Those would give me the ability to have the same interface no matter laptop, iPhone, iPad och any other device and as the kronan på verket; seemless syncing via Dropbox.com

… but it didn’t turn out that easy at all albeit the current plain text frenzy spreading the interwebs …

First of all; Writer for iPad doesn’t support subfolders, so it doesn’t integrate well in my workflow if I don’t want to change my way of working and my folder structure. I had to use the PlainText app on the iPad for the files that I kept outside Writers default folder.

The not so plain text encoding.

On the surface the apps looks great; just use the plain text format to encode your textfiles. But little do the user know that the plain text cake comes in a variety of flavours.

PlainText from Hog Bay Software has really strict UTF-8 encodig rules, anything not UTF-8 would not work in PlainText. I like that, that’s my kind of keeping it strict and minimal.

[Update] PlainText now supports the UTF-16 format since v1.2.

Writer from Information Architects on the other hand encodes plain text files as UTF-16.

Writeroom (also from Hog Bay Software) does not have any control of how it encodes the documents, it simply opens the files using the OSX native open file functionality, and there is now way to change the default encoding via Writeroom settings. Result; a new file created in Writeroom would not be UTF-8.

Jesse the developer of PlainText and WriteRoom says in the WriteRoom Google group: “Sorry setting the default setting isn’t supported. I just use the default OS X call for opening the file, and that’s supposed to detect the format most of the time. You can try opening and saving the file in TextEdit, I think that will add a utf-8 metadata attribute that WriteRoom will use to open the file correctly.”

Then there is the fourth part of the party; OSX TextEdit app. By default TextEdit is set to use ”Automatic encoding” when opening and saving plain text files. So it keeps the current encoding of the document; open a file from Writer (UTF-16) will save it as UTF-16. Open a rich text document (.rtf) will save it as rich text formatting and so on.

The result has been a minor nightmare full of files beeing blank in one app, working in another and a lot of logging into Dropbox.com to revert and restore files.

The solution for now …

Here is what you have to do to get all files cleaned up and working on all devices/apps.

Start off by opening TextEdit, change the “Open and Save”-settings to “Automatic” for opening and “UTF-8” for saving files. Then open all the textfiles that you want to ‘clean’, or that you have in your writing-envirionemnt. Do ”Save as …” and make sure the encoding is set to ”UTF-8” in the Save as dialog. After that you have to go back and change the default TextEdit “Open”-settings to “UTF-8”.

After that you must download the Writeroom 2.5 development Beta from the WriteRoom Dev Versions cos it supports setting the default encoding to UTF-8.

Writer still has to change it’s standard encoding into UTF-8 … we’ll have to wait for that to happend.

PlainText has loosened it’s encoding rules and now reads UTF-16 (iA Writer files).

Over the years I have built a library of icons and graphics that I regulary use to make fast and generic illustrations for pitches and presentations. The purpose of the icons is to be clean and generic and used to illustrate ideas, flows and strategies. They are not intended for GUI design or more proper wireframing since they are quite a mix of different styles.

I thought that I might share my library since there must be people spending hours trying to find graphics for their presentations.

Feel free to download them and use them as much as you like. Included in the .zip-file is:

• Icons as Illustrator file (.ai).
• Icons pasted into a clean Keynote document.

Some examples on how I have used them:

“We’ve all had them dangling around our necks – conference badges. But what do they really do for us? They tell the event staff that we’re allowed in to certain areas (and maybe even allowed a “free” lunch).

But how are they useful to us, the conference attendees? Ok, it’s handy to see people’s names, and see what their title or role is. Some badges have a schedule printed on them, which is nice.

Beyond that – usually the badge doesn’t do much more than just hang there.”

Precisely, and that is why we want to broaden the focus from the badge to the conference experience as a whole.

Jaan further writes:

“In my point of view a badge should do two things:
1) Help me identify people I know from the online world but that I have never met in real life.
2) Help me explore and experience the event in the best way possible.”

The first point is mostly a design issue and this is where the UX Australia competition is focused. But the badge itself has limitations on how useful it can be no matter how creatively it has been designed. And we don’t think that a better badge is the only solution to a better event experience.

The problem we and other conference attendees have is that we always end up with a smattering of flyers, business cards, session notes, email addresses, names, schedules and other info that we found useful and interesting.

Unfortunately all this info tends to end up in a drawer, tucked inside the conference bag, and it never sees the light of day again.

The problem is storage and access.

What we think is missing is a conference hub where you can store, and more importantly access, your collected info in an easy and quick way long after the conference has ended.

Our solution centres on QR codes and mobile devices.

As you know QR codes can link to huge amounts of information. They are easily created, and scanning is done using your cell phone’s camera.

Here is a scenario:

Imagine signing up for a conference. In the confirmation email you get a link to an app that you can install on your mobile device.

After installing, you use it to socialize with other attendees Crowdwine style, get the latest updates on schedules, hotel info, useful maps or any other type of useful conference information.

