Logic+Emotion

Leo Burnett Stakes Claim in Second Life

Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide have beat the agency world to the punch by being the first to major agency to set up shop in Second Life (the picture above is their virtual hub).  And good for them!  It doesn't matter if there is even a practical use for an Ad agency in second life, Leo with it's rich heritage in pushing 30 second spots has done something the other agencies, including the digital ones have not.

From the fruits of imagination:

"London, September 28, 2006: Today Leo Burnett Worldwide and its marketing-services partner, Arc Worldwide, announced they are in the final development stages of an “ideas hub” in Second Life, one of the Internet’s most populous virtual worlds. Soft launching this week and expected to be fully up and running in November 2006, the hub will be a virtual learning campus, created to further connect and grow the creative talent of the group’s global network. For a flat rendering of the hub, please visit http://tinyurl.com/nkjvz.

Conceived as a celebration of creativity, the yet to be named hub will immediately bring together in a virtual world nearly 2,400 creatives from Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide in 80+ countries.

Leo Burnett Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Mark Tutssel said, “Collective imagination will always be greater than individual creativity – and as today’s new technology now gives us untold possibilities for tapping into the creative brainpower around our network and beyond, the launch of our SL presence is all about our seizing with both hands the opportunity to learn, collaborate and create fresh ideas across the globe.”

Is this a PR stunt?  Is it experimentation?  Is it really a genuine desire to collaborate creatively taking advantage of the virtual medium?  It could be all of the above.  But most importantly, it will give Leo an understanding of Second Life first hand, so if they recommend this type of marketing to clients, they might actually know what they are talking about—because they are doing it.

Here's how the post on fruits of the imagination ended:

"I think it's a good idea, if only to get people around the company participating in social networking and seeing what it's all about - you can only learn so much by reading about it.  And a day after we announced it, BBH also announced (subscription required) they're setting something up.  We'll see if either one of these virtual places actually becomes used or useful, but I'm just glad to see some agencies trying new things.  Let the games begin..."

"You can only learn so much by reading about it."  Amen to that brother.  This is why I started blogging in the first place.  One can only learn so much from theory. 
 

Digitas + Modem Mixx it Up

Happy to share that Digitas and Modem Media have kicked some arse at the recent Mixx Awards held in NYC.   The Mixx awards are positioned as follows:

"The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Adweek Magazines culminated the MIXX Conference and Expo with the Interactive industry's annual MIXX Awards. The MIXX Awards celebrates the teams and talent that push Interactive to unprecedented levels, across the full spectrum of Interactive platforms"

We won in the following catagories:

Brand Awareness/Positioning
GOLD:       Digitas for American Express, "Tribeca Film Festival"
SILVER:     frog design for General Electric, "Picture a Healthy World" (very cool campaign BTW)
BRONZE:   MediaVest for The Coca-Cola Company/Evian, "Evian Detox"

Product Launch
GOLD:      McKinney for Oasys Mobile Inc., "Pherotones"
SILVER:    Mira Design Studio for Holiday Inn Express Hotels, "Showerhead Campaign"
BRONZE:  Modem Media for Delta Airlines, "Delta Q3/Q4 - delta.com"

Direct Response
GOLD:     Digitas for Pontiac Motor Division, "Pontiac Solstice Early-Order Program"
SILVER:   Modem Media for Delta Airlines, "Delta Direct Response"
BRONZE:   Media Contacts for Vonage, "Vonage Acquisition Campaign"

Best in show went to RPA for Honda's "A Different Animal"  All winners can be seen here.

Co-Presenting in the Flat World

(click for lager image)

powered by ODEO

The ever-present Ann Handley from Marketing Profs recently held a presentation over at the Marshall School of Business of the University of Southern California. The presentation was given to an  MBA class in Internet marketing.  Here's where it gets cool.  Ann used some of my visuals in her deck.  And when she was ready to talk to the "Sharing Ideas in Flat Vs. Round Worlds" slide—she simply pulled up this audio file which I recorded specifically for the presentation.

So now the way that we present to a live audience is changing as well—in a flat kind of way.  We can be there virtually—no studio or fancy equipment required.  Record.  Send. Download. Done.

Ann tells me it went off without a hitch.  I kept the recording pretty short, at just over five minutes.  I still wish I could have been there in person to see Ann in action.  Lucky students...

When Splog Attacks

Update:  Wow.  I'm really under attack!  I've had to close comments for most of the blog until I get this figured out.  I've tried every anti-spam technique available.  Waiting to hear back from Typepad on this one.
Sorry for the inconvenience.  I'm looking into it.  In the meantime, please do not feed the Saddam.

Sorry folks.  The nasty splog (spam blog) aliens have found Logic + Emotion and bombarded it with hundreds of bogus comments.  Have to turn on the feature that protects from this kind of stuff.  It'll be one extra step for commenting—but it beats the alternative.  Guess you can say it's a sign of success?  I'm just trying to be positive here...  :)

Thought of the Day

"Forty years ago, Thomas Watson Jr., chairman and chief executive of IBM during its most explosive period of growth, famously proclaimed, "Good design is good business." Corporate America, however, barely looked up from its work. Except for a few mavericks such as IBM, Kodak, and Xerox it would take years for design to move in from the fringes of business. But today, companies are creating products and services that delight customers with the grace of their fit and finish, and their exacting performance. Design, in short, is becoming an ever more important engine of corporate profit"

~Roger Martin

Visualizing L+E

Well isn't this poetic justice?  After all of the visualizations I do on this blog, I can now see the blog itself represented in a visual format thanks to Websites As Graphs.

So according to this little applet—here is what you are looking at in regards to http://darmano.typepad.com/

Blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

Yeah. It's over my head too.  But looks pretty.  Flowery almost.

Tip of the hat to Asi.

A Good Week for B2B

Well actually it's a good week for B2B sites that I've worked on past and present.  BtoB magazine has announced Grainger.com as one of their 10 Great Websites.  Here's what they had to say:

"There is no typical Grainger.com customer. Some customers order from the site multiple times each day, while others buy one or two items periodically. This created a challenge for Grainger executives: How could they provide an easy experience for the infrequent buyer but also cater to heavy users with the right amount of product information for the more than 250,000 Grainger.com products?"

Of course to solve these complex issues, my team focused on customer-centric design supported by rigorous testing and iterative releases.  Full disclosure, I participated in design iterations from 2000 to 2005, but the site hasn't changed dramatically in the past year (to my knowledge).

The full list:
Accenture
Bank of America
Boston Scientific
CA.com
DHL.com
Gates.com
Grainger.com
Steelcase.com
Sun.com
USG.com

And in other good B2B news, my team recently collaborated on a new homepage design for Ferguson—a large distributor of plumbing supplies and fixtures.

If you are an Interaction Design geek as I am, you should check out this homepage.  It uses sliding panels that contract and expand to reveal and conceal content.  And since the primary functionality on the site is a locater—we bubbled up that functionality in a dynamic fashion right off the home page.  All the visuals on the page are dynamic as well—they refresh randomly upon load.  The design is meant to entice interaction and engage the user with the ultimate goal of getting them into a branch or showroom.  Go ahead and click around on anything you can get your hands on. 

In my opinion the B2B space is ripe for innovation.  Traditionally, consumer brands have blazed the path due to stiff competition and the ever-changing fickle nature of consumers.  But the slower pace of B2B seems to be picking up a bit—and sites that offer the best experiences will help lead the charge.

The Advertising Brand is in Trouble

Advertising Age is having a poll this week that asks "Does the advertising industry have an image problem?"  OK, that's kind of a silly question isn't it?  It's like asking if Tom Cruise currently has a problem with his image.

But maybe the question does need to be answered.  As of now, 85% of Advertising Age readers say yes.  So what's the problem?

I won't go into it in detail becuase a while back,  I expressed my thoughts about this topic here and here

But I will say this:  It's ironic that the one industry which is all about brands—has itself a brand identity crisis.

Finding Beauty in the Ugly

I’m having kind of an ugly day so far.  Well, it’s really not that bad—but I just got back from the Doctor after having some fairly significant lower back pain checked out.  Most likely it’s an inflamed disc—pressing on a nerve which has resulted in my right leg going numb.  Fun times.  My back feels best when laying flat, so when I got home the first thing I did was just drop down in my yard—laying flat on my back.  The weather is nice today—so why not be uncomfortable outside?

Here’s where the beauty kicks in.  After about five minutes of staring up at the sky, watching the clouds—it hit me that I used to do this as a little boy. I’d do it for hours.  I used to find a big tree—lay myself flat and “cloud watch”.  My imagination would totally take over.  Every cloud I saw was either a dinosaur, a face, house, animal, car, you name it.  I would see these things in the clouds.  So as I was laying there flat out—with a bum back and numb leg, all I could do was remember how much I loved doing this as a kid.

And now that I’m back at the laptop (feeling a little better now with the help of a few meds)—it’s making me think about how this tiny lesson applies to life.  It’s always best find the beauty in ugly situations.  Or at least maybe for the little ones.  Some situations are of course hopeless—at least in the here and now.  But for those of us who are fortunate enough to be spared the worst the world has to offer—maybe it’s our responsibility to always see the beauty in our lesser times.

Or to not over analyze this too much—today I made a choice.  That choice brought back some wonderful childhood memories.  And although my body is feeling older—my mind is feeling young.

