This afternoon I stumbled upon on the IDEO website. There is a section called 'Postcards' under the culture tab. It's digital snapshots from the field and here is a short description from the website,
At any given time, there are 15 to 20 IDEO teams in the field doing research for projects. We are a naturally curious bunch, and tend to collect quite a few artifacts from our trips. In addition to interesting foods, new turns of phrase, and the occasional non-contagious skin disease, we take photos of interesting things in the places we are.
When we see something remarkable, we capture it to show our fellow IDEOers at home in the studio. Now we are sharing some of our blink-worthy images with you. Enjoy!
I really like that they do this stuff. It brings their culture to life and shows a humane personality as a company and an endless curiosity with a great observation. Checkit out.
Some of my friends were pissed off about Lady Gaga canceling her concert in Richmond, VA just a couple days before and they called her a b*tch.
Some of my friends want me to listen to Lady Gaga's songs and I think those songs are not bad at all. Actually, they are good enough for me to slightly shake my head and swing my hips.
Until I twittered about Lady Gaga's song, Poker Face. I got two new Twitter followers (poker mom and a random guy who plays poker) in just 30-minute later.
Well, what if I tweeted about the Killers' song? Would a serial killer follow me on Twitter? The power of relevance and content is amazing.
PS. I know this is weird that I blog about twitter because people usually tweet about their blog post. I am different.
Please help my friends complete this survey. Thanks.
Being 9 to 5 is like being trapped inside of an arbitrary cage. It is based on a system where every resource the employee needed “to work” was within the parameters of a central hub (the office), within a certain time frame (generally 9am to 5pm). This model, to say the least, is not only archaic in behavior but stifles the sociability and productivity of a new workforce, which should rather be harnessed to the company’s benefit. Help us make people, companies, and boss' around the world realize that a more productive, more enthusiastic, more innovative workforce relies on their ability to cross-pollinate work life and personal life.
One of my favorite websites, Flavorpill always brings talented featured artists for their cover art. Not to mention about the rich contents on the website. Heimir Bjorgulfsson is the featured artist of June 2008. His arts are spectacular especially when he uses a various type of coloring tools like spray, color pencil, marker, acrylic and etc. Here are a couple of my favorites.
I ran across the forum in AdGabber about "Top reasons to go into Advertising." I found one guy's (his name is Lane Casteix) comment interesting and inspiring. He said, "As I said on another thread, I was being "groomed" for architecture but ended up majoring in fine arts with a beer minor. I kept hearing terms thrown around like "working the fence", which was a reference to the fence around Jackson Square in New Orleans where the artists gather to do tourist "art", and "starving artist", which sounded an awful lot like being beerless, so I decided this may not be for me.
Then I hear about an advertising design program at another university, and it strikes me that one probably actually gets paid for doing this advertising design thing - in other words not beerless - and maybe even bourbonful, which indeed it was (this was 1964, folks!). So I changed schools and majors. I liked the program, and I love the job that came out of it. Now I get to manage a small agency and some creatives who are just as easily upset by client changes as I was (I am over that now - jaded, I suppose), and I am having fun designing bourbon packages. Is that amazing or what?!"
I really do agree with him because I was almost ended up in Med school and I think I would never wanted to work in the hospital or medical center. I think I am lucky although this path is not so beautiful. But It's fun and worth. What are your reasons?
Since I got so much time on my hand, I ran across the Fuerzabruta website. According to the definition of Fuerzabruta (f'where-zah-broo-tah), it's brute force or the show from the creators of DE LA GUARDA or 360 heart-pounding theatrical experience. I may be quite late about this event coz it's named top10 of 2007 in Time magazine. By the way, I am really astonished by its trailer because it's not so-called stage performance show at all. I would love to fly to New York and buy a ticket instantly but I couldn't. I will do it after returning from Bangkok, I promise...Fuerzabruta.
Three to four years ago I had a chance to fly to the North of Thailand. I went to Pai, a tiny town near the Myanmar border. It's very well-know town among backpackers. The atmosphere is very relaxing and laid-back. Pai is completely a great hideaway for me. It almost has no electricity and pollution. That place has no shopping malls, subways, fast food, and etc.
I stopped by one of the most well-known coffee shop and had a hot chocolate with my friends. I love the way that cool breeze touched my skin and my tongue was soaked into warm drinks. Even it's cold outside but I felt so warm because people there are kind and laid-back. Last week I had a chance to scan postcards I bought from Pai. I am trying to find the way to use them. They are very cute and authentic. My concern is how can we sustain Pai? I don't want Pai to be too commercialized and Pai has attracted more people to the town. So people start to make money and shun away from the authenticity.
After reading this article, It left me in silent wonderment. The Japan tourism named Hello Kitty as its choice to represent the country in China and Hong Kong where Hello Kitty is widely popular among kids and women. Officials expect that Hello Kitty will attract a ton of tourists into Japan. This is the first time that the tourism ministry has endorsed a fictional character as a country ambassador.
I would like to applause them for being bold and taking risk. Although Hello Kitty has been in this world for a long time and found herself in everyone's heart, being cute is actually enough to lure people to come to Japan or not. Hello Kitty is such a wonderful character but I don't think she will be the key driven in people's mind to visit Japan. It's a cute execution but an ill-judged strategy.
Here is a conversation on Gchat with one of my communications strategy classmates,Schmidt. Oakie : www.cityshrinker.com Schmidt : Cool...but why are you obsessed? Oakie : I dunno..I think it's so awesome.
I re-think about his question why I am so obsessed with Tilt Shift photography. I mean I can't produce it but I strongly love looking at it. I guess the reasons are...
1. I love traveling - I love to see the world. I enjoy viewing this world in many perspectives such as sitting at the Cafe in Hong Kong, sightseeing the New York city on the tallest building in NY. The tilt shift technique is mostly used in taking photo of cities, streets, landscapes, and etc and this would probably be the reason why I like it so much. 2. I wanna be a good photographer - When I see the Tilt-Shift photos, they make me feel aspiring. I wish I could take many cool photos like that. I still hope and will push myself to that goal.
Below images are the example of Tilt-Shift photos that I like.
I came across the Springwise website and found this cool innovative product called Activate Drinks. What caught my attention was they keep vitamin powder in the cap and when you twist the cap, the vitamin powder will be released into water. They claim that vitamins and other healthy ingredients lose their potency sitting in water. I really like the caption, "It's hid in the lid."
The product initially launched in California and will be rolled out nationwide during this year. I think they should expand their business by selling the vitamin powder in a small package. It will create more usage and occasion for the consumer to mix it in water by themselves.
They also have demonstration video on Youtube. See the video below.
What is a Cougar anyway?...this question stuck in my head now. I always look for Cougar women whenever I have a chance to go out. Sometimes I say "She got a Cougar look" and "Do you think she is a Cougar?" That's not because I sexually love Cougars but I soaked myself into the Cougar world. My friends (Brittany and Mimi) and I were assigned a final project of this semester and we selected "Cougars" as a topic. After spending a couple of months thinking, talking, observing, musing, researching, joking about Cougars, I have a positive attitude towards Cougar women. Although we finished the final project on Thursday but I feel like I know and understand them really well.
The image below is one of many slides in my presentation. I really love it because it's such a great juxtaposition between the lace and cougar animal. For those who don't know what is Cougar, I won't tell you coz I am sick of talking about it now.
