous…

HN criticized, but I've heard "the guy who redesigned American's website" referenced in several times from several sources. It spread, it got him a reputation, it gave him a brand! Dustin Curtis is now recognizable in any kind of design discussion. I've never heard of minimallyminimal, but I'll remember "the guy who rebranded Microsoft" for a long time.

He may be recognizable in a design discussion on HN, but hardly out of this context. Same goes for this guy.

That of course is not to say that these sorts of efforts should be avoided, but I do think you are overestimating their impact.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#195
post #167

So, I'm not a huge fan, but definitely an interesting attempt. Some commentary, because why not: - As others have noted, the "moonshot" imagery is a good idea and manages to seem classic and futuristic at the same time. - The wordmark is a little cliche (lowercase sans wooo), but it looks okay. I like the beveled foot of the t, which provides echoes of the slanted logo, but feel like it's just an afterthought right n…

I didn't see the 'slates fighting' in Office, I saw them as a bouquet, given that Office is made of several items that work together.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Then what are you doing in these here comments?

People don't care what hacker/nerd types think because of things like this comment. Insisting on a pedantic interpretation of a comment, whose meaning should be obvious, suggests an inability to tolerate even minor variances from a desired ideal. This is typical of the engineer's mindset -- everything which doesn't conform to an archetype or classification system is flawed or contradictory. I'm reading these comments…

> " suggests an inability to tolerate even minor variances from a desired ideal... everything which doesn't conform to an archetype or classification system is flawed or contradictory."

You seem to have derived a lot from a 9-word comment. You also have an awful lot of confidence you've got my personality pegged, despite having never met me.

Let's address the original point, which is "nobody cares what HN thinks" - tossed off-handedly into the thread as a retort. This is a community of people involved in technology startups, ranging from engineers to designers to business folk - it is the precise demographic that has need a designer's skillset, and the precise demographic who collectively sets the design tone for the consumer web.

Which isn't to say that HN's word is gospel - far from it - but to reject all criticism under the guise of "nobody cares what [insert lame stereotype about nerds] people think" seems about as presumptuous as assuming HN's collective taste is authoritative.

In any case, the purpose here is not to drag Mr. Curtis through the mud, it's to point out that spec redesigns, when not fully thought-through, have historically been roundly attacked in the tech community, by engineers and designers alike, and on HN and abroad. If one is to make a very public display of it, one should be aware of the potential negative press.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#198
post #40
post #28

[deleted]

What is so wrong with Windows? Seriously. It's not perfect, but I'm yet to find an OS that is.

My main complaint is the lack of a (decent) package manager; Windows Installer doesn't so much as handle updates by itself, forcing applications to spawn dozens of "updaters" and making it impossible to coordinate them.

(This is perspective as a home user - enterprise tools might be different)

Re: The Next Microsoft

#199
post #73

Dear everybody, Are you paying attention? This is how you build a portfolio. Did microsoft ask this person to do this? No. But he did it, and it's brilliant, and now he can put it in his portfolio under "speculative work". And then he gets a job doing this. I can't tell you how many people I talk to (I live in a college town, and frequently go to bars and strike up conversations with people) who just finished, or are…

This can go either way. Remember when dcurtis did a unsolicited spec redesign for the American Airlines website? We here at HN tore him a new one (justifiably so, it ignored so many critical aspects of the business, and came off as entirely impractical). When you do something like this, you better be sure you nail every single angle of it. FWIW, I normally hate spec redesigns - they're usually positioned in a pompous…

I hadn't heard of that redesign but I went and looked it up. After reading/looking at it I have to say you cant compare the two. Dustin was like "You suck sh*t and im never going to use your business again, so here is redesign of your website. PS all your designers/ux personel are incompetent" while this redesign was more lik "I'm not happy with the way that microsoft has gone so here is a possible alternative". The later being much better than the former even if Dustin has managed to create a pretty strong reputation for himself.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#200
post #171
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you call "visible support" is really only "polluting the comments". "Me too" posts just fill up the comments with text without substance. See also: * Feb 1983 First "Me too" post ( http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html )

On Disqus, Google+, Facebook, and most other sites supporting "likes", you can see who upvoted your comment. But this site is missing that built-in functionality.

You also can't see the scores of comments you didn't write. What's your point?

The way people interact with HN has a way of influencing the comment stream in nuanced ways. Not releasing all of the information about scoring publicly (or even the score) is an experiment about how such things affect the conversation.

One may not like it, but the general consensus is that "me too" comments just clutter the conversation and don't add anything. If you agree (or disagree, but appreciate the argument) then up vote.

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