Category Archives: Cases

Cases

People buy gas in an empty Absolut Vodka bottle

Leave a comment

Absolut Vodka has offered many artists with a wide variety of collaboration opportunities. Now it has a long list of colors and shapes with much artistic flavour. Recently, it even introduced Absolut Colors saying that;

We are proud to once again dress our iconic bottle in the pride flag, originally designed by San Francisco-based artist Gilbert Baker in 1977, just before Absolut Vodka was born. For Absolut, we believe in the right to expression yourself in any way possible, which includes being able to love whomever you want to love. Creativity has always been at the core for Absolut, and diversity go hand in hand with that. A world where everybody is the same would not be any fun at all, but rather a quite boring place. That’s why Absolut is happy to have been celebrating a colorful world ever since 1979.

Interestingly, motor cyclists in Bali buy “petrols” in the Absolut Vodka bottles. These original bottles are prototype and seem to be the most appealing to many people there.

Cases

Umbra, Toronto-based global design company

Leave a comment

Umbra is a Canadian design company. I have bought a few home decorative items including its signature garbage cans (Later I learned it is called Skinny Can and was designed by Karim Rashid and David Quan). Interestingly, Umbra is not an expensive brand. Its affordable price allowed me to try several products. The products I have tried satisfied me. The website says,

We are a Toronto-based homeware design company born over 30 years ago when graphic designer, Paul Rowan, couldn’t find a nice window shade to hang in his apartment window. So, he made one and people liked it. He soon teamed up with childhood friend, Les Mandelbaum, and Umbra (in Latin, “shade”) was born. Les and Paul began reimagining everyday items into modern ware.

Today, Umbra is recognized all over the world for bringing intelligent design to everyday items. An in-house team of international designers allows us to come up with original design that speaks universally and personally to a broad customer base. The journey that started in Toronto continues—our designs can be found in over 120 countries.

Recently, I had a chance to pay visit to its flagship store located in downtown Toronto. This store welcomed visitors to enjoy Umbra items. In particular, I had a brief meeting with Paul Rowan, one of the co-founders of Umbra. He is approachable, funny, and lively. We discussed a design competition held in 2014 in Seoul. He also introduced me a Korean designer who is currently working at the in-house team of international designers.

With a lot of curiosity, I visited the Umbra design studio located in Scarborough the next day. I met with Sung Wook Park. He graduated from OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) University and joined Umbra about 4 years ago. He is now a creative lead for jewelry, photodisplay, and wall decor items. He explained to me the overall history of Umbra and kindly taught me the trend, the popular material in the next couple of years, and several counter-intuitive international sales patterns regarding photo frames and wall decor items (e.g., Canada vs. US vs. Japan). I have asked any business issues his design team faces as well while introducing numerous successful design items to the global market. Meeting with Paul and Sung Wook gave me a glimpse into the life of the North American designers.

Cases

You will be able to think creatively in Bali

Leave a comment

Ubud is a small town on the Indonesian island of Bali. “Eat, Pray, Love” was filmed in 2010 in this town. IMDb explains this movie;

A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to find herself.

Although not everyone needs to find himself or herself like a person in the movie, Bali is a perfect place to enjoy a mind wandering (taking a break involving an undemanding task) and to be creative. Indeed, in this town, many European visitors read and write books at cafes enjoying rice field views (to my surprise, rice fields can be scenic!). Some even go to a co-working space called Hubud and start their own businesses. I find many do undemanding tasks. Since residents are friendly, meals are delicious (Babi Guling at Ibu Oka), and guest houses are inexpensive, Bali is one of the destinations for those who need creativity.

Reference

Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological science, 23(10), 1117-1122.

Although anecdotes that creative thoughts often arise when one is engaged in an unrelated train of thought date back thousands of years, empirical research has not yet investigated this potentially critical source of inspiration. We used an incubation paradigm to assess whether performance on validated creativity problems (the Unusual Uses Task, or UUT) can be facilitated by engaging in either a demanding task or an undemanding task that maximizes mind wandering. Compared with engaging in a demanding task, rest, or no break, engaging in an undemanding task during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems. Critically, the context that improved performance after the incubation period was associated with higher levels of mind wandering but not with a greater number of explicitly directed thoughts about the UUT. These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.

Cases

How could we design a better fire extinguisher?

Leave a comment

IMG_1229

Since we spend most of our time in buildings, we are literally surrounded by fire extinguishers. It consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire (Wikipedia). In general, we do not pay attention to them until needed. For me, I have never used any fire extinguisher in my life and have no interest in it. Interestingly, designers have noticed their problems and came up with two fairly different but equally interesting solutions.

Typical fire extinguishers have two critical problems. First, they are often ignored and difficult to be located. Even though they are red colored, fire extinguishers merely stand still and fail to grab our attention. Further, they do not go well with walls or interiors.

