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Founding Fathers
Using people and events from local history to give a currency authority and relevance - here on an 10,000 Ghanian Cedis (0.7 Euros) note. The Ghanian currency is being devalued - at a rate of 10,000 to 1 with the new currency already in circulation - it needs all the authority it can get.
Almost totally unrelated - I once made a (work related, previous job) visit to a certain central bank and had the opportunity to visit their bank note design and print works. One of the bank's graphic designers pointed to a minor figure in a historical scene on one of the newer designed notes, then pointed to an elderly gent who worked in the design department for years - noting the physical similarity of the faces. Some people have historical backdrops thrust upon them.
I challenge anyone to walk into a decent sized gold vault without breaking into a large smile.
Writing from Tokyo | November 30, 2007 | Permalink
Cause(d). Effect(ed) (?)
Anti-smoking advertisement (posted by Japan Tobacco) raising awareness of the consequences of smoking. The extent to which different cultures care about the outcome once awareness is raised. The motivation for posting this sign in English - to what extent do the intended audience understand what is written?
Writing from Shimo Kitazawa | November 29, 2007 | Permalink
Legitimising Behaviours
Empty can placed in the sweeper's pan - in the bottom right of this photo. Objects and their associated actions that legitimise otherwise anti-social behaviours.
Writing from Aoyama | | Permalink
Path of Least Resistance
A row of bikes with ground level and raised parking. Despite their proximity and the minimal extra effort to use the raised slots - all but one of the ground level parking slots were full, all the raised slots empty.
Throw in a micro-payment mechanism and you have your micro-market segmentation right there.
Writing from Daikanyama | | Permalink
Now Hiring
Looking for a challenge in 2008?
Our Consumer Futures teams in Delhi and Shanghai are expanding and are looking for a few talented people with the skills to make trend and consumer research happen, and to apply the findings to affect how our colleagues think and do.
Naturally you'll have a deep cultural understanding of China, India and/or the region, have hands on experience of futures research methologies and have a good few years of industry experience under your belt. Oh, and your passport will still have a few empty pages.
Interested? Forward a short covering letter and resume by Friday this week to my work email address - jan dot chipchase at nokia dot com, I’ll make sure they reach the relevant person.
Photos? Dug up from field research in Delhi and the used phone market in Chengdu
Update: thanks to the people who sent in their resumes, have forwarded to the appropriate person who is dealing with the hires. You may also want to check out the careers section on the Nokia.com site - it lists globally open positions.
Writing from Tokyo | November 26, 2007 | Permalink
Spoken Interfaces
A sign at a local Sangenjaya fire station extols residents to install a fire alarm. Is the speaking alarm simply artistic license by the local illustrator or accurate representation of the device's aural interface? Actually the latter - many alarms sold in Japan have a voice that warns of "fire" to accompany the siren.
One of the pleasures of moving into a new home has been getting up to speed on Japanese domestic appliance (aural) interface norms - including a bath tub that intones in a slightly-too-electronic voice when the bath has been drawn to the correct depth and temperature; a fish grill that warns how much grill time is remaining and, yes the speaking fire alarm.
No word yet from the toilet.
Thankfully.
For a European with a penchant for simple devices spoken feedback of what is happening on the device is often a step too far, but here in Japan it can be found in anything from ATM's, ticket machines to having the time and date spoken when the key turns in the ignition of a rental car.
Spoken interfaces are often considered a partial solution to illiterate device use - if someone can read the interface then they're going to understand what is spoken right? Wrong. A least sort of - its a complex issue. A video explaining the different solutions to support illiterate consumers here the supporting slides here [PowerPoint, 6MB].
Writing from Sangenjaya, back of | | Permalink
Raska
Writing from Shimo Kitazawa | November 25, 2007 | Permalink
Sit, Please Sitt
He nods at the chair and, I’m going to attempt phonetic accuracy here, intones me to “sitt a huwhyle”.
When you’re a new guest in another man’s home you do as you’re told. And so it is.
Uzbekistan’s Tokyo embassy is a residential conversion, tucked in the back streets between Meguro, Yutenji and Gakku Gaidaigaku and comes with all the trimmings you’d expect from a building that’s seen a lifetime of domesticity, now press-ganged into the service of the state. The kitchen in which I’m sitting is now the receiving area for visa applicants and my working folder with the photos, LOI, application & cash is sprawled out in front of me. He slides the LOI from the table and disappears into another room.
