Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

Watch the trailer here.

Web development industry talk seems to be skewed in the direction of “IE6 use won’t end until IE6 support ends - and that should happen now”.  While I think that support of IE6 for GS is slightly premature, serious consideration will be necessary in 2009.
With IE6 usage to dip beneath 10% later this year, the extra cost to try to support it is going to increase site development costs unnecessarily.

There has been some discussion around here for how best to sunset the support for IE6.  One idea kicked around is a popup/popover/dropdown notification that “…This site is best experienced in a modern browser…” and links to multiple vendors.  Let the visitor choose, don’t deny access, just bring up the helpful warning.  And no longer kill ourselves on IE6 hacking.  Any client that has concerns for IE6 support will have to be made aware that there will be extra hours/costs to do so.

Comments?

Personal favorites:

• Avoid drama.
• Listen to your gut.
• Resist the quicksands of negativity.
• When things don’t go your way, get over it!
• Collect collaborators.
• Even the Lone Ranger had help.
  (I think there is the germ of a www.gsdesign.com/staff.html site redesign idea somewhere in here…)
• Use every vacation day.
• Work as if your company name is on the sign.
• Responsibility trumps ability.
• Leave things in better shape than you found them in.
• Don’t be an asshole.
• Don’t let perfect get in the way of better.
  (personal corollary: Never let helpful technology get in the way of actually getting work done.)
• It pays to tell the boring truth.

Not sure how I feel about this one…

Burger King’s new “Whopper Virgin” commercials are drawing controversy online. The spots were directed by Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants director Stacy Peralta. Burger King commissioned Peralta to document a 20,000 mile international journey to find people who have never heard of the Whopper to perform “the world’s purest taste test”. Peralta visits a remote locations around the world, tempting seemly poverty-stricken villagers with a fast food burger (hence the criticism). Thirteen planes, two dog sleds and one helicopter later, they have produced a short advertorial documentary film.

On one hand, it’s interesting to see some of the reactions people have to eating a hamburger for the first time. On the other hand, it feels slightly exploitative to me. How do you feel about it?
I wonder how some of these people felt later in the day. If you’ve never eaten junk food in your entire life and then eat (even part of) a Whopper and a Big Mac, the results can’t be so good.

• Discover the steps of the process required to bring such a huge project to market, including some tips and tricks on how to get stakeholders and participants fully invested
• Find out how the user was involved in shaping the requirements and end product
• Learn why CNN.com plans to never “relaunch” again

Summary
Supporting Documents
Session Slides 2mb PDF
Session Audio 22.7mb MP3
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Good tidbits:

• They threw away the process document. They needed to speed up he process. They had to scale back to get to a meaningful prototype that they could test.
• Implementation was tricky - development needed requirements to start working, but they needed to know what was technically feasible in order to refine the requirements.
• They say they will never do a redesign again because they have set up an agile process. Future updates will be in phased batches, so they are in a constant state of relaunch.

It’s sometimes difficult to think clearly when you’re strapped to a printing press. - Batman

If you can’t spend it, money’s just a lot of worthless paper, isn’t it? - Batman

Holy strawberries Batman! We’re in a jam! - Robin

Since there is no life on Mars as we know it, there can be no intelligible Marsish language. - Batman

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. - Batman

I hate to disappoint you but my rubber lips are immune to your charms. - Robin

The opposite of a girl is a boy! - Robin

Holey rusted metal, Batman! The ground. It’s all metal. It’s full of holes. You know, holey. - Robin

Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods! - Robin

When you get a little older, you’ll see how easy it is to become lured by the female of the species. - Batman

Why is a woman in love like a welder? Because they both carry a torch! - Batman

No use, Joker! I knew you’d employ your sneezing powder, so I took an Anti-Allergy Pill! Instead of a SNEEZE, I’ve caught YOU, COLD! - Batman

It’s all a blur. Like a horrible day-mare. - Robin

The batcomputer is none too frisky today, Batman. - Robin

You she-devil! Have you short-circuited Batman’s brain? - Robin

Holy Kleenex Batman! It was right under our noses and we blew it. - Robin

Good grammar is essential, Robin. - Batman

Planting a timebomb in a local library is a felony. - Batman

That’s one trouble with dual identities, Robin. Dual responsibilities. - Batman

That’s an impossible shot, Batman. - Robin  That’s a negative attitude, Robin. - Batman

One should always keep abreast of foreign tongues, Robin. - Batman

I think you should acquire a taste for opera, Robin, as one does for poetry and olives. - Batman

An older head can’t be put on younger shoulders. - Batman

If we close our eyes, we can’t see anything. - Robin

Clues are always helpful. - Robin

I never knew there were no punctuation marks in alphabet soup! - Robin

Your good driving habits almost cost us our lives! - Robin to Catwoman

Stop fiddling with that atomic pile! - Batman

That’s life, Robin, full of ups and downs. It befits any of us to become to confident. - Batman

Poor devil. Forced to live in an air-conditioned suit that keeps his body temperature down to fifty degrees below zero. No wonder his mind is warped.  - Batman

Someone started a Flickr group with over 138 screenshots of “The End” title cards from various films and TV shows.

Here’s the link.

Enjoy!