innovation playground Idris Mootee

Everything is Art In Its Best Form; Business, Technology and Design Are the Same. May Be Art School Wasn't A Bad Choice Afterall?

My first post in a week. No access to Typepad and Facebook in China. I’ve spent a lot of time meeting with designers in Shanghai (both expat and local), potential clients and employees.. Picture above one of the many creative districts and the one below is one of potential office spaces for Idea Couture Shanghai. Design is something that is in very high demand, any form of design from ID to architecture to graphic. Graphic design is mostly what people is referring to when we mention the word “design”. Graphic design has become an art and a commodity, just looking at those printed junks everywhere and most are not even worth the paper that they are printed on.

How is graphic design changing? Is graphic design going way? In the future, everything we touch is interactive and signages are smart and all media will be rich. Will there be a place for print? I guess so, I love printed material, especially coffee table books. They accessorize my home just as a Hermes scarf accessorizes your sweater, or a well-designed book that accessorizes your brand.

What progress has graphic design made the last 20 years? I’ve heard graphic designers screaming, “Design can change the world”. I wonder what a poster or logo can do in driving change. I love graphic design, a designer (at heart) I always treat it as an art, an identify system for our societies and cultures. Graphic art is a great representation of cultures, seeing how emerging markets embarking on a design-maturity journey, I can see graphic design embarks on different paths than we went through. In the next 20 years we will see new emerging graphic languages. These languages are collective, social, global fast moving, reflecting not only local challenges but also global hopes. 

My graphic journey is very much like everyone else. I grew up inspired by Le Corbusier and Bauhaus. Helvetica is the font I used and until we were asked to use ITC Garamond when Apple implemented the new brand ID then. Those work from the Apple Brand ID design team were classic. I actually collect many of them. The Mac graphics cutely abstract, child-like drawings of the computer's components in pure bright colors-red, green, yellow, blue and gray-with a handsome logotype in ITC Garamond Regular, optically condensed to about 80% and then redrawn to give it a livelier look than its classical "parent." This combination of approachable, deliberately Picasso-like “fun” art with an obviously serious logo presents the user not only with a friendly product, but a friend whom you are supposed to trust.

I still have many of the design pieces as my collection. When Clement Mok talked about the design guidelines at Apple (or lack of it): “Steve Jobs had in mind something very simple, something very different from existing standards, and something with a personality-something that would transcend the technological appeal of the computer.” After 10 rounds of comps and living with the engineers in the Macintosh division day-in and day-out for months, we were nowhere. The solution didn’t come until we realized that those engineers are not technicians, but poets and artisans. It came to us.”

People there were spending 90 hours a week working on the first Mac out of passion and the belief that they can change the world. The engineers were using the technology medium to create art: what they designed is really a new art form-that of the 1980s. The takeaway is anything is its best form is an art – business, design or technology.

People Talk About Strategy And Business Model, Often forget About Thinking Industry Architecture

I was speaking in a panel at the Ivey Venture Forum this week with more than 150 guests, great event with 10 companies entering the final and presenting their ideas from recycling technologies to therapeutic technologies. Thanks to Jeff Szeto for inviting me. I was asked by Ron Close, the moderator (Residence Entrepreneur of MaRS and Ivey School of Business) the question of does strategy means for start-up. Ron was asking some very good questions. What does strategy means for new venture start-up? I gave a long answer.

But the short one is they need to see beyond the product and see how their products will evolve and fit in with a specific industry architecture, whether it is an evolution of the existing one of the transformation of the current. Understanding industry architecture can impact how you develop your product roadmap and even points of exit. That way you will be better position to align yourself with the other key players to capture value from your innovation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, people see their own idea as the center of the universe and everything revolves around it. Industry architecture is not yet a common business term, it is the foundation to deciding on your business model.

