Freelance Friday: How to not tweet like a douche

10th February, 2012 on Freelancing, Geekery No Comments

Image is only vaguely related by still awesome (from xkcd)

We’ve now moved well beyond the point where people respond with a confused look when I mention Twitter, or Twitter users get derided as people who post pointless updates about their cat. No longer the realm of geeky early-adopters, it seems like everyone is coming aboard. For half the websites I make these days clients ask me to put in a link to the Twitter feed. Every day it seems I get new follows – mostly not from actual people, just spammers and businesses bulk adding as much as they can. Most of these businesses or even individuals I don’t follow back, some because they aren’t interesting to me, but some because I dislike their way of tweeting.

Now, everyone has different ideas of online etiquette, and some of you might feel that it’s perfectly fine to do these things. But this is what constitutes douchey tweeting to me:

Douche Type 1: The Absentee

This type of douche has a Twitter account just because they thing everyone/business should have one, regardless of whether they actually want to spend time on it or not. They might have a lot of tweets, but these are entirely automated from their blog or Facebook. Don’t bother trying to interact with them – they never log in to check for replies. You’re better off subscribing to their RSS feed if you’re interested in their blog content, as there isn’t any extra value in their Twitter feed.

You can only really get away with this if your business is SO HUGE that people want regular updates more than they actually want to interact with you. This is not the case for most freelancers.

Douche Type 2: The Retweeter

Similar to the Absentee, the Retweeter doesn’t seem to have a personality or much to say at all – their entire Twitter stream is retweets or links to articles, without any commentary. Again, usually there’s no point in trying to communicate with this douche as they don’t check for replies or have little to say.

Again, this can work if you’re more of a faceless business that is so popular that people want to read whatever you’re reading. Again, this isn’t so much the case for freelancers – you’re an individual, and people want to interact with an individual.

Douche Type 3: The Reply Retweeter

Alright, some people might disagree with me and defend their position on this one. But it really, really bothers me when people have to retweet everything that they reply to, regardless of whether it makes sense out of context or is of any value to other people in their feed. I once followed someone who retweeted every single birthday tweet she got. It gets old. Fast. Don’t be this douche. Retweeting is for sharing things that you think are interesting, not for boasting about how popular you are.

Douche Type 4: The Whiner

Yes, it is hard getting up in the morning, going to work, and counting down the minutes until you’re free go go home. But if you’re whining about the same things on Twitter every single day, maybe it’s time to consider whether it really needs to be shared that often. It’s the same as complaining about the same things to the same friend every day. Douchey.

Douche Type 5: The ‘Google it’ Person

When someone asks a question on Twitter, usually it’s because they couldn’t find the answer by other means, they know some people who follow them might have a better idea, or they want to hear about a first-hand experience. Replying with “I don’t know. Google it” is not helpful. It’s douchey.

Douche Type 6: THE SHOUTER

TYPING IN CAPS IS SHOUTING. YOU DON’T NEED TO SHOUT ALL THE TIME. IF YOU’RE SHOUTING FOR MULTIPLE TWEETS IN A ROW, THAT’S DOUCHEY.

Douche Type 7: The Client Bagger

Bagging clients online is a recipe for disaster. In fact, I’d say try not to bitch too much about any individual online – talk it through with them instead, or complain privately to a friend. Besides potential hurt feelings if they ever find it, it doesn’t look good to potential clients or contacts who might stumble across a Twitter feed filled with negative things about individuals – it makes them wonder if you’ll do the same to them. Moaning about things like Internet Explorer and Comic Sans are however fair game, and you usually end up with people joining in.

So you might not agree with me in all of these things, but do keep in mind how your tweets are being received. Used properly Twitter is a great medium for meeting people, especially other freelancers and potential clients. Just avoid being a douche!

I’m going to try and write a weekly post each Friday about what it’s like to be a freelancer! This is something that I find a lot of people are curious about, and there’s a lot of incorrect assumptions out there. If you have any questions for me on freelancing, leave a comment here or on Formspring.

Tagged: Etiquette, Freelance Friday, Twitter

Why I decided not to get an iPad

8th February, 2012 on Geekery 2 Comments

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announces the new iPad in January.

Sorry, Steve.

I’m not sure if it was the itch for a new toy or the fact that clients seemed to keep bringing them out at meetings, but a few months ago I really really wanted to get an iPad. So light! So slick! And it fits in with all the other expensive Apple stuff I have!

Luckily, my brother said I could borrow his for a while, as he couldn’t really find much use for it. I’ve had it for a couple of months now, and to be honest… I haven’t found a great use for it either. Here’s my reasoning:

Pros:

Much more comfortable to browse websites or watch videos sitting on the couch with an iPad than on my Macbook Pro (especially in the summer heat).
I can watch TED talks whilst eating lunch!
Flipboard is really pretty
Portable for meetings
Can test websites on iPad (it’s a business expense then right?)

