1. Google tracks each link you click. It determines your interest in particular subjects and pushes results which are related to those subjects. Making you click these particular subjects. Google again tracks those clicks and keeps on pushing these subjects until you have no option but to click on these results. As you can see with every search your ‘vision’ narrows. And to make it even more spooky: Google engineers can’t say why you see these particular results. The algorithm is getting so complicated it’s impossible for humans to figure it out. (Yes the computers are taking over! Unplug from the matrix!)
2. This narrowing down makes us miss important information. There are different types of content. The ‘easy’ content you always want to consume such as gossip or sports news. And the ‘complicated’ content such as essays about culture or news about foreign politics. You can compare it to junk food and vegetables. You know you have to eat your vegetables but don’t always feel like it. The Filter Bubble just throws those vegetables away and let’s you binge on your junk food. So if something big happens in a foreign country changes are Google won’t serve you this meal. We need an editor (such as with newspapers) who determines what is important, rather we like this information or not.
3. “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”  As Pablo Picasso once said. To keep us creative we don’t need only answers we also need questions, problems, different pieces of information. To keep us curious we need the so called ‘information gap’. To explore what we don’t know yet, we need to be triggered. The Filter Bubble closes this gap giving you the same pieces of information over and over again.
4. Who owns the Filter Bubble? We don’t know. Is it possible for big companies to tap into this filter bubble and serve you the information they want? Who holds the power? This is all unclear making the whole Filter Bubble a dangerous concept.

So what can we do to pop this filter bubble? In my next blog post I will show how I try to avoid the Filter Bubble. Stay tuned!

I’ve put them in a YouTube Playlist so you can just press start and listen to all the songs (or skip the ones you don’t like).

Let me know which one you like best in the comments! Thanks!

“But what about our triangle?”. That was the first question I got from a client after I just presented the prototype of their new website. Their ‘triangle’ contained three key values they used to explain their mission statement internally. The visitors on their website don’t give a shit about this triangle. They don’t want to read about triangles, key values or mission statements…

Why use cases?

A visitor wants to know what you do, how you do it and how good you do it. And the best way to tell your visitor is by using cases. According to a research by B2B Technology Marketing Community 82% of the respondents (which were Linkedin users) said the best way to show visitors who you are and what you do is by using case studies.  When you think about it, it’s very logical. Since our great-great-grandfathers started talking which each other in their caves they have told stories. Stories are a big part in our daily existence, so why shouldn’t we leverage this when we create content for our website? Why, all of the sudden, do we have to need to bore visitors to death with long lists of features or meaningless buzzwords. Everyone claims to be ‘trustworthy’, ‘flexible’ and ‘professional’, so why do you still need to put that on your website? Just prove how flexible you are by giving an actual client some space to tell their story in a case study.

What does a good case look like?

A good case has a gripping story. When you write a story it’s best to use the ‘Simple Unexpected Credible Concrete Emotional Story’ method, as described by the brothers Heat in ‘Made to Stick‘.

• Simple: Take JFK’s speech for example in which he told that America should put a man on the moon. Man on moon. No difficult words or abstract goals. The message is simple and everyone understands it.
• Unexpected: Try getting someone’s attention by saying something which isn’t obvious. Elaborate on a project that went wrong (and possibly still turned out for the good).
• Credible: Use numbers and statistics to give credibility to your story. Everyone can claim to have stable hosting servers, but when you prove this with hard numbers it’s much more credible.
• Concrete: Something which can be experienced by our senses is concrete. Abstract terms such as ‘trustworthy’ and ‘flexible’ are not concrete. Research has shown that concrete terms (bicycle, plant, pen) are better remembered in comparison to words such as (safety, justified, personality).
• Emotional: Involve the visitor in your story. ‘That’s great… but what have I got to do with it?’ is what most visitors will think reading your case. Make sure they can identify with the main character in your case study.
• Story: Introduce people into you case study as if they were characters in a book. A story also has a clear beginning and end, preferably with an exciting cliffhanger.

