* DeLorean not included.

If your workflow requires shuffling files between two or more computers, then you are well aware of how difficult it can be to manage that process. It’s inevitable that one day you’ll forget to sync your work from home, only to realize your mistake when the client arrives for a design review. Even worse, you overwrite today’s work with yesterday’s file, then spend the rest of the night repeating your efforts. Yippee!

My current solution involves Chronosync and an iPod, which is very effective, but still susceptible to user error (I’ve forgotten the iPod at home, or at the office, numerous times). Recently I discovered Dropbox, which is perhaps the most elegant solution I’ve come across for syncing files on various computers. The service is web-based, but tightly integrated with the operating system, creating a seamless experience. Simply drop files onto a folder and voila, they are now available on your other Dropbox enabled computers, as well as the web.

There are numerous things that Dropbox does right. They clearly explain what they provide and the benefits of using their software. The design aesthetic reflects the product’s simplicity and elegance. They eliminate risk by providing the software free of charge. The product is truly top-notch, but it’s a marketing twist they’ve integrated into the service that got my attention.

The Dropbox business model is based on a Freemium structure. The software is available for download, free of charge, but basic accounts are limited by storage capacity. Typically, users who wish to increase their service level may do so by paying a monthly fee, and Dropbox is no different, offering two account upgrade options, at $9.99 and $19.99 per month. However (this is where marketing savvy comes into play), there is an additional method for increasing your storage capacity that is not for sale. Instead, it requires a bit of social capital, in the form of a referral.

Affiliate rewards are a popular incentive, but typically these are monetary, in the form of a one-time kickback or percentage of future income. Dreamhost uses this system for hosting referrals, Shopify provides a percentage of future sales, and entire businesses have been built around Amazon’s Associates program. What’s genius about Dropbox’s system is that it utilizes the service itself as the reward. Get your friends to register with Dropbox, and we’ll reward you with more storage!

Currently there is a limit to the referral bonus (3 GB, or 12 referrals at 250 MB per referral), but that could easily be lifted to generate more buzz if necessary. Furthermore, these referrals are generated organically, facilitated by individual users, and propagated through existing social networks. It’s one thing to have Dropbox boast about itself, quite another to have your peer do it for them. After all, that’s how I discovered it.

For the fourth year in a row, Airspace Workshop was selected to art direct and design the Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. annual report. The 2009 report utilizes a mixture of illustration, infographics, and photography to communicate A&B’s core methods of creating value for their shareholders. Key strategies and supply chains were examined visually, to provide further detail and clarity into the company’s operations, and create a balanced perspective of Alexander & Baldwin, as well as its subsidiaries.

The Mokapu Point buoy displaying swell direction oscillation during the Hawaii tsunami

In today’s Star Bulletin, Erika Engle discusses the role of social media during Saturday’s tsunami, including a mention of Buoy Alarm, which was flooded with Twitter traffic yesterday after people discovered the Mokapu Point buoy twitter feed (@buoy51202).

While NOAA utilizes a completely different system to monitor tsunami activitiy (DART), the effects of the surge’s ebb and flow were noticeable at the Mokapu surface buoy, mainly in the oscillating swell direction between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. HST. I suppose many chose to follow the buoy on Twitter expecting to see a dramatic spike in wave height, but when you consider the tremendous volume of water in the Pacific, to have it shift direction 9 times in approximately 5 hours is actually quite remarkable, and requires an amazing amount of energy.

Yesterday’s event was also a great illustration of how social media enables communities to dynamically respond and adapt in real-time. A niche product with little attention was suddenly thrust into relevancy, and a loose-knit community was able to champion it without formal management, oversight, or permission. Self-organization is perhaps the greatest power of social media, giving it a speed and efficiency that traditional media lacks.

The flow of information via social media was faster than broadcast media, Lum said: “I’d read a Tweet about a buoy, the waves passing the buoy, and a couple minutes later I’d see it (on TV).” Some ocean buoys, connected to buoyalarm.com, are rigged to post ocean activity to Twitter.

Of course there are drawbacks and potential pitfalls to self-organization, such as the amplification of misinformation, but a diverse community with a shared interest will mitigate those errors in due time. What is apparent is that we’ve entered an age of an information surplus, and managing that surplus will be our next challenge.

In October of 2009 we released a customizable Tumblr theme entitled M82. My intentions at the time were motivated by a desire to learn the Tumblr theme engine, polish my CSS skills, and rework the look of my personal blog. The theme was one of the first to integrate the then-new Appearance option tags, allowing for customizable fonts and images, as well as Twitter, Streampad, Disqus and Google Analytics integration directly from the Tumblr Dashboard.

M82 has been available in the Tumblr Theme Garden for about five months, and during that time the theme has organically grown an installation base of 5,150 users (and counting), including some popular sites with a significant number of followers. What I did not realize five months ago, was the important lesson I would learn regarding the value of social capital.

