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What Gets Delivered, How

Personal delivery of bento box, back of Harajuku (above).
Business delivery of noodles, Xiamen (below).

Examples of cultural differences in delivery mechanisms?

Writing from Harajuku, back of | May 31, 2006 | Permalink

Surface Customisation, Motivations For

Writing from Shinjuku | | Permalink

Knowing Which Is Which

The customisation of office-standardised devices by varying the length of strap.

Writing from Ginza, back of | May 30, 2006 | Permalink

Defaults & Learning Not To Ask Too Many Questions

The default in the operating theatre is calming classical music but it sounds too much like muzak for my liking. I don't expect a postive response but ask anyway. The surgeon offers U2 or Oasis but thankfully no J-Pop, but I'm left wondering whether I should have brought my iPod. The team of two surgeons and two nurses give out a little cheer when I make my request - they must be bored listening to the same music over and over and over. Presumably they only get to listen to non-classical when the patient is under general anesthetic. Is this a suitable venue for targetted sound? - a patient lying on the slab listening to Mozart, whilst the team go about their business listening to Aphex Twin or the audio book version of a Stephen King novel? Yes, but what if the wrong audio was piped to the wrong person?

This is not a great time to think about risks and consequences.

During the 90 minute procedure nurses drift in and out through automated doors. There are three other operating theatres located in the same ward and between them they'll do 16 operations a day, every day. One of the theatres lies directly across the hall way, when the doors to both rooms are simultainiously open I can see a headless body lying there. Bet that wasn't planned. Oh, I should qualify that, its headless because the door doesn't afford me a view of the whole body. It's not moving, but then I guess neither am I. Still, I bet that wasn't planned.

There are so many interesting practices and instruments in this place. One of the tools to stop bleeding (possibly a bipolar probe) makes a buzzing sound everytime its used, but its hard to hear when the horn section kicks in over Bono's voice. Designing for secondary cues indeed. The need to deliver electricity means there's a trailing cable that could be snagged, but someone has carefully looped in through a finger holds in a clamp. There is a flow of conversation with me that I assume is designed to re-assure them. It reminds me of the passage in one of Don Norman's books about pilots and co-pilots speaking with one another as they come into land: if the pilot replies at least you know he's conscious. Here it doesn't necesssarily matter what the conversation is about and the talk drifts from volvos to ice-hockey to moomins. When Japanese talk about Finland the conversation often ends with Moomins.

It strangely beautiful to watch someone slowly slice you open when you're under local anesthetic. The repeated gentle movements of a scapel firstly reveal whats directly under my skin, then whats directly under that and then what they are looking for. I'm torn between wanting to ask questions and not wanting to disturb. The stuff on my back that I'm not witness to feels like someone is slicing through cheese. But here in front of me shes gentle and with this I don't feel a thing.

The hosptial's near Ginza, the ride home takes an hour, it will be another 3 hours or so before the locals wear off.

Writing from Ginza | May 26, 2006 | Comments (3) | Permalink

Status Indicators

The degree to which condensed milk and coffee has mixed visible through glass. Drinking becomes a positive feedback loop - the taste and status of the drink is confirmed as coffee is drunk, and can be further stirred. Possible downside? Stirring is a one-way sweetening process. But does it need to be?

Observed from a watch-the-city-wake-up session in Ho Chi Minh City.

Writing from Tokyo | May 25, 2006 | Permalink

Responsibility Plus

Illustration done by a child on the side of a home, and close to a school in Hukeng, China.

What are the factors that make this socially acceptable?

Writing from Tokyo | May 24, 2006 | Comments (7) | Permalink

Magnitude

Its often quoted that a phone company is the worlds biggest camera manufacturer and music player manufacturer, the magnitude of things indeed, Charlie. With us from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep and, from a lot of field research I can confidently say most places in between.

But who is the world's biggest alarm clock manufacturer?

Waved goodbye to a rain soaked Xiamen and Gulangyu today. Alas, no more peering off the service roof of tall buildings to scope a city, or hanging out with Chinese manual labourers on rain sodden bulding sites. But good to be home. One more field study in Tokyo then next stop Africa.

Writing from Xiamen | May 23, 2006 | Permalink

Open Air Gallery

A passer by checks out a Sid-Viciousesque worker taking a cigarette in the doorway of the Xin Hua Book Store, Xiamen. The front facade of the store is protected by a variety of old doors - many which still have door knobs attached.

