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A Quick Public Programming Announcement

It has been a while since I’ve written a quality meaty post here at Design Sojourn and for that I apologize to you dear reader. In the last 4-5 months, I have been experimenting with different types of posts just to see which type of posts works and which did not. To me a post that works needs to not only resonate with you but also with the little time I have due to my work schedule. To top it all off, working on kick ass (I hope) personal projects like: Spaces for Ideas, has caused quality blogging, at least in my mind, to take a hit.
The most astute of all of you regular readers would have noticed that these test posts gravitated towards the type that reflects my time constraints, i.e. short and easy to write. The posts were often on industrial design work, “link loving” (or link sharing), commentaries, quotations and daily photos etc.
However, while I was conducting blog maintenance, I noticed that my meaty posts were bringing back the bacon, so to speak. I discovered that 80% of my most popular posts were Design Articles that were more than 500 words long, with many beyond 800 words. I realized that these longer Design Articles were what defined Design Sojourn in the past, and based on their popularity numbers to date, were what readers wanted.
Interestingly enough, these short posts were damn hard to write, often taking me 20-30 minutes just to proof read a post, simply because I did not like the way I wrote it. I’m known to be anal about details on occasion. So I guess what they say is right, it’s hard to write short posts that are concise. Also, considering the frequency these posts do come up (I just want to share!), it all adds up to the time that I could have used for a meaty post.
So going forward, I will attempt to increase the publishing frequency of longer Design Articles, which is a nod towards quality over quantity. That does not mean that there would not be any well thought out shorter posts on exceptional industrial design work, commentaries or links to great content. It is the Internet after all, and the “world” in there is all about sharing and adding to the conversation.
Some of you may be familiar with my micro-blog The Design of Everyday Things: Todet.com. That site will still be around, but it will not be a source of information anymore. It does not make sense to maintain content on two sites and then asking you to visit both sites when at the end of the day I’m the same author! I respect that you are as busy as I am. However, I will leverage on Posterous’s awesome blog posting system, to help me speed up getting these shorter “appetizer” posts mentioned above published at Design Sojourn.
So with all that, and going into the new year, I love to hear your feedback on the types of posts you have enjoyed here, and the types of posts you would like to see more off?
Thanks for your feedback and have a great 2010 ahead!

4 Comments
  • Melissa

    January 10, 2010 at 12:09 am Reply

    DS-
    I once heard a design team describe their concepting process as “Hard is easy, easy is hard.” It has stuck with me not only because I can relate to that on more designs than one but also because I have found in life that things often go the same way. Keep up the great work on the blog’s, I look forward to them everyday. I always read the short blogs right away but like you mentioned I savor the long posts. So, in this case you may just have to find the happy medium.
    Sincerely-
    MS

  • gwen

    January 6, 2010 at 12:00 am Reply

    I do agree that I like the beefier postings – design articles – because it is a large enough common ground for myself and maybe everyone else to relate to your message.
    As for the shorter ones, I would not discourage them just yet. They are in my theories comic relief to your more serious ones. I agree most people will not read them but then I don’t usually follow bloggers this long.
    I will agree that having two blogs one being the posterous maybe too much. Even I have tried posterous to understand their business angle. I think it is useful in some areas, they have their see advantage to be a “mobile” blog, something to engage with a smartphone than a laptop.
    I will admit this; I don’t always read postings from start to finish in one sitting. (This is an observation of myself about one of my internet habits.) Within my schedule I have a stop’n sip routine and even when I write this response – I would write a sentence and then it would be 4 hours later for the next one, even completely realizing I did not finish this till the following morning, life is full of interruptions and especially if people read postings on a mobile phone.

  • DT

    January 5, 2010 at 1:31 pm Reply

    Hi Sofian,
    Thanks for the wonderful feedback! It is readers like you that give me the motivation to keep doing what I do. Please keep in touch and let me know when you are in the neighborhood for that coffee!

  • sofian

    January 5, 2010 at 2:17 am Reply

    I really appreciate your effort in finding the time to do what you do, even if its just a few minutes of your day. You write about interesting things from a wise point of view and in just about the right amount of words… you share with your fellow readers info from the rest of the design world, and your words encourage knowledge transfer + efficient & proper design work. Few of us have the talent or find the time or energy to do that after long office hours!
    Would love to have a coffee with you one day… or even better: a brainstorm session!!
    Keep up the great work and happy 2010!

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