writing
Invest in Building a Business Vocabulary
Attention Developers and Designers: Your client’s aren’t as interested in talking about HTML5, CSS and PHP as you are. They are interested in talking about their businesses. Business is a global language you need to learn to discuss to better relate to their growth plans and problems, and how you can help them achieve their business goals. Here are some of the areas the Interactive Design students are studying to build a better business foundation.
Product or Service?
A product is most often a tangible good you can directly experience with your senses, whereas a service is an intangible good that is facilitated through an experience. For both, it is important to have a solid business framework to understand what the market interest and demand for it is. The product life cycle plots a predictable path – introduction, growth, maturity, then decline – over time. It is a good framework to understand your service or product offering within industry and comparatively to your competition.
Many businesses enter the marketplace by offering a service, then later transition to a product offering. Services typically don’t require as much capital investment as products. The business cycle is accelerating due to global communications and innovation. There are many different types of customers – innovators, early adopters, mass market, and laggards – which can be plotted over a product / service life cycle as well. Innovators spark the engagement of the early adopters, who drive the awareness of the product / service into the › Continue reading
Eugene Or: Final Word & Interning @ Rethink
Wow, time sure flies, just like that my internship at Rethink has come to an end along with my studies in the Interactive Design program. It’s hard to believe it’s already been two years since we first started. It’s nostalgic to think back to when I first set foot in the lab and seeing everyone go up one by one and tell us a little about themselves.
As an individual moving out of my mom’s house in a different city to study at Capilano, I can say it sure has been a journey of education and maturity. I still remember applying for the program and then conducting a phone interview with Lawrence Wu, which led to a successful acceptance letter into the program. Soon after that it was a matter of packing my whole life into a trunk of a SUV and heading towards a new chapter in my life. During this time I really didn’t know what to expect from the program. I knew I wanted to learn more about web development as I had dabbled a little with it before but didn’t know what the best practices were along with processes that came with it. All I knew was that I’ve always enjoyed design as I have done it for print and broadcast mediums. I discovered that I needed a new channel for my skills and the interactive industry would be › Continue reading
Open Letter to an MP, Re: Net Neutrality
Libby Davies
2412 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
V5T 3E2
September 27, 2012
Dear Libby,
I am writing to you today to express my concern for the future of internet access in Canada.
As a constituent and student of a web design program at Capilano University, my career endeavors depend on fair and unrestricted access to the internet. Besides my own self-interests, I believe that universal internet access is the most important social resource that humans have ever developed. For the first time in our existence, we potentially have the means to empower all individuals, end ignorance and foster universal empathy.
At this time, I do not feel confident that our federal government is at all concerned with maintaining a free, open internet for Canadians. I worry that the CRTC is not immune to the influence of the big media lobby and that there isn’t a strong safeguard in place to ensure the basic principles of Net Neutrality. The Conservative policy of letting the telecom market run its course will essentially lead to further corporate-imposed limitations on our internet access such as tiered content and bandwidth throttling.
Allow me say that I applaud the work of you and your colleagues in the New Democratic Party for voicing your support for Net Neutrality. It is encouraging to see representatives in Ottawa who are truly interested in the concerns of the average consumer. I see that you personally support the non-profit organization openmedia.ca and it shows that you are in touch with the subject.
I would be grateful if you continued to pursue this as a high-priority commitment. I noticed that the Green Party has included a policy on Net Neutrality in its official platform. Is there a chance that the NDP can do the same, so that constituents are reassured that it will continue to be an important issue? Also, are there any plans in the near future to reintroduce a bill similar to C-552 which would lay the foundations for stable Net Neutrality in Canada?
Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to my concerns. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Yours Sincerely,
Brandon Pasqualotto
Diana Thomson: Intern @ Tidal Interactive
What an interesting transition going from a full time post secondary education back into a full time nine to five position. It has been both exciting and sad, new yet familiar, and of course – exhausting and challenging.
