Past 64 and an instant hit on myspace.com

If anyone in this world is still questioning the future of the internet - just listen to the man who is now past 64 and his latest album... Paul McCartney under the name "The Fireman" has taken "Electric Arguments" instantly to the world at large. Listen to it on myspace.com and don't forget to read the adoring comments from his fans of all ages. Two days after it was posted 166,000 people had listened to the album - does a quicker way to market exist today?

Brooke Shields Volkswagen AD Commercial # 2

Just in case you haven't seen one of these commercials yet - a little hard to imagine - they appear to be everywhere! My comments are in the previous post.

Pregnant ladies and Brooke Shields

Hilarious, offensive, dumb, irrelevant...just a few of the words used to describe the recent advertising campaign featuring Brooke Shields and lots of pregnant ladies.

Even after just reading the reviews for Buyology, I understand what bothers me about this campaign- it is not the product you remember, it is just Brooke Shields and pregnant ladies. In fact, having seen these commercials at least 20 times, I still can't remember the name of the car that is being introduced. (Although I do remember that it is a VW product, but that could be because I drive one rather than the ad being memorable for that fact.)

As one reviewer of Buyology mentioned, the brain research behind this book informs us that using sex to sell a product sells sex rather than the product. I have to assume that is why I remember only Brooke Shields and pregnant ladies from this advertising campaign. Could it be that this is actually a subliminal campaign by the government to create more future worker bees and taxpayers to support the upcoming retirement of the boomer generation? I am looking forward to reading the book.

HOW TO: Track Trends

Trend tracking is not about looking into a crystal ball and divining the future, rather an observation of the here and now and what the impact of the here and now will have on the future.

The first time a real estate agent told me that banks were giving adjustable rate mortgages with nothing down, allowing 50% of income to go to principle and interest was in 2005, I knew that in 2008 there would be lots of foreclosures. (I am sure that this had been going on even before 2005 but that was the first time that I paid attention - I didn't even know that incomes were not being verified.) Where were all of our astute economists who had the true inside information and whose job it was to keep our economy sound?

Tracking and analyzing trends requires both an open-mind and a keen sense of awareness of your surroundings at all times. Because I am involved with construction materials, the mortgage information held relevance to me, so I processed the information immediately. As a consultant, I made the recommendation that my clients expand their product planning and marketing efforts beyond the residential market. As a consultant, I can only inform decisions, the decisions are the clients to make, and their economists never even sounded the alarm. (The few who did were ignored in the press and considered nervous nellies.)

Trend Watching.Com offers a thorough review of the trend-tracking process as well as trends that they observe. Trend tracking may not be a formal part of your job requirement, but every marketer needs a rudimentary understanding of the process to know whose advice to take. Your own observational skills are still required; the internet should not be viewed as a short cut, but as another tool in the process.

Names have Meaning

"Confusing alphabet-soup names like CLK, CLC, CLS, SLK, GLK, CL, SL and SLR have made it hard for customers to keep track of Mercedes-Benz's vehicle lineup, and to fix that the company is looking at returning to more traditional names based around the A, B, C, E and S-Class names," states an article in Motor Authority.

As I have just finished suggesting names for another batch of products, I am reminded of how important it is that the names connect to something - anything that will help the consumer of the product understand what it is he is buying. I know that it gets tougher and tougher with the number of your own products and those of competitors. Naming your product is a process that should never be given short shrift or handled in a bull session. Names must be especially vetted in a global marketplace in various languages. For example, if planning to sell in Germany, never use the word MIST - it means dung in German. Had to check myself on that one - was it...mist or dust that I just suggested? When Ford launched an advertising campaign in Belgium, the headline ‘Every car has a high quality body’ came out as ‘Every car has a high quality corpse’. Car bodies and human bodies often are different words. If this sort of thing amuses you check for more examples at this website.

Why would you ever name a dark charcoal gray product Mont Blanc if you knew that blanc means white in French? In a global environment, it is more important than ever to have at least a passing knowledge of foreign languages. Even a passing knowledge of geography would have been helpful in this case, because you would know that Mont Blanc is snow-capped year round. English may be the ipso facto lingua franca, but rather than risk embarrassment, make sure to check globally before you commit to the expense of printing literature and labels.

Creativity and the Role of the Leader

An article of interest to those responsible for new product development of all kinds titled "Creativity and the Role of the Leader," in October's Harvard Business Review, shares insights from a recent two-day colloquium at Harvard Business School on the topic. My favorite quote from the article:" 'If there is one device that has destroyed more innovation than any other, it is Six Sigma,' stated Mark Fishman, MD, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research." This fact would be obvious to creative types but must have required verbalizing to the management types at the colloquium. The article offers interesting reading on providing the proper setting and challenges for "managing" creativity on the path to building and maintaining a strong and profitable business.

