Blabber, Etcetera

Minimalism, Simplicity, and our Complex Needs

2009-11-14T11:44:00.001Z

A few weeks ago, I pinged on my Twitter Stream: “I have been musing if simplicity is overrated. Humans are inherently complex creatures. What do you think”? I got a few responses mostly disagreeing with my thoughts, with many people suggesting that we need simplicity in our overly complex world. However, the responses had not fully convinced me as I had a few nagging thoughts over this Simplicity issue.
I think there is a lot more to this discussion, more than about “just making things simple and easy to use”. Why are some objects simple and easy to use but end up limited and boring? Why are some objects, like the iPhone, simple to use but somehow able to have many layers of more complex functions? Is this what they call simplexity, or an “emerging theory that proposes a possible complementary relationship between complexity and simplicity”? (via Wikipedia)
Recently Tim Brown muses with his colleges at IDEO that simplicity in form, also called minimalism, is about a surface treatment or style that is “…limited in its usefulness”.

My own view is that minimalism has come to represent a style and as such is limited in its usefulness. It represents a reaction to complexity whereas simplicity relies on an understanding of the complex. This is an important difference. One is about the surface, about the stuff. The other is about our experience and requires a deep appreciation of how things work so as to make them just simple enough.

So we can achieve simplicity when we are able to understand, distill and appreciate the complex enough to extract the simple. The Guru of simplicity: John Maeda, expands on this at his Laws of Simplicity blog. John writes:

Image from Laws of Simplicity

Muji expresses their point that achieving simplicity is deceptively complex because it is a thoughtful process.

I thought the description of Muji’s process pretty much nails it. But perhaps, the Harvard Business Blog’s Ron Ashkenas says it best by putting simplicity in a commercial context with his post: “Selling Simplicity — Not Just Marketing It“.

The reality is that simplicity is highly appealing in a world that is getting more and more complex — where consumers have too many choices, where technology is constantly evolving, and where the political and economic environment is unpredictable. In the midst of all this instability and change, people want to get back to basics. They want uncomplicated products, straightforward guidance, and things that work quickly and simply the first time, without lots of extra effort.
What is interesting about this phenomenon is that it is in sharp contrast with the thinking of the past few years — which was that consumers wanted unlimited choice so that they could customize their products and services to fit their own unique needs and lifestyles. As such, technology companies pushed for more and more bells and whistles, while other firms drove towards mass customization. The result was a huge array of choices that became almost overwhelming and costly.

The hardest part of simplicity is when a designer or product manager has to take a conscious effort to limit functions or specifications of a product to the most crucial ones. The process of achieving simplicity is highly complex one. I would say it requires a good combination of anthropological studies, analyzing consumer behavior and two secret ingredients, a designer’s problem solving skill and critical insight.
I agree with Ron that now more so than ever, the focus on consumer profiles and segments will continue to be very important in our product development process as it drives designs that are created from a consumer perspective. Better still, it really shows that we are listening to them.
I hope you enjoyed this mini research exercise as much as I did.

via Design Sojourn

Posted via email from sophie's posterous

Back to the future - The sparkling planner

2009-11-14T10:34:00.001Z

Over at numerous blogs, I read a lot of posts about following titles : digi planner, connection planner, digital strategist...

From Jared (www.houseofnaked.com/2009/08/20/does-the-world-need-digital-strategists) to Gareth and Jason (www.garethkay.typepad.com/brand_new/2009/10/connections-planning-at-planningness.html)

My friend Noah, who's head of strategy at The Barbarian Group, concluded : 'The split between digital strategy and traditional strategy (or whatever you want to call it), is not based on the medium but based on the product. It’s about advertising strategists versus experience strategists, and I definitely think there is a place for that distinction. Here at TBG Justin (head of UX) and myself have had many conversations about the overlap between our departments. Our goals as a department are the same and reflect the goals of the company as a whole: Build awesome things that people will use and enjoy. Though our deliverables may be distinct, how we approach that problem is similar: We dig in with whatever we can get our hands on (users, the brand, content) and look for insights that will drive how the brand behaves. Anyway, I would argue (and am right now) that understanding the messages that resonates with people (advertising) is far different than understanding the experience (digital). (I’m generalizing here a bit, obviously digital can include advertising, but I am speaking from my own experience at The Barbarian Group, a company that mostly focuses on building experiences)'

As a planner, I have one's say...