As defined by Wikipedia, Social capital is a sociological concept used in business, economics, organizational behavior, political science, public health and the social sciences in general to refer to connections within and between social networks. During the last decade, particularly the second-half of it, the Internet has completely revolutionized social networks. New methods of communication have emerged, more efficient and more tightly integrated than ever before. As a result, a completely new non-monetary economy based on attention and reputation has emerged.

In his book Free, Chris Anderson takes a chapter to discuss this new, non-monetary economy. He argues that the hyperlink created “a formal language for the exchange of attention and reputation, and currencies for both.” Anderson later continues:

Ideally, this transfer of reputation leaves both parties richer. Good recommendations build trust with a readership, and being recommended confers trust, too. And with trust comes traffic.

The M82 Tumblr theme was a personal project, motivated by a desire for personal growth. Development of the CSS and HTML required an investment of my time, and I directly benefited by increasing my knowledge and skill set. I also had immediate use for the final product, and continue to employ the theme for my personal blog. However, the presence of a larger network, and a means of free distribution, allowed me to maximize the value of my efforts by including a simple hyperlink in the footer, crediting the theme’s design to Airspace Workshop.

Tumblr is touted as “the easiest way to blog,” and it may very well be. Tumblr’s simplified user interface and clean design aesthetic immediately appealed to me, and I am not alone. Currently the blogging network hosts over 3.5 million users and manages over 3,000 page views per second during peak traffic. These are not Facebook numbers by any means, but it’s more than the total population of Panama, and I’m able to distribute my theme, for free, to each and every one of these users via the Tumblr Theme Garden.

In choosing to install the M82 theme, Tumblr users recognize its value, and grant us the attention of their blog’s audience. Reputation is built via the hyperlink crediting Airspace Workshop. This process is enabled through two key characteristics of the Theme Garden: First, themes are provided free of charge. Second, installation is ridiculously simple, requiring a single-click to complete.

By providing the audience and an efficient method of distribution, Tumblr dramatically multiplied M82’s potential value. Granted, if the theme did not exhibit any merit, then it probably would’ve gone unnoticed and quickly withered away. Fortunately this was not the case.

Currently, the percent of Tumblr users that have installed M82 as their theme is approximately 0.15%. That’s a tiny, tiny fraction of a number. Since it became available in October 2009, the M82 theme has contributed to a 352% increase in absolute unique visitors to our site… that number is not so negligible.

Knowing how to cultivate social capital, garner attention, and build reputation is an increasingly important skill for anyone engaged in this emerging economy. Remember, site traffic is a non-monetary measure of success, unless of course, you monetize it. Give a man a link, he’ll click-through for a day. Teach a man to link, pray he doesn’t spam you.

An early social media guru updates his followers via falcon.

When it comes to building awareness of your product, service or brand, there is no denying the power of social media. However, in a dynamic environment full of an increasing number of tools and trends, we find that technology often overwhelms strategy. What people fail to realize, contrary to what some “gurus” claim, is that blogs, Twitter accounts, and Facebook fan pages are not inherently revenue-generating machines… they’re work.

Each individual strategy will vary, depending on the available resources and desired goals, but there are four elements that we deem essential: Consistency, Authenticity, Relevance, and Diligence.

Tools cannot perform work in and of themselves, and in reality, that’s all Twitter and Facebook are. Granted, they are two of the most efficient broadcasting tools ever created, but they primarily serve as amplifiers. Furthermore, they not only amplify your messaging, but they also amplify the thoughts and ideas of anyone willing to share them, be it positive or negative.

So before you decide to publish that first blog post, send that first tweet, or invite your 239 Facebook friends to “Become a Fan” of your page, we strongly recommend you develop a social media strategy. Venturing out of the harbor without reviewing a chart is downright foolish, so do yourself a favor and plot your course prior to setting sail.

Each individual strategy will vary, depending on the available resources and desired goals, but there are four elements that we deem essential: Consistency, Authenticity, Relevance, and Diligence.

Followers, Facebook fans, and RSS subscribers have a voracious appetite for content. If you are unprepared to keep those morsels coming, people will quickly leave your table. This is where Consistency is important. Establish a pace you are comfortable with from the start (be it daily, weekly, or even monthly) and increase that pace only if you possess the resources to sustain it. If you are too aggressive, you will quickly find yourself struggling to maintain consistency.

Be realistic about your capabilities and know your limits. It is extremely important to identify who will be responsible for developing and managing the content before you begin. Don’t assume people will contribute in their free time, and definitely don’t depend on it. It’s not worth having a Twitter account if you update it annually.

