October 2008 Archives
(Nokia) Open Studios
Oct 31, 2008The slides from the Nokia Open Studio design research method for engaging communities in shanty towns can now be viewed above (to avoid distorted text click on the full screen icon).
Despite what you might assume for a studio, the most valuable output of the Open Studio is not the designs, but in providing an alternative way for people to articulate their wants and needs - within the context of their community. The nuances of this are detailed in the accompanying paper as with these slides - co-authored with design studio colleague Younghee Jung.
Download:
- 24 page research paper (10MB).
- Powerpoint slides (6MB)
- View Younghee's talk at the LIFT conference here
- Business Week published some of the designs here
- Related notes by Younghee here.
bench (unim)pressed
Oct 31, 2008
The implications of a lightly tagged bench. From Palo Alto.
Money, Everywhere
Oct 31, 2008
Money related links for attendees of yesterday's talk: Bill Maurer's paper on micro lending here [0.2mb], the future perfect money thread, and David Birch's Digital Money Blog.
Putting a Value on Media Exposure
Oct 30, 2008 | 11 Comments
[Updated]
One of the issues skipped over in yesterday's Stanford talk is the actual and perceived value of media exposure. It's a relevant issue for design research discussion because, typically it can help raise awareness and credibility inside the organisation, can bolster team morale and if you want to cut to a bottom-line chase - it is (from the perspective of a bean-counting corporate drone, not that such a thing exists) just another form of advertising. All be it with a different type of credibility. And if you go in for that kind of thing - brownie points for being on message.
There is a flip-side to external exposure - it can create tensions within a team - mostly IMHO because the media like to tell stories through personalities - there is often only be enough room for one personality in a single story, and because there is a tendency to oversell the person and their achievements. A few simple examples of this include being credited for photos taken by colleagues (er, that's why you were sent a list of photo credits); being listed as head of design (duh, more like head of design studio pizza delivery); and giving a co-presentation that mentioned a design concept but the article fails to include the co-presenter (who actually did the real work on the concept). It also assumes that the exposure is positive. (None of these apply to the well researched pieces mentioned below). From a corporate perspective there's also a risk that the media-exposed individual's 'brand' negatively changes over time, or evolves significantly at odds with the 'corporate brand'.
Out of interest - can any readers tell me what ad-space would cost for an 8 page article in the New York Times magazine or for a picture spread in Business Week? Ping the sums to info at janchipchase.com, ta.
And perhaps more interestingly how would an employer quantify the value of a site like Future Perfect? How much of that value could be transferred to a new employer, for the sake of argument, a relatively new competitor pushing aggressively into and wishing to gain internal and external credibility in the mobile space? Comments are open.
Your (Service Design) Libido, Enhanced
Oct 28, 2008And in keeping with today's Chongqing thread some of you will recall the presentation The Promise: Lessons For Service Design from the Packaging of Libido Enhancers in China on Chinese Libido Enhancers from the same city. Peruse the slides above or download here (3MB).
What role does the packaging play in overcoming the fear of buying a dodgy libido enhancer, in a country where consumers have their eyes open for fakes?
NYC, Updated
Oct 28, 2008
More on the upcoming NYC talk/discussion about conducting effective design research in cross-cultural mobile markets, or something along those lines. It's shifted to a larger venue (they say because of excess demand but I think the real reason is that they have problems with the plumbing in the old place. Or because the old venue had only 4 seats and someone wanted to bring their mother). The updated details, including RSVP info:
Date: Wednesday November 5th, 2008
Registration: 6:00pm. Please arrive by 6 to allow time to get through security. Photo ID required by security to enter building. It must match the name on the registration list.
Presentation: 6:30pm to 8:00pm (includes Q&A). They'll chuck us out at 8:30.
Where JPMorgan Chase Auditorium, 277 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017, between 47th & 48th. (Jolly good we didn't book the Lehman Auditorium...)
Cost FREE, but you must RSVP by Friday October 31st registering here.
In line with keeping this stuff grounded, it'll be a talk for practitioners and will probably bore anyone who is not. Think graphs, not pretty pictures. And the tiger? Oh, that'll be a street tattoo fresh from an early morning walk through the Chongqing suburbs.
Faces As Brands / Data Containers
Oct 26, 2008
Consider the placement of sticker graph for call girl ads on the handle of a Perdizes phone booth, in a Tokyo club bathroom, a Soho bench and here in Venice.
For every thing that is placed, the speed at which it is likely to be displaced - for example stickers placed on the hand dryer versus on the wall where it is more likely to be scratched off and painted over.The contexts in which a longer or shorter sticker life cycle is beneficial? And to whom?
The future perfect of stickers will include more digitally readable information - RFID, QR codes, faces, ..., and naturally the tools to read them. Mismatched life cycle expectations + machine readable data = United bankruptcy triggered by proximate interaction.
