thoughts

Authenticated Experiences!

Posted by _tango! on July 17, 2006
Posted in: experience, me, thoughts. Leave a Comment

salesmanI ran into some moments this week where my perception and respect for certain places or things lost some points. I’ll site a few here briefly:

1. Door bell rings, 2 guys introduce to me to a charity, they keep acting nice, personable, asking me several questions, saying I’m cool, let us send you some free magazines, we should hang out, etc. Next thing I know, all my info is on a receipt and they want my signature. They were sneaky in obtaining my info, without asking the me directly. When I realized this, I said, no thank you, and they ripped the paper up, took the brochures they said I could keep, and sneered at me with some rather harsh words. This was just a reminder that I personally hate it when I am pushed into a sale without realizing it. Please just ask rather than lure. Sure you can push for a sale, but making a sale is not always the most important thing in a sale experience.

2. Art store visit. I bought some nice mylar paper to draw on, new person folds paper in 4 and stuffs in bag! I just looked at her oddly, and manager replaced my paper. When a person running a store does not know how to handle the products they are selling, that store has lost some points in my view.

3. I received a promotional gift for some free printed photos. How great. I went to the website, went through the painful membership process and uploaded pictures, only to find out there was no way to get the promotional gift. Perhaps there was, but I dug deep and could not figure it out…and I’m a tech type, so, if it’s hard for me, it’s probably really hard for many others. Case in point, if your giving away something free, make it easy to get, then let the customer decide if they want to return to learn about your services or products. Start them off with a smile, not a bad experience. I’m never returning to this site.

4. I found a new blog that seemed pretty cool, because it was from a pretty famous person….then, a few days later, the company writing the blog puts up a post to fyi the readers that that the posts are not written by that person, but just in his perspective not written by him. My delete button was the next thing pressed.

Wrangler Jeans: Extra Points!

Posted by _tango! on July 14, 2006
Posted in: experience, fun, information, me, thoughts. Leave a Comment
Wrangler Jean Instructions

I love it when products add that lil extra something to refreshen themselves after some time. In this instant, I’m talking about some smart and whimsical instructional graphics on the inside of Wrangler Jeans, which depict the proper way to slip into that special pair of jeans. (via ettf, more examples there)
I’ve recently been rediscovering elements in products that add that extra flare for extra kudo points after some years. An old book I bought, fell apart, only to discover hidden images inside the pages, some new jeans by puma slowly reveal several logos the more you wash it, the good ole hidden tracks in the music CD or now some DVD’s, and now these jeans with awesome instructional graphics which I would never notice until later on. It’s these little experiences that make me smile about that particular brand, label, or product.

Book: Humble Masterpieces

Posted by _tango! on July 12, 2006
Posted in: design, information, thoughts. 2 comments
humble.masterpiece

I was talking to a friend the other day questioning if good design cost more money. Well, in many cases it does, but in this post I’d like to show you that it does not have to with a book by Paola Antonelli, design curator of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The book, “Humble Masterpieces” sites some very simple everyday objects that most of us take for granted such as the post-it note, paper clip, lego blocks, and q-tip. Everyone can buy these products, and pretty much everyone has. Is it good design? You bet damn right it is! So damn good that everyone uses them. Some may argue that these objects are not designed, and moreso inventions, but in my world of design, inventing products that millions of people need and want because it solves a problem is great design. Now, there is the question if mass consumers and affordance equals a successful design, but I’ll post about that later on as it is a blurry topic to cover, though I’ll say yes it is for now. Anyhow, if your interested in this book, here’s a short article on it or you can buy it at Amazon. Enjoy!

Dyson School of Design Innovation

Posted by _tango! on July 10, 2006
Posted in: design, information, me, thoughts. Leave a Comment
dyson.school
The ingenious inventor and designer James Dyson has just announced a new school that will open doors to young minds in September 2008 in Bath England. “The Dyson School of Design Innovation: UK’s first National Centre of Excellence for design, engineering, and enterprise will be the first of it’s kind to encourage and facilitate Britain’s next generation of engineers, designers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. I’ve got a soft spot for engaging and introducing kids to the wonderful world of innovation and design especially after seeing Sir Ken Robinson speak about how creativity should be just as important as literacy” in today’s world. I was never exposed to design until college and have high hopes for kids being exposed to the creative, goofy, and energizing world of design from a young age. If I learned and knew about making prototypes, models, sketching, and design in high school….my goosh, that would rock!

