Overlap: Interesting Moments

by June 1, 2006

Because most of the sessions at Overlap were informal and discussion-heavy, I thought a set of interesting moments could better capture some of the content. To that end, here are some of the concepts that resonated with me.

Kingshuk Das, Steelcase

  • Anecdotal visualizations are personally compelling but difficult to put money behind. Pattern visualizations are better suited to business buy-in.
  • An interesting way to segment the market is by “the jobs that people are trying to get done”.
  • The unmet need is the design of disruptive business models.

Chris Conley, Institute of Design

  • The two purposes of business are marketing and innovation. Marketing is creating customers and identifying opportunities. Innovation is developing new offerings that get widely adopted. Profit is simply how a business is measured.
  • Most companies spend most of their time with EEEMP: email, email, email, meetings, and presentations.
  • Could the creative director (responsible for quality of story and product) and producer (responsible for budget and timeline) roles found in the movie industry work well in business? Can these roles be peers in the business world?
  • Design critique training prepares you for open feedback. Learn to listen to make your ideas better, not learn to defend your ideas.
  • Every initiative in business should be a creative endeavor.
  • 20% of a business should work in a creative production model.

Media Integrity Discussion

  • News has become a commodity. This may be the reason heavily branded (often biased) news sources (like Fox News) are becoming increasing popular.
  • When things are commoditized, there is a major change in customer behavior. “Emotional reaction, pride of ownership, and pleasurability all can become major selling points.”
  • Individually filtered news sources (such as blogs) are highly branded and intrinsically biased (they are the viewpoint of one individual) but also necessary as news becomes increasingly commoditized.
  • Personalized sets of news filters are an interesting future for media consumption. Share Your OPML is beginning to move in this direction.