Excuses, Excuses

Despite the temptations of ever-warming weather, I had to throw most of my free time towards a new presentation for An Event Apart and @media last week, and on a gameplan for teaching in the fall. Well, that and sometimes I just don’t have much of anything to say. Rather than drop posts on here that I don’t care about, I decided to take a few weeks away from this site to recharge.

The New Stuff

Last week, along with six other lucky souls, I was elected to the AIGA/NY Board of Directors. I’m seriously humbled to be asked, and also very excited to work with the local community of designers. I’m already brainstorming some interesting activities and events I can help organize, but if you’re a designer in NY and there’s something you want to see, drop me a line.

In case you’ve missed it, I’ve been working alongside the talented group at Small Batch on a new service called Typekit. We’ve been working with type designers and foundries to bring real fonts to the web, in a legal way that benefits everyone. This promises to be big fun. Follow along with the blog and Twitter for updates, or sign up and we’ll let you know when it’s live.

Lastly, somewhat thematically related, look for a long-teased type-related side project of mine to be launched in the coming weeks. Until then, I’m going to get back in the saddle and on to some more regular updates.

“

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

”

—Douglas Adams, March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001

It was my pleasure to be interviewed last night by Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney, two self-proclaimed extremely passionate design students from the Savannah College of Art & Design, for their Read Between the Leading podcast. We had a nice chat about where I got my start, from school to my first job, and a good bit about the state of web design and where we’re headed.

Thanks very much to Aaron and Matt for having me on! Be sure to check out a few of the past episodes with some of my favorite designers: Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio of UnderConsideration, Stephen Coles of Typographica, John Boardley from ILoveTypography, Mark Simonson, and Antonio Carusone of AisleOne.

You can listen (or download) my interview from the site. Enjoy!

The rule of thirds and ratios such as the golden section are fantastic methods for achieving designs that feel cohesive. The problem is these principles don’t really apply to web design.

Golden Ratio: When the ratio between two numbers is the same as the ratio of the sum of those numbers and the larger number. Basically, a+b is to a as a is to b. Also referred to as the “divine proportion” from its frequent occurrence in nature.

Rule of Thirds: Imagine your canvas divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. By placing important elements along a divider lines or at their intersections, you can create interest, energy, and tension.

I seem to be getting into many conversations lately on the merits of keeping a sketchbook. Almost everyone agrees they are a good idea, but surprisingly few actually do it. The excuse I hear most often from non-sketchers is “I can’t draw”. And now I’ll tell you what I told them:

Sketchbooks are not about being a good artist, they’re about being a good thinker.

Obviously, some people bring the practice of sketching to a higher art form, but to me it’s always been about visual brainstorming and record-keeping in a format with a ridiculously low barrier to entry. My drawings look like shit, but fidelity doesn’t matter as long as I can convey my ideas to others or to my future self.

We should revel in not caring how good or bad we are, and by knowing that our means for thinking has improved with each stroke of our pencils. The point is to keep doing, it’s how you get stuff done. And most certainly how you get better.

I’m trying to get myself into the habit of filling up a page or so a day. Sometimes this might just be a list of thoughts, other times it’s a drawing or bunch of thumbnails. I don’t care if practice makes me perfect, I’m happy if practice keeps me competent.

In the spirit of awareness, I’ve set up a Flickr group for this very purpose. Post one, and only one, spread/page from your sketchbook. It’s always fun to see how everyone else’s mind works.

The view from my desk during the match.

For those uninitiated with Layer Tennis, the premise is simple: two players trade a Photoshop document back and forth, each player has 15 minutes to iterate on the previous “volley” however they see fit. The matches are played live on Friday afternoons, and people follow along and comment via Twitter. It really isn’t about winning or losing, which is determined by voting on Twitter, it’s more of a exercise in visual literacy and design constraints. Also, it’s just a game and a fun distraction on a Friday afternoon.

I’ve played once before (a Halloween-themed match with Brian Taylor), but damn if I still wasn’t a mass of nerves. Derek is very talented, and playing the game itself is like having 10 separate clients looking over your shoulder while you work on each of their projects simultaneously.

