La Boîte à Monocle

 

01 « The Secrets to Instagram’s Success » by Kevin Systrom

It was really great to hear Kevin Systrom because the launch of Instagram was, for me, a really and innovative answer for how we use networks. People really needed this way to publish easily beautiful pictures of their ordinary days. With a bit of magic. This what this speaker explained.

The 5 keys of success of Instagram:

• Have a vision

Instagram doesn’t have a proper website. From the beginning, they didn’t work on a corporate website which shows the product. They decided to go 100% on the mobile product. You can only see pages with a picture posted by someone. And that works! Even with no website, a picture page can be seen 6.9 millions time a day, because of all the viral shares you can do from the app!

• Make it fast and simple

The bad thing with posting pictures is the time needed to upload them online (especially when you use your 3G or Edge). Instagram found a great solution. The classic process is: First, you take a picture, then you choose a filter, and after that you enter a description etc… and finally you post the picture. Instead of uploading the picture at the end of this process, they decided to move this step right after you chose the filter. So when you’re typing the description, your picture is already uploading. In that way, when you finally click on « Post this picture », it’s quite instantly. You don’t wait while seeing a bothering loading symbol and you love more the product. Very smart!

• Make it magical

The filters are a really nice incentive. People who don’t Instagram always goes with: « Oh wow! How did you manage to make a picture like this? » Of course you say « Instagram! Try it! » And you also feel a bit like your are a really handsome guy or girls because people noticed your talent

• Make it grow

Instagram earns 1.5 new user every second. Crazy. How they do that? They created a perfect flow:

1. You post a picture and share it on Twitter, Facebook etc..
2. Someone sees it on one of these networks. He clicks on the thumbnails (thumbnails have a phenomenal power) and sees the picture in a bigger size.
3. On top of this page, there is a link « Download the free Instragram app ». So the viewer becomes a user, and share also the product. Perfect flow!

• Make it addictive

Kevin made a comparison with slot machines. For him, posting a photo on Instagram is like putting a coin on a slot machine. You know than you can win a lot or nothing. Here, you win « likes » and « comments ». Like for slot machines, if you were sure that you will earn 1$ every time, you wouldn’t play. This is the uncertain reward that makes you play. In Instagram, getting a lot of likes for one photo, it’s the jackpot. So you feel good. Even if you get only one like, you know that you you win your bet, at least. And you want to try again

2. How (And How Not To) Get Hired – Marketing For Web Designers by Andrea Graham

You can see the slides of this talk on Speaker Deck.

This talk was more about advices for newbies but I found my interest is the part about how being hired again or, as a freelancer, how a client can decide to work again with you.

Andrea told us how to be in agency’s eyes:

• Send out your links.
• Attend industry event.
• Find internships.
• Make friends in these agencies.

And also to be noticed by clients:

• Join up. Networks.
• Read local pubs.
• Pro-bono non profit projects.
• Make friends.

I’ll put here the few tweets I posted during this talk. It’s quite a good summary of what I remember:

• How to get hired again? Make it easy for people to reder you: give more business cards, sign your email « I am avalaible » …
• Make sure people know you’re available. Good tip : put « Hire me » on your website instead of « contact ».
• Be your own biggest fan (without becoming pretentious) and embrace your weaknesses recommanding others better in your weak domains.
• Be an expert at something. keep learning like with this new promising project http://teamtreehouse.com (which has been launched during Future of WebDesign)
• Bill hourly and honestly (that means your invoice reflect your exact work, whatever you signed before beginning the project). For me it’s not easy to apply because clients want quotes. Maybe that means we need to find good clients accepting honestly bill. I know that my creativity and motivation is better when I don’t put my work on a pre-paid schedule.
• Do good work. Do good in everything. Respect Deadlines, do not book yourself too much, show you’re gratefull, keep contact with your clients.

I already do those kind of things (otherwise my 5 years of freelancing wouldn’t work so well!), but it is good to hear it again and from a different person. I hope you learned a few things

3. Mobile Context is a Myth by Josh Clark

You can download the slides of his talk (pdf)

I already heard Josh at the FOWD in London earlier in this year. But it was interesting to see how he changed a bit his talk to speak more about mobile first. I am reading the book « Mobile first » by Luke Wroblewski and I am happy that Josh focused on stop removing things when you are designing for mobile (after designing for desktop). Don’t kill functions on mobile. People expect their experience as good as on desktop. Like Josh said « Saying mobile design should have less is like saying paperbacks have smaller pages, so we should remove chapters. » Think more like this: use the device possibilities to improve the experience.

During his talk, Josh went through 6 myths about mobile and killed them one after one.

• Myth 1: Mobile users are rushed and distracted In reality, we can see that users are micro-tasking. They’re local. And they’re bored and ready to spend time.

25% of US mobile users use exclusively mobile browsers.

• Myth 2: Mobile = Less.

Don’t confuse context with intent. Do not arbitrary remove content.
Mobile = more. Stop thinking what people will need on mobile but start thinking what you can do with the device you can’t on desktop.

• Myth 3: Complexity is a dirty word.

