September 2011
1 post
2 tags
"Brand Experience" vs. "Customer Experience"
I recently posted a response to a Forrester Research Community discussion topic on the difference between “Brand Experience” vs. “Customer Experience” which I thought I’d share here:
One way to distinguish between the two is to consider the orientations:
Firm
Firms engage in efforts that result in experiences. Whether or not the efforts are thought through or...
March 2011
1 post
5 tags
Welcome to the Information [Overload] Age
In the Industrial Age, knowledge was power.
The Industrial Age was a resource/raw materials-based economy.
Access to knowledge was limited to those with significant means.
Those who combined rare knowledge with raw materials and the means to shape them using advanced machinery were the alchemists of the day.
In the Information [Overload] Age, attention is power.
The Information [Overload] Age...
February 2011
1 post
8 tags
Design Defined
Last year I shared a paper I had originally published in 2002 attempting to define design in response to the discipline’s increasing popularity as a cultural as well as commercial force. It was clear to me in 2002 that design would eventually evolve beyond a discipline and be recognized as the fundamental means by which human intention is brought to reality, serving as the driver of...
December 2010
1 post
4 tags
Good Design Does Not Oversimplify
Sometimes simplicity and utility are diametrically opposed. The pursuit of aesthetics above all can lead to oversimplification through the sacrifice of utility in favor of simplistic purity. While the results may be celebrated by aesthetically minded critics, they do not represent the highest potential of design.
The challenge in producing good design is in discovering the harmonious balance...
October 2010
2 posts
2 tags
6 tags
July 2010
2 posts
5 tags
WatchFrom Engineering Orientation to Design Orientation Obi-Wan and Boeing
In his BlogWell Seattle case study presentation, “Obi-Wan and Boeing,” Communications Director, Todd Blecher, spoke about the evolution of Boeing’s online communication approach [the reasoning behind the new Boeing.com]. Todd explained that by focusing on storytelling, sharing, and video, they have been able...
3 tags
Good Design
Good design results from a sensitive attention to — and expression of — subtleties.
June 2010
3 posts
5 tags
Design Management
One can not begin to understand the role of Design Management — or its purpose — until one begins to understand the difference between the mundane and an experience.
If you are trying to achieve the mundane (starting at broken and going all the way up to undesirable and even forgettable), you do not need design, nor do you need Design Management.
The moment you decide that you want...
5 tags
5 tags
May 2010
3 posts
6 tags
3 tags
4 tags
April 2010
12 posts
4 tags
6 tags
3 Reasons Why Design is More than Sex
Design must be accessible. Design must enable a user to connect with the user’s intention (whether it be to use a product, consume information or experience an environment) in the most efficient manner possible, barring unnecessary barriers to entry that may limit the accessibility of the designed product/service/experience.
Design must provide utility. Design must [at minimum] enhance...
6 tags
WatchThe Knowledge Economy of World of Warcraft
Within the guilds of this popular computer game, real innovation is taking place. Thousands of new ideas happen daily through crowdsourcing. In addition, all performance is measured and critiqued, both as a group and individually. Guilds also work collaboratively on larger projects, allowing for radical, exponential learning and results. Deloitte...
5 tags
On Design Management
Without a solid design management team in place charting a coherent design strategy, all the design thinking in the world can’t save you.
And Lord help you if all you have is design styling.
For > (where > = greater than);
Design Management >
Design Strategy >
Design Thinking >
Design Styling
Further Reading:
Design Thinking is Dead. Long Live Design Orientation
...
4 tags
WatchWhat Games Teach
Video Games 101
James Paul Gee, a leading proponent of developing video games for education, explains how video games like Grand Theft Auto actually can be educational. Gee is a professor at Arizona State University
Kids play games socially. Games are not a socially isolating technology.
They want to teach / mentor / build in their communities.
Get to be an expert, but be on...
7 tags
8 tags
Toward a Design Orientation
Nine months ago I wrote about Design Orientation as an alternative to Finance Orientation — the model which has governed business thinking for the past 50+ years.
Today, I read an amazing article in the Financial Times by John Kay, a member of the advisory board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and simply had to share it because it represents the first truly honest step in coming...
5 tags
WatchDesign Outside the Box
Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell, dives into a world of game development which will emerge from the popular “Facebook Games” era. Read more at G4TV.