"Project Runway" Tenor of the Times

2007 BC (before chaos-financial ) Style over Substance wins
2008 AD (after demise-of Wall Street) Talent and hard work win

More than any other "Reality TV" 2008 Project Runway has captured the times in which we live and is a hopeful guidepost to the future. Only in hindsight do we realize that 2007 Project Runway's winner did the same; the winner's "style over substance" captured the immediate times. Did the darkness of the collection foresee what was in store, just a year later? The numbers of viewers of the presidential debate may have eclipsed the viewers of the 2008 Project Runway finale, but we can only hope that these lessons are as prescient as those of 2007 - this would not be the first time that fashion portends the future. And did Leanne's use of sustainable fabrics cinch the deal for her? If Leanne's win of the 2008 Project Runway with talent and hard work - without even a speck of attitude and posturing speaks to the future - bring it on sooner rather than later.

The Intelligent Kitchen: The e-House

Kitchen trends to come are showcased here in this on-going laboratory for building science designed by Michael McDonough. He is a pioneer in sustainability in the built environment. His kitchen features a loft-like aesthetic with lots of natural light, beautiful light fixtures and integration with the out-of-doors. The e-house is a high-performance website-controlled building, and was developed with a team of engineers, scientists, environmentalists, and over 100 manufacturers.

Reed Kroloff: Architecture, modern and romantic

Reed Kroloff offers an interesting, blisteringly blunt 15 minutes on the state of architecture in the year 2003. He is Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, and a nationally known commentator in the world of architecture and urban design. He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Architecture magazine.

But sometimes designers need to be saved from themselves

This topic refers back to the previous post about a beautifully designed car from the 40's during a time that designers ruled. But, sometimes decision makers do have to step in and pass judgment on the validity of a design - a role that Barbara D'Arcy played as the creative director in the heyday of Bloomingdale's . Every little detail about the shopping experience was well-coordinated and always in the best of taste, when other stores were selling either bastardized reproductions, stripped-down Scandinavian or "red, black and fuzzy" things in the home furnishings department. When Barbara swept into the offices of the furniture company where I worked at the time in her royal purple cape, everyone listened.

The Barbara D'Arcy's of the world are so often missing today... Phillipe Starch rails against the entire design establishment as only a Frenchman can, and then creates a bizarre installation like the LAN restaurant in Beijing, as if mocking "who knows exactly what." His "Ghost" chair is genius, but I am afraid he is a one-trick pony with way too much to say. (The LAN bathroom above, there are hundreds of images out - so you can "google" the work.)

This leads me to the fact that companies think that affiliating with someone that has created their own "brand" will rub off on them -yes it can, but only if the product is well-designed and appropriate for the particular marketplace and there is someone inside a company that can tell the difference.

I have often wondered why in the world anyone would buy ceramic tile that looks like wood, but now wonder of wonders - Martha has put her name on an area rug that looks like wood. With the hundreds of beautiful handmade rugs in both traditional and updated patterns available these days, who would put a faux wood-look area rug on an authentic hardwood floor? I haven't a clue. (Rug is middle image and tile is to the right.)

Nike Courage Commercial (I've Got Soul But I'm Not A Soldier)

My bet is that this commercial, aired during the Summer Olympics, will go down as one of the all-time great commercials. There is an interesting white paper titled "The Rhetoric of the Mythological Branding" by Fabian Bautista that discusses early Nike advertising and why they get emotions right at brandchannel.com.

When Design Ruled...No focus groups...No marketing teams!

The other day, I was at the post office and saw a dapper gray-haired gentlemen get into the most exquisitely restored gray Lincoln Continental from the early 40's. Personally designed by T. 'Bob' Gregorie for Edsel Ford, this elegant model is a true icon of automotive design. I am certainly not a car person, but I know an icon when I see one and this car was such a thing of beauty that I felt compelled to yell out a compliment to a complete stranger. (Find more pictures of these beauties at HubcapCafe.)

As I look around me, every other car looks the same in that generic sort of way. How did car companies get to this place? Is it possible that marketing teams and focus groups are the culprits? Catering to the lowest common denominator is BORING and sales of today's BORING cars reflect that fact.

Art Inspires

There are days that our involvement with product development seems so mundane and we need a fix of inspiration. Art often offers that fix, especially when an artist, like Jennifer Maestre creates such exquisite beauty from a mundane manufactured product - the colored pencil.

It is the subtle details that make the difference. Manufactured products too, can be more than just ordinary.

Housing idea whose time has come

I grew up next to, what we then called a "nasty run-down rental" with a family living there that called their only son "Brother," the house was easy to ignore because it sat on a large piece of property with gorgeous old growth trees. The owner left the property to his daughter, and to our delight, she immediately restored the house to the charm of its origins - a Sears catalog bungalow. Today, beautifully landscaped, this house makes a good neighbor. My parents are ever hopeful that someone doesn't come along and tear it down to build a McMansion. (For more inspiration see a collection of the original plans from the Sears Catalog of houses at About.com on architecture.)

