Tuesday is finally looking up! I’d just stumbled across my new favorite tumblr blog (move over English Major Armadillo), Things Could Be Worse. It’s the perfect mix of two-color illustrations, excellent writing, pessimism and absurdity. Just in case you’ve been missing some Edward Gorey in your life.
As I sit here drinking my tea in jolly old Charlotte, I’ve come across the delightfully British blog It’s Nice That which occasionally asks creatives about the books they turn to for inspiration and includes pictures of their book shelves (swoon!). There’s actually some really interesting stuff, many more novels than art books and I haven’t seen one “My Big Book of Awesome Design” type tomes. Of course, this is also a perfect opportunity for me to recommend The Pixar Touch. It’s the story of how the kids at Pixar spent their whole careers working toward something that didn’t exist and for which there was no market. It’s the kind of thing that gives you hope when everything feels like it’s taking way too long to happen.
This video addresses my only two qualms with the Nike Air Mag: 1) it’s not 2015 2) no power laces. As a result, I am completely on board with this from a “child of the 80s” standpoint and a “doing something super fun to cure a terrible disease” perspective. Also this picture pretty much sums up my reaction to the idea of the forthcoming power lacing Air Mags.
You know your teaser campaign is awesome when people want not only your product, but all the other stuff you used to get them to excited about the main attraction. I want these glasses just to have around the house. You know, just in case.
I love bees for the same reason I love elephants: they’re awesome! Bees communicate through the universal language of dance, something they’ve been doing way before the art school kids got into it. Plus, they make the only food that doesn’t spoil. I have honey in my cabinet right now that’s several years old which seems gross until you realize that people have eaten the honey they found in Egyptian tombs and were fine.
Anyway. Bees. The New York Times has a fantastic city blog post about a fight that broke out over a feral beehive found in central park. Turns our Hurricane Irene was good for more than just tipped over lawn chairs! It started a bee fight! The article is hilarious and wonderful in its own right but moves right past “meh” and straight into “awesomesauce” (which, now that I think of it, should be another name for honey), with the mention of Tony Bees, the NYPD police guy in charge of bees. I wasn’t aware that they had someone who did that, but if it means I can say “Tony Bees” in conversation I’m all for it. In related news, the people mentioned in the article were the first to comment on it which is always ups the comment hilarity up a delightful notch.
As an amateur psychologist and with a extensive training consisting of a single psychology course and not one but TWO sociology courses in college, I like to think of myself as being on the cutting edge of all psychology-related findings that appear in the New York Times. So when this article on decision fatigue hit the front page I was actually a bit skeptical. This isn’t my first time around the block. I know the scientists believe that willpower is a finite resource and that too much choice leads to paralysis. I had quoted that very fact the previous week as rationale for eating a cookie. If I’m going to read an article spanning seven pages, I better be getting some new information.
So here’s the deal: Scientists think willpower is finite and every decision you make even if it’s not an important decision takes away a little bit of your willpower. The good news is that glucose reboots your willpower. Sort of. Basically, scientists think your willpower may be related to your glucose levels and the lower your blood sugar is the lower your willpower becomes. And when people have to make too many choices end up going with their first impulse or just going with their default.
It may seem a little “so what?” at first, until you start thinking about how marketers use decision fatigue to their advantage. The article cites a car dealership that gave customers a ton of options to chose from with the more expensive options toward the end of the list. This meant customers were exhausted and just went with the default choice by that point, which of course was the more expensive choice.
On the other end of the decision spectrum, there’s Apple. Picture it: A few years ago. I was in a crisis situation and my computer which had been broken for a week returned from the repair shop still broken. In addition to generally needing a new computer I needed a computer with my files and my programs ASAP. I knew if I wanted the best possible PC I would have to get online (which I couldn’t do, the library being closed and me being sans-computer) and research what seemed like a million different brands with a million different models and a million different specs. I would have had to read a million different review sites and sift through a million different user reviews. On the other hand, I could also drive to the Apple store where I would need to do was pick the size screen I wanted. And so that’s what I did. An hour later I was home with my new computer. Sometimes more is less. And less is more. Or something. Either way, another awesome read from my favorite psychology news source.
