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Communications

How’s that for a vague category?

Did You Know? 4.0

XPLANE is happy to present Did You Know? 4.0 — another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist.

As Garr Reynolds mentions over at Presentation Zen this morning, yes, this project was created with “off-the-shelf slideware” (Keynote and GarageBand, actually, along with Photoshop and Illustrator). Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE.

For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit The Economist’s Media Convergence conference site at mediaconvergence.economist.com, or stop by shifthappens.wikispaces.com for all things Did You Know.




Dave Gray » Projects

Dave is the founder and president of XPLANE:

I’m a project guy. As an artist, entrepreneur, educator and amateur philosopher, I always have a number of projects going, both personal and professional. Sometimes they go somewhere, sometimes I get bored and abandon them. One of the beauties of the internet is that even abandoned projects continue to exist and can be picked up or reenergized at any moment. Here’s the definitive list of projects that I am working on or have worked on in the past (A work in progress). The list is alphabetical because I don’t work on these projects in any kind of linear way. They are like a busy kitchen: there is always something simmering, something boiling, something set aside to cool for awhile, something in the deep freeze, and something being served. In fact I am still working on this list. If you see something with no explanation it’s because I haven’t finished writing the description yet :)

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Also published in Art & architecture, Books, Business of design, Creativity, Infodesign & graphics, Learning, Photography, Random, Visual thinking, Weblogs, XPLANE news | Comments Off



Let’s get XPLANE to SXSW 2009!

Hey xBlog readers, if you want, you could go vote for this panel to be part of next year’s SXSW :-)

Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures | People are hardwired for visualization yet we rely significantly on text. Most games, graphic novels, magazines, interfaces, IKEA instructions, and many other forms of communication take advantage of people’s natural visual thinking ability. Panelists will discuss how to leverage visual techniques to improve your games, websites, movies, communications, or presentations.

The panel is scheduled to include Dan Roam, author of Back of the Napkin; Dave Gray, founder and Chairman of XPLANE; Lee LeFever, founder of Common Craft (authors of the wildly popular “In Plain English” podcast series); and expert visual facilitators and Austin natives Sunni Brown and Marilyn Martin.

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Also published in Visual thinking, XPLANE news | Comments Off



Making Time to Make

Awesomeness from Merlin Mann: “’Making Time to Make’ is a 3-part series about attention management for people who do creative work. It’s designed to help you firewall the time and attention you need to get out of the lite communication business and into your studio.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Also published in Art & architecture, Creativity, Internet | Comments Off



slide:ology, Duarte Design’s new book

“Inform. Inspire. Persuade. It’s the essence of presenting, but how well do you execute? Slide:ology, written by the world’s leading presentation design firm, contains the insights as well as the tips and tricks that have transformed countless speakers over the past 20 years.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Also published in Business of design, Software & technology | Comments Off



10 Ways Newspapers Can Improve Comments

“The other day Bob Garfield had a good kvetch about dumb comments on newspaper websites on his show, On The Media, and I posted my two cents, but I still don’t feel better. I think that’s because Bob’s partly right: comments do suck sometimes.

So, instead of just poking him for sounding like Grandpa Simpson, I’d like to help fix the problem. Here are ten things newspapers could do, right now, to improve the quality of the comments on their sites. (There are lots more, but you know how newspaper editors can’t resist a top ten list.)”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Also published in Journalism | Comments Off



“Marks and Meaning” a new book by XPLANE founder Dave Gray

“Marks and meaning is a work in progress; an evolving exploration of visual language, visual thinking and visual work practices by the founder and Chairman of XPLANE, the visual thinking company. An unfinished work, it’s a hybrid: part sketchbook, part textbook, part workbook, and continuously updated by the author, based on feedback and conversations with readers. This is version zero: the first version available to the public.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Also published in Books, Language, Random, Visual thinking, XPLANE news | Comments Off



Introducing MagCloud and the Future of Magazine Publishing

Derek Powazek: “For the last year, I’ve been working on a project with HP Labs called MagCloud. The idea is simple, really. MagCloud enables anyone to start a magazine — real, live printed magazine — with no giant pile.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Also published in Journalism, Old media | Comments Off



Five Methodologies to Deal with Email Overload

“These days, it seems everyone has an opinion about how to deal with information overload, especially when it comes to email management. There are numerous methodologies, best practices, tips, and tutorials available, but are any of them really effective? Well explore that question as we delve into the top five email management methodologies.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Comments Off



Doodling for Profits

“A simple drawing can communicate complex ideas quickly and almost effortlessly. It can even be the basis of a successful business plan.”

Posted by Bill Keaggy on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Also published in Visual thinking | Comments Off



Kronos video

Sample visual
Check out this video we made for Kronos to help celebrate International Women's Day, 2011. Learn more in this xBlog post or jump over to YouTube and watch it there.

Azure poster

Sample visual
XPLANE | Dachis Group developed a A vibrant, engaging poster showing how Microsoft Azure enables developers to run applications and store data on Microsoft servers. The poster recently took top honors in the American Business Awards.

Tweets & Flickrs