“Almost all innovative ideas appear obvious after the fact”

In this inspirational video, Frans Johansson, CEO and author of the book The Medici Effect talks about, and illustrates, the relentless trial-and-error of all great ideas. How it must all start from simple and small, and then going through the process of refining it over and over until it becomes great.

Refining through trial-and-error, the distinguishing character of greatest artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators. This is a long video, but most definitely is worth the wait.

1. Business as Unusual

In 2010, prepare for ‘business as unusual’. For the first time, there’s a global understanding, if not a feeling of urgency that sustainability, in every possible meaning of the word, is the only way forward. How that should or shouldn’t impact consumer societies is of course still part of a raging debate, but at least there is a debate… More »

2. Urbany

Basically, in thriving mega-cities, whose economic and cultural power already often surpass that of entire nations, inhabitants’ identities will be closely tied to a city’s culture, its brand, its heritage, its ‘being’. This means that for big brands, delivering city-specific products, services and communications that truly incorporate a city’s character, will be a great, human and fun way to pay respect to urban citizens around the world… More »

3. Real-Time Reviews

We recently highlighted NOWISM*, and while that mega-trend in its entirety should be on your radar for the next 12 months, let’s dive into one sub-trend that will be truly disruptive: the rise of REAL-TIME REVIEWS.
In short, with even more people sharing, in real time, everything they do**, buy, listen to, watch, attend, wear and so on, and with even more search engines and tracking services making it easy to find and group these ‘live dispatches’ by theme, topic or brand, 2010 will see ready-to-buy consumers tapping into a live stream of (first-hand) experiences from fellow consumers… More »

4. (F)Luxury

In 2010, luxury, and what it means to a bewildering number of ‘consumer segments’, will remain in flux.

So how will luxury brands fare in the next 12 months? What will define luxury over the next few years? The answer is ‘luxury will be whatever you want it to be’. After all, what constitutes luxury is closely related to what constitutes scarcity. And, beyond the basic needs, scarcity is in the eye of the beholder, especially those beholders who are desperately trying to be unique. Now that there are so many more ways to be unique than just buy the biggest and the most expensive, how about luxury constituting… More »

5. Mass Mingling

More people than ever will be living large parts of their lives online in 2010. Yet, those same people will also mingle, meet up, and congregate more often with other ‘warm bodies’ in the offline world.
In fact, social media and mobile communications are fueling a MASS MINGLING that defies virtually every cliché about diminished human interaction in our ‘online era’… More »

6. Eco-Easy

While the current good intentions of corporations and consumers are helpful, serious eco-results will depend on making products and processes more sustainable without consumers even noticing it, and, if necessary, not leaving much room for consumers and companies to opt for less sustainable alternatives to begin with… More »

7. Tracking & Alerting

First of all, ‘TRACKING & ALERTING is the new searching’, as it saves consumers time, makes it impossible to forget or miss out, and thus ultimately gives them yet another level of control. Count on everything being tracked and alerted on (there’s more than FedEx packages!): from friends (MASS MINGLING!) to enemies to fuel prices to flights to authors to pizzas to any mentions of oneself… More »

8. Embedded Generosity

GENERATION G(ENEROSITY). It was big in 2009, and it will be even bigger in 2010. In particular all things EMBEDDED GENEROSITY. It incorporates all giving initiatives that make giving and donating painless, if not automatic (after all, pragmatism is the religion.
On top of that, with collaboration being such an integral part of the zeitgeist, expect lots of innovative corporate giving schemes that involve customers by letting them co-donate and/or co-decide… More »

9. Profile Myning

What insights can we possibly add to the avalanche of intelligence available on where social media is going? Here’s one modest attempt: the importance of owning and making the most (financially) of personal profiles… More »

10. Maturalism

Let’s face it: 2010 will be rawer, more opinionated, more risqué, more in your face than ever before. Your audiences (who are by now thoroughly exposed to, well, anything, for which you can thank first and foremost the anything-goes online universe) can handle much more quirkiness, more daring innovations, more risqué communications and conversations, more exotic flavors and so on than traditional marketers could have ever dreamed of. In short; audiences in mature consumer societies no longer tolerate being treated like yesteryear’s uninformed, easily shocked, inexperienced, middle-of-the-road consumer… More »

(via: TrendWatching)

Red Bull, Virgin America, Uniqlo and Guinness Lead the Way

Posted by Garrick Schmitt on 11.10.09 @ 09:50 AM

Is advertising dying? It’s certainly fashionable to say so. Conventional wisdom holds that traditional media’s grip on consumers continues to slip as they increasingly turn to the internet and their peers for entertainment and purchasing recommendations.

