Redesigning the Colour Experience
If everyone else is wrong, why bother innovating? Discover why the creators of Paper for the iPad invested a year in designing a better colour picker.
Why the Social Media Revolution Is About to Get a Little Less Awesome
Never a better time for an MBA in startup ventures:
“VCs feel the urge [to monetize] more now that the economic environment has changed,” the source told BI. “Valuations have to be justified now. Things are different. Before it was like, you have a lot of users, that’s great. Now it’s like, okay, what are we going to do with them.”
This is bad for start-ups in social media, for whom attracting investment was as easy as a one-pager on user growth and time spent per person as investors change the way that they price attention. But even more importantly, it’s bad for you. Look at your smart phone or your tablet. Some of the best apps out there are free programs that bring down walls, connecting you to businesses and information that generally makes you life easier or more enjoyable, whether it’s finding transportation, ordering dinner, or naming a song. Many of these companies either have no business model, or have a business model so thin as to be practically imperceptible to its users. In some corners, this is a mockable fact, but rather than mock it, you should stop and appreciate how amazing this is: Some of the smartest and most creative entrepreneurs and developers of our generation are dedicated to making awesome stuff for you, and, bankrolled by deep-pocketed venture capitalists, their determining business metric was not “How will you make money from credit cards and marketing departments?” but rather: How many millions of people are you delighting with your exceptionally cheap product? It is hard to imagine an industry built on a more satisfying premise for customers.
![Why the Social Media Revolution Is About to Get a Little Less Awesome
Never a better time for an MBA in startup ventures:
“VCs feel the urge [to monetize] more now that the economic environment has changed,” the source told BI. “Valuations have to be justified now. Things are different. Before it was like, you have a lot of users, that’s great. Now it’s like, okay, what are we going to do with them.”
This is bad for start-ups in social media, for whom attracting investment was as easy as a one-pager on user growth and time spent per person as investors change the way that they price attention. But even more importantly, it’s bad for you. Look at your smart phone or your tablet. Some of the best apps out there are free programs that bring down walls, connecting you to businesses and information that generally makes you life easier or more enjoyable, whether it’s finding transportation, ordering dinner, or naming a song. Many of these companies either have no business model, or have a business model so thin as to be practically imperceptible to its users. In some corners, this is a mockable fact, but rather than mock it, you should stop and appreciate how amazing this is: Some of the smartest and most creative entrepreneurs and developers of our generation are dedicated to making awesome stuff for you, and, bankrolled by deep-pocketed venture capitalists, their determining business metric was not “How will you make money from credit cards and marketing departments?” but rather: How many millions of people are you delighting with your exceptionally cheap product? It is hard to imagine an industry built on a more satisfying premise for customers.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma5d2errQc1qbrvnbo1_500.jpg)
Amazon to Apple: the game starts now
Why service trumps product.
“People don’t want gadgets any more,” Bezos declared, explaining why the Kindle Fire had succeeded where other gadgety Android tablets had failed. “They want services that improve over time. They want services that improve every day, every week, and every month.” This statement of purpose signals a new phase in Amazon’s evolution as a company, and its singular, emerging take on the developing consumer marketplace, and how it’s positioning itself towards its broad field of competitors.
4 Questions to Ask to Spurn Innovation
They are:
- What’s the smallest step we can still take to have the biggest impact, in spite of the identified barrier?
- What’s an example of a previously successful innovation that spread and grew despite the wet-blanket barrier?
- What success factors could be applied again? What have we learned from previous attempts (failed or otherwise) that we can apply this time around?
- What can we proactively do now without permission—and then ask forgiveness for later?
Dear AmericanAirlines
Why is bad corporate design so?
Dustin Curtis received a response to his angry rant against AA.com from an AA designer telling him why, revealing insights into a deeply flawed corporate design process (or, lack thereof).
The permeation of bad taste through large organizations In the same way bad designers sometimes never get better because they don’t know what they’re aiming for, some companies have a culture that just promotes bad taste and doesn’t encourage improvement.
Bonus: As a counterpoint, consider this uninvited AA redesign.
The Man Who Made Justin Bieber
A fascinating look into the new business of music management.
Grind, Hustle & Payoff
“A great company begins as art and ends as science” — Dan Ratner and his wife & partner Genevieve Thiers discuss how they scaled their babysitting service Sittercity nationwide in 36 months.
How Google Can Beat Facebook Without Google Plus
Will Google ever get social?
The catch: Google’s social tool (G+) has no community and its communities (Books, Scholar) lack social tools.
Compare Google’s mission statement to Facebook’s:
In an earnings call with investors, CEO Larry Page laid out Google’s approach to its social effort. “Google+ is about much more than the individual features themselves. It’s also about building a meaningful relationship with users so that we can dramatically improve the services we offer,” Page said. “Understanding who people are, what they care about, and the other people that matter to them is crucial if we are to give users what they need, when they need it.”
Not that mission statements are the be all and end all, but notice how different Facebook’s theory of the case is: “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
Facebook is about you sharing with the world. Google Plus is about Google understanding you. See the difference?
Can Digg win by design?
The ultimate Internet comeback story is launching tomorrow. After selling for a mere $500,000 to Betaworks, a far cry from Google’s $200 million offer just four years before, Digg’s new owners are rebooting the site with a design vision set to reinvent the site.
Will it work?
Gartner’s Hype Cycle
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Technology Trigger: A tech breakthrough gets the ball rolling. Commercial viability is uncertain.
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Peak of Inflated Expectations: Early publicity and a few success stories create buzz. Most implementations do not succeed, however.
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Trough of Disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Lots of companies fail.
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Slope of Enlightenment: 2nd and 3rd generation versions start to emerge and bigger companies start to fund pilots.
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Plateau of Productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.
(Source: youmightfindyourself)
What must young entrepreneurs know before they build a company?
“Businesses solve problems. So find a problem and solve it.” Sounds simple enough, but there is a subtle nuance that they aren’t teaching that makes all the difference: The best entrepreneurs design solutions to problems they understand better than anyone else in the world.
Designing Things Designers Traditionally Don’t Design
Designers are in danger of making big promises they can’t deliver, like alchemists of old. To prevent themselves from being crucified, designers need to see themselves as a part of a broader system and apply their thinking accordingly.
The Next Microsoft
A radical and much needed (?) refresh of the Microsoft brand.
Design the New Business
Design and business can no longer be thought of as distinct activities with individual goals. Design the New Business is a film dedicated to investigating how designers and businesspeople are working together in new ways to solve the wicked problems facing business today.
Brian Gillespie of Continuum asks, will designers lose design strategy to business strategists learning design thinking?
