Salman Khan is the founder of Khan Academy, a website where you can learn just about anything for free.

The following is a quote from his TED talk (watch it in full below) when Salman is explaining his cousins’ feedback after receiving his tutoring via a YouTube video instead of face to face:

“They told me that they preferred me on YouTube than in person…They preferred the automated version of their cousin to their cousin. At first that’s very unintuitive, but when you actually think about it from their point of view it makes a ton of sense. You have this situation where now they can pause and repeat their cousin without feeling like they’re wasting my time. If they have to review something that they should have learned a couple of years ago or maybe a couple of years ago they don’t have to be embarrassed and ask their cousin. They can just watch those videos.

“If they’re bored they can go ahead, they can watch it at their own time at their own pace. And probably the least appreciated aspect of this is the notion that the very first time that you’re trying to get your brain around a new concept, the very last thing you need is another human being saying do you understand this.”

So much of what he says makes sense.

And I love Sal’s story. Stumbling on a great thing, turning it into a company, quitting his job, adoption by school systems…

Just amazing. Is this the future of education? Could you get your GED simply by taking Khan Academy classes for free? Could college educations eventually be free online, too? This is just another example of video on the internet is driving innovation and has the power to transform entire industries.

(via swiss-miss)

One of the hardest things for me to get right in my presentations is the color palette. I feel like I have good taste, but being able to get the blend of colors right is very difficult for me.

This past weekend I saw two commercials on television which featured amazing uses of color. Things like this inspire me to continue growing in my knowledge of color and how to use it.

The first was a commercial for Sherwin Williams paint. There are several in this series. Here’s the one I saw:

Here are a few others in that same series:

The second commercial I saw was for Georgia Power.

This spot was created by the creative agency, Three Legged Legs. In this blog post they outline in detail all the steps they took to create the spot. I love behind the scenes stuff like this and wish more agencies would do the same.

Do you know of any books, classes, or other resources for getting better acquainted with color? If so, please share.

Just wanted to share a set of slides I created recently for the great folks at MightyMeeting. They have a great app for sharing presentations and hosting online meetings and I am excited to have had the opportunity to work with them.