…or “Why You Need a Graphic Designer” The book’s title caught my eye instantly.  ”Visual Literacy”  Intriguing.  I took it home, and over the next few days, I learned just how blind I was to the art of visual communication. Completely illiterate. The book begins with exercises: “By using four black squares of the same [...]

I recently had the pleasure of meeting two MBA students with big ambitions: they want to redefine online shopping. I sat back in my chair and listened closely as they pitched their ideas for an entirely new online shopping experience. 3D this, interactive that, Web 2.0 the other thing. As they laid out the extensive feature set [...]

Good interfaces should be designed around an economy of clicks. Or in the case of the iPhone, an economy of taps. Put simply: apps should allow users to achieve key goals with as few finger taps as possible. Exit Strategy NYC’s extremely simple interface asks only three key pieces of information: 1) What subway line [...]

This post about competitive dynamics has been stewing in my mind for months now and it’s still a work in progress.  At its heart is a framework for thinking about a common type of tech company:  the aggregator.   The aggregator takes disparate items, gathers them, and presents them as a unified front. Aggregators can exist [...]

Benny and Ashley and I officially launched Exit Strategy NYC last night at the NY Tech Meetup! Exit Strategy NYC is an iPhone, Blackberry, and Android app that answers the quintessential New Yorker’s question: “Where should I stand on the subway platform?” After months of full-time subway riding, we’ve created detailed diagrams for hundreds of [...]