In fact, any planner worth his or her salt can reel off a stream of statistics pointing to advertising’s demise — or lack of effectiveness, at least: Prime-time continues to erode as all the major networks saw significant declines for last year’s season; 77% of U.S. consumers trust businesses less than they did a year ago; consumers trust their peers’ opinions online more than any other source and a whopping 83% of Mad Men’s supposedly ad-friendly time-shifted audience fast forwards through commercials according to Tivo. The list goes on and on.

But perhaps it’s not that advertising is failing but that brand experiences (both on and offline) are really what are capturing the imagination of today’s consumer. In FEED, a new report that I authored with my colleagues at Razorfish, we found that digital brand experiences are having an inordinate sway on consumer purchasing habits and brand affinity.

Of course, brands that were “born digital” intuitively know this. Google and Amazon are pioneering experiential brands. That’s why Amazon continues to pour money into improving its customer service rather than run traditional advertising or marketing campaigns. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said, “We are not great advertisers. So we start with customers, figure out what they want, and figure out how to get it to them.” Zappos (which recently hired Mullen) built its brand the same way, as has Facebook.

But what about more traditionally-minded marketers who weren’t born digital? Can they succeed in an experience-driven world? The answer is “yes” and here are some of the best:

–> Red Bull: Red Bull basically pioneered the experiential category. Not only did the brand rise to prominence by sponsoring alternative athletes and lifestyles, it went further by creating its own events, like Red Bull’s Flugtag and even its own sports like Red Bull’s Crashed Ice, which takes over old Quebec with a mix of hockey and motorcross. Even the brand’s website has morphed into a blog, much like today’s most popular publishers.

–> Camper: Most of us in the U.S. think of Camper as purely a comfortable yet stylish shoe brand. But the Spanish company is much more and pursues a brand ethos that’s both traditional, cultural and fashion forward simultaneously. Proof: Casa Camper, stylish (but laid back) hotels in Barcelona and Berlin that embodies the brand’s essence. Ditto for Camper Together which taps up and coming artists to create one-of-a-kind boutiques.

–> Guinness: Guinness may be 250 years old, but it’s acting like a much, much younger marketer. The company has embraced experiential branding both literally and figuratively with its “It’s Alive Inside” positioning. For its anniversary, Guinness offered up Remarkable Experiences, including a trip into space. It also released a pub-finder iPhone application with a social media twist. More impressively, the brand created the Guinness Storehouse, a seven-story building that functions as both museum and pub, that has now become one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions. And, more recently, Guinness even wired up its rugby team with RFID tags (including balls and players) to capture a whole range of statistics about how fast, powerfully and effectively the game is played.

–> UNIQLO: Few companies have so used digital like Uniqlo to both build a brand and breakthrough to new consumers — and on a truly global scale.The Japanese retailer surprises and delights consumers at every turn, whether through innovative iPhone applications, calendars, e-commerce, stylebooks and microsites. Uniqlo’s experiential efforts not only express the brand, but reach new consumers who may live thousands of miles away from the nearest retail location.

–> Virgin America: Virgin America has gone further than most, ensuring that the experience is the marketing — and advertising in many cases. The brand targeted tech-savvy consumers early on with its Red system entertainment console and in-flight WiFi. It showed off its dramatic interiors in promotions with Diggnation and YouTube celebrities; became an early adopter of Twitter for customer service; and reinforced its brand values through its simple booking engine on VirginAmerica.com. And now, for the holidays, Virgin America is partnering with Google to offer free WiFi for travelers.

–> Nike: Nike, of course, has been moving in this experiential direction for a few years. ‘We’re not in the business of keeping the media companies alive,” Nike’s Trevor Edwards told the New York Times in 2007. ”We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.” And so they have. The company continually earns kudos for consumer experience breakthroughs like Nike+, its online running community; the Human Race, a global running event; and more recently the Livestrong Chalkbot which enabled users to submit a text message that would be painted (digitally) on the route of the Tour de France.