Hat tip to @sherrymain.
3 tags
4 tags
WatchLearning in Virtual Worlds
Avatar II: The Hospital
BY STEPHANIE SIMON
The nurses have been told there’s a crisis. But they’re hardly prepared for the chaos that awaits.
Dozens of patients, stricken with a debilitating flu, crowd the emergency room. Some slump mutely in chairs. Others wander, moaning or calling out for blankets. Just as the nurses begin triage, part of the...
5 tags
Designers Look for Trouble What’s Your Problem?
Designers are an odd bunch. No other discipline (professional or otherwise) spends so much time looking for what’s wrong with everything in the world. If it wasn’t for the designer instinct to turn problems into opportunities for positive change, designers the world over would surely suffer from depression and perish as a result.
...
4 tags
WatchOn Leadership: How Video Games Build Leaders
On Leadership: Stanford professor Byron Reeves on how online multiplayer games like ‘World of Warcraft’ are creating the next generation of leaders.
(Video by Katherine Crnko and Andrea Useem/Washington Post)
March 2010
26 posts
4 tags
6 tags
WatchJane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world
Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.
You may find the following related posts of interest:
Real World Camaraderie through Virtual Worlds New Models for...
3 tags
3 tags
2 tags
2 tags
3 tags
User-Centered Innovation Is Not Sustainable →
via ferraby:
The big re-think continues… A good statement post.
6 tags
6 tags
4 tags
7 tags
3 tags
Deconstructing Magic
What are the qualities of Magic that — if understood — can assist anyone in transforming the bland into something magical/memorable?
And by bland, could I mean brand?! Why, yes, of course that can be one interpretation. On to the qualities of Magic, then:
Magic is the mysterious. Not all is revealed — some is kept in shadow. (might you think of Apple secrecy?)
Magic is ...
3 tags
3 tags
Capitalism --> win/win
How do you take the idea of soviet era automobiles (You can choose any color so long as it’s black) and/or Germany’s concept of the people’s car (i.e. simple, affordable yet boring) and combine that with free market capitalism & the culture of individualism in the post-American dream era where costs are prohibitive yet technology is flourishing?
Capitalist / Communist /...
4 tags
3 tags
WatchDesign for Social Impact Emily Pilloton
Emily Pilloton wants to create things that aren’t just well designed, but have a positive social impact.
I love how her definition of design is so very close to mine.
3 tags
WatchDesign in Business
Design and business have traditionally made uneasy bedfellows, with practitioners of each eyeing each other suspiciously. But in recent years, some companies have demonstrated huge success by adopting a design-savvy approach. That’s led to a resurgence of interest in design as business strategy. There remains little agreement on the best policies, structures, or principles...
3 tags
WatchEconomists and Design
When the old ideas stop working, business must find new ones. So is the current economic slowdown a fantastic opportunity for design?
To find out, the Design Council and the Economist are bringing leaders from business and design together at a major conference in March 2010.
2 tags
Fresh Approaches to Sparking Creativity →
Newly published research describes two innovative methods to inspire creativity: Compare and contrast different cultures, or think of yourself as a 7-year-old.
3 tags
WatchBeyond Design Thinking It’s Called Design Management
Emotional Branding: the new paradigm for connecting brands to people by Marc Gobé begins with a very interesting Foreword by Sergio Zyman.
It’s only three pages long, but definitely worth reading to see why design thinking is the incorrect way to frame a very important and valid call for interdisciplinary collaboration between...
4 tags
3 tags
Mainstreaming Design: Faster and For Keeps
Design Thinking our Way into the Heart of Business
By Steve Sato, Principal, Sato+Partners, LLC
Question: What do the following trends have in common?
Design thinking
Experience design
Customer-centered design
They are all trends at the intersection of design and business. They have more hype than bite. They each require a multi-disciplinary team to work together in new ways to...
2 tags
3 tags
On Design Thinking
Design Thinking is the value added Intellectual Property (IP) of Design Doing.
Want Design Thinking? Start by Design Learning, then Design Failing, Design Doing, Design Experiencing, Design Reflecting & Design Evolving.
Further Reading:
Design Defined
Design Thinking is Dead. Long Live Design Orientation
Design Orientation is Not a Buzzword
Redefining Design From occupation to driver of...