Speak Human

• Most aggravation is the result of misunderstanding. Educate the client, tell them what you expect from them as a client. How do you want your feedback and what kind of feedback is useful in the current stage of the process.
• A client is someone you will have to communicate with a lot. You probably communicate more with your clients than your close friends. So why not make it pleasant for both sides.
• When you have a good relationship with a client they will be more eager to refer you to other potential clients (I know this is a very ‘duh!’ statement, but it’s easy to forget).
• Sometimes you just have to give in. The client is asking you to do something which is not the way the process works or what was agreed upon in the initial contract. But if it only takes you a few seconds/minutes to fix, don’t act all bureaucratic.

How to take a stance and defend your design

The situation sketched above happened to me a few times. But I have learnt from my mistakes. Here are some simple tips I would like to share:

1. Tell your client that YOU are the designer. As much as you appreciate all the feedback, they have hired you to do what you do best: To design.
2. Make clear that the design you present is the best solution for their problem. Every change will put them back at reaching their goals.
3. Don’t be a dick. If the client makes a suggestion, and it’s a valid improvement, acknowledge it. Thank the client and praise them for the insight.
4. Communicate. When the client proposes a change with which you disagree, explain to the client why it would be a bad idea to go ahead with the adjustment. Give compelling arguments and reference research, which will strengthen your point of view.
5. Make clear your design is intended for the users of their website. You are not designing for them. If the client hates blue but the users of their website love it, then blue is the way to go.

Of course, even after all those tips clients can be very stubborn. And the client is king after all so sometimes you have to give in. But don’t give up with a fight. Make sure you have done everything possible to defend your design.

I’ve put them in a YouTube Playlist so you can just press start and listen to all the songs (or skip the ones you don’t like).

Let me know which one you like best in the comments! Thanks!

Technologies are messing with our brains

It has been scientifically proven that the ‘new’ way of learning with interactive technologies (such as hypertext) is not working. We are becoming scatterbrains because of all the little bursts of attention new technologies give us. We are losing our focus. So why hand out a distraction device (in this case a iPad) to every kid going to school? This is just going to make things worse. We (and especially kids) need to focus for a long period of time. And the way to do this is to use a book. Simple but still very effective.

The Method is the Message

As shown above using a new technology doesn’t give learning kids any advantages. But we shouldn’t be talking about the medium (such as iPads). It should be about the methods we use.

In modern day classrooms teacher explain something and kids get assignment to do at home. But when a pupil has problems with his or her homework there is no teacher to turn to. That’s why the Khan Academy is such a success. With the Khan Academy Salman Khan (pictured left) turns this process upside down. Instead of getting instructed in a class room you view a YouTube video at home explaining the matter. Kids can pause, rewind or watch the video again any time. Something which is impossible with a real-life teacher. And instead of doing the assignment at home, homework is taken into class rooms. This way a teacher can help the kids directly without spending time explaining things over and over again.

So Maurice de Hond should stop drooling over his iPad and look past his iFanboyism. Forget the Steve Jobs School and start a Khan Academy!

Confirmation Bias

You probably think your opinions are rational and objective. But in fact your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information that confirms your opinion and ignoring everything else. For example when you recently bought a car you suddenly see the same car popping up everywhere. This is because you ignore all the other types of car and are focused on the type you just bought. This is harmless but can become pretty dangerous when it’s used in the field of politics. Focusing on bad situations you only acknowledge information reaffirming this bad situation sending you in a downward spiral of negativity.The only way getting around your confirmation bias is to actively look for evidence contrary to your believe. Hopefully this way your opinions will get closer to an ‘objective truth’.

The Spotlight Effect

Getting a new hair-cut, buying a new pair of jeans or losing weight. You think other people will notice. You’re wrong. In our heads we are very busy with how we look or how we represent ourselves to other people.

