The Vostok blog

Time Out Barcelona has granted Filmin (the VoD service we designed last year), the People’s prize for Best Innovative Project. A very much deserved prize indeed.

As ‘Gabriela who works at Vostok‘ this is pretty much what I have to say. But, as ‘Gabriela who loves movies and doesn’t know what she would do without them’, I would like to say a few more things about Filmin:

1. It’s one of the best online video services out there. It’s run by people who love movies, it’s simple, it’s efficient and it has a great catalog. Sure there are a few things I wish they could do better… but hey, I also want my man to be handsome, intelligent, sensitive and understanding…everyday, at all time…so hey, who cares?

2. It’s one of the few bridges between –and I’m gonna be intentionally simplistic here to stress my point– the two sides of the Spanish film industry today: the more “internet is the devil” side Vs. “internet is our savior”. There are millions of caveats, trillions of nuances and loads of things one cannot talk about unless one’s there, working at it and sweating it but, I can say this: we need middle-grounds, we need fresh air, we need companies, people, organizations and production companies that realize film distribution (and exhibition) has changed and that the new change will only bring good things for cinema.

And that’s it.

So congratulations and in Monsieur Tarantino’s own words:

Javier Cañada will be speaking at Ryokan Consulting’s VIP professional training in Elche about the value of investing in design. If you happen to be in town or haven’t been in Valencian territory for a while and crave a good plate of paella, don’t miss the workshops on online services and tools programmed for June and July.

You can book your seat here.

We were hired by Movistar, a high-powered Spanish telecom with important international presence, to envision the best solution for what their online video and television service should be like. We have spent the last few months designing it and collaborating with Movistar’s UX team. And we are incredibly proud of the results.

It’s the product of months of work but, most importantly, it’s a representation of Vostok’s design principles: it’s simple, it’s elegant, it’s honest.

The premise: An online service for film, TV series and linear TV that could be accessed anytime, anywhere. For clients and non-clients. Our solution: a native grid system that responds to a set pattern of interactions that work across all platforms (PC, TV and mobile phones).

To share our thought process we have uploaded a slideshow that puts together the design premises we kicked off with. And a webpage that shows a selection of the design aspects in the final product we find most interesting.

Last, but not least we release a video made in collaboration with Riot Cinema that is the perfect accompaniment to this product. Don’t forget to check it out

Curious to know what you think.

Lucky we: two homage websites in less than a week.  Today we dedicate it to Mr. Rams. No need to put into words the great imprint this man has had on Design. That he’s had on us. Happy birthday sir.

For a bit of Rams eye-candy, you’ll find some good photos of him in the Thomas Mayer Archive. And to help you refresh your memory, in case you don’t know it by heart already: Rams’ good design decalogue.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol for the past five days. They demand jobs, economic equality, and “real democracy” hoping to make a difference in the upcoming elections, when they (we) will vote for new municipal councils and regional governments.

The Madrid electoral board is pushing to have the protest banned before the elections. To defy the ban people must get together and sign a petition. And they are. From all over the world. And a map is registering it all live.

There are only two things I have to say:

• You would never ever find this kind of map coming from traditional spanish mainstream media. And that says something.
• It’s a great example of a simple but powerful mesh between mapping, information design and political awareness.

Kudos to Vizzuality and Actuable for documenting and sharing this real time. Not only for Spain but for the world.

This is how we celebrate ‘5 de mayo‘ at Vostok. Better late than never. Not the most important of Mexican holidays but, anything’s a good excuse to roll-up a couple of tortillas and indulge in some spicy salsas. Slow-cooked pork in chile sauce, red pickled onions, cream (real cream, not that liquidy stuff), tortillas and nopales salad.

We’ve got symbols and signs to remind us of him and his work. Still, we just wanted to say thank you.

I receive emails like this quite often:

Hello Javier, I’ve always been passionate about interaction design. I have some notions and I’ve read many books but I don’t have any real experience so it’s hard for me to get hired as an interaction designer. I’ve thought studying a master on interaction design would help me. What do you think?

Interaction design is quite a young discipline and the entry gates are diffuse. Most of those who have been formally practicing it learnt the basics in a semi-selftaught manner. I myself have a background in sociology and new media communications but no formal training in design. All I know I learnt from colleagues, talks, books and articles. Well, and a lot of practice.

These days there are a few decent courses, degrees and masters on interaction design. The good ones are in northern European countries. Mediterranean countries are short of them; besides they usually lean towards the artsy-fashion side of design instead of focusing on what really matters.

So, what is my advice to those who want to enter the field but have no experience? Instead of putting 5000-15.000€ on a masters program, offer yourself as an unpaid intern for 6 months at a very good studio. Work part time there, learn from the experienced practitioners, get involved in whatever you can, get yourself inside meeting rooms and be quiet, listen, observe how designers use their tools, copy their work, ask many things and be helpful in whatever you can. Ask for advice on what to read and practice at home in the afternoons. Show your work to the senior fellows and ask them for guidance. Adopt one or two mentors (one for career issues and one for technical skills). Go have some drinks with them some time and again, listen more than you talk.

It is an investment, yes. You’ll be earning no money in 5 months. Live on a budget during these 6 months and it won’t cost you more than 10.000€. After that you’ll have experience and colleague recognition. Some great studio will be on your resumé, perhaps some nice work on your portfolio and if you are good, committed and sharp you may even get a full time job at that studio. You’ve sacrificed yourself and have demonstrated committment, a good boss will always value that.

Long live Yuri!

To me, The Daily is a near perfect realization of exactly the idea that occurs to print editors every single time they get their hands on digital media for the first time, regardless of what the underlying technology might be: “Let’s make it just like what we know so well in print.” As a result I found it sadly lifeless and lacking in urgency. What a waste of US$30 million.

Khoi Vinh on The Daily