Finally all target groups (deutsch: Zielgruppe) will be destroyed, or better replaced. The mass media make program for their target groups, but who are they? Target groups are lifeless, abstract terms, that has got nothing to do with real people out there. But mass media still produce their programs often for this target groups (abstract terms). On the other side are blogs. Blogger don’t write for any target group, but mostly for themselfes and for their readers. A reader is someone made from flesh and blood.

TV set in a bar with ringtone advertisement

This is somehow reminding me of the things that happened to philosophy at the turn of the 20th century in the process of Enlightment (deutsch: Aufklärung). Nietzsche was against abstract terms that claimed to be the truth. Against things that were coming from ratio (deutsch: Vernunft) and made things clear, because they were scientific and intelligent facts (like target groups are). Nietzsches way was to say, that the individual human mind, its creative process and its inconsistence is where we have to think of truth. So truth is a very fluid human thing, and this truth can’t be right at every time.
That is just happening in media. We are setting the focus on the individum, rather than on programme that claims to be “representative” for people, specified by “representative traget group research”. This produces plastic programme with plastic people and no authenticity. After all it is the human who mades and accepts truth. And after all it is the human who wants authenticity. And that only comes from personality.

Finally all target groups (deutsch: Zielgruppe) will be destroyed, or better replaced. The mass media make program for their target groups, but who are they? Target groups are lifeless, abstract terms, that has got nothing to do with real people out there. But mass media still produce their programs often for this target groups (abstract terms). On the other side are blogs. Blogger don’t write for any target group, but mostly for themselfes and for their readers. A reader is someone made from flesh and blood.

TV set in a bar with ringtone advertisement

This is somehow reminding me of the things that happened to philosophy at the turn of the 20th century in the process of Enlightenment (deutsch: Aufklärung). Nietzsche was against abstract terms that claimed to be the truth. Against things that were coming from ratio (deutsch: Vernunft) and made things clear, because they were scientific and intelligent facts (like target groups are). Nietzsches way was to say, that the individual human mind, its creative process and its inconsistence is where we have to think of truth. So truth is a very fluid human thing, and this truth can’t be right at every time.
That is just happening in media. We are setting the focus on the individum, rather than on programme that claims to be “representative” for people, specified by “representative traget group research”. This produces plastic programme with plastic people and no authenticity. After all it is the human who mades and accepts truth. And after all it is the human who wants authenticity. And that only comes from personality.

and animation gifs side view / front view

When it comes to project and client management it looks like all of us web professionals have encountered the same problems sometime. Didn’t we all have at least once that project from hell? Fortunately with growing experience one learns to either avoid those projects alltogether or is able to make sure that some common issues do not come up in the first place.

So I’m a bit late on the following posts, but I found them some interesting read, including the comments:

10 Bad Project Warning Signs

A Few Tips on Estimating Web Projects

[Via actionscripts.co.uk]

two new pieces in the projects section.

I drew my mobile phone with illustrator.

Just another great shooter showing that this kind of games need no detailed grafics, no story, no characters, no 3d, no texture-wonders and no 5.1 surroundsound but pure gameplay. The grafics are reduced to geometric shapes, that aren’t even filled. The colors are reduced to elemental colors with 100% saturation. Every level comes with some changes on the “core mechanics”and that holds the motivation. Well - it is about shooting, dynamic, abstract layers, distraction and fun. It is not that addictive, but leaves you with some hours of fun. Only the soundloop in the background is annoying after some time, but you can disable it (great feature!) and replace it with an mp3-player of your choice as backgroundtask. Very looking forward the next thing to come from binaryzoo.

Link to DUO.

Just another great shooter showing that this kind of game need no detailed grafics, no story, no characters, no 3d, no texture-wonders and no 5.1 surroundsound but pure gameplay. The grafics are reduced to geometric shapes, that aren’t even filled. The colors are reduced to elemental colors with 100% saturation. Every level comes with some changes on the setup, what is holding the motivation. Well - it is about shooting, dynamic, abstract layers, distraction and fun. It is not that addictive, but leaves you with some hours of fun. Only the soundloop in the background is annoying after some time, but you can disable it (great feature!) and replace it with an mp3-player of your choice as backgroundtask. Like the other game from binaryzoo the grafics and the scoreboard are sometime unclear and lack on overview (are even on the border on functionality), but the stlye is somehow very cool. A shooter needs shitloads of weapons and tons of moving objects. And don’t care about rules.

