I think everyone should have a dog at the office. I was walking my dog, Redd, from the parking garage to my building this morning, and even total strangers would stop to pat him, smile, or coo things to him in that baby-talk voice people use with animals (which he totally loves, by the way). Heck, even when I was driving into downtown he had his head out the window getting other drivers to smile. People that normally move into their day without much to grin about were unexpectedly made happier. But it didn't stop there! Once we got upstairs he instantly charmed a roomful of people in our glass-walled conference room as he stared in with a big dog-smile on his face, while simultaneously bringing the level of energy in the office up about 5 levels while hopping from person to person getting attention. All day he's been infusing the air with his relaxed, easygoing personality (and a little dog breath). For others interested in dogs as therapy and dogs in general, here are a few good links: Minnesota Therapy Animals A good site about what you can do with your animal and volunteering. Urbanimal My favorite pet-stuff store; it's local! They even deliver pet food. Airport Dogpark A blog for one of Redd's favorite hangouts… it even has a Flickr account attached. p.s. Redd is now passed out in the middle of our workspace; as any good dog would be.

I found these earbuds when I realized that my ears would never accommodate the regular Apple iPod ear buds without serious pain or plastic surgery! They're pretty awesome and have different sized rubbery things so they snug right inside your ear. Plus they block outside noise so you don't have to crank the volume high when you're in a noisy situation. Drawback: You can't hear things around you, so unsafe for outdoor use. They're on sale right now too!

The web is bulging with truth and lies. How can we tell who and what's for real out there? People and companies can be whoever they want to be online. They can pick and choose their best features and hide their flaws. A company's website is a lot like a MySpace profile if you think about it — showing only what they do best and only showing the “good” photos. And MySpace members are basically branding themselves — using video, imagery, music, and paying consideration to wardrobe and copywriting. Someone who's ugly can look gorgeous with the right photo. And a company that sells complete crap can look very polished and slick. Oh, and beauty products can demonstrate absolute “miracles.” Oh sure, one could argue that this is no different than it used to be. Advertising has always been over-promising; companies have always been showing their “good side.” Consumers should be used to it. Right? I'm not so sure. Yes, sometimes it's very obvious that a company is over-promising, for example on the wrinkle cream image above that I found on a flashing banner ad. But what about comparing insurance companies or buying a book? What about meeting someone from an online dating service? Filing your taxes? How do we know who's telling the truth? With the abundance of media outlets in our interactive world alone — company websites, blogs, video, social networking, television — everyone is even more pounded by messaging than during the pre-web days. And besides taking in content, average people are pushing content out through these same outlets. Take Wikipedia. Average Janes and Joes are just pushing out “facts” (psst… which don't always check out, by the way). Are we becoming too reliant on the internet to bring us the truth? Are there ways that we can all start to bring the reliability of content up a notch? I think so. Here are a few ideas: Be real As a designer of websites and other communications, I try to find the balance between what a company is, and what they aspire to be. Making something feel visually true to reality while still inspiring and engaging. A company's website or any communications piece should feel appropriate to who they are. It should feel true. This requires getting to really know the company and what their goal(s) are. It's not just about how it looks, though. Take real photos Budgets don't always allow this, but nothing is worse than seeing a bad stock photo used repeatedly. Or worse yet, seeing competitors using the same image. If you must use stock, keep in mind you get what you pay for when it comes to quality. Also try to find photos that don't “look like stock”; search on more specific terms, search for shots taken from different angles, etc. Challenge the writing Oftentimes we design sites with content provided by the client, or written by an overzealous marketing director. The copy might be over-inflated with buzz words. It might not reflect the true personality of the company. It might be overly long, preventing people from even reading it. The navigation could be confusing. There are many things that can be done to enhance the verbal aspects of a website to better represent the company. Cite your sources If you're using references to other websites or materials, tell where they're from. Better yet, link to them. If you get a quote or testimonial from somebody, ask permission to use it and be prepared to show it's legitimate. All of these ideas might help. But probably the most helpful tip is to go with your gut. If something feels off, wrong, or too-good-to-be-true, it probably is.