Brains on Fire

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  Design, triggering emotions and movements.

  Posted on April 11th, 2011 by Robbin and currently 4 commenting.

  
  Left, classic poster from Jenny Morla, 2010 AIGA Gold Medalist winner. Right, soap as art and complete category change, Method. AIGA Corporate Leadership winner.

  
  Above, John Maeda, 2010 AIGA Gold Medalist winner. Isn’t that just beautiful? Looks kinda of like some of the visualizations of community I’ve seen floating around lately.

  Last week I got a kind offer and a last minute chance to attend the AIGA Bright Lights Awards in NY. Hanging with some amazing design talent (see above).
  
  As I walked back to hail a cab after the event, two things hit me:

  1. The design world at that level is just so ROMANTIC. Full or stories and heroes. Think Herman Miller and Tiffany.
  2. Design is a talk-able trait. Always has been. Think Method and Apple. It moves us. Stirs us to talk and to share. Even if we don’t quite understand why.
  
  Okay, a little side story:

  I have a degree in art. And even now I consider myself an artist.

  I can still remember the very first time that I got my hands on a CA magazine. I think it was a design annual. It was as if a whole other side of my head and my heart flew wide open. Having grown up in a world filled with really bad design, to hold so much amazingly brilliant design in my hands at one time was a gift that is hard for me to describe.

  As a struggling art student, I found a way to pay the 40 dollars (a small fortune back then) for a real subscription.

  My next design hero wasn’t in a magazine — he was a real person. And the lead creative director at a small southern ad agency. It was the first real job I had in the advertising world. I remember following this guy around and I am not lying, if he dropped something in a trash can, I quietly picked it up. And took it home and traced it. Trying to get a “feeling” for how and why he but things together on a piece of paper.

  Makes me laugh now to think of it.

  Okay. Here’s the point of sharing that silly story.

  In our work and in our world of igniting community and sparking word of mouth movements, design is still a very big part of the work we do at Brains on Fire. Here is what we know to be true:

  That “feeling” you get when you see something that moves you — can in fact inspire you to take action.

  Now, more than ever, design is helping us to unite and connect people emotionally. Human being to human being. We are helping kindred spirits express their shared feelings, beliefs and passions. And in some cases, the community literally becomes the total inspiration for design as we simply help execute their ideas, their passion.

  I love this “designism” from designer Jenny Morala:
  
  “Design is not solely a marketing device that supports consumerism. It can be a communicator of dissent. It can market ideology. It can effect change.”

  Design connects. Design stirs our emotions. Design can bring people together for a common cause or purpose.
  
  In a social world where everyone is talking and taking up space with content, are we losing sight of the critical role design is playing to connect and spark action?
  
  Just thinking out loud on a beautiful Tuesday morning in Greenvegas.

  What is the best example of design supporting or igniting a movement you have ever seen? Past or present…Let’s get a discussion going. You know I love it when you share.

  ***Design examples inspired from burning settlers cabin

  Tags: AIGA Bright Lights, Apple, Community, Design, Herman Miller, Jenny Morla, John Maeda, Kindred Spirits, Method, Tiffany
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  A Reflective Perspective: From TimTV

  Posted on October 28th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 4 commenting.

  
  Today’s post is a gift from TimTV. I love it because it clearly relates to building movements. Movements build and grow stronger with every new voice. Enjoy.

  Today I received news that the father of a childhood friend of mine passed away. As we reminisced, two particular moments came to mind; both of which containing modicums of wisdom which helped form my view of the world, and so I thought I should share.

  Among the many things that Mr. Dolber had been in his life, I thought of him most as an artist. One of those rivers that ran deeper than I would get to know, but quite obviously so. We didn’t have many interactions; only a handful, but what they lacked in number, they made up for in wisdom.

  I remember sitting in the sunny kitchen of their big old New England house, looking at the large aloe plant sitting in the breakfast nook bay window and listening to Mr. Dolber speak. He was talking about New York and being a taxi driver and being shot. Eventually we came to talking about art, and he had one piece of advice for me.

  It was simple. “Draw Something Every Day.”