The thing about Layer Tennis is there are no guarantees. You can have two brilliant designers face off and end up with a really dull match. Sometimes the ideas just don’t come. Sometimes you can’t find that right image. Sometimes, most times, you just don’t have enough time. But that’s the fun part, you don’t have much time to think, you just have to go with your gut and act. 15 minutes is barely enough time to create something coherent, you’re extra lucky if you manage to make something interesting too. My favorite matches are ones where there is some meaty collaboration going on and the end result yields some sort of flow or narrative.

Strategies for Layer Tennis: A Cheat Sheet

Both times I’ve played I kept a little strategy cheat sheet to fall back on when I’m completely stuck or to shake up any mental blocks. Obviously, these aren’t the only options, this list is just a few things that work for the way I think. Combining a couple can prove extra effective:

1. Next/Prev panel: If the last volley were a panel in comic book, show what would be the next or previous panel.
2. Zoom In/Out: Zoom in or out of the last volley to reveal more of the story.
3. Embellish/Exaggerate: Take the last volley one step further, make it bigger or smaller, make it ridiculous or somber.
4. Disarm: If your opponent returns a particularly scathing attack, make fun of it find a way strip it of its power.
5. Deconstruct: Take apart the last volley, break it up into pieces, write the story of it, or show what’s inside.
6. Re-contextualize: Bring your opponent’s last volley into a new setting.

Back and Forth

Derek and I decided to do something a little different this time by playing the old bar game “three truths and a lie”, essentially playing a game within a game. Layer Tennis is already crazy stressful, and this turned up the volume by making us not only need to create visuals that carried a thread, but stories too.

Jim Coudal did the play-by-play and also decided to shake things up by doing audio (instead of the typically written) commentary for the match, and was later joined via phone by seasoned-commentator John Gruber. All of the experimentation turned out to be fun at times and severe monkey wrench at others. Have a look at each volley below, and be sure to click through to the commentary.

Volley 1 by Derek

Derek sets the rules of the match: We’ll both tell four stories, three will be true, and one will be a lie. Because we gave ourselves this new constraint, we agreed beforehand that the first and last volleys were reserved for setup and reveal, respectively. (spoilers follow)

Volley 2 by Jason

I dig out an old illustration of my hands I did eight years ago for a project that never happened, toss in a stock fish and scribble out some type very quickly. This really set the pace for everyone watching to start speculating on truth or lie. In no time at all, Andrew Glaser tracked down a photo of me on Flickr that revealed the truth.

Volley 3 by Derek

Derek fires back with a story about how he appears nude on a mural in Santa Cruz. He craftily ties it back to my previous volley by referencing The University of California publication Fish Rap Live, where he was an editor.

Volley 4 by Jason

Derek’s big image gave me just enough of a hook to carry into my next volley to reveal a seedy story from my school days: I nearly failed photography class, but barely managed to pass with some help from a friend. Before anyone calls my college, I should say it wasn’t cheating in the truest sense, I just had a lot of help. I picked up on Derek’s use of Univers Condensed to tell the tale, and emulated the view through a Polaroid viewfinder, a subtle self-jab to reference how awful I was in the darkroom with developing real film. I dropped in the film reel at the last moment to help people figure out where to start reading.

Volley 5 by Derek

The volley comes back with a story and photo of Derek’s (awesome) squid tattoo and implies he has another tattoo, potentially somewhere naughty. I wasn’t sure how this one played off of my last volley, possibly he was picking up on the idea of hiding something from those around you.

Volley 6 by Jason

Derek went minimal on volley 5, leaving me with little to work with. Cunning bastard! So I picked up on the visual of the squid to spin what turned out to be my lie. I did always wander off from my parents when I was little, but it never earned me a nickname. Regardless, this was a good excuse to use a squid on a map, which there are far too few opportunities to do. Derek left the door open for me to take a pretty heavy tonal shift, so I jumped on it, swash italics and all.

Volley 7 by Derek

Derek grabbed my image of the explorer, dropped a torch in his hand, put it on top of a photo of a bonfire, and holy crap Derek carried an Olympic torch! This was my favorite of Derek’s volleys, both for the story and use of the previous volley’s artwork.

Volley 8 by Jason

I’ll be honest here, I backed myself into a corner because I already told my lie. I had to tell a truth this time and I spent 8 of my 15 minutes working on one that didn’t pan out. I quickly had to put together something else and the tie to the last volley wasn’t as strong. It’s a good story though, and I managed to bring in the Gotham Bold Italic and steer it back to the idea of fire. I quickly scanned in some scribbles and tossed it on top of the photo (note: it’s not a photo of me or my date) to hide my weepy face.