Industry architecture can be shaped by technological changes, strategic intent and competitive dynamics. How many of the first generation PC design/manufacturers are still around today? What about the HDDVD? Xerox and Apple invented the graphical user interface, but Microsoft Windows dominates the PC market with a follow-on graphical user interface. Apple did invented the PDA category (remember the Newton?) but Palm became leader, Apple stikes back 10 years later with the iPhone. The first portable music player was produced by another manufacture and now iPod dominated the market. It was released in 1998; the Eiger Labs MPMan was the world's first MP3 player, boasting 32MB of internal memory -- expandable to 64MB.  And Google was not the first browser. Many innovations simply did not create value for the innovators. In fact most do not.

New venture is a team sport or a music band. What would Beatles be without John or Paul or George or Ringo?  Most innovations yield don’t value on a stand-alone basis. They need to find a place in a new eco-system or industry architecture. Every one under the same architecture requires complementary hardware, software, services, channel and customer access. The delivery of product/process innovation often requires the employment not just of complements, but also of many inputs/components up and down the vertical chain of production and sometimes consumption (even customers or advanced users).

The power of the innovator of new technology is often compromised by whatever economic might is possessed by owners of required inputs/ components. Apple is an exception as they influence (dictate is a better word) many of the platforms they designed. It is a great position to be in but not many are lucky to be in that position. Industry architectures characterize the nature and degree of specialization of industry players (or "organizational boundaries" or role in the value chain) and the structure of the relationships between those players.

A simple example here, the Segway is a great invention and innovation. It solves a personal  transportation problem but in the process creates many new problems. They include questions such as when Segways are being used on sidewalks, would they be subject to the rules of the road that apply to pedestrians under the Highway Traffic Act? If the Segway is being used on roadways or highway shoulders, the traffic laws that apply to bicycles and cyclists would apply to the Segway operator? Will they get a speeding ticket? Do they need to yield to pedestrians and bicycles, if there is not enough space to safely pass? Are you allowed to talk on your cell phone when riding a Segway? These are just a few examples. If they had worked with urban planners and city governments early on, they would have enjoyed a real success.

Without any understand of industry architecture, there is no strategy. Industry structure determines how an industry architecture looks like. Industry architectures sometimes change without us knowing it, sometimes they evolve slowly and sometimes as a sudden shift caused by disruptive changes such as technology or regulations. An economist’s view of that is to look at the nature and intensities of competition and pricing dynamics, while a marketer’s view is more on the managerial aspects such as market definition, customer definition and channel choices. There are some overlap on the two but both are important analysis to understand the emerging architecture of an industry and finding a unique role to play there. As the architecture changes, profits migrate and value creation formula changes at the same time. Consider the increasingly untenable position of large media company telecommunications operators, automobile and financial services.

Is Facebook And Twitter Bad For Your Brain? Or It Acutally Makes You A Better Person?

Here is an old vision of a high-tech future. It is old magazine illustration in 1969 a Japanese Sunday magazine, which show life in the future, pervaded by computers. This illustration “The Rise of the Computerized School,” by Shigeru Komatsuzaki is an illustrated scenario of what schools will be like in the future. Sort of Webex type of online delivery and interactive learning via a tablet.

I always find it fascinating to go back to see the future, comics and movies are the best place to see the future. In those worlds, there are always concern of the computer taking over of the Big Brother is controlling everything. Funny I’ve never seen an illustration, comic of movie that have anything similar to the Facebook or Twitter of the world. I guess it is never easy imagining the future. There are things we simply cannot imagine. With kids and grown-ups spending so much time in the social networking world, we never really understand the full implications on us. Twitter is everywhere. And yes, Twitter is coming to the X-box.

Does Facebook make us better persons or more sociable? And the idea that our most of our private lives are now semi-public, at least to our friends. Everyone knows what I was doing this weekend, good thing or bad thing? With camera phone being a standard feature, with the tap of a screen your life story is now shared by tens of thousands of people, some you know and some you don’t. Your thoughts and feelings are broadcasted to the world; I’m talking about the immediacy and accessibility of Twittermessages that make private conversations public. The space between public and private are dangerously blurred.

