Something for the Weekend - Million Dollar Chair

As promised last week, I really want to spend some time digging into creativity over the next few weeks. The first example is a guy who's work I've admired for a few years now. Marc Newson is an industrial designer who this year was voted UK GQ Magazines 77th most influential person*. He's also in the record books, in 2006 his Lockheed Lounge chair sold at Sotherby's New York for a whopping $968,000 - the highest price ever paid for furniture by a living designer!

Newson designs across a vast spectrum (from door handles to space ships!) - incredibly diverse but much of his work follows certain themes; cellular structures, space age, organic shapes. Whilst watching the film Objectified** there was one aspect that particularly struck me about his creative process, he surrounds himself with objects and materials that he likes and engages with. These are not necessarily things he needs for his current projects but things he'd like to use some day or that act as sources of inspiration for him.

To me it seems like a deep rooted obsession with the materials he needs to work with, and possibly to take it one step further, actually being 'in tune' with them.

It's doubtful we'll find much useful inspiration in materials for what we do (but you never know), the main thing is having an eye to the outside world...

• Actively recognising experiences that you have with other companies that are particularly strong (or just as importantly, are weak) - try to deconstruct them and think about how they might have gone about creating them? For instance, I love that Apple offer to email you receipts when you buy something in store.
• Study User Interfaces (or components) that are world class or that simply do something complex elegantly. As an example, TheTrainline.com do a great job at displaying ticket types, prices and times on a single matrix.
• Keep abreast of technology breakthroughs - especially consumer end tech.

This isn't about copying and doesn't need to be obsession - it's about creating a world class frame of reference to build upon.


Sources & Credits
* GQ Magazine - 2010 GQ UK's list of 100 most influential people
**Objectified
Check out Marc Newson's work here

Something for the Weekend - Waterproof Power Strip

I thought I'd follow up on last weeks SFTW on vision and fit with the real world with a great example of the opposite! www.wetcircuits.com offers waterproof power strips! A great safety increment on the standard power strip but as Wired.com explains 'Your TV isn’t going to be any safer when perched on the end of your bathtub'!

A great physical example of not considering the things that interact with your design (in this case the socket and the devices you might plug in!!).

So whilst we're at it, what are the factors that change data based thinking (waterproof power strip) into creative thinking (safer power)? I was reading a book by Tim Brown this week and he recommends a simple but effective model developed at IDEO. His book (Change by Design) is fantastic and I could never do it justice but here's a summary of the model:

• Inspiration - actively seek out sources of inspiration...That might be other industries who do something similar or even analogous situations. Comparisons are drawn in the book about F1 pit stops and A&E units. Be open to less obvious inspirations too.
• Observation - watch your customers in the real world without agenda. Observe the way they naturally adapt ways of working to overcome small niggles (keeping log books, labelling things, ordering items together to quicker serve customers, etc) and understand why they do these behaviours - they're rarely an accident!
• Empathy - take a different mind set, rather than considering what your customers need, imagine you are your customer, how you would feel and what you would need. Perhaps interview some of your customers to ensure you've got the right picture.

Small activities that lead to more creative solutions. If you want the book there's a link below, ditto if you want the power strip!

Sources and Credits
Wired.com
Wetcircuits
Tim Brown IDEO