Thanks Mark!

Well, I'm off for a few days to where the internet don't shine. So in advance, thanks to anybody who thanks the crew responsible for this site.

Get ready for next year. Should be fun.

Armin,

Bravo for putting SpeakUp together, and maintaining it. You're inspiring. So are the authors and visitors, whose posts I read each morning, noon, and night.

Keep up the good work, everyone. Cheers.

I'd like to nominate Tan as SUpper (super?) of the year.

There are a number of authors and contributers that i have become very fond of. Also, There are a handful of people that their absence has pained me. For that very same reason i'm glad at the more frequent sightings of Sam and Kiran.

I am frequently surprised and enlightened by the unique voices of experience, intelligence and humor. So, thank you all for your time and consideration.

Through it all Mr. Tan Le is a force to be reckoned with. He posts frequently, doggedly and always with enormous heart and incredible knowledge. If i could cast my vote in only one place where i thought it would do some good then i cast it here: Mr. Le. props to you and your spirit.

'Propers' to Armin for starting the site, and gathering a great community unto it.

Nicely done.

eric -- I was just about to recognize your contribution to SU's intelligence. The language in your writings never ceases to amaze and entertain me. As does your scathingly, razor-sharp wit.

SU is like a giant cocktail party. Conversations can be wickedly interesting, or dreadfully banal. I constantly find myself circling the crowd around your insightful, honest postings, eric. You're never fake -- always tactful, but never fake.

Speaking of tact, I also have to give a nod to Bradley. Your postings are incredibly deep -- I don't know how you find time to be so introspective and thorough about your thoughts. I also admire the fact that you stand by your convictions and opinions, no matter how unpopular they may be. It takes guts to throw it all out on the table.

A Michael Corleone man-kiss to both you thugs.

speak up is by no means perfect and for that i thank everyone involved.

i hope in the near future that everyone involved starts to think beyond (both literally and philosophically) their own shores. this is one of the main things that prevents speak up from being almost essential, i feel.

but anything that garners a reaction like this (from gerald lange, in the futurism thread)-"terrorists will destroy the web and we will be done with all this nonsense"-must be doing something right.

big up, one love.

Props to Armin and Byrony!

Props to the Speak Up crew.

Speak Up has become part of my morning routine, large black coffee, bagel (no cream cheese) and Speak Up.

Thanks for filling in those moments that I have nothing to do and taking me away from important projects at inopportune times.

Armin,

Great job!! Being my first year as a Junior Designer I have found Speak Up to be an excellent resource to educate my naive and fresh design mind. I have learned so much since I first started visiting this site and plan on learning so much more in the new year!

p.s. I wear the Speak UP Tee with a head held high!

Congrats!

In Casey Casem style it would be interesting to see a top 10 topic countdown from the year. What posts were the most popular by number of comments?

To: Armin and Tan

From: *Christopher

A Quote:

"Skills... to pay the bills

Skills ya'll skills ya'll to pay the bills

What skills money money

What skills makin' makin' makin' money

What skills ya'll gotta pay the bills

Mario C he's paid the bills

Mike D you know I pay the bills

ADRock yea let's pay the bills..."

To: Marian

From: *Christopher

Your talent with the pen and the brush astounds me. I am so excited about the pseudo-Beardsley-esqe acorn that I just can't hide it.

To: Everyone Else

From: *Christopher

SU reprazent! Thanks for the great conversations and lost production hours. I'll never get that time back nor would I want to.

*c

Well, if I start singling people out, I'm bound to forget someone and then have to backtrack. However, of course, King Armin gets my undying gratitude and abject worship for pulling this off. We all know how much time it takes to read and post; I can't imagine how Armin does it, but I'm glad he does.

When I first discovered this site, I was afraid to post because of the intelligence and talent of this community. Thanks for not drumming me out of town, everyone. And thanks for keeping the party going.

Armin,

Your time, thinking and effort are appreciated. To all others that have taken time to share this year - thanks.

Michael

mad props to guys.

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY

Tan--

I think you just made my day, thanks for the thoughtful comment--indeed, hearing it from you just gives it that much more value.

Armin--

Truly, this site is one of the greatest things the design/communication profession could hope for and everyone who comes here, be it to read or to post, contributes to that process. It's rare to find ANYTHING these days that encourages and celebrates the individual and human achievement, so the more visibility the site gets, the better it is for all of us.

I fit into the category of "quiet observer" but I'm also an avid fan and admirer of all the writers and this site. I first got hooked on it when the discussion on the AIGA National conference came about and I've been coming back for more ever since. So, HUGE props to all of you that put your ideas, thoughts and opinions out there and of course the gang that runs the site. It's a great forum for design discussion and I love being inspired every time I visit. (The topic on holiday self-promos even forced me to churn out a christmas egreeting this year.)

