The Essence of Branding May 8, 2008

While marketers have debated the meaning of ‘Brand’ like the classical Greeks had with ‘Democracy’, or the French & Italians with ‘Love’, one contemporary author has nailed an excellent definition for our times. What follows is the first of an article series covering themes from the book: A Clear Eye for Branding, by Tom Asacker.

We choose brands based on the Feelings they evoke in us. Quality and Consistency were the traditional branding values. As advertising and new products proliferated, nowadays these values have shifted to Familiarity and Comfort (especially for low-involvement products with minor differences between brands).

A brand is a fluid and multi-faceted personal concept that contains all the ideas, values, stories, memories, perceptions, and feelings accumulated over time in people’s unconscious minds. It is conveyed by a wide variety of touchpoints. When assessing these, including the logo, one should critically ask if they’re appropriate for the feelings you want people to have. If it doesn’t matter, then it’s simply irrelevant.

To grow a brand, Tom says to:

Increase customers’ pleasant feelings - like discovery, fun, reward, a sense of belonging, increased self-esteem - which will condition desire. And eliminate their unpleasant ones - boredom, risk, pain, effort required, reduced esteem - which condition aversion. Spend time scrutinizing every sensory clue encountered by your customers so that the mental picture that they create about your offering - their sense based belief - is the accurate one.

What characterizes the purchasing behavior of strong brands? It comes to one or more of the following:

• Willingness to pay a premium when compared to alternatives
• A readiness to spend much effort to acquire it
• Continual repurchasing; not accepting a substitute, within reason.

If brands are based on people’s feelings, subject to change due to today’s continuous information flow and competition for attention, then it’s very important for an organization to be agile and looking out for their audience’s changing preferences. Study and put oneself in the mind of the customer, across different scenarios. Ethnography is but one means of research.

Great branding is thus about discovering and understanding WHY customers buy, based on their feelings, then STIMULATING those feelings. Tom adds:

Today’s customers insist on high quality, quick delivery and relatively low prices. And customer service is a dated, lean-back practice, where employees are paid, and technology is used, to be friendly, answer questions, and generally make the overall purchasing experience an agreeable one. Customer stimulation is a lean-forward strategy, designed to increase both sales and profitability.

Branding is a game of seduction that’s rewarding when you:

• Continually seek to know and understand your audience’s behaviors, desires, and expectations
• Look for ways to deepen your mutual ‘relationship’ with them
• Develop timely new products and services that improve their lives
• Stimulate your audience to try, purchase, and recommend your brand to others

Death Of A Noble Tailor May 4, 2008

Last Friday brought the premature death to the well regarded life of Nau, a clothing company.

Nau made fashionable clothing from sustainable & eco-friendly materials, and exclusively distributed them online and through retail stores in various U.S. cities. Their ethos resonated corporate social responsibility.

The preliminary autopsy report according to their press release pointed to a dissolution following an inability to procure additional capital investment, citing a risk-averse American financial market.

This week, I will gather my notes taken from a recent university seminar and will write about their story and operations.

As a fitting eulogy, I leave you with a small brochure that outlines their philosophy and can give you a personal glimpse into the company that was. May their energetic and caring spirit be carried on…

