16 THINGS
I LEARNED AT
By Jim Salinger
p.0
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

1. Twitter is da bomb.
Twitter is a social networking service
that allows members to inform each
other about what they are doing and
what they think.
It allows users to send messages via
phone, instant messaging or the
Twitter website.
The Twitter team won the 2007 SXSW
Web Award for the best blog site.
Twitter is based on functionality that
was already in use at Facebook and
Dodgeball. p.1
www.twitter.com
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

2. Made To Stick
Drawing extensively on psychosocial
studies on memory, emotion and
motivation, Chip & Dan Heath’s study
is couched in terms of "stickiness"—
that is, the art of making ideas
unforgettable.
The authors credit 6 key principles:
• Simplicity
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotions
p.2
• Stories
www.madetostick.com
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

3. Texas BBQ Rocks
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16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

4. The Yahoo Design Pattern Library
Patterns are optimal solutions to
common problems. As common
problems are tossed around a
community and are resolved, common
solutions often spontaneously emerge.
Eventually, the best of these rise
above the din and self-identify and
become refined until they reach the
status of a Design Pattern.
Yahoo has their complete design
pattern library open to public use:
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns
www.welie.com p.4
Each pattern has 4 primary components:
www.designinginterfaces.com
1. Title
2. Problem
3. Context
4. Solution
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

5. Learning From Las Vega$
"Disorder is only an order that
we cannot see" - Henri Bergson
Vegas understands user experience.
Aside from Disney, few people think
about creating total experiences. The
carpet is designed to keep you in the
building. Oxygen is pushed into the
room to keep you there. The ceiling is
painting like the daytime sky. Vegas
understands both the macro and micro
levels of designing experiences.
Download the Presentation (6 MB PDF) p.5
Complete Presentation Transcript
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

6. A Field Guide To Inspiration
“Give yourself rules. See limitations as
an opportunity to narrow your focus.”
“Always leave yourself open to
Inspiration.”
“Nothing inspires like a deadline.”
Read “The Art of Looking Sideways”
by Alan Fletcher
“Keep a random archive of graphic
elements you discover in iPhoto”
“Have a Friday Show & Tell at work” p.6
Download The Presentation (13.5 MB PDF)
www.jasonsantamaria.com
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

7. Bullet Tooth Design
Pull Off Your
Web Site
Like Pulling
Off A Robbery
“Plan for Everything”
p.7
Download The Presentation (2.1 MB PDF)
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

8. Iggy Pop is really intelligent.
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16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

9. Helvetica - The Movie
Helvetica is a feature-length
independent film about typography,
graphic design and global visual
culture. It looks at the proliferation of
one typeface (which is celebrating its
50th birthday this year) as part of a
larger conversation about the way type
affects our lives.
www.helveticafilm.com
p.9
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

10. High Class & Low Class Design
“The public is more familiar with
bad design than good design.
It is, in effect, conditioned to
prefer bad design, because that
is what it lives with. The new
becomes threatening, the old
reassuring.” -Paul Rand
Techory Blog Notes
p.10
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

11. Dan Rather’s Keynote Address
Rather suggested that modern
journalism needs "a spine transplant.”
He argued that competition is vital for
the quality of news media and that it
has become scarce. He pointed out
that there are only 3 or 4 huge
companies behind all of the major
news sources, and one of their prime
objectives is to stamp out competition.
In this climate, Rather argued that
news media outlets have no real
motivation to stay honest and have
integrity. p.11
Austinist Review
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

12. Satisfaction Unlimited
"People-Powered Customer Service"
Satisfaction Unlimited Inc. was started
to help companies and customers find
better ways to interact. A good
company’s customers have always
been more than just something to
“support,” but historically that’s been
the main channel through which
they’ve been able to communicate.
Now, thanks to the internet, customers
have a lot more to say, and smart
companies know they need to listen —
and even (gasp!) engage. p.12
http://blog.getsatisfaction.com
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

13. Pete Townsend’s “The Method”
After more than 25 years of patient
research Pete is launching the website
he first described in the science fiction
story behind the Who's legendary
Who's Next album of 1971.
The Method – designed by Lawrence
Ball – offers subscribers the
opportunity to create their own unique
musical composition by 'sitting' for the
Method software composer, just as
you would sit for a painter making your
portrait.
Link to NME article p.13
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

14. Ad Stickers On Coins
I received this change from Aaron’s
Rock & Roll – a kind of Hot Topic
meets 7–11 on 6th St. When I looked
up at Aaron behind the counter with
a quizzical face he quickly replied
“It’s totally legal, man.”
I later discovered that GoGorilla
Media were the originators of this
non-traditional advertising tactic.
www.gogorillamedia.com
p.14
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

15. Bruce Sterling’s SXSW Rant
“When you actually ignore reality for years
on end, the payback is a bitch brother!
...we're seeing just frantic collisions of
fundamentalist delusion with objective
reality... We're on a kind of slider bar
between the unthinkable and the
unimaginable now, between the grim
meat-hook future and the bright green
future. There are ways out of this situation;
there are actual ways to move the slider
bar from one side to the other, except
that we haven't invented the words for
them yet.”
Link to full audio of Mr. Sterling’s rant p.15
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

16. Congress Bridge Bats
The Congress Avenue Bridge spans
Town Lake in downtown Austin and is
home to the largest urban bat colony
in North America.
The colony is estimated at 1.5 million
Mexican free-tail bats. Each night from
mid-March to November, the bats
emerge from under the bridge at dusk
to blanket the sky as they head out to
forage for food.
This event has become one of the
most spectacular and unusual tourist
attractions in Texas. p.16
16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger

THANK YOU!
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16 Things I Learned at SXSW 2007
Jim Salinger