Blender: Open Source Cinema/3D Program

Posted by _tango! on July 10, 2006
Posted in: design, ideas, information, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

blender.3d

Elephant’s Dream is the world’s first open source movie created with Blender, a completely open source 3D modeling animation program, so, if your complaining about expensive 3D software, you can get this one completely free. As for the Cinema portion of the movie, all the production files are available online for FREE (Whoohoo!)- free for interpretation and manipulation. Re-edited versions of the film are already starting to appear on the web.
I love the idea and power behind Open Source. It just plain rocks! There’s Wikipedia, Firefox, instructables, music mash-ups, and now Blender. (Here’s an explanation of Open source with more examples) The only problem with most open source programs is that only programmers really understand how to manipulate and add/change content. Hopefully one day Open Source will make everything as intuitive and as productive as possible for anyone to use just about anything.

The Power of Data Visualization

Posted by _tango! on July 9, 2006
Posted in: information, me, thoughts. Leave a Comment
death and taxes

I’ve posted a few times on the fascinating world of information visualization (thinking machines, zipcode fun, flight patterns, google eyed) but I just came across an amazing project by Jesse Bachman titled “Death and Taxes: A visual look at where your tax dollars go” which depicts a somewhat disturbing chart on how the US government spends it budget.

I’m the type that has never bothered to read the stacks of written forms showing this information and am pretty unaware of how our taxes are spent, but being a visualizer as I am, I’ve quickly grasped how taxes in the US are distributed though this incredible image. Anyone can understand this chart, and that is the massive power of information visualization. The chart will surely raise many eyebrows and questions, so have a look at this article, or navigate into the FULL SIZED chart here.

Pecha Kucha Night!

Posted by _tango! on July 9, 2006
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, ideas, information, inspiration, thoughts. Leave a Comment
pechu Kucha

Pecha Kucha Nights is an event gathering young designers to meet, network, and quickly show their work in public spaces. The catch to the presentations is that each of the dozen+ presenters is allowed 20 slides and 20 seconds each, which is a recipe for a lively, enthusiastic, concise presentation. The idea for pecha kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) started in Japan in 2003 and has quickly formed groups in key cities around the world.
I love the idea of short presentations as it really forces people to get to the point, and personally, I love the spontaneity when presenters rush and sweat to say what they usually want to say in an hour into a few seconds.  Check out their site for locations and schedules or if you have something ya’d like to share with the world, sign up to present! Here’s a presentation from Guy Dickinson in Copenhagen during one of the recent events. (all typed in a bit over 20 seconds!!)

Google gets defined!

Posted by _tango! on July 7, 2006
Posted in: information, thoughts. Leave a Comment
google logo

Not to long ago, I posted about BrandVerbs including google, and as of of yesterday Googles been officially defined as a verb and added into the 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. I’d expect Google and other such brand names to be defined in dictionaries such as Wikipedia, but for Websters official dictionary came to me at a bit of a surprise. Imagine if yahoo, webcrawler, or alta vista got defined. I wouldn’t be saying “I’ll Google it”, it would be “I’ll alta vista that”, hehe. Anyhow, I’m surprised they didn’t define google as: the digital brain.. as well, it’s seriously half my brain these digital days, and my quick spell checker (ya type in a word your not sure is spelled correctly, and google suggest a spell change..beats typing in dictionary.com, though you can use their tool bar as well)

Dinner in the Sky

Posted by _tango! on July 6, 2006
Posted in: entertainment, experience, food, ideas, thoughts, wacky. 3 comments
dinner in the sky

“Dinner in the Sky” is a unique and a rather bizarre breathtaking experience taking place on a suspended table for 22 guests hovering 50 meters above the ground by a crane. Each guest is strapped down to a roller coaster like seat then hoisted up for one chilling, perhaps frightening exciting experience of their life. If you happen to be one of the lucky participants in this event, I’d hope you’re not the type that drops their utensils much. I’d also wonder about the bird’s flying around or those bathroom breaks. Otherwise, get your camera, strap on your shoes, add a strap to your cell phone, and enjoy!
via springwise

Bodega Boston- Fresh, Fresh, Fresh!