From a collage of 40 prints.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Literacy & Understanding

Writing from Xiamen | May 22, 2006 | Permalink

Attitudes Towards

Two low-key cultural surprises await many first time visitors to China: the number of terrestrial TV channels and the vibrancy of commercials and infomercials.

Ah, but what does this have to do with a plastic bag given by a shoe-shop assistant to cover the feet of sockless shoppers (above), or the phone covered in a plastic cover (below)? My favourite Chinese late night commercial shows a couple arriving at the apartment of friends. They don't want to take their shoes off - its too cold, and they don't want to dirty their host's apartment. The solution? Luckily the hosts have an auto-shoe-wrap-box. By stepping into the box the magic of technology shrink wraps a plastic sock onto guests shoe - and the camera cuts to hosts and guests relaxing around a table with blue plastic on their feet. Once you've witnessed that Its is hard to look at plastic in the same way again.

And why on Future Perfect? The infomercial says something about Chinese attitudes to disposable vs sustainable, the degree to which homes are heated, and how people cope with dirt and dust.

Writing from China | | Permalink

A Tripod In Cinema Moment

Watched a subtitle-free Chinese language version of a certain hollywood movie today. You can tell something about the state of movie piracy in a country when people from the previous showing stream out and one of them is casually folding his extended tripod as he heads for the exit. Recording onto MiniDV I reckon, but didn't ask.

Still, its not quite as brazen as pirate TV in Ulan Bataar.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Learning From Retro

A visit to Jiang Tou Market in Xiamen and 600 Yuan (60 Euro) buys you a new retro working English language GSM phone. Note the number of buttons compared to this lo-hi design. Starts with a HelloMoto screenshot and an extended and quite loud Chinese pop song.

Writing from | | Permalink

Pay-As-You-Go

Interesting to see mainstream PC software adopt the pay-as-you-go model.

What people are able and willing to pay for. Why does it not cost money every time you access your phone's address book? Or switch the phone on? Or for that matter to switch your phone off?

Writing from Fujian Province, Lost in | | Permalink

Setting Out Again

Today's shave comes courtesy of a back alley barber in a nearby village. I would never have found this place were it not for my driver (above, below), who accurately interprets my need-a-shave body language. He spends the whole time sitting in a barber's chair chain smoking like a nervous parent. We've already agreed a price for the day and he's sitting here on my time, so if anyone should be nervous it should be me.

The barber's shop doubles as a photo studio in he back and includes a print club (puri kura) kiosk up front. I retreat into the studio for a post-shave photo - not of me, but to borrow the set to shoot the driver, the shop owner and members of his family. There are a variety of backdrops to choose from ranging from fantastic sceneries to, um, fantastic sceneries - elements of beauty and escapism and very different from club land New Orleans. A high quality print costs 20 Yuan (2 Euro) and given that I've taken over his space I order a few. The photographer uses a three year old entry level Sony camera the technical specification of which will soon be surpassed by most new camera phones. How long before we start seeing camera phones at use in photo studios such as this? For all our snobbery about taking 'proper' photos with 'proper' cameras for most of the world's population it doesn't need to be perfect, simply good enough. Today's high end camera phones are there already.

The PC-less printing process is enough to make a Canon rep smile. While we were waiting for the prints to emerge two teenage girls drop in and flick through booklets of print club designs. The process of choosing print club backgrounds is identical to Ho Chi Minh City - write down then number of the desired designs, pull the curtain shut and create their own version of reality. Second life, with y'know, added life.

There are a few synergies between barber services and the photo studio - after all clients like to look their best before the camera. I couldn't however persuade the driver to remove his helmet.

Writing from Fujian Province, Lost in | | Permalink

Settling Down

Today's office is not supposed to be. It's Sunday and I'm not due back in the Tokyo lab until the middle of the week.

But the current reality of this work is that if there is mental space and the tools to write ideas then it's pretty much an office. Before you think this a complaint, any arguments about work/life balance are moot when experiencing life counts as work. And it's not as if the mountains are ever too far away.

Although the altitude is nothing to write home about, at least today I'm up in the hills of a remote district of Fujian Province. The lodge that has been my home for the last two nights is set in a 100+ year old building, which in turn is situated in a national park. The journey here was uneventful marked only by the transition from the island city to industrial parks to paddy fields and eventually the winding mountain roads which lead here.

