Girls In Tech

It’s that favorite time of year when you get to vote for your favorite startups, entrepreneurs, apps and devices for the ever popular Crunchies!   But, did you ever stop to think where they got that cool, fine-crafted logo? Answer:  DESIGN about TOWN, the local design firm designing several other edgy logos seen on both tech and non-tech companies , as well as conferences such as FailCon and TC Disrupt.  The woman behind the company, Solana Crawford, is the powerhouse who started the firm which takes a unique approach to all design projects, big and small, that they undertake.

I caught up with Solana in her San Francisco office, recently, and I was quite interested to find out about her path that led her to such a place as her now award-winning company – a place far-removed from her native Argentina.  With over 17 years of experience in the print design and advertising fields, over 12 years in the web design and interactive world, she also has a strong background and focus in terms of Design Practice and Consulting.

Read all about her Start in the Field of Graphic/Web Design, all About DESIGN about TOWN, and On Giving Back in her Community.  All of this, as well as some more of those award-winning logos in this month’s Spotlight …

(And don’t forget to put in your Crunchies nomination by December 13th. :: Event takes place Tuesday, the 31st of January.)

Tags: Christine Oneto, Crunchies, design, DESIGN about TOWN, Disrupt, FailCon, Solana Crawford
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Through word of mouth, I recently heard about a new concept, which meshes crowdsourced design and innovation with social coupons built on an intuitive eCommerce platform – this concept is called “Fab.com” – this site allows users to design and share cool new products with the world at a discounted price.

Fab.com encourages the world to tap into their inventive, curious and creative side to produce interesting products, which could prove to be useful to others. With exceptional customer service, Fab.com ensures that each product featured on their site is built with quality materials and a “story”. Each inventor or designer has a story to share – the impetus for launching the product, the problem that they are solving and their passion behind innovation.

I had to share this with the community because at the core of Girls in Tech is creativity and we encourage our members and readers to check it out!

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, crowdsourcing, design, discount, eCommerce, entrepreneurs, Fab, Fab.com, girls in tech, innovation, Invention, Social Coupons, women in tech
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Last week I attended a talk by Erin Malone-  Designing Social Interfaces – 5 principles, 5 practices, 5 antipatterns.

I highly recommend checking out the presentation below. For me, the most interesting part was the discussion about the key decisions that define the future life of your site. Erin briefly discussed how there needs to be a compromise of your product’s vision in order to adjust for the real social needs of your users. She gave an example of how Friendster’s users attempted to create celebrity and music profiles, but Friendster did not allow this as it wasn’t part of their mission.

This decision ultimately contributed to the decline of Friendster and the major growth of MySpace. It’s flexibility, a strong understanding of how people socialize, and the ability to predict the future needs of your audience that will set your product apart from the rest.

Tags: design, interface, social
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One of my favorite things about the end of the year is reading all the 2008 best of lists.  Here’s a couple web/design related best of lists, some found here.

Best CSS – You’ll notice a trend in the design of these sites. The design is multi-layered, presenting a tactile approach. It’s impressive because the CSS is coded so the pages still load fast and light. This will be the trend next year as well, with more 3D technology deployed, like cooliris (as mentioned here).

Best Album Art – I am still in like with the Santogold album art. Santogold also made it to a lot of the best of music lists. She is a very strong woman, one to admire.

Best Websites – Oh and Tripkick.com, a site designed by fluidesign, made it to this list!

If you know any more design/web related best of lists, please comment here!

Tags: adriana, Adriana Gascoigne, Best, design, girls in tech, Heather, Heather Lipner, Los Angeles, Robyn, Robyn Cohen, San Francisco, Web design
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