posted by Anna Fleet on August 13th, 2010
“A good service will be defined as one that draws customers in as participants,” according to Ideo CEO, Tim Brown.
Now I’d say he hit that statement bang on the mark! And it’s good food for thought for a Friday morning J
In this video interview from Techlifes.net, Brown talks about how communications technology is leading us back to a participation economy—a economy that existed before the industrial revolution and one where great products or services were defined as by the customer who engaged and participated in their growth and development.
Tim Brown, has been CEO of the renowned design firm Ideo since 2000. A design thinking pioneer, Brown strongly touts development of ideas through a process that observers customers, prototypes, tests and refines. Brown has worked with numerous Fortune 100 companies and organizations—including the Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble.
Tags: design thinking for small business, design thinking strategy, engaging customers, ideo design firm, microsoft marketing, participation economy, pepsi marketing, power of design thinking, proctor & gamble marketing, tim brown
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posted by Anna Fleet on August 11th, 2010
Did you know that liquid asphalt is priced at over a thousand dollars a ton? And, what’s worse, is petroleum-based asphalt is terrible for the environment. We have to face facts: we can’t continue to build asphalt roads into the future. But how can we make better, greener and more cost-effective roads?
Well Scott Brusaw, the inventor and co-founder of Solar Roadways, has thought about this issue a lot. And his small company, from Sagle Idaho has figured out a way to take the garbage from our landfills and oceans, mix it with organic materials, and make it into the internal support panels needed to construct solar road panels.
Can you imagine? Intelligent electric roads that power the actual vehicles that use them. Check out the solar roads of the future—design thinking at it’s very best!
Tags: design thinking for small business, design thinking process, design thinking strategy, earth friendly designs, green-friendly marketing, scott brusaw, solar panel roadways, solar roadways
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posted by Anna Fleet on August 10th, 2010
If you asked a designer at my agency, “How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?”, they would certainly answer: “Does it have to be a light bulb?”
Very funny I know, but seriously, the tendency to challenge the very essence of my question is innate in designers, or rather people engaged in design thinking. They tend to ask a lot of questions—especially those that challenge existing or stale assumptions.
And yes, these questions might be dubbed “stupid questions” by those married to a certain convention or strategy, but as author, Warren Berger, points out, asking those “stupid questions…is the starting point in the design process, and has a profound influence on everything that follows.”
If you don’t believe it, try and think of how many times you’ve been stalled over the same old issue at your business. The vintage FedEx commercial that shows how corporate insiders can get so stuck in a rut that they no longer think for themselves is a great visual explanation of what I’m talking about. Many times it does take an outsider (or someone willing to question those conventions) to see the situation clearly—while stating the obvious.
Berger found this out when he spent time studying the likes of Bruce Mau, Richard Saul Wurman and Paula Scher, the most respected designers in the biz, who constantly discussed the importance of asking “stupid questions”.
In his article this morning from the Harvard Business Review, Berger points to specific ways that people in business can learn from design thinkers by learning to question, care, connect and commit to a final idea.
Read Berger’s full article and find out why you should apply a little design thinking to your own small business problems.
Tags: design thinking for small business, design thinking process, design thinking strategy, glimmer book, graphic design thinking, harvard business review, warren berger
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posted by Anna Fleet on August 9th, 2010
Have you ever looked at an album cover or a logo and declared, “Phffffff, I could have done that!”?
I find that we often do this even though we’re unaware of what occurred behind the scenes and without knowledge that a design process that only focuses on the final creative product (be it a logo, cover art or whatever) is purely process driven and not at all very effective.
Jaid Hulsbosch, Director at Hulsbosch – Communication By Design says that good design and branding is more about “managing the highly complex process of brand design and redesign within large national and global businesses” in his interview with austrailiancreative.com.au. Hulsbosch suggests that companies today are not only paying for the process alone (in other words the design alone); they are also looking for an agency that can balance the management of the design process and deliver a truly iconic brand.
Hulsbosch claims that the following skills are vital in a design and branding agency:
1. Create brands that focus/embody the company’s values, emotions and promise
2. Design of brands that engage the customer
3. Ability to navigate complex business landscapes (i.e., various egos, expectations)
4. Ability to overcome market constraints
5. Act as diplomats—get a diverse people with competing agendas to agree
6. Organize and ensure sub-brands are well represented
7. Ask, “What is your design culture?” instead of, “What is your design process?”
Tags: design thinking for small business, design thinking process, design thinking strategy, graphic design thinking, stages of design thinking
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posted by Brenton on August 6th, 2010
I promised in yesterday’s post to talk in more detail about identifying hidden opportunities, because, let’s face it, we tend to miss the obvious. My wife makes sure to remind me of this on a daily basis.
A few years back I was exposed to the basketball awareness test, a test that reinforced that we tend to hyper focus and while we are in this state we tend to miss other things happening right under our noses.
As people who are responsible for uncovering business needs, it’s essential that we get better at identifying unseen opportunities—and pounce on them.
