by Dyske Suematsu • January 1, 2010
There are many different types of online networks and each encourages different user behavior. For the purpose of this discussion, I would like to create 4 different categories of online networks: centered-public, centered-private, decentered-public, and decentered-private. "Centered" means everyone is looking at the same thing. "Decentered" means everyone is looking at a different thing. Facebook is a good example of a decentered network; when I login, what I see is different from what you see when you login. "Public" means anyone can view the content, and "private" means only selected/invited users can view the content. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • September 13, 2009
Why would you start and run your own business? You might say, “Money. What else could it be?” Well, that is the common assumption but this isn’t true for everyone, and depending on your answer, the path you take may be quite different. It sounds like common sense, but I see some very successful business people make bad decisions because they didn’t ask this question. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • May 27, 2009
I’ve known many people in my life who are smart and talented yet somehow cannot manage their own lives well. I’ve always been puzzled and fascinated by this phenomenon. I figured there must be some careers perfect for their intelligence and talent. The only problem, I thought, was that they weren’t aware of these careers. In fact, most career orientations offered at schools are based on the same premise. It’s an encouraging and exciting premise too, like finding a Mr. or Ms. Perfect. Needless to say, I’ve never succeeded in finding such a career for anyone. This is when I began doubting my own premise. Maybe the problem does not lie in the careers they choose, but in everything else that they have to deal with no matter which careers they choose. In other words, it’s not about what they want to do; it’s about what they don’t want to do but have to. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 2, 2006
This year, video portals like YouTube, iFilm, and vSocial are all the rage. It appears that online video viewing has finally reached a critical mass. It is interesting to think about what this means for the content developers. Before we get into the specific implications, I would like to discuss the general trend in the business world today. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • February 9, 2006
It’s nice to think our work can change the world, but is that really the case? In my view, there is a fundamental misunderstanding in our society about what graphic design is. Here is an interesting observation by Ludwig Wittgenstein to illustrate this point: “Often, when I have had a picture well framed or have hung it in the right surroundings, I have caught myself feeling as proud as if I had painted it myself.” This is the most common pitfall of graphic designers. Since our work is often viewed by thousands or even millions of people, we become proud of our work as if the message was our own. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 21, 2004
Our world functions like a gigantic brain. In this analogy, each of us is a brain cell. There is no scientific evidence that we ever forget anything; we just lose access to the cell that contains a specific piece of information. Once the connection is lost, that cell is useless even if it contains a valuable piece of information. Likewise, no matter how intelligent, talented, and skilled you are, if you have no connections to anyone else, you are useless. In many cases, it is better to be connected with less to offer, than to have a lot to offer but no connections. We humans are designed to accomplish great things by connecting and collaborating with one another, just like our brains do. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 16, 2004
If you know something about writing music, you know how useful musical theories can be. If you are an intuitive type who never studied theories, you are likely to keep on writing the same kind of music forever. And, eventually you will feel like a one-trick pony. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • October 12, 2004
For me, graphic design is not about personal expression. (I do that elsewhere.) It’s not about scoring high on some standard of aesthetics either. (High aesthetics is not always appropriate.) It’s about solving communication problems. My creativity lies in how I solve them. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • April 21, 2004
This is a how-to article, quite different from everything else on this site, but I figured what the heck. These are things I have learned through working on various green screen projects. This paper assumes that you have a basic understanding of what chroma key is. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 30, 2003
Living in the East Village, New York, I often come across people who have vendettas against big businesses, their most notable targets being Starbucks, K-Mart, and GAP. Many socialist types seem to be allergic to any businesses that are big. Big for them automatically means evil. They complain about big businesses wiping out small local businesses. They not only boycott big businesses, but also persuade others to do so by affixing stickers and flyers everywhere. In over 15 years of living here and listening to their arguments, none of them had any logic that convinced me the value of their arguments. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 8, 2003
Expressing our emotions in our workplace is seen as unprofessional. This unspoken rule is enforced as a common sense, but has anyone ever proven that suppressing or curbing our emotions make our work environment more productive, or that expressing our emotions make it less productive? Why do we assume that it does? Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • September 5, 2003
Google’s PageRank is now the de facto standard by which all websites are measured. This has certain political and philosophical implications. Could or should a private institution be trusted to govern the power structure of the Internet? If they do in fact control the power structure of the Internet, does that mean we should direct our criticisms and concerns towards them? Doesn’t that make them even more powerful? This article explores an alternative to picking a fight with Google. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • March 5, 2003
Over-specialization can make an organization inefficient, as over-generalization would also. Where can we draw a line? What tasks can be specialized and what tasks should be generalized? Read »
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