Logic+Emotion

The Cobblers Children. Are We Investing in Ourselves?

"The issue of “the cobblers children” is a very real one for any organization, especially those who make money by aligning talent to client work. How can we service clients to the best of our abilities while making sure we don’t neglect our own development? There are a few examples that I always like to use whenever I get into discussion of this topic. Like many of you I’m sure, I am a big fan of IDEO’s method cards. Not only are they helpful and convenient, but in fact they are a brilliant marketing tactic. Yes, marketing.

The best marketing is when it doesn’t feel like it—which is why IDEO’s cards are so remarkable. They provide value while positioning the company as a thought leader. In my mind, this was the equivalent of the cobbler saying—”it’s time to make some shoes for myself“.  And everyone including themselves benefits in the process."
Read the full post at Experience Matters

Design Isn't Dead. Design's Gatekeepers May Be Dying.

"In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant." ~Philipe Stark

Think about it.  We're living in an age where people now have direct access to brands.  Starbucks wants our ideas—Southwest Airlines talks to me on Twitter, the role of the modern day brand steward may be a little different today compared to 10 years ago.  The meaning of a brand hasn't changed. The way we interact with them has.

So I have to wonder how different this all is for the design community, if you can call it that.  Just as brands have their gatekeepers—the same people who told us that Diet Coke was meant to be enjoyed, not mixed with candy for the purpose of making fountains—the design world also has gatekeepers. Or you could call them guardians, hight priests, guru's, icons—take your pick.  Indeed Philipe is probably one of them.  Design's gatekeepers guarded the secret sauce to what they deemed was "good design".  They were quick to point out that not everybody recognized what it was.  Some, like Stark brought "design" to the masses, not unlike Prometheus bringing us fire in ancient times.  Some brands, like Target helped broaden the appeal of "designer things"—creating a mainstream demand for pretty and stylish things.

Now lots of people can design—and design means a lot of different things to different people (IE, I don't equate design with pretty).  But the tools are out there.  The techniques are easy to look up.  Some have gotten pretty good at design—creating the social platforms that many of us use daily to watch videos, stream content, distribute presentations, share contacts and build personal brands.  Scion's automobiles are made to be customized.  Actually, were they designed that way?  Or was it Scion owners who created a culture out of sheet metal and fiberglass?  Apple can't really control the design and development of both native and Web based iPhone applications—even though they give it a good shot.  And directors can't control how people choose to watch their movies no matter how much they may disagree with it.

No, design isn't dead, especially the really good design that adds value to our lives.  But the notion of design's gatekeepers may need some additional thought as more of us begin to act like "professionals" and take on the sacred role of design.  Where once we had Steve Jobs to tell us what design should be—we now have each other to look to as well.  It's not a substitute—it's an addendum.  For some of us, that's a welcome evolution.  For others—it's like having unwanted guests crash your party.  Which will it be for you?

Space. In Your Pocket.

I was sitting in the audience at the CanUX conference when I got the e-mail.  Someone from our Toronto office had sent out a note with a link to this prototype of an experimental iPhone Web application.  I was immediately delighted at both the idea and execution and couldn't  wait to get the thing running on my own iPhone.  My initial thought?  How cool.

But let me take a step back and offer up an insight as someone who loves their iPhone.  The iPhone was designed with "talkability" built right into it.  By this, I mean it's an extremely effective way to do "show and tell".  I'm always showing folks stuff on my iPhone—whether it be pulling up a video clip on You Tube and watching it with the boys—or showing photos to a friend.  Web applications on the iPhone have opened up a whole new world of both utility and delight.  I enjoy using the facebook version on my iPhone more than I do the full blown Web version. This is because it's simpler and more importantly—I'm in "recreational" mode when I'm mobile.  So I'm more prone to exploration using my iPhone and a connection to the Web.

That's why I think the "Pocket Planet Gazer" is so neat.  I pulled it up when sitting on the couch with my 7-year-old and instantly, learning about the planets became interactive, casual and fun.  And I felt like I was doing something which brought us closer.  This is what marketing should be.  Stuff that actually makes life just a little better.

You can check out the iPhone application for yourself here:
www.criticalmass.com/exploration

You can also see that actual application from CM's newly designed site at criticalmass.com. (currently in Beta).  Check it out and unleash 7-year-old in you.  :-)

To Lifestream or Not To Lifestream...

