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Postures Associated with Activities
How technologies, design change the need to adopt a particular posture to complete an activity. Simple example? Cameras becoming small enough to use with one hand or even no hands. Binoculars in use above, camera below.
Perhaps more interesting are the emotions associated with a particular posture - the chalet owner scanning the snowline for ice-climbers in Grand Montet - with the sunset only an hour away their window of opportunity to descend was rapidly closing.
Writing from La Praz | January 30, 2007 | Permalink
The Legality of Supporting Recognised Usage Behaviours
Power cord for a mobile phone re-routed around the gear stick. The conflict between designing for known usage patterns and supporting what is increasingly becoming an illegal activity - calling without using a headset whilst driving.
A journey to Geneva somewhat marred by the vehicle having a fuel leak.
Writing from La Praz | | Permalink
Logos as a Moments in Time
Recommended by and listed in the guidebook. The entry is updated yearly with new stickers being added to the entrance of this restaurant, providing customers with a snapshot of design tweaks.
Writing from Grand Montets | | Permalink
Out of the Box Setup Norms
The in-shop purchasing experience for the avalanche transceiver includes a member of the shop staff applying a rescue plan sticker - in consumer's language to the the device unit.
In an age of rich, digital consumer preference profiles to what extent will the need to ask this question become moot? In what contexts do relatively stable preferences like preferred spoken language change over time? Or change according to context: an airline pilot's knowledge of English; a gift purchase; someone who speaks in one language, but prefers to read in another?
Writing from La Praz | January 28, 2007 | Permalink
Local 108
Stereotype bistro setting making its way into local grafitti.
Writing from Chamonix | | Permalink
Abstraction & Recognition
Writing from La Praz | | Permalink
Contexts of Use
The extent that certain elements of the pedestrian crossing stand out or blend in - in the context of snow conditions of La Praz, France (above), or Chengdu (below).
Whether the colour/layout/context of this walk way in Sao Paolo (below) effects the flow of pedestrians. Do they revert to more pedestrian crossing-like behaviours? What are pedestrian crossing-like behaviours?
Writing from La Praz | | Permalink
I Know What You're (Collectively) Thinking, Planning
Your company makes widgets and like most of the online planet many of your staff use one of the popular search engines to effectively go about their business. The guys and gals in the research lab use it to track down obscure topics in online journals; the creatives spend a fair bit of time, well, y'know, browsing stuff to stir their creative juices; human resources use it to do whatever it is they do between alternate rounds of hiring and layoffs; and the comms team monitor the response to the quarterly results or the latest press releases.
The search engine company knows some of you by name and some of you a lot more - you did after all sign your soul away for that terabyte data archive. A few brave souls consistently practice safe browsing - multiple pseudo-anonymous identities and so on, but by and large your search finger-print, a data set built up over your life-time gives you away. Every time.
Anyway even for those safe searchers out there, there are multiple ways to know who you are and where you live. Reconstructing the real you is not exactly difficult since your family started using handhelds, embeddeds, online accounts and old fashioned online photo albums. Automatic face recognition now works well enought for identifying self-documenting teenagers and selca Koreans up to the age of 30, but for the rest of us its the simple stuff like the wallpaper in the home and traces of unique combinations of objects that were (re)searched, and bought and delivered that give you away. But anyway its all moot because ever since the ability to search was refined to the point where it is truly (mobile) seamless to your daily life, your search queries have become a brain dump of what you're thinking. They know that thing that you plan to keep secret from your closest friends. Sometimes when the brain interface fails the search engine implant sends queries from your subconscious.
Yes, you're right - none of this is particularly novel or new. So what is?
What happens when you take a reasonable time span of search data - say 10 years, associate it with the education, leisure, pleasure and work search queries of individuals, and pool it with a collective/legal entity such as a company? A widget company even. It could be something as simple as tracking searches by domain. They haven't been sitting idly by just looking at search terms over those ten years - they've tracked the financial returns of the widget market, career trajectories of whose joined and whose left, the products and services they've released and how well these have done in the market place. That big recall in 2017? They were there, hosting the complaints forums, re-directing searches for the class action lawsuit, and remember the search queries by an engineer clearly out of his depth. That researcher who went onto earn a Nobel prize - they were there at the beginning when she typed her first hesitant words, scoping a new vocabularly. They watched and learned.
How long before the collective search terms of a company can be used to sufficiently predict the products and services they next bring to market? How long before that search engine moves into financial forecasting? And given that companies and other deep-pocketed legal entities are (profit) motivated to protect 'their' privacy what tools will ensure that what goes on in the lab, stays in the lab? How will these tools manifest themselves as consumer products?