Volley 9 by Derek

Derek grabbed the paper texture and scribbles from my last volley and picked up on the theme of fire. This is my favorite story of the match. His mom didn’t care that he nearly burned down their house. And someone let this guy carry the Olympic torch!

Volley 10 by Jason

Just as the first layer was the setup for the game within a game, layer 10 was reserved for the reveal. Because of this, I didn’t feel the need to heavily reference previous volleys, but I brought back the ref from the coin toss and volley 1 to serve as our (conveniently enough after the squids) eight-armed teller of truth. It looks like a simple enough presentation, but it was a pain clipping him out quickly, dropping in chunks of replacement background, and getting that shadow to work with all of his new appendages. I had this idea early in the match and it felt like the most natural way to end the game.

Post-Game Wrap-up

As was mentioned a few times in the commentary on the matches, there are many ways to carry over ideas from volley to volley, one is visually another is conceptually. Because of the added constraint of the “three truths and a lie” for this match, some of the volleys are more subtle in the ways they carry the narrative thread, which was an experiment with the nature of the game itself.

This match was a blast, and I’m honored to have gotten to play with a designers I’ve looked up to since I first got on the web. Thanks to Derek, Jim, John, the Ref, and all the great people at Coudal Partners!

Not the Same Old Story, SXSW Interactive, March 14, 11:30am

I’ll be moderating a panel exploring how people from different backgrounds tackle the problem of design and storytelling online. From the description:

If the web provides so many ways to connect with audiences, why are we all stuck telling the same story with our designs? Hear from a panel of storytelling experts on the importance of narrative and art direction online to break away from static and boring experiences.

I’m honored to be joined on the panel by some very talented folks:

• Nicholas Felton, feltron.com
• Daniel Burka, Creative Director, Digg/Pownce
• Emily Gordon, Editor-in-Chief, Print Magazine, Emdashes.com
• Ian Adelman, Design Director, NYMag.com

The Influencers, DOT DOT DOT, April 15

The upcoming Interaction Design Masters program at SVA is really building steam, and they’ve been giving back to the community with a free monthly lecture series called DOT DOT DOT. I’ll be giving a 10-minute talk on the night’s theme of “The Influencers” alongside Steve Heller and Hillman Curtis. Get details and RSVP for free here.

An Event Apart, Boston, June 22-23

I’ll only be at one An Event Apart this year, and luckily it’s during my birthday. I expect everyone in the audience to bring presents. Register with the promo code “AEAHCC” and save $100.

@media09, London, June 25-26

Later the same week as An Event Apart, I’ll be jetting over to London for @media and the need to fulfill some serious bangers and mash cravings.

Layer Tennis, February 27, 3pm NY time

Next week I’ll once again jump onto the tennis court to do battle. Last time was a wonderfully macabre Halloween-themed match, this time it’s just straight up pixels and brain cells against none other than Derek Powazek (commentator TBD). I’m definitely going to need to get lucky on this one.

My first job was as a dishwasher, a job title I’ve had at three separate times in my life. During high school I worked at a local restaurant where I washed dishes and did some light cooking. When I quit to attend college, the head cook lashed out with his wisdom, “Art?! As soon as there’s a war or recession, art will be the first thing to go. And when that happens, you’ll be right back here washing dishes. People will always need cooks.” The restaurant folded while I was away at college.

I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I drew constantly in my youth and quickly became one of those kids that was “good at art”. It was firmly planted in my head that I would go on to be a famous illustrator, probably drawing some of the most badass comic books around.

My family was nothing but supportive, regardless if they understood just what kind of things I wanted to create, they always conjured up interminable pride. I focused on doodling and pushed off the idea of how I’d actually make a living. I just kept telling myself that if I achieved a high enough level of skill, people would beat a path to my door.

“

Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

”

—Paul Rand

After nearly five years of working with some of the smartest and most caring people I’ve ever met, I’ve decided to leave Happy Cog.

This was a tough decision for me to make; everyone at Happy Cog is like family to me. I’ve learned a tremendous amount during my time on board, much of it just by watching and listening to how great people work. Jeffrey is one of the most creative guys around, and I’m thankful that he took a chance on me years ago.

Make no mistake, Happy Cog is the best company I’ve ever worked for. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work on a variety of great projects over the years, but it’s time for me to move on and try some new things.

