When Google unveiled their most recent foray into the social networking realm it was met with surprisingly positive feedback. Google+ is a decidedly “designed” product that marked an overall transition for Google where they have put more emphasis on creating aesthetically pleasing interfaces that are fun and easy to use. The initial interest in Google+ sparked many to claim that it would be a “Facebook killer.” But yesterday, Facebook leapfrogged Google+ in a big way.

It’s a beautiful example of delightful usability.

With the introduction of “Timeline,” Facebook has re-imagined the social profile. They have come up with a truly innovative design that is unlike any profile page you have ever seen before. For Facebook, a company whose designs are typically very restrained, “Timeline” is a grand…

With everyone and their cousin launching a web startup these days, “Coming Soon” pages are a dime a dozen. These placeholder pages let the world know you’re out there, give interested people a way to connect with you and, if you do it right, incentivize people to spread the word about your endeavor.

From the “Coming Soon” page back, it’s crucial that the experience you create for your audience is well designed.

TweetDig has done a particularly nice job of this. The aesthetic is simple and pleasing, and they’ve added a nice interactive touch: When you enter your email address the beta spot counter increments. Not only is this bit of interactivity delightful, it also communicates the value—via scarcity—of a beta spot, and reassures visitors that their actions are not…

There’s a great post over on The 99% that advises on how you can get more out of daily to-dos, by applying n-dimensional thinking. The resulting list is more dynamic and will help you (1) Focus on completing the most valuable tasks, and (2) learn new skills while executing them.

But there actually may be a third, more exciting value prop to amplifying your list: innovation, or even invention, of products.

The post details the common scenario of proposal writing:

For example, let’s say you have to draft up a contract for a client project, a rather humdrum task. Applying N-dimensional thinking, you decide to transform this task by increasing its overall efficiency (one new dimension), improving the contract template design (a second dimension), and learning

As a young professional I’m admittedly still green, but lately I’ve found real encouragement and inspiration from the more seasoned colleagues. I wanted to share some of their advice on how to be a bit more successful a bit faster.

Have Passion and Be Curious
If you were lucky to attend Verge this week, you heard Kristian Andersen speak to passion and curiosity. As professional individuals, we sometimes think that we are confined by what is said on paper, and to achieve more we must have more letters to put after our name or more accomplishments to list out. However, we shouldn’t limit ourselves and allow our resume to be the sole indicator of who we are.

“Curiosity is the one determinant for success; it’s

Recently our team began using Flow – a simple and powerful group task management app. During the free trial, I signed up with a couple different emails to see what it was like to interact with team members on Flow – without putting my team through the pains of dummy tasks, fake scenarios, and unnecessary email.

After signing up the whole team for paid accounts, I let my other test login expire. I had forgotten about it until today, when I had the chance to see some of Flow’s remarketing efforts.

I have to say, their campaign was pretty compelling (and this is to an already converted customer). They tell you straight up that the app has changed; try it again – for free.

My usual approach to project management, is making sure that we’ve planned for everything that our team has to do, and when we need to get it done by. But recently I’ve been realizing that it’s just as important to identify what we don’t need to do.

In a takeaway from The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau, the Startup Daily recommends creating a “To-Stop-Doing” List:

“Write down all the things you are doing that are draining your energy and are not essential to reaching your goals. Take advantage of the fact that stopping is easier than starting.”

So what kind of things do you need to stop doing? With each new…

Miranda July: The Future on Nowness.com.

I love this idiosyncratic solution from Miranda July, an offcut from her latest film, The Future. If often seems like a battle to be productive these days, with all the sources of distraction, entertainment, and information. Todd Henry refers to it as The Ping in his recent book, The Accidental Creative.

The Ping is that little sensation that occasionally prompts me to check my email or social media accounts. It’s the impulse to mindlessly surf news sites instead of doing something productive… it even has a life philosophy for me: “something out there is more important than whatever is right here.”

I use various software apps and online tools to help facilitate my…

What does it take to be a successful consultant?
If you find that you are asking yourself this question there may be a simple answer. Change the way you engage others.

I know. Easier said than done, but exactly how do you change the way you engage others? First, you have to understand that you have your own personal experiences, opinions, and goals. You are not meant to fit into anyone else’s perception of these, just as they are not meant to fit into yours. Next, you have to surrender your perception of control, predictability, and consistency and learn to value the inclusion of others.

Achieving Positive Results
We can all agree that the…

When my friend Jenni and I started IndySpectator, we decided to base our business on email. Not a blog, Tumblr, Facebook, or a custom platform. Just plain jane email. Each week we send a few issues to our loyal readers exposing them to new things to love about Indy – food, arts, startups, music, events, and more.

The result has been a very engaged audience, that I don’t imagine we could have gained through a web-based platform. Our readers like us, because email offers the excitement of exclusivity and being the first in the know. No one feels special “discovering” what’s been broadcasted to millions. Additionally we come to our readers…

I was recently re-introduced to justWink greeting cards via an iPhone app a friend shared with me. I’m typically hesitant to download open-once-and-never-use-it-again apps, but I’ve always been a huge fan of mailing justWink’s cheeky cards, so I decided to give it a try. From the moment I used their app, I fell in love with their brand and product all over again.

Each move within the app has been fully branded with justWink’s witty design and tone. Flip through their more popular cards or jump to a specific occasion, and you’ll soon be exclaiming “Yay, new human!” as you search for the right card to welcome a new baby. justWink has even…