Let’s assume you’ve tasked someone with developing content at a comfortable pace. They’re eager to get started, but what type of content is appropriate? Obviously this depends on your industry (we’ll get to Relevance in a moment), but whatever topics you decide to tackle, we recommend you do so with Authenticity. Each and every message is an opportunity to differentiate your voice from the millions of others in the marketplace. Use the blog to distinguish what is important to your brand and emphasize your core values throughout. The Web rewards authentic content by propagating it, which in turn develops your audience and amplifies your messaging. The net result of consistent authenticity is increased influence and brand awareness.

Relevance is a seemingly obvious essential, but it is often abandoned in an effort to remain consistent. What is relevant content? Well, for us it includes news related to projects we’ve worked on, press clippings, portfolio updates, and inspirational findings. If you find yourself struggling with relevance, your industry is either too obscure, or your posting pace is too aggressive. Typically it’s the latter of the two, and quite frankly, it’s time to reconsider your business model if producing relevant content is too difficult.

Nothing is more deadly than irrelevant filler, for two reasons: First, filler provides no value to your audience. Second, once you deem it acceptable to post filler, you will continue to post filler.

Nothing is more deadly than irrelevant filler, for two reasons: First, filler provides no value to your audience. Second, once you deem it acceptable to post filler, you will continue to post filler. It may be tempting to publish an impulse tweet in the name of “awareness”, but what you ate for lunch is simply noise. Produce enough noise and people will tune out. The calculated solution would be to slow your posting pace, thereby creating additional time to develop relevant content and reestablish consistency.

Finally, we find ourselves at Diligence. Don’t expect to launch your Twitter account and suddenly have thousands of followers exalting your product. Remember when we said social media was work? It takes time and dedication to establish yourself within a social group, online is no different. Actively participate in multiple networks, post comments to other blogs, and constantly work on expanding your audience. The social media landscape is vast, and it’s often difficult to determine which node will produce the greatest impact, so remain diligent.

Anyone who works in a creative industry will often be challenged with the need to ‘invent’ things to prove their creative chops. Like a magician on stage, a creative will strive to produce results that will stun and amaze an audience. The act of performance as a self-imposed job description is a fairly common feeling, mainly generated by the ratio of working creatives in today’s industries; and the need to define your worth among them. As history reminds us, the inventors club is a small elite group of people while the common folk must live in the scrapbooking rank-and-file. As an artist, subjectivity plays a large role in the ability to determine value in a body of work; just the act of doing something can be considered ‘inventing’. But for designers, the role of solution provider creates a definable agenda with predictable outcomes, making the status of inventor increasingly unlikely.

What drives the need to perform for a client, boss or audience? The answers may live in the definition of creativity and invention and how society perceives them. The act of creativity is the application of imagination or originality, often generating favorable results. Invention is act of creating or designing something that has not existed before. While the act of making something from nothing is fairly straightforward, creativity has a much more nuanced purpose. The application of imagination or originality is the process of how ideas (hopefully good ones) are implemented; more specifically, anyone’s ideas. The designer/artist has the option of being a conduit for the creative ideas that came before, while inventors are tasked with specific goal of providing new. Through society’s lens, achieving progress or greatness against adversity is how we choose our role models and heroes. From an entertaining on-screen performance to a last-minute game winning touchdown, the satisfaction of experiencing something most of us will rarely achieve is extremely exhilarating. In comparison, the application of a creative idea that’s not your own may generally be perceived as just ‘using good judgment’, hardly the stuff of champions (some notable exceptions, taste-makers Martha Stewart and Terence Conran have generated successful careers by highlighting other peoples good ideas).

So why does the idea of invention often distract rather than assist creative thinkers? As a general test of ability, performance is society’s way of measuring accomplishment, weather in school, on the field or in the workplace. But, for a creative, the act of applying a series of small ideas can be harder to recognize in comparison to a few large ones. The confusion occurs when, in a moment of self diagnosis, he or she compares their original idea to all of the creative work ever done. The results are often sobering as there is rarely positive feedback in comparison to the amount of creative work all humans have generated over time. Like counting the stars at night, your own ideas can be difficult to appreciate from the static of other creativity around you. In this vulnerable state, invention can seem like the most effective tool in ascending the mountain of great ideas. By creating something never seen before, we believe we’re ensured immediate transport to the top of the pile.

Creativity is about the use of good ideas implemented with skill and consistency over time, producing results that are both intended and surprising, regardless of scale. Society has a general fixation with newness which serves to distract us from appreciating the beauty of process and method, especially in the subject of entertainment. But how does one reduce the habit of comparing ideas with ideas? Possibly, by treating the act of creativity as an extension of our health. If we practice creativity like we consume food or workout at the gym, it becomes a necessity in our lives and hopefully will reduce performance anxiety. Or put simply – 90% of being a Dad is showing up.

