do_matic

WSJ - Even Boulder Finds It Isn't Easy Going Green

This is a great article getting at the behavior change and systemic challenges that even a "granola eating, fleece wearing" kind of place has with going green. Check out the interactive graphics for great economic empathy data.

 

Here's a quick video to whet your appetite:

Emotional Design: BMW makes Joy

The replace-emotional-fuzzy-reason-for-buying-luxury-item-with-technical-functional-benefit thing is as timeless as the ego and the id. With that in mind, I thought BMW's decidedly more emotionally slanted campaign was an honest and timely departure.

If you want more joy, check out my colleague Ingrid Fetell's great blog on emotional, joyful design here:
http://aestheticsofjoy.com/

Tidying up - a critical part of the design process

(Banksy gets it. Courtesy of danbrady, flickr and creative commons.)

This morning I engaged in one of the most satisfying and productive parts of the design process. I cleaned up after a frenzied day of creation with my team yesterday.

When I see a team that's looking for some direction, one of the things I'll suggest is to go ahead and clean the workspace. I think cleaning, at the right time, can be as important as getting messy.

When we do it in the middle of the process, what we throw away and what we keep tells us something. In that sense, it's a codeword / code activity for "convergence." Taking it slow and being quiet, ends up being really good reflection time as well... meditation while keeping your hands busy and steeping in the space.

At the end of a project, it can be really valuable as well (as well as polite). In that sense, it helps us learn, reflect, purge and let go.