Click here to see the slideshow presentation

Green Links - 5/2/08 May 2, 2008

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Clorox and Green Supply Chains - The company faces some unique challenges with a few brands’ supply chains in making sure the end-product doesn’t get too expensive.
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DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation - The big plastics and chemical company’s 20th award ceremony honors 7 winners and 3 notables for sustainable achievements & innovations in the use of renewable materials, effective recovery, energy efficiency and community benefit.
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Primo: Water Company with Bio-based Bottles - North Carolina based company uses bio-plastic PLA made from corn, to bottle the water it sells.
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Polylactic Acid (PLA) Article on Wikipedia - This outline describes what PLA is, and provides some links at the page bottom to other biodegradable polymers.
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TED Talks: The Omnivore’s Next Dilemma - Michael Pollen talks about nature and our relationship to it, from a food production and consumption perspective.
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5 Ways to Turn CO2 into Cash - Looking at ways to use carbon dioxide for profitable purposes.
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Aerogel: A Better Form of Insulation - An agent that can insulate 37 times better than fiberglass, may soon be a market-viable material due to recent breakthroughs that may reduce its production costs by 80%.
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Conscious Consumers in a Nutshell - Great article on green, natural, and health-minded consumers and their profiles.
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Eco-Patent Commons - Article on this initiative to build an online, searchable repository for patents that are donated by companies for royalty-free use by anyone, without need for a license or purchase.
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Wal-Mart Expands Environmental Activities with Chinese Suppliers - You know their name and how much they import. They’re leading the retail industry also in this green realm of procurement and operations.
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Wal-Mart and its Packaging Scorecard - These guys again? Yup, because it’s good for you to know how they are auditing their suppliers to make a difference in product shipping and packaging.
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Eco Trademark Trends - U.S. trademarks with environmental themes saw a big rise in applications for 2007.
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Tesco Trials Carbon Footprint Product Labels - Tesco’s is one of the world’s largest retailers. They’ve begun a pilot program with a few products that shows their environmental impact using data provided by the Carbon Trust, a British government-funded organization.
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Software that Provides Sustainable Analysis and Recommendations - SAS is the company. They use the Global Reporting Initiative framework for reporting on environmental, social and economic factors that will help firms like Cisco better analyze their efforts and build appropriate strategies and tactics.
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Organic Soap Maker Sues Other Firms over Greenwashing - Dr. Bronner’s lawsuit against some other personal care product manufacturers raises the question of what is ‘fair’ organic/natural labeling in the U.S.
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Thanks to GreenBiz.com for providing excellent coverage of news stories this last month. I hope to provide you with additional articles in the coming weeks.

My Reading List - Spring 08 April 28, 2008

Here is a look at my current reading list over the next few months. Not quite all the books, but most.

One of the best aspects of reading business, design, and communication books is all the advanced material so well explained and enlightening, that one just cannot meaningfully retain from magazines (as opposed to Journals). To learn the subjects even better, take notes and write yourself summaries that add personal relevance, related topics, and other contextual detail. The last thing you can do, is try to teach others what you learned - the passion will flow because at this point, you’ll understand the material so well and the story will be yours.

. . .

What’s on your Reading List?

Seminar: Design Green Now - Part 2 April 26, 2008

April 11th, I attended the local tour stop of Design Green Now, a seminar that explored green and sustainable product design & development. This article is Part 2 of a series that highlights the panelists, their presentations, and issues discussed during the Q&A.
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Nathan Vanhook
Art Director, Senior Wetsuit Designer
Body Glove

. . .
Body Glove, a water sports equipment and clothing manufacturer, decided three years ago to develop an eco-friendly line of products as part of a first step in transitioning the firm. Nathan was part of the development team that began first with life jackets (aka Personal Flotation Devices), then later with wetsuits and shirts.

The primary goal was to replace the foam, Neoprene, with an alternative material that could provide the same elastic and insulating properties. Neoprene is a DuPont product that is a form of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), that has additives called Plasticizers to make it soft and flexible. While PVC has been widely used around the world to make a variety of products, the material has been under growing international scrutiny for the last 10 years. This is because some of these additives are bio-hazardous and have been shown to leech/offgas after initial production and over time. Additionally, PVC (like all plastics), is petroleum-based.

Nathan recalled to the audience his first experience visiting their manufacturing plant in Donghuang, China. While being an eye-opening experience in many regards, Nathan told how he entered a poorly-ventilated massive room filled with new life jackets. The air had a strong chemical smell; a few workers who were affixing tags and performing quality control, weren’t wearing any protective gear for handling nor breathing. The experience awakened Nathan to the sobering reality of China: low cost labor, short life cycle designs, no environmental regulations, and a massive impact on the earth in terms of manufacturing volume.

Body Glove was able to find in Japan, a suitable alternative made from organic compounds. While this was great, the foreign procurement would mean adding to the products’ life cycle mileage - a new aspect that simply now had to be accounted for. From materials’ origin to factory, U.S. warehouses, and on to local surf shops, the products had a total of 8,806 miles. Nathan explained that while eco-friendly materials are definitely one of the most important aspects of sustainable product design, one should think about the total travel distance in life cycle analyses.

