January 25, 2009 • 11:27 am
This store had to be the weirdest experience in retail I have had since exiting the so-called haunted Winchester House into an inescapable gift shop torture chamber. The first hint this Ferrari store will be annoying is that every two minutes the loud sound of a race car will be going around your head. Yes, I am not kidding. At first I thought I was hearing things, then my wife and I started laughing then – after it did not stop – the sound was not funny anymore and testing us to leave the store.
I am a fan of Ferrari automobiles, especially the 250 GT line and the Mondial designs. Way before the cars went all tacky and cliché. I have friends who own Ferrari’s (or had owned one or two in the past) so this is no diss to the automobile, but a commentary on the use of an icon in automobiles, speed, and sexiness. They have replaced the logo worn on the tush with a logo you can wear anywhere you desire. The plus side is that both sexes can wear it now.
The store could have embraced the Ferrari legacy more but it decided to be a cross between a Coach purse store for men and a tanning bed on the highest setting. The 1000 watt lighting in the store could not be any brighter and I expected the aggressive sales-dudes to both hand me a pair of Ferrari emblazoned shades and also fill up my gas tank.
The store is way over done and in the aforementioned cliché manner. I would have loved to see a more museum quality to the store that showed why the Ferrari is more than a street legal race car for a Ferragamo wearin’, hair club member, secretary dating, divorced father with a coke dealer who sells him short.
Sure this persona is over the top but that is the very one-dimensional approach the marketing department must have made when writing the specifications for the experience design. As mentioned, I am a fan of the automaker and this store made me embarrassed to say that. It also made me drop my search for a classic Ferrari that I have been eyeing for a few years.
If sales do not produce the expected results, it may be easy to blame the economy but there are still fans there who would purchase a Ferrari product if they did not feel like they walked into a gimmicked-out retail experience.
Filed under: Creative Direction, Experience Design, San Francisco
January 17, 2009 • 11:08 pm
Growing up I watched Borg, Lendl, Connors, and McEnroe to name a few but was very fond of Lendl and now exciting to watch Djokovic who has a similar demeanor. It is a great sport to watch and also fun to bet on if you know the players well.
I picked Novak Djokovic to win last years Australian Open and was researching the brackets that was just released for 2009 and saw some amazing possible 4th round match-ups. The typical Aussie Open sites that display the brackets have printable versions but these are impossible to read and a mess to tape up and manage. Then I came across a crude but useful “You Pick Em” site that challenges users to pick their favorites:
http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/pickemef%20128.htm
It helped me make my picks for winner (men’s only but looking for women’s bracket) and along the way am predicting this 4th round matchup:
- Rafael Nadal vs. Lleyton Hewitt
- Gael Monfils vs. Gilles Simon
- Andy Murray vs. Radek Stepanek
- James Blake vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
- Andy Roddick vs. David Nalbandian
- Marcos Baghdatis vs. Novak Djokovic
- Juan Martin del Potrovs. David Ferrer
- Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Roger Federer
Mardy Fish has ben playing some exceptional tennis and may be in the 4th round instead of Baghdatis. I have to see how they are playing the first and second rounds. As for the women, a clear favorite is Elena Dementieva who is due for a Grand Slam title.
As for the bracket tools, I did some research and saw some installable PC software that looked lame but found it strange that there are not easy to find online tools or apps to use that were fun and social.
If you stumble across this post and know of some tools please share them. Also check out the converted spreadsheet where you can check off the prediction and see how engaging and simple this is to create. The user-interface is horrible but nothing a nice pixel bedazzling could not cure.
Enjoy the Aussie Open and if you have DirectTV you will be able to see the games on Channels 701 – 707 from January 18 – 25th. This is a great user experience to see the early matches before it goes to the networks and is one great reason to have DirectTV – and also a Slingbox.
Filed under: Experience Design, Usability , bracket, data, information, match-ups, predictions, slingbox, Usability
January 6, 2009 • 12:59 pm
I am a data junkie and have to admit I spent way too much time dorking around with this dashboard:
sprint.com/widget
Much respect for Sprint for making an effort in the market. I want to know who rejected the offer to have the iPhone under their network, they should be shot. I still have one reliable Sprint phone but have to deal with Apples stupid partnership with AT&T. I love the iPhone product but AT&T blows donkey widgets.
Filed under: Differentiation, Experience Design , apple, at&t, dashboard, iphone, sprint, timesink
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
