Larsen Idealog

the end

Gwyneth Dwyer — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:41:51 +0000

We’ve made a decision to retire this blog. It’s been a great experience to post and share, and all of us at Larsen thank you for your readership.

If you’d like to stay current on our work — and our point of view — please check out our inSights eNewsletter. You’ll find articles on marketing, branding, naming, design, packaging, creativity, and more.

All the best…

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where water and oil mix.

Michelle Solie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:10:55 +0000

When you look into it, it is a bit shocking. Or at least it was to me. Here is something to consider when you reach for a bottle of water.

What is the real cost? — numbers based on 2006 information

+ PRODUCING BOTTLES (approximately 17 million barrels of oil used + 2.5 tons of CO2 produced)
+ WATER (it takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water)
+ TRANSPORTATION (shipping empty and full by truck, boat, plane, train)
+ COOLING (store and home)
+ BOTTLE RECOVERY (Recycled: less than 25%, sent to Landfills/dumps: an estimated 75% , or 6.5 billion+ lbs. per year)

How does that break down —The Pacific Institute estimates that the energy used to produce a single bottle of water (on average) is the equivalent of filling that same bottle 1/4 full of oil. Though numbers vary from article to article the gist is the same. The taste of water from a water cooler or a faucet can be even more refreshing when you know the facts.

For more information search for "the real cost of bottled water" or check out the links below.

sfgate.com

environmentalgraffiti.com

askpablo-exotic-bottled-water

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Undeniable style

Gwyneth Dwyer — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:56:19 +0000

Imagine cruising to work in this 1967 Mustang convertible. That’s what Larsen’s new director of business development, Jim Madson, does. "It has a 289 V8 with a single-barrel carburetor, duel exhaust, and in-dash factory air," says Jim. "It’s a three-speed automatic with factory console wire-wheel covers, hood scoops with blinkers, and a luggage rack — and it's a totally rust-free survivor.”

Jim says Al Hagen from Yesterday’s Autos calls it “one of the best examples of a 1967 Mustang he has ever seen.”

Jim’s other car?

Are you surprised to hear it’s not a minivan? Try a 1964 Valiant 200 convertible with a 225 Slant-6, a bench seat, and an AM transistor radio.

We’re talking supercharged style here. And fuel-injected fun.

Just like Jim.

So all of us are wondering… Do new Larsen clients get a spin?

(Thanks to Peter de Sibour, Larsen Design Director, for the Mustang photo. Check out the Larsen Design photostream on flickr for more great car images in Peter’s series “Up Close and Shiny.”)

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The Perils of Problematic Punctuation

John Andreini — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:54:30 +0000

National Punctuation Day is four months away, but there are “signs” everywhere that we should celebrate this unique learning opportunity more often than once a year. How about once a week?

Unlike misspelled words, which we usually recognize immediately, incorrect punctuation often results in a double take. You know something’s wrong, but it can take a moment to figure out what it is. Punctuation problems often result in a misplaced emphasis that can turn a serious warning into an unintended joke. In the example here, from The “Blog” of “Unnecesarry” Quotation Marks, the apostrophes used as quotation marks force the reader to question the sincerity of the store’s dedication to both crime prevention and public safety. It works if the sign were meant to be sarcastic or snarky, but that seems unlikely.

Don’t wait for National Punctuation Day (September 24th) to check and double check your punctuation. After all, no one wants to be ‘misinterpreted.’

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Going on a staycation?

Gwyneth Dwyer — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:55:41 +0000

Or shall I say, staying home to staycation?

Memorial Day weekend is here, and if you’re not at the lake or at the shore or in the south of France, you could check out the Urban Dictionary (be forewarned, some entries are rough) for slang to describe whatever it is you’re doing this holiday weekend. Like multislacking.

Another fun, decidedly more educated jaunt is a trip through Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary.

For unabashed word lovers worldwide, both offer a fabulous, fuel-free, vocation vacation.

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Slam dunk that sentence

Gwyneth Dwyer — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:23:54 +0000

With the NBA playoffs in full swing, it seems fitting to honor one of my favorite athlete-wordsmiths: Darryl Dawkins, aka, "Sir Slam," "Double D," and "Chocolate Thunder." (All self-appointed nicknames.)

Dawkins could dazzle with a dunk and a description of it. Here are his word pictures for his powerful slams:

"The Rim Wrecker"
"The Go-Rilla"
"The Look-Out-Below"
"The In-Your-Face Disgrace"

This is my favorite:

“The No-Playin’, Get-Out-of-the-Wayin’, Backboard-Swayin’ Game-Delayin’ Dunk.”

I’m not keeping score, but that’s four rhyming adjectival compounds all bearing down on one simple noun: “dunk.”

Dawkins is best known for his 1979 backboard-shattering dunk against Bill Robinzine of the Kansas City Kings. After the game, Robinzine complained loudly that he had been cut by a piece of the broken glass. Dawkins responded with this rhyming comeback:

"The Chocolate Thunder Flyin’, Robinzine Cryin’, Teeth Shakin’, Glass Breakin’, Rump Roastin’, Bun Toastin’, Wham, Bam, I Am Jam."

As Dawkins himself said, "When it’s all been said and done, there’s nothing left to say or do."

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Write a letter. Stamp it in style.

