Moving on with a better plan.

Finding the people you love and trust to work with you is one of the harder jobs of running a successful business. Where most companies want to hire the talent and keep them on staff I want to try something a bit different.

Ronin, in their simplest definition, are masterless samurai. Keeping true to that name I will be moving forward by promoting here the independent creative family that I work with on a regular basis.

They will always remain Ronin, but as a team we can fight a stronger battle.

Branding with fire.

These are shots of packaging from Ritual in Hermosa Beach, CA. You get the box when you purchase “the kit” from the company.

I love the simplicity and handmade approach to the product package.

The logo is burned into the  top of the wooden box.

Attention to Detail

The bag is from a retailer based in NYC called Odin.

The outside is a eggshell white bag with high gloss printing of the logo in black. Clean and simple on its own.

The real extra here is the inside of the bag.

The second photo shows a portion of the 360 degree illustration of a fence line and a rather creepy tree.

This added attention of design to a mostly unused area of canvas adds weight to the retailer’s luxury branding.

I use Basecamp and love it. It works wonderfully for me, but the best part is that it works for my clients.

My clients are not always computer savvy. They may range from a project manager living life through a Gantt Chart to an install lead terminating wires in a rack room. No matter the level of computer knowledge the person has, Basecamp keeps the communication on track.

The system is simple (not bloated), clean (not flashy), and does not assume anything (that you have a BS in Computer Science).

One of the major reasons that the system works so well (I feel their are many to choose from) is due to language.

The other morning this images pops up for me in Basecamp.

This simple flash message / alert brings me joy for a couple reasons.

(It came from a human) It says “We’re looking into the issue right now” and “We’ll post and update when its all fixed up”. This gives a comfort level to the user.

(They are always on top of it) This message also tells me that I can rely on their system. It says to the user that they have an issue on their end, they are on it, and they will let you know when its fixed. You may have never noticed this issue, but they did.

Another message that came through is this one:

In the same vain. This information matters to people, especially when you use it for business productivity. This is not Facebook, we are not looking for fans, we are getting shit done.

The system guides the user using language and not generic form fields, and does it very well.

Here are some more visual references.

This image appears if there are no messages yet for the project. Stacked full of verbs, a embedded video to get you moving forward, and a link to a screenshot based tutorial & tour page.

Look at that large green statement “Click me to start the video” in place of that ever expected right facing triangle that most of us know to be a play icon.

My lord the sales department can get in on this. (Sorry sales folks)

Here is another.

Verb, verbs, verbs.

Ryan Singer from 37signals gave a talk on “UI Fundamentals for Programmers” for WindyCityRails where he really drives this home.

Ryan says “No verbs is a UI smell” and I agree, and will push for this in every project I do in the future.

Wanted:

Independent Creative Geniuses

Dear Sexy Design Implementors,

Happy Ronin wants you! I don’t want full time followers, I need ronin.

To get a bit less vague, the people who best suit our needs will be interface designers, illustrators, and iconography masters.

The projects are simple and will be ongoing. The real goal here is to establish some new relationships with the great creative masses.

Show your talent.

Leave a comment, use the contact form, or send an email to hampton(at)happyronin(dot)com!

With a little paperwork and a few bucks Happy Ronin is now and LLC.

The start of something new? Not really, still the same person doing the same thing.

Crestron programming, Ruby on Rails, good old Wordpress, and sexy user interface development.

“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

This was a blog, a mostly unused one, that will now be changing. Who am I kidding, I have posted here three times which is not “mostly unused”, it is not used. Either way I am back in the open. All good things.

My friend asked me last night what I was doing over the weekend for “fun”.  I promptly ran him off a short list of to-dos around the house.

• Mow Lawn. (now up to twice a week. Thanks Florida!)
• Work on scooter
• Detail Car
• Put up lattice around house (bad dog)

Having a fun as an adult seems to mean working on your house. At least it seems that way to me. I am able to get out of town ever once in a while, but mostly it seems like there is always a list of “fun” around the house. The part that is the most interesting is that I actually do like this stuff. I have asked a few people who have this same type of fun list in their lives and most are paying others for these services. So for those of us trying to pinch those pennies, you know ression and all, what are you supposed to do. I guess it is getting back to the time vs money equasion. What is you time worth to you? You have to eliminate the items you actually do find fun. I like cleaning the car, however the car wash costs 20 bucks and it is super F*ing hot outside. So I will give that one to the nice people at das auto salon. I can do the yard work in the late evenings so I could scratch this from the weekend.  So really its now down to the scooter and the lattice. Looks like I have time for real fun. Pool party?