Birthday Gift for MacBU
Yesterday, as I walked from the dark parking garage to begin my day of work, I remembered that we were celebrating MacBU's 10th anniversary! The clouds were thinning and I looked around to see if perchance, the cloudy weather would abate, even a little bit for our big party. As I looked up I saw this:
Thrilled, I just had to find out who had created such a master piece of pixel art. I've tried my hand at building stuff like this, but the quality of this work was simply fantastic. I soon discovered that Joe LeBlanc, the very same that helped me earlier with my pixelated Apple logo and famous for the G4 Cube aquarium, was the mastermind behind the window decorations and birthday gift to MacBU. Joe along with Jessica Lambert and Matt Elggren (aka Mel) had arrived at our building at 6 AM in order to set this up, but the project was much more work than what happened this morning, so I took my trusty MacBook Pro and donned my reporter hat to interview all three about what it was like to do this, behind the scenes. What follows is the verbatim transcript of the interview.
David Weiss: What prompted you to do this?
Joe LeBlanc: I just wanted to give all of MacBU a gift, from my heart.
David: What time did you get here?
Joe: I picked up Mel at 5:45 AM, we all got here at 6:00 AM.
David: Wow, that's devotion.
Mel: You know, you do what you got to do.
David: How did you design it?
Joe: In Excel of course. (Editorial Note: Joe is on the Excel Test team.)
David: They really look great. So how did you start?
Joe: Well, I had the idea in January. I had seen other game themed block art before, I thought we could do it. I took our icons, scaled them down in Photoshop, then reduced the colors and made them blocky. I manually adjusted the blocks for inconsistencies and then brought them over to Excel.
David: Excel? How did you use Excel?
Joe: Easy. After having measured the windows and the size of the stickies,
David: What? Those are all stickies?
Joe: Yup.
David: How many?
Joe: 1300.
David: 1300, exactly?
Joe: 1336, actually. I used the COUNTIF function in Excel.
David: The wow is now! That's amazing! So what about Excel? How did you use Excel to design the presentation?
Joe: First I used conditional formatting, 1 being black, 0 being white to match what was sketched out in the Photoshop image. Then I realized I needed to flip it horizontally so it looked right from the outside of the building, so I switched the top corners, then used auto-fill from the outsides in, then top down.
David: I'm stunned. What next?
Joe: I did this for each of the icons, then the numbers, which I used Ariel, because it looked the best as a 13pt non-antialiased font. Then I formatted to print 1 icon for each page as a guide for each person. We had 3 people, so we each did 2 icons then helped each other finish the numbers.
David: Can others try this?
Joe: Sure, just use the Excel screenshots as your guide and send us a link to a picture of your icon art!
David: Using stickies for internal marketing seems remarkably fiscally responsible. Was that part of your thinking?
Joe: Naturally we try to make the best use of our resources at hand.
David: Mel, how do you feel about this experience?
Mel: I was just happy to be along for the ride. It was a thrill! I was up until 1 AM. I couldn't sleep because of the excitement! I always wanted to know what it was like to be a video card, and well, now I know.
David: Jessica, what was the hardest part of all this?
Jessica: Getting up in the morning! I was here at 6 AM. That's early! We got here and I couldn't believe there were other people awake this early! Seriously, I'm short, so I was using a chair and I fell of it. But I'm okay.
David: No workman's comp claims in the wings?
Jessica: Oh no, I'm just fine. So beside the vertical challenges, it was hard to keep everything in a straight line. After doing a few icons, we went outside to see how it looked and we had to raise my icons a pixel, but that wasn't too hard, just took one from the bottom and moved it to the top.
David: Joe, as the master mind behind all this, were you nervous?
Joe: Actually, I had a nightmare that I showed up late and the guys that were here to help me were William H. Macy and the guy that plays Mac in the Mac vs. PC commercials. Mr. Macy was just being a jerk and messing up everything and it ended up in complete disaster. Then I woke up. I felt good knowing that the worst possible outcome had already happened in my dreams, so I knew it would go well.
