Come out and meet like-minded people from Toronto's design and tech communities and help us inaugurate our new studio space, rock out on the finger drums, and check out the comings and goings of our strange neighbours across the street all while enjoying yummy pizza and fizzy or otherwise bubby beverages.

The event is totally free, but space is extremely limited and once the tickets are gone, they're gone. Full details including location, time, tickets and anything else you might need to know are available at Eventbrite.

For the scoop on what Lunch 2.0 is all about and who's behind it in Canada, check the official Lunch 2.0 website. Hope to see you on the 30th!

The sign was produced locally in Toronto by British Metalcraft and was laser-cut from a piece of stainless steel using the vector artwork we had sent to them to illustrate how we wanted the sign to be mounted on the outside of the building. Using the supplied vector art meant that the sign could be cut exactly to the dimensions of the logo and not as an approximation.

Needless to say, we’re thrilled with the end product.

We spent two days at Sleepytown Sound in the east-end of Toronto this past weekend to begin recording an EP which will eventually be released in some form or another, possibly a limited run of vinyl.

The songs here are unmixed, unbalanced and still in need of a few touch ups. That said, please enjoy. On behalf of Ed, Tom, Kevin and myself, we’d love to hear what you think of them, good or bad.

Bonus points if you can pick out what font that is in the logo ;-)

The new (yay!) Wishingline Design Studio, Inc. office will be closed while I’m away for the conference and to spend some time with clients, but I’ll do my best to stay on top of e-mail and voicemail.

And if you happen to be in Austin for SXSW, please do say “hello”. Ask nice and I might have a button or two for you as well.

I really have no aversion to big prizes, adulation or going home with a nice trophy, so I’d appreciate your vote. You can toss one vote this way every day until March 9th when the awards are handed out. Make my mom proud!

What are you waiting for…get voting!

The FiveRuns site (the one nominated) has undergone many changes since it’s inception back in 2006 — from a tiny pre-beta release site developed prior to the launch of FiveRuns’ flagship Manage product to the much more fully realized site that exists now. Of course there’s more to come in 2008.

Even though I don’t really expect to win (that’s the politically correct thing to say right?), I suppose I should write an acceptance speech just in case… :)

The Interactive Web Awards will be handed out by emcee Eugene Mirman on Sunday, March 9th at the Hilton Austin Downtown.

What’s that — madness, you say?

Not in the least. Just the start of something great and now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can say a little more about these new peeps.

So Who’s Are These People?

First — Anna McLuhan. Anna, an unbelievable score for Wishingline will be instrumental in helping manage projects along with playing a key role in developing the company beyond my original vision. Aside from being amazing at what she does, Anna brings a fresh perspective, a brilliant mind and great ideas, infectious enthusiasm, and a well-rounded set of skills that will help improve internal processes and enable us to take bigger strides (not just because she’s 6ft 3 either).

I’d continue to extole her virtues but I don’t want to give her too big an ego :)

Next up — Dale Harrison, with whom I’m still finalizing a few details, but who will be coming on board in April as a design intern. Currently finishing up his final year in Durham College’s multimedia design program, Dale has the right level of technical and design skills and a great thirst for knowledge that will let him flourish especially in a small team environment where everyone can really have an impact on the larger whole.

Internships can be hit or miss, particularly depending on the size of the company and the amount of attention given to interns. For students, it’s a great chance to experience the real world; the often challenging reality of creative work. Hopefully it allows them to use skills they’ve been learning and pick up new ones which let them to evolve as designers — not scare them away. An internship is a great way to experiment, learn what you’re good at, what you like to and don’t like to do; to find the things that will make you happy in your working life.

For Wishingline, internships are an opporunity to learn more about what’s being taught to design students in Canadian post-secondary schools such as Durham College, Humber College or OCAD and hopefully have a positive impact on the career of a young, bright designer.

To both Anna and Dale — welcome aboard!

One More Thing

I’ll be in Vancouver next week for Web Directions North between Jan 29 to Feb 1. While I’m not speaking at the conference exactly, I will be introducing my friend Jon Snook who’ll be giving a short talk on Ajax frameworks along with Andre Charland and Walter Smith who will be talking about Adobe AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight respectively. Expect awful jokes and good-natured ribbing.

I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends and will hopefully arrive home having made some new ones. If you’re going to be there, please do say “hello”.

The first item being that, yesterday, I picked up the keys to a new studio space on Queen Street East at Vancouver Street. There’s a bit of minor renovation work, painting, packing and unpacking to do, but the plan is to be in the new space full-time beginning in March. Just in time to disappear briefly for SXSW in Austin, Texas.

And if that weren’t enough, earlier this week I hired a fantastic new account manager who’ll be coming on board sometime in mid-to-late March. A more official announcement with actual details will come later.