Bill Valentine of HOK, whose article Voluntary Simplicity: Making Smaller Better, I mentioned in November 07 is finally getting his wished-for form of housing. An article in the Wall Street Journal introduced developers Ross Chapin and Jim Soules from the Seattle area to the entire country in an article:The Newest Cottage Industry. They have been building boutique neighborhoods of a dozen of so Craftsman Style cottages ranging in size from 800-1,500 sf, about half the size of typical new homes. The cottages are built around a communal courtyard and are not cheap, they sell in the $600,000 range. The houses are well designed for optimal living in small spaces, for example, interior walls have been replaced with floor to ceiling bookshelves. It is nice to hear that the Bungalow aesthetic is finally making a comeback when sustainability is on the tip of everyone's tongue!

Designer as Therapist

More than a decade ago, I put together a series of special home furnishings inserts for a regional weekly newspaper called the TAB. Having never worked in publishing, I found the general atmosphere there much more poisonous than any other work environment that I had ever seen or experienced. Judging by what I was being paid, the pay scale must have been abysmal - what made it bearable for me was the positively delightful editor that I worked for. Coming off of a self-designed sabbatical, I had made a commitment to myself to try new and "fun" stuff and this gig - I thought - fit the description.

What jogged this memory for me was Home Is Where the Head in today's "New York Times Home and Garden" section. "Architects complain that they are asked to behave more like mental health professionals than designers, clients complain that their architects and their mates do not understand them, and the stories of couples coming asunder, or of clients suing their architects, are legion." Christopher K. Travis, an architectural designer in Texas has found a solution: "an exhaustive psychological and aesthetic compatibility exercise for would-be home builders that is part New Age self-help manual, part personality test."

I looked on my time at the TAB as a learning experience. What I learned is that the most successful residential designers had first been in some form of counseling - art therapist, sex therapist, sociology and even teaching. I finally came to understand why my initial forays into residential design had come to naught - I never found that counseling connection. In hindsight, a lesson learned - I finally understood why I found business much more interesting! (I also learned the few companies that were getting their money's worth from their p.r. agencies. I found small boutique agencies were happy to be helpful to a novice working with a circulation of 600.000, while larger agencies failed to follow up because they were busy putting out boilerplate releases. I am often curious whether anything has changed in the ensuing decade+.)

The "New York Times" story reinforces the importance of the psychological connection that we all have to our homes for those in the business of making and marketing products for the home.

Disney Innoventions Dream Home goes retrograde

David Rakoff puts it so well in his piece on Disney's new Innoventions Dream Home in the NY Times:
"...Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts styles, all wood, warm earth tones and nailed-down knickknacks — a mildly hopeful and unthreatening place. One like today, only better. The future, such as it is, is hidden in the wiring behind the walls."

Yes, the new "idea house" is aspirational only in the McMansion sense, but the optimism of the 1957 "Future House" is missing. The images of the "Innovations Dream Home" have an insular bunker mentality about them. The company appears to be stuck in their successful past, rather than shooting for the stars in the idea world, as Walt Disney would have done.

Disney House of the future...very "Twilight Zone"

It is interesting to contrast this 1957 version of Disney's "House of the Future" with today's. Product placement is certainly not a new idea.

ROOM (Happenings in the box)

Is anyone living in this box? Life informs art and art informs life. An interesting take on the impermanence of materials.

Newly revived Wright Palette

When I purchased my 1890's Victorian house, the interior colors were comfortable and tasteful, if not exactly to my liking. I knew that the colors were not Victorian, but couldn't quite figure out their provenance until I toured Wright's Unity Temple in Oak Park. There was the palette that the previous owners had used throughout the house.

Suitable for today's organic aesthetic, Pittsburgh Paints has introduced a palette of Wright colors - the Fallingwater Inspired Colors. These colors have the same spirit that is present in Oak Park, with the inspiration that Wright found in the central Pennsylvania mountains. The colors have been authenticated by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the caretakers for Fallingwater. The area and house are well worth a weekend adventure.

Time Travel with "Classic Ad Watch"

As boomers approach retirement, marketers are asking: who are they and what do they want to buy today? Humans prefer the exciting and novel with a touch of the familiar. A good place to begin to get in touch with boomers psyche is on the jalopnik.com website - there you can watch the top 10 car ads of the 60's, 70's and 80's. The narratives, images, music and voice-overs truly allow you to travel back in time.

Germaine Kruip's "Counter Composition"

Germaine Kruip's kinetic art at the Armory in 2007.