David: Okay. So, what was it like working early in the morning?
Joe: It was interesting. Some folks got here while we were not yet finished and would look up at us working on the icons and just smile. Others would just look down at the ground and not even notice. When we were outside taking pictures and making sure it looked pixel perfect, some people would ask, "What's that?" and "I see a Messenger icon, but what's the other stuff?" Someone else asked "What is QWIPX?"
David: The MacBU shares the building with a bunch of Microsoft's main IT staff, what do you think they think about all this?
Joe: Well, I think they're used to it. I mean, they've had to see all our Think Different posters when they walk in each day. We get along just fine.
David: What was the biggest technical challenge?
Joe: Color was hard. We could find blue, yellow, green and pink stickies in the storage room, but we needed purple and orange for Entourage and PowerPoint. Jessica bought a couple of packages of purple and orange, but to get the right effect we had to dither the different colors in those logos. So color was a challenge, but I’d say keeping things straight was harder.
David: So what does the future hold?
Joe: I don't know. We are going to have to come up with something even cooler when we ship Office 2008.
David: I can't wait.
Joe: Neither can I.
Comments
Anonymous
February 07, 2007
It turned out great, Joe! Nice job :)Anonymous
February 07, 2007
What an awesome birthday gift, Joe! :DAnonymous
February 07, 2007
Congratulations, guys! Really nice looking - m4D 3xc3l p1x3l sk1llz !!1one!11!!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Very nice, Joe. So I notice nobody tried coordinating with the SVC team down in Mountain View, CA (the pictures are of the MacBU building up in Redmond, WA). I'd guess that your split personality (MacBU's) might sometimes leave one side or the other "out of the picture". Maybe someone down there will take up the challenge, and come up with their own 10-year memorial? (Nadyne, have a go!) Wouldn't it be impressive to have something appear in both locales? Or is that something best left to software builds?Anonymous
February 07, 2007
HA! Nicely done. Extra props on the dithering... that was a nice touch.Anonymous
February 07, 2007
That was cool! Looked like some fun. Good Job!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
That's great, guys... but I still don't understand what excel was needed for...wasn't it all feasible within photoshop? bye!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Very Cool!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
I'm normally bashing Microsoft over the agonies imposed on Windows users but you guys make up for it! Happy Anniversary. And STAY DIFFERENT TOO!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Paul - Some of us down here in SVC are already in talks about what we can do around launch that might top this ...Anonymous
February 07, 2007
"That's great, guys... but I still don't understand what excel was needed for...wasn't it all feasible within photoshop?" Couple reasons:
- Easier to print things out with a grid. Knowing how many pixels are in a column of row is handy when you're putting them up. I could have done a grid by hand in PS, but it wouldn't have been as flexible.
- Counting. I could quickly get a count of how many notes we needed, even when the design changed.
- Managing a larger document. Since there were a total of 10 pages, working with excel was easier to get nice printouts for everyone to reference. I did all of the design in Photoshop ahead of time pixel-by-pixel zoomed in to 1000% with the pencil tool and eyedropped in B/W, the final step was just transfering it to Excel. It appears that Nadyne is upping the ante for launch time, we're going to have to get creative up here.
Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Now if only they had more shades of stickies so you could do antialiasing...or better yet- transparent stickies! SighAnonymous
February 07, 2007
Trully thinking different. "Wow" that's all I can say :))) Great work, it looks really cool, maybe the icons could stay in place for longer time ;)Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Nice work.... coming from Redmond. hehe Congrats on 10 years!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Congratulations. Long live the Macintosh Business Unit!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
wow. that interview reads exactly like something out of douglas coupland. props to him, and to you alpha-nerds at the mac buAnonymous
February 07, 2007
Wonderful. Were I not already a married woman, I'd propose to all three of you.Anonymous
February 07, 2007
that is seriously coolAnonymous
February 07, 2007
To those few good men and weman in Microsoft: Great job!!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
One more sticky and it would've been truly 1337!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Maybe you can top this for Office 2008 by doing the same things with icons that are, you know, actually attractive. No offense, honestly, and I admire your work on the stickynote project, but I've never liked these icons. The Office icons from the earlier Mac versions, and most of the Windows versions, have all looked better to me.Anonymous
February 07, 2007
The Sistine Chapel ceiling has nothing on Microsoft's (Mac BU's) windows :) nicely done! Apple should have done something like this for the 10th anniversary of the return of Steve...Anonymous
February 07, 2007
RESPECT! Congrats!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Happy birthday, guys! You make great software and you must promise to spin off Mac BU as an independent company the day Microsoft decides to make your lives hard, you are too good for them. The icons are way cool. Keep up the good work, we are all looking forward to Office 2008.Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Nice work! Dugg!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Wow!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
You guys are totally cool,and HAppy Birthday... tomAnonymous
February 07, 2007
Happy Birthday MBU! Best of wishes for the next ten years!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Very cool!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Congrats!!Anonymous
February 07, 2007
Happy Birthday MacBU! Well done! That's fantastic! Now I need to think of something as awesome for 10 years of MacBU in Ireland (after all, we've worked with you since the very beginning!) Or wait, for 2008 launch, let's all get together: Redmond, SVC, Japan, China and Ireland and do something truly different! With lasers! Seen from space! (Ok... come back eric, you're dreaming again! need more sleep! zzzzzz!) ;)Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Wow...Congratulations.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Wow...Congratulations.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
My compliments and appreciation. It has been a good partnership for all and I hope it continues. We are all headed in the same direction and come from the same terrain. As a long time Mac user, i appreciate the efforts of the MBU and Microsoft.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Happy birthday y'all! The design looks great and well executed. Now get to work on VBS in the new Office. :)Anonymous
February 08, 2007
auguries at only microsoft division that works well! think differents! :DAnonymous
February 08, 2007
Two questions that show my out-of-touch-ness:
- What's SVC?
- Any chance you could give me a tiny bit more detail as to how to turn a lo-res pixel drawing from Photoshop into an Excel spreadsheet? I'm afraid I'm not enough of a power-user of Excel to know where to even start! Very cool. Happy Birthday!
Anonymous
February 08, 2007
heh heh. if any of you had invested your time in the ansi scene instead of squandering it in warez during your youth, you could've just done that by eye.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Y que cumpláis muchos mas! Many more years to come people!Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Congrats! Very cool work!Anonymous
February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
Good Job! and Happy Birthday~ ^_^Anonymous
February 08, 2007
This is one of the most brilliant ideas I ever seen in marketing. Little budget, big ideas. Stay thinking different !!! M.B., ItalyAnonymous
February 08, 2007
so close! it really should have taken 1337 stickies, not 1336.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Thanks for the lesson idea (how to sell Excel to design students....)Anonymous
February 08, 2007
That's so cool! Everyone I've ever met with the Mac BU has been a real pleasure to work with and a powerful counter-example to the "MS is evil" meme. Rock On.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
John - SVC is our Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, CA. Roughly half of us are here.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Joyeux anniversaire !!!!!!!!Anonymous
February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
Thanks for helping the Mac on the business side to perform as well as it does.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