Every little misstep we make is noticed by our surroundings. In fact: other people don’t care. A study performed by Thomas Gilovich in 1996 had college students put on a shirt with a smiling Barry Manilow and make them come late into class. 50% of the students coming late thought the other student (already sitting in the classroom) would notice the over-the-top silly Barry Manilow shirt. Turns out only 10% noticed. The Spotlight Effect might be useful to create a positive self-image, but keep in mind: other people don’t give a shit.

The Misinformation Effect

Memories are just like movies which you recorded and can play back in your mind whenever you want to. Right? Not really. Memories are constructed anew each time with the information currently available making them highly unreliable as representations of the truth.  A great way to show this is by reading this sequence of words out loud and try to write them all down on a piece of paper:

door, glass, pane, shade, ledge, sill, house, open, curtain, frame, view, breeze, sash, screen, shutter.

Done? Great. Did you write down the word ‘window’? 85% of the people performing this test did even though the word is not in the list. This is a good example to show how your memory works and how it can be manipulated. So next time you are remembering something don’t claim it being the truth, you might be way off. (To learn more about how our memory can be manipulated read this great article in the Wired about a pill enabling us to forget).

If you liked these examples you might want to buy the book. It has 45 other misconceptions which need to be set straight.

My Favorites

• Moss – Almost a Year
• Zammuto – Too Late To Topologize
• Beat Radio – With Every Heartbeat
• Absofacto – Lies
• Yellow Ostrich – Marathon Runner

And some more

• The Vacationer – Trip
• Solar Bears – Alpha People
• Poor Spirits – Benefits
• Diagrams – Black Light
• Christopher Norman – Connect Me
• Diamond Doves – Eat Your Heart Out
• XXYYXX – Eclips
• Power Animal – Exorcism
• Grimes – Genesis
• Fanfarlo – Shiny Things
• Bear in Heaven – Reflection of You

Drupal is a versatile system offering lots of possibilities for themers (people creating Drupal Themes). But some seemingly simple things are not standard functionality within Drupal. Luckily for us themers there are almost 10.000 modules available which can fill the gaps. In this article I will discuss some lesser known modules which make the life of a Drupal Themer a tad easier.

Ignore Drupal’s default style sheets

Out of the box Drupal has some default style sheets which it calls upon everytime it loads a page. This is useful because a website is still readable and workable without any external styling. It can be a real bitch for themers though. It is possible to override the default style sheets declarations with your own but there is an easier way: ‘Unset CSS‘. This module makes it possible for Drupal to ignore style sheets by specifying the paths to these style sheets. So you don’t have to wonder if a CSS issue is your lacking code skills or caused by Drupal’s default style sheets.

Make your block title linkable

A feature missing from Drupal’s standard installation is the ability to link the titles of blocks. This can be useful when you have a block displaying the five latest news items and you want the title of the block link to a news overview. This handy feature can easily be enabled with the module ‘Block Title Link‘. When you configure a block it is now possible to link the title to the URL of your choice.

Give your block more class

You might have a collection of blocks which you want to give the same CSS styling. Drupal generates blocks with unique ID’s but overall they have the same classes. Everytime you want to style a block in a given way you have to use the ID of the block in your stylesheet. Which can be annoying. Luckily there is a ‘Block Class‘ module which enables you to give blocks additional classes which can also be done within the block configuration.

Menu Items that don’t link

Drupal’s standard menu system expect every menu item to be a link. But in some cases you want your menu items to be just text without a link. For example: a copryight link in your footer menu. With help of the ‘Special Menu Items‘ module it’s possible to create these menu items. When you create a new menu item you can give it a ‘no link’ declaration. This way you can use non-linked text in your menu’s.

The same block in different regions

Placing a block in different regions can be a difficult task with Drupal. You have to duplicate the block and place it in different regions. With the ‘Multiblock‘ module this limitation is history. With this module you can create ‘instances’ of blocks. This instance is a clone which listens to the same configuration as the original block. Now you can place blocks in multiple regions but the blocks are configurable at one place.

Do you (as a themer or website manager) use any modules not mentioned above? Let me know in the comments!