Slate.com can has a reputation, for picking fights where there’s no fight to be found. That said, I have to agree with this article by Farhad Manjoo on the terrible state of restaurant websites. I realize that websites can be expensive and most restaurants aren’t exactly rolling in the dough (heh.) these days, but I know there are free options out there for people willing to do a bit of digging and feed a starving high schooler or college student.
Another day, another blog post I wrote for work. Hooray for reposts!
“Words are not much valued on the Internet, perhaps because it features so many of them.” So says the New York Times in a quote I took somewhat out of context. The Gray Lady, of course, has spent nearly a decade trying to navigate the relationship of words and the Web (not to mention how you actually manage to make money off them). While newspapers and other publications haven’t fared so well on this front, there are a number of companies who have figured out how to make words pay. It turns out, when you have a distinct, recognizable brand voice and you match it with copy people actually want to read, it’s suddenly a lot easier to sell them a garage door opener or half-priced yoga sessions.
Exhibit A: Groupon. The NYT recently did a lengthy feature on the firm, and for once it wasn’t about Groupon’s ethics or rumors of an upcoming IPO. This time the NYT took a look at what makes Groupon, Groupon: its brand voice. While there are plenty of deal-a-day sites out there, Groupon has impressed its URL upon the American psyche due in part to its distinctive way with words. And that’s no accident. In fact, it’s part of their strategy. The firm gives potential hires a multiple choice quiz so they can weed out the applicants with impeccable grammar but limited potential for picking up the firm’s Voice (with a capital V). With more than 400 writers and editors, Groupon’s Voice isn’t so much a natural outcome of the personalities of its writers as it is a manifestation of a well-defined, well-executed playbook. It’s not something they use to tell you about their brand. It is their brand.
Some would argue that Groupon’s Voice is actually a suburbanized knock-off of deal-a-day bargain site Woot.com. Founded years before Groupon hit the interwebs, Woot is famous among nerd types for their irreverent, often story-like product descriptions and their special brand of brutal honesty, captured in their legendary “World’s Crappiest Projector” write up.
Woot’s brand voice not only perfectly captures its brand personality, but it permeates everything they do. When Amazon purchased the company in 2010, Founder and CEO, Matt Rutledge, delivered this epistle which was quickly dubbed the Best. Company. Memo. Ever. by the Internet.
Think about it. When was the last time a company memo made its way around the blogosphere not for saying something stupid or embarrassing, but for being awesome? It may not seem like a big deal, but when your product line varies from the must-have (flat screen TVs) to the ho-hum (a two-pack of pliers), there has to be some thread that can tie it all together. People may not know what deal Woot or Goupon are offering on any given day, but because of their distinct brand voices, people know exactly what to expect when they visit these sites. In fact, it might be one of the reasons that draws them there in the first place.
This all goes to show that words DO matter on the Web–no matter how hard it is to find a grammatically correct sentence or spelling that at least hints at a high school education. When copy is written well and reflects or, better yet, defines a firm’s brand personality, people actually notice. Better yet, they actually read.
Now, if only we could get people to pay for journalism, then we’d really be on to something.
Best typo ever or potential new band name?
Politics aside, and boy do I ever mean that. Elections bring sure bring out the designers. And why wouldn’t they? When else do we see the simultaneous launch of tens of new brands competing within the same market, using essentially the same color palette? Plus, no matter what party you’re with, your branding has to be conservative and non-alienating. Basically, it’s a big old design competition with extremely rigid rules meant to take a lot of the fun and creative thinking out of the process. Through great restrictions come great possibility. Or really terrible ones. And so here is our first logo analysis of the 2012 election season. Let the design snark begin!