What about kids? Neuroscientist warns that social networks harm children’s brains. He suggests that sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centered. The claims from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield will make disturbing reading for the millions whose social lives depend on the stream of messages coming in everyday. I don't think it is just young people, we all have Blackberry or iPhone addictions. I am always constantly my Blackberry just to see if I've missed anything from the 83 groups that I joined. I called it staying in touch.

Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University neuroscientist and director of the Royal Institution, believes repeated exposure could effectively 'rewire' the brain. Computer games and fast-paced TV shows were also a factor, she said. We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist. My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.' I don’t’ buy it. I would argue it allows kids to adapt to the fast moving world of data overload and learn to make fast decisions based on multiple sources of data feeding to them. It is like training a fighter pilot when one is 16, it is a lot easier as they can handle all input and perform real-time sense-making.

Having said that, I strongly urge readers not to check your Facebook or Twitter during a bath. And if for whatever reasons you do, don't be like this 17-year-old Romanian girl and risk your well-being to Tweet. Maria Barbu was, in fact, in the tub while using Twitter when she likely reached to plug in her charger with a wet hand, electrocuting herself in the process. It is called Twittercide. Yes, social networking can be dangerous.

The Evolution Of The ATMs. 30 Years Later Still Struggling To Make Them Scam Proof. It Is All About The Human Factors.

I find that people are over-concerned with online security every time there is a piece of news about identity theft on TV. It is really not that bad and we need to accept the fact that it will not go away. Whatever security mechanism being put can fix one hole but usually create another hole. Let me take the example of the ATM, it is a very mature technology (probably about 30 years). Not many people know the first mechanical cash dispenser was developed and built by Luther George Simjian and installed in 1939 in New York City by the City Bank of New York, but removed after 6 months due to the lack of customer acceptance. No customer wanted to get money from a machine. It was a failed innovation.

I remember the one ATM card (Standard Chartered Bank) I used, every time I used it the machine will eat the card and mail it back to me. Not sure what security reason caused the design. So I can only used it once until they send it back in 2 days. It is designed to prevent fraud.

30 years later, there are still many ATM scams. Japan is still trying to figure out a way to stamp out ATM frauds. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, I am not sure what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile. I think there is too many cases criminals instruct victims to withdraw cash from the ATM through the cell phone. The often target the elderly, often telephoned by perpetrators claiming to be relatives and in need of some emergency funds. A new innovation is Aichi Bank is now ATMs will now no longer allow consumers to complete the transaction until they hang up. So you cannot be talking to your friends while getting your money.

How it works? A metallic film around the ATM will block access if it detects mobile phone waves. Essentially ATMs will become out of range for mobiles. Not only might this prevent the criminals from relating their information, it also helps to provide a break for the consumer to think carefully about the transaction.

While others are jamming cell phones, BT Broadband is converting 2,500 ATM machines to serve as free Wi-Fi hotspots. And for some places like Tibet, people are blessed (literally) with money with their ATM withdrawals. A relatively new addition to Lhasa's old city urban infrastructure an ATM machine - including the red pasted duilian - effectively blessing every transaction that passes through this machine. It is a way to making money clean (legally). Here's another real customer unmet need. (Photo courtesy of Chip Chase)

Remembering Strangers And Heroes.

Let us take a few moments to reflect on Remembrance Day, to spare a thought for the many victims of war particular those who sacrificed for their countries. Not only those whose lives were lost wearing the uniform, and all those who have lived through the hell of war that many of us could never ever imagine. Let’s remember this is not a day to glorify war. I was British by birth and my father served the British reserve in the second world war. His medals are framed and hanging in my living room.I am proud of all those British, Canadian, America, Australia war heroes.Yes I love the Spiitfire.

The British supposedly "won" WWII. But nobody wins in any war. War is an unfortunate phenomenon of government and nationhood and ideologies. And crowd psychology ensures that animosity and hatred spread like a plague. In today's the social media world, hatred and peace are constantly fighting each other. At least, nobody dies in any social media war.