This week brought the introduction of Apple’s latest device to the world – the iPad. A touch tablet running a modified version of the iPhone OS, which appears like a big brother to its tiny iPod siblings. But you know this already, as the media has speculated and traded rumors for years about the mythical device. What we didn’t know is its name. The four letter device has taken criticism because of its decidedly uncool handle . At face value, the word pad can be as boring as a real pad of paper or conjure visions of a particular feminine product. But this is Apple at work, and one thing we can all agree on is nothing is done lightly in Cupertino. I think there is a valuable lesson to learn here.

Part of our lucky job at ASWS is to help clients negotiate the tricky business of naming their product or service as it goes to market. It can be a fairly straightforward or incredibly challenging affair, but overall, a very rewarding process. The product’s life is dependent on its name for a variety of different reasons, mostly to be memorable or descriptive (or both). There are too many cases of poorly conceived naming schemes to mention, but there are also plenty of examples of successful products where name matters little (Google, Wii, Twitter). Apple product names usually live on the simpler side of things, dodging the make and model number scheme that riddle the electronics market. They’re consistent with the Macintosh brand and have imbued the lower case letter ‘i’ with a life of its own. So what drives Apple to commit to a decidedly ho-hum sounding name? My biggest clue is in the word ‘pod’.

Before the ubiquitous iPod, the actual word pod was generally used to describe where peas live, how you got out of your spaceship or a nomadic race of aliens. Its inclusion in daily conversation was rare at best, as its functional use was not part of the modern vocabulary – until 2001. Apple’s music device did not immediately shake the pillars of industry as would be expected by today’s version of the company. It was a sneak attack on the walkman, the music industry and, most of all, our vocabulary. Quickly becoming the gold standard of personal audio devices, the iPod generated an industry full of imitators and a massive 3rd party accessory market. From pod-casting to dancing silhouettes of iPod users, ‘pod’ entered our lexicon with a bullet. It was game changing. How game changing? 250 millions units sold by 2009 and over a quarter of the companies earnings (50 billion to date), all while reinventing the music industry. This is where I believe the lesson lives.

Apple excels at creating innovative products; but the iPod (with iTunes) is the single largest reason for their continued existence today. Working as a Trojan horse, the iPod created millions of non-mac users into loyal Apple fans and bolstered the creation of their incredibly successful Apple Retail Stores. The iPod brand would attract a new generation of consumers not familiar to the Macintosh computer brand, which the iPhone would continue to do in 2007. The letters I and P have become incredibly valuable to Apple as it describes two thirds of their product line. Of all the possible names that a tablet computer could assume (iSlate, iTablet, Newton 2.0) it stands to reason why Apple would not break convention here. We always preach consistency as a mechanism for generating a deeper awareness of your product or service, and in my opinion, this is what Apple is doing. They’ve become filthy rich with names like iBook, iTunes, iMac, iWork and iMovie; and won’t stop with iPod, iPhone and iPad. A surprisingly elegant simplification of a product line, all of which seem perfectly normal in hindsight of their creation.

So what can we take away from this weeks tablet drama? Understand the value of your brand down to the letter. A great name is important but not as important as a great product. Superior service or functionality can overcome an uninspired name. Finally, never underestimate the calculating brains at Apple.

DaFin is the #1 choice of lifeguards, bodysurfers, and top watermen around the world and is standard issue equipment for more than 40 municipal lifeguard and surf rescue agencies in the USA.

Airspace Workshop worked with DaFin Surfing Products to refresh their swim fin packaging for 2010. To emphasize the performance and reliability of the product, a new tagline was developed, “Trusted in the Tower,” along with a bold color palette and strong typographical treatments.

Research into the packaging’s presentation within retailer shops led to large logo treatments on the outer faces, to ensure brand identification when stacked amongst competitors. Look for the new packaging in your local surf shop this Spring.

For more information about DaFin, visit dafin.com.

Every Tuesday Tumblr selects a handful of blogs from their 3,123,301 (and counting) users to highlight, and today Letterheady led the pack. Aside from being an inspirational resource to corporate identity designers, Letterheady is using the M82 Tumblr Theme we designed. Sweet!

You can see the theme in action on the M82 demo page, or if you’re already Tumbling, you can one-click install it directly from the Tumblr theme garden.

Check this clip of Teenage Engineering’s upcoming synth project – The OP1. A peek at the onscreen display reveals a jet black OLED screen with high contrast graphics. It gives off a ‘neon ceiling decor from an 80’s nightclub’ vibe; and the GUI is pure get-the-hell-out genius. For anyone who’s fumbled with analog tape recorders will appreciate the nostalgic nod to ye old reel-to-reel. Far removed from Native Instrument’s pixel heavy softsynths, TE seems to have taken their design cues from a Texas instrument calculator (and can you blame them) and early Frog Design Mac prototypes. Maybe this is the first sign that we’re getting over emulation and going back to real? Either way, I gotta get a paper route again, ‘real’ is spendy.