Dressing Like Your Customer

Companies have tremendous potential to gain more market share in the US by connecting more with their North American customers. It is not by market research or focus groups that we get to know our customers. It is by....

Dressing Like Your Customer

If you would like to know what your customer wants, we need to dress like them.  If we continue to dress with our business suit, how do we design products and services for mountain climbers, basketball players, single working moms with 2-3 kids......  So look and think like your customer by dressing like them and you will know what your customer needs.

Smart Design/Femme Den holistic design

Smart Design/Femme Den 's  holistic design

From their blog:

Warmer Values represent a more holistic design approach that views tech products (or any product for that matter) through the lens of:

• how it fits into her life
• how it affects the people in her life
• how new technology must have a reason for being
• how the product creates personal meaning

http://www.smartdesignworldwide.com/news/article.php?id=131

Zen quotes

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few" 

"The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. " 

Sustainable and Cheap Housing

Instead of spending millions for rain screen projects costing millions in North American cities, here's an example of earth quake proof, sustainable, cheap housing made of bale straws. 

http://www.paksbab.org/gallery/

An example of great innovation by Civil engineer Darcey Donovan.

Design for the Masses

It has always intrigue me that designing for people with disabilities can be beneficial for the masses. Take this example of a concept phone designed a person with MS (multiple scirosis), the phone is a touch screen panel that has LARGE buttons of people's photos to call.

A great comment from Jenn of Kicker Studio "Projects like these remind us that while it's important to do what you're good at, it's equally important to do what moves you." Her phone concept is quite intriging indeed and if people in the industry are doing primary research based on user centered approached then they should be able to come up with a similar prototype.