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This is the personal blog of John F. Morton. It's where I talk about the stuff that interests me. Primarily technology, marketing and pop culture. If you are looking for my portfolio of work, visit johnfmorton.com. Thanks for stopping by!

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Consistently Good Emails

Apple gets loads of praise for their products. Thoughtful design and user-centric interfaces make them the best in their class. This level of finish goes beyond iPhones, iPods, and computers. It shows in their marketing of the products as well. When a new Apple television ad is released, it usually has the same qualities and the ads make the rounds of the blogosphere.

But what about the simpler things, like the numerous email messages Apple sends out to customers? Does Apple live up to their own high standards when it comes to the “lowly” email? Of course they do. Here’s a small sample of Apple emails from 2004 to 2007. They are consistently better designed than any other big retailer. These are emails not just for big product launches. They include emails sent for the simple act of registering a product. They all look good. The iTunes emails are the weakest link in the bunch, but as a whole they’re very impressive.

What I think this small collection illustrates is the deep crafting of the Apple brand. No detail is too small to be considered. Nice work, Apple.

Click on a thumbnail to view the larger image.

I’ve noticed how consistently well-designed a few other companies are with their email Both Threadless and Nintendo come to mind. Can you think of others? Take a screenshot and send it to me.

YouTubification of Election 2008, Example #2

Back in January 2007 I did a post here I called The YouTubified Election of 2008. Back then, there was a video from an anonymous source that was an attack ad, modeled after Apple’s 1984 ad, against Hillary Clinton. It didn’t spell doom for the Clinton team, but I thought we’d see more user generated videos for this election. I’ll be the first to admit this prediction didn’t come through great insight. Viral video is an obvious trend. I just find it interesting to see how it’s being used in the election.

Hillary did try to do a viral video parody of the Soprano’s finalle, but it fell flat, so I didn’t mention it here.

Today a friend told me about an inspirational video he’d seen on YouTube for the Obama campaign. Although I’m more in the Clinton camp than the Obama camp, I enjoyed the video. It feels like it has the “right stuff” to make it to viral video stardom. Check it out below.

Taking Cleaner Screenshots with Camouflage

I’m one of those people who has too many icons on my desktop, but you wouldn’t know if from the screenshot above. It would be fair to suggest that I just organize my icons in my documents folder, but that’s just not the way my brain works. Having all my icons on my desktop is how I work. My desktop servers as an inbox for my live projects.

This week I discovered a free little program, Camouflage, by briksoftware. It lets you easily hide a cluttered desktop screen when you’ve got to take a screenshot. I also use it when I hook my laptop up to a projector for a presentation.

Now I’m just a click away from a pristine desktop. And, luckily, I have just one more click back to my organized chaos.

Going to SXSW? Let’s say hello in Austin!

I’m really excited to be going to SXSW Interactive this year. It will be my first at the conference, but not my first trip to Austin. Are you going? If not, why not? Check out some of the interesting panel discussions here. There are also lots of interesting events in the evening. Send me an email if you’re going to be there.