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My Favorite Steve Jobs Quote.

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe.

Otherwise why else even be here?”

-Steve Jobs

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I recently gave a presentation at Ignite Dallas 4 on Saving the World from Bad Design.

Presentation Description:

I believe design thinking can save the world. We live in a world that has become jaded to bad design. Everything in our world is designed from our toothbrush to our education system. Why are we so willing to tolerate bad design when it impacts our lives in so many significant and meaningful ways? I for one am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!
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In use since the 16th century innovation has become one of the biggest buzz words in business during the last decade crescendoing into a deafening noise. Over used and over hyped, the word innovation itself has lost meaning. One of the most important unintended consequences is a lack of focus and understanding of the word invention vs. innovation.
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If you have to say your brand or product is revolutionary, visionary, or inspiring it probably isn’t. If you find yourself writing copy with the words of what you want to be or think you are, face it you aren’t that. If you are innovative your brand experience should exude it in a self-evident way. If your brand is inspiring, then I should feel inspired not read ‘inspiring’. Let’s refer to this as Eminem Marketing from now on. Stop writing it and start being it.

Cause I am whatever you say I am if I

wasn’t, then why would I say I am?

- Eminem, The Way I am

The first in a weekly series of TEDTalk classics. Hans Rosling shows us the power of data visualization. Rosling makes data feel accesible and uses it to tell a story in a way that is inspiring while debunking common myths, but more than anything else it is his passion that sucks you in. Be sure to visit Gapminder.org and check out the new desktop version of Gapminder that is available.
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Arrrggh! It’s good to be a Pirate.

Steve Jobs continues to prove his idiom: Why join the navy when you can be a pirate. The “new” Notifications Center is inspired and pirated from Android’s notification system. Safari’s Reading List functionality mirrors those of Instapaper, Readablity, and Read it Later.  The new search capabilities in Mail emulate Gmail and the reading experience borrows from Sparrow. Of course the Apple design philosophy in almost all cases greatly improves upon anything that inspired them. There are a host of other “new” features from Apple that can be added to the pirate list.
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There has been a boon of minimalist applications released for the Mac App Store and the App Store. Information Architects, Inc. has a great video to promote the release of their latest application, iA Writer for the Mac, that really sums up this trend the best.
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Its really easy to put a Facebook Like button on a website or on print marketing. In fact it has become a de facto standard to put social media icons on everything. But what does this really do for the consumer or the brand?
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We often underestimate the influence that poetry has had on American culture. With Gil Scott-Heron’s passing it is an opportunity to be cognizant of the influence that poetry has had on the American culture during the later half of the 20th century.

Ginsberg, Kerouac, and the Beat Poets began to blur the lines between poetry and music in the 50′s. The Beat generation set the stage for those to come later including Gil Scott-Heron, the Last Poets, Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, et al. The cause and effect of poetic and musical influences is an interesting trail to follow.
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There’s a difference between knowing the

path and walking the path.

- Morpheus, The Matrix

This quote always comes to mind when I am faced with a tough business decision. It reminds me not to succumb to analysis paralysis or get bogged down by the emotions of the decision. Until you make the decision you will never truly have knowledge. It is only by walking the path that you can ever gain knowledge.