In Canada poop bags look like the one. The little dog pic reminds me of the intended purpose. How I use them is left up to me to sort out. On some bags I buy there’s a warning reminding me that these bags are not toys and that I need to keep them away from babies and children – as well as their cribs, beds, carriages and playpens.

I really want to meet the parents who would consider buying a roll of these (at the pet store no less) thinking that they will be really great toys for their kids. I’d also like to meet the lawyer who advises the company that this warning is not a waste of time or printer’s ink.

In the U.S. a number of towns and parks now offer free poop-bags to encourage people to stoop and scoop. Their bags look like idiots, Jr. Brand Managers, or both designed them.

• The bags are branded: “Dogi Pot”.
• There’s a slogan: “The green solution for dog pollution.”
• The bag thanks you for cleaning up after your dog.
• There’s a website link so you can learn more.
• Look + learn diagrams teach you the fine art of stooping + scooping in 5 easy steps. Profound stuff.
• And finally a reminder that this is a litter pick-up bag, (not a kid's toy).

The diagram really blows me away.

It’s much too similar to the airline seat belt use demo that is still preformed before every flight even though seat belt use has been law in the U.S. since 1968 and 1976 in Canada.

How did we manage to dumb-down our society to this degree? Is this all to avoid some frivolous lawsuit?

Or, am I missing the point and a dormant opportunity? Should we print proper use instructions and disclaimers onto rolls of toilet paper?

According to a recent study, over 205 billion emails are sent and received every single day (The Radicati Group, Inc.).  So here are a few ways to help you get your e-mails read.

1. Always split test your subject lines; choosing the right one will have a huge impact on the success of your mailing. 69% of email recipients will report an email as spam solely based on the subject line (Convince and Convert).

2. Turns out we’re not the only folks who believe in the power of smart email marketing. 73% of senior-level marketers believe email marketing is core to their business, as email is a critical touchpoint along the customer journey (Salesforce).

3. Designing for mobile is more important now than ever before. 80.8% of users report reading email on mobile devices (Hubspot).

4. Avoid copy-heavy messages and focus instead on high-quality, eye-catching imagery. 65% of recipients prefer emails that contain mostly images vs. 35% who prefer mostly text (Hubspot).

5. Every business needs to generate money, and email marketing is a great way to help you do just that. 59% of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel for generating revenue (BtoB Magazine).

6. Make it crystal clear what you’re trying to get your recipients to do. Emails with a single call to action increase clicks 371% and sales 1617% (Toast).

7. Less isn’t always more. The average landing page form with two form fields has higher conversions than one form field (Unbounce).

I just got back from a long road trip. This was my favorite sign. Zoom in and look what’s under “to work”: a small version of the message in braille.

The visual sign is situated between the sinks and the hand dryers. The small braille type is about waist level.

I’d love to meet this sign’s designer and learn more about what (s)he and the clients were thinking, or smoking, when they designed this puppy.

I’m often asked to create a wireframe for a site before I design it because the Account Group thinks it a clever in-process sales tactic (that also reduces risk).

It made me wonder: do others have the same problem with wireframes that I do? I Goggled “web wireframes” to find out. I wondered how others approach this banal but seemingly important to others task. I found a multitude of wireframe design approaches that look and smell an awful lot like post-design-rationalization, or bull-shit for short.

The image of all those wireframes reminded me of a chat I had with one of my mentors, Hugh Dow, about 30 years ago. I had seen one of my colleagues craft an enormous deck to sell a modest $2,000,000 media plan. I felt like I’d missed a few steps because I was selling much larger plans with very “slim” decks. Hugh assured me that I was on the right track: “if you can sell it in on one page, do it. But if you’ve got a client that needs to “see all your work” – show that too.”

I’ve never forgotten that valuable lesson:

• Do all the work to ensure you know what you’re doing and keep it close at hand so that you can explain yourself if and when needed with-out any hesitation.
• Only show what’s needed to make the sale.
• Sell the benefits and excitement of sharing a great story. Don’t bore them with your stupid process.

So as to wireframes. Stupid idea, except for VERY complex sites. Likewise, it’s good to do a mock-up of key pages for a big catalog, but not for a roll-fold brochure or a banner ad.

This is a self promotion piece I put out towards the end of 2008. My thinking was that forward looking businesses would want to take advantage of the post recession growth.

It didn’t happen. They all agreed with near-sighted Chicken Little: the sky was falling, and the end was in sight.

Likewise many who claim to know of what they speak are holding their breath, wondering and predicting what Greece will do tomorrow, next week, next month.

In my lifetime Germany went from ruin and rubble to economic powerhouse. My parents lost everything in the war through no fault of their own and started over.

It didn't take days, weeks, months or years. It took decades.

That’s what might happen in Greece, Spain and other markets as well. Too much good fortune was squandered for too long by too many and now it’s time to pay the piper. Perhaps this is how economies learn to "grow up".

“Tough times never last, But tough people do.”