Blue Chip Products – 2006 Report Card

Joel Spolsky attempts to deconstruct the winning characteristics of of what he terms Blue Chip products (iPods, Julia Roberts etc.). Spolsky hypothesises a ‘Formula’ for good products and services – making people happy, creating an emotional connection and obsessing over aesthetics

• Reddit.com – the cartoon mascots and karma points creates an emotional bond with the user.
• Motorola’s PEBL – this phone’s surface is highly ‘fondle-able’, like a real pebble 🙂

Spolsky cheekily highlights three trends in web design over 2005 – ugly ugly and ugly! Berating designers for seeking to emulate Google with the pastel Arial aesthetics – essentially copying the wrong part of Google’s design. Google’s design only makes sense as an aesthetic statement when contrasted with older cluttered portal layouts. He’s not impressed 🙂