Experiences, it would seem, are the new advertising. Experiences reach and engage customers in new and more meaningful ways, they promote “trial” over simply messaging and — quite frankly — experiences are much more suited to our digital era when everything is just a click away. Our challenge now, as marketers, is to make sure that our products and brands can actually live up to the experiences that we advertise.

The explosion of social networking sites over the past decade has facilitated a transformation in the way we communicate with each other. Here we look at some of these communities with over 1 million users, both active and defunct.

(via: Focus.com)

Volume B Store is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil designed by Marcio Kogan in 2006. The project was completed in Year 2007. Volume B Stor is the retail furniture store Vitra. read more about it at Archdaily

via: Archdaily | Fazai38’s Blog

CEOs Who Use Twitter: Tweets from the Chiefs – BusinessWeek: Tweets from the Chiefs

In August 2008 we (BusinessWeek) reported on 18 chief executives who use the microblogging application Twitter to clue customers in on new services, help them with questions about their products, and generally get a little bit personal with customers, business associates, and the public.

Not even a year later, we bring you nearly 50 CEOs who find tweeting a personal and professional delight…

So read on to learn how Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, Zappos.com’s Tony Hsieh, and dozens more CEOs harness the simple powers of Twitter.

(via: BusinessWeek)

For benefits of my time-starved colleagues, I’ve listed down who they are. For further reading, their bios, why and what they use Twitter, click the link above or here.

1. Richard Branson, Virgin Group Chairman
2. Guy Kawasaki, Alltop CEO
3. Oren Michels, Mashery CEO
4. Phil Libin, Evernote CEO
5. Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO
6. George Colony, Forrester Research CEO
7. Gary Stockman, Porter Novelli CEO
8. Rob Howard, Telligent CEO
9. Tod Sacerdoti, BrightRoll CEO
10. Richard Rosenblatt, On Demand Media CEO
11. John Battelle, Federated Media CEO
12. Jeff Booth, BuildDirect President and CEO
13. Mark Cuban, HDNet Chairman
14. Bob Parsons, Go Daddy Group CEO and Founder
15. Ian Schafer, Deep Focus CEO
16. Mike Ferrari, SmartyPig Co-founder
17. Aaron Patzer, Mint.com CEO
18. Timothy Young, Socialcast CEO
19. Alex Yoder, WebTrends CEO
20. Edwin Ong, CastTV CEO
21. Avner Ronen, Boxee CEO
22. Diane Hessan, Communispace CEO
23. Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove CEO
24. Jason Alba, JibberJobber CEO
25. Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen Fund CEO
26. J’Amy Stewart, Infonetics CEO
27. Tom Bedecarre, AKQA CEO
28. Marcel LeBrun, Radian6 CEO
29. Jay Adelson, Digg CEO
30. Peter Bordes, MediaTrust CEO
31. Kevin Rose, Digg Founder
32. Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com CEO
33. Jason Calacanis, Mahalo.com Founder
34. Michael Arrington, TechCrunch.com Co-editor
35. Loic Lemeur, Seesmic Founder
36. Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media CEO
37. Jack Dorsey, Twitter Chairman
38. David Sifry, Technorati Chairman
39. Christine Perkett, PerkettPR President
40. Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO
41. Jeff Bonforte, Xobni CEO
42. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems CEO
43. Shafqat Islam, NewsCred Chief Executive
44. Barry Libert, Mzinga CEO and Chairman
45. Eugene Lee, Socialtext CEO
46. Kel Kelly, Kel & Partners CEO
47. Lois Paul, Principal of Lois Paul & Partners
48. John Lilly, Mozilla.com CEO

Without a doubt, there are more out there. And I want to archive them all. So please feel free to comment in with names of those not in the list already.

As a service whose sole purpose is to track the applications that people actually use on their systems… The data comes from the over 75,000 Wakoopa users that have installed the desktop tracking software to enable the company to see actual usage. These users have logged over 525 million hours of app usage, across over 200,000 apps.

