Week 28

Writing a weeknote on Sunday means you get to cheat a bit, see what everyone else has got going on. Reading through the posts, I found my self nodding in agreement, especially when I got to Ben Brown’s admiration for BERG, and his desire to get the internal processes of XOXCO worked up to a high gloss. I can certainly empathize; between client work, IxD ’10 prep and Pumpkinhead, there’s sadly been little time to really define Second Verse. I’ll be needing to manufacture an opportunity to change that.

If Ben sorts out that cloning procedure, I’m next in line.

Thankfully, this past week offered the chance to work with Kristin Nienhuis – as talented and forthright a collaborator as I could ask for. She and I will be knocking out the KickLight work over the next few weeks, making certain that the best ideas make their way off of the whiteboard and into the product. Friday’s all day review with the KickLight team was illuminating – initial presentation of working artifacts is always nerve-wracking, but I find it provides the best possible gut check. If your concept deviates from your client’s intended direction, the opportunities to course-correct are fleeting. Sort it early, and check in often.

Production work for Pumpkinhead is increasingly gaining momentum. I take an enormous amount of pleasure in responding to Tony & Tim’s “wouldn’t it be awesome if” messages with realized sketches of their proposed functionality. We are unapologetically building for ourselves, putting pieces of the experience together in ways that keep us motivated to push everything further, faster.

Two weeks remaining before Savannah, and plenty to do before I leave.