Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned for more real platform action.

This casual male in a wooden rocking chair was observed by a coworker at Azul 7. I was out of the office one morning, and upon my return I heard murmurings of an interesting platform sighting. I was thrilled to hear someone took a snapshot of the occurance — a young guy, apparently waiting for a train — in a rocking chair. “Hmm… weird!”, I thought, as questions and theories started gathering in my mind, as I’m sure they are yours. Where do I begin?

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I ride a bike to work most days. Earlier in the summer I was using a fixed-gear bike, where the freewheel - the thing on the back wheel that allows you to coast - had been replaced by a single, immobile gear. “Fixies” are designed for racing on a track, where there’s no traffic, so they don’t need shifters or brakes. Instead, the rider slows down by resisting the pedals as they spin. They’ve become popular with bike messengers and other people who ride all year because there’s less equipment to maintain.

Another reason they’re popular is the trackstand. This is the maneuver you sometimes see at a stop light downtown, where the rider balances magically without putting a foot down, until the light turns green and they fly off. This summer I vowed to learn how to do one.

On the fixie, it was easier than I expected. When you are nearly stopped, you turn the front wheel to one side so that any more forward momentum would take you in a tight circle instead of out into traffic. When your outside foot comes over the top of its stroke you resist with the other foot, and then slowly rock the pedals forward and backward so that you are just barely moving back and forth over the same spot. Cool.

So then I tried it on a regular bike. Holy cow, that’s a whole ‘nother thing. Did you ever see a biker tip over at a stop light with their fancy shoes still in the pedals? Yeah. I needed a little help from Team Estrogen. The trick, they taught me, is to keep your hands off the brakes as much as possible. Practice off the road first, pushing the front wheel against a stationary object like a bench, rolling slightly backward and then forward to the object. Back on the road, you want to use its natural slope as resistance, combined with shifting your body weight, to cause the bike to roll back against the pressure you are applying to the pedals.

Well I ain’t there yet, but it’s coming along. Keep the rubber side down.

Anheuser-Busch sold to Belgian beverage giant InBev for $52B.

Diese Bud is für Sie (This Bud’s for you).

Being one of the newest additions to Azul 7, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a great workplace lately. Here’s what I’ve come up with, in no particular order:

• Your opinions are valued, and you feel free to really speak your mind
• Your job and it’s duties are engaging (that means they stretch your capabilities and make you think)
• You respect your co-workers for many reasons (they’re really good at what they do, they’re brilliant, they’re helpful when you have a question or need a hand, and they’re just generally good people that you don’t mind being around for the majority of your day)
• The work the organization puts out is something you can really be proud of
• The environment is a healthy one
• The organization continually strives to improve communication and processes
• You are allowed the flexibility to do your job on your time (as long as it gets done, and gets done well, everyone is happy)
• You work in a true team environment (you want others to succeed and are free with your encouragement, compliments, and general pats on the back)

and my personal favorite…

• Work hard, play hard (we all have a life outside of work and it’s important to try to keep some balance in your life!)

I genuinely feel like we’re really blessed to have all of these here at Azul 7 and I am fortunate to be contributing!

Having recently graduated from a four-year graphic design program, education is still a prominent thought in my mind. Four weeks after starting here at Azul7 the same thought continues to narrate my bus rides home – I still have so much to learn. I realize that every rookie designer goes through a similar phase during the beginning of their career, but I cannot help but wonder if there is any way that my college education could have better prepared me for entering the world of design, particularly the growing world of interactive design?

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been placed in the hands of a professor in my last semester of college, who constantly encouraged us to think about design as an interactive experience. Until that point in my education, interactive design seemed to be more of an afterthought in the curriculum of many professors. Since graduating, I have become increasingly concerned that not enough emphasis is placed on interactive design, and that interactive media is being positioned not as a core component but rather an elective.

Design will be a means for communicating information to audiences. In order to do this effectively, design constantly evolves with technology. As the world begins to devote more and more of its time and resources towards online and digital activity, design will do the same. So, why aren’t design programs following suit? Students are required to take classes in packaging and logo design, yet not all programs require students to study web design. Websites and other interactive media are far more effective at reaching audiences than direct mail and packaging campaigns, yet certain schools continue to elevate traditional design fields above the rest.

