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Tom Walford Posted…

Another useless, repetitive, obvious and self-serving “report” from 37signals. 37signals is one of the most over-hyped organizations in web development.

They’re great at spouting other people’s ideas, reformatted into nospeak marketing material. Contingency design? Please. How about plain old good design? These guys cherry pick every other overhyped pundit’s ideas on the web and reconstitute it as their own. All while their actual work blows.

Looked at any of their sites? GettyOne? That site is one of the worst interfaces I’ve ever seen. They seem to fail at actually demonstrating basic UI concepts. Tabbed interfaces? They look like tabbed interfaces, but they lack the “interface” structure of tiered navigation. Their work displays a lack of understanding of interaction design (especially the relationship between front and backend design).

37signals don’t deserve a tenth of the hype they get (or are giving themselves).

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James Posted…

Nothing wrong with self serving as long as the material is relevant. It’s called promotion. GettyOne is my favorite stock site in regards to interface as they handle power useres like me very well, though some things I originally didn’t like were fixed, such as adding larger back and forward arrows to page navigation. Point being they DO add value to the community. Can most companies claim that? Who’s doing anything similar and better?

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Brian Hollis Posted…

Wow, Tom, you’re angry. I think 37signals is great. Is everything they do great? No. Is anything anyone does always great? No. Politics, projects constraints, client demands, budget, timeframe, all impact a project. I’m sure they do their best given the circumstances. It’s not easy. A lot of the work I do is compromised by a variety of issues. Sometimes I’m embarassed to show work I’ve done because it’s been butchered by the client. And, check out their 37Better stuff. And their own site. Design Not Found. They are giving back to the community which is about 1000% more than any other web firm is doing. Other people’s ideas? 37 has been talking about simplicity, clarity, and usability since they started (in 99?). Sounds like a lot of people are using THEIR ideas now that “simplicity” is all the buzz. And look at all the people who’ve copied their sites! (no I don’t work for 37, I just appreciate companies who make an effort above and beyond what everyone else does)