Like many of you—I'm overwhelmed with information, data, status updates etc.  Yet also like many of you—I still want ways to keep up with my trusted sources of information, and friends.  Just because it feels overwhelming, I don't necessarily want to go back to the  "way things were".

Along comes FriendFeed. From what I can tell, it puts all your "source" data into one place.  And it does the same for the people who you want to keep up with.

Who's on it.  Should I do it?  Will this help separate signal from noise?  Or just become another social system that needs to be maintained?  What do you think?

Chicago's Best Blogs

The Chicago Tribune just put out a list of blogs they consider to be the best in Town—just found out I'm on it next to some fine company such as 37 Signals and Todd Andrlik.  Check out the full list here.  And you can leave comments with your own picks. Yay Chi-town!

My Vegas: Review from a Techno Marketer

Matt Dickman (AKA the techno marketer) is currently the Director, Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard—but in his spare time, he produces very insightful video reviews of new technologies that span the worlds of marketing, social networks and everything in between.  His newest series is called "Launched"—it's an effort to break away from the theory and look at real case studies of efforts being done in this space—in short, efforts that have actually "launched".

Matt recently did one of his famous reviews (in partnership with Marketing Profs) for the My Vegas social application—an effort done out of our Chicago office working with R&R Partners and the Las Vegas Visitors & Convention Authority.  It's a short video, but Matt created a profile and did his homework on the application, so check it out if you have a few minutes to spare.

Here's The Future of Advertising. Now Go Do it.

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Stop what you are doing and check out Paul Isakson's excellent sideshow which nearly perfectly captures the change that many Ad guys & gals are no doubt feeling both in traditional, tradigital and digital shops.  And clients too by the way.  Paul also gives My Vegas a shout out on slide 67.  This is worth looking at, sharing and bookmarking.  Oh yeah, and thrown in a ubiquitous social bookmark for good measure.  ;-)

Now comes the hard part.  Executing against what Paul has synthesized for us.  A wise man once said:

"A big idea without execution is like a Ferrari with flat tires"

Time to inflate the wheels, put some fuel in the tank and burn rubber.

Social Networking Will Become Ubiquitous

Great article in the Economist today.  Compare some of the thinking below to what I talk about in the "3U's"—it's related though the 3 U's go beyond just social networks and gets into our evolving digital lifestyles:

"Social networking will become a ubiquitous feature of online life. That does not mean it is a business

So it is entirely conceivable that social networking, like web-mail, will never make oodles of money. That, however, in no way detracts from its enormous utility. Social networking has made explicit the connections between people, so that a thriving ecosystem of small programs can exploit this “social graph” to enable friends to interact via games, greetings, video clips and so on.

Coming up for air

But should users really have to visit a specific website to do this sort of thing? “We will look back to 2008 and think it archaic and quaint that we had to go to a destination like Facebook or LinkedIn to be social,” says Charlene Li at Forrester Research, a consultancy. Future social networks, she thinks, “will be like air."

Usefulness
Any experience is useful when it's meaningful and serves a purpose.  Currently much of marketing still breaks down into self-serving gimmicks and interruptions that offer little value. Much of what's offered in digital is no exception.  While the majority of criticism is of traditional advertising, the fact of the matter is that interruptive based traditional digital advertising is not much better.  These are the digital gimmicks that work to get your attention but are usually done so poorly that they offer no value whatsoever.  Usefulness is the exact opposite.

Utility
Utility = interaction that delights us in some way.  But hold the iPhone.  The industry has hijacked the word delight and brainwashed us to think that only companies like Apple and Disney are capable of serving it up.  Let me tell you a story about the "no-frills" Craigslist, which just happened this morning.  My wife took pictures of a large playset we wanted to sell.  She uploaded them at 10:00 A.M.  By noon, she had several people interested and she sold the set in time for a late lunch.  We had the set dismantled, picked up and were $100.00 richer that evening.  That's delight in the application economy.