I have been working at an agency in downtown Vancouver called Tidal Interactive doing a number of different things including Project Management, Information Architecture, and Usability Testing, Reporting and Recommendations. Tidal tends to work with large organizations such as Universities and Government organizations.They tend to take on projects that include web and mobile websites, intranet websites, and heuristics usability testing. I am working closely with different people depending on the task, however so far it has been mostly with the Account Managers and Project Managers.
Loading ...Kate Makarow on Emerging Technology
Emerging technology is an interesting space to work in because you are often working with products and technologies that are not fully fleshed out or developed. To me, emerging tech is akin to cooking a batch of meatballs and then throwing them at the wall and seeing which ones stick. You might read about or experiment with an incredible new technology or product that you think will really impact our world but at the end of the day is doesn’t stick and something else does. I like the freedom and the inquisitive spirit associated with working with emerging technology. Whether or not your project is ever fully realized or ever fully works, you gain a huge amount of knowledge from the experience itself.
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What does emerging technology mean to Eugene Or?
To me, emerging technologies is anything that is new or up and coming in the digital industry. These are advances in development which eventually lead to innovations in the way we interact with the environment around us. Whether it is real-world or digital, communication, videos, photos, ebooks, mobile devices, etc. are affected within this emerging technology space. To immerse into these experiences, open source platforms such as Corona SDK allow us as creative individuals to see what others have done, copy it, build on top of, or create brand new experiences that push the limits of interaction design.
That being said, innovation does not exist without challenges. Prior to the INTE 213 class with Dave Olsson, I had never built anything for a mobile device besides designing and developing web apps to be responsive. For my project, I decided to try to replicate an “Angry Birds” like game by building on top of what Beebe Games (Jonathan Beebe and wife Biffy) created, Ghosts Vs. Monsters. These seasoned Corona SDK developers were able to roll out the game within 36 hours (crazy right?); we had less than 2 weeks along with very little or no knowledge whatsoever in LUA scripting. Being a designer first and developer second, I was only able to swap out the characters and replace them with my own creations.
Feature in Capilano Courier
In case anyone missed it, I wrote a feature for the Capilano Courier 2 weeks ago and it is now available online.
The article focuses on the current state of the media industry, comparing print and online media, and considering the economic future of media production and consumption.
AirDrop Interface Design Report – Troy Tucker
As a part of the System Diagnostic & Support class we’ve been asked to; Identify UI elements, assess adherence to interface design principles, and gather real-world evidence for one of the new Mac OS X Lion features presented at Apple’s 2011 WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference). My report addresses AirDrop, a new utility for close range file transfers. After writing this report I’ve become an “AirDrop evangelist”. It’s a great way to share files in the classroom!Mac OS X Lion: AirDrop
At the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple Inc. debuted AirDrop [video], as one of the many features built into the new Mac OS X Lion. AirDrop is a zero-configuration file transfer utility that facilitates close-range wireless sharing between capable* Mac computers. By following their design principles and technology guidelines, Apple has made AirDrop a natural extension to the Mac OS experience.
KinetixMedia and Anastasia part 2
It’s been 4 weeks now? Wow time flies supper fast! I’m learning so much about marketing at Kinetix Media.
This week I have started working on some amazing projects (cant tell you what they are), but can tell you one thing…I am so exited and happy that Kinetix giving me this opportunity!
Speaking about my stated goals, I would say that I am learning more about marketing business then interactive design. However where else would I get this kind of experience.
Loading ...Kinetix Media – Anastasia
Kinetix Media is an advertising agency specializing in integrating marketing campaigns and advertising. Their services include email marketing, social network marketing, SEO marketing, podcasting, mobile marketing, online advertising creative and media planning.
The first two weeks working at Kinetix Media were very exiting. I have learned a lot about the company, what they do and how they doing it! Had an opportunity to work and help with some interesting projects for big companies. I had my hands on email marketing for Toyota for their “red tag” promotion, SPC SpringBoard and Prospera Credit Union.
So far it’s been a great experience and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
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