Back to basis

When Guy Murphy (Head of Planning at JWT) launched the new JWT Planning Model, he realized how this new model was 'true to his instincts'.

What are you talking about? I'm talking about our job description which is always the same in spite of the media landscape explosion and the surabundance of the digital media.

So what is it? We take a part in the creative process by helping creative people to invent advertising ideas (these would be tv, prints or interactive experiences). It's a 3 beats piece of music : Set the brief, get the ideas and develop them.

How do we do that? To my mind, the best method is quite similar to the way you plan a trip : where are we today, where do you want go? (sometimes smart planners will say : where is it possible to go? Of course, it depends on who you are...) and the last question, how to get there?

Open the pandora box

What happens next is going to take you by surprise... At JWT (of course in other agencies too), we work with a very special and confidential document called 'creative brief'. Brilliant isn't it?

For those who read it for the very first time, the creative brief gives away loads of secret parts : brand idea, problem, audience, task, stimulus, response, discoveries and a very strange part called 'channel thinking'.

About the best way to engage your audience

The fantastic thing about channel thinking is that digital specialists, connection planners and other digi strategists can express all their best if according to the problem, the audience, the task if the digital media is the best way to do it.

Despite of targeting an alien, it's difficult to ignore it. But as a good planner, you must be agnostic. We're consumer-centric, not media-centric.

A re you trying to say there is no need of strategist specialized in Digital?

Of course not. We live in a digital world. Faster, simpler, more useable and more accessible to all than ever before. Digital evangelists get a kick out of anticipating and embracing change, decoding new digital landscapes and seeking out insights into brand ideas. We need them. Definitly.

What I'm trying to say is that a good digital planner is a good planner first.

I know that all the advertising and marketing market try to be in vogue. But sometimes, it's not about a revolution but only a evolution.

via thesparklingplanner.posterous.com

Posted via web from sophie's posterous

Which Religion Should You Follow? - avin narasimhan

2009-11-14T10:31:00.001Z

via avin.posterous.com

Posted via web from sophie's posterous

2009-11-12T09:02:00.002Z

The third edition of Nokia’s The Way We Live Next conference took place yesterday in Espoo, Finland.

Nokia’s blog, Nokia Conversations, reports on a few of the keynote presentations:

Nokia’s vision of the future
by Heikki Norta, Nokia’s Head of Corporate Strategy
Smart ecosystems sits at the centre of our mobile life five years from now. That’s what Nokia’s head of corporate strategy Heikki Norta outlined this morning when he talked about what life will be like in 2015. During a short video, we saw how a combination of devices and services worked together to de-clutter life. This comes from a background that’s seeing the relationship between consumers and brands evolve from a monologue right now through a conversation and into a continuos relationship. The idea is simply to help users manage their lives better and enable them to create, share and get the most out of life.
- Read more
- Download presentation

The opportunities for the future
by Oskar Korkman, Nokia’s Head of Opportunity Identification in Consumer & Customer Insights
Trend research plays a key role in understanding what’s going to happen in the future. Creating an understanding of how people’s needs are changing and evolving helps create a clearer idea of where the opportunity for next generation products and services. Oskar Korkman is head of opportunity identification in consumer insights at Nokia and today he shared some of his thoughts for how we’re going to evolve. For Oskar, it’s all about relationships, with everything from strangers to plants firmly in his sights.
- Read more

Some other presentation downloads:
- Multiplying our efforts by Henry Tirri, SVP, Head of Nokia Research Center
- Communities creating Computers – Computers connecting Communities by Peter Schneider, Head of Technology Marketing, Maemo Devices, Nokia
- Communities of the Future by Purnima Kochikar, VP, Head of Forum Nokia & Developer Community
- Go mobile with cash by Teppo Paavola, VP, General Manager of Mobile Financial Services, Nokia

Mobile Phone Practices & The Design of Mobile Money Services for Emerging Markets

2009-11-10T09:49:00.000Z

Designing Services for Financial Inclusion

View more presentations from Jan Chipchase.