Ubiquity
We are living in a fragmented world with what seems like infinite touch points available to us.  Brands and businesses who can distribute value across these endless touch points in effective ways will tap into new markets and solidify existing ones.  Even though some of us are interacting through multiple social channels—we can now find people just like ourselves who we trust and see what they like/dislike.  This influences our decisions from the stuff we buy to the things we recommend to each other.  The best marketing in the world tries to simulate this, but usually ends up coming off as contrived.  Meaningful interactions through multiple networks and channels leads to authentic word of mouth references and ultimately affinity.

Now let's look at what the article says about monetization:

"So it is entirely conceivable that social networking, like web-mail, will never make oodles of money. That, however, in no way detracts from its enormous utility. Social networking has made explicit the connections between people, so that a thriving ecosystem of small programs can exploit this “social graph” to enable friends to interact via games, greetings, video clips and so on."

Agreed.  This fits nicely with the quote that AdAge called out from our panel at the digital marketing conference:

" Mr. Armano believes this is exactly what the social-media space should be used for, "facilitating that human connection. And I don't see a lot of marketers doing that -- I see them asking, 'How do you monetize and how do you advertise?"

So what's a marketer, designer, PR rep, Advertiser to do with social networks?  I say, help facilitate those human connections.  Provide value.  People will say good things about your brands, products and services for it.  And they'll most likely engage in a deeper relationship with you.  And relationships is the end game here.  Period.

Experience, Social, Word of Mouth. Is it All Just Advertising?

Photo Credit: Scott Gries

" I just wrapped up two days at the Ad Age Digital Marketing conference in NYC ...The panel I took part in was the official “social media” discussion. It was a great conversation, and the conference itself conducted polls from the audience in real time.

"...Social Media” aside, I really have to wonder if what I do is actually advertising. Having led teams on complex transactional sites and even things like ATM designs—I wonder…is that advertising? During my turn to speak on the panel, I told a very simple and true tale on my way to the conference..."

Read the full post at Experience Matters

The Conversation @ Ad Age Goes Digital

A funny thing happened on the way to way to the Ad Age Digital Marketing conference.  In the midst of Madison Avenue types discussing the impact of digital on the relationship between brands and customers—a small handful of audience members including myself, Steve Rubel and David Polinchock instinctively fired up Twitter and before you knew it,  a couple of thousand people who could not be at the event were following along and even chiming in on what was going down at the event.  To be clear, though this was no SXSW and many of my "tweets" were a bit silly it still managed to get the attention of Ad Age itself.

"Not too far from the twittering crowd
Ad Age's digital editor, Abbey Klaassen, passed this along: "While this is no SXSW by twitter-level standards, there is some isolated twittering going on in the audience. (Yes, this is a digital conference but, unlike South By Southwest, there are clearly a lot of brand folks and general marketers in the audience and they're not necessarily as steeped in interactive as the web developers who attended the Texas event last week.) I did, however, catch up with Critical Mass's David Armano (twitter.com/armano) and Edelman's Steve Rubel (twitter.com/steverubel), both Day Two speakers, who are filing updates.

My first thought? Yikes! Please don't let anything here turn out like Sarah Lacy. As you may recall, Business Week's Lacy interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a SXSW session that was panned in real time by the twittering audience. So I warned them: Be nice, or people will pay you back with snarky Twitter posts while you're on stage. No they won't, they replied, confidently -- because everyone who twitters will be on stage. Damn. So true."

It was an interesting day for me.  I'm definitely more comfortable with user experience Web types, but hey—every experience is an adventure right?  I definitely had fun Twittering.  More coverage below and my panel is tomorrow!

Additional Coverage
Ad Pulp | Ad Rants

10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive in a Recession (The Download)

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Over at the Experience Matters blog, one of our "best sellers" is a post titled "10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive in a Recession."  Now it's more than just a post.  You can view and download the presentation here (PDF).  If you are an event planner and interested in hearing me talk about these ideas, drop me a line.

Related posts:
The Application Economy | The 3 U's  | Yes, There Will Be Blood | "Un-agency"

Are Digital Marketing + Social Design Compatible?

I'm attending a panel next week at the Ad Age digital marketing conference.  The topic?  Making social media work:

Making Social Media & Marketing Work
Social media and marketing is no longer an 'emerging media' buzzword, but a discipline that nearly every marketer has embraced.  What tactics are smart marketers eyeing? Where does the discipline lie within an agency? What kinds of new social media models will emerge in 2008?