Minimalism Lives On

The New York Times weights in on the new Jil Sander store in SOHO..."not a bag, shoe, or double-faced cashmere coat in sight," with an aptly titled article: It’s About...Nothing. Despite several changes in ownership, the new creative director Raf Simmons continues to respect Jil Sander's spirit of minimalism in his approach to both fashion and interior design. He collaborated with Germaine Kruip, a Dutch artist who works with space and light to create the interior of the new store. Although Sander stores have always been spare, it remains to be seen how long the space will show simply nothing.

Creatives grow better in the South West

The secrets of creativity are exposed.

Devolution to the Lowbrow

The illusion of a carefree life, childhood, living off the grid, traveling the open road, the idea of having no encumbrances - these are the new fantasies.

Recently, Trader Joe’s was serving PBJ’s at their sampling counter (Peanut, Butter and Jelly sandwiches - a childhood favorite for generations of American kids.) A “crunchy granola” head sporting a bicycle helmet in the store - trying to be “cool” said, “Oh, that is so low class, but I guess it is Trader Joe‘s peanut butter.” Actually being a granola-head is - so yesterday and she missed the whole point. Trader Joe’s has become a cult classic and has become one of America's highest grossing retail store with virtually no advertising by being on target with the zeitgeist. The next week they were serving grilled cheese sandwiches – they understand the “tastes” of the future well.

Goat cheese and brie are so yesterday, luxury items are appropriating the gritty tastes and visual language of the lowbrow cultures to the extreme – pbj’s, comics, the ghetto, old waterfronts, and decaying manufacturing sites – the unseen and disappearing places in first world cultures.

• Hoodie’s have gone from gangs camouflage to chairs.
• Cheap plastic flowers adorn the bicycle of a “street” lady in New York, then inexplicably and simultaneously they appear in a chic boutique window in the Meatpacking district and covering the façade of the Copper-Hewitt- what was once the premier design museum in the US. This begs the question: “Is the Cooper-Hewitt loosing it or are they just trend forward?” Their facade trimming is certainly not nearly as sophisticated as the Torte Boontje florals seen recently at Christmas in all the “Targee” stores.
• If you channel surf at all in the American media market, you will eventually see the laborers taking apart decaying ships in the ports off Bangladesh. Is this where the Dornbracht designers (subliminally) got their ideas? Rust and decay finishes are increasingly seen in interiors.
• McDonald’ and other corporate logo colors are becoming so ubiquitous that people now comfortably wear these color even when not working there.
  

Words to live by

"Life is pretty simple: You try something. Usually it fails. Sometimes it works. If it works well, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is to keep trying something else." Leonardo Da Vinci

Color Inspiration from your favorite image realized

Before beginning work with a new client, every design professional recommends that the client create a file folder of "favorite" images to give them a head start on working together. There are a ton of "decorating tools" of questionable value on line, but only one that I have found that lets you take an image and translate it into something really useful - kuler by Adobe. Simply upload the "favorite" image and presto you have a color scheme with 5 colors from your image. Who would have guessed that a vase of peonies could create a preppy color scheme for a downtown loft. Shown is the "muted" random scheme that the software generates with several other options available. You can also move 5 circles around the image to other colors to change the scheme at will. Importing pictures is a piece of cake, and the site works intuitively. Originally designed for graphic artists, it is a delightful tool for anyone that loves color.

Cheap solar power from MIT...Simple, Elegant, Raw

Worlds largest solar powered LED display in Beijing

Visitors to the Olympics in Beijing will be find the world's largest color LED display combined with China's first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall. The GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall was designed by New York-based architect Simone Giostra with solar technology by China's solar powerhouse Suntech. This display forms the curtain wall of the Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle.

Researcher from Groningen developes transparent solar cells

Finally, a solar cell we aesthetically minded can love - or at least live with. In Groningen, the Netherlands, researchers are working on the development of of a cheaper solar cell which can be made of plastic. Afshin Hadipour found a way to make semi-transparent solar cells made of plastic which can function as a window at the same time. Read more about it on their site.

George Carlin RIP

A Message by George Carlin on the death of his first wife:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stock room. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' , but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

Thoreau, Boomers and Brand

What do Tom's of Maine. Burt's Bees, Ben and Jerry's and Stonyfield Farm have in common? Yes, the companies were all founded in New England, but an article in brandchannel.com finds that they also share a decidedly New England world-view or more specifically a view of nature as articulated by Emerson and Thoreau. Professor Jane E. Rosecrans of Virginia’s J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College notes that the green values championed by the afore-mentioned brands echo many of the ideals that were advanced in New England in the mid-nineteenth century by these Transcendentalist writers.

If you want to continue to appeal to Boomers keep these writers' values in mind- especially in these "green" times. Thoreau was a cultural icon for those that came of age throughout the 60's, and like the music of one's youth, the ideals of poetry stay with a generation throughout life. (Never mind the obesity crisis, even a spoonfull of Ben and Jerry's is akin to the heaven Thoreau found in nature to me.)

