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Farleys Coffee on 18th Street


Reading Why the Starbucks “15th Ave” Store Is Doomed to Fail on HBR in which Peter Merholz talks about the dishonestly behind a new concept coffee shop called 15th Ave, that tried to capture the lost magic of Starbucks.

My favorite San Francisco coffeehouse, Farley’s, which is amateurish (and I mean that by its Latin root: done for the love) and personal. Faking it is not a good strategy in bed or in retail. Perhaps my biggest beef with 15th Ave is that it’s fundamentally dishonest. Everyone knows it’s run by Starbucks, but the website and the store do all they can to suggest it’s a true independent (though the high level of interior design suggests a bankroll out of the reach of most entrepreneurs).

Photo credit – Flickr

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Jeff Bezos about Amazon

Outstanding gems of philosophy for any business or entrepreneur. Thank you for sharing and best wishes to Amazon and Zappos. This is how CEO’s should be, being able to speak to everyone on a same level and imparting and reinforcing statements and knowledge in a down to earth manner.

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Trace of Time


Conceptual simple/smart product from RCA ID graduation show student Il-Gu Cha

A planning clock for office or studio, “The Trace of Time” clock not only tells the time but provides a place for users to make notes: The face of the clock is made of glass and stainless steel. Messages are erased by means of the integrated eraser.

Reactions and comments:

“This idea is incredibly simple yet incredibly stupid at the same time, awesome!”

“People have had whiteboards for years, and they are preferable because they self erase themselves if you’ve decided to put something off etc etc”

“Someone is getting laid at 8pm tonight.”

“The way that the word “genius” is used in that first sentence drives me crazy.I prefer to think of this as made for procrastinators.

“Deadline? What deadline?”

If your passing through London follow your nose down to the excellent Summer Show at the Royal College of Art. Teaching staff [Platform 12] Sam Hecht, Durrell Bishop, Andre Klauser.

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Merlin Mann

This is the SOUND OF AMERICA. Merlin Mann talks about the process of doing creative work, and particularly how to abandon the quest for perfection, get off your butt and get started. I think I understand the premise of his thesis coined the “seduction community”.


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Rethinking Patagonia

Inspiring reasons to rethink your approach. Patagonia is renowned for it.

One day, Yvon Chouinard, the enterprising founder of Patagonia, told his product design team to free the company’s underwear from wasteful plastic and cardboard packaging. His staff balked–he was told to expect failure. He pressed on with the changes anyhow, because it was the right thing to do. The change in packaging inspired the company to take a fresh approach to the way it markets and sells under garments, and instead of the predicted failure it resulted in a huge jump in sales.

Full disclosure: I’m a Patagonia brand advocate who loves the product and approach.

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Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an influential American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and photographer, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career.

Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, his technical perfectionism and his reclusiveness about his films and personal life. He worked far beyond the confines of the Hollywood system, maintaining almost complete artistic control and making movies according to the whims and time constraints of no one but himself, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors.

Confession: A few months ago I believed it was better to be “remarkable” rather than “perfect“. Upon reflection I’m recalibrating that statement.

One should set out to pursue creative endeavors that make something truly remarkable (which can be translated as valuable/brilliant/amazing).

All remaining effort goes into achieving perfection. It really has to be perfect to be truly remarkable, think about the real and true practical implications of that statement. Tonight’s dinner?

Will it be perfect or remarkable ? It’s an issue of perspective. A day trip to the vineyards in Napa could be remarkable, now and again, especially in the mountains, you stumble upon picture perfect weather conditions. One man’s perfect is another man’s remarkable. It’s a question of perspective.

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Francis Bacon

Francis

Excited to view his new exhibition at the Met.

Britain’s bad-boy painter.

Self-taught, controversial, and revered, Francis Bacon was one of the most talented figurative painters of the 20th century. This year, a major traveling retrospective marks the centenary of his birth.

He left home at 16. Banished by his father after being caught wearing his mother’s clothes, Bacon drifted between London, Berlin, and Paris for the next several years — surviving as a gambler and hustler.

Bacon got his start as a designer. He first gained notoriety for his modernist furniture and rugs, but quickly abandoned that career to focus on painting surreal, fragmented subjects, based on found photographs and reproductions.

He immortalized his fellow barflies. From the ’60s onward, Bacon painted twisted visions of his inner circle of drinking pals, including his lover George Dyer, who he first met when Dyer burglarized Bacon’s pad.

View work from Bacon’s traveling retrospective (and visit the exhibition in New York), read three classic interviews, watch video of the artist from the BBC archives, and buy the exhibition catalogue.

Via Paul Laster from FlavourPill

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Finding *your* voice

Illuminating Seth Godin quote:

Find your voice Marketing (in all its forms) is unlike everything else an organization does, because it’s always different. There’s no manual because everyone does it differently, and what successful marketers have in common is that they are successful.

The only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert’s rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you. Don’t worry about someone else’s invented standards for new media, invent your own. Avoid obvious mistakes, don’t follow obvious successes.

You know what, I’ve always know this, but it’s really hard to quell the fear that my voice wouldn’t be heard for all the shouting and noise in the world. Writing and thinking about user experience/art/design/narrative has oddly enough given me far more self-confidence and respect for my own opinion.

You know, I’m pretty proud to be curious about the world in which we live and I constantly look for stories that teach us all humility. I say be yourself, find your voice. Tell us about what you think/feel about it all. I’ll be listening out for it.

