Flaming Desks is a blog…

I’m pretty pleased with the front end so far - there are probably one or two bugs that we need to sort out - like being able to close the search box, reset the map to the global map, and make the icons a bit easier to click, but I’m pleased with the interface and I’ve had good feedback.

I also watched someone fill in the registration in a hallway usability test, and spotted the following:

• The company details page asks for the contact name first.  This is confusing since the person I watched started filling in the company name.  It would make sense to put the company first, then the contact details.
• The company description should probably be renamed because people will try and describe their company (we’ll get bland mission statements and marketing blurb), whereas they should be selling their company office as a great place to visit and work.  Just renaming it probably won’t do, we might need some explanation or help.
• We probably need some sort of visual clue as to where you are in the registration process - it’s quite a lengthy one (necessarily) so I’d like people to know what step they’re at and how many are left.
• When it places a marker on the map, it’s too zoomed out - if it gets it wrong it’s not obvious enough.  I think it needs to be zoomed right in at first so that if it hasn’t recognised the address it will be immediately obvious and people will look for a way to fix it (which is easy enough by zooming out and dragging the marker).
• In the search results we need to underline the company names to make it clear they are links because the person I was watching didn’t click on them.

Where next…

I’m pretty clear on the next steps:

1. Login and My Account : we need to get registered users logging in and able to update their details.  We can’t really expect people to use it properly without this.
2. Contact mechanism : just a form at first to contact a company about using their desk PUSH TO GET SOME REAL DESKS LISTEDAt this point, the system will be usable in its most basic form : you can post a desk, and you can find a desk.  We’ve had a lot of interest in it so far, so at this point we should get all of those people who’ve expressed an interest involved and ask them to list their desks.
   
3. Ratings : one of the most common concerns expressed by people we’ve spoken to so far is the trustworthiness of the strangers that you invite into your office.  Ratings, reviews and testimonials are therefore a massive priority.  We’ll have to change the registration process for this too, in order to allow non-desk owners to register without listing a desk.
4. Desk information : we need to allow companies to add multiple desks with pictures of those desks, facilities etc.

Is there anything I’ve missed off?

This desk has been sitting in the corridor in our offices for a month and no-one has claimed it. We have offered to give it a “warm” home… So what do we think? A good candidate for a bonfire?…

I’ve been playing around with the Google Maps API to try and use it for registration of desks. I think I’ve got it sorted :

1. Collect basic info about company and contact at the company
2. Take company address (company doesn’t need to make this public, but we need it)
3. Show map with address marked on it [still to decide how to handle it if Google can't find the address]
4. User drags marker on map until happy with location, then moves to next step

And here’s the map bit:

Try putting in your own address and clicking ‘go’. Try dragging and dropping the flame around - you can see that the latitude and longitude changes as you do this.

This isn’t particularly clever stuff but I’m pleased with it all the same!

Below, is a hand picked selection of the initial logos I’ve had a bash at.

More focussed on form and style rather than colours at the moment, it would be great to hear everyone’s thoughts before taking it any further.

The typeface itself probably needs more exploration, however I do really like the main one I’ve used and think it works nicely with the adapted ‘M’.

Hopefully these initial ideas will spark off some more chat about where to take it from here.

(For reference, my favourite design so far is the top left logo on page 4) I think that the more stylized flames work best when seen small on the screen and as page 3 illustrates, they work nicely as a stand alone image too.

As Robbie points out, I have been preaching the everlasting gospel of sharing desks to one or two select industry contacts! Only things is, we haven’t really done a post that deals with “What are we doing?” and “What do we want?” all in one place yet - so anyone rocking up here might end up a tad confused.

I thought I’d have a go at that now. (Should also give us something to link to from our “About” page too - which has been a bit sparse and unloved so far.)

OK, so what are we doing?

First of all “we” is two friendly companies - Nonsense and White October. Rob from Nonsense and Dave from White October had an idea in the pub, and quickly realised that a collaboration between the two companies could make it happen. This blog is the manifestation of that collaboration. All posts are written by Nonsense and White October people, who are taking on various roles in getting what has become known as “Flaming Desks” made. (Hence silly posts about burning a desk for marketing purposes, and tedious ones detailing functionality!)

The idea here is that we’ll be 100% transparent about what we’re doing, so anyone can come along and read the actual conversations we’re having as we develop the Flaming Desks idea. And of course those people can comment on what we’re doing, which will enhance the whole thing.

Yeah, but WHAT ARE WE DOING????

So we had an idea (and I described how here) that we loved, which goes a bit like this:

There are lots of people (particularly “media types”) who from time to time could do with a desk for a day in a city somewhere. There are lots of offices, small and large, with a spare desk sitting there empty. Flaming Desks sorts them both right out… you’ve got a spare desk; you list it. You need somewhere to sit; you find one on offer and request it.

This is Flaming Desks. The beauty of the idea is that everyone wins. People with desks get an opportunity to meet new and interesting people (basically a nice way to network) and people without desks get, well, a desk. We can see loads of the “uber-freelance” brigade using this service once its up and running.

And finally, what do we want?

Right now, the main thing we want from all you lovely visitors is feedback. Please comment away on any of the issues being discussed as much as you like. This could be anything from something simple like “it’ll never work you muppets”, to something more complicated that I personally wouldn’t understand - like “have you considered using the Jango framework for Python in a Redhat Linux environment?”.

There’s a place for all your comments, in all the different posts. We promise that we’ll respond to all the feedback we get. (Although don’t expect us to be polite if your feedback is mean and nasty!)

Specifically:

• Are there any existing communities / web apps that you could see it integrating well with?
• Spotted any obvious pitfalls?
• Do you have an old desk you want burnt?

Answers on a postcard. (If you actually want to send a postcard, send it to Nonsense London, Studio 4, 10/11 Archer Street, London, W1D 7AZ - we’ll put it on the blog.)

Yeah, but what do we REALLY want?

Two things you could do that would be invaluabe to us right now would be:

- vote in our straw poll.
- subscribe to the RSS feed, or bang in your email address in the little box in the top right the blog [Or this one... DF].

- forward the link around like crrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzyyy.

[UPDATE:] And another thing! Why are we doing this?

Simple. Because we think its one of those things that just needs to be made. OK, and because it might make a few people notice our two companies a bit. And because we’ll hopefully meet loads of useful clever people through the comments and collaboration. And not to make any money. Well maybe one day, but only from someone who promises not to bugger everything up. (Hmmm - not that simple then.)

Any chance I could use your spare desk tomorrow?…