I like to utilize these techniques to help our clients reveal hidden opportunities:
1. Explore the Blur
Are you aware that when you focus hard on one thing that everything else tends to get blurred? If you don’t believe me, try this: Stare at your finger and things around it will start to blur. The first step to seeing hidden opportunities is realizing that you do miss things and you do tend to focus on certain aspects of any situation. Individual and organizations habitually approach problems or situations in the same way. If you step outside of the area of focus and explore the blur you will discover new opportunities. The book Blue Ocean Strategy makes the important point: looking at non-customers can reveal new opportunities. Take Cirque Du Soleil for example. The founders redefined their customers from circus goers to theatre goers and created a new category—and a very successful business.
2. Multiple Points of Mood
Our mood can impact our focus. Picture the last time you were really angry or sad. Did you think about the big picture or were you too focused on the moment? By impacting yourself with different moods, your focus shifts. Try looking at your industry, customer or company from a zen state of mind, an angry or bittter mood and other moods. Wear a mood and allow others on your team to do the same when exploring customer needs, your product, etc.
3. Seven Whys
A great tool for uncovering hidden opportunities is asking WHY repeatedly until you get to the clearest essence of whatever it is you are looking for. Personally, I ask why 7 times because it really pushes you to new depths. This gem that works well to get the best results when I’m conducting interviews with customers or management. I find it’s helpful to let them know beforehand that I will ask a lot of questions. The heads-up tends to create a more open space for exploring deeper truths.
4. Possibility Prompts
Ask these questions to push your mind to see hidden gems:
Other than the obvious what do we know about …? (This prompt pushes the brain to look deeper)
We are the only company that… (Come up with 20 answers to this question by involving every group/department within your company. Believe me, you’ll find hidden gems that you didn’t even know existed in your organization).
What are they not telling us? (Look beyond what people say they need and don’t take their word for it. Observational research can reveal needs that customers don’t even realize exist).
Look through new eyes and find the hidden opportunities all around you. What are you seeing? What are you missing?
Tags: design thinking for small business, design thinking process, design thinking strategy, hidden marketing opportunities, identifying marketing opportunities
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posted by Brenton on August 5th, 2010
Over the weekend I was shopping for chicken broth with reduced salt at the local grocer. I found the soup aisle and noticed there was a big gap in the middle of the, otherwise, fully stocked shelf.
The empty section on the shelf was where the ‘no salt added’ chicken broth used to be (see pic below). Obviously, this new product is very popular.
My wife (a nurse) has been on a mission to rid our diets of salt. I guess we’re not the only people looking for lower sodium options out there?
So I ask myself, “Why did it take so long?”. Food producers have been killing us slowly for years with high-sodium processsed foods. And suddenly they’re telling us that too much salt is bad for our health.
So I’m thinking, “What other new products would fly off the shelves because they address a need that others are not seeing or serving?” I promise to answer this question in more detail in tomorrow’s post.
For now, I’m going to leave you with a little design thinking exercise. Ask yourself:
What could you take away from your product or service that’s not needed/wanted?
What is the ‘lower sodium’ opportunity in your category that you’re missing out on?
And would making this change mean your product or service would fly off the shelf like the chicken broth…
Tags: design thinking exercises, design thinking for small business, design thinking process, design thinking to identify business opportunity, hidden marketing opportunities
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posted by Anna Fleet on August 4th, 2010
Recently, we’ve been taking a look at a different way of solving the world’s problems. Design thinking harmoniously blends practically with creativity in a way that drives success. But as with any problem-solving method, there is a process. The design thinking process has 7 distinct stages:
1. Define
2. Research
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Choose
6. Implement
7. Learn
For a little added entertainment I’d like to share this great animated short, created by six Ontario College of Art and Design 2010 industrial design thesis students. The video depicts how a cave man might have used design thinking to carry out the first ever design project. And as you can imagine, as design thinking is applied to solve any problem, stages within the process are bound to be repeated until an ideal solution is found.
The greater message, and what I truly admire about the design thinking process, is that there are no stupid ideas. This way, criticism and judgement are left out of the early stages of the equation, which creates an environment free of fear. Wouldn’t you agree that when the fear of failure is taken out of the thinking process, ideas flourish and solutions are often found much faster?
Remember, in real life your buddy or boss won’t bonk you over the head with a bat if you don’t come up with the perfect solution straight away 
Tags: design in progress, design thinking for small business, design thinking process, industrial design students, ontario college of art and design, stages of design thinking, youtube for viral marketing
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posted by Anna Fleet on August 3rd, 2010
Oded Ezer, a well-renowned typographic artist, lecturer and designer from Israel, looked to Skype for inspiration for his latest work, the Oded Ezer’s Face Type.
The artist was inspired to create this new project after he was exposed to the visual possibilities of the social network’s video conferencing. Ezer then approached individuals from different countries and asked them to each design one of the letters—making it what the artist calls “the embodiment of communal creativity facilitated by social media and social media networks.”
Once designed, each letter of the typeface was photographed along with its creator, using Skype’s application’s print screen function. The typeface was then showcased in the prestigious Print Magazine’s August 2010 issue, depicting the message, “Every improvement in communication makes the truth less visible”, and also featured in a poster that was part of the famous Krakow Jewish Festival in Poland, this past July.
Tags: communication design, design thinking, oded ezer, skype for social collaboration, social collaboration, social networking design, typographic artist
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One Calendar with Social Networking Powers
