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Thou Shalt Covet What Thy Neighbor Covets__When it comes to the things we buy, what other people think matters. A lot. Here’s how the desires of strangers - inflamed by branders and marketers - mysteriously become our desires, too.
Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy
Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters
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Hefty 2-Ply by Jud Nelson__1979-81__Carrara marble
10 Artists Who Make Unreal Fakes Of Everyday Objects, From Cigarettes To Trash Bags
“In seemingly inverse proportion to the ease of producing goods for the marketplace, many artists are slowing and complicating their own working methods, remaking banal things into objects of fixation and desire.”
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The Brands That Survive Will be the Brands That Make Life Better__A new study of consumer engagement finds that companies that aren’t making a difference—to the world and to consumers—aren’t going to be around much longer. Instead of just making your product incrementally better than the competitor, you need to create impact.
COMMENT__I couldn’t disagree with this assessment more. What was the age bracket of the surveyed consumers? And honestly, who doesn’t say the ‘right thing’ when asked questions about - well - doing the right thing?
Take a look at ads and TV programs geared towards children: sensory overstimulation at its finest. Toss in a Justin Bieber endorsement and you’ve got marketing gold. The ADD / video game generations don’t care about social causes - they want slick, fun and exciting in that order. As adults, their eyes and hands will gravitate towards the brightest, most highly-designed and expensive-looking packaging on the shelf. Social causes will be as throwaway as the products they’re attached to. Unless, of course, the Matt Damon of their day throws his weight behind Water.org (for example) and hosts a Super Concert with their favorite bands. Maybe THEN some kid in Africa will get a new pump for Christmas.
The days of Boomer hippie feel-good causes are coming to a swift end. With 11+ million people dying of starvation in Africa while H&M strategizes another profit-busting designer allegiance, could there ever be any doubt about this? The vast majority of consumers really DON’T care about anything other than satisfying themselves. Speak to this impulse and you’ve got yourself a ‘winner’, such as it is.
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SCOTT BELSKY has devoted his professional life to help organize the creative world to make ideas happen. Scott is the founder of Behance, a company that develops products and services for the creative industries. Behance oversees the Behance Network, the world’s leading online platform for creative professionals, The 99%, Behance’s think tank and annual conference devoted to execution in the creative world, and Action Method, a popular online/mobile productivity application and line of organizational paper products. Scott is also the author of the national bestselling book Making Ideas Happen (Portfolio, Penguin Books).
Scott Belsky doesn’t exactly advertise that he’s the grandson of test-prep king Stanley Kaplan, but he has a lot in common with the man who launched a $4 billion industry by tutoring immigrants for the SAT. “He always used this term ‘meritocracy,’ ” Belsky recalls. “He was always hoping the smartest people would go to college rather than the people who had the connections and wealth.”
Work Smart: Overcoming the Addiction to “Insecurity Work” (video)__To create what will be, you must remove yourself from the constant concern for what already is.
An Interview with Scott Belsky__The name “Behance” came from the word “enhance” – which means to improve, and the word “be” which suggests that people must take responsibility for themselves and their careers – this is ultimately what we’re trying to do for the creative world.
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Meta Watch
Arm Race: Your Wristwatch is Your Next Web Portal__The wristwatch was nearly killed off by the cell phone revolution, but with the rise of the smartphone it’s about to evolve into something more powerful than it’s ever been.
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Giving a Kick-Ass Presentation in the Age of Social Media__It was painful to watch. Jon Bond, the former ad giant turned social media honcho, was actually getting heckled at the Pivot Conference. When faced with what was a feisty crowd to begin with, Bond admitting that he “didn’t like Twitter” was like throwing fresh meat at rabid dogs. But rather than raise their voices, they let their fingers do the shouting. So while Bond continued to speak, a steady stream of snarky tweets projected on the wall behind him, acting like foghorns and essentially drowning him out.
Being a great speaker was never easy, but now, with your audience likely to have a mobile device in hand and real-time access to multiple social channels, the challenges have gotten that much greater. To get a sense of the impact of social media on conference presentations, I interviewed a bunch of regulars on the social media circuit. In the process, they helped me identify these seven (somewhat snarky) new rules for public speaking in the social media era…
COMMENT__I deliver 50-60 global keynotes / year; no argument with your points above. I would submit that “kick-ass presentations in the age of social media” still have to be kick-ass regardless of social media. You still have to bring great energy and passion to the stage, along with considerably more depth in your specific area of expertise. Expert first - speaker second. Unfortunately, even the speaking profession (and respectfully, it is a profession and not a hobby or something to do while you’re unemployed) is not immune to the hacks who read an interesting blog, research a topic, maybe even write a book and use the PR to get on far too many stages. Real thought leadership encompasses the capacity and the ability to articulate a compelling point.
One other quick point: I think if people are NOT tweeting about your session, that should give you a clue that it’s time for some introspection on your content or coaching on your delivery as well. The real time feedback is great. I also go through them after my session for key insights on the “sound bites” that resonated most. -David Nour (author, Relationship Economics)
Speaker’s Spotlight: David Nour (video)__”How can you innovate in a culture that doesn’t allow you to fail?”
This is Bullshit: My TED x NYED Talk (video)__”This is a world where anyone can teach and everyone can learn.”
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Digital Matter table__High Commissions Two Iconic Designers for Exhibition
Bone chair
Joris Laarmans Lets His Skeletal Chairs Do Their Own Thing__Days before his first U.S. show opened, Laarman’s pieces were already spoken for, at prices Benda refused to divulge. “He’s been blowing away anybody who’s walked through these doors,” says Benda. “He’s 30 years old and able to compete with the best.”
Heat Wave electric radiator__Red Dot Design Award winner (2006)
Design of the Digital Age__While Laarman admits a certain cultural anxiety exists over digital fabrication, similar to that felt at the onset of the industrial revolution, we should not fear some “super machine” that will render designers obsolete. “I was educated as a designer and craftsman,” he says. “I work a lot with digital fabrication tools, but I work even more with my hands.” Computers, he says, for all their power, are just another tool. “Machines are never perfect, they can hardly do what you think they can do,” he says. Digital tools are, he says, never as “digital as you want them to be.”
WSJ Magazine’s “Innovator of the Year Awards” gives this year’s design prize to Joris Laarman.
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