  And I did. He was right. The lesson of Increments is vital, and has come up again and again for me; whether for art, martial arts, music, business or relationships. Anything, really. “Strength builds in increments; flexibility builds in increments.” a Yoga teacher once said. It’s important not to forget when you’re trying to budget your time, money and effort. Every little bit really does count.

  The other moment we spoke of was at a Japanese dinner. We had just seen the film “Tampopo” at a small art theater. I was 17 and discovering my weirdness in full regalia. I was proud of who I’d become so far and all the attention it was causing. From the end of the table he told me, “You have style, but you lack substance.”

  The words were painful to hear. A critique of my delicate new frontier. But he was right, and as much as it hurt to admit, I knew it. But that terse assessment (among other things) drove me to seek experience; to explore the outer and inner worlds in an effort to thicken my blood and gird my stance.

  My years have been full of adventure. Last year I got to see Mr. Dolber again, and I reminded him of these moments. He laughed and nodded his head. He had never realized that his little statements were taken to heart and that they had helped shape my life. But I’m grateful I was able to share with him before he passed. And now with you.
  
  My request: DO something. Something that builds. Every day.

  My question: Does your Style reflect your Substance?

  your humble narrator,
  Tim of the kinetic potential

  Tags: building movements, Movements, Tim March, TimTv
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  Gap. Again. Or is Buzz the Social Media Ding Dong Ditch.

  Posted on October 14th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 3 commenting.

  
  I was cruising Flickr looking for a photo of a baby wearing something with GAP on it and well, I could not resist sharing this. Pretend it has something to do with GAP. cc lusciousnis

  Sorry. I can’t hold my opinion in.

  So at the risk of joining a seriously over baked conversation, I’ll give you my two cents on the whole “Gap’s Changed It’s Logo” after school drama.

  Our roots as a company are in the naming and identity business. So — I feel somewhat qualified to comment.
  
  I don’t like the newly suggested Gap logo. It’s very silly.

  GAP has been around a long, long while. They are on every street corner and mall in America. Why mess with a good thing? Or put another way, if you are going to do it — do it big and with feeling. And PURPOSE. The proposed change was not subtle like a new black jacket with a tiny adjustment in the collar or length to be more fashionable, nor is it meaningful. In my humble opinion.

  When BP changed it’s logo it symbolized (whether you believe it or not) a VALUE change. Same with Wachovia when they pulled away from traditional bank branding identities and moved to a more organic mark. They were making a statement. If GAP was making a change that reflected a need or a value change, let’s just say for jollies that they believe with all their hearts their customers hunger to dress with more color and so they added color to the logo mark, that would be meaningful. A simplistic example, but you get my point.

  But this change to their mark is just — different. For the sake of being different. Or so it seems from what I have read so far.

  Not better or worse. And it appears from what am gathering in the press statements (yes, that is in italics for a reason) that it was mostly internally driven over a period of about two years. My admiration. I have never stuck with one decision for that long. Ever.

  Hmmmm.

  Perhaps they should take a cue from Nabisco…

  Nabisco has given “slow baked logo transition” a whole new meaning. It’s fascinating. I like to think each subtle change was done without much thought. Certainly not two years worth of it. Geez.

  Wait. That is so interesting isn’t it? Iconic brands have subtly been changing and updating their marks for many, many years. Without much fanfare. Now social media and the voice of the customer has made it really hard to be subtle about change. Large or small. We are a reactive bunch – we humans. We just can’t help ourselves from joining in on the discussion.

  Especially on the topic of change.

  And last but not least, I will say this one last thing:

  If this is buzz stunt, I am sorry for you GAP.

  Like Ding Dong Ditch – that would be really annoying. IF it’s a stunt I would have to ask: Don’t you have more meaningful ways to engage sustainable support for your iconic brand? Like the momentary confusion of a ringing of a doorbell at 2am, all this chatter (if a stunt) will be forgotten in the morning. Or at least by cocktails the next evening.

  Hey, but like the rest of the observers and ranters, they didn’t ask me. I’m just an ordinary, longtime advocate of their simple white tees.

  P.S. I wrote this yesterday, so who knows. There could be new overnight developments (smiling).

  Tags: BP, branding, buzz, Ding Dong Ditch, GAP, Logos, Social media, Wachovia
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  Perception, media buzz, and what the customer actually wants to buy

  Posted on January 5th, 2010 by Eric Dodds and currently 6 commenting.
  