Connecting Our Logic + Emotions

Asi over at No Man's Blog has written up a post that he says was inspired by my Life 2.0 write up.  And as these things seem to work in the social network (as in life)—I in turn was inspired to create this visual (Asi, grab this for your post!)

Asi says:

"It is the mechanism by which we humans construct our shared realities as well as our identities. In that sense both our perception of the world and of ourselves is predicated on common experience, dialogue and interaction.  Perspective taking of this type is what we ‘do’ habitually in any communicative or interactive setting as we wave our hands, nod our heads, speak, listen, write, read, blog – from a wordless sigh to a rejoinder in dialogue, to a multi-volume philosophical investigation - in short, in any verbal or non-verbal communicative practice that involves self and other."

I like where Asi has taken this thought.  By adding the non verbal, emotional side of the equasion.  Sure, this is difficult to come across as we connect through digital means.  But that doesn't mean it's not there.  We laugh out loud, lean back in our chairs—maybe even pound our fists on our desks.  We connect in both logical and emotional ways—both with our heads and hearts.

Read Asi's post here.

What I Learned in D-school

For every Ying, there needs to be a Yang.  A while back, Design Observer re-printed, “The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School.” by New York-based architect Michael McDonough.  It’s a great read and all too true—sadly schools of any type don’t often prepare us for the real world.  But what about the things we DO learn in D-school (Design School)?  How are we influenced during this pivotal moment in our lives?  And does it carry over into life after D-school?  What about values that are instilled in our developing hearts and minds?

I was fortunate enough to attend Pratt for the better part of three and a half years. I received a very unique education which consisted of pioneering the usage of computers in design, cooking fillet mignon in the classroom, welding in workshops, and even posing in the buff for a figure drawing class (I'll explain in face your fears).  I learned a great deal about urban living in the middle of some pretty rough neighborhoods (got mugged at gunpoint in my second week).  But I also learned how privileged I was to be able to receive this kind of education in one of the greatest cities on the planet.

What I learned in D-school has served me well to this very day.  Here are a few highlights.  All of the images included in this post were created during my time at Pratt.

What I Learned in D-school:

Work really hard.

Pratt’s Mantra was “Be true to your work, and your work will be true to you”.  This phrase has been branded deep inside my soul.  And we lived it daily at Pratt—the proof was in the amount of lights on during the night.  Everyone stayed up late working on projects because we believed in what we were doing.  Same goes for me today.  If I believe in the work, there is nothing I won’t do to see it through.

Compete.

When we pinned up our projects in front of each other in the classrooms—make no mistake, we were competing.  We were competing against each other because there was mutual respect for our fellow students.  We sharpened each other’s skills this way.  If we were going to put something up on that wall, in front of our professors and each other—it had better  be good.  If it wasn’t, or at least didn’t have the potential to be—we had let ourselves down.

Take criticism.

Having your work up on the wall, in front of your peers taught me how to take criticism.  Yes, my work was shredded to pieces by professors who studied under the likes of Milton Glaser.  Sometimes I took a beating.  But I always dusted off and picked myself up.  I learned early on how to take criticism and use it to make a better product.  D-school taught me how to listen and value the opinions of others and become better for it.

See things differently.

My visual communications professors constantly challenged us to look at things differently.  To never be satisfied with our first ideas—they were merely stepping stones to something better.  When I facilitate ideation sessions, I remember these lessons.  The first ideas can sometimes be really good—but the more ideas build upon each other, the better the chances of ending up with something wonderful.

Embrace new experiences.

I learned how to use computers early on when much of the design world was cutting and pasting away.  If I wanted to do something like create an animation—it might mean learning a new program, doing things like creating 3-D models.  I didn’t know any of this stuff before coming to Pratt, but I left there with a "learn by doing attitude" which enables me to put myself in the shoes of users—do what they do, and a desire to experience things for myself.

Face your fears.

A group of students who wanted to get better at figure drawing agreed to meet one a week after class to continue drawing.  There was only one problem.  We didn’t have models.  So we modeled for each other.  I really didn’t want to get up in front of my fellow students with nothing but my bare assets—however I did want to learn how to draw better.   So I got up on that platform—in full view of my classmates.  But once I did it, I felt a sense of accomplishment in staring down my fears—and to this day, it takes a lot to rattle me.  After all, once you do something like that—even the most demanding work experience seems tame in comparison.

Build something.

The mask I designed here was created in one evening.  But before I started working on it, I had to show a sketch to my professor.  The initial sketch didn’t do the actual mask justice—my professor wasn’t very impressed at the idea until he saw the execution.  This taught me the value of executing ideas rapidly.  Sometimes people need to see, touch and feel to believe.

Have Fun.

Having fun is probably THE most important thing I learned in D-school.  One of my projects was to design a better “choking victim poster”.  So I thought, why can’t a poster about choking be fun?  And with a little inspiration from Keith Haring, I did just that.  Work doesn’t have to feel like work—I had a lot of fun at Pratt staying up all night working on projects. My roommates and I would wake each other up in the middle of the night if one of us was working, just to get feedback.  We had fun with our work and with each other. We didn’t take ourselves too seriously.  All things that should ring true in our serious corporate settings (but don't always).

I guess that’s about it.  And if you think about it, you really don't need to go to Design School for any of this—but for me, it did the trick.  And the funny thing is that if you look at this collection of thoughts and images, you see very little which directly corresponds in a literal fashion with my actual practice in digital experience design (at least not how it’s practiced today).  There are no flows, sitemaps or personas.  These are skills I had to learn on the job.  Marketing, user-centered design, copywriting—these were all developed through real work experience in the field.  However I still tap into the core values I leaned at D-school.  Maybe what it comes down to was being influenced.  But as we know, a little influence goes a long way.

Web 2.0 Losers?

So here is an interesting Top 10 list.  It's a roundup of "Web 2.0 losers" according to the Wisdump blog.  I'm not sure what the criteria  was behind coming up with this list.  Maybe the criteria was as simple as creating a "meme" for the purpose of linkbacks to the source.  Or maybe it's an honest take from one individual's perspective. 

Personally, I haven't had bad experiences with Bloglines, Typepad or Odeo.   On the other hand, Technorati seems to work only half of the time.  Regardless, it's an interesting read—what do you agree or disagree with? 

From Wisdump:

1. Odeo. As I talked about in the Business Notes section of 9rules, Ev Williams talked about the failures Odeo has experienced and honestly it doesn’t look like it is going to get any better. After a promising start built from a ton of hype the momentum quickly stopped once Apple introduced podcasting within iTunes shortly after. Comparing a show’s subscribers in Odeo versus iTunes it is clear who the winner in the podcast directory game is and it’s not Odeo.

   What many people will consider Odeo’s downfall was their speed of development. Just last month they released a Myspace widget, which in the podcasting/audio space you would’ve figured that would’ve been one of the top things on their list to get out the door. Also, many people are worried that they have lost their focus due to the release of projects such as Hellodeo and Twitter.

2. Squidoo. With the backing of Marketing guru, Seth Godin, it was easily assumed that Squidoo would do pretty well, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case. Squidoo is a concept that had great potential to work 5 years ago, but now there is no reason for anyone to create a page and fill it with links to other places simply to look as though they are an expert in that category. In this user-generated era of content users always expect to get paid (Note: “paid” doesn’t always mean monetarily) and Squidoo offers no real benefits for anyone to invest their time in.

3. Edgeio. When Michael Arrington is a part of something people are going to pay attention. However, it doesn’t seem that much attention is being paid to Edgeio except for spammers. It’s always nice to visit an English speaking site and once I look for housing I can easily find any place in China.

   The real problem is that Edgeio assumes you will use your website to sell your goods when there is very little chance that your audience has the reach of either eBay or Craigslist. Sellers will always go where the majority of the people are for the best chance of making money.

4. Flock. When your supporters’ main argument is, “They haven’t even released a 1.0 version yet”, there is a good chance something is wrong. What exactly is the market for Flock? Arugably, Flock received the most amount of buzz last year before a beta was even released. With 12 employees on board and a stockpile of money to work with everything was looking rosy. That was fall of last year and now that we are in Fall 2006 what do we have so far?

   Beta 1 (v0.7). Let’s not forget that their founding CEO has quit along with their loudest cheerleader and you have signs of a company that is in trouble no matter how much the crowds want them to succeed.

5. Netscape. It’s hard to call Netscape a loser because by default they should be receiving a ton of traffic with the use of one of the oldest Internet brands around. However, I don’t see them doing much simply because of the use of that old brand. Many people remember Netscape as being Microsoft’s whipping boy and newer people couldn’t care less what Netscape is because they know one thing, it isn’t Digg.

   With a broader range of categories than Digg, it seems Netscape is trying to appeal more to the general public than just the technology crowd. However, that crowd doesn’t seem to be interested in going through stories and voting up the top ones and too much of the Digg crowd will remain loyal to Digg because of the community and interface (Netscape needs a UI overhaul in the worst way).

6. Microsoft. In May, comScore Networks reported that MSN Spaces was the largest blogging service worldwide, but who knows about it or uses it? Microsoft seems content to think that just being in the market is good enough for them and the market and will kindly hand itself over. What have they done exciting on the web in the past year?

