Design & Innovation

Last night, I met my friends for dinner at a restaurant in Chinatown.  As soon as we sat down, one of my friends pulled out this cloth that held a metal item.  It was round and had a design on it and when she opened it up, it had a hook at the end.  As I almost blurted out, “What’s wrong with your eyes?  You need glasses to read a menu now?  You are my age!  We aren’t that old yet!”, she placed the metal round item on the table and hooked her purse onto it.  I was shocked, so I asked her what it was.  She told me that it was a purse holder and that she found it and ordered it online and there are so many different colors and designs.  It was the coolest gadget that I have ever seen!  I wanted one for myself!  The person who designed that is a genius!  I always hated putting my purse on my lap because it is so uncomfortable when I’m eating.  But, I also refuse to put it on the dirty floor at the restaurant.  So, this gadget is perfect for my purse!  So, today, I started looking for them online. http://www.delight.com/Luxe-Link-Purse-Holder

 http://www.myweddingfavors.com/handbag-caddy-purse-holder.html

As I searched online for a nice one, I began to think to myself.  I have only one fear about using one of these.  I am afraid that when I initially start to use it, then I will forget that my purse is on the hook on the table, because I am not used to it.  At least, when it was on my lap, I can feel it.  Even if I forget that the purse is on my lap and I get up, it falls to the floor and it makes a noise to remind me to take it.  If I get one of these, then someone has to design something to remind me that I left my purse on a hook at the table!

The Napkin Sketch, an article featured in the April 2008 Fast Company, discusses the corporate world’s growing acceptance of visual thinking and discusses Dan Roam’s similarly named book (which we’re already quite familiar with.) Check it out.

I picked up this month’s Fast Company while waiting at the car dealership (oooh, fun) and read the following reader responses to both the article and the graphic expression trend:

Idea Sketching

I’m tired of hearing company executives talk about “death by PowerPoint” (”The Napkin Sketch,” April). It’s not death by PowerPoint, it’s death by bad PowerPoint. It would be a lot faster and more effective to use the tools in PowerPoint to produce the perfect pitch than to make childlike sketches on a napkin. Maybe I’ll have to do a napkin sketch to make my point.

Marshall Makstein
New York, New York

The ability to convey complex points or large amounts of data with simple images is as much an art as a skill. I’d love to see business schools incorporate an art class.

Joshua Letourneau
Atlanta, Georgia

(Dr. Yoo—perhaps you could submit an article about our class in response to these responses!)

I just found out about an awesome event being held Wednesday, June 11th, at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown. Essentially, speakers in the fields of art, entrepreneurship, design and innovation are given 5 minutes to talk about their company or idea. The speakers hail from diverse backgrounds and many are local innovators who own their own businesses. Take a look at the speakers - view their web sites. I found it very inspiring. Also, if you can go tonight, I urge you to do so!

Sean Buffington, The University of the Arts
Brian Lang, The Food Trust
Nic Darling, 100K House
Mindy Watts and Leah Murphy, Interface Studio
Randy Schmidt, Chris Conley & Jason Trembley, iSepta
Sara Selepouchin, Etsy
Alex Hillman, Indy Hall
Marisa McClellan & Scott McNulty, Fork You
Kirstin Thomson, Future of Music
Blake Jennelle, Philly Startup Leaders
Rick Banister, P’unk Avenue
Jeff Stockbridge
Slavko Milekic, The University of the Arts
Robert Cheetham, AvenciaDon Miller aka NO CARRIER
Pete Tredish, Prometheus Radio Project
Brittany Bonnette, Philly Bike Share
Evan Malone, Fab@Home
Jeff Burk, Neat Receipts

I have been wanting to buy a good digital camera for quite a while now and my recent trip to San Francisco has made me realize that a good digital camera is a must. I have had an eye on Sony T300 which has standard features like 10 Megapixel, 5x zoom, face detection and so on. It also has ISCN technology where the camera selects the optimal setting for best photo results. What I really liked about the camera is that its got a 3.5 inch touch screen. The camera has no buttons at all which I find to be quite cool. I am big fan of the touch screen technology and I like the fact that this technology is being used in more or less all devices. Apple came out with the iphone and iphone has taken mobile phones to a whole new level. We see touch screen technology in mp3 players and cars. Microsoft put this technology in furniture and came out with Microsoft Surface table which is truly amazing.  All this makes me wonder where we are headed and I feel that few years down the line we will have the option of having the touch screen technology in more or less everything.  

Recently, I am taking another summer course, Power, Negotiation, and Influence. Like other human resource classes, good observation could lead to the satisfied settlement with your counterpart. During the whole negotiation process, both parties use their insufficient information and limited observation to make the deal done. Sometimes it is good to leave the environment to fresh your own mind during the negotiation process. Then, I keep thinking that is there any connection between the negotiation process and the design thinking? For design thinking, observation is also an important step to begin the whole process. Interviewing different people could stimulate some new ideas or even open a new window for us. Also, when a project becomes difficult to keep running, it is always good to leave it and walk away for a while. Like the cabinet we saw in IDEO’s office, all the stuff put there may be a failure piece in the past or just wait for the right moment to be used, which encourage people to play with it and then think with it and, more important, help people to refresh their mind to see things in different angle. “Look at the big picture” is what Porf. Yoo told us in class, which is also be told in my negotiation class. The reason why we need to think something broad is there are always more options and solutions when we stop staring at only one point. Either design thinking or negotiation process is a path to creating a perfect solution for the current situation. Also, both process need to try different models and to respond different interaction before the finial solution comes out. Negotiation looks for an unexpected strike to win the settlement and design thinking leads to an unexpected strike for that. 

