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October 30, 2007
Creating emptiness for value
In the Taoist view it's a great good to create emptiness in order to fill it with value. Compare it to a jar; you encapsulate open space in order to contain something valuable.
The emptiness also creates an urge to fill it (like a vacuum), which also can be seen online. Take for example the (relatively large) input box of microblogging tools (like Twitter); it's just waiting to be filled. Of course you can argue the value of the content that is regularly put in, but it's an interesting effect.
The question is if you (periodically) add empty or random space to your site, will it trigger higher value creation? If for example your personal portal (like Netvibes or iGoogle) would randomly generate a new tab, with some empty widgets and a remix of your existing widgets. Would it make you reconsider your current setup and improve it? Also, will overall value increase if you are forced (after a certain threshold) to delete something old when adding something new?
Posted by Almar at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2007
Judging a book by its cover
There is a reason for the fact that book covers have intricate title's and designs, and that the 'selling summary' is on the back. The brain actually processes the colors and patterns before you consciously read anything. Which in turn allows you to recognize and remember the book. To facilitate this process the cover is usually kept very clean (i.e. little text). Even the back cover is usually written with the mindset 'less is more'. This is especially intriguing, keeping in mind that the cover is the only the place where all the valuable content inside can be sold.
See this example and also notice the opening words on the backcover (even though it's blurry, I won't tell what it says, because it's a classic and you(r brain) will figure it out):
(Inner Navigation by Erik Jonsson, cover design by Erich Hobbing)
Posted by Almar at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)