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Mule Profile: Small with Might (Plus One Chug)
We’ve got a studio profile in the June issue of .net magazine! Pick up your copy as we talk about more lore on Mule’s origins, the upsides of small companies, our approach to nonprofits versus large organizations, and what we’re looking for when we hire. Also: Rupert’s real office purpose, beyond presiding over any HR disputes.
Our clients are working with us as people, not us as an organisation comprising interchangeable resources. We can identify and solve problems quickly and directly. Each individual can have a huge impact on how we function as a company. —Erika Hall
Get your issue here or at your local newsstand/Newsstand. Thanks to Tom May and the .net team for the splendid interview!
Written by Tina Lee on April 30, 2012 with 0 comments | 
I’ll do it if you do it.
A couple of years ago my son was working on a school report that he had to deliver in front of his class. He asked for help. He told me he was afraid to get up in front of the other kids. I told him it’s not a big deal, you just go up and do it. Be prepared and be yourself and everything goes well. And then I told him a line I heard in a movie that went something like “courage is what you get after doing the thing you’re afraid of.” And he asked me. “Have you ever spoken in front of a group?”
I hadn’t. My whole career I’d been afraid to speak in public. And I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t that kind of person. I was the quiet type. Working in the corner. The kind of designer the world also needed. Not everyone is a talker, right? And for the majority of my career I’d convinced myself that this was a noble choice. And being that I’m actually very good at convincing people of things, I’d managed to convince myself of my own bullshit.
But now, with my 13 year old boy in front of me, I had to admit that I was afraid. Afraid of failing. Of walking up there with my fly down. Of being discovered as a fraud. But, in that moment, with that 13 year old in front of me, I became more afraid of something else. Of failing him. Of passing my fear along to the person who needed me to be someone better.
So I told him “I’ll do it if you do it.”
And then Jeffrey Zeldman told me if I wanted to speak I had to write. People needed to know who I was.
And I started writing. And I ended up writing about the very things I was most afraid of. The things that never came natural to me. And the more I wrote the more I realized that in all the years of screwing up at those things, I’d actually learned how to screw up less. And I kept writing until I had a book. Which the good people at A Book Apart were kind enough to publish. And I think it’s a pretty good book, but I’ll let you be the final judge of that.
And I hope that while you’re reading it you’re thinking of all the things you’re afraid of doing. And I want you to stay afraid. And then I want you to do those things anyway. Because the thing it took me my whole career, and fatherhood, to learn is that you don’t get over the fear. You get over the fear of being afraid.
My kid got up in front of his class that day and he read his report. And he told me he was terrified. “But you did it anyway.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
My book, Design Is a Job, goes on sale today.
My son’s music blog is even better.
Written by Mike Monteiro on April 10, 2012 with 18 comments |
From Constraints Springs the Wild: On Research, Anthropology, & Anxious Marketeers
In an interview with Shadoe Huard, Katie draws on her background as an advocacy filmmaker and anthropologist to give a better sense of how the fields twine and influence our research process at Mule.
Most people do not just hang out and think about web pages for fun, they’re there to do something, so we need to think about the very specific tasks that they want to do there and the information they need to make decisions or complete tasks.
…I’m engaged everyday in producing ‘research’ and ‘creative’ things like the Let’s Make Mistakes podcast or my own film work or stuff with the Disposable Film Festival, [and] no matter what I’m doing I am trying to make sure that everyone has a totally clear understanding of what and why we’re doing things and that the things I’m spending time on are making things better. So I approach the beginning of a research period the same way I approach production of a film. Obviously there are different tasks involved, but the same themes are there throughout: figure out who the audience is, figure out what they want, agree on the medium and general purpose and then develop an idea with those contraints.
Read the full interview here, which includes talk on the web as a giant system in itself, the relationship between researcher and designer, and the best sum-up/put-down of bad marketing tactics: “A click is not love, despite how much it feels like it at 3am when you’re looking at analytics.”
Written by Tina Lee on January 5, 2012 with 0 comments |
10 New Year's Resolutions for Designers
For one, choose better problems to solve:
Designers are, by definition, problem-solvers. And the world has never been so blessedly full of problems. Our infrastructure is rotting, the economy is crap, Wall Street is awash with criminals and millions of people can’t get basic medical care, food, and water. We don’t need another app to rate your sandwich. We don’t need to know when we go to sleep and get up. We do not need digital farms. We need real ones. We need fresh water. We need solutions for the apocalypse.