I'm currently sitting in wicker chair in a plant filled courtyard. A breakfast of steamed bread and peanuts has just arrived and will sit largely un-disturbed for the next hour or so. Coffee comes in a sachet marked Nescafe, and whilst it stretches my definition of coffee if the common truth were defined by volume alone pre-mixed sachets of caffeine, milk-powder and sugar by any other name would be a lie. With the exception of this 'coffee' the rest of the menu is pretty much orientated to slow food - and includes seasonal mountain vegetables, herbs, locally reared livestock (including duck, a gaggle of which have just wandered in and out) plus whatever wild rabbit they can catch. The national parks around here are a cross between historical theme-park and people's homes, this lodge being more of the latter. One hundred Yuan (8 Euro) buys me a hard bed, mosquito repellent, a door with a lock and an overnight pot to piss in. There is a row of perfectly reasonable squat toilets but they lie outside the thick walls and separted by a large gate that is bolted overnight.

The courtyard very much supports interaction between members of this community. People pass through to visit one of the seven families that live in this building, and stop long enough for conversations and sometimes tea. Local traders drift in and out - one offers what looks like whole-wheat muffins but which turns out to be yet another form of steamed bun. An elderly gentleman in plastic sandals and a Mao shirt shuffles by with what looks like a blunt. Tobacco is grown nearby so it could well be homegrown, its certainly hand rolled. The daughter of the owner splits her time between running errands, keeping me stocked with fresh fruit, and spends the rest of her time practicing Chinese karaoke tunes. She's wearing a rolling stones t-shirt and walks with a limp, an iodine stained leg wounds peek through from bottom of her trousers - the result of a motorcycle accident. That she's been in an accident doesn't surprise me - whilst the traffic is relatively polite the roads in this region are marked by rock falls and the muddy land slides are a challenge to negotiate during the rain.

And when later the rains come, everything moves to the edges of the courtyard. In a world where an office is a space to think the space serves me well.

Writing from Fujian Province, Lost in | May 21, 2006 | Permalink

Coke, Heat, Standardisation

Fuel brickets made from a mix of compressed coke slag, wood chip and water. Used to be a common sight in the Hutong but likely to be phased out in time for the Beijing Olympics. Identical design to those found in Vietnam.

Writing from Fujian Province, Lost in | | Permalink

Perspectives Learned In Childhood

Map of the world (right-hand illustration) with China at its center, from a wall at the Rixin school close to Hukeng.

When people draw a map of the world - they often give away the country where they grew up - the center of the globe marks the spot. Learned in childhood, difficult to forget.

Writing from Hukeng | | Permalink

Path & Error Tolerance

Writing from Hukeng | | Permalink

Advertising Touch

Ferry commuters support themselves by grabbing ceiling mounted handles. If the body beomes a network capable of sending and receiving data, will we need to be more selective about what we touch? Will gloves be sold on their data blocking properties - a firewall or woolwall?

In contexts where information flows to and from the body network, who will want to de-stabilise a user's balance to trigger tactile interaction? In the case of advertising what form of interaction counts as opting-in? If the handle design included small displays rather than the current paper adverts, how might the information on the handle display change according to who is holding it?

Writing from Hukeng | | Permalink

Winding Down, Wrapping Up

The field study is completed and the team has headed its separate ways. There are a few days rest before the next study starts and for me at least its an opportunity to explore Fujian Province.

Jumping from the context of one in-depth field study to another can feel like a series of unreal experiences. As one of the team so succinctly put it "It's like a holiday romance without the romance, and without the holiday". A unique and mostly positive experience, but you know it's not going to last. We are drawn together by shared goals, arrive in a foreign destination, put our heads down and get on with it. The work allows us to confront, explore and document experiences that are then discussed during analysis sessions, over restaurant meals, walks through neighbourhoods, and evenings spent sipping drinks on the verandah. We revel in documenting the minutiae of the mundane but in many ways don't need to deal with the mundane ourselves. Beds are made in our absence, dirty laundry disappears to re-appear fresh and typically ironed, tables come set with food and drinks, and is cleared without our assistance. Does being removed from these everyday experiences hinder or support understanding the live's of our study participants?

And yet it's not strictly true that we are removed from it all - we carry tools that allow us to converse with home - conversations about laundry, building contractors and hospital appointments. If it were a holiday the romance would be to talk regular stuff with loved one's back home.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Scars As Conversation Starters

A nice moment in Jiang Tou Phone Market where we get to compare body scars. He'd had some major surgery on his head, arms and chest. How behaviours are affected by assumptions of shared experiences? How this might be manipulated?