Can war ever be justified? War can never be justified. There is never justification for striking the first blow. But what if you are under attack? If you personally were attacked you would instinctively, and rightly, try to render your assailant incapable of inflicting further damage. An eye for an eye? And we will be all blind. Can war really solve a problem? Why do Republicans love "war"... they created the war on drugs, the war on illiteracy, the war on crime, and of course their war on terrorism. These wars have no specific enemy. You can't fight a war against a concept.

People like to use the word "war" against a cultural or social issue implying you the goal is to destroy something. It is not about destroying. War is when you kill the enemy and destroy all of their homes. War is about creating sufferings.  Why don’t we use a better word… “Transforming”??  And let’s rethink our toolkit for transformation. Let’s put the tanks and guns away for a second.

We should never forget those heroes during WWI, WWII and the men and women in Afganistian and Irag. Let’s take a few minutes to stop everything and just reflect on your own life and what’s been happening, where your heading and people important to you. Fighting a war is not a good strategy. A transformation is a better solution.

Warren Buffet Is Betting His Farm Investing In A 190 Years Old Innovation Platform.

I love trains. I remember how happy I was when my Dad bought me the first expensive German made Minitrix train set (I was about 8). I was fascinated for months by different freight and passenger trains and had the catalog under the pillow going bed every night dreaming about them. Whenever I see trains, I think about him even sadly he is not around anymore. It is funny how toys can have so much sentimental value.

Anyone know when the railroad was invented? It depends on how you look at it. The invention of the steam engine was critical to the invention of the modern railroad and trains. In 1803, a man named Samuel Homfray decided to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to replace the horse-drawn carts on the tramways (it is a performance-driven innovation).

Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built that vehicle, the first steam engine tramway locomotive. On February 22, 1804, the locomotive hauled a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons the 9 miles between the ironworks at Pen-y-Darron in the town of Merthyr Tydfil (Wales) to the bottom of the valley called Abercynnon. It was a two hours trip and was a slow train. Then in 1821, an Englishman Julius Griffiths first patented a passenger road locomotive – another great British innovation!

Almost 20 decades later Warren Buffett sees the same opportunity and decided to invest heavily in railroad; he is paying US$44 billion for a 19th century innovation the railroad that moves things from one place to another. (I don’t want to bet against him, given his track record, Its stock is up 84% over the past decade, while the S&P 500 is down by 18%). He is smart. Doesn't matter what innovation coming next, people still need to move goods around in the most energy (and cost) efficient means. At least before some one crack teleporting.

Why the railroad? It is not because of nostalgic reason that the train was one of his favorite childhood toys. I am sure that’s not the reason. It is not toy money. "It's an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States. I love these bets," said Beffet "Railroads are among the most energy-efficient modes of mass transportation to date. And also due for a major upgrade". What is Mr. Buffet betting on? He is betting on three things:

1. Oil pries will remain high. If oil prices regain its upward momentum, trains will be more productive then trucks in that environment when oil is king, rail is queen. His money can fuel a massive upgrade of the railroad with the most advanced innovative technologies.
2. US economy will recover and that demand will resumes for transportation. According to Buffet: I basically believe this country will prosper and more people will be moving more goods 10, 20, 30 years from now and the rails will benefit."
3. China economic progress will continue at a fast pace. Commodities fuel such as coal powers the  economic engine of China (the factory to the world). US coal and goods are shipped via rail to Pacific ports and then shipped to China. Buffet believes China will further integrate with the US economy.

Lessons For Industrial Designers To Engineer Desirability That They Don’t Teach You In Design Schools.

Being the dean of a Design School is no easy job today. Design schools is struggling to serve three masters: to the student and the industry and to the society, the last one is a new one as designers generally have come to a consensus that designs for social change is part of the design agenda. With limited time and resources, design educators need to define a strategy for D-schools' future: Is it teach the person/artist to create?  Or training craftsmen (both traditional and software tools) to supply to the industry or to develop thinkers to solve wicked problems?

Design education is becoming so broad that educators finding it difficult to balance between breath and depth, not deep enough in some areas and not general enough to cover the even expanding design practices. I am afraid we have not come to a conclusion of what design education should be like and simply continuing training the design thinkers of tomorrow in the techniques and tools from yesterday.

