I've been following @yongfook for about a year. I don't think there's any formal connection between him and 37 Signals, though he seems to be an enthusiastic, open student of business/design/UX, frequently linking to and sharing thoughts about things he finds interesting, including 37 Signals stuff (and Ogilvy and art and food...).
I agree that the shopping experience is extremely close to that of 37 signals, but given that the thing he's selling (URL shortener + analytics + campaign/goal monitor) is unrelated to any current 37 Signals products, it doesn't feel "too close" or disingenuous to me.
Also, he's the primary developer of the open source activity stream/ blogging tool Sweetcron, so there's another reason I give him the benefit of the doubt. He seems to have a healthy respect for the creative process.
Those reasons are exactly why I wanted to inquire about him being connected with 37s as opposed to "calling him out" for being a "copy-cat". I've seen his work on Sweetcron (which is really cool) and Peashoot looks like it would be very useful as well.
Yeah.. it looks heavily borrowed, but I think as long as it isn't an exact copy you can't really hate on that: things done well are bound to be copied in any discipline.
meh. people look to 37's designs for inspiration frequently. so the sites look similar. i could probably find another handful that also look similar. hell, i could find tutorials on how to make your site look like 37s and articles on why their pricing table is a good one to replicate.
Doubt it, but does it really matter that Egg-co took inspiration from 37signals designs?
Of course I'm not saying people should blatantly copy another companies designs, but that I don't see why people should ignore perfectly good concepts (i.e. the way the mid-range plan sticks out) from other companies designs, just for the sake of it…that just seems like an awful way of spending your day, "umm okay, so how can we make this information look as good as this, without it actually looking like this?"
Peashoot looks amazing. I'm a marketer and can't wait to give it a try.
However I'm also a 37s customer, as are millions of other non-hackers out there. I can say without reservation that the design similarities between Peashoot and the 37s suite of products crosses the line. If you have good ideas, you shouldn't need to dress them up to look like another company's products. It sends the wrong message to your customers, most importantly, but it's also bound to generate bad karma between you and other professionals in your space.
I should have said, 'what is more important is what it tries to deliver', which is different.
But yeah, its UI feel and some layouts take inspiration from 37s more closely.
For me, this app though more than technology implementation choices is an example of business ingenuity.
Good concept, good market aim, running early, clear message and value.
It can stay alive through its analysis skills. Analysis of how to deliver clearly and enjoyably valauable information through good design and clever choices of ideas (not merely technologies).
Isn't that rather narrowly focused - campaign management for social media spammers just seems like a limited market. Or is that bigger than I realized?
Open them in two tabs and click back and forth. Is there any connection between YongFook and 37s?