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  • Lextant Fall Fry 2010 > Columbus, Ohio
    TBA

    Fall will be here before ya know it- and with that comes our Fall Fry Cookout Event!

Insights & Blog_In Here and Out There

Our observations of the world around us

  • Thoughts from IDSA ‘10 by Taylor Lies on August 13, 2010

    Last week Chris Rockwell and I attended IDSA’s 2010 International Conference, themed DIY Design - Threat or Opportunity?  It was certainly a nice touch connecting the theme to the host city, Portland, but, overall, the theme left a lot of room for interpretation. That’s not inherently a bad thing but it left me wanting more cohesion; a way to tie disparate ideas and conversations together so that they were useful and actionable.

    To start, I’m not sure anyone presented DIY as a threat, there was no debate that I noticed. Some came close but there was a huge issue of scale that would likely keep small, independent companies from truly challenging in the market. The presenters showcased DIY as an opportunity and (for some reason) went to great lengths to make sure attendees wouldn’t see it as a threat. Nor did the attendees that I spoke with see reason that DIY would be a threat – sometimes because I don’t think they saw it as more than the Etsy-crafter movement or other times because it wasn’t relevant to their industry. As one attendee put it, “I don’t want my next catheter being a DIY creation”. That viewpoint of DIY is probably short-sighted as the topic does include anything from crafters to customized products at point of purchase, from crowd-sourcing and participatory research to end-to-end small scale manufacturing. Notably absent to bring relevance were large corporations using crowd-sourcing (e.g., P&G) or great examples of participatory research in which users go beyond just articulating needs but create their solutions and the relevant attributes. Those counterpoints may have not just brought relevance but framed up the topic more clearly.

    Personally, categorizing presentations into one of four stages of a product’s development and use was helpful: (1) idea generation, (2) creation/manufacturing, (3) purchase, and (4) use. Each stage had relevant presenters but there wasn’t sufficient diversity or contrast. For example, Local Motors crowd-sources ideas but the lesson shouldn’t have been that only a small, nimble, start-up can do that. Don’t think by any means it was a total waste; Bob Marchant of Modo, Ben Terrett of Really Interesting Group, and John Hoke of Nike were standouts who had a unique take on DIY, placed their work in a larger context, and left the audience with learnings or ideas that could affect their own work. 

    Additionally, here are some of the repeated themes I picked up at the event:

    > Innovation is on the periphery: Large companies took a beating for being slow and road-blocking innovation. The best thinking, supposedly, is coming from the edges - yet there weren’t many large companies there to defend themselves. We love the story of the underdog but it seemed a little too easy, and misleading, to discount what larger companies can do.

    > Role of the leader / integrator: Consumer-driven design makes it all the more necessary to have a visionary / leader / integrator to pull it all together into something cohesive. Might the role of designer be changing, at least to include the role of integrator? Admittedly, for some it always has but maybe it will be even more prevalent in the future.

    > Consumers are more active: Be it in creating, purchasing, or using a product consumers are heightening their engagement– physically or cognitively. They want more, are more critical, insert ethics, etc. To paraphrase someone who paraphrased Sohrab Vossoughi, “People don’t want to buy something; they want to buy into something.” As part of this, a driving trend in the crafter/maker DIY culture is that consumers are looking for meaning in products; the designer’s hand or ethical materials, for example.

    > Consumers have more tools: Technology is making tools and software available to the masses previously unavailable, “democratizing design.” Consumers are empowered, active, and seek a difference in what they consume. It would make sense looking at the last 3 themes here it makes sense as to why the DIY trend could be seen as a threat and would have been nice to have someone stand up and say that. 

    > Consumers design the last 5%: There’s opportunity to design products in a way that leaves the consumer room to change or alter the product after purchase, as they start to and continue to use it. This is different than customizing at point of purchase. But nor is it as flexible as modular design. The ownership of the product creates value in the experience. We hope this trend continues to expand and not be just another sales and marketing gimmick. Like “Green washing”, “DIY washing” is out there and can be damaging to the overall perception of the benefits of this trend. I do want to credit Bob Marchant of Modo for making succinct this idea that came up a couple times during the conference.

    > Algorithm design: Ben Terrrett of RIG coined the term (at least at the conference) but it also was clear in Nike’s presentation. It can be daunting for companies to deliver on consumers’ desire for unique and customized experiences. Algorithm design is a ways to control production process but offer an apparent endless number of choices to consumers. NikeID was a great example; an individual consumer can create a truly unique shoe but Nike is only offering a limited set of choices on a limited set of aspects of the shoe. The exponential nature of those choices leads to millions of potential shoes.

    Overall it was a decent event.  You can surf through the tweets on twitter and check the IDSA site with their own details and blog entries as well.  One thing is for sure, the DIY trend is out there and it’s exerting influence. Some aspect of it can and should affect how you are thinking about your business, selling your product, researching your consumer, generating ideas, etc. At Lextant we’d love to see everyone tap into that scene and bring the best of those insights, wants, wishes to fruition. It’s not that consumer will design and create everything in their life themselves, but note they do have that DESIRE – how we leverage that may define how successful we all are.

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  • Thank You Clemson U! by Katie Kimble on August 13, 2010

    Last week I attended the REU Student Conference at Clemson University to talk students and professors about Human Factors in industry, and our participatory research methodologies and how they lead to our design innovations here at lextant.  It was a well attended event filled with bright young minds with poster sessions where students presented their various research projects and related findings.  My presentation was well received and I had many questions about how research is conducted in industry, the type of clients and projects we work with, and how I feel about pursuing a career in industry vs. the academic realm.  Overall it was a great event, thanks to the Clemson University Psychology Department for having me, I had a lot of fun! 

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  • 5 Things for Great Experience Design by Dan Rockwell on September 22, 2009

    Last week I attended a local TechColumbus Business Breakfast on Enhancing the Consumer Experience Through Technology and Design.  There were 5 panelists, a wealth of good info and lots of Q&A amongst the 70 or so participants in attendance.  Our own president Chris Rockwell was panel and gave a talk on 5 Things for Great Experience Design.  Here is his presentation.  Watch and enjoy.

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