October 6th, 2009
Whether you call it user-centred, people-centred, or human-centred design, those organisations that are closest to their customers are the ones that succeed in creating successful products and services. Come learn practical tools to apply design thinking in your own business at two upcoming mini-workshops organised by Meet for Real and delivered by Justin Knecht of the Centre for Design Innovation.
Register for the 10th of October in Cork, or the 17th of October in Galway.
Posted in Design thinking, Event, Workshop | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
September 17th, 2009
On the 30th of September, Enterprise Ireland is hosting an event to highlight the work of regional ARE centres, of which we are one. Here’s some more info on the event:
What: Building Technology Hubs in Regional Locations
Who: Enterprise Ireland’s Applied Research Centres (AREs)
Venue: National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI), Ringaskiddy, Cork
When: Wednesday 30th September 2009 at 10am
Enterprise Ireland would like to invite you to attend Innovating for Regional Industry, a showcase for the Regional ARE Centres in the Institutes of Technology outlining their research and support for Irish industry. The ARE Centres have established an excellent track record in increasing their capacity to engage in R&D and have enabled over 100 companies to develop new products and processes to gain a competitive edge, increase sales and achieve export growth.
Download the agenda
Posted in Event | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
August 26th, 2009
Recently I came across the article ‘Survive the Recession – Become an Innovator at Work’ by Paul Sloane and I found it really interesting. The article starts with a quote of Bill Gates saying:
‘We are in an economic downturn but an innovation upturn.’
And from here it gives seven ways of focusing on the opportunity for innovation than on the downturn and the dangers it poses. One of the best advices Paul Sloane gives is to become a change agent.
Make suggestions. Introduce ideas and recommendations. Look for ways in which your department could bring in new products, business processes or partnerships. Ask yourself – is there a better way to meet the needs of our customers? Anticipate trends and suggest ways of changing the department to exploit new opportunities and new technologies.
The other six advices are as follows:
- Adopt a positive attitude.
- Listen to customers.
- Watch the competition.
- Be sensitive to office politics.
- Don’t insist on the glory.
- Be prepared for rejection.
If you are interested to find out more about these steps you can take towards ‘maximising your chances in the change maelstrom’ you can read the rest of the article here: ‘Survive the Recession’. What are your thoughts on this? What are your steps to survive the recession?
Posted in Article, Business Issues | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
July 30th, 2009
Picture by Jacques Strappe
The other day I received an email from a website I registered with, asking me for feedback. The website provides training in different technologies and a lot of times they have special offers and even free courses that I am more than happy to take.
I consider asking for feedback as being a good example of service design. It shows that the company is looking to improve and they are open to suggestions. They want to learn what their customers want in order to implement the changes and perfect their services to fit the customers’ needs.
Most of the times this goes well. People like to be asked about their opinion: this gives them confidence and the feel that their opinion matters. In my case, I know if I was the one asking for feedback I would like people to respond and this is why I usually reply to the feedback questioners.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business Issues, Experience, Service Design | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
July 23rd, 2009
The other day I came across the Digital Marketing School and I found it to be a great idea and a great example of a free service.
The online marketing company vStream have set up The Digital Marketing School to be a free online video resource for anyone who has an interest in the world of digital marketing, from a beginners level, right up to seasoned professionals. It’s the first time in Ireland that SME’s, and in particular start-ups, will have an online consultancy resource, that’s absolutely free of charge.
The lessons are short and to the point. Today I have learned about the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Display Advertising and VSEO (Video Search Engine Optimisation) from Andrew Jenkinson and about Viral Video from Niall O’Driscoll and all of this in only 2 – 3 min lessons. It definitely beats standing in a classroom for an hour.
I love the idea of people sharing their knowledge and I strongly believe that people like Niall O’Driscoll and Andrew Jenkinson who are experts in their domain and passionate about their work are the best to teach about Digital Marketing.
I would like you to take a moment now and think back in time and remember your college experience when you really loved maths or biology or any other subject. Now try to remember the lecturer: his way of teaching and the way he spoke about the subject. How many of you remember the subjects and the lecturers because of their passion for what they were teaching?
In today’s schools we have lecturers teaching entrepreneurship without ever being an entrepreneur, marketing without ever working as a marketer, programming without ever working as a programmer and the list can go on.
I really believe that we should learn from people like Andrew and Niall and people like them should be invited to teach the students in today’s secondary schools and universities.
What are your thoughts on this? How could we get more career people to offer their time and teach about their passion?