Moving Forward

Luckily, I’m leaving on the best possible terms. I’ll still be working on A List Apart, speaking at An Event Apart from time to time, and maybe working on the occasional Happy Cog project, but from here on out I’m back in the freelance world. I’ve got a few projects in the works, including some interesting writing prospects, and will be taking on a few new consulting gigs.

To all of my friends and coworkers from the New York and Philadelphia Happy Cog offices, best of luck, I’ll miss working and learning with you every day.

For years people have declared that print is dead, but perhaps these are now its final days.

Nearly every morning you can find a new article about some publication closing up their print editions and moving solely over to the web. The failing economy is an easy direction to point the blame, but it’s likely just the last nail in the coffin.

It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The Christian Science Monitor and PC Magazine move to the tubes. The Tribune files for bankruptcy protection. Once great newsstands close as people get more of their news online. Google is digitizing books and now magazines too, bringing some of the last of the information onto this superhighway. These are some huge shakeups, but the “printed” word isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

So What?

All publications have websites already, so what’s remarkable about this? The web was supposed to be the savior for publications and their diminishing print readerships. The problem is, few have invested any real time or talent to make their websites even half as remarkable as their print editions. Most publishers seem satisfied to blindly dump their prized content into a lifeless shell of a site. Why should we give a damn about your site when you clearly don’t?

I’m pleased to be asked back to contribute to 24ways, the advent calendar for web geeks. A couple of years ago I wrote Cheating Color, a way to alter your color values to deal with perceived color shifts, and this year I wrote about Making Modular Layout Systems. This year’s article delves into one of the pieces behind making my site possible. By using a modular approach to handling images, I’ve setup a system that allows for quick and diverse layouts. This gives me the options I need to lay out articles in a way that’s appropriate to the content.

24ways also sports a slick new website this year, and the writing has been top notch as usual. Some favorites of mine so far are Richard Rutter’s Easier Page States for Wireframes, Jeremy Keith’s The IE6 Equation, and Mark Boulton’s Art Directing With Looking Room. Thanks and congrats to the 24ways team that made it all possible, Drew McLellan, Brian Suda, and Tim Van Damme.

I go to a website and read an article. Man, that was really great. I’d like to comment and ask the author a question. I scroll down… 384 comments. Ugh. Screw this.

This seems to happen more often these days. I only have so much available cognitive time I want to invest before participating in a conversation. The longer the amount of time, the greater chance I will give up. The problem is, this doesn’t relieve my desire to comment or ask a question, just my desire to participate. But there is a fine line between investment and work.

What’s the average reader to do when faced with a glut of comments that precede them? Is there a way to make comment threads more useful, and more usable?

Where We Are

Authors spend a good chunk of time and attention writing articles, but so little attention is given to the conversation that happens afterward. Most of the time readers are left to fend for themselves in a comment wasteland. As the comment count soars into the tens and hundreds for an article on a popular news or personal website, the chances of anyone reading both an article and the comments that follow before contributing plummet. This doesn’t stop people from commenting, but after a certain point, most people appear to be commenting blindly. They acknowledge they didn’t read all the previous comments. Sometimes they even apologize if they are raising a duplicate question or point. Doesn’t this just exacerbate the problem?

Hey, Over Here!

When I am reading a personal blog, I often look for highlighted comments from the author in a thread. If an author comments on his or her own post, it’s usually to respond to an important question or point raised in the ensuing conversation. When that author’s comments are highlighted, they form a natural series of milemarkers in the discussion; chances are if something important happened, the author came back to address it. Skimming through the author’s comments and the comments they reference gives you a quick image of the shape of the conversation.

Some sites also have systems that ask users to rate or vote up/down comments to let the good stuff rise to the top. But this is yet another task that requires more of the reader’s time. I rarely find these systems to be very useful because I scarcely find them ever actually being used. These ideas are overkill for most sites, but just as a site or community grows large enough to need a community manager, information can grow so massive that a means for organization is required.

Stop, Contextualize and Listen

What if we could take the idea of highlighting author comments a step further and set real milemarkers in comment threads? On most large sites, comment threads are followed by editors, authors, or community managers already. Any of these people could write milemarkers that summarize important parts of the conversation. In the same way a TV show can catch you up on the story with a 30 second recap, we can give people the important pieces of the conversation so that they can join in without having to read everything, thus bringing the conversation into context. And by intelligently linking the relevant parts of the comment recap, we give readers the ability to quickly get to the details of the comments being referenced.