Web design has come a long way since the 90s, and it’s time that design programs, professors, and students start realizing that a well-designed web site can be far more beautiful than any bottle of vodka or line of beauty products.

Designers, start encouraging students and young designers to think beyond print. Share your work with as many classrooms and students as possible. Professors, start showing students the potential and potency of interactive design. An education isn’t valuable if it isn’t relevant. Students, start paying attention to what’s happening in the world outside of your design classrooms. Look to business and other sectors to really see what your audience is really interested in.

As for me, I will continue to discover countless things that I still need to learn. I will also look forward to each day, knowing that another part of my interactive education is waiting for me .

(click the image to start the presentation. Quicktime is required. You can download Quicktime here)

This presentation was given to LifeScience Alley on Thursday, June 26 2008. It was a great opportunity for us to talk with those in attendance about Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Advertising, and how these strategies influence the biomedical marketplace.

You can also download the presentation in Powerpoint or PDF format.

When working with system fonts, you need to stop and ask yourself, is this something I can even work with? I have selected the top three system fonts based on accessibility, history and functional properties. Don’t get me wrong, I am not head over heels for any of these fonts. But based on my limited selection I have chosen Helvetica, Georgia, and Verdana.

I have not included any of the new Windows Vista fonts because they have not been made accessible to me. In the words of Adam Gedde, the Great, “Don’t rely on anything from Microsoft to be free, available or to work”. I see some of the new Windows Vista fonts have a contemporary look and functional properties. However, I am not willing to pay $299.00 for system fonts when I would rather be spending my cash money on fonts from Emigre, Hoefler & Frere-Jones, 2Rebels, or Under Ware, just to name a few.

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Let your passions move you. Don’t be defined by what you aren’t; be defined by what your vision of the future will be. Don’t be afraid to think big. Think. There’s a bigger ocean. Your only limitation is your confidence in your compass.

In the last few years I’ve been listening to a debate about what the future of advertising isn’t. I sometime find it ironic that an industry that should be creative has such a difficult time articulating a vision.

As I look back and I consider what inspired me. What stands out to me is that the people I recall first are the ones that were the smartest, kindest, and the most thoughtful about their profession. They never stopped studying, teaching, exploring. Their lives were defined by their passion and they shared their passion every hour of every day with those that were willing to learn.

Inspired by a life of work,

Saul Bass www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass
Burne Hogarth www.bpib.com/hogarth.htm
Jack Unruh www.jackunruh.com/real.html
Stan Richards www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1999
Milton Glaser http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/milton.php
Woody Pirtile http://www.pirtledesign.com/index.htm
Eric Madsen http://emadsen.com
Matt Mahurin http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=3345
and http://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/videos.htm

People I love to watch:

Joe Duffy www.duffy.com/duffy/index.aspx
Alan Colvin http://designcue.com
Woody Pirtle http://www.designerid.com/video.php
Pentagram http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/pent.php
Russel Davis http://youtube.com/watch?v=6F1T9RDBY3I
IDEO http://ideo.com

Miscellaneous thoughts;

Stanford Design www.fastcompany.com/fast50_08/index.html
Ted www.ted.com
Art Center www.artcenter.edu
One Club www.oneclub.org
Cannes www.canneslions.com
Second Story http://secondstory.com
Communication Arts http://commarts.com

Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a weekly series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned each week for more real platform action.

#79: Orange Liquid, 50th Street / Minnehaha Falls Station, 8:13 AM

Mysterious. As I approached the ticket kiosk one cloudy morning — my GoTo card out and ready to swipe, wind whipping my freshly blow-dried hair into a nasty tangle — a white shape to my lower left caught my eye. I looked down. It was a white, Styrofoam cup — not your usual 12 oz size, but a bit larger, perhaps 16 oz. It sat there, perfectly centered at the base of a steel support beam, containing a small amount of an unknown orange liquid.

:: continue reading this ocean post ::

(click the image to start the presentation. Quicktime is required. You can download Quicktime here)

This presentation was given to IABC on Thursday, May 8 2008. It was a great opportunity for us to talk with those in attendance about Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Advertising, and how these strategies integrate with overall marketing strategies.

You can also download the presentation in Powerpoint or PDF format.