Jaewoo teaches and writes about design thinking and behavioral economics for customer experience, new product development, and new product adoption. He is an associate professor of marketing and participating professor of experience design at Kookmin University.
We now see a wide variety of floor signage. In Singapore, there is a yellow-painted footstep on the right side of the paved road at the Marina Bay. Since this road is crowded by runners, this signage probably helps them run on the right side of the road.
In Shenzhen, China, there are orange-colored lines at the subway stations. Since many people are in a hurry, these lines help them not to rush forward when the train is coming, and wait for the next train if they cannot get on.
Although floor signage is visually salient, I wonder whether this is needed to change our behavior, because we learn rules naturally. We learn how to avoid bumping into other runners when running on a narrow road and we also learn how to navigate a huge crowd to get on a train. Although I am a strong supporter of behavior economics and nudge, I believe some nudges interfere with learning. Not surprisingly, some people argue that behavioral economics are not always as effective as thought (Why nudges hardly help)(The dark side of nudging). We need to study more about which specific nudges are ineffective and how we can modify these nudges.
In Copenhagen, people rarely take taxi. They ride bicycles or, if needed, take public transportation such as bus or subways. Therefore, I was not surprised when I heard that Uber’s operation was illegal. According to the news on March 28, 2017 by Alanna Petroff at CNN,
“The government is passing a new law that will essentially make our business untenable here,” said Harry Porter, a spokesperson for Uber. The updated taxi rules — which require cars to install taxi meters and video surveillance features — leaves 2,000 Uber drivers and 300,000 riders in the lurch in Copenhagen, the only Danish city where Uber operated.”
One day, I should have used taxi service because my flight was scheduled to leave early in the morning. I was recommended to book a taxi at Taxa 4×35. Although I saw many Taxa taxi on street, but did not trust its service at first. However, I changed my thoughts about Taxa after using a feature on the app which informed me in real time where the reserved taxi was. The taxi arrived at the right time at the right place and, more importantly, relieved my concern before I used it.
In fact, the real-time location informing feature may not be special in Asia where massive amount of people catch a taxi frequently and use heavily their messenger services such as Wechat or Kakaotalk. However, this feature is quite fresh where taxi is not constantly and/or urgently needed.
About 36 million people live in Tokyo and its neighboring cities. Most restaurants well known to foreigners are heavily crowded. Therefore, when I dine out in Tokyo, I have to wait for a table for a decent amount of time. The fact that many local people are waiting for their tables relieves my concern that I might have chosen a wrong restaurant. Although crowdedness plays a role as social proof when I “choose” a restaurant, I think I may enjoy dish more if I have a breathing room or enough empty space inside when I “experience” a restaurant.
My thought was supported when I had a lunch at a restaurant run by D&Department in Tokyo. D&Department project is a store-style activist proposed by Nagaoka Kenmei, a Japanese designer, in 2000, with a theme of a “long-life design.” It introduces design products for our daily lives such as eating, drinking, publishing and traveling. It aims to spread all over the country the products excavated in local regions. Therefore, the design products introduced by D&Department are the durable items that should be used for a long time and regional items that each specific region of Japan uniquely identifies. Therefore, serving local, authentic dish at a restaurant made sense to me.
Going beyond design items and local dish, this restaurant provided sufficient empty space to each guest, which was rare in Tokyo. This restaurant limited the number of guests entering the space. Therefore, people focused on their own dish inside while a huge crowd of people waited for their tables outside. This space was quiet and well organized and guests were not visually distracted.
Do we like crowdedness or emptiness at restaurants? Marketing scientists have studied this issue. Some argue that crowdedness plays a role as a social proof while others argue that emptiness signals social class. We may like crowdedness when buying mass products or visiting casual restaurants, whereas we pursue emptiness when searching for luxury goods or dining out at Michelin starred restaurants.
This article is about social space and material objects for sale within that space. We draw primarily on Goffman’s (1971) concepts of use space and possession territories to predict that as the social density of a given space increases, inferences of the subjective social class and income of people in that space fall. Eight studies confirm that this is indeed the case, with the result holding even for stick figures, thus controlling for typical visual indicators of social class such as clothing or jewelry. Furthermore, these social class inferences mediate a relationship between social density and product valuation, with individuals assessing both higher prices and a greater willingness to pay for products presented in less crowded contexts. This effect of inferred class on product valuation is explained by status-motivated individuals’ desire to associate with higher-status people. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to reveal the link between social density, status inferences, and object valuations. As such, it makes a novel contribution to what has come to be known in sociology as the topological turn: a renewed focus on social space.
When we go to a new place, we often have a mixed desire, that is, the desire for exploring something new as well as the desire for doing exactly what we have done before. When some of my friends go to another countries, for example, they almost always try exotic dish at local restaurants but they end up searching for Starbucks for coffee with free Wifi. Since the mixed desire is relatively opposite, it is usually satisfied by two very different products or places.
However, a mixed desire can be well satisfied when we buy or meet appropriately localized, global products or places. One example is McDonald’s, the biggest food chain brand in the world. Although it is now competing against Subway, it still beats other well known brands such as KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, to name a few.
Although McDonald’s is known for serving highly standardized food items and thus does not seem to be a hot place for eating something new, it actually has interesting local items in different countries.
In Bangkok, for instance, a McDonald’s with a clown who puts his hands together serves a few rice sets with pork, chicken, and beef.
In Copenhagen, a McDonald’s opens 24 hours 7 days. Although this sounds rather common in most Asian cities, running a business for whole night is very uncommon in Scandinavian countries.