Faces? When hi-def facial recognition goes mainstream a facial expression becomes another container for data - to be interpreted and acted upon, a macro/script/action if you like. Yeah - with steganography it already is, but think mainstream. In every context where QR codes are viable today replace that ugly pixellated box with a communications channel we've spent an evolution learning - the human face. Adding an extra layer of communication to people as brands. A simple mainstream example of how might work? Where today we swap business cards tomorrow we snap a photo of the other person's face.
And who will be the first to exploit the face as a (data channel) medium for the message? Quite probably the well manicured hands of the sex industry.
Sleep to catch up on, conferences to prepare.
Boundaries Communicated
Oct 26, 2008
Farmers market, Santa Monica.
Fixie Osake
Oct 26, 2008
The fixie officiandos amongst you looking for something a little more Japanese will probably appreciate the Nakame venue where this was taken - a mellow bar cum Keirin bike exporter.
Gosh
Oct 26, 2008
Double Dragon
Oct 25, 2008
The Games We Play
Oct 25, 2008
A game of spin the bottle updated for the digital age - gather a crowd, take one digital camera, turn on the flash, wind the strap taut, set the timer and let unwind - as the camera spins, whomever is snapped when the timer runs out takes a shot (or its local equivalents). For every culture the games we play but more interestingly, our motivations for playing.
One For the (NYC) Pot
Oct 23, 2008
Heading to NYC on the 5th November - with Frog Design kindly hosting a talk/discussion on, well, design research stuff at their studio. Ta and a raising of a mug of earl grey to Robert Fabricant for organising. As with all these events - it's what you make it so come packing (questions & comments).
Why these photos from Chongqing? Street food eaten to the sound of frogs being slaughtered, peeled and skewered. Join, and that could be me. Or you.
Cutting to the Chase
Oct 22, 2008
For those of you in tha' valley I'll hosting a workshop/presentation/bootcamp at the Institute for Design at Stanford (with thanks to Diego Rodriguez, George Kembel, Erica Estrada et al. for setting up). The topic? If I can pull my finger out, it'll be titled Cutting to the Chase - a frank and open discussion of the things we've been doing in design research, what seems to work and not work, including new material on the Open Studios. Get it out there and move on, I say.
It's not enough to perch on the stool, camp booties or otherwise.
The Psychology of What We (Don't) Know
Oct 21, 2008
The human tendency to look forward, to take in the parts of approaching objects that we haven't yet seen. Or is it a desire to see what comes next?
Tokyo Buh-ling
Oct 21, 2008
Urban Interactions
Oct 20, 2008
The evolution of how we interact with the world around us: information pickup in Tokyo Midtown (above), ticketing, vending machines and laptops.
Laptops? Touch your 'felica/wallet' equipped mobile phone against the logo etched into the laptop to initiate a website payment that is billed to your mobile phone bill.
Ego Spam
Oct 19, 2008
A heads up for statesiders - I'll be presenting at the Wireless Influencer's Conference in Dana Point, heading up the coast to Palo Alto / Mountain View on the 29th, LA/Calabasas on the 30/31st, Washington DC on the 3/4th and NYC on the 5th. A couple of extra talks to be announced.
DC on election day should be fun.
Photo by design studio colleague Duncan Burns who happened to be in NYC when the New York Times piece came out.
Fantasy. Reality. Stir.
Oct 19, 2008
An open studio for wedding photos - in the garden of the Meguro Gajoen Hotel above (& incidentally the view directly below my office window), and an idealised view of the Tokyo Tower below.
A camera is not merely a camera, but a device for capturing and time-shifting experiences. In a networked, geo-tagged world there is so much other data to draw on, not least the 1'000's of photos taken from the same spot. How does the process of capturing experiences change? Does the 'user' need to be part of this experience? And given that so much of what is out there can be captured automatically, how will future 'experience/media' leverage the human need for learning, evolution, attainment? Where's the satisfaction when the whole process can be automated?
Protrude/Not Protrude
Oct 18, 2008
Dipping Home
Oct 17, 2008
Good to be home, for the week at least. Sleep deprivation on the flight + tunes on the friendly limo ride into Shinjuku = lucid problem solving. But just like an global credit crunch - I'm paying for it now. Time to crash.
Security. Measured.
Oct 17, 2008
The placement of valued objects (mobile, money, ...) is typically a compromise between safety/security and convenience - a coin dispenser hangs on the seat between the thighs of this willing and dare I say ever-so-slightly thigh-proud Espoo taxi driver.
A day of bouncing between meetings held together by a caffeine/yen/idea high.
Objects In Use, Unattended
Oct 16, 2008
Chalk no Cheese
Oct 16, 2008
What is it with design studios and chalkboards? From our Soho design studio.
Micro Access
Oct 16, 2008
The contexts in which bicycle will have better access than other forms of transport. From London.
Linx
Oct 16, 2008
A couple of links from today's TAIK presentation: the Remade material along with a list of designers who worked on the concept can be found here; photos of the concept appear in this street hacks presentation. We plan to share a bunch of material on Nokia Open Studios in the coming month.
Thanks Teemu Leinonen and Andrea Botero Cabrera for hosting and, heck, it ain't worth it if there's no debate.
