Jonathan Rosenberg, Google SVP of Products recently gave a speech to graduates of Claremont McKenna about his rules to success and leadership.
My favorite line from the entire speech has to do with persuasion, especially during a meeting:
Back up your position with data. You don’t win arguments by saying ‘I think.’ You win by saying ‘Let me show you.’
Read a recap of his speech here or watch the video below.
Smashing Magazine has a great post today about the new “minimalistic” or “flat” trend that is becoming increasingly popular lately.
While I admit I’m in the middle of a redesign of BoxRowSeat to make it more “minimalistic” and “flat” (with an emphasis on “responsive”… I know, I hate myself, too), this article hits on all the main points about what’s important if you want to follow this style. From the article:
It would be a mistake to rigidly apply a minimalist design aesthetic to an interface as a style in the hope of making the interface simpler and more digitally “authentic.” For example, ruthlessly eliminating visuals such as shadows, colors and varied background styles would not necessarily make an interface easier to use. In some cases, it would achieve the opposite by undermining hierarchy and focus, which were established by those very shadows and background colors.
Outlook 2013’s interface was updated to fit Windows 8’s modern theme. But with the interface being flattened, all of the content and menus were merged onto a single white plane, becoming more cluttered as a result.
Read the (long, but completely worth it) article at Smashing Magazine.
It’s always a little shocking seeing a company’s new logo, but MailChimp has done the impossible: made it both noticeable to people who care and unnoticeable to people who don’t.
My new favorite blog, Fast Company’s design-specific blog FastcoDesign, has the entire write up of the process here.