Back to my topic of this post. Here are three lessons of industrial design on engineering desirability that are borrowed from sociology. After all, industrial design is about getting human to buy, use and love our products. If you send your designers talking to the dating experts, here's what you'll get:

1/ A few mms here and there can make a big difference. According to the Journal of Psychopharmacology, when we're drunk, guys look cuter because we don't notice the asymmetry of their face. The biological explanation: A symmetric guy is less likely to have genetic defects and makes a better mate. Male of female, the sex appeal lies mainly in face shape.

One example according to paleontologists, the dimensions of the region between the mouth and the eyebrows are crucial in determining how attractive a man's face appears to the opposite sex. For product design, there is specific asymmetry that determines the attractiveness of a product, and they may not comply with human factors or ergonomic principles, but what’s more important? An attractive boyfriend or an ergonomic boyfriend? Not sure people knows it, your nose should be part of foreplay, not only in sex but also in product design and marketing.

2/ The power of smell. Smell is a relatively new element outside of the personal care and cosmetic industry. Here’s an example from the work of Smell and Taste Research Foundation based out of Chicago, the blend of lavender and pumpkin turns guys on. Do you remember the smell of leather (real leather) in a new car, it didn’t last very long but it felt so good. My favorite is the smell from Aboercrombie store. Everytime I bought something the smell is there and that reminds me pictures of fun college days.  I wonder why my iTouch, MacBook, Blackberry or Cannon Powershot doesn’t have any smell on it; particularly it is something I carry all the time. Wouldn’t it be great if my Blackberry has a unique on that changes according that was on the other side of the line? Another million-dollar idea here.

3/ Colors are always sexy. Why aren’t your product colorful? According to research men are attractive to women who wear a particular color and find them more desirable. Pantone can make us more desirable to the opposite sex (email be I will design your personal color mood board). These are cultural specific naturally. Why red for Valentine’s Day? That’s a color associate with romance, and primal instincts that link the color with sex. That’s also the reason why the butts of some animals turn red when they are ready to mate. Look at red color interior of Bugatti Veyron! It is not just about using colors, but using it strategically.

Here's a simple test, have your girlfriend or boyfriend trying different colors of sweaters from J.Crew and you will see why he/she looks particular attractive in certain colors. There are research to show which colors works better creating desirability. But 90% of products out there were designed not with that in mind, someone just randomly decides on a color to be used. If you want your product to be sexy, spend more time with the Pantone guide and your customers.

Random Thoughts On Industrial Design, Busness Model Design And Design For Change

I was chatting with some members of our design research team just yesterday next to the cooler the other day, we were talking about how iPhone is such a bad phone and a great media player, and the Backberry is such a great email gadget but terrible browser. The conclusion was phones were not designed to handle the “social” functions and they are just add-ons. What does a true “social” gadget looks like? I will ask our design team to come up with some crazy ideas and sure clients love to see them

As more and more people use Twiiter or Facebook as their core communications. What are the best gadgets designed for that? The gadget lets them tweet, reply, retweet, send direct messages, and connect with followers. Here comes the TwitterPeek which sells for $99 or $199 (with plan) which included a service plan. It can only support one account at a time. Users can also view TwitPics by clicking the "view content" option from the TwitterPeek menu. If users choose to pay $99 at the time of purchase, they will get the TwitterPeek device and six months of Peek service. After that, they need to pay $7.95 per month for network access. If customers plunk down $199, they'll get the device and service for the life of the product. In either case, TwitterPeek allows for unlimited tweeting.

It is always an important industrial design discipline that they teach in school, do we design something for a singular or more important function or something that does everything. The preference is design something with a purpose in mind. Is the TwitterPeek really necessary in the marketplace. Or we need a Facebook Device? The deep satisfaction of design is when you find an elegant solution to a problem that has, until now, had a hindering effect on our p quality of life or experience or the environment. And the function should be super obvious - developing a straightforward solution to a meaningful problem. But it is not that simple. Industrial design is understood as a part of engineering design, or as running parallel to engineering design and increasingly interface design.