When asked during the Q&A about tools and processes helpful to design & development, Nathan heavily promoted using the Internet as a global research tool for materials science information, alternative sources, applications, and suppliers. New developments and best practices in sustainable materials and construction are happening around the world; designers and architects can learn a lot by looking outside their borders.

In closing, Nathan mentioned the Iriquois native Americans considering the impact of their activities for the next seven generations - a wise and responsible forward-thinking philosophy that we as mankind should apply today.

. . .

Design Green Now - Article Series:

Part One: Heidrun Mumper-Drumm

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For additional information about Nathan, please see his profile at DesignGreenNow.

Creativity and the Child/Adult Mind April 22, 2008

American Cellular Telecoms & Sustainability April 19, 2008

I read a story today of a gentleman having came to San Francisco, and was unable to find a prepaid SIM card for his phone. This presented a big problem for him because he needed cellular service, but didn’t want to buy a new phone, nor pay overseas roaming fees. Prepaid SIM cards though, are difficult to find. American telecoms either sell service contracts combined with subsidized new phones (most often the case), OR monthly plans to customers with unlocked phones (seldom). For more information, please see Stopwatch Marketing by John Rosen and AnnaMaria Turano, p.76-82.

While I understand the economics and customer ‘lock-in’ strategy, I have two major contentions with this traditional business practice. One: It isn’t customer-oriented because people are not being given the freedom of handset model/maker choice; (Aside: Hey Alltel! This is a huge differentiation opportunity if you don’t already offer it).

Two: If new phone sales are subsidized through service plan changes, promotional upgrade offers, and new carrier signups, could that perhaps mean that Americans are more inclined to upgrade to new phones and dispose of old ones, in comparison to other countries?

As a result, Americans are not only subject to shorten their cell phone’s life cycle through great advertising and a personal desire to own a better phone, but ALSO through national carriers’ product marketing & sales models. What if an individual wants to sign up with a new carrier because they’ve moved, are seeking a better rate, the previous provider’s customer service sucks…whatever the reason? If they are happy with their current phone, but it came from a previous carrier, it is the owner’s responsibility to try and seek out someone to unlock their phone (if possible), and then come back.

According to my own personal experience, and from Stopwatch Marketing’s authors, the cellular service shopping experience is best characterized by reluctance (because of service plan complexity), and by a fast moving perception of time spent. With these factors at hand, it is no surprise that many individuals would see the option of purchasing their phone through non-traditional channels, or having phones unlocked through independent resellers, as too burdensome.

This presents an industry business model design with substantial negative externalities: a potentially higher per capita volume of cell phone e-waste in the United States, in comparison to other countries.

. . .

What do you think?

Think -> Concept -> Build April 18, 2008

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A model for concept development I put together, as part of a weekly series of info diagrams from different designers, marketers, and other creative types. The series is called “Think Draw Make”, the website is www.thinkdrawmake.com , and is organized by DT of DesignSojourn.com

Here is my official explanation of the diagram, as left by my comment at ThinkDrawMake:

My inspiration is from product development phases, with the understanding of ‘product’ as being wide open to include objects (physical and intangible) for commercial, nonprofit, personal, and communal use.

The word ‘Market’ may imply designing an object for commercial use only. However, it could be stretched so that we simply mean looking at non-competitive objects elsewhere in the world. This may be done for noting best practices, styling, and other inputs into concept development.

In the diagram, multiple ideas are thought out then each is examined against:

- Our Objective or Scope
- Quality (as a function of time, cost, and absolute value)
- Strategic Fit (organizational or personal values, culture, intended future direction)

If the idea passes that preliminary intuitive test, then it’s a good ‘Concept’. These will then be further explored and refined through detailed descriptions, models (drawings, 3d forms, etc.), research, and viability analysis.

The second screen simply asks which concepts are worth making, given our scope, their viability, attractiveness, and whatever constraints we may have (time, money, etc.).

Then we build prototypes and lastly, finished objects. In the diagram, we began with 5 ideas and ended up building 2. I don’t want to make the whole process seem too disciplined or difficult - but hey that’s life - to make great objects we have to be a little critical, you know? Money and time doesn’t grow on trees

Seminar: Design Green Now - Part 1 April 16, 2008

Last Friday night, I attended the local tour stop of Design Green Now, a seminar that explored green and sustainable product design & development. This article is part of a series that highlights the panelists, their presentations, and issues discussed during the Q&A.

