The Interactivist | The Official Interactive Developer’s Field Guide

EVERY INTERACTIVE CONSTRUCT MUST PROVIDE REIMBURSEMENT OF VALUE EQUAL TO, OR IN EXCESS OF, THE USER’S SELF-APPRAISED INVESTMENT OF TIME, ATTENTION AND EFFORT OF ACTION.

All the rules of economics apply to this system- though nothing physical is exchanged.  In this economic exchange the User must perceive being the inordinate beneficiary, where time, attention and action are His currency.  Whereas, [...]

I have been developing Interactive work for over 15 years, and sadly, my son may never see any of it. That’s because we are living in what future generations will undoubtedly call: The Digital Dark Ages.

THE USER IS YOUR KING.  YOU ARE THE SUBJECT.

The User is your King.  You are the subject.  Like it or not the User is in control.  The User is the ultimate master.  The User is King.  Those of us who create interactive experiences must accept our lowly positions in the Grand Interactive Order, serving, amusing, [...]

“Viral Marketing” is a myth. Always has been. It never existed. And as you’ll see, even if it had, you would want nothing to do with it. “Word of Mouth”? Less toxic, but critically, equally incomplete. Social Network Marketing? Swarm Marketing? Mobile Marketing? Just more opaque containers. In [...]

In 1996, at Red Sky Interactive, in partnership with a rebellious band of talented individuals, I developed the HP PONG Banner Ad: the first interactive banner ad on the net, and the web’s first example of “rich media”.  But behind the scenes, that banner was an atom-smasher, revealing the very principles of interactive advertising- and [...]

I can’t be the only one. The only lifelong Apple fan boy who wears shirts with collars on occasion. Am I?
I ask because if there were others, if maybe even one of us worked for Apple on the iPhone team, the iPhone headphones would be designed differently. It’s a fact - [...]

When Apple started using the color white as it’s industrial design foundation back in the late 90s - it evoked all the coolest parts of Star Wars’ Storm Troopers, 2001: A Space Odyssey - and bathroom fixtures all at once.  It was a powerful design conceit that differentiated the company assertively for a decade - [...]

There is one thing I think mobile users have done well.  We generally turn off our ringers when we go to the movies.  Seriously, that’s an impressive thing when you think about it, and we should all feel pretty good about that.  Yes, most of that is based on pure peer pressure, admittedly.  There is [...]