Business

Tuesday Buzz: The Cube Reaches a Golden Milestone

Celebrating five decades of the office cubicle, a phenomenon that started pretty, then got drab, and is now heading toward pretty again. Also: A new web design tool helps developers take a more visual approach.

You know it. You have mixed feelings about it. And there’s a chance you might work in one.

We’re talking about the cubicle, of course—that bastion of office space that has been ripe for parody for decades but certainly isn’t immune to change.

Whether you have warm feelings about your cube or want to smash it to bits like Office Space character Peter Gibbons (in the clip above), now’s a good time to reflect on the office cubicle, which turns 50 this year.

Check out Inc.com‘s gallery of where the cube has gone and where it’s going. It didn’t start out so drab and uninspiring, and it’s getting a little less so these days. How do you feel about your cube?

A Mind-Blowing Design Tool

Your web developers may push pixels all day, but generally that’s meant typing in lots of code rather than creating visual layouts in the vein of Photoshop. Expect that to change soon with the release of the new design app Macaw. Version 1.0 launched on Monday, almost five months after a beyond-successful Kickstarter drive raised more than $275,000, when only $75,000 was sought.

The app is something of the holy grail for web design—it allows you to lay content out visually (like Adobe’s Photoshop or InDesign) but doesn’t add extraneous HTML in the process. The app will set designers back $179 per copy, but a demo is available.

Other good reads

What does the 1814 Congress of Vienna have to do with South by Southwest (SXSW) conference? According to Event Manager Blog‘s Jez Paxman, the events had a major impact on the way we hold meetings today.

If you ever wondered what it’s like to build and manage an organization in the Middle East, MCI Group’s Peter Turner offers up many, many data points.

A lot of people in Michigan are organ donors these days—and a big reason for that is a nonprofit’s change in strategy, according to Network for Good’s Melissa Raimondi.

Don’t let email become a crutch for your association’s marketing efforts, McKinley Advisors’ Tracy Talbot argues.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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