The moderator, Rob Curedale, is an industrial designer with 30 years experience in consumer products. He recounted to the audience his feelings on how designers’ relationships to their work have enlarged over the years from being aesthetics-oriented with a large attention for personal fame, to a holistic constraints-orientation that includes environmental and societal considerations with a greater concern for “Us”.
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Heidrun Mumper-Drumm
Adjunct Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Art Center College of Design - Pasadena, CA

. . .
Sustainability starts in the creation phase. This means not only considering materials selection, but also being efficient in the concept/prototype development phase in terms of minimizing scrap waste, packaging, procurement distance, and general energy consumption.

The challenge now is in finding an excellent process model for sustainable design, because the traditional design process doesn’t support it. We need to go from a linear model focused on constraints and objectives within our immediate realm of influence in the value chain, to a complete life cycle model. That means considering the activities and indirect needs of everyone besides the end customer - manufacturer, distributor, retailer, 2nd/3rd-hand parties, and recyclers. It means looking at the product’s environment throughout its life - packaging, shipping, application, storage, disposal - and how it interacts with that environment (beneficial, neutral, detrimental).

At Art Center, they have a Color Material Trend Lab (CMTEL) established in 2005 with funding from Nokia, where students can learn about and explore using a wide variety of materials, and staff members can request additional information and samples from suppliers.

They also have an EcoCouncil, established by Art Center students as a weekly forum to discuss sustainable design topics, in addition to proposing & organizing research and community projects. The prominent interest area involves conducting Waste Stream Analyses of scrap materials, packaging, and trash by using process maps, journals, and mathematical formulas for extrapolating collected data into a forecasted life segment/cycle assessment.

When asked during the Q&A about the ability for capitalism and profit-mindedness to coexist with sustainable design thinking, Heidrun was a bit skeptical. The future holds a lot of opportunity for both fields, but don’t expect businesses to consider environmental stewardship for its own sake. The greater motivation for businesses in adopting sustainable thinking lies in reducing materials and operational expenses, while minimizing risk and product liability.

To promote responsible action and industry change, not just by leading product companies and innovators, regulation will be needed. This may involve:

• Restricting the use of certain materials, while providing incentives for others.
• Establishing stricter guidelines for manufacturing, storage, distribution, and reverse-logistics processes.
• Taxes and rebates for recycling, landfills, and other end-of-life cycle scenarios.

While sustainable thinking can be applied to many areas within a company’s operations, Life cycle analyses incorporated within the product concept development phase represent the best way forward. Briefly, they involve building multiple cost/benefit scenarios for concepts as a part of the Scoping, Business Case, or Product Design Strategy phases of product development.

In her closing statements, Heidrun gave the following recommendations to the audience:

• Avoid Greenwashing - There are going to be a lot of manufacturers out there using subjective labels and terms describing how environmentally conscious their companies, and safe their products, are. Whatever you say, be specific and honest.
• Perform a Life Cycle Analysis
• Do not fake the eco-friendliness of your product for the benefit of the design community or other value chain members. By only using a low percentage of friendlier materials or by mixing them with others that effectively create monstrous hybrids that cannot be recycled, and whose assets cannot be reclaimed, is a major disservice to this cause.

. . .

Design Green Now - Article Series:

Part Two: Nathan Vanhook

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For additional information about Heidrun, please see her profile at DesignGreenNow.

The Blogger Social Experience 2008 April 13, 2008

After one week since Blogger Social, it’s been great looking back at the whole experience. The only general expectations I had would be that everyone would be really friendly and smart in their own regards. While this held true, there were other things I noticed and felt. In follow-up to being tagged by Ryan Barrett of CheapThrills, it is these feelings that I’d like to share:

• As much as I wanted to try to speak with everyone at least briefly, there just wasn’t enough time. But I damned made sure to do the best I could; only about 10 people got away because of different schedules, seating, timing, etc. There were some dear folks with whom I had wanted to spend more personal time with - our interaction was circumstantially brief - and which left me a little sad. However, this difference of wanted v. actual time used, ended up with me having excellent conversations and dialog with individuals - on an unanticipated intellectual or social plane, and a few times on a personal and extended basis.
   
