By leelefever on February 24, 2008 - 7:38pm.
Japan is surely one of the politest places you're likely to visit. If you ask someone for directions, there is a good chance they will walk you there themselves. Behaving honorably is an important part of the culture and there is never a lack of signs, often cleverly illustrated, reminding the public of what is expected.
One of the most interesting and clever examples I found is produced by Japan Tobacco. In smoking areas, on trains and near ashtrays, there are often signs related to smoking and behavior in crowds. Notice the minimalist illustrations and the strange-but-effective messaging from these examples.
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By leelefever on February 19, 2008 - 11:52am.
Updated: I've created a schedule of sessions and parties I plan to attend at SXSWi (maybe Sachi too!). You can see the schedule here.
I suppose it's the time of year for directionally-based conferences.
I'm heading up to Northern Voice in Vancouver this weekend and Sachi and I both will be heading south to Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive starting March 7th. I hope we'll be able to meet you at one of these conferences.
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By leelefever on February 17, 2008 - 11:16pm.
The delicious food, the amazingly nice people, the sites, the experience, Japan is one of our favorite places. Thankfully one of our friends moved there recently and has an extra bedroom (thanks Ken!). Before the planning was done, 5 of us from Seattle decided to go. The photos below will give you a taste of our time there.
I took 2,900 photos in the 15 days we were gone. You can see a set of 135 photos on Flickr.
By leelefever on January 31, 2008 - 12:54pm.
Dear reader, we will return in a couple of weeks time - please don't forget about us. We'll be thinking of you. In the mean time, here are some words to live by:

While this blog won't be updated, you may find new things on Flickr and Twitter. See ya soon!
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By leelefever on January 11, 2008 - 3:59pm.
This video is a masterpiece in my opinion - especially if you're into Japanese culture (Sachi is half-Japanese). It's just so culturally real, so bitingly satirical, so truly funny. It won awards at the now defunct Resfest in 2003, and now it's on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
Give it a little while to get rolling - it starts slow and literal.
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By leelefever on December 21, 2007 - 4:40pm.
First, we want to wish you and yours good cheer and positive vibes for the Holidays. It's been an exciting year for us at Common Craft and it couldn't have happened without you. Your links, your blog entries, your emails to friends all put a spotlight on our work that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Maybe there is something to this social media thing after all. J
Between now and the New Year, we'll be with families on separate coasts and generally unavailable.
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By leelefever on November 21, 2007 - 4:49pm.
My most recent Tweet (a short update to the Twitter service) was this:
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By leelefever on November 13, 2007 - 9:53am.
When we arrived at our rental house in Mexico, we found well-worn notebook with hints about the town and surroundings. On one of the pages was a story that I had heard before, but for this particular vacation, and at this point in our careers, it had extra meaning. It matches, with a bit of exaggeration, our goals when it comes to managing our lifestyle.
By leelefever on November 4, 2007 - 11:51pm.
We're taking off for Sayulita, Mexico, where our good friends are getting married next week. We'll be back in action on November 12th. Until then, we won't be returning emails and answering phones on time.
Part of this vacation includes a vacation from dealing the beloved comment spammers. Comments are off until we return. Adios amigos.
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By leelefever on September 4, 2007 - 12:50pm.
My friend Johnny Klein pointed me to an fun and funny explanation of how traffic works, (or not) in Beijing, China. It's by Henry B and presented in multiple photos of drawings on paper, which work really well to get the point across.
Here's one of the simple-but-effective diagrams, followed by the caption.
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