Moderator: Jim Nail, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer,  TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony 

Confirmed Panelists:
• David Armano, VP, Creative, Critical Mass
• Michael Barrett, EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Fox Interactive Media
• Colleen Decourcy, Chief Digital Officer, TBWA Worldwide
• Eric Plaskonos, Director of Brand Communications, Philips Electronics North America
• Troy Young, CMO, VideoEgg

If you look at my visual above, it will tell you something about what my POV will be on the panel.  Like many of you, I'm a "consumer"—I buy stuff.  I'm also an active participant in social networks incorporating many of the social utilities like Facebook, Twitter and blogging in my daily routine.  I'm part of multiple communities.  I produce content.  I'm a "user" (sorry folks, it's not a dirty word)—I use Web applications and software regularly.  I don't even think about it.  It's like breathing.  And I'm a customer too. But above all, I'm a person—a human being.

Through all of the rapid shifts we are witnessing I often self-analyze my own digital behavior.  I wonder why it's the geeks and not the marketers who are designing the social experiences like You Tube, Flickr, My Space, Facebook etc.  I like to think about what Josh Porter describes as "social design":

"Social design is design that focuses on the social lives of users. It deals with the activities, behaviors, and motivations of people who work and play together through software interfaces. It is built on the observation that many of the decisions we make are greatly affected by those we surround ourselves with in our social lives: our family, friends, and colleagues."

So the geeks build the platforms and networks.  The users use them.  The users become participants.  Participants form the networks and communities and participation in communities sucks up our time and attention.

Then where does that leave marketing?  Maybe next week, we'll get a little closer to that answer.  But my guess is we'll probably end up with more questions.  If you're going to the event, please look me up.

Yes. There Will Be Blood

I'm surprised at how little I hear about The Coke Show marketing initiative, especially the early part of it.  It should be written up in a text book (maybe it was).  In a nutshell, before Coke decided to embrace the "Mentos-Coke" fountain—they tried to create their own contest.  It was a flashy microsite that went something like this:

“as of this week, visitors to Coke.com can take part in "The Coke Show," monthly "challenges" testing their creativity.

In the first challenge, set to run through August, users are invited to submit short videos, but they're not limited to creating ads or odes to the brand. Instead, Coke is asking for 45-second video expressions of "the essence of you." Visitors will rate submissions, culling them down to 10, which will be judged by a group of professional filmmakers."

Ultimately, The Coke Show went away while people still talk about the "Coke Mentos Fountain" like it was yesterday.  And Coke ended up eventually joining the movement.

What does this have to do with blood?

Well, at SXSW my friend Chris Bernard moderated a panel titled "The Web Agency: There Will Be Blood".  I wish I were on the panel.  Garrick Schmitt of Avenue A/ Razorfish (owned by Microsoft) recently did a writeup of the panel where he had this to say:

"I took some good natured ribbing on this last point from my fellow panelists — clearly I was the “Poindexter” of the group. But, hey, given the rate of industry change — and the ongoing evolution of technology (witness the new YouTube APIs released today) — I still believe we have to embrace the complex and scary if we are to reap the benefit of the medium. To not keep up, well, that’s when we’ll see blood"

My guess is that Garrick's observation had something to do with his earlier comment about data driven design.  But he's right.  The reason why agencies who play in the digital space may end up being bled is because much of what they do is at odds with home grown social experiences.  Like the Coke Show and more infamously Bud.TV, many agencies want to create highly produced big budget experiences that rival the TV budgets that have fed the traditional agencies for years.

But there's a problem.  As the multi million dollar BUD.TV. underscores—highly produced content and slick production don't necessarily equal traffic.   Unlike the television medium which is less accountable—digital is measurable in every way possible.  Which means if the traffic, clicks, views and time spent isn't there—then it's time to put the effort to rest.

And that's where there will be blood.  Every time I come across digital properties with Hollywood level production and price tags—I have to wonder how the stats compare to blogs and social applications that can be developed for a fraction of the cost.  How much did it cost the creators of the Coke Mentos fountain to create their video?  To distribute it?

Sometimes I have to wonder if "digital marketing" and social media are at complete odds.  Will there be blood?  If so, I think it will be the metrics that does the cutting.

Help Someone with B.S.O.S.

