So it’s day 2 for me here at SXSW. For some reason, I seem to not be able to sleep at night due to continually unforseen circumstances. Oh well, I can sleep when it’s over, however I do walk around looking like death warmed over (stay tuned for video).

I spent most of the day yesterday chumming around with my pals Jeremy Vaught and Justine Ezarik. We had a ton of walking around, fun meeting people, recording stuff, walking around, hunting down swag, walking around, getting lost in the convention center, walking around, skipping out on most of the sessions to walk around and stuff like that. Needless to say, we walked a TON! My feet are super sore right now (thus the reason I’m sitting down writing this post).

Anyway, if you didn’t catch it on my Twitter yesterday, I got a chance to hang out with Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.com) and I have to say it was more than an honor. He really is a great guy and I’m looking forward to our next meeting for sure. Additionally, I finally met some people face to face I have been wanting to meet for a while. Up until now, I had only had brief connection either by email or text or something. Here’s a few:

• Cali Lewis
• Evan Williams
• Douglas Sarine
• Chris Heuer
• Chris Brogan

To name a few…

Today, there are cameras everywhere for all sorts of different reasons. It’s a media frenzy! I feel right at home. I’m looking forward to connecting with others as they come in. Remember to stay tuned to my feeds (listed below) to keep up to speed on my random exploits.

• Twitter
• flickr
• Viddler

I’ll let you know if I add another service. For now those are keeping me pretty busy.

“Design is in the Details”
Naz Hamid - Co-Founder & Creative Director
gapersblock.com

URL’s
weightshift.com
nzrn.com

All in all a very informative session. Naz has a really great approach to design. One of which I truly agree with. My quick sum up would be that design is a very organic, thoughtful and experimental process. Obviously design projects have deadlines, but as a designer you need to make sure you allow your self some time to think without action before starting to actually design. Additionally, it is a good idea to allow for a design to “steam” a little bit as well as have a chance to evolve into it’s final form. Also, If you force yourself to a rigid schedule, you run a great chance of compromising the final outcome. Don’t be so worried about charging for every minute you are “on project”. At the same time, you can’t give away your creativity, but really be okay with the organic process of design. Educate your clients about your process, spend time with them, get to know them, try to learn their goals and have that in mind while you create. Be a teammate not a worker monkey. Let them participate in the creative process and don’t be afraid to spend time on the little stuff.

Ok, I added quite a few of my own twists on his thoughts here, but that’s basically what I think he was trying to express. All in all, a pretty good session. Thanks Naz! Great stuff!