Milemarker, 11:08am Dec 3, 2008 Rob W and Suzie Q asked if this was the same technique used last article. Chet answered yes and pointed out a similar technique by John Mango.

Obviously, this is a very simplistic example, but the idea could be very useful. In a thread of 200 comments, reading 10-20 or so blocks like this wouldn’t take very long at all. It could help us take steps towards contributing to the conversation in more informed ways. Yes, it’s idealist, but I feel we need to take steps to taming these huge lists of information. Good conversation can happen, but we need to give people the tools to make it a useful experience.

Summarizing

I don’t know if this is something that could be automated, or at least not yet. In the meantime, we could make some of our CMSs more assistive to approaches like this. Comment milemarkers like the above example could be sprinkled throughout a comment thread as the conversation requires. Perhaps they appear inline with other comments, or off to the side in an easily scannable setup. Those are really design problems tied more to how this could be applied, but the real goal would be to lower the barrier to entry a little. This isn’t a proposal to slight writers or commenters, or take an unearned shortcut, it’s a matter of having smarter conversations.

I can remember getting my domain back in 2000. I was just days away from graduation and hot on this “web design” whatsit after taking an intro class over the previous summer.

Warning! The following websites may contain logos of an animated nature and are not intended for young viewers.

Training Wheels

I finished my portfolio early and was already shopping my work around to get a job. The one agency where I really wanted to work was split evenly between print and web work, websites being a distinct missing feature from my all-print portfolio. I resolved to spend all of Christmastime “learning” Flash and getting a workable portfolio site online.

The personal branding I developed in school centered around the idea of a nerdy noir hitman of sorts: design for hire. I quickly set about abusing Flash like most first timers, spinning and scaling with little regard for my actions. The absence of a bitchin’ soundtrack was likely only due to time constrains. The end result somehow netted me the job I wanted and paved the way for later years of personal expression via the mighty pixel.

Preservatives

As embarrassing as it might be, I’m putting that old version (as well as my second site) online because I believe in trying to preserve the things we make. We all have the urge to redesign our websites every other month, but it’s heartbreaking to see old designs just vanish forever. The things we write are published with a specific design and context. When we change that, we break the context and alter the original qualities of that piece of work.

We haven’t had enough time to step back and see web design objectively. Will the work we’re doing have historical significance? Sure. Will it have historical significance in design? Probably. We won’t know for some time still. There are organizations like Archive.org/Wayback Machine that are doing a good job of capturing the web, but it’s still not quite there yet. For now, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for us to keep our own archives. It’s not perfect either, but it’s something.

Give Me Your Tired, Boring, and Assy

Have a first website you want to share? Better yet, if you’ve moved past your first website, put previous versions back online permanently for everyone’s benefit. Ya know, so we can all look back and laugh together.

The story so far

I’m posting about as often as I ever have here, mostly because I’m a fantastically wishy washy and slow writer. Writing takes up the lion’s share of my time on any given post, with design and code amounting to a comfortable reprieve. I’m admittedly being very conscious of how much time I spend on design so that I can see how viable this is for publishing. Consequently, my designs are fairly minimalistic (though I am very pleased with a few entries).

I’ve continued to improve little corners of the site since launching, usually resulting a quiet posting week here and there. I just finished upgrading some of my CSS and sIFR files, which consequently helped me simplify my publishing process.

I haven’t written about the technical side of how I’m creating this site because, not only is it pretty basic, but I’m also hesitant to suggest it as a technique alone. Meaning, it doesn’t matter how this site is made from a technical perspective, I’m much more interested in promoting the idea of considering how design can enhance content.

The story to come

I’ve noticed some of my designs feel limited by my writing. In the same way you typically hear your thoughts in your own voice, I visualize my writing in a particular way. I don’t think the design here is bad, but I have design ideas in mind that don’t really work with my writing. Because of this, I’m interested in getting some content conspirators involved so that I can design around some new voices.

I’m still brainstorming where to go with this idea—getting others to write content is difficult at best, and interviews can be a bit bland—but one approach I’m thinking of is somewhere between an article and an interview. For instance: asking guest authors to answer a single common question, something sorta wide open, that way it’s just a response on one topic rather than a typical interview setup. This will hopefully put low strain on contributors and still allow me to play with some new content. This is the natural end result of the real point, editorial design for context. Not just mine, but from contributors too.