   They want to compete with Google and Yahoo in the search space, but don’t seem to be making any ground there. Then there was the Adsense competitor that hasn’t made any waves. They completely missed the bus in the Social Networking space and have already fell behind in the Online Office Suite space. Now they believe they have the ability to compete with YouTube with their upcoming Soapbox. With the amount of cash they have they can catch up, but it doesn’t seem like they have any interest to do so.

7. AOL. Not so long ago AOL had the largest social network on the Internet with their IM service and although they still dominate that field they weren’t able to capitalize on it and translate it on the web. Imagine starting a Social Network with your friends list already added as your friends and your account and page already setup with your IM information. The chance was there and they clearly missed it.

   Add to that a homepage that can’t compete with Yahoo and you are left with a company struggling to find a new identity.

8. Bloglines. When AskJeeves bought Bloglines many people were hoping that the #1 online RSS reader would finally get the overhaul they had been waiting for. Sadly, those people are still waiting. Bloglines has always been the leader in its field, but due to the lack of innovation their marketshare continues to dwindle and it doesn’t seem that any change is on the horizon.

   Make sure to checkout Bloglines Revisited.

9. SixApart. For a company that used to be the darling of the blogging world it’s surprising to see them lose so much traction so fast. WordPress has taken over the self-hosted blogging application crowd and is poised to do the same with their hosted platform as well. SixApart has not pushed anything innovative in their MovableType or Typepad applications and their recent offering, Vox, seems to just conflict with these two even more.

10. Technorati. What does a couple years of development and multiple rounds of funding get you? Nothing but the same if you follow the Technorati model. The only ones who seem to care about this blogging search engine are the site owners who wish to keep track of who is linking to them and that’s if the service is even up to allow them to do so.

    The problem is that most people don’t care about blog search and the ones that do will soon go to Google because it is guaranteed to be up. After three rounds of funding and in excess of $12MM burned you would expect Technorati to be a force on the web, but that hasn’t been the case and it doesn’t look like it will be the case in the future either. There is no reason for the big search companies to acquire them because they can do what Technorati does so who is the likely buyer?

    Make sure to checkout Technorati Revisited.

Geek 2.0

(click for larger image)

I apologize in advance for all of the "2.0" posts recently—but I couldn't help myself.  My recent "Geek Dinner" experience impacted me more than I anticipated.  Sure it was cool that I got to rub elbows (literally) with Robert Scoble and some other Silicon Valley shakers—but what really got my gears turning was the notion of what passes for as a "Geek" these days.

Geekdom, is nothing like what I remember it to be from High school.  Today, it seems that the most cutting edge, tech savvy and just plain "cool" people around proudly wear a "Geek badge".  But to me, it seems like it's an evolution of "Geek culture".  Geeking out in the classic sense means going gaga over our gadgets.  Learning how to tweak them to their highest potential.  And if you think of it, most of the "2.0" Web applications out there that are fueling this whole movement are created and designed by... Geeks.

But these aren't your parents Geeks.  These are the Geeks that invent the Facebook's Firefoxes and Flickr's of the world.  These are the Geeks that have taken Silicon Valley by storm.  They are also the Geeks who are coveted and sought after by smart companies such as Google. 

And here is the kicker.  Though the comfort level with technology is a pre-requisite, Geeks can be anyone.  You can be a Design Geek, a Writer Geek—heck, you can even be a Marketing Geek.

In fact, maybe you should.  In marketing, when we look at how Web applications like You Tube have totally interrupted the Advertising model—maybe it makes sense to "Geek out" and really grasp how these emerging media technologies are feeding the appetite of consumers at ease with their digital lifestyles.

Maybe we're all really Geeks in the end (or need to be). 

And if that's the case—we better figure out how to create the right kinds of experiences and tell the most compelling stories to our own Geeky selves.

Picture of the Day

Gloomy day here in Chicagoville. Overcast skies and lots of puddles. Perfect day for cleaning up the motorbike. With a little help from Mad Max of course.

Starbucks Only Wants My Bucks

Actually—they want my nickels.  Starbucks has announced a price hike of five cents per cup.  No big deal right?  Personally, I’m annoyed by it because Starbucks has been gradually losing favor in my eyes and this doesn't help.

From USA Today:

"SEATTLE — Starbucks (SBUX) said Thursday that it plans to raise prices of its lattes, cappuccinos, drip coffee and other drinks 5 cents, or an average 1.9%.

The increase, effective Oct. 3 at all company-operated stores in the USA and Canada, marks the first time the company has boosted drink prices in two years.

...Currently, a tall, or 12-ounce, cup of Starbucks coffee costs $1.40 to $1.65. Twelve-ounce lattes cost $2.40 to $3.10, depending on the market, and a tall mocha costs $2.70 to $3.40."

The Starbucks brand has been lauded as the poster child of the experience economy.  Provide a high-end experience that customers cannot get elsewhere—one that they crave, and you can charge a premium for your product and services while your brand enjoys the benefits of unconditional love and adoration from your customers and brand evangelists.  Or at least so the theory goes.

But in my opinion, something has been happening to Starbucks gradually since their early days.  The quality of the “Starbucks Experience” isn’t what it used to be.  It’s the little things.  The Baristas are inconsistent.  Some are great and some are terrible.  Some of the Starbucks that I walk into are really cool—they take advantage of the local feel of the area they are located in.  Others feel like “fast drink”.  No better than McDonalds—but 5x the price.  Some of the Starbucks that I’ve frequented are just trying too damn hard—thumping their Starbuck compilation CD's at high volume.  Hey, is this Starbucks or The Gap?

Don’t they realize I want the Coffee to wake me up?  Not the warbling vocals of Jewel.

So five little cents.  For coffee that’s already overpriced.  But again, in this experience economy—it was never about the coffee in the first place right?  It’s about HOW you got that coffee and what you look like when you are walking around with your Starbucks cup vs. a cup from Dunkin’ Doughnuts.

But lookout Starbucks.  I’m really liking both the taste and experience of the coffee I get from places like Intelligensia, Caribou, and the local shops that are thankfully popping up again.  There’s one right by my house that serves Illy coffee, which as far as I am concerned makes Starbucks taste like roasted dirt in comparison.  Personally, I think Starbucks coffee is good, but not amazing.  So if I'm going to pay—the experience better be solid.

Five little cents.  Sometimes that’s all the tipping point you need.

Visual Thesaurus

Every once in a while, you come across an app, and think to yourself—"sweet fancy Moses...this thing was made for me".  Well maybe not in those words, but you know what I'm getting at.  I recently noticed that there was a site linking back to me called Visual Thesaurus.  But before I even noticed this, Uber writer Ann Handley included this tool in her 8 Writing Tools post over at Marketing profs.  So forgive me Ann—I just got around to messing with it today (hey, give me a break—you see how much I blog).  :)

Here's what I'm loving about this little gift to writers.

The Visual Part
OK, you all know that I'm visual as hell.  So this little gem of a Thesaurus lets you type in a word and then visualizes related words in an organically mapped out way (see brand example above).  It's a great way to digest all of your options at a glance.

I Need a Digital Thesaurus
I'm at the point where I really need to start using a Thesaurus.  some people actually think I am a writer.  This frightens me because I have no training in writing and really don't even know the basics.  It's pretty much all done from instinct and the gut.  Which is fine, but will only get you so far.  I also need the digital part—I don't care for paper as much as I used to.  I like the convenience of digital along with options to e-mail and print if I feel the need to have something in my hand.

I like Good Design
This thing was just designed well—that's all there is to it.  It's packs a lot of functionality in a small space and it didn't take me long to figure out how to master it.  I really liked the panels on the side which offered up nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Verdict:
Yeah, I'll subscribe.  At under 20 bucks a year, this thing is a bargain.  So  in a few months if you feel like the writing here got just a little better—you'll know why.

Russell's Post of the Month

Russell Davies is starting a new feature on his account planning blog.  He's opening up suggestions for a "Post of the Month" in which you can nominate exceptional posts.  From the blog:

"I always enjoy Match Of The Day's Goal Of The Month competition and I was watching it the other day while reading Jon's lovely blog round-up.

And it struck me that we could have fun doing a Post Of The Month competition.

I'm thinking it should work like this. We all nominate our favourite posts from September on any topic relating to brands, marketing, advertising, life, culture, people, stuff. You know. Whatever. We collect those nominations by the end of the first week of October. If you could email me or comment on here, I'll build a master list."

And he's looking for designs:

"Anyone want to design a badge/medal prize thing?"

So the design in this post is my contribution.  If you want in—send yours to Russell.

Bloggers Banquet

I just got home after having a very pleasant dinner with some other bloggers including Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Thilk, Kevin Dugan, Jeffery Treem , David Dalka and Mike Miller (That's me and Scoble in the pic). 

Really nice group of guys.  Aside from Chris, I've never met any of them before.  Funny thing is I didn't know who Scoble was until about four months ago.  If I sat next to him a year ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about  it.  But knowing how many people he's influenced with his blog and book, made me feel like I was sitting next to a celebrity of sorts.

But I got over that real quick.  Scoble and all of the guys are really a nice bunch of people who share a passion for blogging.  Glad I could make it.  (yes, there was a little geeking out with phones and cameras—but we kept it to a minimum).

