My latest podcast/broadcast is up at Core77, a conversation with Debbie Millman of Sterling Brands and the Design Matters radio talk show.
We talk about strategy, cultural anthropology, consulting, synthesis, and some other stuff as well. Check it out.
Core77 Broadcasts is off to a great start. I’ve got two interviews posted, another one scheduled for next week, and a couple of others I’m working to try and schedule.
But who should I be talking with? Be as specific as you can be (i.e., give me some names, or even introductions). We’ve got a lot of “names” but that’s not a requirement by any means. People with interesting stories to tell that somehow connect to design, business, culture, marketing, advertising, product development, and so on.
Suggestions definitely appreciated!
My latest Core77 Broadcast has been posted, a great discussion with Nathan Shedroff (just call him Nathan) about meaning and design.
Check it out!
Core77 has launched a broadcast series and the first entry is an interview I did with improv expert Chris Miller of LifePlays.
Check it out!
The Broadcasts will soon be turned into an official iTunes/podcast/RSS whatever thingie, and I’ll also post the link at that point so you can subscribe and get all the auditory goodness as it happens.
A recent BayCHI panel on Designing systems with emergent behavior featured Tim Brown (IDEO), Peter Merholz (Adaptive Path), Larry Cornett (Yahoo), and Joy Mountford (Yahoo), and was moderated by Rashmi Sinha.
My notes are up on Core77
Tim: Contrast that with physical design where you have more chances to test prototypes, with rapidly changing software, it’s too easy to do something new. Seems like a new feature got launched before a design process happened. Maybe they didn’t get to test it a little bit. Not referring to Beta, in videogames they are always testing all the time. It’s part of the design process. He prefers that to the classic Alpha Beta approach
Molly Steenson recently gave an excellent presentation at Giant Ant, describing her work in Bangalore with Microsoft Research. My notes are at Core77.
Core77 has put up podcasts ofJune’s Design 2.0 event, including my presentation (21M mp3 link here) below
The Core77/BusinessWeek Design 2.0 event was almost 2 weeks ago. It was a fantastic experience, good networking, different presentations, good conversation.
Some links
the set crashing during my talk (and Niti’s take on it)
PeterMe’s writeup
LukeW’s writeup here and here
Nick Baum’s detailed notes here
steve brings down the house, originally uploaded by selfconstruct
The view from the stage
A ton of pictures at the Core77 Gallery
Podcasts are supposedly coming soon? (Update: here)
And what is up with the lame fact-checking at the SF Chronicle? “Core77, a New York design think tank, will bring its Design 2.0 conference, also centered on green design, to San Francisco on June 6.”
This is pretty cool. I like big words. More on this to come, soon.
Although I often take the role of curmudgeon, it was a pleasant surprise at Overlap to see others taking that role. That said, I sometimes can be negative about those who are cheerleaders. One notable exception is when they are cheering for me, as in this post from Business Week’s Bruce Nussbaum, who calls me a “a really smart innovation consultant” while talking up the imminent Design 2.0 event where I’ll be speaking.
Just announced! I will be one of the panelists at Design2.0 – San Francisco.
The theme of the event is Products and their Ecosystems: Understanding the power of context in product innovation
Moderated by Jesse Scanlon of BusinessWeek
and in addition to myself, the speakers are:
Diego Rodriguez – IDEO, MetaCool
Peter Rojas – Engadget
Robyn Waters – RW Trend
I’m really looking forward to the event.
I’ve written a little An introduction to ethnographic research that has been posted on the new blog for the Core77/BusinessWeek Design Directory. I’d be happy for any feedback.
Core77 has just posted my latest article, a travelogue- Letter From Asia.
Hong Kong is a visually stimulating city–where bright neon signs stretch horizontally out from the buildings across the road and electric boxes are covered with graffiti advertising household services. Storefronts open to the street, and service windows for snacks of every kind proliferate.
The standard line about Hong Kong is that it’s a shopper’s paradise. But Hong Kong shopping seemed to be more about the shallower pleasures of acquisition versus the immersive indulgence of massive choice . Take Tokyo as a point of contrast: Tokyo’s Akihabara (or Electronics Town) is a place to find all things electronic. If you want USB cables, you choose from myriad lengths, each in a large variety of colors and translucencies. If you are a Rolling Stones fan, in the Harajuku neighborhood you will find a tiny store with an exhaustive collection of trinkets, books, and assorted Stones ephemera.
But in Hong Kong, shopping is more about bounty; quantity over variety. For example, Mong Kok is a neighborhood with several shopping areas, including Sai Yeung Choi Street, where you’ll see a crowded street with small stores selling the very latest digital cameras, mobile phones, and MP3 players. Next door will be a similar store selling a similar selection of gizmos, and three doors down will be another branch of the first store…and across the street will be yet another branch of that same store. A few chains occupy many of the stores, seemingly with little specialization. The point seems to be that there’s lots of this stuff here, so why not grab some? It seemed to work–people were actively buying.
There’s more about Hong Kong, as well as Bangkok, and India.
Our Core77 article Shopping for Innovation: What you need to know before hiring a design firm is finally up – and nicely blogged by Bruce Nussbaum at BusinessWeek.com (among others).
Fast Company gives props to our blog at Core77, although they describe us as “A random group of industrial designers and design fans” (random? us?) but refer to the content as “The quick-hit, often photo-laden entries offer a comprehensive view of what’s hot and hip.” which frankly disappoints me because I think if you spend more than 30 seconds on the site, you’ll see it’s about something a little deeper.
Though I did find a lot of the content of the special issue on design to be rather glib, at least in tone, if not in fact (as this example is).