Rewrite by GamFratesi

2009-10-25T14:33:00.002Z

Copenhagen designers GamFratesi have designed a prototype desk with a cave-like shield on top to create an intimate working environment.

Called Rewrite, the desk is presented at GamFratesi’s solo show at The Danish Museum of Art and Design.

Baked by Formafantasma

2009-10-23T21:49:00.004+01:00

Italian design graduates Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma present a series of baked objects at an exhibition in Eindhoven this week.

The Baked collection, which includes objects made of flour, coffee, spinach and other foodstuffs, is part of an exhibition called Getting Lost at the 4 Apostelen church in Eindhoven.

Technology is giving us the means to co-create the future

2009-10-21T01:15:00.000+01:00

Juliette Powell

Author, speaker and technologist Juliette Powell sees the true significance of social media technology in the new kinds of collaborations we are able to forge that offer the potential to create a new kind of future. Powell believes that the ability to connect with people who previously did not have that opportunity will add tremendous value to government, business, and media undertakings.

via Ideas Project

A Desk of Briefcases and A Small Pile of Briefcases

2009-10-05T09:42:00.001+01:00

A Desk of Briefcases and A Small Pile of Briefcases
+ New pictures of the "Leather Collection" for Nilufar Gallery
+ maarten de ceulaer

VICE PHOTOS By Miranda July and Roe Ethridge

2009-10-05T09:28:00.003+01:00

VICE PHOTOS
By Miranda July and Roe Ethridge

STYLING BY JENNIFER JOHNSON
Hair by John Ruggiero for Frank Reps,
Makeup by Yumi for Frank Reps,
Photo assistance by Marc Tatti,
General assistance by Nate Harrington

Cedric Bernadotte

2009-10-05T09:22:00.001+01:00

Cedric Bernadotte

The rise of the real time web

2009-09-29T21:02:00.001+01:00

What have you done online in the past week? How many microsites did you visit? How many branded Flash animations did you watch? Calculate the mean answer for the entire country and you’ll probably arrive at a figure close to zero. Read on

via We are Social

2009-09-29T00:55:00.001+01:00

Context, Value & The New Marketing Economy

View more documents from Helge Tennø.

87 cool things

2009-09-28T15:43:00.002+01:00

This presentation guides you through the ways consumers, companies and Google itself are using technology to create something special

via Adverblog

Discounted luxury

2009-09-28T12:36:00.002+01:00

The study, the latest in ongoing research from the Luxury Institute, surveyed men and women with more than $150,000 in annual income, and reports that 44% of these shoppers believe luxury has become a commodity. A slight majority believes there are too many luxury products in most categories.

While 28% say they have increased their overall spending on luxury goods as a result of lower prices, almost 30% say the markdowns have lowered their opinion about the products, and 25% say it makes these goods and services less appealing. Women, consumers under 55, and those with a net worth of less than $1 million are the most likely to shop because of discounts.

There's also a growing sense that these luxury goods just aren't what they used to be, and respondents say that the traits that most define luxury -- superior quality, craftsmanship, and customer service -- are worse than they were six months ago. (In fairness, respondents did say they believed marketers were doing a better job with value add-ons and loyalty programs, but these features are "are among the least important defining features," the report says.)

And while it's no surprise that most respondents have been pulling back as much as less affluent shoppers -- and 30% say luxury goods are no longer an important part of their lifestyle -- it's worth noting that 23% say that luxury goods and services are more important to them these days, and 26% say luxury goods are a prudent buy, not a splurge. And 40% believe that luxury spending is a good investment.