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So let's say you know someone who could use a little help with diagnosing their B.S.O.S (Bright and Shiny Object Syndrome).  Print this out and leave it by their desk.  When they aren't looking of course. ;-)

Convergence + The Digital Agency

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I finally got around to uploading my presentation from Interaction 08.  You can view the video here.  There are some slides from previous presentations as well as new ones, but the overall premise of the presentation was to stress the blurring of roles both from an individual perspective as well as an agency one.  IE, design firms creating marketing solutions and agencies designing video game software.  You can download a PDF from here.

Wanted, Panel for this Topic: "Beyond Gimmicks"

Several months ago I was asked by Celia, one of our internal marketing/PR peeps to submit a panel idea for upcoming conferences.  She's been shopping it around, but so far—no takers, which I think is a shame because a lot of folks are talking about this exact topic.  So, if you are involved in planning an upcoming event and see a fit for this, please let me know. It will be quite easy for me to assemble a quality panel around this topic, I'm sure.  :-)

Beyond Gimmicks: Why Behavior-Changing Experiences Will Rule in a Fragmented, Digital Age
What’s the buzz all about? Marketers are obsessed with generating it. Buzz that is. Going “viral” has become the ubiquitous holy grail of not only digital marketers, but offline as well. Create something so clever, so disruptive—that people will talk about it and (hopefully) share with others is one of the most common requests from clients—“give us a subservient chicken”. But what’s in it for the customer? Time and attention starved consumers, users and even social media participants are becoming wary of thinly veiled disguises at getting them to help make something go viral. What’s a marketer to do? Our panel will discuss alternatives to buzz marketing and dig into why it’s so important to provide value in an increasingly fragmented world where people can forget about your brand and why it matters in a nanosecond.

Suggested Moderator:
David Armano, VP, Creative for Critical Mass
David has over 14 years experience in the creative field with the majority of his time spent in digital marketing and experience design. An active thought leader in the industry, David authors the popular Logic + Emotion blog currently ranked in the top media + marketing blogs according to Advertising Age. David’s writing and visual thinking has been cited by Forrester, The Boston Globe and landed in BusinessWeek on several occasions including their “Best of 2006”. Prior to Critical Mass, David served spent time as a creative lead at notable firms such as Digitas and Agency.com—putting in a combined tenure of 8 years in the large digital agency environment. He led multiple initiatives for clients such as HP, Allstate, Fifth Third Bank, Miller Brewing, Grainger, and Bally Total Fitness.

The Age of Improvisation

"Last week I had the opportunity to Speak at Microsoft’s premiere event, MIX 08 (you can see my talk here, and watch a video interview here). But the real star of MIX 08 was Guy Kawasaki. Guy spent a considerable part of his career with Apple, but is currently most known for his adventures as a serial entrepreneur and blogger. But Guy is something much bigger. He’s a master at the art of improvisation among other things.

Contrast Guy’s performance with that of BusinessWeek’s Sarah Lacy whose highly publicized fiasco at geek conference SXSW will go down in conference history. While Guy remained relaxed, conversational and quick on his feet even as Ballmer unexpectedly tossed Guy’s Mac Air around like a play toy—Lacy was unable to successfully adapt to her situation when the SXSW audience began to turn on her."

Read the full post at Experience Matters

Thought of the Day

~From Logic + Emotion, One Year Later.

Form + Function: Advertising Gets Serious About "Useful"

Brian Morrissey penned a solid article recently in the pages of Adweek which I believe signals the idea of "purpose-driven marketing" as being anything but a fad.  "My Vegas" which was done in partnership between R+R partners and CM was referenced, but aside from that, there were some really good nuggets that hopefully the mainstream advertising community will take to heart.  Here are a few choice bits:

"Funny microsites are giving way to useful, sometimes entertaining applications; the showing off of flashy technology is yielding to design geared towards generating sales; and crafting for social interaction is replacing one-way experiences. Now that digital points exist far outside the browser, designing for the Web is passe, with digital design chasing the elusive goal of designing experiences that wrap all of the above together."

"Five years ago, people would muck through a site with non-standard navigation that was confusing because the whole Internet was confusing," he said. "Now the Internet is so big you can't do anything that's annoying anymore."

