David E. Davis, Jr. is back in the saddle again: Winding Road
Download the free issue, read his column, watch his video. It’s not about the cars — when it comes to telling compelling stories about rich experiences, DED, Jr. is the master.
Author Archives: Diego Rodriguez
TimeZone
Ready for something truly spectacular?: TimeZone on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon
It’s like Bespoke for mechanical engineering and design. It’s also a revealing look at the mindset it takes to really do things to the hilt. This is another great example of what I call Director’s Commentary for design thinkers, and we need more of it.
Many thanks to Scott for showing me this.
Creating Infectious Action
My second self-indulgent post of the day
metacool turned two earlier this week. What started as a way to really understand how ideas diffuse across the Web morphed into a place to play (seriously play) with ideas about design and innovation and marketing (which, if done right, are all one and the same) and meet a lot of cool people (no assholes allowed). Thanks for all the fun and insights, so let’s keep on keepin’ on.
Internet Fasting
I went cold-turkey on Internet connectivity over the past few weeks, not because I had to get stuff done, but because I had to not get stuff done. It was good not to be so connected.
I remember reading a quote somewhere from the great Italian designer Ettore Sottsass that went something like "The problem with computers is that people will stop painting with water colors."
I love the Internet because of its seemingly infinite potential for engendering connectedness and depth of thought and meaning. But I suspect that there’s a curve of sorts at work here, and as one travels across that curve things start to trend toward the shallow and the trite.
More learning from the New Golf
Continuing the "World of Warcraft is a great place to learn about the future of work" idea thread that I’ve been exploring here and here, John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas have written tasty little article in Wired called You Play World of Warcraft? You’re Hired!. Here’s an excerpt:
It’s learning to be – a natural byproduct of adjusting to a new culture – as opposed to learning about.
Where traditional learning is based on the execution of carefully
graded challenges, accidental learning relies on failure. Virtual
environments are safe platforms for trial and error. The chance of
failure is high, but the cost is low and the lessons learned are
immediate.
Want to live a more innovative existence? Continue to push yourself to be a more proficient design thinker? Well — where are you living an experiment that exposes you to new modes of being, new ways of thinking, new behaviors and people?
Authenticity
Seth nails it: Tom Chappell sells out
Tribal marketing at Desmoblog
The gonzo motorcycle masters at Ducati — quite possibly the stewards of the world’s greatest brand — have started blogging, and it just makes perfect sense from every angle. Ducati goes to market using something called "tribal marketing", which is shorthand for applying the majority of their marketing spend not on silly pieces of advertising in order to lure in people who come from an unfriendly world view, but on things and activities which amplify the natural world-of-mouth tendencies of the tribe of desmo, the Ducatisti. It works.
Federico Minoli is a dream blogger for a passion-driven company like Ducati. He is to Ducati as Bob Lutz is to GM (and you know that Lutz is the heart and soul of GM’s Fastlane blog), except that, unlike Lutz, Minoli’s setup at Ducati also gives him the power to call the shots that bring to market the essential product goodness which he knows so well. They’re both great marketing and product minds, and it’s a delight to live in a time where it’s so easy to hear them thinking out loud.
Blogging is an essential part of the modern marketing mix. B2C, B2B — I think it’s critical to both. If your marketing site doesn’t have some sort of RSS feed, fire your CMO. Or at least accelerate their firing process.
And…. so as not end on a down note… Forza Ducati!
photo via Flickr
Learning from Joi Ito
As Tom Kelley said a few weeks ago in the NYT, "One thing I’ve learned is that it is important to surround yourself with the kind
of people you aspire to be." The cool part about the web is that you don’t necessarily have to hang out physically with the kind of people you aspire to be in order to get the desired effect.
I believe wholeheartedly in Tom’s assertion, and that’s why I spend time hanging out online with Joi Ito. I read his blog. We chat. We quest together. As William Gibson once wrote, the "…future is already here – it’s just unevenly distributed." I’d say the same, with the modifier of "… it’s just unevenly distributed, so save yourself some time and check out whatever new thing Joi is up to."
To wit:
- Buying virtual property in order to support "real world" non-profits: Buying an island on Second Life
- Expanding on the "New Golf" meme we’ve been spreading about World of Warcraft as a way to model new approaches to creative work: Leadership in World of Warcraft
What Joi does really well is to learn by doing. He doesn’t sit around and pontificate about the future of being online. He lives it. There’s no difference between knowing and doing in his world.
