Acts of Innovation

The trouble with the internet is that it makes you feel inferior

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 11:12:00 +0000

The list of things that I suddenly discover I can't do, grows longer every day. Ah well, it is amazing to watch experts in action.

Why buy a video camera when there are so many free ones around?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 11:06:00 +0000

Perhaps not the first question which pops into your mind, as you awake. But it was the question being pondered by the guys at mediashed. And, there response was to start 'video sniffin'. This - in case you didn't know! - involves capturing the broadcast signals from CCTV cameras, and using them for your own purposes.
In the case of mediashed, their purpose was to give children the chance to make their own movies, without the normal expense. You can read about the story here.
I have to admit, I think this is brilliant. Being able to turn "instruments of control" into a low cost form of art, just makes me laugh. And, it also makes me wonder what else we could do for free. For example, are you paying for a meeting room, when the building next door has empty space?

Now that is what I call diversification

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:55:00 +0000

Boing Boing is reporting that two of the founders of the Blue Man Group have opened a childrens' nursery. The description sounds fascinating, and - I have to say - ever so slightly scary. What core skills could you move to a completely different industry?

What is your ideal creative space?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:44:00 +0000

You make your living with your mind, but does your working environment really support your thinking? Take a look at some of these spaces and see if any of them inspire you.

Problems are wonderful sources of innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:37:00 +0000

O'Reilly Radar has a great story about the problem of finding addresses in Tokyo. Basically, the Japanese system of house numbering is somewhat idiosyncratic which makes the task of actually finding someone's house quite challenging. However, as a result of this difficulty, Japanese companies have become experts in GPS mapping. This makes me wonder, what disadvantages are we suffering with that - with some creative thought - might actually prove to be great sources of innovation.

Strange emails being posted!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 23:20:00 +0000

My apologies to anyone who was confused to find one of my emails posted to this blog. It seems as though the mail system got slightly confused about where messages were supposed to be going. Normal service will be resumed shortly!

Looking for inspiration, chances are that someone is collecting it for you

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:15:00 +0000

The Internet is a wonderful thing, and should you ever doubt that, I offer two examples which will restore your faith. 1. StreetPeeper.com is a web site dedicated to capturing the dress decisions made by 'hip' people around the World. If you have an interest in emerging ideas in fashion, these guys are doing all the leg work for you. And it comes directly to your browser with virtually no effort on your part. Fantastic. 2. What does a Badger taste like? This question was recently posed to me, by a friend, as part of an on going joke - yes, you probably had to be there for it to be funny. Anyway, out of curiosity, I typed it into Google. And, I found the script of a very funny sketch all about that exact subject. No, I am not going to give you the link. You have already wasted too much time reading this blog. Although if you can't resist, look for Badger flavoured ice cream. The point about these two entries, is that the Internet is offering us an increasingly powerful source of inspiration for almost any question we could ask. And, it has only been around for a few years. Just imagine the power we will have, quite literally at our finger tips, over the coming decades.

Can you live without a leaf blower?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:13:00 +0000

Binnur, over at Kitetail Innovation is bemoaning the arrival of leaf blowing season. Binnur's point is that leaf blowing is a pointless activity - the weather has a habit of reallocating them very quickly! But, perhaps leaf blowers are a solution to a non-obvious problem. I watch my neighbours happily wandering around the garden, blowing leaves into neat piles, and I think that what is actually happening is that they are engaging in purposeful communing with nature. The machine is a pleasant excuse to wander about in the garden, and think ones thoughts. Having played with one of these overgrown hair-driers, I can attest to the fact that they are quite good fun. Very quickly, one starts to play games, can I make them swirl, what about doing it left handed. Many happy hours can be spent getting one's leaves properly organised. Basically, leaf blowers are just high powered versions of 'blow football', and if I ran Black and Decker, I would immediately organise a league championship. Now, where is my copy of "Which Leaf Blower Monthly"

It's amazing the fun you can have with nothing more than a few clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:01:00 +0000

tilt & shaken, but not stirred.... Originally uploaded by hb19

Click on the photo to take you to the full Flickr photoset (it is the one entitled SKYplay). I am going to spend tomorrow looking at clouds and trying to create interesting pictures.

