September 25, 2007 • 7:23 am
Today, the OLPC Foundation announced the campaign that will allow the donor to get their paws on one of the XO laptops when they get pony up $399 to the non-profit organization. This was done after they had positive results from a focus-group study conducted with children aged 7 – 11 years-old. It surprises me that this was never done already and the study was just done with American kids.
What do kids in Puru really want? Is it really a laptop? Maybe it is but I would like to see more initiatives bundled with the laptop to make sure it is actually useful and not a selfish technofan donation. I have visited remote places in the world with extreme poverty and limited resource, power, fresh water, and farming. If I imagined a box with 10 of these laptops landing in a rural village as the OLPC Foundation imagines this is what my reaction would be if I were in the village:
- “How will I power this thing?” It would be wonderful to combine solar technology to power this laptop. Since it already is incredibly energy efficient, how about support the thing with an easy way to juice the toy-looking device?
- “What happens when it falls off my canoe?” This is promoted as extremely rugged but will it survive one day getting from the location it s shipped to the remote village across the rivers or reefs? Trying to get a camera to these areas with a drybag is challenging in itself and usually the bag is piled under items instead of on top so it will not fall off first.
- “Will this help produce clean water?” In an age today where Americans forget that clean water coming from a faucet is still an amazing technological advancement to some cultures, what priority is this to parents who need to have their children help with basic needs of the day?
- “Wow, is this in my native language?” How is a laptop with an English keyboard going to teach them anything?
- “Is open-source software putting food in the bowl?” Will their be videos on how to farm more productively or how to use the Internet to ask for donations to build a wind turbine to power their laptop and all the peripherals they want to order?
- “What, what is the Internet?” Only a handful of places have a decent connection with a phone line that needs to do other things than to be tied up with a 56K modem. Has a global broadband provider been, um, provided?
- “Can this robot keep pesticides from being dumped over my village?” A majority of these villages are not far from corporate or political control and they do not have the knowledge or understanding of how these entities work. How about a documentary or educational materials that are created for then to learn about their rights. Do they know about human rights organizations?
- “Will it bring us good or evil?” Introducing things like this needs to almost have missionaries that can preach the benefits – if there are genuine – and ensure that the community will support the children who want to use and and the others who want to steal it and create conflict. With the women concerned about rape on a daily basis, how is protecting a laptop going to help matters?
- “Where is the nearest Genius Bar?” Sure it’s not an Apple but where is the support when this thing shows a blue screen or a clicking sounds comes from the hard drive? Will Skype work and does UPS really ship that worldwide?
The organization and contributors to the building of this laptop are surprised the sales of this laptop have not taken off since the initial announcement. $200 is not a lot of money for a laptop, that is for sure. What I – and I am sure other people as well – want to know is: will this bring good things or complicate matters in cultures that have more important things (i.e. basic needs) to worry about than how to install Halo on Linux?
How many kids will fight over this unsupervised program? We might as well dump a box full of soda and candy bars and see what happens. What, I know what happens I have seen it. Coca Cola and cigarettes are able to find remote parts of the world and people work and steal just to destroy their lungs and rot their teeth. What happens when they get hooked on Internet porn? What happens when they get credit cards from tourists?
Maybe I just don’t see it and I read their FAQ, mission statement, and press releases. Maybe I need to see how this really works. Maybe I go with a DV film crew and see how this laptop can bring positive change to developing countries. Anyone interested? I need to see the contents of these machines and not the specs. Who really cares how it works but what it can do to save them from natural disasters, starvation, disease, and chemicals seeping into their water supply?
For more information visit:
XOgiving.org (FAQ)
New York Times article
Filed under: Positioning, Positive Change
September 22, 2007 • 7:49 pm
I have to admit, I was completely seduced when I was exploring the airline, Virgin America, Richard Branson’s new hipfordable (first time ever used word) airline to compete with JetBlue and Southwest. The section called “The Difference” was very well done Flash-based experience that got me sucked in and jealous I was buying the flight for someone else.
The main reason I chose to book this airline was because I heard Sir Richard Branson mention that he is passionate about converting his airline fleets into biofuel and have the first alternative fuel airline in the industry. If anyone could do it, I feel he can and I like the fact he tries to slip this “old news” into interviews when reporters want to cover the new press release topics. Sure Branson has been saying this for over 10 months but when a master of PR like he is keeps on pushing this initiative – and not letting this claim die off so he can save face – I respect him for being this kind of leader even more.
If we have to go to space on dinosaur juice then we have not come very far have we? For now, we will travel in easy luxuries: 9-shades of lighting, mini-bars, and to me many amenities that should be standard in the first place. The other airlines were too slow to recognize that an underseat power outlet, some fresh food, and on-demand entertainment would get our rocks off and Virgin has created the new standard in coach travel.