The search for designer(s) is still on and I haven’t forgotten about those who have sent in their resumés and portfolio links. The call-back list has been whittled down from the 100+ submissions I’ve received so far and I expect to begin to respond to those selected in the next few days. Thanks for your patience!

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.

This caught my eye in particular and stopped me in my tracks as it relates to a trend I’ve noticed on Apple’s own site over, let’s say, the last year or so. Less text. More graphics. More video.

Apple’s website, in particular, prior to the big design change that rolled out last year was full of text content. Nearly every page, for virtually every product was loaded with well-written marketing copy. Now, not so much, at least in terms of the amount of text content. It’s still exceptionally written, full of beautiful graphics, strategically on target with Apple’s raison d’étre and Jobs’ infamous RDF — there’s simply less to read.

Jobs goes on to say:

Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.

I find these comments fascinating due to the proliferation of book stores here in Toronto and around the world — the big chains and small independents over the last 10 years. It’s completely contrary to my own experience. If I had to guess, I would say my local and extended (interweb-related) social circles read more, not less. Based on my book spending and reading habits over the last few years, I certainly wouldn’t fall into that 40%.

Whether there is any direct connection between Jobs’ feelings on the matter of reading and the amount of text content on the Apple website is not for me to say with any absolute certainty since I do not work for Apple, nor do I have any information on the inner workings of Apple’s web design/content teams, but it does strike me that such a connection could be drawn to explain what happened to all the content.

There wasn’t an option to indicate a locality for the job on Authentic Jobs which is why it says “Anywhere” and which is why, if you read the description all the way to the end it says:

Candidates are expected to work from our office in Toronto, Canada.

I appreciate everyone who’s sent in their CV from around the world, but the position is only open for local residents. I’ll be contacting those who’ve make the first cut by the end of next week and periodically from then on if anyone else happens to pass muster. A final decision, if there is one will be made in early February.

Good talent is hard to find as Greg so eloquently pointed out which is why our ideal candidate is perhaps a bit younger and looking to gain real, practical experience in both design and across a number of interesting technologies. In finding the right person, my hope is to do a little bit to help pick up the slack where our educational institutions may be going wrong in instructing students, particularly in how to design for the web. And for that design to be inclusive of all people.

You can read the condensed version of the job description and perks at Authentic Jobs.

These tracks comprise, for me, either quintessential Canadian artists or in maybe one case, that artist’s quintessential song — the one they may be most well-known for. In a few cases, I just picked oddball songs that I happen to really like. Bear in mind it’s not intended to be the essential Canadian artists or songs, but rather just some that speak to me for various reasons.

Download “Oh Canada!” (56MB/m4a bookmarked format)

1. Far Too Canadian - Spirit of the West. What some might describe as a typical Canadian conscience.
2. Of Montreal - The Stills. While I have no idea whether this song really has anything to do with the city of Montreal or not, it does have a great rhythm and even after a few years this track still sounds fresh to me.
3. Tournament of Hearts - The Weakerthans. What can possibly be more Canadian than a band from Winnipeg and a song about curling?
4. Bass Song - Hayden. A slightly twisted story about being murdered while recording a song.
5. Seventeen Seconds - Cowboy Junkies. Although outside of the country, the Junkies are probably best known for their version of “Sweet Jane”, this has got them covering The Cure; and a really old Cure track at that.
6. Execution Day (Live) - The New Pornographers. Dan Bejar. Neko Case. Live. The counterpoint melodies between Neko, Dan and Carl that start about halfway through this track are killer.
7. Fifty Mission Cap - The Tragically Hip. A song about our national sport — hockey, Bill Barilko, the Leafs and the Stanley Cup. Pure Canadiana.
8. Metaphor - The Pursuit of Happiness. Singer Moe Berg and TPOH are a true Canadian classic. An older incarnation of the guys I write and play music with opened for them back in the mid-to-late nineties which was a real treat and a lot of fun.
9. 10th Grade Love - Treble Charger. Treble Charger, a band that started out with a true DIY indie spirit sadly slowly faded away but left us with a few real gems like this track which brings me back to my university days in the early 90’s.
10. Silver Road - Sarah Harmer with The Tragically Hip. The better version of this particular track, featuring The Hip as her backing band. This song fits in beautifully with the movie and soundtrack from which this version came.
11. The Tigers Have Spoken - Neko Case. Recorded in Toronto at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern with the Sadies. Oh, to have been there for this show…
12. The Tower of Learning - Rufus Wainwright. A favourite track featuring one of my favourite melodies. It’s big, full of pomp and just plain gorgeous.

The tape, as with the previous one has been assembled as a bookmarkable m4a file with chapter tracks (and album art) making it easy to jump between songs.