However, when industrial design activity is engaged in the more aesthetic or style concerns of a product it can be understood as running parallel with marketing and brand activity. And when industrial design is engage running parallel with business strategy activity, that becomes a very different game. There is not a right or wrong or simple answer here, there is a lot of room for ambiguity and misunderstanding and many designers are confused about design themselves.

Many designers love to talk Business Model design, not sure how many are qualify to discuss this subject. My experience is even among the MBAs that I hired, anyone with less than 10 years of solid experience don’t understand the real implications of these Business Models discussion. My response to them is "How exactly do you change a business model without understanding the industrial and distribution economics plus the individual players' competitive dynamics. There are always game theory in play in these moves.

One interesting thought is traditional industrial designers came into being as mass production raised output and wanted to match those to market demand, this is still true but not entirely the case. If industrial design comes within a marketing function and marketers buy the creative services of industrial design consultant on an occasional basis for a special project, this quite is different if industrial design is a part of the manufacturing function. And if industrial design comes within a strategy firm and executives buy the innovative services of a firm that has strategy + design capabilities (like Idea Couture), then it is part of corporate strategy undertaking. That’s design thinking in action, not design talking. Am I confusing you?

When Wal-Mart Enters The Funeral Industry, The Business Is About To Change. Will Amazon.com Follow? What's The Latest Innovation In The Funeral Busines?

Some survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. That’s not for me but I am sure for many. I remember one guy told he when he was put on stage in front of 800 people, the dead silence was like death. Giving a speech in public ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.

The first baby boomers are entering their mid-60s, and the death rate in the U.S. is expected to rise from 8.1 people per thousand in 2006 to 9.3 in 2020 (according to the National Center for Health Statistics). Yet the traditional funeral industry is hardly healthy: The Federated Funeral Directors of America, an accounting firm for independently owned funeral homes, found that in the past 20 years, its clients' profit margins have been cut nearly in half. Some 44% of funeral home directors, up from 28% in 2006, blame the increasing popularity of cremations and alternative burials for sinking profits. Some funeral homes have responded by more innovation such as themed funerals, from backyard barbecues to mini concerts.

The 11 billion industry is forced to innovate when Wal-mart enters the business. Wal-mart has started selling coffins online at prices that undercut many funeral homes. People can choose from 14 different ones, from the $895 "Dad Remembered" steel model, to the exclusive "Sienna Bronze" one for $2,899. Why did Wal-mart decide to enter the coffin market? Well, in fact this is a response to Costco’s move to sell coffin online (not in bulk thank God) with delivery within 24 hours. I guess people don’t want to wait for this category. I think it is a good idea. Funeral homes industry is overcharging and often people don’t know what these things should cost. With Wal-mart you need only to pay $1,000 versus 3 or 4 times more through a funeral home.

The funeral homes industry has reason to be concerned. I am sure their argument is these funeral homes can provide full service (like gas station) and ability to provide comfort and empathy, but it comes at a price. If it works for Wal-mart, the next one to join would be Target. They would invite Stella McCartney or Phillipe Starke to design caskets that costs just a little more, but with a lot more style. Amazon.com will follow with online customization that you can pick your favorite patterns or engraved your family crest on it. And for those creative types who are big thing art lovers, forget the traditional wooden box, you want something very special. A company called Crazy Coffins can pretty much order any design you want. There isn't a lot they can’t make. The bespoke coffins are made by two carpenters and costs between $3,00 to $10,000 (£2,000 and £6,000).

And when you decide to spend more on a coffin, may be you should consider an upgrade to Louis Vuitton or Karl Lagerfeld. And for those die hard rock fans , they used to sell a KISS goodbye with the "Kiss Kasket". It is decorated with the logo and pictures of the band members; plus: it is waterproof. The Kiss Kasket went on sale in 2001 until 2006 and now it's no longer available from Kiss' website. I’d like to see a Beatles one.