Need a better solution? Go for a walk

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:29:00 +0000

Lifehacker has a story about the benefits of going for a walk when your brain is stuck. The basic advice is: 1. Don't weigh yourself down. Leave the briefcase and the backpack at home. If you need to write something down, bring one piece of paper and a pen. If you fill that piece of paper, then you've had a productive walk. 2. Take a strange route around a familiar area. Focus on the idea that you'll never see these buildings and spaces in the same order again. 3. The best walks involve pauses. Don't be afraid to linger—on a park bench, in a bookstore, at a friend's house, even inside Urban Outfitters. I particularly like the idea of lingering. Lingering is not a word which is held in high esteem. I think we should reclaim it as a worthwhile activity. Let us go forth and linger!

Shoes shoes shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:40:00 +0000

The Manolo loves shoes - know what I mean? Probably not. Unless you inhabit the world of fashion, you may not have come across the uber-blogger 'The Manolo'. And, if that's the case, you are in for a treat, because he/she (nobody knows) is both passionate about shoes and a very funny writer. My attention was drawn to The Manolo's coverage of the Marc Jacobs collection which featured some backward facing heels. Just when you think everything has been done, someone comes along to prove you wrong. Try subscribing to The Manolo, it is always an enlightening read.

Drink your tea before you read this one

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:46:00 +0000

The Journal of Improbable Research has a wonderful story entitled "How to begin an obituary". It is so wonderfully understated. You can read it here

Cutlery with built in stands - a lovely example of problem spotting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:25:00 +0000

Anytime you have eaten in a slightly dodgy restaurant, you will undoubtedly have been faced with the challenge of how do you keep your cutlery from touching the table top - where it will be instantly contaminated with billions of germs. Well, finally, someone has designed the solution right into the utensils. You can ready more about the story here

Fashion shopping sites are obviously not meant for me!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:40:00 +0000

I read a story in the American Express magazine about stylish ways to keep fit. Basically, it was an advertorial for a range of expensive dumbbells, yoga mats and home gym equipment. It was the yoga mats which caught my attention because Gucci made a suitably monogrammed version for the discerning yoga devotee and I thought I would find out how much they cost. Bad mistake!

The Gucci site is designed to live the brand. It is built in Flash, has lots of lovely pictures and runs about as fast as a very slow thing on a slow day. Now, I am sure that if I enjoyed browsing for clothes etc., the experience would be wonderful, but I don't. No matter how hard I try to embrace my inner New Man, I still find the site annoying. So, that made me wonder, if the Gucci 'experience' were removed from the buying process, would it still be seen as a wonderful product, or would I have a hard time telling the difference between that and something from ASDA?

So who is the real artist here?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:14:00 +0000

Animation Nation has some great photographs of the work of the sculptor Ron Mueck. I find the work both fascinating and slightly disturbing. However, my eye was caught by one of the comments which highlighted the fact that Mueck used a number of other sculptors to actually create the work.

If you are not directly involved in actually producing the final work of art, are you "the artist"? Clearly, the top fashion designers don't make each garment and they may not actually make any of them at all, so how might one describe their contribution in what is really a team based activity? Or, to put it another way, should the 'credits list' on your clothes label be a lot longer?

Create beauty in everything you do

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:30:00 +0000

Function is an important attribute in any solution, but what about form? Is beauty as important as performance? Typically, in Western society the answer is no. Sure, we put up nice buildings and design impressive cars and clothes, but what about our milk containers, or light switches, or manhole covers? Unlikely as it may seem, in some countries even manhole covers are considered worthy of artistic effort. In fact, in Japan, they go to great lengths to create beauty in even the most utilitarian objects. Have a look at the pictures here

For women's fashion magazines, adverts are the content

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:16:00 +0000

Apparently, according to this story, the September issue of Vogue is made up of almost 80% adverts.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this. Fashion is clearly something which is experienced, and therefore looking at lots of pictures makes sense. However, it seems to be much more than just the picture. Wearing a designer creation has important status implications and therefore the vast amounts spent by advertisers actually helps to increase the enjoyment for customers because it has enhanced the value of what they subsequently buy.

I wonder if there are any similar industries. Is the automotive business enhanced in the same way?

Perpetual reinvention

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:08:00 +0000

Springwise has a great story about a building in New York City which perpetually reopens. You can read the story here. At the moment the 'shop' is a ping pong hall and next week it will be something else completely.

What I really like about this is that the essence of what it is 'selling' is surprise. It takes me back to a childhood book called The Magic Faraway Tree. In this story, each time a child climbed the tree, they found a different land at the top.

How much surprise do you think your customers and colleagues would enjoy? Perhaps today is the day to find out!

Can you take deferring your judgement too far?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:33:00 +0000

Boing Boing carries are truly horrifying story about a school in America which 'trains' its pupils through electric shocks.