" Application design is also driving efforts to tap into the social Web, with utilities holding the promise of being able to build communities around brands. Take "My Vegas" from Critical Mass, part of the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" campaign. On the surface, the social networking tool seems like another attempt by a brand to draw people away from more natural social environments into artificial ones created by advertisers. But "My Vegas" actually provides a useful tool for visitors who want to get the most out of their trips, thanks to Critical Mass bringing the "stays in Vegas" promise to life with social functionality. "

" There's a big possibility to deliver on your brand through the tools or functionality you can give people that are positive,"

"The next step: free the application from the confines of the site. The old build-it-and-make-them-come design strategy is being replaced by a fish-where-the-fish-are mind-set that's leading advertisers to not view their brand sites as the be-all and end-all."

Good stuff. and Amen.  If there's one trend I believe in—it's giving people something that makes sense for they way they live—and makes life just a little better.

Leading With Insight

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Matthew Milan is a smart and talented colleague at Critical Mass that I have the honor of collaborating with from time to time.  If you're looking for some inspiration on how to cultivate insights, you might want to check out his Leading With Insight slideshow.  Matthew will also be speaking at the IA summit.  Don't miss him.

Twitter in Plain English (and Visual Thinking)

This is by far the BEST description of Twitter I have ever come across.  Though it leaves out many of Twitter's other uses such as link sharing and the fact that some use it as a chat client—it serves as a great "de-mystification" of the service.  It's also a wonderful example of the power of visual thinking—a method who's day has arrived big time.

Conversation by Design: Everything I Know About Blogging

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I often get e-mails that ask me about blogging and sharing what I know. There's no need for private e-mails.  It's all here.  Everything that's worked for me on this blog is in this presentation.  You can even download it from here.  Good luck designing your own conversations.  It's hard work, but worth it.

Marketing Spirals + Fuzzy Funnels

When I originally wrote about the Marketing Spiral, I said this:

"Often times our first interaction with a brand is through a digital touch point like a site.  Maybe we heard about it from a friend or somewhere else.  We interact with it—we give it a try.  If we like it—that leads to deeper levels of engagement.  Maybe this repeats itself adding more "cycles" to the spiral.  We continue to engage. Some of us even begin to participate.  We transition from downloading to uploading our media.  We talk about how great the experience is.  To our peers, to each other.  We become evangelists—the spiral actually expands as we engage with multiple touchpoints—not only the digital ones."

And now I'm wondering if the disappearance in of the funnel in traditional marketing will lead to the emergence of another kind of funnel—"fuzzy funnels" that blur together vastly difference disciplines, backgrounds and services that come together to result in how we think and feel about brands, products and services.

It hit me at MIX 08.  Like a brick actually.  Sure there were different tracks.  A "UX" track, a "Business" track and everything else seemed like it was for developers, both software and Web.  But aside from the tracks—it was clear that MIX was primarily about technology.  That was the gig.  Now some gatherings may be focused on marketing.  Others on the intersection of technology and marketing and yet others on design, or business or both.

But the reality is that we're still taking different languages.  At MIX 08 the vernacular was about "platforms", code and the latest break through in technology .  When the word "brand" was mentioned, it seemed almost unnaturally out of place.  On Madison Ave. it's the opposite—brand leads the way while technology is often an afterthought.

But what the "fuzzy funnel" shows us is that we're all going to get mixed up in a blender whether we like it or not.  Because it's the convergence of all these things which lead to how we think and feel about brands, products and services that really matters.  It's why media companies want to act like technology companies and vice-versa.

And that giant blender is where it's going to get really interesting.  So, will we see more people "talking in brand" at MIX 09?  Possibly.  Will we see more geeks and developers at Cannes?  That's possible too.  And when it happens—when you're at an event where you feel like your surrounded by people who look like the multiple ingredients of the fuzzy funnel and then some—then you know on to something really interesting.  We're all heading toward the same destination, even though we're speaking different languages and living in complimentary cultures.

Corporate Symbols

Update:
Kip clarifies that he's not a Microsoft employee (Sorry!).  But it's still worth noting that many MS employees do embrace "Blue Monster", while others don't.  Thanks for the clarification Kip. And now I know your name. :-)

Symbols and icons are extremely important and meaningful.   All you have to do is look back at the great propaganda movements or just look around at how companies represent themselves visually and how consumers embrace them (Harley-Davidson).  If you look closely at this Microsoft employee's notebook—you will notice two stickers.  One for LiveSide and the other for Blue Monster (below).