Which provides plenty of time to take in this kitchen nee embassy scene: an interior probably built to the tune of McCartney being deported; slatted cabinets in dark woods; an oven with its light flashing 00:00 topped by an extractor unit made from beaten copper. Sunning itself by the window sits a pink ceramic hippo - its mouth wide open as if letting forth a post-lunch yawn - rather apt since it is, in fact a cookie jar. The only thing out of sync here are five padded office chairs straight out of the Fellowes catalogue,
Most of this year's work visa applications have thankfully been dealt with by my travel agency, so being here in person means one of two things - either I’m on a tight deadline and can’t afford the extra days they take shuttling to and fro, or its that time of the year for a bit of leisure travel.
Take your pick.
6 weeks to switch off from corporate life and everything that comes with it, somewhere along the way maintain tradition of finding tranquility in friends, culture, altitude and the bitter, bitter cold. It’s been quite a year and is about time to think through the next.
On the way out I glance down a side corridor - flat screen sits on a desk in anotherwise empty room.Four images from four static security cameras.
Two days later the gent from the embassy calls “yourr visa is rready for pickkupp”.
11,600 yen (72 Euro) buys a triple-entry month-long visa and a wry smile.
Writing from Tokyo | November 24, 2007 | Permalink
Landscape vs Portrait
Stacked landscape in the supermarket but, due to the opening being at the end of the box, it needs to be stored vertically in in the home.
Thought for today: modal shifts.
Writing from Mishuku | November 23, 2007 | Permalink
Units. Smaller Units
A sachet of gin bought from a Accra convenience store. For any product or service how to break down the value into smaller chunks? Can't go any smaller? You're not thinking hard enough. Tea by the bag? Done.
Other examples of sachet buying from Brazil and India here.
You're wondering what happens to the products bought in the name of research? On the rocks. The long weekend starts here.
Writing from Mishuku | November 22, 2007 | Permalink
Moving Anti-Crime Eyes
Motorbike with a goku bohan no me sticker - literally moving anti-crime eyes.
The Japan Times has a write-up of how they became a popular fixture on municipal and delivery fleets in Tokyo.
Writing from Tokyo | November 21, 2007 | Permalink
A Fear of Reconnecting
Travelers arriving home to Japan are often greeted by a backlog of multimedia messages - in this instance 35 spam messages pitching sex industry services. A lack of roaming agreements and interoperability ensure that it is not forwarded to the handset whilst on the road.
In the connecting-de-connecting-re-connecting equation in what contexts does reconnection occur? What technical boundaries - from bandwidth limitations, IP-blocking to interoperability issues affect how that reconnection will occur?
Writing from Narita | | Permalink
Ihre Meinung
Passengers clearing immigration in Frankfurt airport are given copious opportunity to feedback about the quality of service via this relatively lengthy form.
Jumping over to China - passengers arriving in Beijing airport can give immediate likert feedback on an electronic feedback tool - tricky to get a photo since its in Chinese immigration but very similar to this in the Gulangyu branch of the Bank of China.
For each mechanism: the motivation and satisfaction that comes from giving feedback; the extent that satisfaction is affected by immediacy; the likelihood that the feedback affects an outcome; and given that the opportunity to give feedback can engender the passenger with a degree of control, the extent to which the actual feedback is irrelevant i.e. the feedback mechanism is the message.
Japan immigration has just started photographing and fingerprinting foreign visitors. Welcome. Really.
Writing from Frankfurt | November 20, 2007 | Permalink
Raised Awareness
This dental gel packaging includes braille - visible on the top part of the box. But why does braille appear on this product and not on their regular toothpaste? The gel should not be used more than wochentlich - once per week whereas the toothpastes on the same shelf are twice daily. Norms. Exceptions.
Leave colleagues in a German pharmacy for ten minutes and they buy up the shop. Also guilty as charged.
Writing from Frankfurt | | Permalink
Grab, Clutch, Bird, Snap
The grab, clutch, bird and snap. Subtle local nuances are making it tricky to sense which variant of tha’ shake to use when.