With apologies to Alan Kay - the best way to predict the future may be to invent it, but the easiest way to predict the future is, simply to predict it. Or keep tabs on those who are inventing it.
Right now Google's keeping tabs on itself.
Geneva today, mountains to follow, see you on the other side.
Writing from La Praz | January 26, 2007 | Permalink
Bias from Gender Split Activities
To what extent is going to the cinema a male only, female only or mixed gender group activity? How does the act of segregating a queue disproportionately effect males or females and for what movies? And given this, to what extent are the rules 'flexed' to cope with extremely long queues? Gender segregated queues from Gangtok, India.
Security in the Gangtok movie theatre was tight - pat downs and bag checks to look for 'terror related' paraphernalia, their search brief extended to banning cameras and stopping customers bringing their own food and drink in the cinema (movie theatres can make more money on food and drink than on selling movie tickets). Security can be profitable.
Writing from La Praz | January 24, 2007 | Permalink
Activity & Waste Residues
Bin used as a spitton from Gangtok above, paint shop in Lhasa below.
Related: the residues from scree running and skateboarding.
Writing from La Praz | | Permalink
Texture & Movement Standards
What is revealed, what remains hidden.
Writing from La Praz | January 23, 2007 | Permalink
Fake, Real, Fake, Real. Repeat until fade
Real and knock-off 8800's from Chengdu's Tai Shen Lan Lu Market (photos taken late last year). A used original about 220 Yuan, a fake with Nokia logo about 900 Yuan, and a version with identical industrial design but no logo 50 Yuan. The power of the brand? Does the same apply to your brand?
Incidentally, my translator & guide for the day correctly guessed the real from the fake with her eyes (literally) shut by listening to the sound and feeling the sliding mechanism, but with her eyes open she considered the fake to be the real thing. Not exactly surprising considering that she'd not held one in her hands before. This is where I should probably write something about the need to eductate consumers. However, in what contexts does educating consumers on the value of the original drive up the value of the fake?
I've touched on fakes before, whether the fluidity of markets in Shanghai, watching fake covers being packaged up in a Delhi market, the real/fake fake/real battery buying options in Ulan Bataar, fake cigarettes in Xiamen, a prevalance of Ecko in Lhasa, how to fool consumers into thinking a non-waterproof watch is in fact waterproof in Kathmandu, and why Al Zawahri was probably wearing fake New Balance convolutedly via Cairo.
The backdrop to the photos? A backstreet Sichuan eatery. And yes, I'm still in Tokyo.
Writing from Tokyo | January 22, 2007 | Permalink
Open Minds, Open Skies
Heading to Europe later this week - a chance to listen, learn and contribute to the LIFT Conference in Switzerland and the Shell Technology Futures workshop in the UK. As some of you may be aware I've recently moved out of the research lab to join the Nokia Design Studio in Tokyo, not that much time, ahem, was actually spent in the lab per se. So to round of the trip a visit to the mothership to meet new colleagues. Will the career change result in a change of direction for Future Perfect? Lets see.
You may have watched the view of the future videos posted by Nokia Design on YouTube. I'm always intrigued at the personal touches that make it into corporate presentations - in this instance my design studio neighbour Younghee making a brief appearance in the Achieve video.
So why the hair-on-the-lens photos of back country boarding and Hokkiado's Mt. Yotei? The LIFT conference thoughtfully wraps up on a friday. What to do with a weekend near Geneva?
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Print on Demand
Daily newspapers printed on demand by Newspapers Direct. What does the fact that this business exists in a world of ubiquitous digitial content say about our appreciation of physical content? In what ways is print-on-demand physical content different to role-printed mass-produced newspapers?
From Singapore Airport. Cheers DMc.
Writing from Tokyo | January 21, 2007 | Permalink
Contained Servings
Sake containers that double up as drinking glasses.
And a toilet sign semi-disguised as one-cup sake containers - the shelf swings out to reveal the bathroom. Buri, Ebisu.
Writing from Tokyo | January 20, 2007 | Permalink
Village Phone, Photo Presentation
At the Nokia Technology Media Briefing last November I touched on the Village Phone initiative between Grameen Foundation, my employer and local micro-finance organisations in Uganda. A short photo essay about the Village Phone co-authored with my colleague Indri Tulusan is now ready for download as Powerpoint or PDF [2MB].
To recap - the Village Phone extends regular base station cellular coverage from around 15 kilometers to around 30 kilometers through the use of a village phone kit - an antenna and ten meter cable (shown above) and a coupler (shown below) connected to a regular Nokia 1100 mobile phone plus of course, a micro-finance loan. The net result? In a number of cases it provides the first convenient, reliable and affordable connectivity to the outside world for many rural communities as well as providing a stable income for the local entrepreneur that takes out the loan.
