I’ve seen a few articles on tech news sites - including this TechCrunch one - in light of the recent Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition which try to explain Tumblr’s roots. Where did it come from? Why is it successful?
The first question is pretty simple to answer. Tumblr was a blogging platform. It was much like WordPress, but it became more social. Like Twitter, but more open to customisation. Like Posterous, but popular. Post-types, were and still are, a defining feature. They make getting content out there, no matter what it is, easy. Reblogging allows content to spread quickly, with inline comments. The simple Dashboard, too, makes content the focus. It’s minimal. It’s good.
Time is valuable. Time with friends is more valuable. Clocks are interesting. Don’t try to have too many friends. People met on the internet are as real and complex as anyone else. Make fun of the little things that you do often as the rare occasions aren’t so easily remembered. Possessions are too numerous and overvalued.
Having fun is important. Considering the daily elements of modern life fun makes an enjoyable life. By doing what you enjoy, you can define yourself.
Everyone who has used a Mac will tell you that it is better than any other computer. Of course, these people are dubbed Apple Fanboys. I want to tell you why Macs are so much better than their Microsoft counterparts, and hopefully by doing this so early in my Apple-consumer life I’ll be able to avoid the fanboy stereotype long enough to say something that seems sensible.
Why do I make YouTube videos? I enjoy making them. Oh, that was simple. I thought I might have to justify why I’ve started creating YouTube videos (just silly little things), so I’ve preemptively written this for all those looking for an answer.
First, I’d like to cover why I started. I suppose I started watching Charlie McDonnell a few years ago, then Alex Day, then Hazel Hayes, then Dan Howell, then Phil Lester, then World of the Orange, then Emma Blackery. The list goes on, I’m sure you can imagine.
Vision is arguably the most important thing to have when building a product, or a company. Vision is more than knowing what you’re doing. It’s knowing why you’re doing it. It’s knowing the meaning behind it. I think vision is one of the most important qualities of successful inventors; by which I don’t mean the typically connoted old man hacking together a devilishly bulky machine in his garage, rather the young developer and entrepreneur following his or her imaginings of a new app.
In light of this whole being a designer thing, I thought it might be worth explaining why. Why am I a designer?
For the past five years or so, I have loved writing. It’s been something I’ve done pretty regularly, just documenting my thoughts - you can see the evidence of it right here. While I can’t quite pin down why I enjoy it, I think it has something to do with communication. Words are arguably the most definite form of communication: each means something; each has its own purpose in its language and can be translated into others; each is universal, language barriers aside. That said, there’s a certain discrete brilliance in the understanding of language and the subtle, hidden messages the simplest of words can hold that differ with every person’s understanding. For me, though, language alone doesn’t seem to provide enough ambiguity.
A while ago, I joined a Branch about the good and bad sides of specialism and generalism in design. It was interesting to read through the views of other designers and developers and, as Branch tends to do, it allowed me to see that this topic was one which I would have to return to in the future. Today is this future…