We Are Not Alone. Life 2.0

I know what you’re thinking.  Not another “2.0” post.  Humor me for a moment.  I just wanted to make a brief observation that was inspired by a recent e-mail conversation I had with my friend at mindblob.  You see, in one of the emails was this attached photo along with the phrase “Alien on Earth”.  I couldn't  shake this image and phrase.  I don’t know why.

Then it hit me. Is the whole 2.0 movement simply about feeling like “we are not alone”?

Think about it.  For the first time in history, people are truly connecting, collaborating, communicating, interacting, transacting, sharing, creating and finding out about each other in ways that were not previously possible.  Sure e-mail, chat, and the Web were all pointing us to this direction, but there is something different about the emergence of the social network and the vast number of tentacles associated with it.

We are discovering each other—and we are re-discovering the brands we once felt connected with in new and meaningful ways.  We are finding out that we are not alone, there are scores of others just like us scattered throughout the globe.  We can now do more than merely correspond as pen pals.  We can meet virtually, leave each other notes, share and spread our ideas.  We can challenge and inspire each other.  We have found purpose in this evolution of life.  And we have found comfort in the idea that others like us exist.

Life 2.0 is about discovering our purpose through finding each other—and ourselves.

That’s what happens when we realize that we belong—that there is a place for any and all of us.  All of a sudden, we wake up to the reality that we are no are no longer strange visitors in a strange land.  We are no longer “Aliens on Earth”.  We are a part of something bigger than ourselves.  Something alive.  Something very human.  Something that needs us to fuel it as much as we rely upon it to advance ourselves.

That’s all.  I can’t go too deep here.  I just thought that there might be an even more simplistic way to describe the “2.0” phenomenon.  It may just be all about finding out that “we are not alone”—and making the most of all the joys, freedoms, and responsibilities that come with this realization.

Visual Language is Universal

This is one of the dozens of versions of my visuals which  have been translated in another language.  Found this particular one over at the Russian PR Community's Journal.  It validates the theory that people are visual.  That we need to be shown as well as told.  I can't tell you how many languages I've seen my visuals translated in.  French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, Italian... it's pretty cool.

And it begs the following question.  Are we over-doing it with bullets and copy alone in the hopes of rapidly articulating ideas?  Think about the presentations that we do.  The amount of text-laden slides.  Is there a more visual way to tell the story in addition to text alone?  If the visuals on this site can be taken and translated into virtually any language—then think about the potential of leveraging visuals in our own presentations targeted at native audiences.

Working Class Blogger

Work.  Blog.  Life.  How does it all come together?  It's different for everyone.  Here's a simplified snapshot of how it works for me.  Download working_blogger.pdf

Blogcast: Anatomy of the New Creative Mind

 

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Related Links:
Organic's Lead Creative to Join JWT
Article from Adotas
Creativity 2.E
Are You T-Shaped?

(Not) Staying in the Lines

"Daddy, daddy!  Look what I did!"

That's awesome Max!  ...I replied as any parent would.  We were looking at one of Max's assignments in kindergarten.  It was matching and coloring shapes.  Typical stuff, I thought as my five-year-old skipped away.  But I looked at the paper a little longer.  I couldn't help but notice the teacher's comment.

"Try staying in the lines."

Now, I understand that kids need to learn how to color in the lines.  It teaches them basic coordination and concentration.  But what does it teach them about themselves?  What does it teach them about skills that might serve them well one day in the real world?

Couldn't there be an assignment in addition to coloring shapes that maybe included handing them blank sheets of paper and asking them to invent and name a shape that no one has ever heard of before?  Maybe some kid would come up with a Sqoval, or a Tri-square, or even an Octocircle.  Who knows?  The point is that we do need to be taught to do things like coloring shapes at a young age, but shouldn't we also be taught how to invent, create and look at problems from a totally different perspective?

The Picasso Tree

One morning on my way to work, I hurried to my car while balancing the usual assortment of my laptop bag, coffee and a granola bar.  Just as I was about to pull out, I noticed the tree in our side yard.  Max and I had put one of these "tree faces" on it—a set of eyes, nose and mouth that makes your tree look like something out of Lord of the Rings.

But what caught my eye, was that all the features were mixed up.  The tree looked like Picasso had come by during the night and did some of his best work on it.  I knew immediately what had happened.  So I went back in to ask Max what the story was and he simply replied:

"it looks better that way".

And of course he was right.  It does look better this way.  So needless to say, we kept it as is and are the only house on the block to have a "Picasso Tree"—and an original one no less.  In fact, I think the company who makes these should consider marketing a special line like this.  You can "create your own Picasso Tree", with it's own unique placement of facial features.  YOU can be the artist.

That's what coloring outside the lines will do.  It can take a good idea, and build upon it.  Make into something better, unique, or as someone once said—a “purple cow”  :).  Of course this is something that school can’t always teach us.  But look at the world around us.  What if someone told Steve Jobs to “stay in the lines”, or what if Thomas Edison never tried coloring outside of a line, just to see what would happen?  What about that person at Motorola who thought the world was ready for a unusually thin and stylish phone?  What if that individual just “stayed in the lines”?

Coloring outside of your own personal lines doesn’t mean taking a trip on the bohemian express—but it does mean looking at something differently.  I can imagine little Max taking a step back and looking at his creation.  Sure, the Tree face was cool before, in that Lord of the Rings kind of way.  But now, it’s both cool AND differentiated.  And how many brands can say that about themselves?

Web 2.0 At Your Service

Keeping track of all those bloody "Web 2.0" applications out there can be a real pain in the arse.  So here is an essential resource that you should know about.  Go2Web20.net is a tidy little site that visually archives tons of "2.0" goodness.  It's ultra simple to use.  What's more you can search, sort, filter, tag, subscribe to the feed and even suggest sites/services that are not listed.  Yum.

Tip of the hat to Somewhat Frank

Never Stop Fighting

Many years ago, I led the re-design effort for the agency.com website (not the current design).  Now, if you’ve ever worked on an internal project for your company (non funded) you’ll immediately understand why I chose this headline.  I was digging through some of my files and I came across this graphic.  At first, I didn’t even remember why I had this.  Then it all came back to me.  I chose a theme for that whole project that was inspired by Teddy Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” quote.

“ ...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,...”

I used this graphic in my team e-mails to remind ourselves that the odds were against us—but we were stepping up for a valiant cause.  It was worth the fight.  None of us were happy with the existing Website and everyone in the agency was complaining about it.  We were even embarrassed by it.  So our office decided to do something about it.

A small group of us undertook the task of re-designing the Website.  In addition to working on existing clients and dealing with decision by committee.  We were bloodied by late evenings.  We were bruised by compromise.  We were wounded by being our own worst enemies.  But in the end, we successfully launched a Website that was far better than it’s predecessor.  It wasn’t perfect.  It wasn’t everything we wanted it to be.   But it was solid, and we beat the odds.  We launched a much improved site in spite of ourselves. 

We would no longer be called “cobblers children”.

As I look back at this visual—I’m tempted to think about what a silly gesture that was.  I mean, who the heck creates headers for their e-mails anyway?  Especially ones that include Gladiators.  But the more I think about it—the more I realize that it wasn’t a wasted gesture.  That image reflects exactly how I felt at the time.  It reflects how I wanted my team to feel.  It reflects an attitude.

We were going to choose to fight.

Sometimes that is what it comes down to.  It’s us against something.  Maybe that something is unproductive politics.  Maybe it’s mediocre work.  Maybe it’s apathy.  Maybe it’s that deadline.  Maybe it’s a lack of leadership.  We make choices every day.  We choose to fight in what we believe in—or give in and get through the day, so we can go home to our comforts.  But what if we fought that good fight?  If we got good and bloody, fighting for something we believe in?  What if we challenged our clients and fought for their customers?  What if we defended our work the same way mythical knights defended fair maidens in fairy tales?

If we stop fighting then we stop believing.  If we stop believing, then pretty soon—we stop living.  So never stop fighting.

Logic + Emotion INside BusinessWeek

(click to enlarge)

Update: Just picked up the print version (L+E is on page 24, not 16).  The spread is pretty cool.  I would write more about it, but my wife is telling me that if I don't come to bed now—I'm sleeping on the couch.

The latest edition of BusinessWeek hits the stands tomorrow with their highly anticipated follow-up to IN (inside innovation).  Logic + Emotion is featured on page 16 24.  I don't have a print version in my hands yet so here is a link to the write-up:

Four Sources For Trends And Ideas

"Logic + Emotion
darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/
 
Digitas(DTAS ) creative director David Armano develops graphics to illustrate new concepts for marketing, brands, and experience design. Here he traces bloggers' spheres of influence with overlapping community clusters illustrating social networks and their interactions."

I am being featured in the IN BLOGS section along with the following:

Jim Carroll
jimcarroll.com/weblog
Carroll is a futurist and trend-spotter. His blog traces his travels about the country as he talks to innovators. Here's a look at what building a sand castle teaches us about innovation.

Ted Blog
tedblog.typepad.com
It sees itself as host to the ideas that matter in technology, entertainment, and design (TED), and is tied to the annual TED conference. One of the blog's best features is the TEDTalks videocasts.

Innovation Tools
innovationtools.com/weblog/innovation-weblog.asp
This site covers innovation research, best practices, strategies, management, and how businesses use blogs for idea creation and collaboration.

