I was just reading that ICANN is considering opening up the domain name scheme to include common words such as .hotel or .sex. Can you imagine what kind of frenzy this might cause?
I’ve experienced the frustration of not being able to get a decent .com name. For example, when we are working on a naming project for a client, part of the process is to do a domain search to see if something reasonable can be obtained. If not, then that name will likely get cut. So many good names get lost this way. With this new system, say you wanted “TotallyGreen.car” and someone else had “TotallyGreen.plants” that would be ok. Different industries, so probably no real confusion, EXCEPT that you have to consider that many people would just type in the word “TotallyGreen” and get the .com version instead (and I have no idea what that is or going to be!)
Another offshoot of this would be what I might call “vanity” domains, just like the license plates. Instead of someone saying “imsohot.com” they would now say “im.so.hot”. Think of the possibilities. we’ll become a “domain.this.phrase” culture. You’ll see these in ads everywhere.
And finally, what major corporation wouldn’t want to own their own domain? Do you think either Coke or Pepsi wouldn’t blink at .coke or .pepsi? Wal-mart might be very happy to have “shop.walmart” or “careers.at.walmart”. I bet that both consultants and IT departments will be very busy creating the hundreds of domain name possibilities.
This week, Dress Code came and speak to our AIGA Houston Chapter about their new book, their work, and in general, their rather unique career paths. You can view the photos as our flickr group and a short excerpt on our youtube channel.
Now, they are opinionated guys, and gave lots of advice on what has worked for them – be persistent, be passionate and be opportunistic (not their word, mine, but that’s what they were saying).
I’ve thought about this, and I have some advice of my own. So here goes:
- Take every opportunity to learn. Sure, you might be able to look back and say you weren’t paid enough or given enough time, but if you didn’t learn anything from the experience, it’s your own fault. Every project has something to teach you – you just need to be willing to see it.
- Always do your best. Approach everything you do as if it were a golden opportunity, even the stuff you don’t enjoy. At the end of the day, you never want to say that you could have done more (if you want to sleep soundly, that is).
- Take risks. You know what they say “you learn more from your failures than your successes.” I’ve often found that my instincts always want the risks – it’s when I overthink things that the safe route seems like the better option. I’ve learned to trust my instincts more.
- Ask questions. For starters, when you’re young you are not expected to know everything, so just ASK people to share their knowledge. One of my few regrets early on in my career was being afraid to show my inexperience, so I missed out on a lot of great knowledge from those more seasoned than me. I’ve since discovered that most people enjoy sharing knowledge. Just be sure to make it a two-way street and be respectful enough to apply what they teach you.
These are rather broad categories, but if you want more, just call or email me. I’d be happy to share.
Synchronized Presidential Debating
I have to post this because it’s just a brilliant piece of work. I really applaud this effort. I can only imagine how much work it took to go through all the debates and find these phrases, then montage them into this video.
For me, it really reinforces how much these messages HAVE been repeating (yes, these are their talking points!) I suppose on one side that’s a good thing – most Americans must know by now what each candidate stands for. But on the other hand, have we really learned anything new in the past couple of weeks?