2008 State of the Nation’s Housing Report Released

The nation is in the throes of a housing downturn that is shaping up to be the worst in a generation, finds The State of the Nation’s Housing report issued today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. While the falloff in housing starts, new home sales, and existing home sales already rivals the worst downturns in the post World War II era, home price declines and mortgage defaults are the worst on records that date back to the 1960s and 1970s.

This is a critical time for those in the building material industries to be creative in all aspects of their business.

Classic or a Cliché

Is the red geranium a classic or a cliché? Is it an archetype for happy summer days - for summer itself?

Occasionally I will plant geraniums that coordinate better with the perennials in my garden, yet every time I do, I find myself disappointed and the next year it's back to the brilliantly red ones. Those "sophisticated" designers turn their nose up at the very idea, yet red geraniums satisfy some deep-seated yearning for me. Why is a basket or windowbox of red geraniums so much more satisfying than the other colors?

That is the very question in both design and marketing, when does the presentation of the familiar cross over to cliche? Or does it matter - is a cliche just an efficient form of communication whether in words or images?

I cast my vote for red geraniums as classics!

Patricia Urquiola continues to charm

Like Pompeii, it used to be that Milan annually spewed out a flow of bad antique reproductions. Now it is simply a flood of mid-century modern furniture reproductions that come out year after year after year. Contemporary used to mean "of the current times" now it seems to mean "more of the same."

However, there is one designer in Milan who truly designs in the spirit of "contemporary" and that is Patricia Urquiola. Every season her designs are original and enchanting. Not afraid to use color, this Spaniard has given us a delightful new design vocabulary. Whether designing wire chairs for EMU, fabric-inspired plastic chairs for Kartell, or a whimsical set of fine china for Rosenthal, Urquiola creates fresh and exciting interpretations of traditional forms for today. Find out more about her in an interview on the Designboom website.

A solar Rube Goldberg machine

"A" for effort and an "F" for looks. The Sunray golf cart by Cruise Car is recharged by a solar panel. Does it really have to be so obvious? Also obvious is that this company has not heard of "Design."

Must they be so ugly?

Maybe Herwig's book Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-free Living will finally let the world know that universal design does not have to be ugly. I always hate checking in late to a hotel, only to find myself with the handicap room with its on-so-ugly bathroom. Europeans just do these things much better, HEWI products are available in a decent array of colors at plumbing supply houses here, but I have only seen them at trade shows. What a shame!

Universal Design can be beautiful

Design Week reviews the book: Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-free Living by Oliver Herwig which will be published in September. With a rapidly aging population, all interior product producers must be sensitive to this issue. Interior finishes are little affected by this topic other than the need for slip resistance in floors and an overall requirement for ease of maintenance. However, universal design should be given equal consideration with sustainability in the marketing materials for all interior products. OXO kitchen gadgets have long been developed for "universal design" and everyone loves to use them - as James Irvine says in the book "good design is universal design." Design Week shows the lovely SimpliciTEA ceramic teapot with pourer stand, designed by Lotte Alpert - I hope it makes it to our marketplace.

Further information on universal design is available from The Center for Universal Design (CUD), a national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products.

Yves Saint Laurent R.I.P.

These quotes from Yes St. Laurent give us a small insight into why he was an important part of the fashion and cultural scene. He was always paying attention!

"I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it."

"Like Proust, I'm fascinated most of all by my perceptions of a world in awesome transition."

"The street and me is a love story. 1971 is a great date because, finally, fashion took to the street."

"I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes."

"To be beautiful, all a woman needs is a black pullover and a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves."

"The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves. But for those who haven't had the fortune of finding this happiness, I am there."

This reminds me to go searching for my copy of Julia Cameron's "Artist's Way" and my favorite dog-eared Vogue article "On Paying Attention" that was incorporated into the book. I haven't read it for awhile and as Woody Allen would say: "I need the eggs."

"The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention." Julia Cameron

More musing on ICFF 2008

I took the pictures of HansandFranz stools for their wonderful collection of colors, but walking the sterile Bernhardt Design space I was left in a quandary. Above to the left is a collage of fabulously and shamelessly decorative furnishings from young entrepreneurs showing - often for the first time at the show. It seems corporations are commissioning the same sterile looks that those of us "of a certain age" have been seeing our entire careers. Does the future of design really hold more of this? We do live in a time of "anything and everything," but I can't help but be more inspired by the more hand-crafted looks presented by the entrepreneurs rather than the machine-age modern also still prevalent in the Italian booths at ICFF. I do think it is time for a change.

Musing on ICFF 2008

I kept meaning to blog about my visit to the Kitchen and Bath Show, but there was truly nothing inspirational about the show - even though it it the industry in which I work. I will try to forget the large scale images of Kelly Ripa and her cupcakes at the Electrolux booth. However, I was impressed that finally this year a little reality hit the industry - the focus was off the massive collection of shower heads seen in the past - gee! the industry finally figured out they are a waste of water... and who has enough water heaters in their house to keep them going anyway? It seems this year we will be vibrating in the tub and doing aromatherapy and light therapy in the shower instead of gallons and gallons of water. Large corporations do take so long to catch on.