—Over at .net magazine, Mike supplies a few ways you (yes, you!) can better approach design, shed excuses and doubt, and oh yeah, lay off your mother (for once). As the man says, this year’s gonna be a goddamned golden age. We couldn’t be more excited.
Written by Tina Lee on January 4, 2012 with 0 comments |
THE COCKTAIL NAPKIN: The Being of Non-Being
Catch Erika as she talks with Jeremy Fuksa of THE COCKTAIL NAPKIN. She covers Mule’s approach to design strategy, the way narrative works with an organization’s goals, and the many connections between philosophy and information architecture (with a bonus anecdote featuring a lone, existential winter).
Written by Tina Lee on June 29, 2011 with 1 comment |
CreativeMornings with Mule
We’re thrilled to say that starting this Friday, we’re the new hosts for CreativeMornings. We couldn’t be prouder to take on this new leadership role within the design community, and we look forward to many, many months of mornings filled with smart speakers and discussion.
Join us this week with Adam Tobin. Sign up for a spot (tickets are free!) here—registration opens at 11am.
Our thanks to Greg Storey and Happy Cog for advice on hosting duties and to Tina Roth Eisenberg for giving us the opportunity.
Written by Tina Lee on June 20, 2011 with 0 comments |
Designers Sell
Mule Co-Founder and Design Director Mike Monteiro was featured today on Dan Benjamin’s show, The Pipeline. If you’re a designer, if you want to start a studio, if you’re a boss, if you need to learn the ropes of client services, if you’ve drawn lines around the real Philly, if you want money: pay attention.
Designers sell their work. Designers get up in front of people and explain why they’ve made the decisions they’ve made. And if you can’t do that, you can’t call yourself a designer.
Listen to Mike here.
Written by Tina Lee on February 15, 2011 with 1 comment |
Meet Mr. To Whom It May Concern
I want to take a second to introduce a new member of the team. This is Mr. To Whom It May Concern. This is the person you’ve been sending all your job inquiries to. As you can see he’s as excited to receive the applications and attachments as you are to send them. He has a wonderful eye for detail, and is especially skilled at the type of research it takes to send you a hand-crafted note. Just like you sent us.
And attachments? He carefully prints them all out, sorts, cross-references, and files away for posterity. Especially Powerpoint decks. Loves ‘em.
Because at Mule we treat your job application with the same utmost care that you did.
Jerks.
Written by Mike Monteiro on January 25, 2011 with 5 comments |
BattleDecks returns to SXSW!
We are pleased to announce that after two years in legal limbo (Thank you, Amy Winehouse legal team!), BattleDecks is making its triumphant return to SXSW.
For those of you not familiar: Battledecks is a fast-paced bloodsport involving Keynote slides the contestants have never seen before. Each contestant has 5 minutes to get through 10 of the most devastating, despair-ridden, filthy slides ever projected within a confined space. I guarantee none of the contestants is ready.
This year’s contestants include web standards pioneer Jeffrey Zeldman, mommyblogger Heather Armstrong, modern crusader for women’s rights Jen Bekman, Hollywood screenwriter Josh A. Cagan, social layabout Chris Sacca, OMNI’s own Albert @seoulbrother McMurry, Avery Edison, who I’ve been informed is Queen of England, and content strategist (not a real field) Colleen Wainwright.
The contestants will be judged by our own Erika Hall, Dogster founder and impeccable dresser Ted Rheingold, and reigning BattleDecks champion Anil Dash.
As a special treat: My First Earthquake lead singer, Mule’s own Rebecca Bortman will MC.
Please join us on Friday, March 12 at 03:30 PM. In the unfortunately named room 18ABCD so that we can laugh at them together.
Check out Scott Beale’s recap of BattleDecks 2008.
Written by Mike Monteiro on February 22, 2010 with 1 comment |
Mule Nog '09
Mule Nog is one of the fine annual traditions here at Mule. Every year we invite our friends, families, clients, and those yet-to-be unfriended, to a grand end-of-year celebration. We offer libations, snacks, entertainment and the comfort of a fireplace (video).We make toasts, celebrate the year and have a nice time.
You’ve had it too easy.
This year we want payback. To get invited to the party you have to make a video. Like this one:
Post it to our flickr group. If we like what we do we’ll send you an invite code which you’ll want to take to MuleNog.com for party details. It’s really very easy.
The holidays are about giving. Give us videos.
