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Sweating the Small Stuff
Robert Brunner's book, Do You Matter kicks the traditional idea of design to the curb. With the advantage of an extensive background in product development and branding, Brunner's thesis is that design is an overall customer experience beyond what is generally understood.
The basic principals behind a positive experience are simple (make and keep 'em happy), but Brunner's mission is to understand the details that go into building this customer experience. It's not only about putting out a good product, it's about being a company that consumers count on to consistently put out a good product. This means spending a lot of time and energy listening to customers as well as thinking from their perspective and considering every detail that goes into a customer relationship from before the initial purchase to long after.
Brunner encourages us to look at design from several different perspectives that all contribute to an experience and a relationship. He outlines the product development perspective: looking at the product itself from the standpoint of "What is it doing for someone? What pain is it solving? How do I solve that pain as well as possible?" He uses Apple as an example and the single-minded focus Steve Jobs gives to each project. Asking the impossible in terms of size, width, battery length, ease of use, number of buttons, etc., Jobs questions common understanding of a product experience from every angle. This fastidious approach means ensures Apple products stand the tests of time, competition, copy cats, and continue to be reinvented while always staying well ahead of the competition.
Brunner encourages designers to question, as well, every detail of the packaging: from the materials used to the ease of opening to the sound a box makes as it closes. What type of wrapper is the product presented in? How does it make you feel? Does it introduce the experience of using the product even before you've used it? It should.
The retail experience is important as well. Does it match the product? When you walk into an Apple store, for example, do you genuinely feel that the product you purchase will work well, be worth your money, and grant you access to an elite consumer world? It should.
Finally, Brunner explores company branding as a whole. Again using Apple as an example, he consider details as obvious as having quality relevant products, the layout of the stores and the sound the door makes when you walk in, the Genius Bar support, the telephone customer service, the language used in the advertising, the packaging manuals, the user interface, and the way being a part of this particular consumer community makes you feel. All of these details add to your overall opinion of the company and its product.
As a design agency owner who is seriously committed to happy and repeat clients, I found this book inspiring. I have achieved greater, more consistent results in my business by looking at every aspect of client development, product and relationship management, as well as the big picture of why our customers choose our services and stay with us over the long term. While Do You Matter is unquestionably product-focused, the rules and guidelines in it still apply. It is a book I recommended to my father, a pharmaceutical consultant, to equally positive review proving it reaches across industries to teach us how to take practical steps to do our jobs better, communicate with our audience, and stay ahead of the pack. With a philosophy easy to understand but revolutionary to implement, and a writing style that is interesting and concise, Do You Matter is a must-read.
What makes good collaboration?
What makes good collaboration? At the recent Betterment Movement event The Bauhub got to conduct a short presentation about what makes for great collaboration entitled "We are smarter than me".
The intention was to get people thinking about how we work together now. So what's missing from our current approach to collaboration that could vastly improve the effeciveness of how we work together to solve problems?
We propose there are four primary tenets we use to benchmark the effectiveness of any collaboration process or tool. The tool must be:
Persistent: Must record the thought progression in solving the problem.
Fluid: Has to allow streams of ideas to flow synergistically.
Human: Must reduce the clutter and distraction of the ‘interface’ to feel more human and natural.
Accessible: Allow all stake holders to access the collective knowledge base.
Aside from one little slide glitch the presentation went very well.
ZAG: Marty Neumeier Speaks - Preview
The Bauhub had a chance to speak with author Marty Neumeier (Neutron LLC and Liquid) about his book ZAG. Preceded by The Brand Gap and followed by The Designful Company, ZAG is the second book in his series of three.
Marty shares what inspired him to write the series in the first place and how it all came together.
Look for the full interview in The Bauhub Library in the coming weeks.
Sharpening your saw
As a self confessed workaholic I write this for myself more than anyone. Like many entrepreneurs I tend to work all the time. Many of you chat with me online at midnight or later on any given day of the week. However, every so often I wind up taking a break from the daily norm and it reminds me just how important that is.
Two weeks ago I was on a trip with some great friends and found that the change of scenery and routine did wonders for my creativity and I wound up solving some challenges I was facing literally while I slept. The subconscious is a very powerful tool and if we give it a chance to work away on a issue more often than not the solution becomes crystal clear with almost no effort.
I encourage everyone to take a short break from cutting down that forest of to-do list items and client projects. Step away from the computer and the phone and explore the world. Even taking a morning here and there to do something of interest to you is critical for keeping that creative mind of yours sharp. Don't worry, the forest will be there to cut down when you return.
Wishing everyone a fantastic holiday season!
Scott Morrison, RGD
New Media and the Coalition of the Willing
Capitalism off guard - latest from Simon Robson on Vimeo.
I was hired by the Canadian Film Centre this past week to support a cross-platform workshop in Niagara on the Lake. Ten participants (5 traditional broadcast and 5 new media) and four mentors worked through brainstorming projects that bridged the broadcast/digital divide. By Wednesday, there were 50 projects up on the walls, at which point groups chose one that suited their interests and developed them into bankable pitches, presented to a jury of three who then awarded one team the prize: 3 months of mentorship and CFC support to see the project realized. My job was to design the pitches.
The conversations throughout the week around traditional broadcast and new media landscapes centered on recurring themes. First, that while we may herald the death of broadcast media, it should be recognized still as a viable form of communication. However, broadcast media needs to work in conjunction with online and digital media. Some even went so far as to suggest that while in the past, online participation was seen as supplementary to broadcast, we’re in the process as a media culture of reversing the tides.
A second theme was that of a resurgence of storytelling as a means of promoting action. Those participants who worked in traditional broadcast still felt that the best means to make change was to craft compelling narratives. Coming from a design perspective I was initially skeptical but I’m leaning more now towards agreement. While designers often craft communications between organizations and consumers, we haven’t monopolized this strategy. Media producers may be the original communication designers, working through narrative.
Finally, conversation hung around the value and importance of user contribution, not only to seed narrative (as in one final project which used search and the semantic web for storytelling) but also to change the course and outcome of narrative projects (as in a broadcast project which used online audience participation to solve a mystery).
This to say, I approach animation director/producer Simon Robson’s new project Coalition of the Willing with a timely perspective. Coalition of the Willing is a animated film collaboration “about an online war against global warming in a 'post Copenhagen' world.” What’s appealing about the project is the subject, how to leverage internet technology to rally action around a cause, and the meta-project which is in fact a collaborative, technology enabled rally around the cause. Pairing the film, as well, with a staged release and social media campaign, Robson et. al are building the participation and engagement of their audience into the life-story of the film.
It strikes me that this Brave New Media World, under all of the criteria and discussion I touched on above, is equally about sheer appreciation of the art of the media as it is about the public reception and appropriation of it online. As with many contemporary projects, I’m interested not only to see the film, but also to witness the impact of the film outside the basic narrative. Namely, can people be prompted to unite around social causes online (I believe they can, I have examples) and as well, can film be the outlet through which they’re prompted?
The first part of Coalition of the Willing is slated for release at the end of January 2010 -- we’ll be following up on it then, but we suggest twittering about it in the meantime.