  Photo via me, Eric Dodds.

  What would your gut reaction be if someone asked you why domestic automaker market share has declined over 25% in the last 12 years? Lack of quality? Lack of innovation in green technology? Inferior manufacturing capabilities? Horrible gas milage? Those were my reactions too.

  But it turns out there’s a difference between my perception of whose cars have lasted longest of the people I know, hot environmental topics in the media and what car-buyers actually wanted in the vehicles they purchased over the last decade.

  Quite simply, people wanted cooler-looking cars.

  Woah…what? It’s true. In a recent study from Virginia Commonwealth University, researchers found that, though other variables were important,

  “The positive impact of a restyling dominates the other determinants of demand and accounts for the secular decline in domestic market share. A complete restyling on average has a ten times greater impact on market share growth rate than even a 10 percent reduction in relative price. Furthermore, manufacturers would have to double relative advertising expenditures to achieve an effect comparable to a complete restyling.”

  And one of the researchers, Professor of Economics George E. Hoffer, makes this point in a related video:

  “…re-styling dominates everything else. People like to say well, the Americans haven’t been green, the Americans haven’t been on the safety frontier, the Americans haven’t had the quality. We find, really, that’s not very important.”

  Gut check. Quality, green-ness, gas milage – important, but not MOST important. Popular rationale in purchase decisions usually take a back seat to the emotion that drives the final choice. And as the study shows, if you can’t find that desire, you’ll have to drain your advertising budget to sell a product that people just don’t like as much.

  Tags: auto, automotive, Customer, demand, green, market share, media buzz, perception, Product, quality, Style
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  Anchors in a sea of change

  Posted on December 4th, 2009 by Eric Dodds and currently 4 commenting.

  I love my job. I get to work with musicians and study the music industry everyday. I love finding new music and discovering unique ways that bands create, promote, play and interact with fans. I have to tell you, though, keeping a keen eye on the changes that are happening in the music industry can seem to be a daily job. In many ways, the music industry is adrift in a sea of change:

  Giant record labels are losing ground.

  Technology has allowed artists, who would never have had a chance previously, to enter top 40 charts – using only a laptop as their primary instrument.

  Music is being pirated at an alarming rate and physical music sales are dwindling.

  Bands themselves are in a constant state of evolution as they balance their creation of music and its involvement in fans’ lives in an increasing number of new ways.

  And the list goes on.
  The other day I watched an incredibly thought provoking video about changes in the music industry. Blink182 (and Angels and Airwave’s) band member Tom Delonge had some fascinating things to say about where he sees the music industry going. He talked about giving away free music, increasing ease of creating art, new channels of distribution and creating new ways to have a relationship with fans. But the most interesting thing about his perspective were what he saw as necessary components in order to maintain success through change. And many of them weren’t new ideas. In fact, several points he made were time-tested principles in marketing (not only for music): having a fundamentally good product that improves people’s lives, wrapping that product with unique, consistent, ownable branding and maintaining a perspective that it’s not about you.
  • Having a fundamentally good product: “Good songwriting is objective…” Delonge says that you don’t remember a band decades later “because they had good moves on stage…or wore tighter jeans than everyone else,” you remember them because they wrote timeless music. A band that has the best branding in the world who writes bad songs won’t stand the test of time.
  • Give a sound product an amazing identity: “The logo, the artwork, spreads to your merch, your website, and album cover – all of it has to be really good. More than cool, clever – it has to be a window into your mind…[so that fans] start to guess where you are going to go with it.” Represent the unique identity of who your band is across all mediums and consistently involve your audience in that process.
  • It’s not about you: “I always thought that true art isn’t necessarily creating the music, it’s seeing how many people the music can touch…” In the end, it’s about your fans. Your passion for ‘touching’ your fans in a deep way.

  Fascinating. In an industry that is teeming with constant change and turmoil, the ingredients for success, even in the face of mind-blowing technological change and necessary adaptation, are the same.
  And if you’re interested in how Tom Delonge is making this happen, check out modlife. (Angels and Airwaves’ latest film effort looks awesome.) You can watch the interview here.
  Tags: angels and airwaves, artwork, branding, Change, Identity, music industry, Product, tom delonge, visual