When you arrive at the conference you don’t have to stand in line for registration. You simply scan the registration QR code that is displayed on huge screens throughout the conference lobby.

All the info you provided about yourself when you signed up for the event gets printed together with your own unique QR code on the badge that you pick up as you breeze on through to the event hall.

Next you attended a great presentation. On your way out you scan the sessions QR code that’s displayed by the door. This action pulls the session slides and the speaker’s contact info in to your conference app.

During the lunch break you discuss the session with some fellow attendees. Instead of exchanging business cards you scan each other’s QR codes. This puts contact information, latest blog posts, portfolios, latest tweets etc into the conference app. Contextual, and easily accessible.

In the exhibition hall you watch an interesting product demo. You scan the exhibitor’s QR code and receive conference specific offers and all the info you could possibly need in to the event app.

Other things organizers use QR codes for include links to Google maps displaying places to eat lunch and dinner, and also other related events like BarCamps, bar crawls, parties and more. They are displayed on printed banners as well as screens throughout the venue.

Next you go back to the hotel to get ready for the conference party. But before the party you want to go down to the bar crawl and meet some local businesses. You scan their QR codes from the programme and the conference app creates a map with their locations, as well as giving you directions from your hotel to the crawl. Additional info about the business you chose is also added to your app.

At the party your meet more really interesting people and have a great time. Cheers.

After the conference has ended and you’re back at home base you launch the app and there it is – all the info you collected nicely organised and easily accessed and distributed to your other apps (Address book, Things, etc).

So, that is how we would like to experience future conferences!

As you can see, there are numerous benefits to us attendees. The pros for the organizers, sponsors and exhibitors are also many. Not least from a cost/environment perspective. Less printed material (that is outdated as soon as the event is over) equal less paper, ink and transport costs. Less physical materials means cheaper clean-ups and less time spent pre and post the event.

Back to the competition! Our UX Australia badge competition entries are over at the event’s Flickr group:

Look for the files submitted by “Nofont” and “jorvet”. Each badge version comes with a detailed explanation on our ideas for their components. Let us know what you think of them.

(No, it is not the real brand you see :-)

It’s more about getting peoples attention and make them stick by sorting and editing your message instead of presenting everything you got at once.

What do you do to get that lean back vibe?

- Direct and short texts.
- Large visuals and typography.
- Vertical information instead of linear or layered.
- Embrace space.
- Don’t be afraid of scrolling.

Good examples:

www.culturedcode.com is one of the best examples of a lean back site.

Orbitsville.com has large visual cases.

Orbitsville.com uses large typography.

Apple.com is mostly brilliant in the way they treat design and visuals.

The good side of the stock image is that it saves a lot of time and money for both a designer and the client when used right. If you use stock imagery as a small parts or building blocks for your larger design projects it’s brilliant. I mean, if you need images of paper, post it notes, wood, pins, grass or something that needs to be presented as close to its natural looks as possible it is ridiculus to hire a photographer for the shots when you can get them for a few dollars instantly.

But still, as a buyer of design you need to beware of the authenticity of the designs you buy.

In the industrial town of Norrköping, Sweden, there are a lot of old brickwalled industrial buildings and factories. Parts of it actually looks like Shoredich (but with the swedish governmental building standard sprinkeld on top of it). A lot of new projects is going on and one that has opened up is “Knäppingsborg”.

It’s nice, cute and really friendly, massive amounts of time and effort has been put into the architecture and buildings to restore them in a modern but still in touch with the old days style. Small interior shops, bakerys, delis and farmer markets has opened.

But what has failes miserably is the signage and the execution of the typography. Instead of cutting the signs in metal or wood or anything they have stenciled the signs with spraypaint. What’s that all about? And they have failed to do that as well; sprayed outside the stencils, dizzy edges and mismatching fillings. Pity, cos I really like the place.

A lot of them fail misreably on the business side of the trade. The difference between the art-guy and the director-guy is that the art-guy are brilliant craftsmen but fail on the level of delivery that is needed, mostly cos they are losing focus on the purpose and result of the project and often starts to focus on the details or design issues instead of the business issues. The director-guy is often not as brilliant in craftmenship but generally strong in pushing the clinets business forward.

So who is worth your money?

Well, my advise would be to hire both guys but give the director-type 90% of the budget and 10% to the arty guy. Why? The clients is not buying your art skills in Illustrator, Photoshop och InDesign, that can be found in any street-corner 24 hours a day. The client is buing you skills in business development and your understanding of their revenue … and that is rarely found.

If you or your business only get the director guy you are going to get flexible and effective communication and the investment will end up in your black figures, but your business will be considered stale, traditional and boring. If you only get the arty guy you will have the coolest brand ever but your everyday grassroot level of communication will be unadapable to different situations and hard to understand.

So, you as a buyer of design and communication must be able to see the need of both types and then you can have a strong foundation to base your business on and in campaigns and your brand will top of mind.