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Awesome post. I love the idea of sticking some of my optimization ideas out there. A few months ago I threw together a post about how one of the Redbox Screens could be improved. But I really should take this a step further and actually create some formal ‘case studies’.

Fantastic ideas. Like Ryan above, I tried my hand at something similar in the past but didn’t follow through properly. How many designers look at packaging, signage, websites and think “I could have done this much better?”. Probably all of us.

But by putting together thoughtful and interesting (re)designs and comments on how it improves x, y and z, maybe we can win over some to believe in us as thinkers too! Can’t hurt to try. Thanks for the inspiration.

This was an excellent post and the 37better Projects was awesome. These are the types of posts that makes 37 Signals stand out!

I bet something like this could work for programmers, too. Showcase the improvements you’ve made to a few open source programs.

In the same vein 37better, the Sunlight Foundation recently did a mock redesign of USA .gov:

Rethinking USA .gov

To help market ourselves we decided to build a free web app in a month and document the process: onemonthapp.com

That free app became Pulse which we are currently working on to add more features and a paid subscription model.

It helped our business marketing wise, but we were also able to build a viable application as well.

I think this can be a really useful technique for chunks of functionality, particularly when you’re really re-aligning a bad interface with good design patterns or convention (and thus taking far less time).

I recently did a similar exercise with the kludge that’s the UPS tracking screen when Jared Spool blogged that there had to be a better solution.

http://www.erova.com/blog/index.php/2009/01/07/ux-remix-ups-tracking-screen/

Perhaps the reason people don’t do this is that they fear that it will make them look stupid, because “noone cares about it anyway”, and then being labeled “elitists”.

David Rosen recently began a series of game design critiques in video form. They’ve garnered a lot of attention and are generally enjoyable.

http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/11/world-of-goo-design-tour/

The 37better project is brilliant and inspiring! Keep on bettering the web.

The Design Eye Crew did a similar thing for craigslist http://craigslist.thebignoob.com/

On the same tip, check out a recent Brand New article about a product being designed to stand out from its competitors.

You make a great point when you describe the 37better project and that “I’m surprised I haven’t seen more designers/firms try to make a name for themselves this way.”

My buddy, Jake Schirm, over at suimple has a similar approach redesigning (rethinking) existing properties. Here’s one he did for Zappos shoes:

http://suimple.com/articles/2007/01/16/google-as-user-interface/viewer/

Those redesigned articles and mockups were great, and as you intended told me less about FedEx and more about 37s.

Is this perhaps a sly preview of the next version of Getting Real?

Funny thing you brought this site up - it’s some of my favorite work from 37signals, and very inspirational to my UI design work. I loved that project, as well as your 37express service. You guys were just a bit ahead of your time - it’s surprising that so few have caught up yet.

great stuff. we’re in the middle of doing a thing on the visual language of finance here at our little branding firm out in hong kong.

one problem with client work is that most of the time great reusable category thinking is trapped in client-specific powerpoints and never see the light of day beyond the half dozen people you present them to in some dark conference room on the 50th floor of an anonymous office building.

more design firms should have a systematic way of abstracting and publishing this stuff as part of their way of working. management consultants are good at this (e.g. mckinsey quarterly) and reward people for publishing thinking that in turn feeds the reputation of their firms.

i’m left scratching my head at why more design firms don’t do the same. it seems like there is something about the culture of design and designers that makes asking them to write like pulling teeth. pictures are seen as cooler than words, i suppose.

The better project is definitely one I’ve taken akin to since diving into the 37s archives. Our firm is still in its infancy, but we close nearly 95% of all clients this way. While we don’t initially approach every one with vision for their site/brand, we often extend this exercise well before we begin billing.

It’s a relatively small investment that shows commitment; not only to the client, but also to the principle. It’s also loads of fun, and helps jumpstart the creative engines for other projects :)

Good and useful post, thanks.

- Vasudev

Design was never about “just painting pictures”. Great design always has a great mind behind it.

Very Good Post…thanx

Hi,

I created a couple of sites one was a money comparison site called http://www.moneyfish.ie it’s a very light site and I really worked hard on the credit card search, it looks simple but it took us a white to get there – I realised that people didn’t want to know what APR was they just wanted bottom line information like. This is my current credit card balance how much will I save a month if I move? Noting new but few do it.

Then I’ve created two more sites one called http://www.setmycompanyup.ie an instant company formations site and http://www.splitmybill.ie an social money management site. But I’m having terrible problems getting people to us it which means I’m doing something wrong.. I’m finding it hard to sit back and look objectively I’ve already cut so much out of the sites. I’ve created fun videos for the tour of SplitMyBill.. Being self financed I would love all suggestions??

Thanks Pete