But overall, it turns out the Neiman Marcus crowd is as cautious as the Walmart shoppers, with more than half saying they are focusing more on what they need than what they want. While 9% have spent more on luxury products this year, 42% are spending less. And going forward, only 7% anticipate spending more overall, although 21% say they think they will spend more on discounted goods and services.

Affluent shoppers say they are most likely to increase spending on travel, dining, and health and fitness, and most likely to cut spending on jewelry, gifts, home furnishings, and watches.

via Media Post

Design Auction: Few and Far

2009-09-14T21:55:00.002+01:00

16th September '09, 6:00pm

Few and Far

242 Brompton Road, London SW3 2BB

This wednesday Few are Far will host their very own design auction. Run by an ex Sotheby’s auctioneer, the sale will offer works by a range of designers including Andrée Putman, Nigel Coates, Vico Magistretti, Xavier Lust, Julian Stair among others.

Viewing will take place 14th - 15th September ’09.

For further information and catalogue enquiries tel: 020 7225 7070

Absentee bidding is available.

www.fewandfar.net

2009-09-08T22:59:00.002+01:00

KARL LAGERFELD AND PHILIPPE STARCK TAKE OVER WALLPAPER*

http://wallpaper.com/gallery/fashion/guest-editors/17051309/1

2009-09-06T20:27:00.001+01:00

Point Zero Magazine September 2009

View more documents from Andrew Grill.

Branding No-Brand Brands | Futurelab – An international marketing strategy consultancy

2009-09-01T10:51:00.000+01:00

Branding No-Brand Brands | Futurelab – An international marketing strategy consultancy

How does the internet see you/your brand with personas

2009-08-26T21:27:00.004+01:00

Personas is a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit, currently on display at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab. It uses language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity. In short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you.

Enter your name, and Personas scours the web for information and attempts to characterize the person - to fit them to a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data. The computational process is visualized with each stage of the analysis, finally resulting in the presentation of a seemingly authoritative personal profile.

In a world where fortunes are sought through data-mining vast information repositories, the computer is our indispensable but far from infallible assistant. Personas demonstrates the computer's uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the viewer to reflect on our current and future world, where digital histories are as important if not more important than oral histories, and computational methods of condensing our digital traces are opaque and socially ignorant.

Personas was created by Aaron Zinman, with help from Alex Dragulescu, Yannick Assogba and Judith Donath.

Tomas Redigh

2009-08-24T18:04:00.000+01:00

If advertising is a firework, social media is a bonfire.

2009-08-21T15:13:00.000+01:00

Advertising Fireworks, Social Bonfires

View more presentations from John V Willshire.

Flow Chair for mdfitalia | materialicious

2009-08-07T15:22:00.001+01:00

Flow Chair for mdfitalia | materialicious

Posted using ShareThis

Simon Hasan by Vauxhall Collective Commission

2009-08-07T12:35:00.005+01:00

As part of this year’s Vauxhall Collective commissions, Simon Hasan combines ancient craft techniques with industrial design language to create a unique range of design pieces.

Commissioned by Vauxhall Motors to design a series of products under the theme ‘The Great British Road Trip’ Hasan – one of the UK’s most promising designers – took to the open road to delve into the lost crafts of the British Isles. While exploring the tension between industrial led design and rural craft, Hasan’s work sets out to revive a series of ancient craft techniques by making them part of a commercially and semi-mass-produced collection.

Comprising three distinct designs this latest collection is a perfect complement to Hasan’s RCA graduation work based on the Medieval process of Cuir Bouilli,

Including Stoneware Vases, echoing the distinctive beer flagons once widely used across the UK, Oak stools, using an ancient woodland craft known as cleaving, and an Oak and Steel cabinet, again created using the cleaving technique, Hasan’s fascination with obscure and ancient craft techniques is once again the driving force behind this truly remarkable collection.