Now here's the thing.  I didn't have a long conversation with the Microsoft employee in this photo—but his "badges" told me everything I needed to know about him.  He believes in two things.  LiveSide, and organizational evolution. 

Why do I say that?  Because everyone at Mix 08 who worked for Microsoft and handed me either a "Blue Monster" business card or had the sticker, seemed different.  It was hard to put a finger on, but although they were believers in Microsoft, they also seemed to believe in an external vision that challenged Microsoft to make a meaningful impact in the world.  It's a non corporate honest opinion, and some at Microsoft embrace it publicly.

What's to be learned?  Blue Monster shows us that no matter how big or small the company that the world is a bigger place.  And external influences can become internal influences.  And it teaches us that if we are interested in the evolution of corporate culture, that symbols are important.  If we don't find our own—someone will find them for us.

See You at MIX 08

I'll be in Las Vegas tomorrow for MIX (speaking on Wednesday).  If you're going and want to meet up, the best ways are via Twitter (@armano) or e-mail.

Should be a great event.  Hope to see you.

Building A Culture of Innovation Part II

"When building a culture of innovation for any office—it’s best to keep this mantra in mind. Pretend that you are a playground designer, and when you create something for the “children” to play on, don’t create rules. Let them create their own rules of engagement. Your role then becomes an observer. Sit on the “bench” and watch them play. Learn from it, and apply what you learn to your next initiative."

Read the full post at Experience Matters

Blog of the Day: Pleasure & Pain

I first met Whitney Georgia Hess at Digitas about two years ago. We had the "pleasure" of collaborating on one of the most innovative projects I've had a chance to play a role in (a prototype for realizing a new way of getting an insurance quote online).  Whitney is currently the sole author and curator of a fine up and coming blog called "Pleasure & Pain".

Pleasure & Pain covers the worlds of interaction design, technology and life as viewed by Whitney.  She'll often analyze what makes an experience great or not.  Check out her post on 9 Reasons Why I Love the Roomba Whitney will also occasionally do in-depth evaluations such as her Bloglines vs. Google Reader where she methodically breaks down the pros and cons of each service.

Pleasure & Pain is a relatively new blog and Whitney is a new voice in the blogosphere.  She started her blog this past January and it's been evolving rapidly.  I predict good things for it—it's definitely worth checking out.  Previous blogs of the day have been Conversation Agent, Disambiguity, Innovation Playground, and even Adaptive Path as it first launched.  See all blog of the day entries here.

How To Reference an L+E Visual

There are a couple of things you should know regarding the visuals on this blog:

1. I create the visuals myself using Adobe Illustrator, my brain and a little synthesis.
2. The visuals are designed to be shared, distributed and used outside of this blog.
3. I not only appreciate credit, I know that when it's given it benefits everyone.

To that last point, I frequently get e-mails that look something like this:

"Dear David, I was recently at a conference where a prominent speaker was using several of your visuals in their presentation without any credit whatsoever.  I thought you should know."

I also get an occasional e-mail like this:

"David, today I was asked by a supervisor to trace over one of your visuals, so that we could make it our own.  I have an issue with this".

Here's the deal.  The visuals here are "free" for everyone to use.  They are my "purple cow"—it's why most of you are readers of this blog in the first place.  And I respect that—which is why I freely give them away.  But when you take what's free and bury the source, it actually effects your own credibility more than you know.

Take this for example.  One of the most popular visuals on this blog is the experience map.  It was one of my first and I was naive enough not to put my name on it.  No doubt some folks have taken advantage of that fact.  But Google tells another story.  Thanks to the Long Tail, if you type in "Experience Map"—my visual is the #1 result.  That's better than any copyright I can throw on a graphic.

So take this advice if you like.  If you want to use a visual here without credit—it's your choice.  I can't force you to do so.  But this blog is out there—it's highly visible and it's very likely that someone who viewed your presentation with my visual will eventually find the source here.  And that affects your credibility, not mine.

For those of you who have been generous in your transparency—thank you.  I owe the success of this blog to all of you.  I've given a lot away here, but you've given me much more.

Screenshot of the Day

Guy Kawasaki's Alltop (Egos Section)