But ICFF, now that is another story - there was much that inspired. Some misguided, like the plastic blow-up chair filled with garbage...but so much more that was thoughtful and thoughtfully "green" as well. Yothaka, the Thai company that first gave us water hyacinth furniture has created an elegant and beautifully colored seating series made of pineapple fiber - like water hyacinth-normally thrown away. A chaise is pictured above.

The Adults have left the Building at P&G

Tone-on-tone labels for shampoo and conditioners that can't be read without glasses- and who wears their glasses in the shower? "Fortifying fortifier" - why not fortifyingly fortifying fortifier for further emphasis? Graphically tone-deaf and functionally illiterate MBA's have taken over at P&G. What's next - a pastel tone-on-tone redesign of the iconic Tide label for this company that is considered to have the "best marketing practices"? Whether they will catch themselves or continue on this new path remains to be seen. The problem with a "best practices" survey is that the surveys go to agencies and other marketers - and they all blow sweet nothings in each other's ear. They should ask a few articulate consumers what they think about such tag lines as "Fortifying fortifier."

Fabulously "Green"

Sometimes you see something so new, so stunning and so fabulous, it takes you breath away. The theme for the 2008 New England Flower Show was "Rhapsody in Green," and this breathtaking display garden was created by Peter R. Sadeck of Lakeville, MA. The sense of tranquility of this bamboo fantasy was palpable even in the midst of the din of the throngs at the show. I wanted to stay forever.

"You don't need fashion, but poetry"

Ludovica and Roberto Palomba, Palomba Serafini Associati are interviewed by Alice Liao in Kitchen and Bath Business in the March 2008 issue. They discuss their inspirations and articulate their design philosophy which explains the beauty of the products that they produce. "Our work combines a contemporary vision of society and users' needs with an extensive knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of design, producing results that blend the past with the future." Poetic objects require more flourishes, but their radiator design for Tubes Radiatori is simply the essence of elegance - . In their interview they remind us: "To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard."

Frank Lloyd Wright Color Palette

From the Wright Library

The Wright Library

If you have an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright, this is the place. They have assembled nearly 2,000 books, periodicals and items related to Wright, including many rare books. The number of books, articles and pamphlets written by and about Wright is overwhelming. The purpose of The Wright Library is to document and preserve them. Of particular interest are the product catalogs of the materials designed by Wright.

Another fun website from that era is the Prairie Mod blog where Teco pottery and other items of that era are available along with updated items of design interest. You can also download a copy of the USONIAN font that I use in the Wright color palette above at this site.

Electric Fountain

Tim Webster and Sue Noble’s Electric Fountain — a 35-foot sculpture simulating cascading water and made from 3,390 glittery LED bulbs — at Rockefeller Center. The fountain will be up until April 5th, but this delightful artwork will probably remain on youtube forever.

Why classical styles continue to endure

I rushed to see the Samuel McIntire, Carving an American Style exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum before it closed and was justly rewarded. The exhibit explores Samuel McIntire's contributions to the American design vocabulary. As woodcarver, architect and designer, he was among the first to carve eagles in wood to ornament buildings, furniture and other decorative art objects. The eagle came to signify the power of a nation, what came immediately to my mind- what does today's obsession with skull motifs signify? What does it mean that someone paid $122M for Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull? Why do Heidi Klum and Seal travel with a $2000 bag covered in skulls?

The following day, the inside cover of the NY Times magazine had a Honda ad with the American eagle dominantly featured. Graffiti will inform design in the short term, but on this President's Day I'm convinced that the powerful iconic symbolism of the classical will continue to endure.

LED throwies Demo

And can light graffiti be far behind the serious use of LEDS? Today things happen in a heartbeat and it is hard to know which will push the trend to expanded use faster. What I could have done with this at those famous Rehobeth parties in the 70's?

Interactive LED Coffee Table Demo

Ingo Maurer did it first, he made art and his work remains relatively obscure - know only to the design community. This video has been viewed over 2M times in four months, it's lots more fun.

Spring 2008 Color Trends

In case you were skeptical of the 60's Peter Max look returning, check out this fashion video. I will let you know how well this retro look is catching on in fashion by what is left on the mark-down rack at Saks in the summer. This palette has a future in interior products because LED lights offer an exciting way to create this palette in an interior, and even offer the opportunity for a 00's "psychedelic" effect. With the "teens" just around the corner as far as finish product development - a 50 year celebration of a 60's color palette is in order.

San Miguel de Allende, Arroyo Gallery

I whipped up this youtube spot for an artist and designer friend that is opening a gallery in Mexico. The colors that surround her inspire her art.