Thinking visually
From the book about Frank Gehry to the book “the back of the napkin”, the concept of thinking visually could help us to see something we haven’t seen before. The concept of design comes from the work around artists and architects, people who use the sketches in the beginning of their work. Personally, I like to make things done step by step, there is always a process for me to deal with everything: I see multi-tasking is a attitude to slow down the work and I couldn’t find any benefit from doing it. However, in the article, the artist mentioned he likes to do all his work together,  thinking all the process together and then there is always something unexpected comes up after that and also make all works with harmony. He would also leave a note right by his sketches when there is a difficulty. It just reminds me the fish-bone drawing method used in the business school. We are taught to starts from the problem, drawing a straight line which should ends up with the ideal outcomes and presenting each pleasant or unpleasant outcome by drawing a line out of the main bone. At times, I draw and think. I like to draw a dark circle around the most difficult or important aspect among the whole process and put the paper on my desk, looking at it everyday until there is a solution comes up in my mind. I am not sure if this process could be called “thinking visually”, however, what I know is the drawing process is certainly help me to think, which is seldom happened when I use the computer.

One of my friend works in a company making the taste tripe for other companies, including juice manufacturer, tooth paste manufacturer, etc.. The taste tripe looks exactly like the breath tripe we know. However, it’s not used for removing the bad breath but for being sample for the brand new product. For example, a new flavor of juice is going to launch in the market. In order to encourage customer to try the new flavor and, at the same time, to avoid hiring high-cost sells standing in the supermarket, companies could put this kind of taste tripe,which exactly presents the flavor of their product, besides their new product to let customer to take it by themselves and experience the new flavor. How many times do you be convinced by the attractive description on the tooth paste package but immediately regret buying it because of the taste dose not meet your expectation? Then, the taste tripe would help you to figure it out before you make your decision, which help customer to learn the flavor without any regrets afterward. Think about it. The product is totally like the breath tripe we have in the market. It is so impressed to know this kind of stuff could be used in the marketing process: to be the easiest sample to make customer to try the new product. Maybe it could be used on the cooking recipe, right? Taste it before you are trying to make it. 

Innovation or reverse innovation. Philly.com in my opinion has reached a new low for measuring their advertising results and developing a new media plan. They have added fake advertising to their site. If you scroll down to the bottom of one their fake ads this is what it reads:

“The Derrie-Air campaign is a fictitious advertising campaign created by Philadelphia Media Holdings to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens. All names, identities, characters, persons, whether living or dead, companies, situations, offers, products, services, and other information appearing in this campaign and the associated website are fictitious. Any resemblance to real or fictitious names, identities, characters, persons, whether living or dead, companies, situations, offers, products, services, or other information, is purely coincidental and unintentional. In other words, smile, we’re pulling your leg.”

It is definitely something new, but how can you test the likliness of someone clicking on an add, if you you’re not even bring truthful to your cusomters. Something might be eye catching if it’s totally off the cuff versus if it is for say, orbitz.com or something of that nature.

With advertisers struggling to meet their sales quotas they need to think outside the box, but perhaps using design thinking principles and utlizing their readers to help design their products they would have more success.

Ever since our trip to Neutron, I’ve been trying to find a way to connect their brand strategy to design thinking to my own business. I recently stumbled upon a book/web site that connects much of what we’ve been learning. It is called, Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People. The jist of the concept is that companies in developing their branding strategy need to stray away from the product and utilize the consumer. He’s also about to launch a think tank to study how branding and communications affect emotions. I’m interested in seeing how the web site is setup and how users will contribute. I’m also still struggling with a measurement tool to study the success of this type of initiative, but I think the more the topic comes to fruition the closer we are to a wholistic approach.

Here are the 10 commandments as laid on by author Marc Golbe:

1. from consumers to people
Consumers buy, people live.
2. from product to experience
Products fulfill needs, experiences fulfill desires.
3. from honesty to trust
Honesty is expected. Trust is engaging and intimate.
4. from quality to preference
Quality for the right price is a given today. Preference creates the sale.
5. from notoriety to aspiration
Being known does not mean that you are also loved!
6. from identity to personality
Identity is recognition. Personality is about character and charisma.
7. from function to feel
The functionality of a product is about practical or superficial qualities only.
Sensorial design is about experiences.
8. from ubiquity to presence
Ubiquity is seen. Emotional presence is felt.
9. from communication to dialogue
Communication is telling. Dialogue is sharing.
10. from service to relationship
Service is selling. Relationship is acknowledgment.

Everyone who had tried to control weight knows that it is so difficult to resist the lure of sweetness. In order to help people to realize how much calories they eat into the body from the candy/cereal bar/cookies, there are a lot of 100 calories pack snack food in our market. However, does it work out for helping people to control their desire to keep having snack? In the personal point of view, I don’t think it helps. When I start to have my first bag of 100 calories snack, I will be happy to know that I only put 100 calories in my body. But, all the pictures on the package is so attractive and looks so yummy, then, I will keep having my second bag and then the third one, then I will stop counting how much calories I had. If the purpose of these customers who buy the 100 calories pack is to control their weights, maybe the companies should redesign their package. For example, using a fatty figure replaces the yummy snack pictures to remind the customers they have to watch each bite they eat. Physically, our brain needs some time to realize the stomach is full. So, companies should design a hard-to-be-opened package for it, once the customers need to spend more time to get the snack, they would slow down their impulse to having the second one. I just think there should be another way for snack companies to redesign their product to attract more people who are on a diet. 100 calories pack? not work for me.