Looks like they may have included the Influence Ripples visual, but can't tell until I see the printed piece.   Other topics covered in this edition of Business Week include the following:

• Crowdsourcing
• An interview with Apple's Jonathan Ive
• A Mind Map from IDEO's David Kelly
• The Truth About Brainstorming

...Among other stuff.  Can't wait to get my hands on it...(like I didn't just make this obvious).

                

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Enjoying a little outing with the creative dept. at the lovely Wrigley Field. Wrigley is a great examble of a brand experience. From the moment you walk in--the sights, the sounds and of course the smells, you are transported back into time to a place in American history when baseball dominated the culture. It's hardly even about the Cubs anymore (except for true blue fans). Wrigley Field has captured a timeless piece of the "national pastime". Experiencing a ballgame here is a great treat.

Digitas Blog Tour

It's on!

Digitas will be flying me out to NY + Boston to present my story and hands-on education in the Social Media Network.

Here are the dates:
10/16 Boston
10/17 New York

And here is the cool thing.  I pitched the idea to Digitas to open the event to a select group of bloggers in addition to our staff.  And they agreed.  So, a handful of you who live in the Boston and NY area will be getting personal invites shortly.

Lastly, here is an updated draft Download blog06.pdf .  It's still a draft, so comments are more than welcome.

Additional context:

• The audience will primarily be composed of people from various backgrounds in marketing and interactive marketing.

• The presentation is being positioned as “The social network from the perspective of one blogger”.

• Most of the audience will be fairly tech savvy but not necessarily blog savvy.

• The audience will be interested in the relationship between the social network and marketing (and hopefully my story).

User Experience Building Blocks

(click for larger image)
Here is a simple exercise.  Don't overthink this one.  Let's say you've completed the strategy phase, you've briefed the team, you've found that core insight and you have a concept that you are ready to execute against.  Before you site down and put that mouse to work—take a step back and think of the experience you are about to architect and design.  Think of it as a house.

What is the foundation you are going to build it upon?  It should be the core needs of the business, brand and the customer of course.  Now what will be the core "pillars" that will support the entire experience?  There are a number of ways you can break down the experience.  For the example above (a financial services site) I chose these:

Visual Design
Photography
Interaction (included both motion design and interaction design)
Copy

These are interchangeable, but served the purpose for this particular example.  The purpose was to think about the execution before we got knee deep into it.  The adjectives such as "simple", "organic" and "clean" are tangible terms that resonate with designers.

So the next time you're ready to execute.  When the brief has been briefed and the strategy has been strategized.  Think about the house you are about to build.  Your users might have to live in it for a while.

Like this visual?  More here.

Are You Obsessed? You Should Be.

I’m obsessed with this blog.  Big surprise right?  Most of you figured this out months ago.  But actually, the reality is that I’m not really obsessed with this blog. 

I’m obsessed with the idea of providing a good experience. 

So, when I set out to start this blog back in February of this year, I made a promise to myself that I would try my best to practice what I preach.  Which is the value of a good experience.  Is it working?  I think it might be.  Here are a few signs.

1. The comments here are nearly double the amount of posts
Posts: 295  |   Comments: 587  |   TrackBacks: 124

2. Many of you have been kind enough to link back to me
Rank: 8,557 (815 links from 261 blogs)

3. I made it on a couple of lists

Most importantly, I know I’m providing a good experience because more often than not—you are telling me so.  In your comments, in your e-mails and in the way you describe Logic + Emotion when you talk about the content here (word of mouth).  And even more important than that, I know my obsession is paying off because I’ve gotten to know people who I would have never had the opportunity to meet and have great conversations with.  I’ve even exchanged life stories with some of you. 

Relationships are a hallmark of good experience. 

But is obsession with anything a good thing?  Of course obsession in it’s pure form can be a truly destructive force.  There needs to be balance in all we do—but what about when it’s harnessed, controlled and put to good use?  What are some examples of “obsessed” individuals or companies (note, I’m using this term loosely and I am not referencing it as a diagnosable condition).  But what if we viewed “obsession” as a ruthless kind of focus?  An unusual dedication that produces fruit and tangible results. 

Here are some examples of where I see “obsession”—and how it’s not always a bad thing:

Samsung

I think the people at Samsung are obsessed with Industrial Design.  They have so many different takes at making a product stand out when compared to the competition.  I recently purchased a wireless Bluetooth headset (above) that is a beautiful and tiny little piece of technology.  I would have never, ever considered a wireless headset until I saw this.  It’s smaller than my thumb, lightweight and doesn’t make me look like something out of Star Trek.  Someone at Samsung was obsessed with making a better wireless headset—and they did.

Southwest Airlines

I think the people at  Southwest are obsessed with their customers, their jobs and flying.  Every time I fly Southwest, I just feel like the people who work for that company actually LIKE it.  Like they wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.  And it’s one of the few Airlines that gives you both peanuts AND crackers! (while others have cut back).  Not to mention they run a pretty decent blog and offer useful services like Ding.  I actually think that the people who work for Southwest belong to some kind of cult where they worship some kind of mother ship aircraft or something.

Harley-Davidson

I think the people who work for Harley-Davidson are obsessed with—well Harleys.  How do I know this?  I toured their headquarters once.  You should have seen the amount of Harleys in the parking lot.  And everyone who was walking around the office just looked like they either rode, or they just loved the brand.  Harley shirts, mugs, boots, pen holders, picture frames, mouse pads, the stuff was everywhere.  And something told me that nowhere in the Harley corporate handbook is it mandatory to do any of these things.  If you need more proof of Harley's obsession, just watch Birth of the V-Rod.

Mack Collier

I think my good friend Mack is obsessed with “the community” (and you know I mean this in a good way Mack).  Mack is obsessed about creating community within the Social Network.  He’s obsessed with pointing out where and when community happens.  He’s ruthlessly focused on advancing the case for getting people (and companies) to use social tools in order to reach out and connect to each other.  To build relationships in meaningful ways.

So these are just a few examples from my personal perspective.  I don’t know if these companies or individuals are truly “obsessed”—but they definitely stand out.  They put in unusual amounts of effort into their cause—whether it is product our community.  They are not like the competition.  Maybe that’s what obsession does.  It makes you stand out.  And a healthy kind of obsession can make your business stand out for all the right reasons.

iTV Therefore i Am

Engadget has some great coverage of Steve Job's announcments today.  Lot's of amazing stuff including a new smaller iPod, playing games Games like Pac Man on your ipod, and Yes—Apple wants to take over your home entertainment centers:

10:54AM - "It looks like this [a flatter Mini]. It's called iTV. That's a codeword. we need to come up with a better name."

10:55AM - No power brick
802.11
USB2
Ehternet
HDMI connector for all new big-screen flat panel TVs
Component video (RGB)
analog audio RCA jacks
Optical audio
Controled with the familiar white remote
Hooks directly to your screen or to your set-top box as another input, or to your receiver.

[Steve brings one out.] "This is it. More importantly I have a WORKING one plugged in right here ... [he flips through iTV super-FrontRow app]"

10:56AM - [Steve finds and plays The Incredibles.]

11:04AM - [Still demoing!]

11:07AM - "You can do movie trailers form Apple.com right from your couch. This is big screen over the internet, live as we watch."
[Trailer for All the King's Men with Sean Penn]
["Casino Night" episode of The Office]

[Album art scrolls by ... Steve chooses Dylan, than Highway 61, which plays through the home theater setup]
"A lot of us have our stereos hooked up to our new TV's, it's the best stereo in the house now."

Edelman Landing Blog: A Critique

According to Micro Persuasion, Edelman has created portal that consolidates all types of content generated from their employees—whether it be blog posts, articles podcasts or any other type of media.  I think this is a brilliant idea.  It shows that Edelman supports their intellectual capital and values the thought leadership which is emerging from the organization in both it’s formal and informal manifestations.  It’s a win for the content providers, and a win for Edelman clients and non-clients who can get this stuff all in one place.

I only have one issue with it.  I think the execution can be better.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the opportunities I see.  This is my personal opinion and it's subjective based on my experience in the field of digital experience design.

1. The overall first impression:
I’m a bit overwhelmed and don’t really know where to begin.  It’s not so much the amount of content.  It’s the presentation of it.  There are horizontal rows of type that seem to butt up to each other.  There is a lot of text.  Which is fine—this is a content portal after all.  But Edelman could make better use of their corporate color palate.  The dark blue column under podcasts interrupts the flow of content for me.  And it’s tough to read the white type over the dark background.  I think the portal could benefit from a “NY Times” or “Yahoo!” design approach. They also handle a great deal of content using a variety of neutral shades to help organize and “chunk up” bits of content into digestible and readable portions.  Overall, there is a lot of contrast, a lot of content, and just a lot off stuff all competing for my attention.

I feel like the portal is shouting at me.

2. Expectations:
Some of the Employee content links out to their own blogs and some link to content within the Edelman site.  It would be nice if I had an idea when I’m leaving to go to another blog or staying.  Maybe a simple visual clue could do this.

3. Basic Usability:
Not all links have to be underlined.  But the portal uses black bold type as a link.  They look more like headers.  I’m not sure what is a link or not.  The home / speak up text up at the top right actually looks like a link.  But it’s not.  Please help!  A suggestion here would be to standardize, simplify link states and maybe use highlight states upon rollover.  This would tell me what’s hot and what’s not.

