There was a time then the words Paul “Scrivs” Scrivens and 9rules were synonymous to Wisdump. It feels like those days are so far away, but every once in a while something takes us back, like today.
9rules Relaunch and Submission Rounds
9rules is one of those communities that you have to be part of to understand. There’s no community on the Web that is quite like it.
It’s both exclusive—official members are handpicked during each submission round—and open—my.9rules brings everyone else into the conversation. It’s not just a social network, it’s a social content network. It’s constantly evolving, growing, and concocting experiments that redefine what it means to socialize on the web.
On April 30th, 9rules will launch a new (or is it old?) version of its website, but that’s not the only date present and future members should mark on their calendars. There’s also a new set of submission rounds, the first of which is on May 7th (followed by August 6th and November 5th).
More from 9rules
As an aside, check out these 9rules-related links they’ve been cooking up:
- 3by9, a blog written by the 9rules team
- Quofda, which stands for question of the day
- Expert Idiot, a blog about internet companies
There’s one more website I’ll discuss with more detail below.
Emersian, a design blog by Paul Scrivens
Just how prolific Paul Scrivens is boggles the mind. Emersian is an unpretentious blog about design. One of his latest entries, You Are Not A Designer, is sheer proof of that. I particuarly enjoyed this bit:
The problem is how many people can design solutions to fix the problems a site has? How many people can take the ideas of their client and translate them properly to the screen? How many designers can look passed their own style and design a site that fits the current project?
… Push your limits. Test your boundaries. Designers like to work within their comfort zone because they know what they will like. Make something ugly to possibly come up with some ideas on how to make something beautiful. When you need inspiration create your own.
He ends the piece saying Emersian is an exercise in expressing his love of design, not his expertise in it. Once again we come across a website redefining what popular notions dictate otherwise. That design is more about learning prevailing over knowing, purpose over trendiness, foundations over superficiality, possibilities over limits. It’s always a struggle balancing these pairs, but that’s part of the job.
Originally posted on April 16, 2008 @ 3:36 am