A few things we can learn from fashion & Victor Churchill
We can all learn a lot from Fashion. Fashion brands exist based on their ability to connect with consumers emotionally. Fashion has nothing to do with price and more about marketing than product, it has everything to do with the need to associate at an emotional level.
As the saying goes, people “do not buy the soda”, [...]
Sony Music deliver a blow to CDs
Sony Music delivered a knockout blow to CDs, announcing recently that on May 1, it will cease sending promo CDs to critics and journalists, and instead only provide them with digital previews. Sony is the second-largest music company in the world, and the first major label to do digital-only promotions–hopefully it’s not the last.
This is [...]
FROM THE BULL:: Innovate or Perish
Recently I had the great pleasure of participating in an Innovation Forum (IF) in Melbourne hosted by the charming and charismatic Ben Rennie of Uncluttered White Spaces. It was a brilliant evening with a great panel, an engaged audience and some lively discussions.
Innovation is a curious term that means different things to different people. My [...]
IF Melbourne in review:: “Nostalgia, denial & arrogance” – Ben Crowe @ IF 2010
uncluttered white spaces hosted our second Innovation forum (IF Melbourne) on Tuesday night at Denmark House Melbourne.
The night turned out one of the most influential panels and guests list I have been involved in with some amazing contributions across the floor. IF exisits to bring together like minded innovators and thought leaders to share ideas [...]
Adidas + Augmented Reality & a few Stormtroopers.
Taking on the now industry standard concept in the games field of augmented reality, adidas has created a virtual 3-D world that can be accessed using a future line of five men’s sneakers. Users need to visit the adidas site and hold up their sneaker to their webcam; the show will feature a code implanted [...]
A reader puts in a request for honest plain english.
I am in the process of travelling from Sydney to Perth of a business trip. Majority of my time has been spent reading business mags and newspaper.
In reading the long list of earnings announcements, I’d like to make a minor change . To make a translation of a sentence I read a number of times [...]
Rick Klotz on the world’s got problems.
As a continuation on our series tracking the devlopments at Freshjive (or formerly known as) in relation to the recent name changes, we found this short documentary intruiging, controversial with plenty of room for interpretation.
If we can take 1 insight from Rick’s approach, it is certainly that he is prepared to put it out there [...]
What Personality Traits Do Designers Share?
Ignoring the details and the, illegible pie chart at the bottom. Lets zoom in on the two clearest trends: 85% of respondents were “intuiting” types, while 69% were “judging.” By itself that’s not particularly useful. But those two personality traits offer a good insight into what “design thinking” might actually consist of.
According to the test, [...]
From the Bull:: The ultimate feedback question.
Remember the old staff suggestion boxes? Staff were encouraged to submit ideas, suggestions, criticisms etc via a suggestion box which once every week or so a manager would open and review. If their suggestion was controversial or personal they could submit it anonymously. In the bad old days this was sometimes the only voice that [...]
Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish:: Teach every child about food
Have you ever been so moved by a speech that it change the very foundations of your life? I have. The majority of the speeches that moved me to create changes in my life were delivered by TED.
Last week, they did it again. After awarding Jamie Oliver with the TED Prize for 2009, in his [...]
Think Thursday: Business Evolution & Leadership
EVENT: THINK THURSDAYS
WHERE: DENMARK HOUSE – Melbourne
GUEST SPEAKER: BEN RENNIE
WHEN: MARCH 4, 2010.
Denmark House hosts Think Thursdays each month. The social events are open for all to attend (members as well as non-members), allowing guests the opportunity to experience the unique designer interior of the Denmark House venue.
Denmark House encourages you to “open your [...]
I’m Here: a Spike Jonze love story
Spike Jonze’s releases his first love story which premieres as part of the first-ever Opening Night’s Shorts Program at the Sundance Film Festival. I’m Here is a 30-minute love story about the relationship between two robots living in L.A. Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory are in the lead roles, and the soundtrack includes original music [...]
A few facts about plastic bottles and the resistance.
Seth Godin has been talking a lot lately about the Lizard brain. The conversation in your head that tells you no, don’t do it. In a recent interview with white spaces, he made an interesting comment. When he hears the lizard in his head (the resistance), he takes that as a signal to forge ahead [...]
Google launches Buzz: Real time feeds for Gmail.
Google, like someone arriving late to a party already drunk and boisterous but with a lot of party favors, is trying to grab some of that Web2.0 social glimmer by polishing up Gmail with Google Buzz. The app, which is integrated into Gmail, includes the best features of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other well-known social [...]
THE BULL :: Bill Clinton has the X Factor
In the past ten years two of my friends had the pleasure of meeting Bill Clinton. One met him at a speaking function where he was part of a greeting line of probably 200 people. The other met him, by accident, on the wharf at Port Douglas in Queensland. On both occasions the meeting took [...]
Announcing: Sahil Merchant joins IF Melbourne’s panel of experts.
IF Melbourne has recieved confirmation that Sahil Merchant will be joining the panel of experts.
Sahil is the co-founder and Chief Magazineologist of Mag Nation, a chain of retail stores specialising in mainstream and niche magazines, stationery, design books and t-shirts. Mag Nation has built a cult following amongst the creative and urban savvy communities [...]
What if the easel held the pen, and you held the paper?
Line Navigation Time Trial Challenge
Daniel Eatock points us to some amazing places and in this instance, he creates an interesting experiment with the Line Navigation and Time Trial Challenge. Whilst the web site is in a dire need of an upgrade, the content is none the less inspiring, insightful and relevant.
Usually, the easel holds the [...]
JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure
J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.
TED has pointed us towards JK Rowlands 2008, Harvard University commencement speech, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling offers some powerful, heartening advice to dreamers and overachievers, including one hard-won lesson that she deems “worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”
Please, grab a cup of [...]
The Kindle. The iPad. Enter Google’s Chrome OS tablet
Google Chromium has released visual explorations of how a Chrome OS tablet UI might look in hardware. Some possibilites they explore include:
Keyboard interaction with the screen: anchored, split, attached to focus.
Launchers as an overlay, providing touch or search as means to access web sites.
Contextual actions triggered via dwell.
Zooming UI for multiple tabs
Tabs presented along the [...]
IF Melbourne’s Panel of Experts
IF Melbourne has brought together an amazing panel of experts and thought leaders to discuss innovation in business, strategy, marketing, brand and emerging trends in 2010. Following on from the success of IF Sydney in November, here is a quick profile on the panel of speakers.
To learn more or book tickets, visit EVENTBRITE HERE.
THE [...]
Information is beautiful: Haiti, who gets what?
The global response to the Haiti earthquake has been extraordinary and generous. But in the midst of all the reporting, it’s difficult to keep track of the numbers.
In particular, who has given what, who has dug deepest, and how the Haiti relief fund currently compares to those of other tragedies.
This is an image created for The [...]