In the spirit of Future Perfect lets start with a simple question: To what extent do villagers need access to mobile phone? Who is in more need of personal, convenient synchronous and asynchronous communication - someone in London who works 9 to 5, 5 days a week or someone in rural Uganda working 5 to 9, 7 days a week? IMHO the impact on quality of life is far greater in the rural context and the some of the innovations this enables are touched on in this longish essay on Shared Phone Use. One example of the benefits of connectivity? Sente - the transfer of money via mobile phone that essentially also extends regular banking services such as the remittance of cash to these communities.
As always, related research here and you can be signed up to receive notification of new downloads by emailing to info at janchipchase dot com with the word subscribe in the subject line.
And the gent featured on the cover of the presentation? A kiosk operator for a rural village phone in Uganda. Cheers to the extended Nokia team for letting us piggyback your work - Johanna, Jens & Suzanne.
Writing from Tokyo | January 19, 2007 | Permalink
Separation of Church & State, What You Carry
Religious slogan adorns the wall of an Iranian sports hall - a common enough sight in a city adorned with revolutionary murals. Thoughts for today: the cultural differences in separation between church and state. Does the relatively high level of physical religious presence encourage or discourage the carrying of religious artifacts amongst mobile essentials? And for mobile phone manurfacturers does it encourage or discourage the religous customisation such as ringtones or wallpapers?
And the photos in the sport hall? Your's truly partaking in a 5-aside footy game between conducting contextual interviews in Tehran late last year. Yup, that phone is not a phone, its a stop-watch.
Writing from Tokyo | January 18, 2007 | Permalink
The Psychology of Packaging
Very deliberate design references for this non-alcoholic malt beverage, Iran.
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Transitions
Writing from Tokyo | January 16, 2007 | Permalink
When a Butterfly Lands on a Cactus
Friends of mine recently moved in a modern Tokyo apartment, that included amongst its other mod-cons a remote control to operate the toilet. Control panel's like this are nothing new and this Toto washes, sprays, and blow dries (though It doesn't however have an SD-card slot for uploading music like the one in the ladies bathroom at work). The apartment also comes with peace-of-mind-security coverage - the remote control for which thoughtfully placed next to the toilet interface.
So when house guests are wanting to flush and aren't familiar with the kanji for 'emergency' (not yours truly, but tip of the hat to you-know-who-you-are) there is naturally a risk of pressing the wrong button. Looking at the photo which button would you press? What the likely consequences of pressing the wrong button? And given the context is the user in a position to ask the hosts for help?
Its no surpise that the 'wrong' button is pressed and an alarm sounds, and the security company sends out a uniformed emergency response team. I'd like to think that this is a joke, but it isn't, though the impact is lessened by the uniformed gentleman arriving by mamachari bicycle to investigate. Is this the end of the story? Actually no.
Some days later a written report arrives, officially stamped with the details of the resident-presses-the-wrong-button-in-the-toilet-incident duly written up. There's so much wrong with this future-perfect-connected world situation its difficult to know where to start. Good intentions, technological illiteracy, in-elegant failure. And its all coming soon to a culture near you.
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Tokyo Park Sign: No Practicing Golf Swing
No practicing your golf swing joins the more common no cycling, no dog waste, no fires, no littering and no picking flowers on this sign at the entrance to a park in Daikanyama. It's not surprising given the passion for golf here. On a shinkansen ride through Japan the tallest structure in many local communities is the massive net covering the golf driving range. Combined with a distinct lack of practice space - balconies in Japanese apartments are not big enough to swing a perfectly manicured chihuahua much less a golf club and golfer's desire to practice in the local park is understandable.
Other sign norms? The lack of park signs in Tehran as an indicator of where the energies of officialdom lie i.e. not regulating what people do in parks; the use of humour in this 'Beware of the Invisible Cows' sign in Hawaii; signs to support illiterate users in multi-lingual and high-illiteracy India; and severe weather warnings at a toilet entrance in Dallas.
And sign shops in Ho Chi Minh City, Kampala and Pokara Nepal.
Writing from Tokyo | January 14, 2007 | Permalink
Expectant View
It is good to back in the megopolis after what feels like a year on the road. Samples of prevalent sticker-spam in Shibuya.
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Power Up: Street Charging Services in Uganda
Uganda is a country coping with a severe energy crisis resulting in frequent power cuts. In addition, access to mains electricity in rural locations is limited. Given that mobile phones require power, and access to power can be unpredictable - how do people keep their mobile phones and other electrical devices charged? Last July a Nokia research team travelled to Uganda and explored this issue as part of a more in-depth study into shared phone use.
