2008/05/07
This is an interesting night. For the last hour, I have been on a wild train ride full of thoughts about shows on Longzero and the future of the network. I am not missing any show ideas and I just need to find the right people to run them. None of the ideas are original or rather, everybody has the same ideas and it’s all merely a matter of execution and will power.
I have been in touch with several communities: comedians, dancers, designers, geeks, marketers and scientists. The bold ones are the one I’m currently either closest or getting closer to and I pretty much have Longzero-related ideas for each of them. Basically, there are entertainers and those who enable the entertainers and get entertained in return.
I won’t tell you what was on my train of thought, but I’ll tell you that it all ends with a party. Scratch that, it ends with several parties. A Longzero party will be defined as a place where all those people will be thrown together and they will find great opportunities to advance further in their career which having fun.
My list above is missing two very important communities: accountants and lawyers. I wouldn’t need them if the human world made any sense.
An old friend compared Longzero to Google. A googol (pronounced Google) is 10 to the power 100 and that’s a lot of zeros. I didn’t even think of that when I came up with Longzero.
At this point, Longzero is split in half between two French show run be several people and a design side run by me.
Facebook will have a new design for the profile page. That has nothing to do with Longzero, except that I was just told that while typing. There are other details on Inside Facebook.
Filed by Long at May 7th, 2008 under Longzero
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2008/05/01
This is about ergonomics. Some clients approach me to create a website for them and they ask for a black background, because it’s cool, gangster and bad ass. At that point, I’m telling them “You just gave me three terrible reasons”.
Websites are mostly made up of text. I agree that reading white on black can relax the eyes because there isn’t much brightness. The thing is that it won’t be long until a visitor changes website and goes to one where the text is written black on white. It takes some time for the eyes to adjust.
It’s like a projection in a classroom. During the show, the lights are off and it’s all dark. When it’s over, the lights are abruptly turned on making everybody close their eyes for good reasons.
By no means am I saying don’t design on black. One of my best design is on black, namely Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir’s website, but when it comes to text, spend some time reading about 3-4 posts on Crave: The gadget blog and come back here or go on Google. Your eyes will tell you “Hey! What’s going on? WTF are you doing to me? Are you trying to kill me?”
Here’s my point: Web Design, very much like Architecture, considers not only the subject at work, but also all of its surroundings, meaning other websites as well. In Apple and Google’s philosophy, make it as easy and as comfortable as possible for people. If you design on black, make sure it’s appropriate.
The irony of this post is that I have created a few websites with white text on black background. I am a sellout, because I never paid much attention to this matter until just now. This will be different starting now.
Filed by Long at May 1st, 2008 under Web
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2008/04/30
I used to be someone who doesn’t care about anything. I was well on my way to stay that way. It was a decision. Not caring made everything easy.
I didn’t have everything in high school. I was good in phys ed. as much as I was good in math, I never really worked for either of those things. I either have it or I don’t. I did everything and anything I could without caring, without caring what other people thought, or even caring if I might hurt somebody.
That’s who I was. The guy who doesn’t care. I want him back! This is the part where you should avoid me, if you haven’t done that already.
Filed by Long at April 30th, 2008 under Long N.
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2008/04/10
Depuis quelques années, les publicités dans le métro couvrent non seulement les espaces publicitaires, mais aussi les murs. Ces annonces sortaient de leurs cadres sur le mur et sur le sol. On pouvait particulièrement remarquer celles de Bell aux métro Berri-UQAM, McGill et Jean-Talon. Nul doute que le coût d’une telle initiative est sûrement très élevé.
Hier, en allant au métro Saint-Michel, je remarquais les publicités qu’on peut voir dans les photos. Celles là sont complètement volantes. Elles n’adhèrent à aucun espace publicitaires et leurs formes sont entièrement libres. C’est très original.
Malgré que ce soit remarquable, j’espère que les publicités de ce type ne seront pas une nouvelle tendance. C’est seulement intéressant lorsqu’il y en a qu’une seule. En grosse quantité, on se retrouverait avec une pollution visuelle.
Filed by Long at April 10th, 2008 under Advertising, Graphic
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2008/04/08
So disturbing. So good. Yes, Ben X is a very good movie. It won three awards at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Ben X is a Belgian film about an autistic high school boy who is bullied all the time. He finds peace by playing an online role-playing game.
The way the movie links the virtual gaming world and the real world is impressive. Given any situation, Ben can somehow relate to the character he plays in the video game.
I had trouble understanding the English translation, but a little research showed me that there is a lot of word play in the movie, all the way to the title which means “I am nothing” in Dutch.
I definitely recommend this movie.
Filed by Long at April 8th, 2008 under Movies
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