The illusion of knowledge

> The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. – [Stephen Hawking](http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/07/18/how-big-is-the-entire-universe/)

Getting on rocket ships

> When companies are growing quickly and they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on. – [Sheryl Sandberg](http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandbergs-full-hbs-speech-get-on-a-rocketship-whenever-you-get-the-chance-2012-5)

Done.

Got them both!

> “To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein

How fresh legs feel

– [Floating bikes](http://www.faithistorment.com/2012/05/floating-photos-by-zhao-huasen.html)

Extremely simple and incredibly difficult

Great design is both extremely simple and incredibly difficult to achieve.

Simple, because it requires only a very few activities–observing people and expressing ideas–and those are not very complicated to perform. There are certainly tricks of the trade, and more or less efficient ways of doing these things, but the core actions are not complex.

Difficult, because the energy and dedication required to do these activities broadly, deeply, and thoroughly enough to find the *right* design solutions is hard to achieve. Most people [don’t have the patience](http://kennethto.tumblr.com/post/9359336429/when-you-first-start-off-trying-to-solve-a) to get there; instead, they settle too early to avoid the discomfort of [not “knowing”](http://bob.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=4619).

I still believe the most important thing I do as a designer is [tolerate ambiguity](http://bob.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=4079). And it’s still the hardest part of my job.

Tour de Suisse tackles the P2HR

My “[Perfect 2-Hour Ride](http://app.strava.com/activities/2208066)” in Zürich looped around the Pfannenstiel, a climb that the Tour de Suisse went over in today’s time trial. I watched it online and it was cool to see professionals on the same roads I rode not long ago!

Kreuziger descends from the Pfannenstiel:

Kreuziger at the point [I took some photos last fall](http://www.swisskamps.com/2011/10/escaping-fog.html):

Kreuziger climbing Pfannenstiel:

Fränk Schleck descends toward the Zürichsee:

Schleck climbs:

Valverde climbs; I never had this many cheering fans along the road, I’m afraid:

John Gadret at the peak, where I’d go straight but the tour went left.

Make your own planet

A fun tool takes Google Streetviews and [morphs them into planet-like objects](http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/#o=.097,0,-.006,.995&z=1.938&mz=16&p=37.42718,-122.16710):

What kind of designer do I need?

I wrote up the following questions to help a friend at work think about his design needs:

* Do you know the core user you’re designing for, and the top 2 or 3 ways your product will improve their lives? Do you think that combination will make a successful product? Could you [design the launch advertisement](http://www.designstaff.org/articles/opinionated-product-design-marketing-first-2012-03-16.html) today? Does everyone on the team agree on these things?
* If not, you need a *product* designer. Lots of explorations around a variety of opportunities & a process to decide on them. At the end you’ll have decisions on your target user, key benefits, and “unique selling points”.
* Do you know how those features will work: how they will be accessed and controlled, in what order, how they fit together, and how someone interacts with it?
* If not, you need an *interaction* designer, someone who can design a system that works elegantly and flexibly. You’ll get things like wireframes, interactive prototypes, flow diagrams, and page layouts.
* Do you know exactly how the product should look, all the way down to fonts, colors, and animations? Do you have pixel specifications for all these things?
* If not, you need a *visual* (or *industrial*) designer, possibly with motion graphics or video experience. You’ll get pixel-perfect specifications and design assets that are ready for production.
* And if you don’t have any of these things, you’ll need all of these people. They build on each other, but I’d start at the beginning with the product designer, who will understand the rest of the process. It’s very rare that one person will do all these things at a high level, however.

See also: [What I talk about when I talk about design](http://bob.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=4367)

Experiences and memories

> Our lives are governed by the remembering self. Even when we’re planning something, we anticipate the memories we expect to get out of it. The experiencing self, which may have to put up with a lot in return, has no say in the matter. Besides, what the experiencing self has enjoyed can be completely devaluated in retrospect. – [Daniel Kahneman](http://m.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-834407-4.html)

Science | GotChocolateMilk.com

I love that [chocolate milk is now positioned as a sports drink](http://gotchocolatemilk.com/science#overview-1). I’ve [long been a fan](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobman/7337699168/in/photostream/), actually…