willie jackson

Blog

  • The new barackobama.com

    President Obama’s website was recently updated, and it has design / development communities geeking out. Among the site’s highlights:

    • Modernizr — a Javascript library that allows for browser-specific feature detection
    • HTML5BoilerPlate — a framework for building cutting-edge, future-proof sites
    • Responsive design — content dynamically resized based on screen size
    • Rolling deployments — updates to the site pushed several times per day
    • Mobile-first — designed for mobile browsers first, then the desktop

    I love this quote from the behind the scenes post:

    First and foremost, it’s a tool.

    The site is beautiful without sacrificing utility. Also check out Designing Obama if the branding of the Obama campaign got you drooling in 2008.

  • The Craftsman

    It’s easy to live out a script and maintain a particular (personal and professional) trajectory. What I love about the idea of a true craftsman (a carpenter, web developer, glass blower, or what have you) is that they’ve made a conscious decision to commit to the work.

    They know the work will not always be pleasant or immediately rewarding, but that it will always be important and worth doing. This mindset that exists in the successful craftsman and true artist, I think, is at odds with the cruise-control compliance that exists in many corporate automatons.

    There is an art to solving problems with patience and curiosity that separates the greats from the generalists. This patience allows an artist to turn pro, and share their art with the world in a much more powerful way.

  • A big thank you to JetBlue

    I left my laptop on an airplane last night.

    Once I found the right person (which took about seven minutes, as I hadn’t yet left the airport), I was reconnected with my computer in less than 20 minutes.

    If you know Ken who works for JetBlue in Portland, Oregon…please thank him (again) for me.

  • IncubateNYC

    I moved to the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan on January 1st of this year for The Domino Project.

    In that time, I’ve watched the area grow and flourish—rent prices are increasing, crime is down, popular restaurants and bars draw crowds from all over the city, and construction is a permanent fixture along the main Avenues.

    Many are calling the Second Renaissance.

    As a technology with semi-nocturnal tendencies, one of the disappointing aspects of Harlem is the lack of coworking options. I’m a member of New Work City, but it’s not open on weekends, and represents a bit of a trek from where I live.

    For these (and a host of other) reasons I’m excited to see IncubateNYC.org launch. It’s an effort to revitalize the economy through entrepreneurship, and it was initially birthed as a response to an RFP from the NYC Economic Development Corp.

    The big push is for the next 10 days (until December 15th), when the proposal is due, and your support is appreciated. If the effort resonates with you or you are open to blindly supporting things because you like me (smile), give a look/like/tweet.

    Good luck, guys.

    [RSS/Email peeps: You probably can’t see this video, which is embedded in the post.]

  • Awareness

    An industry awareness helps you plan products and the direction of your business and how you fit into the big picture.

    A market awareness helps you determine what’s needed, what people will buy, and what you should work on.

    An awareness of your team help you determine how to make requests, how to motivate others to action, and what can (and can’t) be done within a certain timeframe.

    Knowledge of yourself ties this all together.

    Your quirks and idiosyncrasies and motivations and habits (good and bad) color the tone of your interactions and deals and the culture fostered within your organization.

    If you’re not aware of how you’re perceived and how your decisions impact others, how can you lead? And if you haven’t taken the time to learn these things, why even bother?

  • Taking some time off

    It’s tempting to slave away around the clock when working towards a significant goal, or to feel like working around the clock is the right thing to do. 10,000 hours, right?

    The trouble is, not everyone’s wired to slave away around the clock without burning out and becoming massively unproductive.

    When I first started freelancing in Atlanta and was taking on web design/development projects, I holed myself up for what felt like weeks at a time in order to take my business seriously.

    It resulted it much Facebooking.

    When I started making time to be away from the computer, engage in actual recreation, and put some structure around my work (no work on weekends or after 6pm, for example), I saw a dramatic and immediate spike in my productivity.

    As a matter of fact, I started to find inspiration and motivation and creativity coming to me when I was nowhere near my office. I started looking forward to my projects (instead of falling into the lazy and ungrateful habit of lamenting the workload…) and attacked them with enthusiasm.

    Sometimes a day at the beach is much better for your business than a day at the office.

  • It’s worth it

    That’s why you’re doing it, correct?

    That’s why you put your name on the line every day for your project and your team, yes?

    That’s why you’re putting the hours into what feels like torture at times, right?

    …because the problems you’re solving are interesting and worth addressing.

    …because the juice is worth the squeeze.

    …because it’s work you must do.

    But certainly not just because this is the trajectory on which you’ve found yourself…

    …right?

  • It’s magic

    Freelancing is a bit like being a magician sometimes.

    There’s technical skill, mastery of a craft, a touch of showmanship, and the careful orchestration of dozens of factors that result in you audience (customers) being delighted and begging for more.

    By the same token, a big mistake during showtime (a project) can severely damage your show (business), and repeated failures can result in irreparable damage to your reputation (livelihood).

  • Keeping the promise

    Yesterday, I paid to have my dry-cleaning delivered (don’t look at me like that; I live in NYC) and noticed that my receipt proudly states “All Work Done On Premises.”

    When said laundry wasn’t delivered within the window specified, I went there to investigate. When I explained what happened, the gentlemen immediately said that it “must be the wash and fold — it’s always late.”

    (This illustrates that all work is actually not done on the premises, of course.)

    Sigh.

    If the promise is that your company conducts business in a particular way, it’s critical that you deliver on the promise. This should be obvious.

    What’s baffling is when companies not only fall short on the promise, but on an even acceptable level of service.

  • A short poem

    That’s what’s being published today through The Domino Project.

    Poetry has always been important to me, as I grew up in a household where Langston Hughes was quoted in the car, and the memorization of short poetic works came as second nature.

    In college, I helped found an Urban Arts Organization (it was essentially a poetry troupe, but we were in college and “urban arts” sounded more sophisticated…) and enjoyed both writing and performing my work.

    Sarah Kay’s book is special because so much care was taken to preserve her art. (It also tickles me to see spoken word at TED, but that’s beside the point.) Her poem is beautiful, timeless, and it’s hard to imagine that Sarah isn’t 45.

    Such poise and grace and talent and class.

    It also happens to be the last hardcover released under the Domino imprint, which brings this past year into focus for me.

    Yes, almost twelve months have passed since I read the post that changed everything. I’ve written about the experience here (and here) as well.

    What a year.