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Lulelemon smiles at you

A company culture is akin to a person’s personality. It embraces values and practices that are shared by all employees. Culture is never accidental; it is carefully planned, built and nurtured. A community-based culture is where employees don’t just see their daily activities as a job; rather, it is in tune with their belief and even their own personal lifestyle.

One of the strongest community cultures I have recently encountered recently is Lulelemon, a Canada-based international yoga-inspired clothing company that went public in 2007.

The company’s manifesto includes a long list of statements that range from their product philosophy (”lululemon athletica creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress-free, we believe the world will become a much better place.“)  to what seems like personal goals (”Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water, Vancouver will do nicely.“) and tongue-in-cheek green living advice (”Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.”).

And the “community” is not limited to those who are on the payroll. The ambassador program is extended to individuals in their store communities who “embody the lululemon lifestyle and live our culture”.You will find free yoga lessons at their stores over the weekends, advice on finding suitable yoga classes in your neighbourhood, and more.

So, guess what kind of employees they would attract? And what kind of dialogues would happen between these employees and Lululemon’s customers?

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The Blackboard Blogger

Blackboard Blogger

Alfred Sirleaf is an analog blogger. He take runs the “Daily News”, a news hut by the side of a major road in the middle of Monrovia. He started it a number of years ago, stating that he wanted to get news into the hands of those who couldn’t afford newspapers, in the language that they could understand.

Alfred serves as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. The lack of electricity never throws him off. The lack of funding means he’s creative in ways that he recruits people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 (he says) that read his blackboard daily.

Simple, practical, easy ways to get a message out.

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John Muir

John Muir
John Muir, nature man of Yosemite

You can’t argue with such simplicity. His story/quotes seems so timely, don’t forget his beliefs and idealism came with practical advice to the Federal Government. LA Times did a small feature on him here.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

Another great quote:

But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them. Awful in stern, immovable majesty, how softly these rocks are adorned, and how fine and reassuring the company they keep: their feet among beautiful groves and meadows, their brows in the sky, a thousand flowers leaning confidently against their feet, bathed in floods of water, floods of light….

Muir in the Mountains

President Theodore Roosevelt (left) and John Muir had long talks about conservation while camping together at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, 1903. Roosevelt galvanized Progressive conservation and Muir galvanized the preservation movement. Their meeting of the minds symbolizes the environmental leadership the 21st century will increasingly ask of the National Park Service. (Library of Congress photo).

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Harald Naegeli

Harald Naegeli

Harald Naegeli – Swiss artist best known for his graffiti-like paintings. The authorities of Zürich at long last recognized Naegeli’s graffiti as art. The city restored one of the very few of his surviving graffiti in Zürich: Undine was created in 1978 on a building of the University of Zürich, located at Schönberggasse 9. When the building was renovated from 1995 to 2004, the graffito was considered valuable art by the building department and covered to protect it for the duration of the work.

Harald Naegeli

Naegeli from 1984, showing him at Lörrach in the company of Beuys when he turned himself in to the Swiss police.

Swiss Police

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Walt Disney's Creativity

Walt Disney in the 1940's

Great article about Walt Disney who was blessed with three well understood (often contradictory) attributes that allowed him to be a great visionary, an amazing businessman and be the enduring creative genius that had scalability/originality. I suspect Steve Jobs posses these very same qualities :

There were actually three different Walts: the dreamer, the realist, and the spoiler. You never knew which one was coming into your meeting.

Robert Dilts book substitutes the word ‘critic’ for ’spoiler’, giving three distinct roles that Disney played, each of which involved a particular type of thinking and action:

The Dreamer
* What are you trying to make or achieve?
* What excites and inspires you about it?
* If you could wave a magic wand and do anything you like – what would you create? How would it look? What could you do with it? How would that make you feel?

The Realist

* What resources do you need to make this happen – people, money, materials and technology?
* What’s your plan?
* What obstacles will you face? How will you get around them?

The Critic

At critical stages of the project, step back from your work and ask yourself:

* How does this look? What about the big picture? And the fine detail? How do I feel when I examine it?
* How would it look to a customer? A user? A member of the audience? The client? An expert in this field?
* Is this the best I/we can do? What would make it better?

You can only get so far by trying to play all three roles yourself. You can achieve much more by partnering with people whose natural strengths complement your own. If you’re a hard-headed Realist, look to team up with Dreamers and Critics.

For example, I could have invested a huge amount of time studying graphic design, animation, coding, copywriting and web marketing – and maybe become average at some or even most of them.

And clearly, Disney didn’t make all of those films single-handed. He didn’t just play the three roles in his head – he used them to counterbalance and direct the tendencies of his team. If he felt the team were too bogged down in detail, he would become the playful Dreamer; if they were in danger of getting lost in pie-in-the-sky fantasies, he switched roles to the Realist.

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Felice Limosani

Felice Limosani

Adidas commissioned an original liquid story installation by Felice Limosani. ‘Magic”, apparently a story/series of events dedicated to all those who are passionate about fusing fashion with industrial technology. The essence of Magic is the relation between creativity and attraction and the association of originality to magnetism. That summary seems almost too much information. Better to enjoy the visual.

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Irene Au

Talking about the culture of empowerment to make prototypes and get them visualised, remember it’s about focusing on INSPIRING YOU TO PLAY by doing, by making, not talking yada yada about it.