We need to manage complexity, not killing it. Because users need things complex and not stupid.

• Myth 4: Extra taps and clicks are evil.

Tap quality is better than tap quantity. Create a conversation.
Use the device possibilities (that a desktop can’t do!): think about secret panels. User need to discover. Showing animation until you click and prove you know now.

• Myth 5: User needs a desktop web = there is no more mobile web.

We need to change and think that there is only one web idea. No differences to find on desktop or mobile web. The new iCloud system will certainly help us a lot.
One unique web for all devices? It depends of content. For a newspaper, sure yes same content.
Not mobile first but Content and API first.

• Myth 6: Always do an app

Content builds the support. A really good example is the NFL network ad: It who’s how you can access the same content through different devices.

He also quoted Ethan Resnick:  »Metada is the new art direction ». This is why I love more my job since 1.5 years. I was a bit bored about doing « pretty » things, « make it beautiful ».. I am more « me » since I work on the content as a UI and UX Designer. Repurpose content instead of design. Don’t design pixels, design content.

Fun fact: Josh configured his tweeter account to post some tweets related to his talk, during his talk. Awesome!

3. Web Design is a Cloud, Not a Clock by Sarah B Nelson

You can see the slides of this talk on Slideshare.

Sarah explained the title of her talk by quoting Karl Popper: « There are clock problems (where we fix parts that are broken) & cloud problems (more dynamic, amorphous). »
So her talk was a lot of advices and experiences about how to work well together.

What I really keep in mind from this talk is the pre-project meeting: everyone says their 3 goals, 3 fears, 3 expectations about the coming project.
It’s very important to know better the people we work with, and in exchange that they know us better.

As Sarah said, “I believe in designing WITH users, not designing at or for them. » I could say the same thing and also put « Clients » instead of « Users ». That reminded me a lot about the conference go @celinecelines in Paris Web last month. Very comforting to see that other people in the world are looking in the same way as you.

She went through those ideas:

1. Have a clear sense of purpose about a project (what you’re doing & why you’re doing it). This doesn’t always happen.
2. You need to have trust among members of a team, built over time based on consistent actions. (pre-project meeting)
3. There are clear roles and responsibilities that are specific to each project. They aren’t always the same.
4. There is an agreed upon approach to addressing the project/problem by entire team. This can change over time.
5. There is some user involvement in the design process. You don’t need to address all their suggestions but do listen.
6. There has to be stakeholder engagement. Workshops, hands-on projects. Don’t just give the finished project for approval. (working WITH stakeholders)

We finished this first day with the better talk:

4. The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts by Tina Roth Eisenberg

Tina talked about side projects! A subject I particularly enjoy because I experience it a lot and I know that my side projects make me better (in competences and in my mind).
She told us a bit about her life and the inspiration she got from her aunts.
She created « studio mates » in brooklyn, a place I really need to visit!

To explain her sight of life, she listed the lessons she would teach to her kids (and apply for ourself). Once again, all of this seems obvious, but we don’t focus enough on things like this, on a global thinking. So I am happy to share it with you.

1. Love what you do

She quoted Professor Levy played by Martin S. Bergmann, a New York University clinical professor in psychology, in the movie Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) by Woody Allen:

« We define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. »

2.Trust your intuition

Classic but she explained it well with her experience, living in NYC and persevere to continue to live here because she knew she had to be here.
I really enjoyed this part as I am exactly in a position of trusting my intuition by leaving Paris to NYC maybe soon.

3. If something scares you, you need to take it

So true. This sentence has been retweeted a lot during the FOWD.

4. Don’t be a complainer, make things better or let them go

When she couldn’t stand her kids’ temporary tattoos, she made her own temporary tattoos website, named Tattl.

5. Make time for side projects

6. Surround yourself with likeminded people

That why she created the creativemornings.com.

7. Ignore haters

I like that
« If you can learn to be a fair judge of yourself, you won’t feel the need to rely on other people’s opinions. » – Chris Shiflett

Haters got you down? Pull up this little guy:

8. Seek to inspire others

This talk was definitely the best of the day. I found it very inspiring and reconforting on my choices of life It gives me lots of energy.

 

That was it for the first day. If you curious, you can read other reviews from this first day:
http://www.maemay.co.nz/index.php/2011/11/08/future-of-web-design-new-york/ by Rachel Radford
http://justcreativedesign.com/2011/11/07/future-of-web-design-conference-day-1-review/ by Jacob Cass

I only need to add a few lines about a new service I discovered through FOWD news: Grub With Us.
You pick a dinner and you book a spot to have a dinner with some unknown people. You just know that they have like something you like (because you chose a dinner by a theme) and love food.
That’s how I met these great people!
Rachel Radford and San from the company Forward in London (the offices seem really nice!)
James Christopher
The 2 german guys from Ostec company (their own company)
Nicholas Van Meter

During those 2 days, I also met other great guys:
Brian Senyo from Ogillvy Washington
Luis Mendoza and Paul Nett who work on Keep a breast

If you were there, did you learn the same things? What did I miss?

I’ll publish my review for the 2nd day as soon as possible!