Reading the story left me absolutely gob-smacked, and wondering how the hell did 'they' (whoever 'they' are in this situation) allow this to come into being? However, as I thought that, I realised that I have been in many idea generation workshops where equally odd/questionable or darn right repulsive ideas had been created. In fact, facilitators often encourage participants to generate these bizarre ideas because they may lead to interesting developments. Up until this point, I have always assumed that the 'unacceptable' ideas were never acted upon, but what if that isn't true. What if the teams go away and say something like, "well before we reject this completely out of hand, shouldn't we do a small experiment - just to avoid judging too quickly..."

So, where does one draw a line in the sand, and is it possible to do this without constraining one's creativity. Or, is that constraint simply the price we have to pay for an ethically acceptable world.

I was about to write something about the fact that I don't know the details about this school, and that the children/parents might actually find it helpful etc., etc. However, the truth of the matter is that I don't like the idea of electrocuting children. I have judged this idea and I feel quite comfortable about that, it is a bad idea!

The trouble with having a truly open mind is that you run the risk of having your brain fall out!

Glimpsing the future

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:26:00 +0000

The Washington Post has an interesting article about the huge advances in internet access which countries such as Japan and Korea enjoy.

It is always useful to look for 'lead users' when thinking about new products/services as it is often the case that someone somewhere is already doing what you want to try, and you can learn a huge amount from them.

Tracking owls with mobile phones

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:14:00 +0000

When I originally read the title of this post over at Boing Boing, I assumed it involved tying phones to owls and using GPS to track them - queue Monty Python characters debating the carrying capacity of the African Swallow - anyway, it turns out to be much more interesting than that.

The research team have set up mobile phones, in a forest, through which they can play owl calls and then listen for the number of distinct responses they receive.

I think the reason the story caught my eye is that it made me stop of think about the impact of cellular comms on our life. The cost of cell phone technology is now so low that it really can be built into almost any aspect of our lives. But, have we really embraced that idea. Are we still doing things manually/physically, which could be done so much better/cheaper through cell comms?

If you knew that you would have cheap, reliable, communication with anyone, or anything, anywhere in the World, how might that change the way you work?

Tattoos serve many purposes, now there is another one

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:08:00 +0000

Springwise is reporting that an American based company is now offering temporary tattoos which tell you how fast to run when competing in a marathon. The tat's are available with sponsors' messages embedded in them.

I think this is a great idea, and it would be even better if you could somehow copy your tattoo onto someone else. Just imagine being able to give someone your business card in this way.

Could your company generate as much enthusiasm as Google?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:05:00 +0000

A little while ago, Google invited people to create videos showing how Gmail delivered messages. Have a look at the eventual mashup which was created. You have watch it here

Now, what would it take for your customers to do something similar? Perhaps it is just a case of asking them.

How the Apple iPhone taught me that 'good enough' can be better than 'best'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:23:00 +0000

I went to my local Apple store, yesterday, to pick up a copy of the newly released iWorks 8 (which is very good, in case you were wondering).

While I was there, I took the chance to have a little play with the iPhone. It was the first time I had actually seen one, in the flesh. There is no doubt about it, the phone is incredibly impressive. However, whilst I was playing with the contacts manager I suddenly realised that the design was very poorly thought out. There was an A..Z strip on the right hand side of the screen, but the letters were far to small for me to accurately select the correct one. In essence you end up pressing U, V, and W at the same time.

I thought about this for a minute - wondering if I had missed some important 'Zoom' button - and then it suddenly dawned on me. It doesn't matter. By pressing in approximately the right area the phone jumped to the right'ish part of the my contact list, and with a couple of screen flicks I was where I wanted to be. By designing a 'good enough' system, Apple had actually made the phone much more usable.

All of which makes me wonder what things I am over designing or over perfecting, which are actually reducing the value to users?

A beautifully simple way of reducing air conditioning costs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:15:00 +0000

Glass buildings can suffer from quite significant overheating due to solar gain. The obvious answer is to crank up the air conditioning to 'solve' the problem.

Office workers usually need hot water to make their cups of tea. The obvious answer is to install furnaces to boil water.

But wait... what would happen if you were to pour water into the windows to make a huge great solar kettle? Well, I for one, probably wouldn't make my tea with the water, but researchers at the Polytechnic University in Madrid, have been working on this, and have found that they can reduce air conditioning costs by up to 70%. The story was reported by Treehugger and can be read here.

This strikes me as one of those wonderful - how come we didn't do this before - ideas. And, my question for the day is "what other obvious synergies are we missing?"