Thank you Speak-up. One year with you is worth more than my four years in Art School.

It may be the holidays — or the fact that I just spent eight long hours getting from Mexico's overcrowded airport to Chicago's equally overcrowded airport — but I am very, very moved by all the comments above. I am especially glad that some of you have given some major props to other Speak Up contributors. And in that spirit I will do the same, if I miss anybody it's not on purpose.

Bryony: we tend to kid around about THE wife status but I have to say that Speak Up would not exist without you, you are my constant inspiration and motivation.

Tan: you seriously rock man. Without you Speak Up will not be the same, you bully but at the same time you teach — I certainly enjoy the bullying but I am always amazed how willing you are of taking the time to write in day in and day out and share all of your hard-earned knowledge.

Debbie: I am eternally grateful, you were one of the first to believe not only on the site but in me and that is part of what has driven me.

Marian: What can I say? You are definitely the strangest, weirdest, most intriguing, fascinating and most gramatically correct member of Speak Up. And you say fuck a lot, which is cool.

Sam: Dude, people miss your contributions. I miss them. We need you yo!

Kiran: hotdamn slacker! When you comin' back? You are still one of the few original authors from when nobody cared about us.

Bradley: you are one sick, sick, perverted man. In a good way. I love your ramblings.

Griff and Rebecca: twice you got on my (our) ass and kept Speak Up going in the right direction.

M Kingsley: I still haven't figured you out, I never know what the hell you are going to say and even when you say it I am not sure what you mean. And I am glad your dropped the Mr and Ms thing… and when you called Marian honey, that was cool.

pk: you make me laugh the hardest.

Su: I don't think I've ever told you, but if it wasn't for you I would probably not be blogging. Remember? You invited me to join Typographica as an author and forever hooked me on blogging — heck, I even asked you if you were a guy or a girl. And you make me keep my code as straight as possible.

Joy: your constant support has been amazing. And the sponge bob ladden envelopes with the Open Space images are always a sure bet to get me in a good mood.

Design Maven: you are one scary… um, maven. I tremble when I see your name at the beggining of a comment. Thanks for taking the time to write so much.

Graham: you are swifter than the wind, more important than the future and funnier than eddie izzard.

Ok, my fingers are getting kind of tired, but you get the idea… I truly, deeply appreciate the time everybody here puts on the site. I am constantly surprised by the willingness everybody has in sharing. So, to everybody: THANKS.

Con

gratulations

&

Than

q

(we all used to be funnier... and we shall be funnier again...)

I have only been exploring this board for about 2 days, but I have spent hours on it in those 2 days. Intelligent but accesible discourse on design issues is shockingly hard to find on the 'net, and here I have found it. So far its great, so I am premptively thanking all the contributors for some great thought provoking reading.

Also since I couldn't manage to get into Tomato's visiting studio at school this past semester, its nice to see Graham Wood on here so now I don't feel like I totally missed out.

In my brief relationship with Armin, Speak Up and all the fine people who participate in the SU experience, I have felt...

acceptance, affection, agitated, amazed, ambitious, amused, anger, animosity, annoyed, anticipation, anxiety, appreciative, apprehensive, aroused, ashamed, astonished, awed, bewildered, biased, bitter, bliss, boastful, never bored, calm, camaraderie, cautious, cheerful, cocky, collected, comfortable, compassionate, concerned, confident, confused, contemplative, contempt, cowardly, crafty, crazy, cruel, crummy, crushed, curious, cynical, defensive, dejected, delighted, delirious, denial, never depressed, desire, determined, devastated, never disappointed, disgust, disheartened, always distracted (from my work), distressed, dopey, down, eager, ecstatic, embarrassed, emphatic, enigmatic, enraged, enthusiastic, envy, euphoric, excited, exhausted, expectation, exuberance, fascinated, fear, flabbergasted, foolish, frazzled, frustrated, fulfilled, furious, goofy, grateful, gratified, greedy, grief, grouchy, grudging, guilty, happy, hate, heartbroken, hopeful, horrified, hostile, humored, hyper, hysterical, indignation, infatuation, infuriated, inner peace, innocent (hardly), inspired, interest, intimidated, introspective, invidious, irate, irritated, jaded, jealousy, joy, kind, lazy, never left out, liberated, lively, loathsome, never lonely, longing, love, loyal, lust, mad, mean, melancholy, mellow, mercy, merry, miserable, morbid, needed, needy, nervous, obscene, very obsessed, offended, optimistic, outraged, overwhelmed, pacified, pain, paranoia, passion, pathetic, peaceful, pessimistic, pity, playful, pleasure, possessive, pride, puzzled, rage, relief, remorse, resentment, resignation, resolved, sadness, scared, Schadenfreude, scorn, selfish, shame, shocked, sincere, speechless, solemn, sorry, spirited, stressed, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, surprised, sympathetic, thankful, thrilled, tired, troubled, trust, uncertainty, unhappy, vicious, warm, weary, worn-out, worried, worthless, yearning, zeal...

from the bottom of the heart and the front of the mind, thank you.