Simon Hasan is a member of the Vauxhall Collective 2008/2009. His commission pieces are for sale through the Vauxhall Collective website.

From top: Vases Inspired by Stoneware by Simon Hasan - Vauxhall Collective Commission 2009

Blonde Stained Stool by Simon Hasan - Vauxhall Collective Commission 2009

Ebony Stained Stool by Simon Hasan - Vauxhall Collective Commission 2009

Welded Carbon Steel Cabinet by Simon Hasan - Vauxhall Collective Commission 2009

farmer and style at Design Huis (6 august - 27 september)

2009-08-07T10:39:00.002+01:00

The current financial crisis and our concerns about ecology have contributed to rethinking our existence in the challenging and stressful city, while advances in information technology have participated in setting humans free from a fixed location within the urban environment. Man can now live wherever he wants and however he wants at any given moment.

We therefore can live like nomads and gather like shepherds: news, knowledge, music, images, objects and food. The slow food movement has shifted the focus from the exotic and exclusive to a need for the local and the seasonal. Forgotten vegetables and regional recipes are rediscovered and reinvented. Now this movement is spreading to other domains within our lives and “slowing down” becomes a general and accepted idea.

Everything seems to indicate that rural realities are influencing urban life. The greening of the city and the urbanization of the country will ultimately lead to the blurring of borders between these two domains. Designers, artists and architects are reflecting upon this exchange of ideas. The life of man and animal will be strongly integrated and the production of food will take place within the city borders. In a search for autarchy, a more mature and autonomous positioning is requested concerning the chain of food production. New ideas will be born to seed, hybrid and harvest within the city.

Materials will be given by the land and animals and will be treated with respect; they will carry the honest identity of the fibre and the flock and transform the designer into a conceptual farmer. Several internationally renowned designers already choose to live on farms today.

Form is derived from the romantic pastoral past and seeks the essence of the farm in new materials and images. The land and earth is studied, mapped and researched and is used to formulate simple and generic tabletop products made from a colourcard of clay from the polder. The wheelbarrow and the rocking chair are reinvented. The tile stove and pick fork are back. In a first trial to understand and map this movement, through fifteen installations, Eindhoven’s Designhuis will explore a new lifestyle where humans are seen as an integral part of the ecologic cycle, integrated in the process. Placing themselves on equal ground with agriculture and animal. Humans with respect for life.

About the exhibition

the exhibition farmer and style, from the 6th of august till the 27th of september, sketches how globalization, a growing world population and the search for sustainable lifestyles leads to concepts like vertical farming. as farming slowly makes it’s entry into the city, however in a modernized way, farmers specialize themselves in urban life. design plays a crucial role in this new interpretation. li edelkoort (former chairwoman of design academy eindhoven) will curate this exhibition. she has already invited a number of important designers, architects, artists and brands to collaborate with us. some of the participants are for example piet heijn eek, wiel arets, Mike Meire, Esther Kokmeijer, Claudy Jongstra, Jurgen Bey and Rianne Makkink, Koen van Mechelen, Frank Tjepkema, Christien Meindertsma, MVRDV, Nadine Sterk, Lonny van Rijswijck, Maarten Kolk, Studio Job, Scholten en Baijngs, Floris Schoonderbeek, Dick van Hoff, Joep van Lieshout, Joons Kim, Ton Matton, Kranen/Gille, Frederik Molenschot, Jessica Hansson, Revital Cohen, Agata Jaworska, Rosanne van de Weerdt, Sander Bokkinga, David Olschewski.

During the exhibition the audience can enjoy organic/regional products at the café and every Friday there will be a market with organic products on the square. The banks of the river will change into an organic vegetable garden for the surroundings. During the exhibition different activities, like rural movie nights, documentaries and presentations in which the farm represents innovation and education, will be developed. There will also be two lectures from an architect and a designer who are passionate about the subject.

Main image: Atelier NL, Maarten Kolk
Image: Christien Meindertsma
Image: Ton Matton
Image: Koen van Mechelen