Congrats Guys Looking forward to trying out the UB version of Office (fingers crossed) later this year.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
As always, Microsoft's icons are heavily pixelated, compared to Apple's smooth ones. ;) But seriously, guys; thanks for ten years of great Mac software. Here's to another ten!Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Thanks guys, happy anniversary.Anonymous
February 08, 2007
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February 08, 2007
Thank u guys for ur greeeeeeat softwears on mac and also those niiiiiiiiice icons :)Anonymous
February 08, 2007
Have you guys took it down? The beak of '1' could use one more sticky notes. That's number 1337 for ya!Anonymous
February 09, 2007
Woof! With Excel as their favourite graphics app after 10 years of Mac development, you might hope what the coming 10 years will bring us in Office 2008.Anonymous
February 09, 2007
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February 09, 2007
I think the use of 1336 stickies is wonderfully understated. 1337 would've been far too predictable and obvious. This says, "We could've gone there... but we don't need to." Well played, team MacBU. Well played. Total rock stars.Anonymous
February 11, 2007
I truly fail to see why we should be getting so excited over Microsoft, a company that has dropped every single Macintosh product they have EVER made for the Mac except for Microsoft Office -- and they are withdrawing Microsoft Office support rapidly on a daily basis. For example, VBA was the first thing to go in the upcoming Microsoft Office 2008. The next thing to go will be the Office suite altogether. Folks, let us not forget that Microsoft always has been and always will be the enemy. They are not our friends!Anonymous
February 11, 2007
Hi ! How can I be on the beta list of Office 2008 ? Txs a lot and best regardsAnonymous
February 12, 2007
I thank you for your good job. Long life to MacBU. Ghislain, switched to Mac at 4 years ago.Anonymous
February 12, 2007
Top marks to you all for this inspired bit of low-tech creativity! Oh, and for all your hard work with that software stuff as well. ;-) MacUser Magazine's Technical Editor salutes you. Moof!Anonymous
February 14, 2007
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February 15, 2007
The only time I've been to Microsoft in Redmond was for a Distance Learning standards meeting. I fully expected to see evidence of the Evil Empire, and suffered cognitive dissonance when the hallways were full of 'think different' and Macs. Our meeting was in the MacBU building - not what I expected on my visit to Microsoft. daveAnonymous
February 18, 2007
Happy Anniversary. Can't wait for Office '08!!!!!Anonymous
February 20, 2007
...You guys are truly 'insanely great'! I really can't wait for Office '08... well, especially Excel – I'm sure it will be one of the finest Mac apps EVER! (sorry, but I'm just addicted to Excel... on a Mac – more than ever) Kudos!Anonymous
February 21, 2007
Agreed a nice gift, but if you'd spent all that time making sure that Office 2008 had VBA included you might not all be out of a job in a year or so...Anonymous
February 22, 2007
You guys are the best. Congrats on 10 years, and for all our sakes, keep up the great work!Anonymous
February 22, 2007
Doens't anyone else notice that the X for Excel is a pixel off?Anonymous
February 22, 2007
I have used and loved Word on the Mac since 1985. I even loved version 6. I got my first Mac in August 1984, when all there was for the Mac was the first, RAM-based version of MacWrite, which allowed you to write a document that was all of three pages long. Then came Word 1.0, which was disc-based, and the doc-size limit was a megabyte. I'll keep buying Office for the Mac as long as they keep putting it out. And the icon thing was brilliant. Which guy is Joe and which one is Mel? Jessica, I figured out on my own.Anonymous
February 22, 2007
Happy Birthday MacBU...I (we) are with you every step of the way.. TylerAnonymous
February 22, 2007
PD: Jessica, Mel, Joe (The tag on the second to last photo sorta gives it away)Anonymous
February 22, 2007
It was really a great challenge, and you stepped up to the plate and smacked it out of the park. The Mariners need folks like you!Anonymous
February 27, 2007
"Doens't anyone else notice that the X for Excel is a pixel off?' Yes, we noticed that right away and fixed it. Moving them up one pixel is surprisingly easy, I'll leave it up to you to figure out why and how. :)Anonymous
February 28, 2007
I'm dieing to see more posts. I click on your Blog daily and cry myself to sleep on those lone nights with no updated Mac Mojo entries :(Anonymous
March 06, 2007
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/03/05/mac.users.test.subjects/ We will remember our fallen of 97....Anonymous
March 06, 2007
In my own personal protest of today's major story , this entry was created on my Windows Mobile phoneAnonymous
March 20, 2007
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May 15, 2007
As previously announced, and as indicated by the lower frequency in blogcasting here, everyone at MacBUAnonymous
August 28, 2007
The MacBU is excited to announce a new user-generated community site, Art of Office . Art of Office isAnonymous
January 14, 2008
We love bringing you the official blog of the Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) so you can read and discuss