Link to DUO.

PS: I once tried the demo of the game jets’n'guns. Some media told this as the new 2d-shooter, but it must have been a hype. This game is no fun (referring to the demolevels). They made only mistakes in this game: polished grafics, but where is the playersprite? So this is a “don’t example”.

it seems so - at least when it comes to making the same mistakes that Flash developers were able to make for several years. For those who don’t know what Ajax is about - it’s a way to exchange data with the server without reloading the whole page by using Javascript - yes folks that pretty much all there is to it - something that Flash is able to accomplish since version 4.

So I find it very amusing to read this list of the most common Ajax mistakes - because lots of it reads like something that people have always bickered to be a problem of Flash sites:

- Breaking the back button
- Blinking and changing parts of the page unexpectedly
- Not using links I can pass to friends or bookmark
- Inventing new UI conventions

Hmm - maybe Robert Penner’s good old back button workaround for Flash is also something that might work for you Ajax guys?

Here’s two Quicktime movies of 3d objects created by taking the exponent in the Warping Mandelbrot project and lofting the created fractals by modifying this exponent over the z-axis. The two movies of about 4.5 MB show the exponent ranging from about 0.2 to 3 and vice versa. I like them for their architectural paper-cut style.

video 1 and video 2

After many rumors few days ago the news has become public. IDII will close its school in Ivrea and the students will move to Milan and will remain only Domus Academy. Very good thing for my former director Claudio Moderini. I'm starting envying future students that will be so lucky to take the best from the two schools.

Nettes kleines Fotoalbum in das man flickr fotos einladen kann. Flickr wird dabei wahlweise nach Nutzernamen, Tag oder beidem durchsucht und die ersten 30 Treffer angezeigt.

This is somehow something ritual. Many people go into a room. The doors are closed and something is happen. The ritual starts. After that ritual doors are open again, the people left and have transformed into something new, altered their minds apart from everyday experience. An indicator for the degree of change seems to be the next day: when you awake and cannot believe the things that happened the day before.

I am not sure how the things are that have to happen inside the room to transform mind. (Maybe make some more research on this, so comments appreciated.) But it is for sure, that this setting of a “closed room” has the potential to make this dynamic action possible. An open room has to much affects on mind to leave or to disperse thoughts and feelings. A closed room also means that you feel unattended. You can go outside yourself and if everybody does the same, then all are “sharing a secret”. That secret is the ritualistic action itself. In this setting everyting can happen that is apart from the ordinary. Here is the mind-transforming potential. This ritualistic events are often combined with music. Maybe there is also a higher sense for non-spoken communication and pre-decided or unconcious behaviour.

Some examples are: clubs (in opposition to discotheque), Mass (at churchhouse), maybe cinema and even swinger-clubs.

Most people know Tintin (german: Tim und Struppi) comic books from Hergé. I was into them for several years and lent them from libary (i was a child with no money back in the days). Now my girlfriend read my most secret dream and bought me my first own Tintin comicbook. And this really impressed me! The cast, but mosty the illustration with that great french/belgium kind of comicstyle is very great. The details and the storyboard: all is very round up. Now imagine the process of making this comics. The book i have is from 1954. At that time there were no computers. All tools Hergé had was his head, his imagination and pencils. And with that very basic tools he made such lovely worlds in stlye of adventure comicbooks. It somehow reminds me on Jules Vernes stories. That imagination and fantasy inside it is just overwhelming.

That is the basic idea of creating something wierd. Is is somehow independent from tools.

Also in the digital domain the creative artists need mostly the following:
- basic tools, where he/she is very good at (crafting skill)
- his mind that keeps imagination and discipline together (mind skill)

I also recommend that you take a look at mediumphobic.