April 30, 2005
As much of an egoist as I am, I make no bones about where I get my inspiration from. And in the realm of information design and usability, there is absolutely no one better than 37 Signals.
A small team of 5 guys, everything they do is done in a way that is friendly and usable and elegant. As they continue their migration from simple interface designers to a full-fledged web application company (a move that I think foreshadows a huge trend,) they have proven time and again that they "get" what this whole web thing is about.
Flash is pretty, and it can serve a purpose. But it is and I think always will be the Vanna White of the online world - all glitter, very little substance. What 37 Signals does, on the otherhand, is almost noble in nature. They strip out anything extraneous, and focus obsessively on one question, one which should be the yardstick for any business:
'How can this design/application/experience make the user's life better?'
Backpack comes out Tuesday - do yourself a favor and take a look. I guarantee you will be impressed.
Posted by Sean Johnson at April 30, 2005 03:11 PM
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