By Ryan Van Etten on 07/27/2010
Mr. Owl, How many clicks does it take to get to the rock n’ roll center of a retail mp3? Let’s find out. A One… A two-HOO…too many! Mr. Owl just BitTorrented right in because it was easier than buying it on iTunes. It took less clicks. It took less clicks. Are you testing your fans’ user experience?
Posted in Design, Music, Music Flux | Tagged Ariel Hyatt, clicks to content, consumers, consumption, content, digital sharing, Disc Makers, Eric Garland, fans, free, Futurehit.DNA, Google, iTunes, Jay Frank, Mr. Owl, New Music Seminar, NMS NYC 2010, OneBox, p2p, package deals, ripping and burning, strategy, streaming, tips, Tom Silverman, Tony Van Veen, UX, What I Learned at NMS10
By Ryan Van Etten on 07/27/2010
“Decide an important action + encourage fans to do the action.” There are three phases according to Vinson: Attract fans from social networks a.k.a. “outposts.” Engage them with a “compelling fan experience.” Sell through simple calls to action. Have one concept per page—one call to action. “Artist websites emphasize an artist’s own brand.”
Posted in Design, Music, Music Flux | Tagged action, Ariel Hyatt, attract, band websites, bandzoogle, brands, call to action, Chris Vinson, communication, direct-to-fan, Disc Makers, engagement, interaction, Liz Leahy, mailing lists, music web design, New Music Seminar, NMS NYC 2010, personal brands, resources, retain mindshare, Section 101, service, social media, social music, tips, Tony Van Veen, UX, value-added communication, What I Learned at NMS10
By Ryan Van Etten on 06/10/2010
When it comes to problem solving, engineers are fearless because they follow these rules. 1. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid! Forget the frills and the cheap thrills. Focus on the heart of the matter. 2. Identify. 3. Reduce. 4. Learn. 5. Design. 6. Source. 7. Optimize. 8. Test. 9. Iterate. 10. Amplify.
Posted in Design, Popular, Visual | Tagged adaptation, business, design rules, DIY, engineering, engineering rules, ideas, infographic, list, problem-solving, rules, tips
By Ryan Van Etten on 06/01/2010
Is water polo related to digital music? Flickr thinks so. It also can’t tell the difference between a house and a person. Can anyone make sense of this and/or provide insight into Flickr’s search algorithm? I’m using the Recent tab, because I’m often most interested in more recent photos. The Recent search results should still be relevant. I’m a huge Flickr fan, but this isn’t the first time the search has me asking what the Flickr? Anyone else?
Posted in Design, Discussion | Tagged fail, flickr, image search, realtime search, search, search relevance, tagging, Yahoo