Posted in Education, Website | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
July 17th, 2009
I have always loved minimalist design. It has a beauty about its simple forms and clear lines that appeal to me. I came across this bin design by Grace Youngeun Lee and I liked it so much I began to visualize where I would put her design in my own home. That’s when I began to run into trouble. I live in your average apartment with the standard features, two bedroom, kitchen / living room combo, bathroom. Even though I thought the design was beautiful, I could not think of one place I could put such a distinctive item. It hadn’t really occurred to me before, that all the minimalistic items I love so much would struggle to work in your average home. The qualities that make the design striking cause it to sit uneasily in a mainstream context. Its clean aesthetics clash with your standard mass-produced product.
Does this mean a minimalist design can only work when surrounded by other minimalist products? Or the opposite, a lack of other products and just shear, clean space that allows it to be appreciated for its aesthetic beauty? If this is the case, where is the line drawn for its range of influence? Is the only true home of a minimal piece a modern residence, where clean lines and crisp aesthetics were at the front of the architects mind?
Perhaps the piece is intended to sit in contrast with the relative chaos of mass production? That this contrast serves to highlight its simple beauty.
I guess until I can figure out where to put my beloved Grace Youngeun Lee bin, I’ll just have to stick with my mass produced swing top. Function over form anyway, right?
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Design thinking, Experience, Product design, Simplicity | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Linzi Ryan
July 13th, 2009
I try and try and try to avoid using Apple as an innovation exemplar. For one, big brand stories just aren’t relevant to small and medium sized enterprises. “How can I operate at that level? What does that have to do with me?” We strive to tell the stories of smaller organisations leveraging design to innovate and grow. And frankly, it’s a cop out to say the same rules are transferable. We continually paint a picture that this is for the big guy.
However, the words of Jonathan Ive, from a recent and rare public appearance beg repeating to organisations of any size:
Ive also had bad news for anyone looking to foster a design or innovation-driven culture within an enterprise that doesn’t at heart “get” it. Unless the disciplines are acknowledged and embraced as core values by every employee, they won’t gain traction. “We don’t have identity manuals reminding us of points of philosophy for why our company exists … I’m sure those things are very well meaning, but if you have to institutionalize stuff, you end up chasing your tail.” In other words, unless the commitment to innovation or design is authentic and heartfelt, rather than this month’s short-term strategy to cater to a hot trend, it will be nigh on impossible to build a true, innovation-led culture.
I’d rather focus resources on the organisations that are committed; and work together to make a tangible impact, than fill a hundred auditoriums to put on a good show about what design can do.
Read the BusinessWeek article.
Posted in Article, Culture, Interview, Promotion | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Justin Knecht
July 7th, 2009
At the end of April I was part of the team AmazEd that participated in the Irish finals of the Imagine Cup competition. The Imagine Cup this year was hosted by the Science Gallery in Trinity college. In order for us to get internet access on the day we had to register on the Science Gallery website.
There are very few places in Ireland that provide free Internet access and I believe it was smart of them to ask for some details in exchange for this service. A few weeks ago I found out that the details I provided are worth more. This is when I received a Membership Card that would not only give me free WiFi in the Science Gallery building but also reduced ticket prices for selected events, special invitations to hush-hush happenings and advance notice of all that is up and coming. And all of this with a welcoming note that put a smile on my face.
At first I only wanted to have access to the Internet during a competition and in the end I got a lot more. I really believe this is a great example of marketing and service design that every business should follow.
Let me know what you think. What are your thoughts and ideas on this?
Posted in Experience, Service Design | 2 Comments »
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
July 2nd, 2009
Hohm is the new Microsoft service which will come as an answer to Google’s PowerMeter and all the other similar services.
Hohm is about ‘Bringing people together to save energy and money’. They are trying to give us a better understanding about our home energy usage and about what we can do to conserve energy and save money.
Besides real time monitoring of the energy consumption through smart meters, Hohm will also provide users with data about their energy consumption even if their utilities are not online yet. In order to obtain this data the user will have to answer a set of basic questions and Hohm will estimate their energy consumption. Through this Microsoft wants to make Hohm available to all users straight away.
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Posted in Software/IT, Sustainability | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
June 23rd, 2009
This past week I attended the first of four thematic workshops as part of the Sharing Experience Europe (SEE) Interreg IVC project. Ireland is one of eleven European partners as well as one of five members of the Policy Recommendation Research Group. After each of the four thematic workshops, a research group partner is responsible for the publication of policy recommendations to be distributed to policy makers and governments. The first will be out in September on “integrating creativity and design into regional innovation policy.”
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Posted in Event, Government, Policy | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
