Hit Record →

Kerry Lauerman, on Salon’s new publishing strategy:

We’ve also — completely against the trend — slowed down our process. We’ve tried to work longer on stories for greater impact, and publish fewer quick-takes that we know you can consume elsewhere. We’re actually publishing, on average, roughly one-third fewer posts on Salon than we were a year ago. So: 33 percent fewer posts; 40 percent greater traffic.

It sounds  simple, maybe obvious, but: We’ve gone back to our primary mission and have been focusing on originality. And it’s working. 

1. Open Salon

You Can’t Set Out to Make a Masterpiece →

Susan Kare, when asked if she had any idea how important the work she did for Apple would end up being:

”You can set out to make a painting, but you can’t set out to make a great painting,” she told me. “If you look at that blank canvas and say, ‘Now I’m going to create a masterpiece’ — that’s just foolhardy. You just have to make the best painting you can, and if you’re lucky, people will get the message.”

Also interesting is this interpretation of the symbol on the command key, which I’ve always been curious about:

The symbol on every Apple command key to this day — a stylized castle seen from above — was commonly used in Swedish campgrounds to denote an interesting sightseeing destination.

Perhaps the first useful internet comment provides a different origin:

Small pedantic note: It’s not a stylized castle. It’s a Saint Hannes cross or Saint Johns arms. It was proposed to be a symbol for “Place of interest” in Finland in the 50′s and became a traffic sign for this in Scandinavia in the 60′s, so that part is correct.

1. NeuroTribes

On Founding Wired →

John Plunkett, on founding Wired magazine:

“I’ve got it. I know what our magazine should be about!”

“What?”

“Computers!”

“Oh.”

“You don’t understand – computers are going to be the rock and roll of the 1990s!”

“You’re right; I really don’t understand that at all.” 

1. eye magazine

Read the Story Before You Lay Out the Page… →

And other things I learned from Lou Silverstein, by Roger Black:

The Times editorial page before and after Lou. It’s hard to believe the before example (1958) is not much more than 50 years old. It looks like the 19th century. Yet, the the after (1978) could have been printed yesterday.

1. Roger Black

Neologism: Narquitecture →

These are the palaces of legend. In Mexican novels, and in movies, the houses of the illicitly rich and infamous are louche, luxurious affairs, with toilets made of gold, mounds of cocaine or cash lying around and furniture of thronelike proportions. In the public imagination, what might be called “narquitecture” or “narco style” is all gaudy excess — part “Real Housewives,” part “Scarface,” part conquistador.

1. nytimes.com