Another design 'homage' from the same market, below.

Writing from | May 19, 2006 | Permalink

Motivations For Failure

A public call box and private IP telephone kiosk in close proximity.

Which customers would have a preference to use which service? How do the services differ? Are there any postive effects for one another from them being so close together? Whilst the owner of this shop has not damaged the kiosk (below) the phone simply isn't installed yet, does the IP kiosk receive more business if the public infrastructure be vandalised?

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Blended

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Charging Larger Objects

In a city where garage parking is not common, how to charge personal vehicles, such as this motorcycle above?

In this Xiamen street a power cable leads from an upstairs apartment, circles a collumn, is wrapped around the handle-bars (detail in above photo), in part so the converter is supported, before being plugged into the frame. A simple example of a technique for coping with the real world.

Writing from Xiamen | May 18, 2006 | Comments (2) | Permalink

Waiting For the Storm (To Pass)

What role can stories play in selling research? Not just to communicate the results but to stir interest the methods, the personalities, the stories behind the data. I have an Indian colleague who rides around rural India on his Enfield motorbike collecting field data. I know when I get his email I'll learn something new, and in part I can appreciate his effort in getting out there.

Today's story is of the research team riding out a typhoon sitting in the guesthouse on an island in the South China Sea - mopping up streams of water that made it through the blinds and mosquito nets. Telephone coversations accompanied to the sound of broken glass communicate enough of the details themselves, though from recent experience earthquakes require a running commentary to make sense (we had an unusually long day-time quake in Tokyo recently). But for tonight I'm not yet sure how this story ends - its still being written. Time to waterproof the camera and play around outside.

And the photo above? A flash picking up a moment in the life of a rain drop taken on the rather blustery guesthouse roof. A chance to try new stuff whilst waiting for the storm to pass.

Writing from Xiamen | May 17, 2006 | Permalink

Flattery or Fakes?

A phone design modelled on a Vertu above, and a Nokia 3230 below. Possibly enough to fool someone from a distance if they were to glance at it, but not under closer examination. From the mobile phone market in Xiamen, more to follow if I get the chance.

What can be copied easily? Does the job of effectively copying become harder as devices become complicated?

Writing from Xiamen | | Comments (2) | Permalink

Apartment, Typhoon

An advertisement close to Xiamen University (below) for an apartment with 2 bedrooms, kitchen and washroom space for1500 RMB (150 Euro) a month. I've not managed to get a photo of it yet but looking at the larger apartment blocks you know what apartment is for rent because a large banner with a phone number is draped over the balcony. The presence of the banner is enough to know the basic service that is offered (an apartment being rented), and the location of the apartment, the background colour indicates the company doing the renting, and the telephone number provides the contact information. The whose thing is stands out from the road below.

It's a simple, direct, highly efficient form of advertising with limited downsides: the banner is a micro eyesore; and in cultures where squatting is common (not sure if China applies) and seen as a problem it identifies the exact apartment that can be squatted.

Meanwhile we've spending then next two days on data analysis. Outside its already raining heavily and getting heavier - there's a chance that Typhoon Chanchu will hit our island. If it changes direction to Taiwan, we're in its path. Update: more info here.

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Caller ID

IP telephone kiosk.

Writing from Xiamen | May 16, 2006 | Permalink

How A Poster Gets From Here To There

On the theme of trains a poster in a dis-used shop in Shanghai (above) and a noticeboard in a back alley in Gulangyu Island (below). The gentleman figured in the picture is wanted in connection with planning train station bombings in China.

For all our assumptions about 24/7 connectivity how to reach the people who either prefer to spend time offline or don't have online access? At what stage does information swtich from digital to physical? And who does the conversion?

Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 15, 2006 | Permalink

Bottlenecks and Checks

After the train bombing on the 7th July there was some discussion in the UK about screening people and luggage travelling on trains. In China this is already standard procedure at mainline stations - luggage goes through an x-ray machine. In a country with relatively high incidence of pick-pocketing it's not surprising that the luggage is closely watched going into and emerging from the x-ray machine. It also serves as a convenient barrier for the authorities to check resident permits (although checks were not being carried out when this photo was taken). If identity cards are introduced as is currently discussed in the UK what are the physical bottlenecks where ID checks are likely to occur?