3. The accordion effect:
The designers have opted to go with an expandable design which stretches the width of the page.  I understand why they did this (because other areas of the Edelman site expand) but it leads to unpredictable wrapping of text in the first two columns and when stretched out on say a 21 inch flat screen, it just dozen’t look right.  So it’s compromised when the window is condensed and looks odd when it is maximized.  It might make sense to keep the header flexible but lock the content section in the to the middle of the page so it always looks the same. 

Just a few high level observations.  The portal is a great idea.  It can be even better.  And customers/clients notice the kind of stuff I'm pointing out (even if it's subconscious).  Sure Yahoo! And The NY Times both offer good content, but users, customers, and subscribers also appreciate how that content is displayed.

Art + Design

In the year 2000 at the height of the Dot-Com bubble, Web Design was one of the hottest industries to be a part of.  I can still remember the big AIGA conference I attended in San Francisco.  One of the things I remember about that conference was the makeshift bookstore which peddled an endless assortment of mesmerizing eye candy from the likes of David Carson. 

David Carson!  David Carson! 

I don’t think there was a graphic designer back then that didn’t eat up the highly stylized visual design that David Carson served up in design annuals, magazines, books and even on the Web.

Only one problem.  David Carson is a Graphic Designer.  And the interactive medium needs more Designers (creative problem solvers).  Sure we need designs to be visually appealing and on brand.  But when Graphic Designers put personal taste and style in front of solving problems...  or worse yet, ignore the interactive part of interaction design—they become commercial artists or illustrators instead of designers.  They become decorators instead of design thinkers.  And we all lose our place at the tables of business + strategy.

Andy Rutledge has penned a must-read regarding this topic.  It’s what inspired the visual associated with this post.  Go take a look at the entire piece when you have the time.

Here a few choice bits:

"There is a difference between art and design; the same distinction that  describes the difference between doing something notable and doing something  useful. It has long been my perception that too many traditional graphic  designers don’t understand and don’t care to understand these distinctions. And I continue to see evidence to support this impression as graphic designers  struggle to approach and embrace business and the Web.And I do mean struggle. In her column in Communication Arts magazine issue 331 (in late 2004), DK Holland quoted that year’s AIGA  National Conference organizer Terry Irwin as saying, “There is still  a fairly big old guard [in AIGA] that wants to practice design as a primarily decorative, artistic practice in a market dominated by the ‘celebrity  designer.’” How unfortunate that this “old guard” doesn’t understand  that decoration and art are not design. And what’s with this preoccupation with celebrity?"

"The graphic design culture clearly champions peer-driven accolades for over client benefit from its work. And this is especially troubling, as the design profession has little to do with subjective appreciation and everything to do with problem-solving success."

"Open any graphic design magazine or go to any graphic design organization’s website and there is one feature you will always find: information about  design awards. There is always a Call For Entries or a listing of what  individuals or which agency just won some award or another. Visit just about any ad agency’s website and you’re apt to find a main navigation link to “awards.”

"I’m not a “graphic designer” by the traditional definition but I take no joy in seeing these things. But as a designer, I’m not happy  about being associated in any way with such irresponsibility and distraction. The graphic design community makes my job harder as it serves to mis-define     and garner contempt for my profession. That community is floundering today and I look forward to the day when it finds its feet, its common sense, and its relevancy. And perhaps it’s time for the prominent organizations and publications to stop reflecting the needs and desires of the “old guard” and start representing the needs and desires of the profession  and its clients."

You may or may not agree with Andy's thesis.  But either way, if you care about the design profession—the read is worth your time.

Just Do it

Creative Generalist points us to great find.  If you don't have time to watch the video, the points below are worth reading doing.

"Caterina points to a presentation by Keoki Andrus, head of operations at Intuit, which is packed with good points about how best to lead and manage others. The speech is called Secrets for Getting High Performance from High Potential Leaders and you can view it via one of the links here. Some key takeaways:

Seven Deadly Deficiencies
1. Contempt for others
2. Obsession with self
3. Commitment dysfunction
4. Inflexible mindset
5. No productive focus
6. Unrelenting pessimism
7. Embraces Dilbertian views of leaders

Ten Ways to Build Passion
10. See greatness in those around you and share your vision
9. Express constructive feedback in terms of "the vision"
8. Believe that things can be different and approach the improbable with optimism
7. Set high standards for performance and hold EVERYONE accountable
6. Demonstrate courage, judgement, risk-taking and continuous improvement in your own performance
5. Recognize and celebrate success
4. Design growth experiences that stretch but don't break people
3. Invest in trust and even love
2. Respond maturely to failures and setbacks
1. Push power and decision making down

Success depends more on the strengths you emphasize than the weaknesses you minimize.

Eight Ways to Wipe Out High Performers
1. Work overload
2. Lack autonomy (micromanagement)
3. Skimpy rewards
4. Loss of connection
5. Unfairness
6. Value conflicts
7. Let low-performers ride
8. Create an environment of fear, uncertainty and doubt

"High performers drive you nuts sometimes. You need to enjoy that. Steer them, frame their objectives, but don't repress them." --Terry Leclair, Senior PD Director at Intuit

"High performers are like 'thoroughbreds'. They require lots of care and feeding - but boy can they run." -- Tobey Corey, Founder US Web

"As a leader you have the obligation to define the 'what' to the nth level - to get to goals for the right level - to make sure the 'what' is right. But you don't want to dictate the 'how'. You want to give the team and the individual the determination of 'how'. -- Pankaj Shukla, VP, Quickbooks PD at Intuit  "

5 Years Later

Never Forget...

The Wisdom of a Few

I'm trying something different here.  I have switched the order of comments on this blog to reflect the older ones at the top and newest at the bottom. The end result is that you can view the thread as it unfolded, thus seeing the comments build upon eachother from top to bottom.  And if you feel like participating—do so after reading what others have said. 

Here's what inspired the tweak:

"FYI - if you sequence your comments the way you do (newest at the top) it's impossible to follow any discussion like this one, without i) realizing that the comments are sequenced in a non-standard fashion and ii) doing the unnatural thing of scrolling to the bottom of the page and scrolling up as you read.

This may be a gripe of 1 :)

Posted by: Steve Portigal"

"Honey, I can't make sense of the comments, it took me a while to figure out they were backwards"
-My Wife.

Now, if Steve Portigal has something to say—that's one thing.  But when my wife says the same thing—I perk up.  She's never steered me wrong.  ;)

Also, I had Russell Davie's blog stuck in my head.  He always has great conversations happening in the comment area, and he does it oldest first.  And I think it 's a good experience.

And lastly, here's what I said in a comment on the 37 Signals Basecamp post:

"But I value and respect every opinion I get here. Even if it's the one out of hundreds who thinks I could be doing something better. I value it, and take it to heart. And sometimes I even modify my thinking around if it makes enough sense and has truth to it"

Here's a snippet of what Jason Fried said (see comment for full context)

"It's critical to understand that even if 100 publicly vocal people want something, it may be in direct conflict with what 10,000 other people want. We're not going to make 100 people happy at the expense of 10,000 other people. These are the decisions that every business must make. You can't make all or the people happy all the time."

I think there is truth and value in both what Jason and I are saying.  You can't make everyone happy.  And you shouldn't.  You have to be yourself.  You have to be true to your brand.  And in business, you have to do right by your customers.  But every once in a while, someone comes along and points something out.  And it may be something you didn't even think twice about.  And that little lone voice, may or may not represent your "base".

But all of that is irrelevant.  What is that one person saying? And can it make for a better experience?   If it can, nothing else matters.  I've always said a good idea can come from anywhere.  So thanks, Steve, Russell and Belinda for a good idea.

Does Basecamp Sux?

I guess I've got customer experience + service on the mind.  I just stumbled across this site and had no idea it even existed:

Why Basecamp Sux

Now, I have two full disclosures to this post which is more of an observation than anything else.

1. I have never used Basecamp (so I can't comment on if it "sux" or not)
2. I have been a fan of 37 Signals since seeing their presentation at AIGA Risk & Reward back in 2000.

Mostly I am a fan of 37 Signals because I find their philosophies to be very inspirational and more times than not very true.  Or at the least, worth taking a look at and thinking about.

But this site caught my attention.  It made a pretty interesting case regarding flaws in Basecamp and a lack of interest from 37 Signals in taking on some of these issues brought up by customers.