• The informal blogger profile booklet really helped in quickly getting to know everyone and identifying individuals I had wanted to speak with. It was this complete picture of professional and personal background information, painted by an impartial 3rd party, that made everyone seem so human and approachable - regardless of what industry we came from, what stage of life we’re in, our relative ’success’ level, etc. Secondly, the informal profiles immensely helped shorten ’small talk to conversation’ cycle time (Yes, I am a process/productivity geek - time is valuable; let’s make the most of it).
   
• While there was a LOT of enthusiastic conversing going on, there were also a couple times when I felt general content and satisfaction in the air without the need for words during little mini-breaks; maybe a few folks were around us, but there was no awkward rift, no pressure to start conversation again right away - the small talk was truly genuine and had a pace of its own. That feeling was extremely comforting.
   
• Speaking with and listening to so many individuals from a variety of professional backgrounds and experiences, helped really exhibit the relative nature of all reality. In a mixed social setting with no professionally organized agenda (explicit and implied), we’ll all dramatically contribute to the very healthy and important virtue of open-mindedness, while seeing each others’ professions and point-of-views in new ways (or at least be more inclined to).
   
• I came away with a better understanding of what my unique passions are, where my strengths lie, in which direction I want to drive forward, and realistic idea of how to get there. What is my passion and career direction you may ask? It’s heavily leaning toward green marketing, innovation, and sustainable product development. But as I learned from a few folks, opening our minds to diverse and different work opportunities can also help us grow in ways perhaps we’ve never considered before. The path is never quite straight, nor must it be.
   
• Time is now more valuable than ever before - Any and all acquaintances and friends I decide to maintain online, must have some level of genuine ‘interestingness’ or geniality. Novelty is not an option (unless it’s so remarkable and entertaining, while not interfering with my ability to be professionally and socially productive). If I have an opportunity to develop a future relationship with someone I have only very weak ties now, I’ll let it develop on its own accord and timing.

With all that said, it was an amazing experience that I will cherish. For all the folks I met last weekend, previously ‘known’ and unknown, it was marvelous meeting you and I hope that we may remain in good company for a very long time.

Susan Bird, Tim Brunelle, Katie Chatfield, Matt Dickman, Luc Debaisieux, Mark Goren, Gavin Heaton, Sean Howard, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Doug Meacham, Marilyn Pratt, Steve Roesler, Greg Verdino, CB Whittemore, Steve Woodruff, Paul McEnany, Ann Handley, David Reich, Tangerine Toad, Kristin Gorski, Mack Collier, David Armano, Ryan Barrett, Lori Magno, Tim McHale, Gene DeWitt, Arun Rajagopal, Rohit Bhargava, Anna Farmery, Thomas Clifford, Lewis Green, Geoff Livingston, Kris Hoet, Connie Reece, Cece Lee, Toby Bloomberg, Seni Thomas, Darryl Ohrt, Joe Kutchera, Paul Dunay, Marshall Sponder, Chris Kieff, Tara Anderson, Jason Falls, Paul Soldera, Roberta Rosenberg, Saul Colt Todd Andrlik, Nathan Snell, Ryan Karpeles, Jennifer Laycock, Neil Vineberg, Cam Beck, Mike Arauz, Matthew Bailey, Heather Gorringe, John Rosen, Cathleen Rittereiser, Tamar Weinberg, Rita Perea, Linda Sherman, Matthew McDonald, Kaitlyn Wilkins, Terry Starbucker, Jennifer Berk, Jane Quigley, John Wall, Scott Monty, Kevin Horne, Virginia Miracle, Amanda Gravel, David Polinchock, Shashi Bellamkonda, David Berkowitz, and Vahe Habeshian

For all the dear individuals I know online, but whom I’ve not yet had the pleasure to meet or speak with, I look forward to an opportunity with you someday soon.

Mille Grazie e Arrivederci!

Mi Primo Anniversario April 11, 2008

 
Just a little over a year ago, on April 4th, I began writing this blog.
 

