Nerdfighters

 Over two years, John and Hank Green have accumulated a fairly massive following of people. These people, mostly teenagers, are made up of fans of their vlogs and fans of John's books (and the two have, of course, influenced each other).

To manage this fan base and to stay connected with them better, they created the Nerdfighter Ning. This is a social networking website that is made for all fans of John and Hank Green who wish to consider themselves Nerdfighters (the term nerdfighter is the title of a videogame that Hank found one day).


This is all good, and is to be expected of a tech-savvy author and his brother. But what is amazing is how loyal this fan base is, and how powerful and broad it is. There are Nerdfighters in places all over the world and all over the internet. Many of them are YouTubers, posting vlogs and/or songs. And as a general rule, Nerdfighters are excited about other Nerdfighters and Nerdfighteria (stuff that relates to Nerdfighting and/or is "Awesome").

Because they are such a massive group of people, Nerdfighters can accomplish much, in the same way that the massive group collaborated to make "I've Got Nothing" (in fact, they may have been a part of it. Their YouTube followers merge a bit). John and Hank Green's Nerdfighters work to bring Awesome to the world.

They are great because they are a silly, young-at-heart, adventurous group. They see the world differently, and they are ambitious and passionate. They are the kind of people who make other generations proud of this generation of teenagers. I believe the Nerdfighters will change the world into a better place.

I've Got Nothing

During the past three months, four YouTubers got together and did something awesome. Jimmy0010, JohnnyDurham19, nerimon, and charlieissocoollike produced a song called "I've Got Nothing" under the name Chartjackers. All of the money made from the singles goes to the UK charity Children In Need. The song was released on November 9, and is only available on iTunes. Their goal is to make it to number 1 in the UK iTunes charts in 10 weeks.

music video, with introduction by charlieissocoollike:


The song was produced by the four YouTubers already mentioned, but it was written and performed by other YouTubers. People submitted lyrical suggestions, then the best was picked. Then the Chartjackers asked for audition submissions, also by YouTube. The best were chosen, and finals were held to determine the two who would sing.

BBC Switch did five minute documentaries each week on Chartjackers' progress and a thirty minute special at the end, which can all be viewed here. The song is currently number 36 in the UK iTunes charts.

This is an incredible example of the power of the internet as a collaborative space. There is no way this song could have been made if it weren't for the very many YouTubers who contributed, and it is because of the amount of contributions that the song is so good, albeit cheesy. Further, it is because of the massive following of these four YouTubers that the song is actually accomplishing its goal. This really just speaks of the power in numbers, and how that power is being applied through the global community of the internet.

Letter Playground

At LetterPlayground, users have created artistic representations of letters and numbers and posted them. Then other users can leave comments, create a list of favorites, et cetera. LetterPlayground is designed for typographic designers and for people who think creatively about the symbols they are surrounded with.

One interesting feature of LetterPlayground is the Letter Count, which graphs the amount of letters being submitted.
Another interesting feature is that LetterPlayground gives the statistical proportion of its members' occupations in a nice simple pie chart. Pie Charts are a great way to visualize large amounts of information.

LetterPlayground is interesting because it opens up a new side of typography. It allows people to really play with letters and numbers in a way they probably haven't done since watching Sesame Street as a child.

Photo from Flickr

It reminds me of the playfulness of the giant letters on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. That's a literal letter playground. This is a figurative one.

Glogster

Ok, so it's glog, like blog, and it ends in ster, like hipster... and I guess the letter "g" is pretty hip... right? Hmm. It sounds like some kind of emo playground... like some place all the hipsters might go to get their self-documenting fix in for the day...

Oh... it is.

At Glogster, people can make digital posters, using photos they've taken themselves or are borrowing from the internet, and then add graphics, text, sounds, and even videos. But this website is simultaneously great and terrible.

a glog by user mizzy1219

Some of the content on this site is demoralizing, and the website just opens a forum for this kind of content. The posters it produces look childish and are only occasionally visually interesting. This website is clearly made for emotionally unstable hipsters who follow the crowd and claim to be unique. Glogster is feeding an insecure, mislead generation.


However, from a design standpoint there isn't much wrong with this website. It has decent maneuverability, and it has a fun look to it. And creating a glog is surprisingly simple.

But the lesson to be learned from this is, when you make a website, make sure it lifts up the standards of a generation instead of bringing them down. Users use this website to document their lives and the way they think, but it also goes the other way. The website was made because of the way this group of people lives. I have seen a lot of "emo" stuff online, but I have never seen anything sink this low. This website is both a reaction and a cause of trend-following and insecurity, which can only continue to pull the generation down.

If I ever design a website, I will be sure to never let create a downward cycle with its audience.
It's web-design ethics: make the product beneficial, not just enjoyable and money-making.

Gangplank

Gangplank is a website that urges people to work toward building a new and better economy. It supports the environment, sustainability, and the community in much the same way as Bill McKibben's book Deep Economy, which is the common theme book at IUPUI for the next two years.


It has a good message. It has great goals. The website is set up to support events, which is a good feature. It is innovative in that it teams up with local artists and musicians to get credit. It works to get people informed and involved in changing the community, the economy, and the environment.


But something about its design just doesn't make sense. It's not the dark look of the website - it's perfectly find to steer away from the typical "green" look. It's not the nautical theme. It's that the main font is cartoonish. And at the same time, the website's logo is a skull. It's all right to go against the typical look, but at least pick just one direction.































Design can break rules and boundaries, but it should not break consistency. It's true that the skull looks cartoonish, like the font, and that the skull matches with the nautical (and possibly pirate-like) theme. But the font looks like something out of a bubble gum ad. I would make the font match with the rest of the site.