Here is the top 10 (or 12) reasons "Basecamp sux" according to the site:

Top 10 Reasons Why Basecamp Sux

"Here are my (current) Top 10 Reasons in increasing order of importance, although wait a few days and I'm sure I'll find more:

1. 37 Signals seems to be more interested in offering lots of fancy color schemes than in meeting its customer's needs
2. 37 Signals rolls out changes without any external customer feedback and without notifying anyone. And if you don't like them, you don't get configurability, you just get told your voice doesn't count because 37 Signals likes them, thank you very much.
3. Jason Fried has his own ideas about what to do with BaseCamp, customers needs be damned.
4. No GANTT Charts: No visual respresentations whatsoever. No not ever.
5. Jason Fried's favorite response to practically every feature request is "No. sorry. (end of discussion)"
6. Many of the Basecamp users on the forums treat Basecamp as their cult and Jason Fried as their leader. Don't make a suggestion that Jason doesn't like or you'll be heckled by all of Jason's disciples.
7. The tiny team at 37 Signals keeps launching other services: Backpack, Tada List, Writeboard, and three more before the end of 2005 instead of focusing on meeting BaseCamp customer needs.
8. Roapmap?  What roadmap?
9. 10Mb File Attachment Limit.
10. You can't split or merge projects, so be extra careful that you don't make a mistake in how you organize your Basecamp projects...
11. Three words. NO PROJECT TEMPLATES!!!  Enter everything manually.
12. And the worst one is, they hold your hostage data!  You can't even export it, contrary to their FAQ "Can I get my data out if I want to discontinue using Basecamp?" that implies you can. BEWARE: Once you get in, you can't get out!!!

Sorry, I just couldn't seem to manage to limit to only 10. :-( "

...And then the site goes into some responses from 37 Signals:

Great Examples of 37 Signals Prioritizing Themselves Over Customers

• Jason Fried: As I've said, feedback comes from a variety of sources, not just the forum. And part of the feedback is our own feedback and our own vision for the product.
• Jason Fried: JWright, thanks for the advice on how we should develop our products, but we feel like we have it under control. We know what we're doing.

Now, I will probably still be a fan of 37 Signals, because I find value in their thoughts and philosophies.  But it does make me think.  Should I blindly "endorse" any organization because I like what they say and how they say it?  Shouldn't I actually try their products for myself before I speak well (or ill) of anyone?

I guess I could be overthinking this,  Maybe for me the product that 37 Signals offers which I find value in is their "thought leadership"  Maybe that's enough.  Or maybe this site is a fluke and Basecamp is as good as most of the reports say it is.  This site could be a sign that Basecamp is becoming mainstream, or it could be an authentic gripe (like Apple has experienced in the past and most recently Facebook).

I guess one thing is for certain.  If even one customer has a gripe with your product/service these days.  You're gonna know about it.

Love + Respect (Your Customer)

     
Have you ever noticed that movements happen in waves across both the blogoshphere as well as the mainstream media (often times in sync)?  I've been coming across a lot of posts recently that involve putting customers first, and making them happy.  Now, this is nothing new, and it's one of those things that is easier said than done.  And maybe that's why it's said so often (because we aren't doing it). 

It's like telling someone with the attention span of a gnat the same things over and over again in the hopes that one day, they will actually dot it.

Well here is a little gem for the attention-challenged in all of us.  It lays out a simple plan for putting customers first.

Via Fast Company's blog:

10 Ways to Love (and respect) Your Customers

"1.Eliminate the customer obstacle course. If you asked customers they’d say that the obstacle course for figuring out who to talk to and how and when to get service is over-complicated, conflicting and just plain out of whack

2.Stop customer hot potato. He who speaks to the customer first should “own” the customer. There’s nothing worse that sends a signal of disrespect faster than an impatient person on the other end of the line trying to pass a customer off to “someone who can better help you with your problem.” Yeah, right.

3.Give customers a choice. Do not bind your customer into the fake choice of letting them “opt out” of something. Let them know up front that they can decide to get emails, offers or whatever from you and give them the choice.

4.De-silo your website. Our websites are often the cobbled together parts created separately by each company division. The terminology is different from area to area, as are the menu structures and logic for getting around the site. What’s accessible online is frequently inconsistent, as is the contact information provided.

5.Consolidate phone numbers. Even in this advanced age of telephony companies still have a labyrinth of numbers customers need to navigate to talk to someone. All of these grew out of the separate operations deciding on their own that they needed a number to “serve” their customers. Get people together to skinny-down this list and then let customers know about it. There’s no big red button to push to make this happen. It requires the gnarly hard work of collaborating and collective decision making – but get it done already! Customers are fed up.

6.FIX (really) the top ten issues bugging customers. We have created a kind of hysterical customer feedback muscle in the marketplace by over-surveying our customers and asking (ever so thoughtfully) “how can we improve?” Customers have told us what to do and we haven’t moved on the information.

7.Help the front line to LISTEN. We’ve robotized our frontline to the customer all over the world. Let them be human, give them the skills for listening and understanding and help the frontline deliver to the customer based on their needs.

8.Deliver what you promise.  There is a growing case of corporate memory loss that annoys and aggravates customers every day The customer has to strong-arm his/her way through the corporate maize just to get basic things accomplished. They’re exhausted from the wrestling match, they’re annoyed and they’re telling everyone they know. And, oh, by the way, when they get the chance they’re walking.

9.When you make a mistake – right the wrong. If you’ve got egg on your face, for whatever the reason, admit it. Then right the wrong. There’s nothing more grossly frustrating to customers than a company who does something wrong then is either clueless about what they did or won’t admit that they faltered.

10.Work to believe. Very little shreds of respect remain, if any, after we’ve put customers through the third degree that many experience when they encounter a glitch in our products and services and actually need to return a product, put in a claim or use the warranty service. As tempting as it is to debate customers to uphold a policy to the letter of the law, suspend the cynicism and work to believe your customers."

Common sense stuff?  Of course it is.  So why do so few companies actually practice these things?  Yeah, we're all guilty.  Maybe it's time to act.

Blogcast: Prototyping Ideas Vol. I

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Brief background on the rapid prototyping of a desktop widget including the inspiration, execution and testing of the concept.

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Ernie Perez

Creating Compassionate Designers

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As the quality of digital experience improves, the value of creating passionate users is becoming clear to brands wishing to thrive in the "experience economy".  Provide an experience that is both useful, usable, desirable, and differentiated and you will create demand for your brand and delight your customers.

But if passionate users (or customers, or consumers) is the "WHAT"—the end result which we aspire to attain, then what about the "HOW" in regards to the role in which design plays in all of this?  And I'm not just talking about visual design here.  As designers of digital experiences, what are we doing to develop compassion toward the users we are designing for?

Ok, if you are going to get defensive while reading this article, now might be the right time.  If you are an Interaction Designer, you probably feel that your whole existence is dedicated to meeting the wants and needs of users.  If you are a Visual Designer, you might feel that you possess heightened sensitivities which allow you to be more "empathetic" while designing for your audience.

Well, if you feel you are doing all you can to be a compassionate designer, then there is no need to continue reading.  But if you think you can do more, then read on.  I have this theory.  My theory is that when we feel that we get really good at something.  When we begin to consider ourselves "experts", that is when we become "at risk" for losing (or de-emphasizing) our compassion for the customer—the people we design for.

Think about it this way.  It happens to Doctors.  The people who swear to uphold Hippocratic oaths.  The same people who sometimes hold the key to life or death.  When a Surgeon gets so good at his or her craft, sometimes compassion takes a back seat to the honorable goal of saving lives.  Sometimes bedside manners become compromised in the process of moving on to the next patient.  It's not intentional or out of malice—it just happens.  All professionals are vulnerable to this.  When we get really good at something, we're tempted to think "I've done this hundreds of times—I know what I'm doing."

We are tempted to think "this is my area of expertise".

Usability, Interface Design.  Visual Design.  Motion Design.  Copywriting. All of the above.  Let's be honest with ourselves.  How many times have we made a design decision that was in the interest of winning an award rather than winning over the customer?  Or how many times have we included a deliverable because it validated our role as opposed to validating the life of a consumer?

We've all done it. Oh, you haven't?  Liar.

What exactly does it mean to be a compassionate designer?  It means doing things that help us not only understand, but relate to the users we design for.  To feel for them.  To put ourselves in their shoes, even if our own lives are totally opposite from them.  Sound simple?  It is. You just have to do it.

Here are some practical ways we can develop compassion for our users:

1. Get out of the office
Put down that design magazine and boxes+arrows article.  Go out into the real world.  Watch.  Listen.  Observe.

2. Talk to someone
Talk to the people you are designing for.  Chances are you won’t be able to relate to them at first.  When you get to this point—then you know you’re doing something right.

3. Eat, Sleep, Dream Curiosity
Be curious.  Be very curious.  Don’t know how? Find yourself a five-year-old, and hang out with them for a while.  Then ask the same questions they do.

4. Do what they do
Are you designing for stay-at-home moms?  Take the day off and go to a park.  Hover around schools during drop off time.  Walk a mile in their shoes.  Better yet, just walk with them.

Several years ago, I found myself in a spirited discussion with my Creative Director over a design we were proposing for a large B2B distributor.   The design was minimal.  It was all about speed and efficiency.  It was designed for a person who didn't want to spend a lot of time ordering supplies, and had better things to do with their time.  It was designed for the type of person who could not care how many times you told them "we're here to help".  It was designed for someone who needs proof, every day.  "You want to help me?  Make it easy, fast, and reliable".

Now my Creative Director didn't like what he was seeing.

"Where's the value proposition?" 

"Where are the pictures of people being helped?"  "If I'm coming to this Website for the first time, I have no idea what this brand stands for".   All noble concerns.  Only one problem.  He didn't take the time to get to know the customers.  He felt he knew them.  He made assumptions about them from everything he thought he knew in his career (and personal experience), but he never even asked me about them.  I toured the distribution centers, attended scores of user tests, and made the effort to reach out to every contractor I could get my hands on.  Luckily I had a couple in my family.