Before jumping in, I spent a LOT of time commenting on blog posts (just about everywhere!) and getting to know the various individuals that write exceptionally well AND connect to their readers.
 

Then I began organizing the big blogroll you see in the right margin. Its prominence is intentional - many of these writers deserve attention for their passion; some of them have helped me come to where I am today - please explore!
 

I started off slow and didn’t write as often as I wanted to. Perfectionism haunted my spirit as I didn’t want to come off as a person writing blurbs and editorial. The purpose of an excellent blog is to flesh out what stirs excitement within you while providing a conversational atmosphere to share and learn from others.
 

After one year, it has been a fantastic experience. Thank-you for your kindness and acceptance of me. Special gratitude go to Mario Sundar and CK.
 

With that said, I leave you with a song from Yann Tiersen’s album: Les Retrouvailles , The title: Loin des Villes. The video compiled from one man, his brother, and his father traveling to see family in China. Enjoy!
 

 

 
[image credit: hazymat]

Trajan - The Original Roman Serif March 30, 2008

We’ve all seen this font before -it’s quite popular for use with books, magazines, posters, and billboards. The dead giveaway is the lack of serifs on the capital N’s top-left and bottom-right.

Trajan is an actual replica of ancient Roman letterforms found at the base of Trajan’s column in Rome. The specific style is called square capitals, and only uppercase letters are available. This typeface was used for inscriptions and signage for cultural events, decrees, imperial arches, architecture, etc. It was first painted on marble with a brush, followed by chiseling into the stone. Sometimes holes were bored into the etched type to support melted bronze subsequently poured in.

Here’s a quick mock book/movie title I’ve made with it - I was first thinking of going all silly and calling it “The Briefcase”, but “The Public Defender” looked better:

The name comes from the Roman emperor Trajan; the digital typeface was designed by Carol Twombly for Adobe in 1989.
Additional information available at: Wikipedia and Typophile

One more for the road…this video introduced me to the font and pokes fun at its ubiquity within the U.S. film industry:
Official YouTube Link

The Age of Conversation - Bum Rush March 29, 2008

The Age of Conversation had a great debut last year. Through our writers’ and friends’ collective efforts, our proceeds-from-sales to the children’s charity Variety amounted to more than $11,000.

Now we’ve been able to bring this fine book to Amazon, and if you buy this book today, your effort will radically help drive the book’s attention up through Amazon’s charts -> leading to greater potential proceeds.

So if you don’t have a copy of last year’s classic, or know someone who might enjoy reading it (while helping out a great cause in the process), visit or forward on this special affiliate link:
http://tinyurl.com/2drj2x

On Measurement March 28, 2008

No Country For Old Rules March 28, 2008

In a major economic address at Cooper Union yesterday, Senator Barack Obama called for a modernization of our regulatory framework. He made the case that while markets are the engine of American progress, the government’s role as a steward is critical to the function of the free market.

While I was hearing the senator speak, I could not help but think about the parallels between the financial debacle today and the issues we’re facing with global trade. In his quest to get us out of a recession, Mr. Obama may have given us a framework to alleviate some of our international trade challenges:

1- Update Regulations: He says that “The evolution of industries often warrants regulatory reform – to foster competition, lower prices, or replace outdated oversight structures. Old institutions cannot adequately oversee new practices. Old rules may not fit the roads where our economy is leading… For the sake of our common prosperity, we needed to adapt to keep markets competitive and fair.” In 2006, Charles Fishman wrote something similar in his excellent book, “The Wal-Mart Effect”, in which he says that “[Wal-Mart’s] business model is built on the shopping cart, but in fact, Wal-Mart is a completely new kind of institution: modern, advanced, potent in ways we’ve never seen before. Yes, Wal-Mart plays by the rules, but…the rules are antiquated; they are from a different era that didn’t anticipate anything like Wal-Mart.” Fishman continues to explain that Wal-Mart is just a symbol of the era of mega corporations (i.e. ExxonMobil, GE, P&G, Toyota), whose operations are so large and dominant that they stand astride of Adam Smith’s market forces we rely on to harness them; suffocating inflation and driving manufacturing jobs overseas while mitigating their risk by developing new markets outside the US.