Oh, hey. As a special added bonus we’re co-hosting this year’s party with our neighbors Kicker Studio. They couldn’t be happier.
Written by Mike Monteiro on November 18, 2009 with 1 comment |
Welcome Pessimistic Phillies Fans*
I was 13 years old the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series. The next day the Sisters of St. Joseph were generous enough to let us make signs and walk up and down our block of Broad St. un-ironically singing Queen songs. It was a crisp October morning, we were World Champions, I was about to leave the confines of parochial education forever, and the future looked pretty good.
One month later Ronald Reagan was elected president.
The Phillies haven’t won a World Series since. I saw my city plunge into an abyss of despair and self-loathing. I saw our other teams come really, really close. There was even an NBA Championship in ‘83. But nothing else. We lost World Series’, Super Bowls, NBA and NHL Championships. Philadelphia isn’t about losing; it’s about having the rug pulled out from under you at the very last moment.
I live in San Francisco now, but as any of my friends will tell you, Philadelphians have an indelible stain on their souls; a distrust that anything is final until it’s actually final. Not only do we not count our chickens before they’re hatched, we’re convinced someone is about to steal our eggs. Probably family.
So as I sit here 5 hours away from a World Series victory, with our best pitcher on the mound, and 8 days from a Presidential Election, with the best candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime holding a big lead, I am utterly convinced that both will go wrong. I can’t help it.
Andrea Seabrook explored the inner psyche of what makes Philadelphians so pessimistic yesterday on All Things Considered. She even gave us a shout-out because of our “I’m Not Angry, I’m From Philly” t-shirt. The piece aired when we were up 2 games to one and you can hear how nervous the interviewees are. I can only imagine that after last night’s win they’re absolutely catatonic.
Why can’t us? Because we’re from Philadelphia.
And for the love of all that’s holy; PLEASE remember to vote next week. Unless you’re from western Pennsylvania; we were always right never to trust them.
UPDATE: Game 5 was suspended due to rain, taking our best pitcher out. God hates us. This is the best proof yet.
UPDATE: Wow. We did it! We REALLY did it.
* real fans spell it Phans.
Written by Mike Monteiro on October 27, 2008 with 6 comments |
Content Professionals Management Summit
I had the opportunity to give a talk today at the CM Pros Spring Summit on integrating social networking with existing sites for businesses with limited technical resources. I love getting out and talking to people about what we do.
I had a great time, and want to thank CM Pros for the opportunity. They were great to work with, in particular Andrew Wilcox who set things up for us.
Written by David McCreath on June 17, 2008 |
Tonight: Content Talk in the 'Hood
This evening I’m in a language-lover’s double-feature (also for the content-curious).
I will perform an abridged version of Copy as Interface. Kristina Halvorson, president of Brain Traffic, will present Content Strategy: The Mania, the Myth, the Method.
Our friends at Adaptive Path are hosting in their offices at 363 Brannan St. The event is free and open to the public. I am told there will be “beer and nibbles” (sic).
Full details:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/668376
I hope to see you there!
Written by Erika Hall on May 20, 2008 with 2 comments |
Web 2.0 Expo: Copy As Interface
Yesterday, Information Week picked up this quote from Erika about the trends of today’s technologies:
“Given [the controversy surrounding Google Street View] and tools like Twitter and Dopplr, and Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, I think George Orwell would be stunned by the extent to which people are embracing the eradication of privacy.”
She made that remark in a preview of her upcoming speech at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. If you’re attending the conference, make sure to check out her speech, Copy As Interface, Wednesday April 23 at 1:30pm. You’ll learn something.
UPDATE The slides are here for your convenience:
Written by Katie Spence on April 22, 2008 with 6 comments |
I swear this is the last Battledecks recap
… but rocketboom put together an awesome highlight reel:
Written by Mike Monteiro on March 13, 2008 with 2 comments |
Battledecks
Just got back from SXSW where our “panel”, Battledecks, was a huge success. We filled the room and people had a blast. I’ll be posting the decks on slideshare as soon as we have the audio synched. For now, here’s Battledeck winner Anil Dash.
I’ll have a fuller recap of the conference once I’ve caught up on some sleep and played with my son a lot.