From a short stop in Xiamen station in an effort to understand local similarities and differences.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

The Origins of History, The History of Origins

The costs required to start a business. Mobile phone seller pitching his wears from a small suitcase. From Karol Bagh Market, Delhi (above), traders checking out a second hand phone for sale in Chengdu (below) and a razor seller in Xiamen (bottom).

If these businesses become successful is there a stage in their development where they try to hide their (informal, market) past? As the company grows and (perhaps) becomes more anonymous and impersonal will the company try to emphasize its humble origins? How was your opinion of companies like Amazon, HP, Apple affected by knowing their origins? How accurate does the history need to be, from whose perspective? In what industries will people be motivated to validate the story they are given?. And as more recording devices are available to record tomorrow's history today, how will this affect the ability of companies to shape their own history? Same questions for individuals..

Related stories here, here, here and here.

Writing from Xiamen | | Comments (4) | Permalink

What Gets Delivered

Writing from Xiamen | May 14, 2006 | Permalink

Belief In Packaging

A similar level of expense for this cigarette packaging.

The process of buying cigarettes from this seller includes checking the quality of a cigarette to ensure its not a fake. Except that in the example above, it is.

Writing from Xiamen | | Comments (2) | Permalink

Packaging

The rich packaging experience of a suitcase 'sex shop' in a Xiamen street market. What does the style, perceived and actual costs of the design say about what's inside?

Related material here.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Streets and Back Alleys

An investigation of the dense back alleys of one of the poorer and oldest districts of Xiamen. Prior to a massive investment in the 90's much of the city was like this and wandering around gives a sense both of once what was, and for many what still is. The area includes a sizeable red light district, though locally it's also called the 'sex-barber shop' district because many of the establishments front as hair dressers. As a friend pointed out, the scale of this industry is in part due to the sizeable immigrant population - families separated by work and lack of living permits. In the tight alleys the more aggressive ladies tug at shirts though most sit bored or playing cards. One lady waves her keys - an indication that an apartment is available nearby.

Mobile phone numbers are for many a fixed reference point in a moving world. How can we better serve the communication needs of the world's immigrant populations? What are their unique wants and needs?

Writing from Xiamen | May 13, 2006 | Permalink

Office Hours, Sounds and Daily Rhythm

This week's office is a weathered 1930's guesthouse on a Gulangyu Island situated off the coast of the South China. Sail a junk south west and you'ed soon arrive in Hong Kong. Taiwan is literally across the straits and the city Xiamen, where most of the field research is taking place, a mere five minutes commute by ferry. It takes 10 minutes to walk from the guesthouse through the maze of high walled back alleys that criss-cross Gulangyu Island to get to the ferry docks. The general ambience of the island is tropical colonial splendor let to stew in the sea air for a good few years and the villas and mansions that dot the island are in need of some serious maintainence. 75 years ago this was the foriegn enclave and in that respect its kind of fitting that its now our home and office base.

The guesthouse is spread over three stories and has sufficient space to accommodate the 5-strong research team, two live-in residents and a Chinese housekeeper. I'm occupying one of the two bedrooms on the top floor, typing this sitting in a mosquito netted four poster Chinese double bed. The room's furniture is much like the rest of the house - tiled floors, lots of dark wood, and a thread of red running through the blankets, blinds and many of the posters. Outside my door lies an expansive balcony with views over a large school, neighbouring villas and in the distance across the sea, Xiamen. The rainy season which was due to hit last week seems to have passed us by, though Tokyo seems to be getting its fair share this week.

Despite getting up at 5am this morning, I suspect I was not the earliest riser. Colleagues have travelled from very different time zones and I doubt their body clock's have properly recalibrated. Based on the last few days I'd guess in my absence that: by 6 am the birdsong would be in full swing; by 7:30 the the workmen renovating the massive and run down mansion next door would start drifting into work (though they are polite enough to avoid using the power tools until later; by 8 breakfast will be served on the balcony by the housekeeper - the event of which will coincide with an alarm clock sounding in the next room; by 8:30 am the next-door school would broadcast a jingle signaling to students that the morning exercise were about to start, the students then line up on the playing field and start to perform leg shakes, arm rotations and body twists to the sound of annotated music - a Chinese equivilent to swing-two-three-four, bend-two-three-four; and that during the rest of the day the rhythm of the school (or possibly the piano museum which is reputedly nearby) is signaled with short bursts of pre-recorded piano. The frequency and nature of the broadcast alert reminds me of home: the 5 o'clock alarm sounded at a factory somewhere near the apartment in Sakura Shin Machi; and the rhythm of three minutes of workout and one minute's rest at the kick-boxing dojo in Daikanyama.

