During a recent trip to Europe (London, Paris, Florence), I often found myself flummoxed by the inability to make simple consumer decisions - what to buy, where to eat, where to shop. Obviously the "foreign" factor was there, but I was acutely aware that in this sea of new brands, I felt off kilter because I had no conception of their value.
Sure, there were the American giants present - McDonald's and Starbucks. And international fashion stars Chanel, Dior, Prada, YSL, etc., had no problem catching my eye. It was the other 90% (that I could afford) that left me clueless.
Complicating it further was my desire to experience Europe as a local -…
A curated collection of blog posts and web links that address branding, user experience, and interface design.
William Poundstone has written a great book on pricing practices called – Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value. For anyone interested in crafting brand experiences pricing strategies should be an area of deep study and reflection.
Below is a presentation on Personal Branding that I presented at the Notre Dame Campus Communicators Summit on January 7, 2010, in South Bend, Indiana.
Let me come right out and say that I think the term "personal branding" is pretty lame, but there does seem to be some common understanding as to what the term means. So in the interest of fostering continuity and establishing a shared vocabulary, that's what I'm running with. I hope that in 10 years, I will still be using…
Lately we've been talking a lot about the elements of a successful design project. We thought it would be interesting, and helpful to other readers, to hear a bit more about other folk's successes and how they were achieved. Tell us about the client, the challenge, and the solution.
A curated collection of blog posts and web links that address branding, user experience, and interface design.
Check out Mag+, a concept video on the future of digital magazines by BERG. This concept is killer in its own right, but what really impressed me was the quality of the product visualization itself.
Pentagram is hard at work proving that "traditional" design firms can compete in the user experience arena. Check out the work they did for litl.
UserPlus.org has created a pretty cool forum for web designers, developers, information architects, interaction designers, and usability specialists to share their design best practices.
Over the past weekend, I went to a few local shows. It's interesting to see what separates the good bands from the great. The good typically have nailed the melodies and lyrics, but the execution suffers. The lead guitar is loud, the bass is loud, the drums are loud, the vocals are loud. Everything loud doesn't make it better. Rather it's the subtleties of volume and scaling back the supportive harmonies that makes an impact and great bands. Audiences can identify the emotion and story line of the music when the band uses loud and soft, complex and simple, instead of just maxing out every detail.
During the work week I see a similar situation. We frequently hear the request to make things bolder, make them pop, punch them up and…
His book is a collection of essays from his work with the New Yorker, and although I haven't read it yet, it did still feel familiar. One thing that Malcolm does well is deliver consistent messages.
The show kicked off with Tavis detailing Malcolm’s failed attempt to enter the ad world right after college. As Malcolm goes on to finish, 21 rejection letters later, he decided that advertising wasn’t his destiny, and thus turned to journalism. “Rejection is direction,” Tavis sums up. With 4 New York Times bestsellers and a 10+ year stint with New Yorker, I think this was…
Lists help us stay sane, organized, and get projects done - yet they don't get much honor in the end. However, from November, 7, 2009 to February 8, 2010, lists are basking in the limelight at the Louvre, thanks to Umberto Eco and his exhibition “Mille e tre" (the Infinity of Lists). Including ancient and contemporary graphic works, and multidisciplinary events, the exhibition traces the evolution of the list through history. "From its ancient use in funerary traditions to its present-day use in everyday life, via the creative processes of contemporary artists, the list is a vehicle for cultural codes and the bearer of different messages." (Louvre)
I recently read an interview with Umberto Eco, published by…
“In __ , once you’ve got something, you’re already thinking about what’s next. Maybe it’s a little hysterical. Now, every day I’m thinking about change. It’s a constant anxiety that is probably a reflection of society’s anxiety in general. The big deal about __ is really very recent, this frantic pursuit of newness. It may be a good thing, or a bad thing, but it’s really defining this moment.”
What do you think fits in the blanks of this quote? Although they could be filled with many words (digital marketing, mobile devices, restaurants, mechanical engineering, packaged goods, etc.), the original word is “fashion,” and the author of the quote is Miuccia Prada, as she describes her design process for her namesake label. I was struck by the universality of…
