Are changes in behaviour purely built from being resourceful

Does the breaking ideas and trends in markets really just come from people being resourceful.

Asi wrote a post on his interest in courier cyclists and how they can have influence on the trends and fads. I often have thought about why trends and fads tend to come out of more bohemian style areas of cities which in turn tend to be some what poor (for a while anyway). I continually asked myself. Why do these people with no money help to drive the people with money. It was only when I was in South Africa in the townships (poorer black areas) that I started to realise what it was. Poorer people are a lot more resourceful with what they have. Its not about owning this and that so you can do this activity. Its often how can I do this activity with what I have. I particularly saw this with mobile phones in SA. A lot of kids actually used all the features on the phone.

What really blew me away was when I went into the back of this music store in Joburg to see this young guy with a pretty crap computer creating some awesome Jazzfusion beats. As well as when I spoke to the head of trends at one of the local radio stations who was talking a lot about 'bedroom producers' driving a huge amount of musical trends in the market. Fusing local african beats with electronic sounds and the more popular american groups.

So to be truly innovative should we restrict what we have available and look to be innovative with what we have. A TV show I used to watch when I was a kid was MacGyver. This guy seemed to be able to get himself out of any situation he was in, with his pocket knife and whatever was around him. He was resourceful and innovative with what he had. Designers often do this when creating prototypes. Making things out of whats around them.

Is this another reason that the credit crunch could in fact lead to more innovation. Because instead of just buying the next thing. People are being more resourceful with what they have. I have noticed that friends have started making interesting food in the kitchen as they try and limit the amount of food they are wasting. Could this be something for our future as we start to be more resourceful with everything, whether we have the money or not.

It sounds like it could be something interesting to look into. Im going to get out there and start looking more closely at what I have around me... and I how to could it in new ways

Great rundown on how design people think and work

I have written many a time on my love of how designers solve problems. Here is an awesome runthrough from one of the best Tim Brown from IDEO in the states.

My obsession with designers continues

I have had an obsession with designers for a while. As I guess I see them as a much better problem solvers than people in the marketing or even advertising community pretend to be. I guess its all getting a little bit muddled up in terms of who does what now. But I just love the way they work and how they attack problems.
So here is an interesting list of 13 things on how to make things happen from well known designer Michael Bierut from Pentagram went through at the Behance 99. Some great things in there that I have stolen previously. But also a couple of great simple ones that I will steal this time. Check out the article on fast company.

1. Keep a notebook. Bierut started this practice in 1992, and now has 86 of the things. But they're not some fancy Moleskins full of lush watercolor sketches. They're plain vanilla notebooks, filled with, well, notes and the occasional sketch. They seem to work as well as the high-priced spread.

2. Listen first, then design. Actually, you don't have to be a designer to take this advice. If you're selling office paper at Dunder Mifflin, or pitching an account at Sterling Cooper, listening is still a good way to get a project off on the right foot.

3. Don't avoid the obvious. The obvious can be your best friend. There are few new ideas, folks. Mostly just better iterations of the old ones. Trying to reinvent the wheel too often just results in a lot of wheel spinning.

4. The problem contains the solution. Read the brief or the specs, or actually pay attention to your notes from the client meeting (see #1, above.) Often, the solution is right there.

5. Indulge your obsessions. They're passion made tangible.

6. Love is the answer. There are worse things than leading with your heart. As Bierut has proven, you'll often be successful, do great work, and probably make money. And you'll likely be happy.

Here's a final round-up of other big ideas from the conference that may help you get from inspiration to action:

7. Don't let the urgent demands of today always subvert your plans for tomorrow.Scott Belsky, CEO, Behance In other words, don't let the often trivial demands of an overflowing inbox consistently distract you from the more important items on your to-do list. Along those lines, keep two lists: one of daily tasks, the other of longer term projects with specific action items attached. -

8. Don't underestimate the importance of staying organized. Chaos subverts progress. Creativity x organization = impact - Belsky

9. Hang around people who are passionate about things. Their enthusiasm will rub off on you. Whom you hang out with really matters. - Jason Randal, theorist on developing expertise

10. Hire the best lawyers. "I've met many people who run billion-dollar companies. They aren't that smart. They hire good lawyers. It's one of the things that made this project happen." Robert Hammond, Co-founder, Friends of the High Line.

11. Share ideas liberally. If you share quickly, you'll be more accountable. - Belsky

12. Surround yourself with people who motivate you, and write things down. Something as large as a presidential campaign was done simply by checking items off a to-do list. - Scott Thomas, design director, Obama for America

13. Nothing trumps hard work. "Many successful people don't want to talk about how hard they work. Even when you've made it, you've got to keep working." - Jill Greenberg, photographer

Designers will take over the world

So pretty big call for a heading. But I truly believe as we move into a world of product and service parity, as well as issues with climate change and overconsumption. It will be the designers that will take over and save the day. I went to the Design Festival in London last year and most of the major exhibitions were around climate change and new recyclable materials. Which is becoming even more important

I was reading in Wired the other day about the CEO of Nike in fact being a designer. Not an ex finance guy that loves to cut costs and drive efficiencies. A designer.... someone who believes in innovation. Someone who has claimed that by 2011 Nike will use all recyclable materials on a large percentage of its shoes.

Look at the ad for the new MacBook Pro. Not only is the design aesthetics and power etc awesome but they are moving into a similar vein to address our over consumptive ways. I have written about the difference in innovation and invention and my views on the difference between Mac and Microsoft.

