McDonalds Picadilly Billboard

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Here is a great example of something I have been interested in lately. A basic concept of creating an interactive billboard that changes objects. The tourist can take a picture at a spot, and have it look like they are part of the ad. Simple but fun idea!

Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky's lecture from 2005 covers the power of collaboration, and the broken barriers to institutionalized structures. I have been thinking quite a bit about this subject matter lately, having been trained in an old system of "walled garden" expertise.
Typically, as a Designer, you were taught methods of problem-solving for Clients, that somehow made you an all knowing expert tasked to creating clever solutions and "educating the Client."
This is making the assumption that you knew more about the Client than they think they knew about themselves.
As part of this process, we tapped into a mixture of cultural, historical, and personal references that relate or could relate to solutions for the client.
We were trained to work in silos, and come together in formal critique meetings to share and compare concepts.
The collaboration was these critiques. Designers still held their solutions dear to heart, and death only by sword.
The best ideas and decisions were only from the most Senior people, motivated primarily by their own personal agendas.

Collaboration in the new age via the web, has slammed these methods of working on its ear. What we are experiencing is value increasing by sharing knowledge.
Reference is easier to find. Getting answers is immediate and faster for anyone and everyone to get. An expert can be anyone now.

What are the benefits?
- "Two Heads are Better than One" - (as long as it doesnt become a 2-headed self cannibalizing dragon.)

- Lowering your barriers and letting exchange of information makes everyone more knowledgeable.

- A larger volume of discoveries and solutions created.

What are the drawbacks?

- Discussing and negotiating problems in the process doubles effort and time. This is not a bad thing, but must be considered when entering into a collaboration.

- Egos. It drives people, but it can also sever relations. Ground rules of engagement must be set beforehand, and egos have to be left at the door. If everyone keeps to sticking to collectively coming to the best solution, and being open should help minimalize conflict.

- Getting stuck in a fish round about of "what ifs?" There has to be an end game defined, even if it is just findings.

In summary, whether we agree or not, the world is finding itself benefitting from shared knowledge and collaboration. For many of us that didn't want others to look "behind the curtain" didn't realize that there was a whole world outside of the OZ kingdom, unexplored.
If we can find a way to synergize learnings, and stay open to communiction and input, I believe all of us will benefit.

Charles Leadbeater: Creative Innovation

In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn't just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can't.

Who burned out the Lightbulb?

You know, the one that goes off when you have a good idea? - at least in the cartoons.
Where are the huge discoveries these days? The ground-breaking-never-before-seen ideas that changed the course of history?
Like...the lightbulb.

Okay, okay...so some of you are saying "..ahem!, what about the IPhone?" - An awesome piece of equipment, mind you, and I am glad I bought one- genius...but a touch screen? (bank machines) a phone? Games? GPS? the Internet? def. a nice seamless experience of intergrating all of the features - But who thought of GPS to begin with?

Communication and information is wide open through the web now, where it's almost as if we can see the answers to the test, and cheat without the challenge of the test or the homework.
Originality and personality have somehow become homogenized and monetized to the point where globally, everything is becoming...well...sorta the same.

For example, my first trip to Europe was back in 1990 when I was 23. It was exciting taking the Europass and backpacking for 2 months. Going from country to country was amazing...the contrast taking the train from Germany..where everyone systematically reserving their train seat- to Italy, where people were blasting their radios, and screaming at one another had its charm.

Visually for me, there were definate distinctions between the old buildings, fashion, food, storefronts that made it so charming and adventurous.
Having travelled extensively during my years with Nokia, everything I remembered about Europe was gone.
Old signage, Old world and interesting cultural spots and characters have been populated with Starbucks and Techno-disco store fronts. This was the same from city to city, where the only distinction seemed to be the languages.

I have especially felt this "sameness" during the past 2 decades. Ideas, fashion, music, culture seemed to be small incremental iterations from decades past. - Who would've thought the 80s would become "hip" with younger kids?

Now believe me folks, I stand before you only as an observer, and am guilty of a certain amount of recipe-driven sameness myself.

As a Designer, I was taught in school that the best answers come from the problem. What is the "real" problem that we are trying to solve? Why do people create that which is in their comfort zone? (solutions seen a million times) and why as a society we reward the easy, predictable answers?

Can we be honest enough to solve problems genuinely when we are seeking answers in the process-how can we keep ourselves in check?
It seems like a combination of asking the right questions, distilling down problems to their core, thinking about things from different angles (paradigm shift) and being able to let go and let your own personality and thought process drive you to your unique solutions.

Confidence in "being wrong is right. Being right...is wrong" - Whats the worst that can happen?

Genius Billboard Idea!

Kudos to EA for a great concept in promoting their new game, Spore. In the game, the user creates a creature that they can grow, evolve, socialize, etc. etc.
The billboard is only 14" x 16" and was placed on top of a building. They installed a custom made telescope on Union Square Plaza in SF, aimed directly at the billboard, so curious passer-by's can look at the ad in focus.
Not only does this break the convention of a typical size of a billboard, but it serves the purpose of a billboard in getting direct attention. ( a lot longer view then 2 seconds in a car), and ties in with the concept of the game. Truly Genius.

Music Monetization - A New Riff

Once the genie was let out of the bottle in the music industry with downloading through Napster and the sucessful a-la-carte model of ITunes the music industry has no leg to stand on. Moreover, with bands like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Jamiroquai giving away their album for free, and giving fans the option to "pay what they think it is worth" has revealed that the fat-music label-middleman-emperor has been standing naked all along.

The fact that what used to be a product packaged in a decorative sleeve and packaging, has now been distilled down to a downloadable file has definately altered the "face" and value of the music. Tracks are not even on the appetizer part of the diner menu, but the packet of Ketchup on the side. The concept of the "Concept album" is long over.

So how can music be monetized now?

I recently read an article about Guitar Hero increasing sales for older artists. Pat Benatar, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Joan Jett are amongst many that have seen their catalog sales boost as much as 30% in last couple of years as the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band have gone through the ceiling. This is not new news, and as a matter of fact, Wired Magazine was reporting a year ago of this trend. What IS interesting, is that bands are now marketing and releasing New singles via Guitar Hero.

Some nay-sayers feel that they would not be interested in new singles, but would rather play songs they know. (Obviously, one advantage is if you know the song already you can anticipate the notes coming up).
If the new singles were bundled with the older genre-related music, and promoted correctly, I think there could be a nice sweet spot hit for the music labels.

If the walled gardened labels are to survive, they need to rely on partnerships to help promote tracks with 3rd Party products or services.
What if, for example, there is a one day concert or event that fans could get an exclusive video or track sent to their mobile ? What if they can collect a whole album by going to various places in a city to download?

The monetization dollar for the label is paid through partnerships beforehand or advertisment.
Give the public something free first, build credibility, and let the public decide the value.
At the end of the day, the labels are using the new tracks as promotional tools for different products, rather than the tracks being the product they are pimping. T-shirts, back catalog and yes...future video game licenses will build sales.