Some key trends in the report:

• Social networking usage tends to peak between 9 and 10 PM.
• Facebook, the most popular social network, usage is pretty constant throughout the day.
• Other web apps tend to peak at between 4 and 5 PM.
• Google Chrome is growing quickly, and is now past 15% usage across all Wakoopa users.

But some of Wakoopa’s charts in the report contain even more interesting information. For example,…

• Mozilla’s Firefox browser… is the number one app on both Windows and Mac platforms.
• And in every continent besides Africa, it’s over 60% usage among web browsers
• In Africa it’s (Firefox) still at 50%.
• Africa is the only continent where Internet Explorer finishes as the second most-used browser.
• On every other continent, IE is in third place among browsers — or worse.

While that may sounds a bit ridiculous given that IE is still by far the biggest browser worldwide in terms of market share, that has to be very troubling for Microsoft as it’s probably safe to assume that a lot of Wakoopa users are early adopters of technology and could signal a trend of where things could go for the general population in the coming years.

Also not a good sign for Microsoft: The older you are, the more likely you are to use IE.

• In the youngest age group, 11 to 20 year olds, even smaller browsers like Opera beat it.
• IE has been losing market share at a steady pace for the past several years.

More insights…

• Google products dominate the top-used web apps.
• Gmail is #2, YouTube is #3, Google Search is #4 and Google Reader is #5.
• YouTube and Gmail would be ahead of Google Search,
• Because people use their built-in search toolbars rather than Google.com to start searches.

Regardless, Facebook trumps them all.

(via: Virology.TV)

There isn’t much to explain why this is an especially important share. But for colleagues not already in the loop, music is integral in our product portfolio. We run 8 radio websites, music charts are key parts of these portals, song downloads will be available if not already, mobile music is the defacto keyword in Asian music distribution, and lastly, entertainment is big in our digital product plays.

Again, I have broken it up into 2 parts – Most Beautiful 5, and the rest of the other 25. Beauty = function and aesthetics.

The Top 5

Last.fm

Gigotron

just hear !t

LyricSift

iLike

The Other 25

Mx3

midomi.com

Apple – iTunes

Deezer

evelMerch

Virb

Mugasha

Songbird

14 tracks

Bandize.com

Champion Sound

Lasttweet.com

Echodio

Dorble.com

Jamseed

Taste Kid

NYLVI

Pitchfork

Twisten.FM

Sellaband

Slicethepie

Tunerec

Songza

Better Than The Van

audiolife

Best of Behance’s 99% Conference: 13 Tried and True Practices For Making Ideas Happen | Fast Company:

1. Keep a notebook.
Bierut started this practice in 1992, and now has 86 of the things. But they’re not some fancy Moleskins full of lush watercolor sketches. They’re plain vanilla notebooks, filled with, well, notes and the occasional sketch. They seem to work as well as the high-priced spread.

2. Listen first, then design.
Actually, you don’t have to be a designer to take this advice. If you’re selling office paper at Dunder Mifflin, or pitching an account at Sterling Cooper, listening is still a good way to get a project off on the right foot.

3. Don’t avoid the obvious.
The obvious can be your best friend. There are few new ideas, folks. Mostly just better iterations of the old ones. Trying to reinvent the wheel too often just results in a lot of wheel spinning.

4. The problem contains the solution.
Read the brief or the specs, or actually pay attention to your notes from the client meeting (see #1, above.) Often, the solution is right there.

5. Indulge your obsessions.
They’re passion made tangible.

6. Love is the answer.
There are worse things than leading with your heart. As Bierut has proven, you’ll often be successful, do great work, and probably make money. And you’ll likely be happy.

7. Don’t let the urgent demands of today always subvert your plans for tomorrow.
In other words, don’t let the often trivial demands of an overflowing inbox consistently distract you from the more important items on your to-do list. Along those lines, keep two lists: one of daily tasks, the other of longer term projects with specific action items attached. – Scott Belsky, CEO, Behance

8. Don’t underestimate the importance of staying organized.
Chaos subverts progress. Creativity x organization = impact – Belsky

9. Hang around people who are passionate about things.
Their enthusiasm will rub off on you. Whom you hang out with really matters. – Jason Randal, theorist on developing expertise

10. Hire the best lawyers.
“I’ve met many people who run billion-dollar companies. They aren’t that smart. They hire good lawyers. It’s one of the things that made this project happen.” Robert Hammond, Co-founder, Friends of the High Line.