By the end of the trip most of us have the snap down to a t.
Writing from Accra | November 19, 2007 | Permalink
A Hard, Core
The number of equipment fatalities this trip are mounting - a cross between a year's worth of heavy-heavy use, rough handling by ground staff, and sub-optimal conditions. The equipment left in our Buduburam studio for a week comes back with year's worth of dust. Add double-clean-up to a long list of to-dos.
The gent with fixin' skillz? That'll be our LA design studio colleague in town with a rather natty design research agenda.
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Lifeguard Body Language Norms
At the end of the beach day, punters called out of the surf.
Writing from Accra | November 18, 2007 | Permalink
Apt
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Twisted (But Not Bitter)
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Nail Colour Norms
Beach services include havin' your nails done. Colour variations - compared to your culture.
Writing from Accra | November 17, 2007 | Permalink
Lottery Norms
An Accra resident scans the lottery numbers for 'lucky' combinations - above; a booth for buying lottery tickets; and the 'newspapers' that list the available options - below.
Related: the display of lottery numbers in Gulangyu China.
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Tools of the Trade
Our ongoing evolution of how best to capture and communicate a day in the life?
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Thinking for Future
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Water Pouring / Foot Washing Norms
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
A Simple Tension
Writing from Accra | November 16, 2007 | Permalink
Service/Gender Differentiation Costs
The financial cost for men and women using this Accra WC are listed as 500 Ghana cedis (about 3 Euro cents) to use the urinal and 1500 cedis for use of the toilet. For males the distinction and act associated with either standing or sitting are clear. But given the uniformity of posture and the level of privacy how does the toilet attendant know whether a woman is merely saying she needs to pee to qualify for the lower rate? For any given service - to what extent can the usage of that service be accurately tracked? What is an acceptable level of tracking from a moral, legal, cultural and in this instance practical stand point?
Fast forward to a future perfect world of where, for the sake of efficiency public services such as WCs are tracked, analysed in real time, access to those services is authenticated through pseudo-anonymous identities, and where payment is driven by subscription or per use. Could this world exist? To some extent it already does in neighbourhoods with limited or no sewage such as Dharavi - where the queues in the morning are local residents using public facilities.
Going back to the question of whether it is always possible to differentiate service pricing based on gender - what are the cultural or contextual exceptions? In Iran where sitting and squatting are the government mandated positions of choice - so that you won’t (or are unlikely to) find a urinal in a male toilet. Or to flip it, the occasional use of female urinals in large public events like the Glastonbury festival.
Update: Reader Ethan kindly clarifies the following: "If you're "paying your water bill", you won't be given toilet paper, whereas you will if you are "making a deposit". The paper is carefully cut squares of newsprint, often from Chinese newspapers. Why Chinese? I have no idea, but there are corners of Makola market where the newspaper is sold in bundles, or precut into squares for this purpose."
Writing from Accra | November 15, 2007 | Permalink
Supporting Churn
Look carefully at the top left hand corner of the display to see two signal strength indicators. But why? This product has two SIM card slots in a single phone - primarily to support price sensitive/prudent consumers who wish to optimise their call costs by maintaining SIM cards from two different phone operators. As in many countries - calls to a customer using a different Ghanaian operator cost slightly more than those on the same network.
Why are you unlikely to see this product on the shelves of your local London/NYC/Tokyo operator phone store? What would motivate a service provider to make it easier for their customers to switch to a competitor? The addition of the well-known Finnish brand to the front and back covers seems like an marketing department after-thought.
Writing from Accra | November 13, 2007 | Permalink
Security
If you're passing through Accra's Kotoka Airport check out the picket fence made of straightened strips of razor wire between the domestic and international terminals - a cross between twee domestic and prison outer wall. The sign above - part of rich Ghanaian heritage of hand painted signs.
Writing from Accra | November 12, 2007 | Permalink
Spider vs Pirate Varient
“Broadcast time is 1900 minutes” and DVD-9 quality, apparently.
16 DVDs on one disk - from Pirates of the Carribbean, Spiderman & Taxi varients plus Ong Bak, Yom Yum Goong and Khon Fai Bin. 50 Euro cents.