Posted by _tango! on June 29, 2006
Posted in: brand, design, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, me, style, thoughts. 2 comments

So, I was shopping online for some Maharishi cloths I posted about, and ended up emailing the company to find out where I could get some of their goods. They ended up introducing me to a place called Bodega in Boston, which I had never heard of. I found out this high-end fashion store was somewhat hidden inside a soda machine, inside a thrifty little convenient store, with no signs. So as you are probably thinking, bizarre right. Well, my first drive by, I saw a convenient store, but thought nothing of it, and went back home and just said another day. Well, today I was in the area again, and decided to go into the convenient store. At first it was locked, but a stylish person came out to greet me and said they were closed, and I asked if I could just take a quick peek. “Sure, come on in.” Ok.. I see some fritos, detergent, spam, toilet paper, some candy, and a soda machine…. If you don’t mind hearing the surprise experience, read on. Continue Reading

ipod cases: why?

Posted by _tango! on June 29, 2006
Posted in: me, thoughts. 6 comments

ipod case

Do you own an ipod? Do you have a case protecting it? If so, is it one of the hundreds of incredibly ugly cases out there? Now, my question to you is, why? Why buy a beautiful ipod and dress it up with an ugly case 24/7 ? Now I understand the idea of protecting it, but what I don’t understand is if you are so proud of how beautiful it looks, why make it look even uglier with an ugly case at all times? Sure you can pull it out and be proud there’s not a scratch on it, but how often do you actually do that? What happens if you just let your ipod get scratched up? Will it somehow get a nostalgic appearance? Will it get scratched up beyond usability? Or will you keep buying the new one that comes out each year. Do you buy covers for your cell phone, jewelry, camera, car, watch, shoes, laptop, etc? Sure for some, but the ipods created a phenomenon about protecting it. Sure it easily scratches..perhaps Apple did this on purpose so you’d buy the new ipod each year. Perhaps it’s about value, but jewelry, cell phones, cameras, watches, cost $$. Take for example shoe($100+). The function is to protect your feet,(ipods to play music) but you also buy it for style, but your not going to wrap a plastic bag around it. Shoes wear, get dirty, get wet, get scratched, and you buy a new one eventually. I’m not saying you don’t need a case, I’m just curious why else. Anyhow, just food for thought…

Nostalgic Technology

Posted by _tango! on June 29, 2006
Posted in: design, ideas, inspiration, me, thoughts. 1 comment

nostalgic.techI’ve always questioned if technology and electronics would become nostalgic, where electronics, laptops, cell phones, mp3 players would be kept for longer than say two years. In todays society, electronics are thrown away not only because they are behind in technology, but for their looks.(little dings here and there) I was reminded of this question when I saw this post here, about how a scratched up Sony camera actually looked cool, how it had a splendid patina look. In this rare case, a dinged up electronic actually had a good emotional response from someone, much like a beat up leather jacket, worn out ripped jeans, overly wrinkled fashionable shirts, a used baseball glove, a wooden old ladder, a dirty but huggable teddy bear, etc.  As Russell Davies says in his post, “One of the things I hate about the design of most things, especially most electronic things, and definitely most automotive things, is they’re all designed to be new. They’re all at their best when you buy them and they get worse the second you remove them from the packaging.”
So, what’s the solution to this, is there a need for nostalgic electronics, should electronics be made to have more meaning?… I’m not sure, it’s just a thought. I use to think soft materials would add this meaningful value but from what I know, the only integrated soft electronic is this sleek porsche like vertu ascent phone for $5,000. It’s strange how tons of people buy soft cases for their gadgets…. are consumers saying something companies are not realizing? 😉