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Posts from Strategic Design

Design (of all varieties) is often underused or poorly used by many businesses. Those that do use design well stand out in the marketplace. Often the difference is in how well design is incorporated into a companies dna, how well it is managed, and how deeply it is integrated into a company’s strategy process, from formation through execution. For many of these firms design and designers drive innovation.

July 30

Disposable Digital: Strategic Design and New Technologies

If you’re looking for a good example of a company leveraging their strategic partnerships to develop both a new technology and a marketing concept in order to leapfrog their competitors, check out the October issue of Esquire magazine at your favorite newsstand in September. It should be easy to find. It will be the one flashing “The 21st Century Begins Now” as images scroll across its cover. To help celebrate its 75th anniversary, Esquire contracted with E Ink Corporation to develop a version of its flexible display technology (used in the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle) that can be used as an electronic magazine cover.

Being able to utilize the digital display technology in a magazine required overcoming two major obstacles: cost and power. To subsidize the cost, Esquire partnered with Ford Motor Company to feature the Flex Crossover vehicle on the inside cover, using the same E Ink technology. The problem of providing a battery to run the display for 90 days, yet small enough to be distributed in a magazine, was solved through a six-figure investment from the Hearst Corporation, which owns Esquire and is a major shareholder in E Ink.

So, what’s the significance of this new combination of technology and traditional media? Either Hearst has come up with the latest equivalent of the musical greeting card, or they’ve looked far enough into the future to see the value of driving a technological innovation, rather than waiting for it to evolve on its own. While the initial use of E Ink’s digital paper technology is limited and could be viewed as just a gimmick, it does reveal some of the potential of digital printing. Plus, Esquire has exclusive use of the technology through 2009.

The big question is: what is this technology’s ultimate capability? Can content be dynamically updated? Can it be interactive? Is this the portable digital platform that the traditional publishing industry has been looking for? Strategically, Hearst has positioned itself in both the technology and publishing spaces to be able to capitalize on the advantages this technology provides over its competitors.

Personally, I’ll be picking up two copies: one to save in my collection of new media innovations and the other to tear apart and see what makes it tick.
For additional information about this story, see:

“News Flash From the Cover of Esquire: Paper Magazines Can Be High Tech, Too” - New York Times

“Esquire Becomes First Magazine to Merge Digital Technology with Printed Pages” - Ford Motor Company

posted to: Strategic Design | 1 Comment »

June 25

Getting all “Googley-Eyed”…

by Heather Eddy

Without a doubt, we often look to the magical world of Google as a benchmark from which to evaluate and even validate exceptional user experiences. How do they do it, we wonder? Well, even if this manifesto of sorts on their core design principles (it’s part of their corporate information) has already crossed your virtual path, it would serve you well to go back for another look. For inspiration, as well as food for thought, consider if and how these principles manifest in your own “digital daily life” of Google interactions. What are the principles on which your design philosophy is built?

1. Focus on people – their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people’s trust.
10. Add a human touch.

Read the more detailed descriptions at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/ux.html

posted to: Experience Design, Strategic Design | No Comments »

June 20

You Have More Than One Audience

by Eric Karofsky

Over the past few months I’ve noticed a disturbing trend, sites are becoming less usable — only appealing to a specific segment of their audience. Marketers are so consumed with creating “brand” and “experience” that they risk creating a frustrating experience for those not considered. While tools such as Flash and Silverlight allow designers and marketers a seemingly unrestricted canvas, unfortunately usability often becomes a secondary concern. (more…)

posted to: Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy, Experience Design, Strategic Design | No Comments »

May 14

Usability and Design, neighbors or roommates?

by Brian Gillespie

I like the approach UPA is taking to their international conference…
The theme of the conference is “usability and design: cultivating diversity“.

“Usability and design are professional approaches that are often seen separately. Usability is perceived to be focused on establishing standards, rather than a culture of practices to make products and services simpler, easier, and more pleasant to us. Design on the other hand is often connected to creativity and innovation.

This conceptual separation - which this conference sets out to overcome - is reflected in how the consultancy market is composed, how companies organise their staff, and the different professional languages in use.”

OFFF - day 2

by Ricardo Salema

It was another great day at Offf here in Lisbon. The days are long because the sessions go from 11am to 10pm at night, but it’s worth it, and in true European fashion, they make the most of the situation by having several bars within the facility. See below for a full list of presenters and more amazing work from around the world.

50 Done and Friends - Portuguese Design Collective

Karlsonwillker - Design group from Manhattan -

Andy Cameron of Fabrica (Benetton Design Group) and Regine Debatty of We Make Money not Art

Hellohikimori

Data Visualization Panel - this was amazing! I know there are a lot of other Data Viz geeks out there. So enjoy the links. - Aaron Koblin, Bestiaro, Visual Complexity.com, Elastico

Fakepilot - wow, was this guy annoying! “me, me, me, me, me, me” is all I heard :) Check it out anyway. Some interesting ideas on what interactive design can be.

Interaction Design Panel with Chris O’shea of PixelSumo, Joel Gethin Lewis, and Andreas Müller of Nanika

Alex Truchot - illustrator from Barcelona who focuses on hand drawn (in this crowd meaning Adobe Illustrator, and not a code based generation) typographical work. This guy got more applause and cheers from showing his work and process than anyone else I saw. He is a true rock-star! I beg you to check out his work.

HI-RES! - beautiful and haunting work. They don’t get much better than these guys when it comes to motion and interaction.

posted to: Experience Design, Molecular News, Strategic Design, Technology | 1 Comment »