In Delhi, a McDonald’s divides its space into two different stations -one for vegetarians and the other for meat lovers- and then people and kitchen utensils are not allowed to come across these two stations including knife, cutting board, or water.
Recently, a group of researchers studied which experiences result in the greatest happiness between ordinary (common and frequent) and extraordinary (uncommon and infrequent) experience. They found that “younger people, who view their future as extensive, gain more happiness from extraordinary experiences; however, ordinary experiences become increasingly associated with happiness as people get older, such that they produce as much happiness as extraordinary experiences when individuals have limited time remaining.”
The research findings suggest why McDonald’s appeals to everyone. It appeals to younger people because of different products and services across countries. At the same moment, it may appeal to older people because it is same across countries.
Prior research indicates that experiences bring greater happiness than material possessions, but which experiences result in the greatest happiness? The current investigation is one of the first to categorize types of experiences and highlights one important distinction: the extent to which an experience is ordinary (common and frequent) versus extraordinary (uncommon and infrequent). Eight studies ex- amine the experiences individuals recall, plan, imagine, and post on Facebook finding that the happiness enjoyed from ordinary and extraordinary experiences depends on age. Younger people, who view their future as extensive, gain more happiness from extraordinary experiences; however, ordinary experiences become increasingly associated with happiness as people get older, such that they produce as much happiness as extraordinary experiences when individuals have limited time remaining. Self-definition drives these effects: although extraordinary experiences are self-defining throughout one’s life span, as people get older they increasingly define themselves by the ordinary experiences that comprise their daily lives.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, many people use bicycles. Many Danes I met have more than three bicycles; one for commuting between home and train station, another for commuting between train station and workplace, and the other for weekend. Some trash cans are even angled in this city so that bicycle riders can throw away their empty water bottles on the wheel.
Red Dot Design Museum is located in the heart of Singapore’s most iconic location, the Marina Bay. This area is one of the most fun places and interesting destination to visit and for sightseeing in Singapore, with numerous attractions within walk distance from the museum. There is an exhibition space in the museum and exhibitions are curated from the results of the Red Dot Design Award.
In the museum, I met an interesting clock named Qlocktwo (Wall and Table) Clock. It received an award of Honorouble Mention 2010. This clock was manufactured by Biergert & Funk Product GmbH & Co KG, and its in-house design was done by Marco Biergert Andreas Funk.
According to the information, “this clock contains a matrix with symmetrically arranged characters which are illuminated in white light to form words that describe time. The front surface is made of polished acrylic glass; the lacquered wooden body supports it by means of eight magnets. When it is activated, the timer sets itself exact to the second and adjusts the brightness of the characters to ambient light.”
The jury left a statement that “Qlocktwo turns the concept of “reading the clock” into a whole new experience. The time measurement in words is not only original but also practical.”
In Singapore, we should pay fine when behaving inappropriately in subway: S$500 when eating or drinking, S$1000 when smoking, and S$5000 when using flammable goods. Interestingly, eating durians is also inappropriate but the fine amount of doing so is not clarified. I suspect that Singapore government seems to know intuitively that people follow rules if they see a set of three escalating numbers.
In the past, Heineken seemed to make TV commercials exclusively for men. Although many of them were successful, we decided to focus on female Heineken lovers. In our new commercial, we begin with describing how busy, how much stressed out, and how tough it is to live a life as a female student in Korea. Then, we claim Heineken is able to relieve her everyday tension and helps her get relaxed at home. We hope this commercial be aired between 9 PM and 11 PM in the metropolitan buses (e.g., Yap TV) for the passengers who work hard at their workplaces and need a rest at home.
Background: As the quality of life improves, people’s interest in art increases and their emotional satisfaction becomes important. Companies often apply artwork to their product packages with the aim of satisfying people’s emotions and enhancing their brand value. However, they tend to apply well-known artwork without considering the characteristics of their target consumers. Therefore, this study aims to understand whether people’s preferences for artwork influence their attitudes toward art-infused products.
Methods: We examined whether people’s attitudes toward art-infused products are influenced by their preferences for and the market exposure of artwork. We conducted a study by recruiting 380 undergraduate students in Korea. In the study, we used 6 artworks carefully selected from textbooks and 6 art-infused hypothetical mobile phone cases accordingly.
Results: Our study revealed two findings. First, people’s attitudes toward art-infused products increased as their preferences for the artwork increased (hypothesis 1). Second, the effect of people’s art preferences on their attitudes toward art-infused products was greater when the artwork was less exposed to the market than when it was highly exposed (hypothesis 2).
Conclusions: The results of this study show that when an artwork is selected for product packaging, people’s preferences for the artwork and its market exposure should be considered, suggesting that selecting a well-known artwork is not always the best option. In sum, this study contributes to the academic discussion on mere exposure effect and art marketing, and it provides insights for designers who aim to apply artwork to differentiate their products.
Keywords
Art Preference, Market Exposure, Attitude Toward Art-infused Product, Art Infusion, Mere Exposure
Snickers introduced a Korean TV commercial in 2011. In this commercial, a famous female singer behaves in a strange way until when she eats snickers. This commercial delivered a single, global message of snickers, that is, you are not you when you are hungry. Although the TV commercial is consistent with the global marketing campaign, it may fail to ring the bell for those who have not been exposed to snickers commercials in the past. Therefore, we changed this commercial by saying that when eating snickers, people satisfy their hungers instantly without wasting time. More specifically, we compare two students in our new commercial. One student eats snickers and the other does not when they commute to schools or when they study in the library. We make this commercial because contemporary college students have no time to sit down and eat lunch.
