Interview: Flavors.me's Jonathan Marcus - Page 2
Q: What is your design/service philosophy?
The idea behind Flavors.me is that simple systems can produce complex patterns (A New Kind of Science, Wolfram); simple in that layout (wireframe), color palette, background and typography are common variables, and yet each site can look and feel uniquely custom. We employ a very layered approach, like a designer would in Photoshop or Fireworks.
Q: Where do you see the project heading in the next six months? The next two years?
In the next 6 months we need to add support for almost every 3rd-party service such as - LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Wordpress, etc., fetch data in real-time (we are about 10 minutes delayed for beta), and solidify our infrastructure. In two years we hope to establish Flavors.me and its sister property, Goodsie.com, which is similar to Flavors but for retailers, as the ultimate resource for creating an online presence, whether for informational, vanity or commercial purposes.
Q: What is the greatest challenge to your success?
Ensuring the service works like magic. Before starting the project, I said that if after 15 minutes a user couldn't create something that felt magical, we were toast. Fortunately, I think we managed to build a system that can do it in 5 - 10 minutes. Aside from communication services like Skype or Facebook, very few services offer the immediate satisfaction and instant gratification that Flavors does. We struggled with the immediate wow factor at Vimeo (where I was VP / GM). Flavors is unique in its ability to add instant, real value to your entire online experience.
Q: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?
There are simply no obstacles in our immediate 3 - 9 months plans. We are well capitalized and our development process is only getting more fine tuned as we go.
Flavors.me is still in closed beta mode but we have invites for you. Use this invite code: technorati
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