But for now, enough with the writing, time to get some rest before the afternoon shift starts.

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Reversible Status

The signs for the top six apartments are revsersed - simple and itself reversable.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Love Knows No Bounds

Obscure graffiti from a back alley in Xiamen, obscure in that this China and it's in English, and the writer looks like they are handy with a piece of chalk. An english teacher perhaps?

Writing from Xiamen | | Comments (1) | Permalink

A Very Simple Question

A little busy this week in Xiamen on a field study, so over to you to answer the friday pop-quiz.

Despite him being so open, friendly and photogenic why did I not interview him?

All the clues are in the photo, and the answer in the comments.

Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 12, 2006 | Comments (8) | Permalink

CCTV to Print

A local entrepreneur has hacked close circuit T.V. equipment to capture poor quality photos which are then printed and laminated. The prevalance of cheap used printing equipment and the means to grey-market refill ink cartridges supports this kind of micro-service.

Discussion about CCTV in China can get confusing - CCTV is state run television.

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Our Brand Perception

Local sports brand Li-Ning in so far as a population of 1.3 billion + can be considered local. On a scale this big, when is local really local?

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Prior Winners in Chinese Lottery

Lady sits in front of winning numbers from previous lotteries - offering a value added service to compliment the sale of lottery tickets and another example of prior results influencing or 'predicting' future purchasing behaviours.

Is this a prime candidate for delivery over a mobile device? Or are there important aspects of this service that cannot be replicated on a mobile device user interface?

Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink

Preparing For Next Use

The process by which objects are cleaned and prepared for next use or next user.

Whether its plates being washed up and set on a draining board or dust bins emptied, placed on the ground and surrounded by anti-bug powder (above) or a removeable hard disk being securely wiped. To what extent is the act of preparing driven by practical or social needs?

Gulangyu Island seems to have a inordinate amount of ants, frogs and cats.

Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 11, 2006 | Permalink

Sight Norms

Cultural norms for eye tests - from Xiamen (above) and advertisement for, in Tokyo (below).

From sign maker's shop in Ho Chi Minh City, here.

Writing from Xiamen | | Permalink

Arrivals

There's a moment when the plane doors open and the combined smell of 300 bodies escapes into the local air. Part of the enjoyment of travel is knowing you're somewhere else, outside your norms, and when it comes to that moment of arrival nothing beats the instant prickly heat and everything that comes with it - walking up the aisle to be greeted by the local temperatures and smells.

Next time I'm back in Tokyo rainy season will have started.

Writing from Komazawa Koen | May 8, 2006 | Permalink

Placement of Objects During Transitions

Continuing on the loose theme of welcome mats - how does the transition between work/home, public/private differ between cultures and contexts? Given the range of possible locations where they could be left, why are the boat owner's shoes taken off and placed on the deck of the boat?

Obvious answers? Probably.
Worth asking? Definitely.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Subtleties in the Norm

The red-background-gold-text welcome mat is a regular feature of many shops and restaurants in China - and in many respects has become cultural norm. What subtle (or not so subtle) messages do they send to passers by, in how they are placed, the degree of wear and tear, the language(s) that are supported, and how they are serviced?

Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (1) | Permalink

Presence Underfoot

What role does the welcome mat play? Can it play a similar role in the design of hybrid digital & physical services and in particular location based advertising?

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

This Is It (So Value Me More)

A restaurant in Delhi advertising the fact that they only operate at one location - 'we have one branch'. To what extent is rarity part of the equation for measuring the total user experience? For which kinds of people? And how to re-inforce the rarity, or the perception of rarity?

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Lock Down

Reasons for placing private objects in public spaces? The alternatives that are available? The value of those objects to one-self. To people we know? To people we don't know? The risk the objects will be damaged or stolen. What happens once value threshholds are crossed?

Photo of cheap wicker chair locked to lamp post on Shanghai's Yan An Road.

Writing from Tokyo | May 7, 2006 | Permalink

I Spy, U Spy

Specialised equipment for tracing phone calls for sale at a shop pitching detective agency services in Tokyo. All the physical products in the shop's window appear to be designed to fit into a suitcase, or at least they're sold that way.

Corporate