What will be interesting now is with the backlash of the economic crisis. Will the audit of our over consumptive behaviour start to change the way we develop products. We can see a trend in the UK of people limiting their wastage of food and other products already. People taking old clothes to tailors to bring them new life...families using every last bit of meat or not wasting veggies. Will this continue when the economy stabilises ?. Is constant growth of everything a long term strategy for all of us.... I think the designers might have something to say about this... Interesting times

Some inspiring stuff from Nokia's Design Department

Crystal Rain, originally uploaded by _Seahawk_.

I found this great presentation from the Nokia Design department through Dino over at Chroma. Great to see a company taking co-creation and a greater simpler usability into their focus. Should be interesting in the phone market in the coming years.

The role of empathy is changing the industry

I have written on how empathy is changing the way we use research to develop products. This has been driven by technology products mainly. But here is an interesting video about how this design and I see the use of empathy in design is changing the retail sector in developing products people want... not what the company can produce. Talks about some other great interesting things going on in design at the moment

Empathy .. why is it not the norm

Friends and Enemies, originally uploaded by tomsaint11.

A few years ago a collegue of a friend of mine at Naked Sydney, Adam Ferrier... who is was a clinical psychologist now account planner, made a comment at an event that stuck in my head. He found it ridiculous that there were not more female creatives and planners, as generally they are more empathetic.

I thought this was really interesting at the time. But it fell to the back of my mind until recently when I was reading the guys at Adaptive Path's book 'Subject to Change' and the whole idea of empathy came up in terms of design and the research that is utilised in design. I am seeing it more day to day when you look at the mountains of research and data out there that doesn't give you an idea of a real person. The guys write about small things like when they saw a mother trying to change her baby's nappy. She only had one hand as she had to hold the baby with the other. So the nappy brand designed a simple nappy dispenser to make it easier for mum's to use just the one hand. Brillant idea. Could you see that in data. Dont think so

I have been involved in a number of ethnographic and other really interesting real life qualitative style research techniques lately. Which I love, as it highlights the small things. But you start to really get empathy for the people that you are dealing with. You really become in tune with what they are about. I have been doing a bit of work on mums lately and some of the research has made me wanna call my mum and say ...you are the best... how did you do it. But that brings on something that the guys from Adaptive Aath commented on. The difference between empathy and sympathy. You shouldnt pity them, as it will lead you down very different path, which is what I started to do with the mums work. So if I am starting to have empathy for the people and I want my brand to show empathy... how do you do that ?

Do brand utilities show empathy ? => I think they begin to

Does simplicity in design to show empathy ? => I think it does.. why make it harder for them

The ultimate question though. Does your brand showing empathy toward an audience build an emotional connection that every brief / client / brand seems to want these days ?

I will be back with more from this book, which is brillant. Go buy one

Design and the Elastic Mind ... MoMa

I was in New York last week and took a trip to the MoMa to see the exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind. This was probably the best exhibition I have ever been to. The fact that Faris and co were somewhat entertaining throughout probably helped the scenario. So many cool and weird things going on that it all just blew my mind. We couldve been in there all day. Check out the photo above of Faris. This program took a video of people and had an image of the emotion you were feeling or whether you were a guy or a girl. I think the long hair confused the computer with Faris. Surely the beard wouldnt.

This was the weirdest thing ever. It allowed you to smell your potential partner. I guess the farramones draws you to your supposed partner. Supposedly a new way of speed dating. I think I am going to stick to a lady's perfume thanks.

This is what I really went for. Sorry about the video being sideways. This is Jonathan Harris's new program iwantyoutowantme. The idea of it, once again is brillant. Data scrapping from dating websites across the world to see what people really want from partners etc. Brillant. The touch screen program just made it awesome as well.

There is a number of data visualisation programs that detailed different data sets across the US. One was on the wall and one was on the floor.

Faris's friend Mauricio and his wife Suzann took some great video and images. So hopefully I can upload some of them as well. Including a great interactive slide we played around with for a while

If you have a chance go and check it out

Great idea for me

uploaded by Noisey Decent Graphics

I saw this great idea over at noisey decent graphics. Its the exact kind of thing I need. I always forget what wine Im drinking. I have been taking photos of my wine lately to try and remember. Australians love our wine.... so we try to make it easier to drink more

I love LOGIC + EMOTION

One of the things I love about blogging is reading other peoples blog from different fields. I am obsessed. (no really I am ask my collegeues) with David Armano over at Logic and Emotion. Its just a fantastic way of looking at the digital world from the consumer perspective. He just makes it all seem so easy.

Hidden Lives ....

I found this great Australian site called hidden lives over at one of my fav's Lost at E Minor. The site has been developed to let go of all those things in your life that people dont know. Instead of the characters that people create of themselves to signify what they want people to think about them, which is paramount on social networking sites. It allows you to upload the parts in the background that nobody knows. I always find that area of people’s lives interesting. Working with people for years... but never really knowing anything about them. I tend to hold back a lot about my past life, family, past friends, experiences etc. Maybe this is the place to let it all loose.

I heard once that photos on sites like flickr are the images that people aspire to be in their lives , even if they are of them. So a mate and I in the pub after the event said. Well if that’s the case, then your iPod is what you don’t want people to see. Everyone has a whole bunch of albums and tracks on their iPod that are embarrassing. Now you can have this site as well to add to that

Am I just a visual person ?

I dont know why... but I have really getting into weird visuals lately . I think Im just an extremely visual person. I remember reading something that said guys tend not to talk about sexual experiences with their mates because their mates dont want to visualise it... so true. But I have found an awesome site from Australia, that I get a lot of stuff from everyday to feed my addiction from everywhere around the world. Check it out . It has more than just visuals.... a lot of great interesting stuff

Destructive..............

Naturaljust cool