Pecha Kucha Training Bite

Pecha Kucha is a wonderful tool to force the focus of any message or information.

More inspiration from the Archives

Square Feet, the real estate column in the NY Times in "Nods to the Old Country in a Modern Space" describes the inspiration for the interior of the new 5th Avenue Ermenegildo Zegna store. Designed by the architect Peter Marino as modern homage to the textile heritage of the company with displays of menswear with literal references to fabric bolts and looms. It is becoming more essential to share the stories of who you are with every medium at your disposal, and that certainly includes the interiors of retail spaces and showrooms.

Atmospheric Images in NY Times Sunday Magazine

In time for the Oscars, The NY Times Magazine has an article entitled Breakthrough Performances of 2007. (The link is to the slide show with commentary.) Move over Arnold Newman, there is a new portrait photographer in town. Now that everyman can shot a "perfect picture" with a digital camera, artists are moving beyond static images. RYAN McGINLEY shot the riveting atmospheric photographs of the stars for this article. This series of images is a must-see for anyone that works with aesthetics in any format.

You may wonder why this is important. I had a history professor at UNC-G who made his world history classes read the Sunday New York Times and tested us on it on it every Monday - a life long habit was born and come rain or sleet or snow, I read the NY Times on Sunday even when on vacation. What I now have is a history that tells me that stories and images published in the Times are culture defining. Despite their strongly held political opinions, I have found their influence on cultural trends holds more sway and influence on the entire country than their editorial and op-ed pages. I have since added the Thursday Home section to my "must read" list. I still like reading print, but I go to the website for the video, slide shows and better quality images than is possible on newsprint.

If you are responsible for product photography, imagine the interesting possibilities this style offers in truly focusing on a product. Expect to see more of this style in the future.
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Peter Max's 7UP Butterfly and "Me"

I started thinking about the interior finish trends from the beginning's of my career. Very few companies connected to current culture at the time. Interior design training centered on historic styles up to and including Bauhaus (what we now call mid-century modern.) I have no memory whatsoever of "looking forward" in my design education. History is instructive, but much like using last year's sales as an indicator for tomorrow, time marches on.

We were boomers, and from our days on college campuses we were used to starting revolutions and interiors definitely needed a revolution - but corporations were not really ready for us. We made ourselves heard anyway, this model home family room in central Florida was my first bit of daring in a traditional corporate culture. We were on a tight budget, and all it took was a phone call to 7UP and they sent one of their fabulous Peter Max posters - without hesitation. I was working for Armstrong at the time, and they may not have been on the leading edge of product styling, but I got away with this unusual stunt because they were, without a doubt, the most progressive marketers in the entire interior finish industry. The story about the how the advertising department of the company created a "brand" before that word took on a life of its own, has been chronicled in How Armstrong Floored America-the People Who Made It Happen, 1945-1995 by Eugene Moore published by the Lancaster County Historical Society.

When I rediscovered this picture, I realized that I had found the centerpiece for the narrative I am compiling of how color trends in finishes have continued to change since corporations started tracking trends rather than leaving product aesthetics up to the tastes of individual stylists and the whims of marketing executives.

Journal from World Economic Forum 2008

Jay Nordlinger of National Review writes a charming daily journal from the Davos World Economic Forum 2008. Links to each entry are on his archive at National Review.

Apparently it wasn't all economics all the time, some fun topics included:"The Scent of Success," "Classic Clarets," "Reveal Your True Colours" and "Brands: Today's Gods." I am curious who was on the "color" panel, but "googleing" offered no answers. Webcasts and videos of many of the sessions are available on the official site.

Scion xB transformer commercial

Toyota marketed this car, with many customizable features, to young drivers and are finding that boomers are buying it as well. The interesting thing is that this is the way American's used to buy cars, until the Japanese invented "packages." It seems what is "cutting edge" today evokes more than a few "back to the future" concepts.

Adidas Originals

Adidas shows attitude with their new marketing campaign, who wouldn't want to shop in their new store concept? Is Germany the new go-to country for the new marketing? Adidas will reformat some of its 80 worldwide stores into Originals, an "atelier" concept, allowing visitors to design their own shoes and send pictures and videos to a large wall within the store. They are also collaborating with hip jeansmaker Diesel in time for New York Fashion week.

BMW WELT Walkthrough

Enjoy this walkthrough of a brand new architecture that fits the "Beemer" image as well as those Star Trek space suits fit the guy trekkies favorite female characters Seven of Nine.

S. S. Enterprise lands in Munich! BMW World

We know that Star Trek influenced the design of the clamshell cell phone, now it seems the show has inspired a building in the newly opened BMW Welt (World). The New York Times introduced the building by Coop Himmelb(l)au in an article: Polishing the Brand in a Cathedral for Cars . Now about that (l) in the architect's name?? The New York Times article writer tied his title to the idea and what a fun pun it is - Himmel is sky in German, blau means blue and bau means building - what is a cathedral but a building that rises up into the blue sky. On the architect's website, the "L" is actually a subscript, making it almost disappear. This building is seriously forward looking and I sense the need for a road trip.