A Head Turns To the Sky
Oct 15, 2008
Given the open invite a heads up: I'll be co-presenting with design studio colleagues Jo*sephine, Jo*hn and Jo*han about design research / thinking at TAiK tomorrow
Where: Main building, Room 386
When: Starting 12:00, 15th October
Why: As if you had to ask...
* My employer's hiring strategy laid bare.
Slde Src
Oct 10, 2008
Material's from yesterday's W&K presentation can be found here. It's good to share.
Permalag still going strong - offset by a decent cuppa, a bevy of interesting upcoming interactions and vapour trails over the London dawn - the view from the design studio rooftop garden is something to behold. Meeting's start in a few hours.
Lndn Grf
Oct 10, 2008
Product Notifiers
Oct 10, 2008
Fark
Oct 10, 2008
Another session of other-side-of-the-lens-edness. I'd rather see the photographer's expressions in the magazine than today's subject.
Presentation Links
Oct 08, 2008
Attendees of the Design and Emotion conference looking for presentation source material are directed to this, this, and to a lesser extent this. Read this thread in Dharavi in reverse order to get a sense of what we get up to on a field study; and life on the road.
Thanks to Rennie Kan and the conference team for the opportunity to share some of our research and where we're coming from.
The red-eye to London leaves in 4 hours.
The Ergonomics of Peeing
Oct 08, 2008
How much space do you really need at a urinal? The issue of larger seat sizes for airplanes to cope with higher levels of of obesity has been well documented, but the ergonomics of standing activities less so. The differences in desired personal space for every person/culture.
For cross-cultural musings on toilets and, why your future toilet bowl may tell you more about yourself than you really want to know go here.
Measured
Oct 08, 2008
Butt/saddle measurement at the Specialized concept store, Aoyama.
Augmented Warnings
Oct 08, 2008
What happens when you combine an ability to augment reality with an over zealous desire to protect and inform? Think warning signs overlaid. on. everything.
Related: annotated doors in Kabul.
Visual Interference
Oct 07, 2008
For every language a visual proximity to graphic language of road signs - in this example: how the double/single yellow line of the street visually merges with the Chinese characters compared to its English counterpart.
Situations where this proximity confuses the driver; whether from the designer's perspective it can be leveraged to enhance the message; and whether from the system perspective it should be leveraged?
HK Stencil Graf
Oct 06, 2008
In Ur Huud, 'Prezentin
Oct 06, 2008
A couple of talks coming up - Street / Emotion at the Design and Emotion conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday and Something Witty with Espoo design studio colleagues at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki on the 15th October.
A week of London and its joyous weather in between, packing a-hand luggage-only trip that crosses three weather zones is a bitch.
Attention to Detail
Oct 04, 2008
An unusual level of detail - describing each unique characteristic of the cat.
Un/Intentional
Oct 03, 2008
Finger damping ball (above) and egg yolk both from the same restaurant
As and when the ability to cloak (making objects partially or totally invisible to the human eye) are introduced to our streets and/or vehicles attain a larger degree of autonomy expect advertising agencies to play on the double-take of 'did i just see...?' by exploiting our desire to attain visual closure.
Was that an egg? Or something mascarading as an egg? Think 3d blipverts in public spaces.
Purity of Form
Oct 03, 2008
Celebrations
Oct 03, 2008
Lateral
Oct 03, 2008
Space saving baskets/counter at Trader Joes on Pico.
Today's Numbers
Oct 03, 2008
Up at six.
Hit the trail head shortly after seven.
Earn a xxx view of the valleys and ocean by eight.
Back at the car and tuck into take-out breakfast by nine.
One hour in LAX to sync.
16 hours to home.
Cheers boyos, much appreciated.
Event Notification
Oct 03, 2008
For every event - the standard form of notification.
Literal
Oct 03, 2008
Yes, a fence in Santa Monica.
Breakfast: Home Breaker
Oct 03, 2008
It might look innocuous to you, and yes it's in keeping with the blurring of what we consider to be 'normal' to do in home and work spaces - but this 'express' cereal is a home breaker. Simply put, it supports the practice of eating at your desk away from the family. And in many ways its a continuation of the decades-long term trend (in the UK at least) of shifting from a cooked breakfast - where the family gathered to eat, to cereals - which supported independent eating times.
For everything that enables time shifting, consequences.
Courtesy Calls
Oct 01, 2008
Signs extolling patrons to call the courtesy number to report overly loud members of the audience at the Hollywood Bowl. For every social situation, person - the socially acceptability of pointing out anti-social behaviour, and the mechanisms (usually signs) that make this easier. Related: signs directing parents to take responsibility of their children.
The event? Traditional Iranian music, head banging and graffiti.
(Your Definition of) Loyalty is for Suckers
Oct 01, 2008
The practice of pinning 'loyalty' cards to the beam of this Venice beach cafe rather than carry them around in a wallet. In a world of purvesive consumer tracking - the extent the onus falls on the consumer or the retailer or third party to identify. Physically carry your loyalty card in my wallet? How very 21st century.
Catching up with friends and the Venice dawn.
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