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.
Trendwatching.com, one of the world's leading consumer trends firms, released their report on NOWISM this month.
As a consumer, I can certainly understand the urge to have everything right now. But as a provider of a service, I’ve learned that there are benefits to those who wait. Here at KA+A, we serve a bevy of clients whose jobs are to fulfill customers who need their product or service on-demand: they need the latest data on their customers right now; they needed a new feature of the product yesterday; and they need to get the software rolled out in their company with little or no training. Satisfying these needs are no problem – their businesses are founded on…
I recently listened to a lecture given by Architect Bjarke Ingels on TED.com, in which he talks about stories behind three projects that sought to act as physical and interactive environments.
I like his approach in storytelling, because it communicates that his work is more than just aesthetically compelling structures. In addition to being beautiful works of art, the buildings shown in his presentation are functionally conscious of space, resources, and culture. The last project he spoke of is, in my opinion, the most amazing. He and his team are focusing on the Island of Zira, using the seven neighboring mountain peaks of Azerbaijan as inspiration. They designed the land into an inhabitable urban eco-system, completely transforming it from…
"Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter.” – Design for the other 90%
These are startling statistics, despite the more socially aware we become each day. How then, can design become a dynamic force in saving and transforming lives, at home and around the world?
Recently I went to see my family in Ecuador. Even though I was excited and eager to get back to my country, I was already beginning to contemplate the design challenges that I would face when I…
Voting opened up yesterday for the 2010 SXSW panel topics, via the SXSW Panel Picker. Kristian Andersen + Associates submitted a presentation entitled "How to Get Rich Off Your Clients." In spite of the provocative name, it's actually a topic that I believe merits a lot more discussion in the design and consulting community. Below is an excerpt from the submission:
We’ll discuss emerging business models, such as service for equity investing, which allow businesses to share in the success of their clients. By moving beyond fee-for-service, retainers, and fixed-bid projects, consultancies can create sustainable differentiation, make more money, develop healthier relationships with clients, and have more fun in the process.
Make plans to join the Kristian Andersen + Associates team in Austin next March and be sure…
At KA+A, we have a saying: "The best way to envision the future, is to see a picture of it." In the UX Design world, this applies primarily to the innovation of products and services. Paragraphs, spreadsheets, napkins, and whiteboards are a good place to start, but they reach the limit of their effectiveness pretty quickly. Not only are the aforementioned mediums less than ideal for communicating with third parties (e.g. investors, upper level management…), they also make it difficult to identify the opportunities and problems that exist below the surface of an idea or concept (no matter how good of an idea or concept it is).
Enter hi-fidelity, immersive prototypes. When utilized early in the design and development cycle, they…
I finally got around to reading Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I know, in today's standards of time, a five-year old book might as well be Gilgamesh. But I found its “aged” information to be quite enjoyable, and one page in particular is still stuck in my head. Its header simply read “Cheating,” and it went on to briefly describe eight high-profile companies and how they are doing just that. Here are a few of the book’s examples:
Starbucks is cheating. The coffee bar phenomenon was invented by them, and now whenever we think of coffee, we think Starbucks.
Amazon.com is cheating. Their free shipping and huge selection give them an unfair advantage over the neighborhood store.
HBO is cheating. Because they have to program original shows only one night a week
A couple weeks back, Kristian posted about ExactTarget and their continued innovation efforts around 3sixty, their online customer community (the catalyst for his post was actually this one, by Doug Karr). Today, this online community is almost 14,000 members strong and is a major source of education and support for many (if not most) of ExactTarget's users.
If you want to know more about the origins of 3sixty, you're in luck, because today we've added the complete case study to the collection of client success stories available on our website. Be sure and check it out to learn more about the processes that guided the design and development of this unique online community.…
