37Signals website in 2000 when they had 4 people and no DHH
37signals.com
37signals.com
The point start today and in eleven years you'll be some where.
Granted, going minimalist was a very wise choice; IE6 was far and away the most advanced browser of the time, and the real thorn in every web designer's side was Netscape 4. But the bottom line is that the design holds up, which is remarkable regardless of which design direction you take.
And for a good laugh: http://37signals.com/enormicom
I mean, what's more trendy in Web3.0 than web apps with landing pages featuring a few bands of color for a background, drop shadows, Apple-like icons, 2 short sentences, and a request to signup?
> Don't just do something because everyone else is
> doing it – do something because it makes sense.
I guess the inverse of the advice is "Don't refuse to do something just because it's trendy -- base your choice on whether or not it makes sense."
However, I want to note that by following an effective trend, the "two-sentence landing pages with an obvious call to action" in this case, isn't there a chance that one might be missing an even more effective/efficient way of doing things? Sure it works, but does it work the best?
>I guess the inverse of the advice is "Don't refuse to do something
>just because it's trendy -- base your choice on whether or not it
>makes sense."
*Edit for formatting, I am new here.
"Mankind constantly analyzes radio waves from outer space in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Since this analysis started, almost all of the signal sources have been identified. 37 signals, however, remain unexplained."
...a little more out there than I would have thought.
http://37signals.com/better http://37signals.com/better/bank/index
DHH also caused Rails to happen. With it the DHH spawned another force of nature called the Rails community. The rails community acts very much like DHH and also causes various combustions of various topics. The Rails community also closely monitors DHH activities and should some threat to DHH arise, the Rails community spawns instantly to protect the pure essence of 37 signals idea that is DHH. Oh and Rails community also buys books that DHH has materialized.
He's a partner in 37signals and the creator of Ruby on Rails.
http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2007/10/im-bad-im-nationwid...
Ernest Kim (now at Wieden+Kennedy, at Nike before that)
Carlos Segura (Segura, 5inch, t26)
Matt Linderman (still at 37signals)
This is still better then most banking websites. It's too bad no bank ever hired them to create the public facing UI.