ChittahChattah Quickies

  • “Ten years ago, if you were designing a laptop bag and wanted to see what people carried in theirs, you could either a) hire a research firm or b) get a job in airport security. But now ID Ethnographers need look no further than Flickr. (For those too lazy to dig through the link, hit the jump for our compiled roundup of shots.) It’s not as in-depth as a focus group, but you also don’t have to provide cookies, juice, and those envelopes filled with crisp hundred-dollar bills.”

    First of all, isn’t this something that’s about 4 years old (hey, I can do user research by looking at pictures on the Internet). Second, while I’m not saying the information you can get from this isn’t useful but for God’s sake don’t throw around terms like “ethnography” if you don’t know what they mean.

  • They have sought to infuse the company with the style and culture of many Silicon Valley pioneers. For example, three years ago HTC created Magic Labs, a group that in addition to about 50 software, hardware and mechanical engineers and industrial designers, includes a writer and a jewelry designer. They all help brainstorm ideas and design new products. Many have titles like software magician and mechanical wizard. The marketing chief John Wang’s business card reads “Chief Innovation Wizard.”

    One of the group’s mandates is to generate ideas at a torrid pace with the understanding that most of them will never turn into products. “We have an organization that is designed to fail,” said Mr. Wang, who helped start Magic Labs. “It takes close to 1,000 ideas to turn up a few projects that are worth running.”

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