I believe I can somewhat confidently say that what I’m experimenting with here could work for an industrious magazine or newspaper website. Obviously, this design is very much tied to me and what I’m using it for, but the theories and methods are extensible and feel sound. In the end, it isn’t supposed to be a design trick, or worse, a hindrance to publishing. It’s about finding the meaning of a story through design. This doesn’t always equate to anything more than competent design, but it should equate to visual languages that help make content more powerful.

The folks over at .net magazine (Practical Web Design in the states) profiled me in their last issue and were generous enough to let me post the PDF from the magazine here for download. Man, I really need to get a new photo.

Download PDF (400k)

But see, amid the mimic rout
  A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
  The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
  The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
  In human gore imbued.

Armed with empty stomachs and discerning taste buds, we descended upon New York City determined to find a cheesesteak of quality. I’m happy to say, we succeeded.

Heading into this, I had a suspicion that the day might be anticlimactic, full of half-rate wannabe restaurants that wouldn’t know a cheesesteak from a Manwich. We were threatened by rain and potential steak overdose, but we persevered. Just shy of 100 miles away from the land of cheesesteaks, we found NYC to harbor some superior offerings that could capably sustain the most diehard Philly meathead.

To rate our findings, we all carried scorecards so that we could declare a winner at the end. The rating system was simple, 1-4 stars—ranging from “Blech!” to “Yo, Philly!”—for the attributes of each restaurant: Ambiance, Roll, Meat, Cheese, Taste, and a grade for Overall appeal.

The Good

From the moment we stepped into Wogie’s we knew it felt right: old skool Eagles and Phillies jerseys, photos of Philly hotspots, high-back wood booths, and the Stones playing in the background. They made a very tasty sandwich, and the $3 Yuengling didn’t hurt. Later, a double header of 99 Miles to Philly and Carl’s, made for strong contenders. 99 Miles to Philly’s cheesesteaks were greasy, in the best way possible. Extra points for also selling Tastykakes, a Philly staple. Carl’s surly staff couldn’t detract from a very good offering: finely chopped meat with cheese fully melted and blended into a roll with just the right amount of soft-to-crisp ratio. Up on the West Side we hit Shorty’s, a slightly more upscale joint with a very friendly staff, for good but somewhat uneven sandwiches that skimped a bit on cheese and were overpowered by the inclusion of caramelized onions. Exceptional rolls though.

The Bad

Ahh, I wish I could say they were all good. BB Sandwich Bar, a cramped little walkup touting the “The Best Cheesesteak”, failed on a number of levels: kaiser roll instead of long roll, rubbery cheese, and the use of their own special sauce. A little later was the Cheesesteak Factory, a rather dingy spot that turned out to be the lowest point of the day, with most of us unable to finish our portions due to their craptastic flavor. My cheesesteak inconceivably tasted like chicken noodle soup. Last stop of the day was Philly Slim’s, a small storefront with a salty staff. Authentic Philly attitude for sure, but with very average offering of undercut rolls that yielded small portions of meat and cheese.

Envelope, Please

The bar was set high very early on and, despite some very strong opposition from 99 Miles and Carl’s, Wogie’s managed to win the day. Wogie’s presented a multi-facted package, from thoroughly delicious sandwiches to authentic Philly flavor. It’s clear that these guys get it, and they treat you right.

All three of our top scorers rank on par with some of the best cheesesteaks I’ve had in Philly and I can confidently recommend any of them for a good time. With the exception of Shorty’s, I’d suggest steering clear of the rest. If you find yourself in NY with no way to get to Philly and need a good cheesesteak, there are delicious options indeed.

There are many photos to commemorate the day in the NYC Cheesesteak Crawl Flickr group. Lastly, a round of applause for the brave folks who put their stomachs on the line to achieve this great feat (not everyone gave me their full name): Stewart Becker, Jessae Brown, Jason Campbell, Ian Corey, Justin Dickinson, Jonathan Gala, Boyce Griffith, Rosalee Laws, Shawn Morrison, Garrett Murray, Niff Nicholls, Laura Palese, T.J. Schuck, Amy Sly, Matt Sutter, Tyler Thompson, and Adam.