2- Risk Assessment: “Financial institutions must do a better job at managing risks. There is something wrong when boards of directors or senior managers don’t understand the implications of the risks assumed by their own institutions. It’s time to realign incentives and compensation packages, so that both high level executives and employees better serve the interests of shareholders. And it’s time to confront the risks that come with excessive complexity.” This reminds me of the various product safety scandals that the American consumer had to wake up to, due to risk assessments that many importers had failed to fully understand. U.S. manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, or retailers who outsource from outside the U.S. need to ensure that the products they are bringing from overseas are safe. They are liable for distributing the tainted product even if they had no direct knowledge of the risk.

3- International Collaboration: “As we reform our regulatory system at home, we must work with international arrangements …The goal must be ensuring that financial institutions around the world are subject to similar rules of the road – both to make the system stable, and to keep our financial institutions competitive.” Here is where the U.S. needs to take leadership, and work with its trading partners bilaterally or through the WTO to create a regulatory framework, a chain of oversight covering the whole manufacturing and food-production process as well as labor and environmental laws, to regain consumer confidence and keep a fair playing field.

On Forecasts March 27, 2008

Multi-Functional Product Design - Part I March 26, 2008

One thing I love about product design is the ability to combine separate objects into something new and practical. I like to stress that last adjective. The concept of novelty can be applied liberally, and usually implies a sense of amusement. However, the degree to which the novel product (or aspect thereof) is ‘useful’ (in purpose and time-span), can be highly questionable depending on the end user profile, and our own qualitative value assessment.

All of this analytical reasoning lead to the questions like:
What is of Value? For whom? Under what circumstances?

While user profiles are excellent tools to expand upon basic demographic and psychographic modeling, there are two major considerations that affect the attractiveness of a multifunctional product: space and time.

Space - This involves the environments in which we live, work, relax, commute, etc. It includes the amount of physical space you have, shared spaces, and their salient and secondary aspects.

Time - What we all value and may sometimes feel deprived of. This includes dedicated time for particular activities, shared time for multiple activities (like often found in the multitasking workplace), and random time for the unexpected (pleasant, neutral, undesirable) situations and activities.

When examining both of these considerations in a particular context, look for what your allowances and constraints are. Doing this will help you find an opportunity to take advantage of.

Lifestyle changes (gradual and sudden), will serve as catalysts for utility and value in multifunctional products. Maybe we already have individual products that can currently do their job well, but in the new circumstance or lifestyle change, a single product with increased functionality that allows for time & space improvements can be of moderate to significant value.

One area where time and space are often limited is in urban areas, where living spaces tend to be smaller, resources and amenities may be geographically dispersed, reliance on public transit is greater, and people can tend to live faster. An additional factor that affects time and space is the blurring line between work and leisure. Flexible working hours and more individuals working from home has created opportunities for manufacturers to create products that can be catered for both environments.

Where there is a user will, there is a way. Change will force us to be creative - whether there’s a commercially available and affordable solution to the little things and bigger issues in our lives, or not. It is in this intersection where ethnographic research holds large value - identifying behaviors and looking for opportunities.

Avenir March 23, 2008

While I’ve liked Futura for a while, especially having seen it around from street signage to books, I recently came across Avenir and liked the bit more comfortable look. Avenir was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988. He described it as:

…intended to be nothing more or less than a clear and clean representation of modern typographical trends, giving the designer a typeface which is strictly modern and at the same time human, i.e., suitably refined and elegant for use in texts of any length.

What’s also special is that each of its varieties (sizes and weights), were uniquely designed for versatility in different contexts, especially print where it is well regarded for use in books with large amounts of text.

On Design March 19, 2008

Today I am tackling that big, illustrious word: Design

Why? A new course in my studies is on Design Management, and the first chapter describes for us what it is, and some of its roots and branches. Since my background is originally in Business Management, Marketing, and Logistics, my original conception (for years) was that design was about aesthetics, while everything else was engineering. This perceptual model slowly changed with time, especially after I came into my first job out of college and met with our industrial and packaging designers. Over the last six years, I’ve come to meet and befriend designers in a variety of fields who have taught and exposed me to a plethora of topics and principles common to their line of work.