There are two forms of mobile phone battery charging services in Kampala - either offered as an additional service by phone kiosk operators or as a stand alone service. It costs 500 Ugandan Shillings (0.2 Euro) to have a battery recharged similar to the price of 2 or 3 phone calls. Whist both services appear to thrive there are a number of barriers to use: customers cannot use their phone whilst the battery is being charged; the customer risks, or perceives the risk that their battery being swapped for an inferior one; a perceived risk of phone theft - signs that suggest service providers are not responsible for loss or theft are evident.
For many Ugandan rural communities with no access to mains power car batteries are the primary means of providing electricity to the home. Businesses such as bars also run off car batteries but they are more likely to have their own power generator. A used car battery costs 30 to 40 dollars and can keep a household powered for a month, though in a bar the same battery might last a week. The homes we visited ran electrical items included radios, CD players, television and domestic lighting.
It can take 3 to 5+ days to have a car battery recharged at the process involves delivering the car-battery to a charging service often tens of kilometers away the nearest town that has mains electricity access. The battery is taken and returned by a trusted and friendly taxi driver or trader. It takes 3 days to charge a battery, longer if the town where the service is based itself experiences power cuts. The cost of charging a battery is around 1,000 Ugandan shillings (0.4 Euro), not including delivery. (As a comparison a mobile phone battery costs half as much to be recharged using one of the mobile phone street charging services mentioned above).
How does people's behaviour change when there is intermittent or limited access to power? How can we better support users with limited and intermittent access to power?
Two short presentations co-authored with my colleague Indri Tulusan are available for download from research.nokia.com. The first entitled Power Up: Street Charging Service in Kampala as PowerPoint or PDF [3MB] and Rural Charging Service, Uganda PowerPoint or PDF [2MB].
Readers may also like the related research into shared phone use as well as the full list of presentations and downloads.
Writing from Tokyo | January 12, 2007 | Permalink
Analog Messaging Between Check-in Staff and Baggage Handlers
Simple analog messaging between check-in staff and baggage handling staff at Hokkaido's Chitose Airport. Group check-in luggage is preceeded and ended by empty annotated crate shown at the back of the photo.
Ah yes, what you really want to know is whether there was a decent dump of snow? Does an onsen smell of sulphur?
Cheers to the boarding crew for making it happen with such finesse. CS - next time for sure.
Writing from Chitose | January 10, 2007 | Permalink
Heritage, Reference
A digital sign capable of displaying text in any font or layout. What are the motivations for copying previous, analog sign designs? To what extent does the visual transition between the fixed analog form and digital support passengers looking for visual clues that they looking at the right sign?
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Borders Between Clean and Dirty Spaces
From a ryokan last week in Hokkaido.
Writing from Niseko | January 9, 2007 | Permalink
Motivations for Sachet Use
In a market such as India sachet portions are very much aimed at the poorest consumers - people for whom buying more than is immediately needed is unfeasible. But the convenience of either supplying or using individual sachets can benefit more than this target market: the photo above is from a (higher end) hotel in Gangtok where 2 rupee sachets of shampoo have made their way into the bathroom toiletry collection. For companies that sell both to entry level and wealthier consumers what are elements of the the design and/or experience that will appeal to one segment and be avoided by the other? In a global market where millions of phones are discarded every year is it possible to to segment and somehow enforce the segmentation of the market? See comments on 'unlikely consumers' in the discussion of this essay).
Incidentally individually wrapped portions are also common in Japan but for very different reasons - a combination of a strong cultural appreciation of the design and use of packaging, a tendency to eat smaller portions than found in say the US or Europe and a need to protect perishables from the intense summer humidity.
I'd hoped to get my hands on a Motofone before leaving India, but it was not to be. To what extent its simple and innovative design elements tempt more design orientated and wealthier consumers?
Writing from Niseko | | Permalink
How to Avoid Becoming Road Kill
The striking thing about the journey between Rangpo and Gangtok apart from: taking chai breaks from a packed Mahindra; the scenery - tropical forests clinging to the Himalayan foothills; and packs of monkeys lining the route - are the multitude of signs extolling drivers of the dangers of the road. Arrive in peace, not in pieces, don't gossip let him drive, and my personal favourite because of its proximity to a particularly cliff-like cliff drive, don't fly.
The past days in the Himalayas have been physically and mentally tough (in ways you might not expect) and recent travel experiences have put a lot of things into sharp focus. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?Tomorrow starts the final leg of my winter journey - heading to Hokkaido for fresh powder and onsen. The future (perfect) can wait a few more days.
Writing from Sikkim | January 1, 2007 | Permalink
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