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Ideas. Hyper Island Kids Hack the Post Office Queue.

Gerald — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:51:27 +0000

Many of you have probably heard about Hyper Island. The Swedish educational concept essentially promotes life long learning and has “produced” some of the most talented creative young talents I ever worked with. Hyper Island was always much more than a school. It is an attitude, a network, a way to see the world. And beyond the original school in Karlskrona they now also offer Master Classes in Stockholm, London, Manchester and New York.

Hyper Kids like to play with things and experiment a lot. And most of the solutions they develop is a lot more than just aesthetically creative but a creative solution for a problem.

I just stumbled upon this little gem – a rather smart mobile way to hack the queue (link). It was developed by students from Hyper Island Manchestere and I thought you will like it…

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Post tags: Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Hyper Island, Ideas, Mobile, Tech, Tool, We like

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Man-Machine Interfaces. Learning From the Death of Air France 447.

Gerald — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:47:43 +0000

I don’t like to fly. Being constantly quite anxious in planes I once started to try to understand plane crashes. The objective: to get to the roots of my fear. I was particularly moved by and interested in the horrific crash of Air France 447 in 2009 that cost 228 people’s lifes.

After recovering the lost flight recorder after months of desperate search from the depths of the Atlantic one thing became terribly clear: the series of flaws, mistakes, and misconceptions that lead to the disaster were connected (among other things) with the user interface design of the super modern Airbus Airbus A330-200.

At heart, the problem was one of feedback. In a world of flight dominated by computers, Airbus designs its planes with less tactile response (in the name of pilot comfort) and less potentially overwhelming information (in the name of clearer pilot decisions). In the case of Flight 447, some of the plane’s ducts froze up, removing the information of airspeed, and forcing the plane out of autopilot. In response, a pilot named Bonin pulled up on his stick, gaining a bit of altitude to, presumably, safely keep the plane in the sky. (via)

He didn’t.

The story of this fatal flight should make anyone interested in user interface design think.

Time to share four recent links on this topic – one of them is actually an interview with a friend of mine who is a pilot himself.

Fastcodesign: How lousy cockpit design crashed an Airbus killing 228 people
davaidavai.com: Hooked. Alex Wipf and his theory of flight.
Worldhum: Malcolm Gladwell on Aviation Safety and Security

Just another chapter in the neverending story of how we expect technology to be fail-proof. Most of the time it is. Up to the point where technology and humans interact. Titanic anyone?

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Post tags: Air France, Design, Flying, Interfaces, Planes, Strategy, Tech, Tools, UI, UX, World

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Ray Ban’s Bright Light. For Once a Branded App That Makes Sense.

Gerald — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:44:47 +0000

Oooooh brands and mobile apps. Yes, all of them want ‘something mobile’. No, just few of them should actually develop an app. The formula is simple: Nobody is interested in commercials and even fewer people are interested in branded apps. Except if they have a purpose.

Bright Light by Ray Ban may be such a rare case of a purposeful mobile application that even has a brand value. Check out the video below and tell me what you think. By the way: Ray Ban is my brand of the day anyway because of this fantastic print ad.

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Post tags: Brands, Bright Light, Cool, Ideas, Lifestyle, Mobile, Nike Plus, Ray Ban, Sun, Tools, We like

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On Creative Leadership. Leading Like the Great Conductors.

Gerald — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:01:17 +0000

Not too long ago I had the pleasure to get to know Itay Talgam after a presentation in Berlin. Itay Talgam is conductor, scholar of Leonard Bernstein and he conducted many orchestras in Europe. He was the first Israeli conductor to perform with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera house. In Israel, he has conducted and recorded with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Israeli Opera, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Plus he is a very interesting and charismatic guy.

So why do I get to know a conductor? Itay was presenting his vision as part of an agency event. And even though I had no clue what a director actually does, and even though I embarrassed myself more than once with my lack of knowledge, I have to admit this was one of the most interesting and inspiring presentations I have ever seen. Here is Itay’s TED talk on leading like the great conductors – a must see.

Even if you don’t want to see the whole 20 minutes. Check out the last 5 minutes…and you will want to see the rest.

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Post tags: Creativity, itay talgam, leadership, Presentation, TED, Truth

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Study Proves: Yes, Money is the Root of all Evil.

Gerald — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:54:55 +0000

Marketing would only be half the fun if people were not as greedy as they are – even though the world would be more fun I guess.