But you know what the most valuable thing I learned was? There’s a big difference between Art and Design. The former is pure creative, while the latter encompasses: research, planning, creative, and testing. This deep insight has immensely expanded my appreciation for the roles that designers play in our lives, and their contribution to business and society.

Design is both a noun and a verb

Thus, Design implies both an Intention (plan or objective in analytical and creative stages), and an Outcome (model or form in execution stages).

While there are many design disciplines, each with their own objectives and serving different audiences (commissioners and users), these basic elements hold true.

A major difference among the disciplines is the degree to which each is oriented to either Art or Science. The design tree on the right (click on image) serves as an excellent model to this practical theory that design encompasses both.

While this diagram shows the traditional major design categories: Environmental, Product, Packaging, and Graphic…there are some additional categories not shown, that can stand on their own or act in conjunction with others. These include: Information, Interactive, Communication (nonverbal, written), and Process design (quality and time improvement).

Design is an activity that’s problem-solving, creative, systemic, and coordinating. This is identical to the role of Management, with the addition of Oversight, Leadership, and Strategic Analysis & Planning.

An additional element of design some people consider relevant, is cultural contribution. This implies that the objective of design is also to provide some societal or ecological benefit; it may be questionable based on the context of the situation, but at least we can subscribe to a primary rule of sustainability: First, do no harm.

When we now observe design from this perspective, well heck…there’s a lot of folks engaged in some form of design everyday; we just don’t recognize them as ‘designers’. One that comes to mind for me is supply chain planners who optimize the efficient production and distribution of goods.

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How do you see the role of design? Are there additional disciplines or other aspects of design you would like to share?

The Change Function March 16, 2008

I came across this interesting qualitative assessment model for predicting whether change is possible, and to what degree it will arise, from my reading of Pip Coburn’s “The Change Function“. Pip’s context was finding how out people’s inclination to adopt new technologies, based on a user-centered model that functions like a cost/benefit analysis. While the large reliance on qualitative data can make this change propensity difficult to assess, it serves as an excellent guide for developing and testing new product concepts in design research, and evaluating their implementation value and market potential.

Degree of Actual Crisis or Need
How bad is the dilemma we’re facing? Is it causing difficulties for us to function in our work or personal lives? Is it costing us time, money, health, growth rate? This analysis asks us to be critical, because marketing and bright, shiny, objects/processes can fascinate us into believing our current situation may be lacking somehow; that if it could be improved, we’d be that much better off. Remember, desires can be turned into needs (rational or not), by changes in perspectives (through influence and/or analysis). This goes for things small like new running shoes to massive ERP software packages. The incentive to change (purchase, sell, adapt behavior) is a result of performing this preliminary assessment.

Total Perceived Pain of Adoption
If I/we decide to change or act upon an opportunity, what is it going to cost us? Common factors include:

• Relative Affordability
• Learning Curve (difficulty, time)
• Time to Benefits Realization
• Readiness/Will for Change (based on Myers-Briggs)
• Risk of Failure

Change
While solving this formula may seem difficult or confusing because of the division involved, a simpler way to look at the problem is as follows: To what degree is the actual crisis or need, larger than the total perceived pain of adoption.

• If Positive, change will be increasingly beneficial.
• If Equal, the decision to change is practically indifferent since neither benefits nor pain will be incurred.
• If Negative, change will be increasingly detrimental.

Time is the all pervasive dynamic factor that affects prices, product & technology life cycles, and other socio-economic and political forces. Benefits may slowly accrue, hit a peak, then gradually decline. The initial pain of adoption may be high or low, then gradually adjust along its own path over time. A simple positive net result in a proposal for change may be quite obvious; what isn’t known is the best time to take the first step to maximize future benefits (or minimize losses). Hence, the need for building and comparing different scenarios using forecasts and multivariate data.

While using qualitative data in a mathematical context may be quite difficult through the summation of assigned numeric values and their weighted coefficients, this model can be very helpful in performing critical opportunity assessments.

Special thanks to my pal Luis Carlos Pelaez, for contributing his thoughts and insight into this subject.

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Have you seen or applied unique models for evaluating the potential for positive change? How about alternate ways of doing cost/benefit analyses? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.