Make Seriously | Design and Life

How to ruin a holiday.

Yesterday I went out with my mother, aunt, and fiancé for a relatively intense buy enjoyable tradition that has come to be known as “black Friday shopping“. This year we went to Denny’s first, enjoyed a grand slam and coffee, and then went out to Wal-Mart. As with every year, it was an enormous traffic jam. My aunt and mother went about purchasing some things while Kristin and I skipped off to the least populated region of the store: the fish tanks. As usual, there weren’t a ton of fish, and a lot of them were a bit sickly, but I did see a rope fish and it was awesome. Kristin, however did not agree. Less cool was the lady who hit me with her cart and then glared at me like it was my fault she ran me over. Sorry for existing lady, next time maybe I’ll bring you your “queen of the universe” crown.

To be useful to the rest of the group (who were actually doing some shopping and not just loafing) I subscribed to WTHR’s shopping tweet feed. (it’s even useful for every-day crazy things like black friday!) About mid-morning, however, I got a tweet that kind of ruined the day: “Employee trampled and killed by crowd at Long Island Walmart”. A lot of people really hate Black Friday, AdBusters even works actively against it with their “Buy Nothing Day” campaign. I’m not exactly a fan of consumerism, but I also think there are some good traditions that have come out of shopping on that day as well as family bonding time. I bought nothing in stores yesterday (because none of it was any cheaper than any other day), but I did have a chance to spend time with people I love. But here’s the thing. This is supposed to be the time of the year with holiday cheer, good will, and thanks. But for one family, it became a time of mourning and loss because of people’s loss of humanity. Stores and their ads have pushed black friday sales so hard that they’ve created this hazardous environment for their employees. Ultimately there are two parties responsible for what happened yesterday. Walmart is guilty of failing to protect it’s employees and creating an environment that was not only dangerous to their health, but in this case fatal. Stores should work to protect their employees. There was no place in this 34 year old man’s contract that said he would be put in this situation, no hazard pay, and when the doors opened at 5 a.m. nothing stood between him and the mob.

Guiltiest of all, however, are the American people as a whole. We’ve transformed the holiday buying season into a selfish, me-centered, must-buy-at-all-costs time. Your child doesn’t need a tickle-me-elmo bad enough for you to put someone else’s health, or even life, at risk. There is nothing worth being rude about. My (and all people) do exist in your world, so when you fail to apologize for hitting another person with your cart and then glare like their existence is inconvenient for you then you’re contributing to the problem. When you hit another person, when you steal a toy out of their hand, when you sprint through the store, when you cut people off in the parking lot, when you fail to simply love your neighbor then you’ve ruined the holiday. The religious reason for Christmas is to celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, the redeemer, the king and lover of the world. To do these things is not only to live in contrast to Jesus’ being here, but his life and will. For the non-religious, the holiday season has been about loving each other, cocoa in front of the fire with the ones you love, being with family, and loving those who are lonely in your life. Acting like this only does the opposite by causing others to feel belittled and insignificant. Acting like the world would be better without them completely fails to recognize the spirit of the season.

So the next time you choose to shop, black friday or otherwise, remember what this holiday (and ultimately what life) are all about. Love others.

Selling a phone. In China.

Recently Nokia was faced with a problem. How do we sell a $1300 cell phone to people in China (or those who read Chinese and purchase it through some very interesting channels)? Well, the answer is apparently to take two of China’s favorite things and put them together: Ping pong and Bruce Lee. Because the only thing better than those two things independently, is Bruce Lee dominating the game with his martial arts.

So, with an incredibly cool video, Nokia has unleashed it’s special edition N96 phone into Chinese markets. You can, of course, get the phone here in America for about $900 (unlocked… hence the high price tag) but then you won’t be receiving all of the goodies that make the deal both ridiculous and ridiculously cool:

- the Bruce Lee personalized N96 with his portrait and signature
- rare images of Lee
- a weird nun-chuck looking bookmarky type thing…. (which I believe is actually a wrist-strap)
- and best of all, Enterbay’s Bruce Lee doll

It seems like a pretty good idea on the surface, but I sincerely question the use of Lee’s identity after his death. Would he be willing to endorse this product? (and the answer could just as easily be yes as no here) Frankly, no one knows, but it feels awkward and slightly opportunistic. I’m not entirely sure that it’s an appropriate use of image since Lee has no say in how his legacy is being used.

