[gb] Studio

Let me preface this article by saying this: anyone I pick on, as an example, is just that: an example. We need you to keep working on the amazing things you’re working on. I’m only asking one simple question, for the sake of discussion: where do we go from here?

The next best…

Saying that interesting things are happening in the new app space (web, iPhone, or otherwise) is a bit like saying that cats enjoy chasing balls of yarn. It’s so cliché that, well, it’s not even cliché. It’s boring. Everyone is working on, “the next best (fill in the blank).” “The next best…” what? YouTube? Do we need another one of those? Twitter? A twitter app? A mashup that entices me to post on your new version of MySpace by also pushing my updates to Facebook? Do we need another Basecamp? How about another Digg? But just for designers?

We’ve gotten good at scratching
our own damn itch.

In general 37signals has earned my respect, in part because their success validates the way they do things, and in part because they don’t hesitate to say what they think. They talk a lot about scratching your own itch as a way of determining where you should be spending your time, particularly with regard to crafting software.

…in a perfect world, you would do the best work solving your own problems.

Now, I’m not suggesting they’re wrong. In fact, I think they’re right on in one sense: in a perfect world, you would do the best work solving your own problems. But, I think it’s time for our industry to move beyond that.

Without fail, it seems, our general tendency as designers/developers is to solve our own problems first. We live and work in a fairly contained bubble (as vast as it is) called the internet. We make little toys or tools for ourselves. Some of them take off and lead to other apps. Sometimes, the general public begins to find the app we made for ourselves useful and its influence expands outside our little circle.

What are we good at?

I can’t stress enough that I don’t think the model I laid out above is bad. In fact, it has lead to some incredibly useful (and fun) pieces of software. Some of them really have changed industries, changed the way we communicate, and expanded what we thought was possible or accessible.

But, is this what we’re good at? Making stuff for ourselves?

…the best designers recognize that their talent, process, and approach is bigger than the medium they might specialize in.

A couple days ago I was having lunch a fellow designer and developer. At one point our conversation led to the topic of design specialization vs. generalization. We were discussing how the best designers recognize that their talent, process, and approach is bigger than the medium they might specialize in. A really good designer understands they’re solving fundamental design and communication problems whether they are working on logo or industrial design.

It’s not a new idea or conversation to me, but it has been bouncing around in my brain lately with regard to applications development.

37signals (among others) attained a great level of success scratching their own itch, building software for themselves. But I think we can do better.

Expanding our influence.

I’m not talking about client work. I’m talking about recognizing the fact that we can change and influence industries by building new tools we might not use ourselves each day. Is it harder? Yes. Will there be more misses? Yes. But I think it’s an important evolution.

Why isn’t every traditional industry segment knocking on our doors…

Why isn’t every traditional industry segment knocking on our doors—not to hire us to build something they thought up, but to ask us how we might use our expertise to change their business using software and the internet?

At the December meeting of Ignite Boulder Jen McCabe Gorman gave a great presentation, essentially begging us to start working on the “what’s next?” apps for the healthcare industry.

My dad is a small business consultant. He has big ideas, but he’s only one man. I’m helping bring his work to the web in ways he wouldn’t have thought possible.

Another project I’m working on with a different business partner is a suite of tools tailored specifically to bands and musicians. Not another MySpace, or PureVolume, but some things we think will be extremely useful to the people who use them.

Unless you really think you can do it better, avoid the “me too” approach.

The point is that these are areas I’m passionate about, areas I want to participate in as an influencer, but none of this work would fall under the realm of “scratching my own itch.”

Neither should this work fall under the realm of picking a successful existing model and trying to topple it by building a better user interface or prettier brand. Unless you really think you can do it better, avoid the “me too” approach.

Find ways to solve other people’s problems.

Like I mentioned earlier, the best designers recognize they’re approaching design problems in a more general sense than the designer who is simply trying to design a pretty logo.

Realize your skill-set is bigger than the code you write all day or the pixels you push.

As developers, designers, VC’s, idea people, etc., we need to take this approach. Realize your skill-set is bigger than the code you write all day or the pixels you push. Start looking for people with good ideas, or people who really understand an area of business or industry that you don’t understand. Learn what their problems are and find ways to solve them. Make software that’s useful to people who don’t realize they’re looking for software to solve their problems.

(photo by birgerking)

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