I have found this place to be a refuge of sorts - when I am feeling like no one else in the world looks at design, life the way I do -I come here, and discover, well, that there is a lot to learn - and you all have wonderfully different takes on almost everything. But, the opportunity to have this discourse is great. I thank you for the hard work, for the amazing and thoughtful topics, for the fun ideas and for bringing many things to my (our) attention!!

May next year rock even more.

congratulations to everyone on their contributions, opinions, thoughts, quips, and ideas!

we're lucky to have SU!

I look forward to more intelligent and not-so intelligent design discourse in 2004!

Armin --

You rock too bro. This place you've made is like the office we all wish we worked in. Day in, day out -- I don't know how you manage to do so much and make it look effortless. I'm just a grateful guest in your amazing house.

Peace and love in the new year to you and the missus...and yes, a man-kiss to you too.

Hi guys. I'm a design student, and a kind of quiet observer of this site, but I just wanted to thank the powers-that-be for keeping it running. It's great-looking, for one. It's also helped me sound pseudo-informed on several occasions in class. It gets my brain going. Have a good new year. I'll be reading...

I would like to thank all that have been a part of SU this year! Big ups to Tan and Armin who, in their busy schedules, invited this native Texan to dinner in Seattle!

To all who contribute here:

Huge thanks for making Speak Up what it is, and for continuing to make it into even more. From the largest, most obvious contributions (Armin) to the smallest (you, who only posted once when somebody got you so riled up you had just had to comment), Speak Up benefits greatly from the voices and visions of everyone (hundreds of people? thousands?) who takes part.

I have come to rely on Speak Up to help keep me informed, critical, honest, inspired, and in some ways even sane. Thanks for all of that.

May you all have a very happy and prosperous 2004. See you back here.

Thanks Brady, that was… it was, um, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. That was like a month's worth of big words, I usually try to spread them out evenly so that I appear knowledgeable and smart.

I don't use flabbergasted as much as I would like though…

This place is like a drug.. the high grade stuff, too. I crave it at that level....... and dammit I am happy about it!

HUGE props to the back-end crew and all the writers, daily contributors and occasional commentors, too. I just lovel hearing all the viewpoints... from students to design icons.

Rock on in 2004!

To my dear Armin: thank you for being such a good moderator, such a great sounding board (no pun intented) and such a kind and generous friend to me.

And by the way, I will always believe in you.

To all the readers, writers and posters: Thank you for making this such a special place. It really is home for us, isn't it?

I love this site! Armin and others have really created something special with SU. It provides insight into the knowledge and feelings of the design community on a relatively open and level playing field. In many ways, it is the fulfillment of the promise the Web has always tried, but infrequently succeeded, to offer.

I'm currently reading The Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra (who spoke at the recent AIGA conference in Vancouver). Here's a section of a pargraph, on page 83, that I think is appropriate to SU.

"These networks of communications are self-generating. Each communication creates thoughts and meaning, which give rise to further communications, and thus the entire network generates itself--it is autopoiesic [self-sustaining and adaptive]. As communications recur in multiple feedback loops, they produce a shared system of beliefs, explanations, and values--a common context of meaning--that is continually sustained by further communications."

In other words, Speak Up can be defined and understood as a self-regenerating, adaptive living system embodied within an online social network. How cool is that?!?

Kudos to all actively or passively involved!

Steven, that is very cool. I also started reading that book right before the conference in Vancouver (couldn't make myself finish it though) and actually thought the same thing when I came across that quote, or a similar one. And the cool thing indeed, is that I never thought "Oh, I'll create a self-generating network and…" it just happened. It is very cool to see it happen. And naturally so.

Sorry so late.

Armin — great work and congratulations. I've recently opened up a job number at work for Speak Up so my time sheets don't have such huge gaps.

Authors, contributors and readers — you should be proud of the individual discussions as well as the amazing archive of information and opinion. Everyone here makes Speak Up what it is.

better late than never, I always say.

let me chime in: I love Speak Up.

Thanks to everyone for making me think and work harder, even when I don't feel like it.

Really, we make people work harder?

Sounds like someone found Jesus.

while procrastinating more.

and felix,

you know I found Jesus and you said I could keep him.

> while procrastinating more.

Nothing wrong with a little procrastination. Just file it under R & D.

absa-fuckiing-lutely.

(and really Armin, Speak Up is awesome.)