Either way, that video is extremely cool and the N96 packaging and design are both pretty nice.

One very, very, skunked beer brand.

For those who aren’t familiar, skunking is a flaw that can occur in beers (usually non-American beers because of the preferences across the pond). All beers contain hops, which is what gives beer it’s bitterness, and gives the beer a “fruity” aroma which can only be described in one eloquently formed word: hoppy. Essentially the chemicals found in hops interact with other chemicals in the beer when they are hit by light, and are transformed into a more sulfurous compound, giving off a significantly “stinkier” smell. Green and blue light are the worst offenders, which is why so many companies choose brown glass to store beer rather than green or blue glass (which only block one or the other) or clear glass (which blocks nothing).

So, to recap: beer + light = gross. (unless you find it gross anyway, in which case just think “worse than usual”)

That said, one thing can be said about the brand created when InBev purchased Anheuser Busch: it got skunked. The UnderConsideration BrandNew blog has images up of the new… logo? It’s not for the weak of heart, so cover your children’s eyes and carry away the tender ones. It appears that they’ve taken all of the good associations that Anheuser had with it’s product, history, and tradition and have replaced them with some janky web 2.0 vector illustrations. Gone is the ornamentation of the “A” that we all associate with the longstanding tradition of Anheuser, a brand 148 years old (1860). That letter screamed of tradition and time, recalling the art-deco period. Now the type screams “corporate”, it has little to no personality, and the swish connecting the A and B in “ABInBev” seems to have no rationale. It’s like someone said, “hey, I bet we could make the loop of the B from the crossbar on the A. The cut off on the V is no better or logical. And, the worst offense of all, was taking the traditional, artistically rendered eagle and replacing it with that janky illustration that screams of modern web 2.0 branding. Examples you say? Firefox. Mailchimp. (both brands done by the same source) Skype. The telltale signs that it’s a brand related to web 2.0 include animals, arbitrary gradients, and vector artwork. Sometimes it works well. The three previously mentioned logos and illustrations do a great job conveying to the user that those are technology based products. Last time I checked, beer was not a digital product. I know some people try, but it’s not.

So what we’re left with is a new brand that says nothing about the products it sells or the tradition behind brewing those products. It speaks nothing to the history with it’s customers, and it cares nothing to carry on with what was good about the original. It tosses out logic in favor of a fleeting “contemporary” approach that will do nothing for it. This brand was skunked.

Kudos to Jenn Berry

It’s a bit early…

but since it began snowing this week, I’ve been in the Christmas mood. At work we’ve begun playing some Christmas music while we’re doing our thing, and the skies have turned grey. Shopping season has started, my mailbox is full of catalogues, and the lights are up on the front of the house (although they will not be turned on until Thanksgiving, next week!)

Call me a little over the top, but to me the Christmas season is like good design. Yes, yes, I know. Stretching a bit. But there’s something about the way the season progresses that makes it not only feel whole, but feel right. October begins to see crisp air and brilliant blue skies punctuated by blazing orange and red leaves. Likewise, bonfires spring up with their own blue and orange flames in backyards. The colors of the fall are complimented by the smells of spices (and delicious taste of pumpkin spice lattés!) and wood smoke. You feel in in your skin, see it in your eyes, taste it on your lips, you smell it in your nose. You hear the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the crunch beneath your feet which goes on into November, through to Thanksgiving which is midway point. It’s where that crunching is no longer leaves, but begins to be the half inch of snow that fell during the first half of the ball game. The hot chocolate you drank in October begins to shift, and now it’s got a hint of mint in it. Steadily the oranges fade to browns, and to greys, but the red stays just as brilliant as ever as houses around the country begin to decorate (let’s not kid ourselves, retailers did it back in August..). Sweaters get thicker and turn to coats. The crisp air gets cold, but clean. The smells of ginger and cardimom slowly fade into cinnimon and mint — still rich, but sweeter. The fires and the wood smoke remain as well, but instead you enjoy them in front of the fireplace, ready to be snowed in because, baby, it’s cold outside. The season is made whole because each of our senses is stimulated in some sort of magical synergy. Hope comes alive in the middle of what would otherwise be a season of death and dearth. The darkest time of year, and the feelings of isolation, instead bring us all together, reunited as a single mankind. And, for a few months, everything can be right with the world.

