Over at the American Express Open Forum site there are some great videos featuring Sir Richard Branson. Here is one I particularly like. “Stolen from Virgin Atlantic.”

It shows how an initial reaction to a problem would have been a missed opportunity had it not been for an innovative solution and a step away from the balance sheet.

I have always had a love for photography. It’s one of the reasons I attended the New England School of Photography many years ago and ultimately graduated with honors in Photojournalism. One of the things I enjoyed was when the class was given the same assignment and yet we would all come back with completely different, special and spectacular images. It was because we all see things differently.

Like good photographers, good web designers see things differently as well. It helps them to adopt and utilize unique styles and techniques.

One of the photo styles that I am fascinated by is HDR photography. HDR photography or High Dynamic Range photography has been around for some time but you may not be familiar with it.

Here is a description from Wikipedia.

Here is the photoblog of Trey Ratcliff - Stuck in Customs for some awesome HDR photos. Trey’s work is an amazing example of how to look at the normal uniquely. Things we have all seen many times before become spectacular because of his interpretation using HDR photography.

I guess this post is a kind of follow up to my last one about Seeing Double Online where I talked about websites that look alike.

Your mission if you choose to accept it… this week find five things that are normal and challenge yourself to look at them uniquely.

We have all heard the quote “imitation is the highest form of flattery.” But when does imitation cross the line and become a scapegoat for a lack of unique design? Lately I have seen a number of sites that are strikingly similar. Now to be clear, I am not talking about template sites from the companies who let you choose a template and then change colors so that your real estate site looks the same as the local accountant’s site just with a different shade of green. I am talking about blatant replication of design. Is it a case of don’t reinvent the wheel? Is it a case of lazy designers? Is it a case of there are no new design options available? How often have we seen movies, songs or tv shows that send us into a severe case of deja vu all over again? I love this quote from Leo Burnett, advertising pioneer, ” The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.” It makes you rethink the concept of design and the relationship of the key items that make up your site. While there may be tangible realities of best practices that doesn’t mean we should stop our endeavor for better interaction with our audiences. So I would challenge you to find ways to create the “new relationships” Leo Burnett spoke of in his quote and lets see some originality.

Well it’s career day. Getting ready to talk to a class of 4th graders about Big Ahha, running a business and the wonderful world of working on websites and apps.

I’m sitting in the hospitality center trying to stay away from the bagels, donuts, cookies, cakes, fruit and danishes. Luckily there is a laptop on my lap keeping me in my seat or I would be loading up on the sugar. Black coffee is all I am having and I’m sticking to it.

Since I have committed to posting more frequently I told you to expect the unexpected. I know someone who is looking to sell a Cat forklift so if you are in the market for a forklift let me know. Think of all you could do with your own forklift. D-