11. Share ideas liberally.
If you share things quickly, you’ll be more accountable.

12. Surround yourself with people who motivate you, and write things down.
Something as large as a presidential campaign was done simply by checking items off a to-do list. – Scott Thomas, design director, Obama for America

13. Nothing trumps hard work.
“Many successful people don’t want to talk about how hard they work. Even when you’ve made it, you’ve got to keep working.” – Jill Greenberg, photographer

(via: FastCompany)

Chinese Social Networks ‘Virtually’ Out-Earn Facebook And MySpace: A Market Analysis: While companies like Facebook struggle to conquer market share in China and to create viable business models everywhere, their Chinese clones have built lucrative cash machines literally earning billions of dollars a year. Unfortunately, adopting Chinese methods may not help American social networks due both to cultural differences in Chinese user behavior and industry practices.

(via: TechCrunch)

This week, we are going to feature food and I would like to share something that I downloaded from forwarded email last time, it’s all about miniature people on food that bring the realistic environment.

As the images shown, one is a close up and the other one is long range. Apparently, the main thing is about the miniature people but the background is only food.  You can see how creative they are able to build in such matter. I love the finishing although it’s done by Photoshop I supposed? Enjoy!

Cool huh? :D

Personally, I like the ‘hairy’ kiwi fruit and which one do you like? ^^

Mobile Web Design Trends 2009 | Smashing Magazine

1. Simple options

One of the most intriguing things about mobile websites is the scaled-down options that are available to visitors. The mobile home page of Digg, for example, contains only 10 simple headlines and links, a log-in link and a few very basic navigation options. When it comes to mobile websites, simplicity is key. Because of the lack of space on the screen and Internet connections that are often slower, it’s important for visitors to have access to what is most crucial, and as little else as possible.

2. White space

White space is an important part of any design, and it’s something that’s usually a challenge in Web design because there is a desire to get as much as possible in front of the visitor. White space becomes even more of a necessity in mobile design because the typical screen size is so much smaller. A jumbled website would be very user-unfriendly and very difficult to pull off in the mobile environment.

3. Lack of images

As high-speed Internet connections have become more common in recent years, designers have been able to take more liberties with things like bandwidth-hogging video and images. The average visitor on a desktop or laptop wants to see a visually engaging website, and, as a result, images are heavily used. However, when it comes to mobile design, excessive use of images often does more harm than good.

4. Sub-domains instead of .mobi or separate domains

When the .mobi top-level domain (TLD) first became available, a lot of buzz surrounded the news. While some websites use .mobi for mobile versions of their websites, it is currently more common to see companies use a sub-domain or a separate folder on their primary domain. One of the major benefits of using a sub-domain is that it keeps everything on one domain, rather than spreading things out and potentially confusing visitors.

You’ll commonly see mobile versions of websites at such addresses as mobile.example.com, m.example.com, example.com/mobile, example.com/m and other ones along these lines. Some actual examples are m.twitter.com, mobile.washingtonpost.com and netflix.com/mobile/. Of course, there are exceptions to this trend, but as you look at the mobile versions of major websites, you will see more sub-domains than .mobi.

5. Prioritized content

Because of the simplicity of these pages and the general lack of many options, the content displayed is highly prioritized – for the visitor. While advertisements have largely become an accepted part of the Internet, most mobile websites are ad-free. The content available on a mobile website is typically of the highest priority to the average mobile visitor, not the company, although in the end the company benefits by having a more usable website.

You can see an example by looking at the mobile version of The Onion. Like most news websites, TheOnion.com does have ads with its stories. The mobile version, however, is ad-free.

Common Challenges in Designing for Mobiles

1. Variety of screen sizes

Because mobile technology is always changing, screen sizes are changing, too. Fortunately for designers, modern mobile devices typically have bigger screens and higher resolutions than those of a few years ago, but of course those older phones are still in use.

The results of the study show that 240 x 320 (a.k.a. QVGA) should be the standard for mobile development. Many newer mobiles and smart phones have larger screens, but smaller ones are largely a thing of the past.

