Swan Song

The past few weeks have been very busy, especially on the community activities. It's really good because I see the last few weeks as my swan song.

Philippine Web Designers Organization
Last September 10-11, 2011, the Philippine Web Designers Organization (PWDO) had its second Form Function & Class Web Design Conference.

I was very active in the planning and helping out in the logistics and promotion, but it was primarily led by Ia Lucero and Mae Paulino. Unlike in 2009, I did not give a talk but I gave the opening addresses for both days (Day 1 Opening Remarks & Day 2 Opening Remarks).

The outcome of the event was very great-- PWDO was able to raise funds and roughly double its money in the bank. The event was also smoother and there were more sponsors.

The future of PWDO is really looking good, even at my departure from the core group.

The recent FFC ushered in reforms and changes in the group, plus the activity level of the core group is very high.

Mozilla Philippines Community
I represented the Mozilla Philippines Community on two major events: Software Freedom Day 2011 at the University of Santo Tomas and the Philippine Youth Congress on Information Technology (Y4IT) at the University of the Philippines - Diliman.

Representing Mozilla is always a joy, especially here in the Philippines, since Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox has such strong brand equities. This brand is even more adored by the college and geek crowd.

Based on the feedback from my parting words at the Mozilla Philippines mailing list, people appreciate the effort I've put in the community. This is huge considering that I've only been a volunteer for the Mozilla initiative.

Moving forward, the group will be led by Eusebio "Jun" Barrun.

Jun has been a solid contributor to the community and his acceptance of the leadership role is a big coup for the community. The way I see it, the Mozilla Philippines will continue to grow under Jun's helm.

Usability Professionals Association - Philippines
This a relatively new effort and it's rather unfortunate that I'm leaving soon.

Dr. Rose Seva, Allan Caeg, and I were in the process of bringing together a usability/user experience community here through the formation of a local Usability Professionals Association chapter. The group will organize and hold the upcoming World Usability Day - Manila.

The group will now work double time to get the chapter recognition in order.

Conclusion
I believe that the communities I'm leaving behind are in great shape and its really because of team effort.

To everyone I've worked with (you know who you are), thanks a lot and all the best in reaching the respective vision of each group.



Tags: Personal

Streamlining my Personal Online Brand

I just realized that my online presence needs some streamlining. Why? Because I feel my personal brand on the web is not focused enough.

If you search for "Regnard Raquedan" on Google, the result is a little scattered. There are results that point to my blogs (like Standard Web Standards, Screensucked, and The AIM Blogger), professional sites I've made (Raquedan Consulting, Usability Consultant, and Internet Marketing Coach), plus the social network profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+).

I was recently inspired by the stuff I've been reading about focus. One Steve Jobs quote that comes to mind is:

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

There are many other nice insights about it and I realized I need to make my personal brand online more focused.

I want to highlight these things about me:

• My work - I've decided that I want to focus on User Experience and Community Management. I plan to put more about these in my professional websites.
• My writing - I wrote an e-book entitled "Did You Read The Case?" that I had Amazon publish on the Kindle Store. I see myself doing this more in the future.
• My blogs - This is where things get a little complicated. Right now, I blog about a slew of topics and I'm starting to think that I'm spreading myself too thin. 

The question I'm thinking about now is what blogs to keep. I analyzed the data on the blogs and their advertising performance and I've decided to to focus on these topics:

1. Movies - Screensucked
2. Basketball - Big Lakers Fan
3. Work - Weboplex (Yep, it's a new blog powered by Tumblr!)
4. Personal - RegnardRaquedan.com

Four blogs may be too much for some, but those topics are things that are I'm very much interested in.

Also, I'll be retiring some of my professional websites. I'm in the process of making a professional transition so I feel this is a good time to do it. I'll only maintain Raquedan.com as my professional website.

This streamlining will be an ongoing process that will probably stretch to early next year.


Tags: Internet

Day 2 Opening Remarks at PWDO's Form Function Class Web Design Conference

Good morning everyone!

I hope everyone didn’t get hung over from last night’s afterparty-- we still have a great number of workshops today. It would be too bad if you killed too much of your braincells because of the alcohol.

This is the second day of the 2011 edition of the Form Function Class Web Design Conference. A lot of you were here yesterday, but those who are here for today only, I have some bad news for you: you missed a lot.

