The Early Days of Digital DesignIn this episode Lightning Jar founder Alan Ruthazer takes a walk down memory lane. We hear the story of how Alan got started in digital design. We also discuss what has changed and what has stayed the same in his over 17+ years leading the company.   This episode addresses the questions: What makes a successful digital agency? How has digital design evolved in the past 20 years? How have changes in computer and mobile device technology affected the evolution of digital design?

If you're interested in learning more about Lightning Jar or ask Alan a question about the early days of digital design and digital agency life get in touch.

“No matter how the technology changes over the years or the software that we use, it’s design that is the fundamental... creating something that’s meaningful and has design at its heart is what we do.”

— Alan Ruthazer      Episode InfoTitle: The Early Days of Digital Design Date: 5/31/2018 Length: 00:32:57 Host: Kevin Peckham Episode Guest: Alan RuthazerAlan Ruthazer was the featured guest for episode 2 "The Early Days of Digital Design".  Alan is the founder of Lightning Jar and a pioneer in digital design, and digital agencies. Connect with Alan: alan@lightningjar.com Episode Notes0:46 - The origins of the name SiiTE Interactive 1:50 - Designing corporate presentations and CDROMs 2:05 - Macromedia Director & Visual Basic 2:58 - Introduction of the first iPod to the world 3:21 - The advent of MP3s 5:19 - GenX and the conditions that led to the digital creative industry 6:18 - Early home computers 6:55 - Prodigy and early dial-up internet 7:18 - Booting up a computer from floppy disks with MS-Dos 8:18 - Delivering laptop presentations from a motorcycle 9:09 - What led Alan to start SiiTE Interactive 10:10 - The early days of email marketing 10:48 - “You’ve Got Mail” and the introduction of email to a broad audience 11:11 - Working with Oprah 12:14 - Other early digital agencies 12:29 - March 1st and early failed agencies 13:10 - The Dot Com bubble 14:36 - The advent of Google 15:40 - The Y2K Computer Problem 17:01 - What was the category name for “digital agency” in the early days? 17:49 - The advent of Flash and the Flash era 19:32 - The end of Flash 20:16 - The advent of the iPhone 21:02 - The origin of the term “Above the fold” 21:34 - The advent of Responsive Design 22:31 - The advent of Retina Resolution 23:22 - The Apple Watch and wearables 24:11 - The financial crisis and the Wayback Machine 24:30 - The first SiiTE website (2001) and a quote from Buckminster Fuller 25:02 - Hypercard, and how it got Alan hooked on interactive technology 25:37 - Digital design as a discipline vs. print graphic design and architecture 26:28 - Alan went to school for architecture 26:56 - SiiTE client list from 2007 and evolution into web design 28:26 - Our philosophy: design and narrative 30:18 - Advice for young digital designers: quality is really important Links from this EpisodeSiiTE.com Splash Page, July 2001 (Courtesy of The Wayback Machine) SiiTE.com Website 2007 (Courtesy of the Wayback Machine) CD ROM (Wikipedia) Macromedia Director Microsoft Visual Basic iPod (Video - Steve Jobs first introduces the first iPod) MP3 Napster MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System "You've Got Mail" (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan 1998) Oprah MarchFirst Dot-com Bubble Google circa 1999 (Courtesy of the Wayback Machine) Y2K Adobe Flash The iPhone (Video - Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone) Origin of "Above the Fold" Reponsive Web Design (Book - Ethan Marcotte, 2011) Retina Resolution The Apple Watch (Video, Apple Introduces the Apple Watch) The Financial Crisis / The Great Recession Buckminster Fuller Hypercard

About

Thunderclap is the Lightning Jar podcast. It covers topics at the intersection of design, technology, and marketing.

Subscribe

Apple Podcasts

Google Play

iHeartRadio

Stitcher

TuneIn

RSS

Podcast Services

Lightning Jar produces custom branded podcasts for clients. If you have an idea for a podcast and need help making it a reality get in touch.

Contact Us >