In the 6th Grade the big field trip was to the Science Museum of Virginia for an overnight sleepover. At the age of 12 this is a big deal, and every kid anticipated it for months in advance. Each class got divided in groups by gender and the girls got to sleep in one wing of the museum and the boys in the other, and despite the fact that we were there to learn about science the real goal at that age was to compile all your super-cool magazines and makeup to share with the other girls and talk about kissing and boys and trendy stuff. As my group hunkered down with flashlights and started pulling out their crackly issues of “Seventeen” and “Teen” magazines I reached deep in my bag and pulled out my issues of “Macworld” and “MacAddict” to a snickering audience of pre-teens. There seemed to be disconnect and I honestly did not understand why no one was as super-stoked as me. It was like the beginning the Blind Melon Video with the little Bumble Bee Girl tap dancing… which came out in 1993, the same year I went to the Science Museum.

This year will be my third SXSW Interactive in Austin Texas. If you are not familiar with SXSWi it:

celebrates the creativity and passion behind the coolest new media technologies. In addition to panel sessions that cover everything from web design to bootstrapping to social networks, attendees make new business connections at the three-day Trade Show & Exhibition.

If you want the equally accurate Ze Frank Version of what it is…

Patrick Haney points out on his latest post that Cindy Li likes to call it “geek spring break” but I feel like its a little like Web Disneyworld. People are always so enthusiastic when they say “I’m going to Disneyworld!”. Well, take that tone of voice and sparkle in their eye and picture me saying “Im going to South By South West!”. Yeah… thats about right.

So why do I get so excited? In addition to all the reasons that I was excited last year…. when I walk into the convention center in Austin its a lot like that little girl busting through the iron fence and dancing with all the other Bees. Seriously, you can tap anyone on the shoulder there and they will be interesting, engaging and passionate… and/or Bad-Ass.
Between now and March 7th the anticipation is only going to build. I can hardly wait… expect more SXSW themed posts. I can hardly contain myself.

There is web stuff happening all over this darn town.
Everywhere I turn there are things going on, happy hours to be had, talks being given… and oh the networking. A few weeks ago it snowed here. If you have ever been in DC when it snows you know its like the world is about to stop. Refresh DC was scheduled to happen that day. If you aren’t familiar Refresh it is:

a community of web designers, developers, and other new media professionals working together to refresh the creative, technical, and professional aspects of their trades in the Washington, DC, area.

The talk that Thursday was on Web Accessibility (a great talk by the way, given by John Croston) and despite the snow and panic, the room was packed. Standing room only. How awesome is that?

The themes of these events are predominantly technical. I like learning about how things work, so I go to a lot of them, but there always seems to be a void on the design end of the spectrum. AIGA and ADCMW hold fantastic events but they are really geared towards print designers. So after a lot of people saying “yeah we should do something for web designers” M. Jackson Wilkinson and Jason Garber did.

On Feb 29 Viget Labs (where I now work… did I mention that they we rock?) is hosting DC Design Talk. It is the first “talk” in a 3 part conference series geared for people who make websites. I am pretty excited about the focus being on design and it is shaping up to be a great event. Already there are a list of speakers that I anticipate learning a lot from.

An improvement to the classic Web Trend Map, IA in Japan has added a third dimension for extra flavor. I see some interesting additions this time around, including Swiss Miss and Ogilvy. What the map really says about either of them is pretty vague to me, but it is an interesting interpretation and stunning design. Perhaps this will be my next poster to order.
Another version of the Map can be found in 2-d here…

Since my interest in information design has seemed to blossom over the past year I created a new category so you can browse all of my past posts where it is featured.
Want a clarification to the practice of information design?

From Wikipedia

Information design has its origins as a subset of, or synonym for graphic design and it is often taught as part of graphic design courses. One of the first uses of the term was by the London graphic design consultancy Pentagram, who used the term in the 1970s to mean their graphic design, as distinct from product or other kinds of design. Since that time, the term has come to be used specifically for graphic design that has the purpose of displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively, or for the purpose of self expression by the designer as artist.

Recently IA Japan posted a response to Steve Clayton’s dissatisfaction with Microsoft’s placement on the map. Clayton boldly states:

Their recent Trend Map may have some delays on the line if the Yahoo deal goes through.

Along with a second blog post in response to Clayton’s statements, IA Japan included a revision to their map… which just made my day.

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Information Design raising eyebrows, stirring up discussion, making people think and making people talk. Its beautiful when design can raise awareness to a certain topic.