The Lighthouse Keeper's cat

I love Flickr.

I always did. I pay for Flickr. I respect the rules on Flickr. I got in contact with amazing artist via Flickr. I keep in contact with friends far away and next door via Flickr. I print my business cards with Moo via Flickr. I blog about art I find at Flickr…

Okay in short i am in LOVE…

I am not a social networking type. Not in the real world, not on the internet. I start to enjoy twitter though…but this is another post.

I am usually critical of most internet hypes and interaction website designs. Most internet services make me just mad and angry… very angry… even most of the ones I am involved in ^_^…

So why Flickr?

Now – other than in the real world where I always fall in love with the wrong guy – there are many good reasons to love Flickr.

The team behind Flickr manages to provide a service which actually knows what it does and does it very well. You store and share images.

Graphic design

The design never gets in your way and never tries to outmatch your content. It even makes your content look better.

Just think about how fantastic – and rare – that is. And while doing this it preserves one of the best and most significant brands online, with just (a quite small) logo, 2 lead colours, typo in one font, black and white and shades of grey.

Easily done? Try selling something like this to one of your clients (or mine).

Interaction design

You never have to search for action buttons. They are there just above your content. Titles and descriptions can be added directly. click > edit > save.

The complexity of the tools in use grows with the complexity of the task, as does the interface design. “Organize” (working with hundred of photos) uses a very different interaction design approach and language than any other page.

I know: ‘Hell yes! what else could it do?’ Again where else does this really work for you in online applications?

Your very own space

Flickr puts you – the user – in power. Let’s have a closer look at ‘Your photostream’.

Logo, search and site wide navigation in header. 820px x 60px. Done.

Followed by your area including your internal navigation. 820px x 2800px. You can chose your layout for your area. And this is your content! No feeds from your contact or groups. Your space… again show me one other social networking platform where somebody thinks that your own content is worth some attention.

This is your haven, your home. You can even close the door behind you.

Followed by the footer. Providing shortcuts in case you got lost or are too lazy to scroll, your door to the outside.

Interaction with other beings

First, you don’t have to! Flickr provides a service for you. Store and organise your images online, accessible from where ever you find internet access.

You might want to share them with only friends and family.

You might want to see what others do… You might want to know what others think about your work.

Finding – and moving in – your circle

I admit that I am a bit of a special fringe group here. I am a hobby photographer and I am interested in how other people live, but I do not want to see 1 Million images of their babies or dogs ^_^… not even the ones in my own family, which by the way lives on the other side of the world.

More important I want to know what the street-art scene in Bogota is up to today. Or what the brilliant illustrator in Soul, Moscow or Tokyo is working on. So photography is a channel through which these visuals are sent to me… via Flickr.

So what? I could just go and find their online portfolios or buy Juxtapox… What is the difference? Flickr provides more information about an artist than any other other medium could do. If they are willing to share ^_^… You get a glimpse of their art, their workshops, their town, their environment, things they find inspiring (okay… maybe their babies and dogs… or their friend’s weddings…). If you are very lucky, they tell you what they think about your work.

I am not sure how many users Flickr has, it must be millions over millions. The tools provided enable you to find your space, your group, your circle… your micro-cosmos inside Flickr which lets you see the world outside.

I gave you a warning. I told you. I am in love…

That’s all for today, but not all I have to say about this topic…. there is still more to say, especially about Flickr’s interaction with other media and software…