In yesterday’s session, we had a great design exercise with Dan Matutina, we had a great talk about branding in today’s age with John Leyson, witnessed Rico Sta. Cruz’s legen-(wait for it)...dary HTML5 and CSS3 coding skills, and got nice nuggets of busines and web startup insights from Jason Torres. To add to that, we had a great number of Lightning Talk speakers about DevCon, Balsamiq, the Mozilla Reps program, and the Philippine Graphic Design Awards.

And then there was the afterparty, which needs no further elaboration, basing on your grizzled appearances.

Like I said we had a ton of things yesterday and I believe we will gave an equally enriching session today.

I’m very confident that the talks about JavaScript, Mobile UI Design, User Experience Design, and the future of design will be talks of value for everyone. After all, we at PWDO labored, debated, and nitpicked on what the program is going to be today for months. I’m not kidding when I day that us planning this event is like creating a Facebook-clone that acts like Groupon in 30 minutes.

It goes without saying that we at PWDO are learning as the FFC goes on. For those who were here yesterday, you will notice that we make some little tweaks to make the event better. We got the ideas from you-- from your tweets to our Twitter account to the feedback you gave personally. We are serious in making this the best F’n event for you possible.

On a final note, PWDO will feel warm and fuzzy if everyone comes out of FFC thinking “It feels great to be a web designer now-- there are so many opportunities and possibilities and there are still loads of things to learn.” If you grow as a web designer after the FFC, the PWDO would have done its job.

So with that, let’s have a productive session in today’s Form Function Class Web Design Conference.


Tags: Form Function Class Web Design Conference

My Opening Talk at the 2011 Form Function Class Web Design Conference

Good morning everyone!

First and foremost, congratulations!

I congratulate everyone here because you are part of an event that is two years in the making-- that is the PWDO guarantee that you are not guinea pigs nor lab rats.

There was a time when the most difficult thing a web designer would go through is explaining to his parents what his job was all about. When you mention IT, your parents immediately think MS Office; when you mention internet, your parents think about the latest sex scandal; and when you say web design, your parents think about you playing computer games then typing for a few hours.

But things have changed.

The web is a big part of our lives now that even your lola, who still think a typewriter is better than an iPad, has a Facebook account. You’ve probably bought something online, whether from the group deals websites or in Sulit.com.ph. You’ve probably engaged in a debate about which browser is the best (Hint: It’s Mozilla Firefox). Your parents probably read on Inquirer.net that MS Office is not the internet.

All that is made possible by the medium that is the Web. And that puts pressure on us web designers. If you’re designing websites the same way you were five years ago, you’re setting yourself up to becoming professional roadkill, you know the stinky and gross kind.

People’s expectations are exponentially growing and we can’t let our skills grow incrementally, or worse flatline. 

This is one of the main reasons why the Philippine Web Designers Organization was formed and the Form Function Class Web Design Conference was instituted. Being the first grassroots Web Design conference in Asia, it’s part of our mission to champion excellence in webcraft and contribute to raising the standards for Philippine web design. If you’re wondering, we’re also striving for world peace.

Kidding aside, I congratulate everyone here, from the PWDO core group that has done a massive job in juggling tasks. Imagine, they worry about CSS layout and then worry about how our nice venue will be laid out. A disclaimer though, we are web designers and not event coordinators, so I apologize beforehand for our small oversights. Please judge us the same way you would a 5-year old that colored outside the lines.

I also congratulate our sponsors (let’s give them a round of applause)-- To our sponsors, you did the right move in supporting this event. Your help will go a long way in making this event the most kick-ass web design event. Ever.

Finally, I go back to you, the participants of this event. I congratulate you again because you recognize the need to become better in your craft and I salute you for taking web design seriously. I know you still surf the web at work and call it “research,” even though the window you opened is Google+ and 

Twitter. I know you work with high conviction even though you get distracted by reading random articles in Wikipedia and watching Nyan Cat videos in YouTube. I say that with conviction, the same conviction when I argue with IT when the Wi-Fi is down.

Congratulations and have a great experience at 2011 Form Function Class Web Design Conference.

Tags: Form Function Class Web Design Conference

Globe Tattoo Tonino Lamborghini (Or What's a Fake These Days?)