Back to the web experience, the online ticketing system had some flaws when I wanted to order for someone else and it would not allow me to do so if I was logged in so I had to log out or go to another browser that did not cookie my settings and hardcode my “eleVAte number” in the system and assume that I was the traveler. I could not find a way to buy a ticket for someone else while I was logged in like I can with JetBlue. I love the ability to be able to buy tickets for others with the JetBlue system when I have credits in the pot. I am sure Virgin America will sort out the kinks and make the seat choosing section a bit more usable also.
They type they use is very small when type is enlarged the seat numbers do line up and the overall formatting is still fairly legible for visually impaired and elderly. Contrast is very good and instructions are clear and I do not feel that things are hidden. Overall, a very pleasant web experience that can be usable for a wide audience without difficulty.
UPDATE: The flight experience reported by sister-in-law was not very good. The interface crashed on her and was not easy to use compared to the up/down controls that may be clumsy but it is obvious. They also did not have the open bar as promised and Jen said that they did not even offer snacks. Worst of all the flight was over two hours late from Los Angeles to San Francisco so the cheap airline (cheap airfair wars) still go on and I have to stick with JetBlue for reliability and experience. So all the parties, slick website, and amazing spokesperson will not get me to go with Virgin and I would rather deal with the hassle of going to Oakland to fly out if I need to go to LA (or Long Beach).
Filed under: Differentiation, Experience Design, Usability
September 19, 2007 • 5:37 am
We created these moodboards a while ago but they were very effective for a campaign and product created for Comverse that we eventually named Klonies. Often moodboards combined with a creative brief will be valuable tools for teams and executives to sign-off on a direction without spending countless hours on comps that quickly get rejected.
We found that adjectives would fail communicating what the client wants because their idea of “edgy” and “sleek” would be entirely different than mine and the designer. With these moodboards we did go through several rounds of found images, stock photos, and web sites to get an idea of what the client meant by sporty and sleek. We spent about twelve (12 – 15) hours on creating the moodboards and meeting times to define the three directions.
This exercise saved hundreds of hours and accelerated the project by defining the look of the avatar and we also used these moodboards to define the directions of the application, website, language and naming. Often the client would guide us and say the avatar is almost there but needs 20% less sleek and 30% more street.
Depending on the project, moodboards are created quickly from photographs, illustrations, advertising, designs, and then either made into a collage or put in a grid with various sized boxes that show what percentage of each style is desired.
Filed under: Creative Direction , communication, design process, moodboards
September 17, 2007 • 11:53 am
It’s funny how a creative company who is doing innovative things cannot explain what they do in a single sentence or a even in powerful concept that grabs you. Recently at the Dwell on Design 2007 event, I was impressed with the EcoSteel product and their process which was not communicated at all when walking by their booth. They had a 20 x 10 booth in a high traffic area but nothing invited me or intrigued me to ask about what they did.
Their booth was so hodge-podge that nobody felt welcome in the space and there was no central message. After talking to Lynn Chadderdon, who is in operations and not sales, she told me, “EcoSteel buildings contain recycled vehicles, appliances and industrial scrap metal.”
Wow, that is cool. Where does it say that in the booth? Why don’t you shout that to everyone: “Where have all the junk yards gone?” This would get some attention, maybe even show a building or house and say how many cars it took to build these. 80% recycled steel to make beams and Frank Gehry inspired architectural structures is a great story that can be communicated better.
Filed under: Differentiation, Positioning
After going to Dwell Magazine “Dwell on Design” event, I was disappointed to hear resistance from designers and builders considering using BluWood and EcoSteel. After discovering how the process and business of prefabs are no different than a car where you may have a few base models and then add a ritzier fit and finish to one, I wanted to see how one of these would last in extreme climates. None of these manufacturers considered the influence of global warming issues to their homes and how they would handle floods, extreme heat, extreme cold, and tornadoes.
The saddest answer I got from one builder – will go unnamed to save face – was, “this is a business like anything else, we have to survive and compete. The frame anyone can build, but getting all the suppliers to get us a good price is what keeps us from being more competitive.” A few of the builders admitted to shipping wood from China to save costs. Will we ever learn?
This is a great opportunity to differentiate from the new home building and yet the costs for these are not cheap when all said and done. The prefab home materials and process was not very sustainable because most metals were not recycled (like EcoSteel) and the woods they used are rarely FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council). I thought the EcoSteel was one of the most interesting products there but dwarfed by the speakers and snazzier exhibitor showcases. They use recycled steel: did you wonder where the junk yards went?
Some popular prefab designer/manufacturers that have been doing this for almost five years have about 30 homes actually built. Others like the H-Haus are struggling to complete 10 by the year end. H-Haus was the main stand out prefab product at the show because they are using smart energy solutions as a foundation of the structure but also in the details such as windows, tiles, floors, plumbing, roof, and more.
None of the prefab builders were using the GreenSpec listed BluWood which was amazing to me since mold is such a huge issue. Overall the prefab market is very small but getting a lot of attention and press. The concerning thing is the opportunity the designers and suppliers can exploit if they get together and focus on their message so it does not take so long to figure out who is truly innovative and who is simply making trendy looking cookie-cutter homes.
Filed under: Differentiation