UPDATE: Here’s a slideshow of the Best of Battledecks:
Written by Mike Monteiro on March 12, 2008 with 1 comment |
Mule Design at SXSWi
Later this week, Mike, Erika, Brandie and I are headed to Austin, TX for SPRING BREAK SXSW Interactive Conference 2008. We will be eating lots of tex-mex and drinking lots of free beer. But perhaps more importantly we (along with Lane Becker) will be running the most extraordinary panel ever, anywhere: Battledecks II.
We’ve collected some of the finest internet folk around to compete against one another in such categories as jargon, gesturing, and point-making using the one tool that unites us all: powerpoint. There will be presentations and they will be extemporaneous. If you have a bucket list, then this panel should be on it.
We are bringing free beer tokens and other fun Mule goodies. So if you see us wondering around the halls of the conference center, please say hello!
Written by David McCreath on March 3, 2008 with 1 comment |
New Laptop Stickers
Following Scott’s lead, we ordered some laptop stickers from Sticker Giant. They work as advertised. I’ve been putting them on all manner of items I shouldn’t and they come right off. You can even peel them off co-worker’s hair. (As an added bonus it turns out that Sticker Giant was started by an old friend of mine, John Fischer, so we got to reconnect.)
If you see us at SXSW next month, ask for a sticker. If I try to charge you for it, well, it’ll be ‘cause I’m drunk.
Written by Mike Monteiro on February 19, 2008 with 3 comments |
Erika at Future Of Web Apps
Erika and I just got back from London where she spoke at the Future Of Web Apps conference. Her presentation, Copy Is Interface, went over extremely well.
We get a lot of positive feedback about our work here at Mule, but what makes me happiest is when people mention the tone and language we use both in our own site and on clients’ sites. That’s all Erika. She does an amazing job in the trenches and it was great to see her do an equally amazing job onstage and get the recognition she deserves. I’m very lucky to work with her.
I’ll be posting a little more about the conference later, and I believe she’ll be posting her slides. Stay tuned.
Written by Mike Monteiro on October 8, 2007 with 0 comments |
South Park: Not just a cartoon anymore!
Over the weekend, there was an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle, profiling the South Park neighborhood and the businesses surrounding it. Mule Design was one of the companies mentioned by writer Dan Fost:
There is a look to the South Park crowd: rectangular glasses, ironic T-shirts and hipster shoes that almost look like bowling shoes but are more likely Skechers for men or, for women, Campers or Fluevogs. The most popular shirt is from Mule Design, which discovered that the squid biomass on Earth is greater than the human biomass. The shirt declares simply, "Welcome Squid Overlords."
While we appreciate the mention, we didn't actually discover the large squid biomass. Scientists did. We just capitalized on it. Thank you, South Park, for letting us dress you!
Written by David McCreath on April 17, 2006 with 7 comments |
Mule Design at SXSWi
As mentioned previously, Mike, Erika and I will be attending this year's SXSW interactive festival and we're very excited about eating some Tex-Mex! We're also excited about our panels this year. If you're going to be a fellow attendee, you should come see Erika and others speak on Running Your New Media Business on Sunday, at 3:30.
On Saturday, along with Lane Becker, we will be running Battledecks: Southwest Invitational. It's an MC freestyle battle mashed with a powerpoint presentation, and it will feature some of this industry's biggest talents. If you only see one interactive panel, it should be this one.
Rule #1: No knives. See you in Austin!
Written by Katie Spence on March 8, 2006 |
Mammoth Nominated for Two Maggies
The Mule office is abuzz after the announcement that Mammoth Local has been nominated for two Maggie Awards from the Western Publications Association! Mammoth Local was nominated for Best Publication Website and Mammoth Weekly, the magazine, was nominated for Best Color Editorial Layout.
We're bursting with pride as our own Amber Costley designed the Mammoth site. Congrats, Mammoth!
Written by Katie Spence on March 7, 2006 |
Find a Mule, Get A Free Beer at SXSW
Mike, Erika and I will be attending SXSWi this year. If you'd like to have a beer with us in Austin, e-mail me your mailing address and we'll send you one of our wooden nickels, good for one free beer.
E-mail addresses to katie[at]muledesign[dot]com.
Written by Katie Spence on March 3, 2006 |
Ecce Homo
Dr. Oliver Sacks' editor just sent over this photo of Dr. Roger Hanlon (left) with Dr. Kubodera, the researcher who first filmed the giant squid Architeuthis.
Yup, he's the man who angered the squid.
At the recent cephalopod conference in Tasmania, participants presented Dr. Kubodera with a shirt of his own.
Written by Erika Hall on February 21, 2006 with 2 comments |
