If I worked for Lego, I'd immediately bring this guy on board. Why? He embodies everything that the brand stands for- creativity, culture, construction, and collaboration. Sponsor his work in a traveling art gallery, feature him in a behind-the-scenes web series as he pieces together his next project, or profile his work on a micro site devoted to customers living the Lego legacy.

Sometimes, the things people do with products are more interesting and more descriptive than the products themselves. 

The Create or Else program, crafted by Oglivy highlights inspirational movers and shakers.

Brands- maybe it's time you take note.

Ever since the release of the new iPod Nano, people were wondering whether or not it could one day become a watch.  Well, the idea as officially been realized.  Scott Wilson, founder of design firm MINIMAL, has come up with a concept, delivered on the execution, and funded the project through an online pledging platform Kickstarter.  His goal was $15,000.  He raised over 300,000.  Pretty amazing use of existing technologies.

Now, can someone put one of these in my stocking?

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*Image courtesy of Michael Forbis Design

Note: Solutia is a client and the World of Color Awards(TM) is a project I’ve been working on for about three months.  This is far more than an endorsement.  It is an explanation of the change happening in the digital world.  A look at static vs. dynamic and the future of web competitions.  

Static websites are dead.  Or are they? In the architectural community, specifically in the area of competition, award, and event promotion, not only are static websites alive, but they are consistently used in a manner which seems almost archaic in relation to other industries.  In such a design driven industry, you’d think more importance would be placed on aesthetics, structure, color and UX.   Looking at competition pages like this, this, and this, it is easy to see that there is room for improvement in the design of architecture competition websites.  We went ahead and explored it.

The Solutia World of Color Awards set out to do two simple things:  honor innovation and inspire the use of color in the built environment.  The website fosters conversations around glass, light, design, color, and architecture.  It makes the industry accessible to everyone with the use of images, video, audio, and quotes.  It carries the conversation through social networks to reach a wider audience of architects and every day individuals alike.  Most importantly, it’s dynamic, always changing, always improving, and always one step ahead of the user/consumer/audience member.

In my opinion, the static website is dead.  The future of media is social, relying on dynamic content that will attract new users and appeal to those who return.  Please check out the World of Color Awards and follow on Facebook and Twitter.  See what the future of architecture is all about.

In advertising, it seems like we often get caught up in the idea of creativity.  Sure it’s the creative that sells product, entertains audiences, and captivates consumers, but in the end, there’s nothing without strategy.  Oftentimes it helps to look outside the walls of advertising for knowledge that’s relative, but differentiated enough to bring a new perspective to the idea of a successful campaign.  For me, I didn’t stray too far in identifying a model rooted in design but tied extremely close to the often overlooked but increasingly important aspect of advertising: research.

The 360-degree research model, created by Ron Pierce of SKD, was originally crafted to illustrate the life cycle of product design specifically created for the re-design of a hearing aid, but globalized for work across all brands and product lines.  They crafted this model to keep the focus on the end user throughout the product development process. This approach helps remind them that the process wasn’t about what they were adding to their portfolios, or even about what a corporation would like to add to its product line.  It was about providing an in-demand product for an end-user.

I think research is often overlooked in advertising.  You get a client, you sell an idea, you run a campaign, and you judge success on number of impressions...at least that’s what you used to.  Now, there’s a much more thorough process necessary to provide a truly compelling campaign for a client.  The new model looks a little something like this:

Start with exploratory research. This is the time where researchers/media planners/strategists deliver findings and insights to the creative team and client.  This step is usually carried out by interns, people without the tools and technology to truly dig up insights.  Successful companies integrate with firms rooted in this research process.

Keep researchers involved continuously. We must keep assessing creative, media placement, and analytics with users to ensure that we have properly interpreted their needs into the end product.

Meet with users again and again. This is where social networking comes in.  Have conversations about your campaigns.  Measure their online currency and monitor online conversations.  If things aren’t going as originally planned, be proactive in identifying why the end user is unhappy.

As you’ll see from the illustration above, everything should be rooted in research and that research should never come to an end.  Creativity drives the campaign, but its reason for being lies in the research.  Is there room for a new position in advertising?  Is the word “engineer” really that far off?  Finding talent that can dive into a product category, conceive ideas around it, monitor how it affects consumers, and step back to subjectively analyze  the rights and wrongs associated with it?  It’s a difficult proposition and it translates way past design, but it’s something we need to get used to, aquatinted with, and aligned with in order to be successful in the future.

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