Gwyneth Dwyer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:57:35 +0000

Yes, there is a purpose for snail mail: To use the new Eames stamps, coming on June 17. Design blogs are abuzz about this new issue of 16 stamps commemorating designers Charles and Ray Eames and highlighting, among other iconic images, their molded plywood lounge chair, stacking side chairs, house of cards children’s game, and colorful “hang-it-all.” So if you can’t afford the coveted Eames lounge chair and ottoman — starting at $3,599 — you can gaze at a 41 cent stamp of the same.

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“Explode your mind, embrace your chopsticks”

Gwyneth Dwyer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:07:59 +0000

That’s the tagline from the YouTube trailer for The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, the first business book written in manga, the Japanese comic format. Johnny Bunko is the creation of bestselling author Dan Pink and manga artist Rob Ten Pas, and it features six bite-sized career lessons, shown on the official Johnny Bunko chopsticks above.

You can read this book in less time than it takes to enjoy takeout, and once you finish, you’ll never think of chopsticks — or your career — in the same way. Johnny Bunko is a strange, but satisfying meal in itself: career truisms, Japanese comics, spreadsheets, shoe marketing — all mixed in with the right-brain reveries of Pink. I found it a delicious read, as you'll see in this post.

(So how do you get a set of Johnny Bunko chopsticks? Catch Pink at an upcoming book tour.)

Thanks to Peter de Sibour for the photo.

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It’s Earth Day. Are you really doing your part?

John Andreini — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:52:14 +0000

Sure, you recycle. You drive a fuel-efficient car. You even have a compost heap in the back yard. Isn’t that enough? Not by a long shot. You could be drinking solar roast coffee in the morning. Your children could be playing with eco-friendly toys. And your dog? Surely you dress Muffins in organic pet armor. Eh, well, maybe not.

The point is, if you really care about the environment, and you have oodles of excess cash and/or time on your hands, you can take your commitment to a greener earth to the next level.

Over at Trendhunter™ Magazine you’ll discover the "Top 36 Ways to Organify Your Life." Organify? Anyway, the list covers the gamut from the sublime (a solar-powered grill) to the ridiculous (yes, someone actually makes organic pet armor), with the majority trending toward the latter. But every little bit helps. Right?

You’ll also find the latest and greatest solar powered inventions that include solar -powered retinal implants, a solar-powered wheelchair, and instructions on how to build your own solar panel out of pop cans!

Don’t get caught behind the eco-curve.

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Hanna vs. Anna

Bud Snead — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:59:46 +0000

This post was originally intended to highlight a wonderful thing that happened in the "As Is" department in our local IKEA. It started 3 years ago, when I purchased my first real bed, a HOPEN. After 3 hours of assembly, I realized that my kit was short 1 single bed slat. It wasn't a structurally-integral piece, but it was something that irked me. So every time I went to IKEA I would stop by the "As-Is" desk and ask if they had any extras lying around. Once, an IKEA employee - we'll call her Apathetic Anna - told me what I SHOULD have done when I noticed a slat was missing. Anna said I should have disassembled the whole bed, then repacked the boxes and loaded them in my car, driven them back to IKEA, sat in the returns line for awhile, then picked up a new bed and hoped for the best that this time all the pieces would be included and intact.

This is IKEA problem-solving.

Six months ago, a very nice woman - Helpful Hanna - promised to keep an eye out for the bed slats and hold some aside for me. When I made a stop at IKEA last week to buy a STORÖN patio table (and sample the $3.99 Lumberjack breakfast), I dropped by the "As Is" section as an afterthought. To my luck, Hanna was there, and she had a bundle of slats that she'd set aside for me months before, with a sweet little note to make sure no one put them on the sales floor, and another one that said "NO CHARGE." My bed would finally be complete, three years later.

We took our new treasures home, and I started assembly on the STORÖN, visions of days spent out in our yard swirled in my mind. Barbecuing, entertaining friends, playing bocce and fetch with Cooper. All of that came to a screeching halt when a piece from my table splintered just as I finished assembling it. Adding insult to injury, a 2" by 2" piece was left out of my kit, thus rendering the table incapable of holding an umbrella.

I checked the IKEA web site for instructions on how to get replacement parts. "Anna," the IKEA customer service-bot, directed me to the "Returns" page. Electronic Anna agreed with Apathetic Anna as to how to solve this simple problem. In short: disassemble, repack, reload, return, buy a new one, hope for the best.

Unsatisfied with this "solution," I talked to a nice lady at IKEA who told me that all I needed to do was bring in the broken part, as well as my instructions to show which piece was missing. They'd crack open another one, and give me the parts I need. So they did. And those broke too. So I talked to a few more people, until I finally convinced someone to give me two more of each piece that broke, and to ship the pieces to me this time. I think it's best for everyone if I don't see the inside of that store for awhile.

Now I hear my Dad saying, "You get what you pay for, Bud." But what IKEA shoppers pay for is a piece of furniture. We pay for it to be complete and in working order. The aim of IKEA is to bring you higher quality furniture at affordable prices by eliminating extraneous expenses. Unfortunately, one of the things they deem too "expensive" is taking responsibility for their own mistakes. Instead, they place the onus on the customer to do the bulk of the work in solving problems that IKEA caused.

What the company could really use is more Hanna's and fewer Anna's.

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