One of the ~~funniest~~ most interesting research pieces in this field was conducted by Dutch primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal. He and others (like M. Keith Chen and Laurie R. Santos) taught Bonobos and Capuchin Monkeys the value of currency to better understand moral behaviour and sharing. And they behaved quite human-like:

The monkeys learned how to gamble, and showed a human preference for bets with an apparent upside. They tried counterfeiting the money with cucumber slices. They stole coins. And when a riot broke out, one enterprising female found a way to capitalize…

How? That’s simple.

As soon as they learned that coins had value, one of the male capuchins gave a coin to a female in exchange for sex.

So yes: Essentially money is the root of all evil. It turns peaceful primates into criminals with a clear preference for ~~bitches and bling~~ exchanging food for sex.

Oh…and then there is greed. The following clip, which is by Frans de Waal, shows two different monkeys eating two different foods. The first monkey, is given cucumbers and the second monkey is given grapes. After the first monkey sees that the other is getting grapes guess what happens next? Exactly: they essentially turn into members of the board of the Bank of America in less than 5 seconds.

Good news is: we may not be so bad after all. According to de Waal monkeys and apparently even us show some sign of morality and a sense of sharing if they perceive injustice. Read more about his study results here.

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Post tags: biology, Business, Creativity, crime, ethnology, Experimental, Experiments, Funny, Money, monkeys, science, World

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The Awesome Slideshow. 20 Deeper Truths on Twitter.

Gerald — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:47:07 +0000

Two days ago I had the pleasure to present during The Awesome Slideshow at Amsterdam’s Boom Chicago. Tom De Bruyne, co-founder of Sue Amsterdam, was so kind to ask me to present ‘something connected to twitter’. And the following little deck was the result.

The starting point for this presentation was a simple thought: Twitter is far more than a digital tool. It is a philosophy machine – a thing that creates realities. And the following selection of some of my 20 most favorite tweets proved that.

Twenty favorite tweets

View more PowerPoint from Klawiklawaklawong

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Post tags: Amsterdam, Funny, Gerald, PR, Presentation, theass, Twitter, Underway

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My Column. Now also featured in Adformatie.

Gerald — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:17:15 +0000

I am actually not a big fan of personal PR news flicks on my blog. But I was a bit proud of this one I have to admit: Adformatie – the biggest marketing/advertising/whatever magazine of the Netherlands has just published my column for Amsterdam Ad Blog for the first time.

It is just a short text and certainly not the reinvention of marketing. But hey: I am in adformatie. Thanks Amsterdam Ad Blog for the cooperation. Thanks Rindert for the scan.

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Post tags: Adaptation Marketing, adformatie, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Ad Blog, Column, Creativity, Listening, PR, Real time, Strategy

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Global Brands. The Illusion of Choice.

Gerald — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:09:39 +0000

Click the image to see it full size.

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Post tags: Brands, Business, Diagram, products, Truth, World

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Awkward Badges. I want Foursquare to use these!

Gerald — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:51:19 +0000

Tastefully Offensive has just posted a set of potential future Foursquare badges that might breathe in new life to the…kind of…stagnating platform. Also easier to get them.

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Post tags: Cool, Creativity, Fake, Foursquare, Funny, Ideas, Location, People, Truth, We like, World

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The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future.

Gerald — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:05:26 +0000

From the great article ‘The Jig is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future‘ (The Atlantic)

‘It slipped into parody late last year with the hypothetical app, Jotly, which allowed you to “rate everything” from the ice cubes in your drink to the fire hydrant you saw on the street. The fake promo video perfectly nailed everything about the herd mentality among startups. Its creator told me to watch for “the color blue, rounded corners, SoLoMo [SocialLocalMobile], ratings, points, free iPads, ridiculous name (complete with random adverbing via ‘ly’), overpromising, private beta, giant buttons, ‘friction-less’ sign up, no clear purpose, and of course a promo video.”

And then, the hilarious parody ate itself and my tears of laughter turned to sadness when the people behind the joke actually released Jotly as a real, live app.’

Here is the original video. Isn’t it ironic? Revolutions always eat their own children. Did anyone say google Glass?

Jotly, the Ultimate App for Sharing Everything with Everyone (Psych!)

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Post tags: Experimental, Facebook, Future, Ideas, People, Prediction, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Tech, Tools, Trends, Truth, World

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