The design direction in many ways went against my personal preferences.  It was visually appealing but lacked a "story".  It did so because I knew in my heart that the best story we could tell these customers was to not tell them one at all.  The most compassionate thing we could do was show them the story.   

But this wasn't only about the customer, it was also about the brand.

The brand stood for "getting the job done".  And that's just what the site did.  The fact that it lacked "lifestyle" imagery only reinforced to users that the site "understood" them.  It wasn't talking to them about helping.  It was doing it with very little lip service.  Which is exactly what they needed to experience.

If we feel for the people we design for—we will do what is in their best interest.  And that is being a compassionate designer.

Face-Off

What happens when you don't get your experience design right?  When you don't take the time to understand your users?  When your user experience is not exactly in sync with what your users want, need and desire?  You get a full on revolt from the people who keep you in business.

From Caffeine Marketing:

"The new home page of Facebook features updates on every single thing your friends are doing on the Facebook network. Whether they became single recently, signed up for a new class, or ate a corn dog… you’re going to hear about it. One would think users would appreciate the changes in terms of Web 2.0, think again! The new homepage has become a headache to users and peeping toms watching every move you make on the social networking giant. Simply put, users feel betrayed. Facebook members have taken their disgust a step further by starting a Facebook petition to resist the step forward into Web 2.0."

Did anyone take the time to test these new feeds and features?  I mean really test it?  Get to the heart of the matter to see of Facebook users wanted (and needed) these kinds of features?  Hello?  Is anyone out there?

Update: Save Facebook is launched.

Lewis Black on Advertising

Lewis Black seems to be everywhere these days.  The cover of F@st Company, The Daily Show.  He's become the poster child of the pissed off consumer.  Says a lot about the current vibe in advermarketing.   Look at it this way—need some inspiration for your next batch of Personas?  Think of Lewis.

Social Media Killed The Video Star

Karl Long posts an excellent piece on the Launch of Bud.TV, a major effort by Budweiser to capitalize on the shift away from traditional Television to digital channels which foster social interaction:

From the piece:

"In another nail in the coffin of network television Anheuser-Busch has just announced it will be launching Bud.tv in February ‘07. Bud.tv will be an online entertainment channel that will blend professionally produced content, news, sports and consumer generated content."

"Bud.TV will engage contemporary adult consumers with a wide array of entertainment options in branded and original proprietary content including new humorous webisodes, sporting events, consumer-generated content, field news reports, celebrity interviews, music downloads and comedian vignettes. The first-of-its-kind initiative is slated to launch in February 2007, and more content providers will be announced in the coming months."

Thought of the Day

Andy Rutledge on the new issue of Communication Arts Magazine:

“This issue is the Interactive Annual; full of flash websites and articles describing graphic artists' struggles to find relevancy in an increasingly Web-driven world. The reason they so often cannot find purchase is because they're not designers. Rather, they're artists misrepresenting themselves as designers.

The Web is about design - problem solving. So it is entirely fitting that so many "graphic designers" fail to even understand the context of the web.”

Back to Blog School

Alexa ranking has been updating their stats, along with Mack Collier's Top 25 Marketing Blog list.  Yup, Summer is definitely over as the list is showing signs of "competition" as we bloggers get back to the business of, erm... blogging about stuff. :)  More importantly, Mack's list is a great reference for checking out some quality blogs that you might not know about.

The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 20

1 - Seth's Blog - 5,099 (LW - 1)(-25)
2 - Gaping Void - 17,507 (LW - 2)(-10)
3 - Duct Tape Marketing - 18,279 (LW - 3)(+111)
4 - Creating Passionate Users - 21,072 (LW - 4)(-193)
5 - Marketing Shift - 45,718 (LW - 5)(+167)
6 - HorsePigCow - 52,938 (LW - 6)(+177)
7 - Coolzor - 53,026 (LW - 8)(+12,270)
8 - Church of the Customer - 59,906 (LW - 7)(+41)
9 - Daily Fix - 66,108 (LW - 9)(+1,299)
10 - The Viral Garden - 72,613 (LW - 10)(-758)
11 - What's Next - 88,726 (LW - 11)(-1,836)
12 - Brand Autopsy - 92,861 (LW - 12)(-401)
13 - Emergence Marketing - 97,008 (LW - 13)(-565)
14 - Logic + Emotion - 110,156 (LW - 15)(+2,407)
15 - Jaffe Juice - 112,759 (LW - 14)(-2,740)
16 - New School of Network Marketing - 119,940 (LW - 17)(+2,953)
17 - Diva Marketing - 123,887 (LW - 16)(-3,159)
18 - Experience Curve - 137,591 (LW - 18)(+10,360)
19 - Marketing Nirvana - 155,412 (LW - 19)(+5,845)
20 - Marketallica - 178,447 (LW - 20)(-7,253)
21 - Beyond Madison Avenue - 194,224 (LW - 21)(-10,170)
22 - Pro Hip-Hip - Hip-Hop Marketing - 205,317 (LW- 22)(-6,675)
23 - Brains on Fire - 240,703 (LW - 24)(+18,072)
24 - Movie Marketing Madness - 257,396 (LW - 25)(+2,241)
25 - What's Your Brand Mantra? - 263,308 (LW - 23)(-13,428)

Blogcast: T-Shaped Creativity

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Are You T-Shaped?
We Need More T-Shaped Creativity

T-Shaped Creativity is a way of looking at a type of creative process situated at the intersection of Interactive Marketing+Experience Design. This visualization looks simplistic—but in fact is difficult to pull off.  It entails getting the likes of Storytellers, Brand Strategists, and Experience Designers to coordinate activities.  Take away just one "building block" of the "T"—and the Interactive Experience is incomplete.

The T Files

Cute.  A mockumentary which tells us that Tivo came from Aliens.  Which explains the ease of use.  Comcast on the other hand must have come from Hades, because the remote continues to torture me relentlessly.  *Sigh—I do like the On Demand service though.

Everyday Impressions

On my first day at the new job, I noticed everything.  I distinctly recall walking into the reception area for the first time, and seeing my name up on a easel with the word "welcome" next to it.  I recall the pleasant smile of our receptionist, Marti and her warm and genuine greeting as if she had extended it to me hundreds of times before.  I can remember how I looked at the lobby area differently as if I were inspecting the entryway of my new home.  I absorbed every detail of the design and each nuance that my senses could detect.  I took it all in, and of course this happened in micro seconds.

Nearly a year later and that initial impression is just as significant to me now as it was on my first day on the job.  How?  Consider this.  Every morning, I return to the office after a previous day’s work ready to begin the new work day.  I may have worked late into the evening the previous night, or not—but in either case, walking into the lobby and being greeted by the receptionist helps set the tone for the day.  And the design of the lobby makes a difference too.  Sometimes I find myself thinking “I’m really lucky to work in such a cool looking office (with great people)”.  I especially feel like this after traveling—and being exposed to a variety of other corporate environments.  These experiences are no longer first impressions. 

They are everyday impressions. 

And they matter.  Walking into a positive office environment offers me reassurance that I’ve made the right career choice.  Now, let’s bring this home.  What kinds of everyday impressions is your brand offering up your customers?  Think about the first time your customer interacted with the homepage of your site.  How did it greet them?  How did it welcome them?  How did it help orient them so that they could move on to the rest of your site with confidence?  Now fast-forward a year later.  Your customers have seen your homepage many times before.  It’s nothing new.  What are you doing to reassure them, that they have made the right choice to business with you?  Are you doing things that make them feel “lucky” to be in a relationship with you?  Do they feel appreciative of you—especially when they have had experiences with other brands?  Has their positive first impression evolved into an equally everyday impression?

T-Mobile does this for me.  A while back, I reviewed their homepage and discussed why I thought it was so successful—especially to the first time visitor.  But as a seven-year customer of T-Mobile, I still enjoy the everyday impression I have with this design.  There isn’t actually a lot for me to do on the homepage (except log-in), but for some reason I feel good about seeing starting here.  I like knowing about their latest phones and plans.  I just like that it’s “there”—even if I don’t use it.  For some reason, I find it reassuring that I’m giving my time and money to a brand that I feel good about.

Back to the lobby example.  When I was working during the the dot-com days, we traded in standard titles for namesakes such as “Director of First Impressions”.  Makes me wonder...  Is it really about being a “Director of Everyday Impressions”?

Picture of the Day

Canoeing (and swimming) in the Muskegon river. Goodbye Summer. Hello Fall.

Death of a Crocodile Hunter

Steve Irwin, the lovable, daring, enthusiastic, naturalist that will always be known as the "Crocodile Hunter" has died, doing the very thing that he loved--being part of an adventure.  I'm, extremely saddened by this as I not only found Steve to be entertaining, but his spirit, positivity, kinetic energy and passion have been inspirational to me.  Steve embodied "authenticity"-- he was what he was and he lived out his passion, while we were invited along for the ride.

My heart goes out to his family.

From the BBC:

"Mr Irwin, 44, died after being struck in the chest by the stingray's barb while he was filming a documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Paramedics from Cairns rushed to the scene but were unable to save him.

Mr Irwin was known for his television show The Crocodile Hunter and his work with native Australian wildlife.

Police in Queensland confirmed the environmentalist's death and said his family had been notified. Mr Irwin was married with two young children."