So, with all of that said, I live you with an illustration as we begin to transition into the next stage of this marvelous holiday season:

Sometimes, being the stumbling block ain’t so bad…

In my last (and thus far only) installment in my web 2.0 discussions I went over Twitter and it’s uses for marketers. I know far less about how to creatively manipulate todays subject: StumbleUpon. I will make the best of it, however, and show some of my own startling results due to the use of this content networking tool.

StumbleUpon is, at it’s core, a virtual network that collects user ratings, reviews, and recommendations for online content and passes it on to other users. That is, to say, it allows people to say what they think is cool and noteworthy. If enough people agree, the network begins to emphasize that content. So, if 500 people “stumble upon” Radiohead giving away their album online (without any other press) and all of them say “hey! look at this!” it will start to show up in other users StumbleUpon content. Then those people will be encouraged to visit Radiohead’s site, and if they think it’s cool then the momentum builds. In a bit more detail later, I’ll explain why this has some pretty incredible potential.

A little background first. StumbleUpon is relatively new. It was founded in 2001, and only breaking the million user mark in 2006 (and then rapidly growing it’s user base). It was founded by Garret Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance, and Eric Boyd, and has received investments from bigwigs at the likes of Google, Mozilla, and First Round Capital. In 2007, it was purchased by America’s favorite online auction site: eBay. (I prefer Amazon, myself…)

What is StumbleUpon
That’s the real question. It’s also where the train moves fast, so buckle up and hold on tight because I’ve never been accused of having a way with words (also a great radio show on WFYI radio on the weekends…)

StumbleUpon (hereafter referred to as SU) uses a process called “collaborative filtering.” This process begins as users submit their “stumbles”, basically providing their human opinion. This is where they let everyone know what they think it worth looking at. In the second part of this process, SU uses “machine learning of personal preference” to work through the submitted information and segment the users into virtual networks of like-minded users. This means that SU has a mathematical, intuitive formula that says “these people all tend to like these things, so I’ll place them together into segments”. It’s sort of like a venn diagram with five million spheres of influence. Here’s an example of how interests could overlap and result in a single common interest that puts a single user into multiple spheres of influence.

So, as users “stumble” new content, their profiles are updated and SU generates a peer network based on that information and links users by common interest. These networks are arranged to disseminate information that is explicitly recommended by other peers in the network. As each user in that network stumbles it, it has the potential to spread to other shared networks. Users can also, if they choose to be social, participate in rating one another and joining in on discussions in the SU message boards.

In 2006 SU extended their process to include videos. StumbleUpon Video aggregates videos from YouTube, Google Video, Myspace and Metacafe and uses it’s process for video content. A version of SU Video was released in early 2007 for Wii users.

SU also has sponsored ads that take advantage of it’s segmentation method and can target very specific user groups with material relevant to their interests.

Now for the real power of SU. A while ago, a friend read my blog and “stumbled” it. Now, I’m nothing big or important, but here’s how my daily traffic pattern went: 3, 3, 4, 2, 0, 0, 3, 1, 140, 32, 15, 3. Notice something there? That was the day I got stumbled. Now, if all of you slackers took my advice with Twitter, you could have subscribed to my feed. When I post, you could “stumble” my work, and then it kind of would maybe mushroom cloud from there. Of course, what I write about is maybe slightly amusing at best, so people would catch on quickly. BUT, in the meantime, I could once again experience how it feels to be one of the cool kids in high school as my narcissistic side screams “look at me! I have a blog!”

As a business model, however, it is clear that it’s a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other social “news spreading” tools. So, sometimes, being stumbled on isn’t such a bad thing. (now go stumble me darnit!)