I was a little skeptical when I read a Tweet saying that Globe Tattoo's Tonino Lamborghini 4G product was a fake. But then I read the press release (PDF) from Tonino Lamborghini and realized that it was legit, so I was a bit shocked.

In the press release, Tonino Lamborghini CEO said that Globe's 4G stick is a "counterfeited product" and that anyone making them constituted "a serious trademark infringement."

Let's stop right there. Those are really serious stuff-- counterfeiting and copyright infringement are words that go together with million-dollar lawsuits.To counterfeit means imitating something and passing it off as the original. I don't see Tonino Lamboghini making 4G USB sticks, so to say the Globe product is counterfeit is fairly inaccurate.

I think it's more of a licensing and branding issue.

To set the record straight, Tonino Lamborghini is different from Automobili Lamborghini, the company more popular globally for the sports cars it makes. Tonino Lamborghini, looking at its website, is a diversified manufacturer and distributor of a slew of products. Their product line includes watches, eyewear, perfumes, fashion accessories, furnishings, apparel lines, and gadgets. I only knew about the distinction between the two after the story broke out.

For their part, Globe responded with an official statement in their Tumblr account. Globe says that they got their license from Primo Mobile, the master franchisor of mobile phone related products for the Italian brand Tonino Lamborghini. This means that Globe has some basis to use the trademark.

My theory is that the Tonino Lamboghini folks saw the Globe Tattoo 4G stick online and were shocked-- this is not a product they licensed to be manufactured. Their jaw dropped further down when they saw how Globe positioned the 4G stick-- "Feed Your Need for Speed" was a tagline that harkened Automobili Lamborghini.

These folks jumped the gun and made the press release last August 3, roughly two months after 4G stick was launched.

The gap now is the licensing agreement between Tonino Lamborghini and Primo Mobile. If Primo Mobile is authorized to sub-license, what are its responsibility to the trademark owner? In effect, Tonino Lamborghini is second-guessing the sub-licensing process at Primo Mobile.

In  my view, Globe is a casualty in this messy situation.


Tags: Globe Tattoo

My Favorite #MozNewsLab Videos

The Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab is done and the works of all the folks involved are awesome. Each submitted a "show and sell" video for his/her projects that's meant to inform and convince people that the project is a great hack to news.

Here are some of my favorite "show and sell" videos:

Amy Zerba's News Gist


Corbin Smith's Open Can


Jason Smigarn-Koff's CrowdCam


James Greenaway's Open News Player


Jordan Wirfs-Brock's The Infinte Story


Trina Chiasson's Curious?


This list reflects my leanings towards easy to understand videos and works that make an effort to sell the idea. It doesn't hurt add some production values as well. (Yeah, I know the screencast folks are probably groaning right now).

But like I said, all the ideas in #MozNewsLab are awesome. :)

One final thing: I invite you to check out my submission, WiND:Wikified News Dashboard.




Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab

WiND: Wikified News Dashboard

I'm finished with the proposal for my idea for the Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab: WiND or the Wikified News Dashboard.

Here's a short video that pitches WiND:




You'll see in the video that I went with a simple value proposition for WiND:

Community-driven and Junk-free News in One View. 

This encapsulates that WiND is an open platform where quality is given importance and everything is shown in an easy-to-use dashboard.

Also, the two-minute time constraint was a huge challenge, but hopefully it's enough to convince folks that WiND is a worthy endeavor.

I also made a concept map of WiND to explain it further:

I've posted several iterations of the WiND prototype wireframe in previous blog posts and I've stuck with the last update. It's easy to fall into a trap of perfecting it to the very last detail, but I realized I had to freeze it at some point.

 

I also designed the mobile-optimized version:

For the purpose of the challenge, I did write a project proposal, and it shows WiND more in detail and outlines the business case for it. The PDF version is available for download in Scribd.




Finally, there's an interactive wireframe demo of WiND and I've uploaded it at http://www.raquedan.com/wind.

I would appreciate any type of feedback (positive, negative, violent) on the stuff I've posted on WiND. I really do think this idea has promise.

It has been a busy last few days and I'm relieved that I've decided to post my submission. I'll post my reflection on the Knight-Mozilla learning lab in the next post.


Tags: Knight-Mozilla Learning Lab