Writing from Accra | November 11, 2007 | Permalink
Packaging as Utensil
Razor - utilizing from the packaging of the blade.
Sharp. Bloody.
Writing from Accra | November 10, 2007 | Permalink
Three Days In
It’s been three days since the bulk of the team touched down in Accra. Day+ travel times take their toll and we’re relieved to sail through immigration and customs. It’s not always so smooth - our two pelican cases stuffed with recording equipment tend to attract attention and we know exactly how long it takes to double check the serial numbers of each and every item. The closer we are to a shower and a cold beer the bigger the multiplier.
For some of the team - it’s their first time in Africa. We’re all new to Ghana. The first time someone arrives in a continent they often refer to the continent name, and not that of the country. Even on this global study we need to be thinking at the level of the city, community, family and individual. Plenty of time for abstraction later.
Three clocks hang over the reception - displaying the time for Europe, Ghana and America. Someone unilaterally decided to standardize the time zone for two continents. Is this just another form of asymmetric warfare?
The rooster outside my window has been going at it since 4am. Somewhere along the corridor a team member stirs, time to start the working day.
Writing from Accra | | Permalink
Formal / Informal
The re-designed First Direct site includes an un-bank like vocabulary in it's footer: "We're obsessive about the quality of our service, so we monitor or record calls to make sure everything's tickety boo." An extension of First Direct's branding of being an un-bank like bank.
A night's stopover in Frankfurt on the way to Accra - jetlag providing an opportunity to catch up (un-)banking admin.
Writing from Frankfurt | November 6, 2007 | Permalink
Priority Visa
With a winter trip to central Asia lined up for December and a return from Africa in mid-November my remaining time in Tokyo can be measured by how many days it takes to apply for each visa. The Uzbekistan embassy takes applications on Mondays and Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays. Mornings to drop off, afternoons for pickup, woe betide you are in a hurry.
Dropping off my passport for the Kazakstan embassy my flights were booked into Almaty. On the day it came for pick-up the itinery had already changed toTaskkent. Applying for a visa for a country you don’t plan to pass through is a waste of a page on a passport with not enough blank pages.
Conversations echoed throughout a multi-cultural team with a heavy travel schedule.
Writing from Tokyo | November 4, 2007 | Permalink
Meta Data
Creating QR barcode links large enough to be read from the ambient background of other people`s video streams, photos.
With increasingly ubiquitous displays able to offer up personalised QR barcodes what`s the likelyhood that your QR cube ends up captured by someone elses recording device? Get ready for real time shoulder surfing.
Writing from Daikanyama, back of | | Permalink
When the Tone Rings
Taking a late night work telco whilst knocking the top off a nama in a Naka Megruo izakaya. The only other people in the bar are a couple of couples rounding off a meal and the end-of-a-shift energy emanating from host of this tiny joint. The remaining bodies alternate between sake shots, making runs to the loo, lighting up and nibbling on complimentary we’re-about-to-close chunk of melon. When a mobile phone rings its tone is familiar to these ears to the point of generic - the Nokia tune.
The reaction to that tune varies depending on whether you’re sitting in Europe or the US, or China or India, a hip bar, a queue for the 73 bus, a school yard. It can quicken the pulse, warm the heart, trigger a yawn, raise a smile or a smirk - it just depends who you are, and where you are at. For those around you it's a filter through which they view you - a ring tone being, after all an established vehicle for self expression and status.
But here, in this bar in Tokyo coming across that tune is well unusual. The Japanese market is dominated by local manufacturers so a sighting on a night out is not assured.
She reaches into her hand bag eventually fishes out the ringing mobile. And it’s not a Nokia.
Writing from Naka Meguro | | Permalink
Sachiko 28
Writing from Naka Meguro | November 3, 2007 | Permalink
Premium Manga
Writing from Shibuya | November 2, 2007 | Permalink
What Lies Beneath
Flight into Beijing departs three hours late, and when our party eventually checks into the hotel its one in the morning. For some reason hotel occupancy in this city is high, and the only remaining rooms in this only remaining hotel are less than stellar. The mattress gives in a way that only water can do.
Can’t believe that someone made an executive decision to put in water beds in a corporate hotel.
Writing from | November 1, 2007 | Permalink
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