Wednesday, February 24, 2010

nooka needs your input


Hello Fan of Nooka—

We're taking a closer look at our website and we need your help. We're curious to hear what you like and dislike about the current design. Are there things you wish we had on the site but don't? Is it easy to find or buy stuff as it currently is, or are there times when you wish the layout of the site was different?

We're interested to know why you're coming to the site. For example are you only visiting to buy something, or maybe to see what's new. We have an idea why some people come to the site but any stories about why you come to the site will help us make a better experience for people that visit.

We're in the beginning process of collecting feedback as we consider options for the site as it evolves. Please feel free to email us at redesign[at]nooka.com or leave a comment below.

groovy nooz


well, today is my birthday. i started it by going to the gym, something i've been very lax with the past 2+ years! got to the office, wrote a bitchy blog post [seen below], had chinese take out with my team [we did a fancy b-day lunch for me yesterday as alex is off to thailand for vacation today, and he wanted to be a part of it], and then caught up with the nitty gritty of holding a design biz together.

i am actually writing this blog to let you know about our fire engine red nooka strip [belt]. i know i designed it and it may seem that i'm supposed to say this, but seriously, i LOVE this product. here it is on our e-store but the photo is a bit more electric than the reality – it's really fire engine red. goes great with my sounds good neon yellow hoodie [thanks yu in tokyo for the hoodie!] and zem watch.

i'm also wearing one of my favorite t-shirts from graniph in this foto which leads to a really exciting upcoming news bite – yours truly, matthew waldman, will be a featured designer for an upcoming t-shirt promotion! more on that soon...


one show updates?

i feel i have to blog about something that has been quite troublesome the past few weeks – students publishing their submissions for the nooka X one show competition.

from my few discussions via email and twitter, it seems that some students felt that they could publish on their own after they submitted. do students not read rules, terms and conditions? it clearly states in the forms:

"Submissions may not be published without the prior written consent of Nooka, provided that, entrant shall have the right to include the submission in his or her portfolio following the official announcement of the Competition winners by One Show."


it's frustrating that i have to explain this, but i do realize that the students do not have real world client experience. to them, please ask yourself: would an ad agency publish a client advertisement with out their input? would they publish work created for a client without getting paid? only the client can give feedback on their core values and whether or not the work produced reflects them.

publishing the work outside of the context of the one show competition shows a complete disregard for normal design process and the client, which in this case, is nooka. it's a competition, and the rules and regulations of competitions are specially crafted to protect the client and the applicants.

a few more questions for the students:

publishing the work outside the context of the one show creates confusion for my customers. is "confusion" a core value you want to promote as your special skill when you're looking for a job?

this is not to say that a lot of the work i'm seeing isn't good, but is it not the job of the fine judges the one club has gone through much expense to assemble to decide? how do you think your work will be viewed for originality if they saw it before the judging?

i hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but this is simply an issue of context and a key point of design that can not be ignored. publishing out of the context of the one club runs the risk of the submission being disqualified. publishing any work using another person or company's trademark opens you up to even greater problems.

so if you're happy to bypass the one club, that's cool, but you must add this to your work and to all the people/sites posting:
"Nooka" is a registered trademark of Nooka Inc. (all rights reserved) and may not be used without its express written permission. Nooka Inc. has not reviewed and does not endorse any products, concepts or viewpoints expressed on this website, and no business relationship with Nooka Inc. is implied through any use of its trademark.

here is a link to a student project published the correct way, and yes, it won awards!