Look for inspiration in the archives

A simple and timely idea (Look for inspiration in your archives) exquisitely executed like all of Hella Jongerius's highly original work.

Interior Design finally arrives in Detroit

BusinessWeek headlines are at the top of my igoogle page because they are consistently on the mark in all areas of the design world's impact on business. Detroit's New Push for better Interiors is their latest insight on how the American automobile industry finally is beginning to understand what Asia and Europe has known all along - that interior design matters. The industry has know for a long time that 85% of car buying decisions are made by women, it is about time they realize that we spend most of our time sitting in the car, not admiring it from the outside.

Superbowl score upset, ad response predictable

It is amazing how similar the responses to the Superbowl ads were across age, gender and income on the US TODAY admeter. I don't know how long this page will remain online, but the responses show, current wisdom aside, that there is still a consistent mass-market. Year after year, we love animals: Budweiser's Clydesdale ad, Sobe LifeWater's lizards yet were easily bored by 30 seconds of Gatorade's water-drinking black lab. The top four top admeter scores were all animals. And there was only one response that differed markedly by gender, scoring 23 of 55 - men loved the Victoria's Secret ad and women "not so much." Four lessons from Superbowl 42:

1. The mass-market is alive and well.
2. It is critical to keep the real customer firmly in sight when promoting a product
   
3. Animals with stories that entertain engage!
4. The internet offers a solid afterlife for the ad dollars spent at the Superbowl.
   

More than "viral marketing" is needed for success.

Fast Company has an article, "Is the Tipping Point Toast?" that expands on Malcolm Gladwell's idea of the "Tipping Point." He essentially expands on the idea of who really are the influencers in the marketplace. The article is interesting and worth reading. However, using the popularity of music as "product" he concludes from his research that Madonna's success is simply random - and I disagree with that.

The problem with such academic research is the lack of real world context. In today`s proliferation of product, having that right product is the first essential - so give the "material girl" credit, her`s has not been merely a random walk. She has recreated her success over and over through the years by her constant reinventions. Madonna is a savvy businesswomen who stays in tune with the tenor of the times with the product that she offers.

In today`s hyper-competitive environment one winning suite is not enough,four fully integrated winning hands are required to win - product, pricing, marketing and sales. (Although a three-legged stool can stand up nicely. Ex. Granite became the countertop of choice in this country with little to no marketing. It is a fabulous product made competitive by the invention of the artificial diamond and the availability of container shipping and sold through a short supply chain.)

Although given short shrift, the real story is in the article: "When he tried to pitch "some company`s shitty product," he couldn`t force it to go viral."

Slow Home Report - January 30, 2008

Sanity and Sustainability meet good design. I hope this movement has a future as outlined by the introduction to this website. Slow Home.

The Blur comes to the Built Environment

Much esoteric philosophizing and intellectual building goes on in the architectural world, for material suppliers questions of the validity of some of the ideas and how they will manifest is always in the forefront of their product planning. As a consultant, I regularly wrestle with how culture, technology and design ideas will combine into new forms. I realize that the influences and outcomes are never linear, but rather more organic, often even spiral. On my return from Art Basel Miami, I have been obsessing over how THE BLUR will affect the built environment. Of course, it already has - Diller + Scofidio created a building for the Swiss Expo 2002 called the BLUR Building that was essentially a scaffold with mist created by 31,500 high-pressure nozzles. Their description states: "Upon entering the fog mass, visual and acoustic references are erased, leaving only an optical "white-out" and the "white-noise" of pulsing nozzles. Blur is an anti-spectacle. Contrary to immersive environments that strive for high-definition visual fidelity with ever-greater technical virtuosity, Blur is decidedly low-definition: there is nothing to see but our dependence on vision itself." Ah! but this rarefied thinking doesn't translate to my clients, nor do my clients make water.

So I am no wiser, I keep searching and realize that one of my previous presentations held the answer - the ribbon building I was showing as a new new trend in a 2005 presentation at Coverings showed what blur would look like in the built environment. Surfaces will no longer be distinct, floors will meld into walls and flow into ceiling and technology makes it all possible. Now that is something my clients will understand - a new way of seeing their material with more square footage to cover!

Always looking for confirmation, I found it on a most spectacular architectural website: Iconography: In a post called "The Endgame of Minimalism," Michiel van Raaij states, "For the first time in architectural history the floor, wall, and ceiling not only had the same color, but became part of the same surface." He also sees "the end of paint, stucco, or foil" putting all but concrete, metal and glass manufacturers out of business. If I follow his reasoning, I guess that I'd better put less emphasis on color and more on texture, it 's all seems rather blurry to me.