2. Lack of understanding

One of the biggest challenges that many designers face is just the intimidation of dealing with a new aspect of design. Because mobile browsers behave somewhat differently than desktop browsers and because the environment of its users is not the same, the designer needs to gain some understanding and familiarity.

3. Rapid change

Like any other technology, rapid change is a constant. Of course, Web designers need to stay on top of the industry in general, and the mobile Web is no different. As technology and trends continue to change, the mobile Web will evolve accordingly. The challenge of change isn’t really anything new to designers; the mobile Web just presents another area in which designers need to stay up to date.

4. Testing challenges

One of the most significant challenges in designing for mobiles is the wide variety of phones in use. There are, of course, some things you can do so that a mobile website is tested as well as possible. To start with, the simplicity of mobile websites in a way makes the testing process easier because there is less that can go wrong. With a careful design and some well-planned testing, it’s possible to be fairly certain that a website will be displayed properly and, more importantly, usable on the vast majority of mobile devices.

5. Deciding on what is essential

If websites are to contain only what is most essential, the website owner or designer will have to determine accurately what content is most important. This may seem pretty simple, but taking a website that’s loaded with content, images and maybe even video, and weeding it down to just the essentials can be quite a challenge. Keep in mind that the goals of mobile visitors are often vastly different than those of visitors sitting at a desk.

Here’s the link to the full article: Mobile Web Design Trends | Smashing Magazine

For a gallery and showcase of the best in Mobile Web design, here’s a link to one of our previous articles: More Web Design Showcase.

123Klan has been one of my favourite agency in terms of modern type and graffiti. The French duo known only as Scien and Klor started the studio in 1992 out of the love for graffiti and became one of the known names in the graphic design community. Their client list includes the likes of Sony, Carhartt and Stussy.

Nowadays 123klan still does live graffiti exhibits around the world, but also produces books, customises toys and generally makes the world a better place to be.

123klan’s own move from the streets to the graphics studio began with their introduction to the iconic typography of designer Neville Brody, famous for his architecture-like font work on The Face and many other projects.

Simply pop one out, soak with a little water and the pill instantly transforms into a sturdy 11 inches x 9 inches textured towel. Great for camping, hiking, cleaning dirty faces after an ice cream cone, or anytime you need a towel on-the-go. Easy to carry in purse, diaper bag, briefcase, backpack or your clear carry-on for the plane.

The Wally – Wallet Sized Stainless Steel Bottle Opener

The Wally is the exact size of a credit card and weighs a mere 1 1/2 ounces! Great for picnics, tailgating parties, or just for a quick one on-the-go. Brushed stainless steel.

I introduced the revolutionary GO OHSO Marko travel toothbrushes

Thumb Thing
Simply put the Thumb Thing on your thumb and pick up a book; the two wings will hold the pages open more easily than if you just used your hand, making reading more comfortable. Ideal for reading in bed, in the bath or at the beach. Since it allows you to read with one hand, it’s great for commuters, especially if they have to read standing up.

Paper Shaving Cream – 30 Single Use Sheets Travel Soap Leaves
Just add water to this dissolving paper shaving cream…and travel soap

Senz Umbrella
Aerodynamically designed to maintain its shape even under the harshest of weather conditions, Senz is a true breakthrough in umbrella design. Its patented frame and powerful construction keep it from inverting in winds up to 70 miles per hour (original model) or 40 mph winds (mini model). Plus the unique shape provides optimal line of sight from under its canopy with a shortened front (no more walking into people on the sidewalk or into cars when you cross the street) and superior protection to keep you dry from the rear.

All the movements on the web site are controlled by sound and music.
So change songs, upload your own music, play on your keyboard or sing into the microphone.

Visit the site

Adobe Creative Suite4

 

Here are the upcoming online and live events from Adobe to help you get to brilliant faster:

http://adobe.vintedge.com/edm/42_CS4_eSeminar/edm_SGMY.html

Check out this clip, for those designers who working day and night and get bang from your boss and sales person for fully Flash or Ajax stuff for couple of hundreds bucks! This guy is our hero! Jess Gibson’s documentary, The Draplin Thing.