Bill Buxton is so cool. He’s Canadian, a massively talented designer, and arguably the world authority on interaction and usability design. What’s not to like? Oh, Buxton does work at Microsoft as their Principal Researcher, but I forgive him for wanting a big paycheck and working for the world’s most powerful software company. I’ve even had the pleasure of shaking his hand after he gave a stirring lecture at a conference some time ago and since then have been a big fan.

His book, Sketching User Experiences: Getting The Design Right and the Right Design, argues that sketching, prototyping, and iteration are essential parts of the design process itself. And I must say I agree—especially these days where the complex marriage of increased media with information appliances and reactive environments makes the convoluted behaviors of the devices we use as important as human behaviour itself.

In 2007 Buxton presented an excellent lecture about his thinking in this area at the Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction Program where he discussed the design process itself, from the perspective of methods, organization, and composition. See Bill Buxton’s Stanford lecture about sketching interactions on YouTube.

Yesterday I saw Jeffrey Zeldman tweet about his inclusion on Big Think. Big Think heralds itself as way to cut through overwhelming amounts of information and gives you access to information directly from experts in their field. I’m still exploring the site but it looks to have some great resources and videos and is worth a visit. Here’s a talk from Zeldman about the future of journalism to get you going!

Corporate level Viral marketing has, for the most part, appeared insincere and often completely backfired.

Tiger Woods ‘08 was released by EA sport and earlier this year a fan posted a video outlining a bug where a player could walk out on to a water trap and chip the ball back into play. Dubbed the “Jesus Shot” the clip of this got over 700,000 hits on youtube.

Well EA stepped up and responded with a video of their own. And they hit this one out of the park. (pardon my mixing of sports analogies) For my money, the response from EA is one of the finer examples of corporate viral marketing (or responses) I’ve seen in a while. Enjoy.

October 14th may be the most discussed election date in recent memory; individuals’ voices—and votes—have never mattered more. Perfectthewayweare.ca, an online resource website and video, was created by a group of young Canadians who want to draw attention to some of the major issues Canada is facing right now. This viral movement was developed to ensure that all Canadians are informed on the positions of each party and have the resources available to them to make an educated vote on Election Day.

Please check it out, ask questions and make the right decision for yourself. Vote!

Many thanks to those who contributed to the project. You know who you are!

With the recent fad of celebrities using their status to get the American people to vote, here’s one PSA directed towards the Jews of America.

Side note: Jimmy Kimmel’s an idiot for letting this funny lady go.

Nearly everyone knows we’re partial to small furry critters (which reminds me, we need to have another Hamster Party soon) as well as passionate foodies. But we seldom get to combine our love of food and rodents, though we’ve been told folks down south still enjoy a tasty Squirrel now and again.

Now’s the time to elevate that most tasty of tree dwelling, nut-lovers, the mighty squirrel, to its rightful place on our dinner table. So grab your rifle—don’t forget to check your safeties—and let’s go hunting for fresh meat to make squirrel sandwiches with! That’s right, squirrel! If you want to really take it to the next level, here’s a video demonstrating how to make squirrel melts! Don’t forget to add some pecans ’cause you know how much squirrels like nuts! Perfecto!

They make great weekend snacks! Nutritious and tasty too!

Font humour in all it’s cheesy glory. (Via Gizmodo)

Arcade Fire is fairly awesome. We play them often at the studio. And their videos are often pretty darned cool, like this version of “Neon Bible” recorded live in an elevator. But nothing tops this interactive video for “Neon Bible” by Vincent Morriset. Make sure you point and click around the page for the full experience. Nice merger of web and music video. [kudos to my man Jay Morrison for the heads up on this one]

Check out this Gangsta rap-style video about graphic design by Kyle T. Webster. (more) Destined to become a classic in the design geek crowd. [thanks Sylvia for the heads up]