Cons:

On a computer, I’m a power user – I don’t just browse websites and watch YouTube videos. I also like to write blog posts, edit photos, draw pictures, download things, edit websites, design stuff and listen to music – often more than one of those at the same time. A tablet simply can’t handle that, so I’ll choose my laptop most of the time.
There’s actually not much time when I’m not on my laptop or happy enough using my phone, so there isn’t really much of a place for a tablet in my lifestyle.
I haven’t had any meetings so far where I’ve really needed an iPad – a pen and my trusty Moleskine is enough.
As far as I can tell, iPhones and iPads render websites pretty much exactly the same. At this point at least, testing on my iPhone is enough for my work.
I don’t like it for reading ebooks, simply because it’s too heavy to hold comfortably for long periods of time, and the LCD screen makes it hard to read for long periods of time. Plus I already have a Kindle, which does a pretty good job as an e-reader.
I don’t like it for recipes whilst cooking, as I’m terrified I’ll get it dirty or break it (could also be because it isn’t mine to begin with).
I’m not really much of a gamer – but I prefer Nintendo DS games for when I do play anyway.
It’s a pretty pricy piece of tech – I think I’d rather spend a few hundred more on a Macbook Air for a device that’s more portable than my chunky Macbook Pro but can do much much more than the iPad.

So for me personally at least, it simply doesn’t fit into my lifestyle or needs (or budget). I’m feeling rather grown-up for taking the time to think it through and come to a mature conclusion instead of just jumping blindly onto the bandwagon (and no, thankyou, I won’t be going for an Android tablet either). I have to give it back tomorrow, so hopefully I won’t wind up missing it too much!

Tagged: budgeting, iPad, iPad 2, technology

Games for Design Geeks

29th January, 2012 on Art & Design, Geekery No Comments

I’ve come across a few of these little online games for design geeks, and can never resist playing them! Here’s a few of my favourites:

Color - a color matching game by Method of Action

Try to match up colours on the colour wheel, for hue, saturation, complimentary, analogous, ternary and quartenery. It times you and gives you a score at the end, which made me panic a little. Surprisingly fun, and extra geek points for being made entirely in HTML5 and having support for colour blindness.

Munsell Hue Test

Arrange color blocks in order of hue from left to right. Definitely not for the color blind (or those with badly calibrated monitors).

Kern Type

Adjust the kerning (spacing between letters) to make the letters as readable and visually appealing as possible. A lot harder than you would think!

Shape Type

Manipulate the bézier curves to fix letter shapes (I was the worst at this one!).

The Rather Difficult Font Game True to its name, this game is rather difficult. Since I work primarily with web, it’s only recently that I’ve been able to use much more than Arial, Verdana and Georgia (all of which did come up in the test), and I’ve actually never heard of a few of these fonts. You can sort of figure some out through a process of elimination though. The game didn’t seem to be working/scoring properly when I tried it, so click through to the mobile version if your score/font numbers aren’t increasing.

Happy playing!

Tagged: games, graphic design, type

Sherlock Interiors

15th January, 2012 on Art & Design, Geekery, Home No Comments

Yup – whilst not as insane and screamy as some, I am a bit of a fan of BBC’s series Sherlock. I’ve been really enjoying season two, and can’t wait for the final episode this week (although since it’s based on The Final Problem it’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster).

Since I’m several different kinds of geek, I couldn’t help noticing the set design more this season, particularly the interiors.

Considering it’s home to two bachelors, 221B Baker Street actually looks really warm and inviting with its vintage furniture, crammed bookshelves, random curios and eclectic damask wallpapers (the black and white one can be found here by the way). I’ve been a fan of the Scandinavian modern minimalist look forever, but I’m finding myself drawn more and more to this sort of warm, slightly masculine, wood-and-leather, very lived-in sort of look. I keep seeing Sherlock’s armchair, Corbusier’s Le Grand Confort, in interior design blogs and have wanted it for ages before spotting it on the show too. Interesting that there’s not a tv in sight – I think rooms look so much nicer when all the chairs aren’t orientated towards a screen!

Irene Adler’s townhouse is a stark contrast – clean, minimal, bright and feminine, full of beautiful antique furniture and decor. Everything looks carefully chosen and arranged, but not as welcoming and lived-in. I suppose it suits the way that the character presents herself – classy, classic, luxurious and beautifully presented, but giving no hint as to the real person behind it all. It’s not my style at all, but I can’t help admiring the white chaise lounge in the sitting room or that amazing and majestic bed!

Do you end up admiring somewhat unrelated elements, like interiors or costume design, when watching tv too? I’m really looking forward to the return of Mad Men this year, it’s always full of inspiring mid-century design!

Tagged: BBC Sherlock, interior design, Irene Adler, set design, Sherlock Holmes

Finally – ChiGarden 2011

30th October, 2011 on Art & Design, Freelancing, Geekery No Comments

I did this design a few months ago, but between the wedding and work I never seemed to have the time to finish coding it up. There’s still a few tweaks to be made, but here it is!

My original intention was to design something more simple and minimalist, to better show off photographs. But as I was designing it became apparent that 1) my photography isn’t really good enough to carry a design the way that the amazing photographers I admire do; and 2) I’m more of a bright colours and cartoon characters sort of person anyway. This two column design does open up a bit more space for photos though, and I’ve taken out bits that have become less important to me and added a few new things in.