Recently, I found a series of eye-catching fire extinguishers at a store. In order to solve the first problem, some designers changed the appearance of the fire extinguishers. They painted skins to make them visually appealing and to make them go well with the walls. Some of the newly painted fire extinguishers look so nice that I even wanted to buy them for home decor.

DML_Fire distinguisher

The second problem is that typical fire extinguishers are difficult to use in emergency situations. Therefore, instruction manuals are prepared. A practice session runs for those who want to try to use them in advance.

Recently, I found another, newly designed fire extinguishers in a building. Designers changed the size and the container material so that the shape “says” how to use. Now, we do not have to spend time on learning how to use them; instead, we can simply  pick up one or a few water-bottle shaped fire extinguishers and throw them on a fire.

These two fire extinguishers teach me what designers do for us. Designers change the appearance of a product; alternatively, they change the way we use it.

Cases

Standing desk: New way to work

1 Comment

I suffered from minor shoulder – and wrist pain for a long time. In order to lessen the pain, I decided to train my left hand for using the computer mouse a few years back.

Certainly, using mouse with my left hand was very challenging in the first couple of years. However, 3-year of intensive practice paid me off. I could click, drag, and drop icons using my left hand without noticing that I did so with my left hand.

After having succeeded this “experiment,” I made another decision recently to relieve back pain; standing up while working. I first searched for standing desks or stand-up desks, then read online posts (e.g., reviews by Mark Luckch and Alan Henry), and then created my own standing desk by putting together empty paper boxes.

My DIY practice showed the effect Instantly. I became free from back pain, paid more attention to my tasks, and most importantly, became exhausted at evening as I “exercised” all day long. In short, I was tired at day and slept well at night. Finally, I bought a height-adjustable table from Varidesk. 🙂

20150408_Desk(2) 20150408_Desk(4)

 

Cases

Reducing eye pain in a shopping mall

Leave a comment

DML_Nuri eyeIn a large scale indoor space, people need breaks to reduce pains. In a shopping mall or at an exhibition, for example, people often take micro breaks on a bench to reduce the pains in the legs or feet. At a recent exhibition, I met a relatively new solution for the pains that have been little articulated: pains in the eye. When people look around many booths inside the indoor exhibition, they often suffer from dry eyes. Although wearing customized contact lens or dropping artificial tears reduce the pain, shoppers have had no instant solution for this so far. A company introduced electronic devices (blue plastic glasses) to reduce dry eye syndrome or xerophthalmia. Although it looks strange or scared, this device could be installed in shopping malls in the near future for those who want to reduce their pains in the eye.

 

Cases

Electronic Vehicle Charging Station in Seoul

Leave a comment

An EV charging station stands in the parking lot at my university. DML_EcarProbably, the department of automotive engineering installed it and owns the electronic vehicle. My first impression about them is that they do not interfere the traffic flow inside the busy parking lot because the charging station occupies a tiny space and it charges a small BMWi. However, I was concerned what happened when strangers mistakenly/intentionally unplug it although the screen said, “please do not unplug while charging.”

Electronic vehicles are popular in California. Interestingly, many EV drivers found it difficult to locate the charging station. A recent news said that some building owners promote their buildings having the charging stations at their parking lots. I hope to see more electronic cars on the road and more EV charging stations in Seoul.

 

 

Cases

Pillow preference

Leave a comment

DML_PillowPillows are important for a good night’s sleep. Regardless of whether innate or learned, people have their own preferences for the firmness of pillow. When they go to hotels or visit their friends’ places, however, they cannot help but accept the given pillows. Some of my friends who have a strong preference carry their air pillows.

Interestingly, at some resorts, they are able to “choose” one between a soft pillow and a firm pillow. At some hotels, they could even “reserve” one in advance among a wide variety of pillows (e.g., Sukhothai hotel in Bangkok).

Cases

Old is good intuition

3 Comments

Although we are always attracted by something new, we sometimes try something old to enjoy its authenticity.

For instance, when a restaurant places an nostalgic vintage signboard outside or when it serves dishes in an ugly pot, we infer that the restaurant must have been loved by many people previously. This “old is good” intuition is so strong that it can even distort the quality of the dish.

I recently visited an approximately 15-year old restaurant and ordered a fish soup for two. It was served in a pot that was all wrinkled up. Although this fish soup was not delicious, I enjoyed it simply because the pot of the soup looked old.   

**

Reference

Fuchs, Christoph, Martin Schreier, and Stijn M.J. van Osselaer (2015), “The Handmade Effect: What’s Love Got to Do with It?,” Journal of Marketing, 79 (2), 98–110.

Despite the popularity and high quality of machine-made products, handmade products have not disappeared, even in product categories in which machinal production is common. The authors present the first systematic set of studies exploring whether and how stated production mode (handmade vs. machine-made) affects product attractiveness. Four studies provide evidence for the existence of a positive handmade effect on product attractiveness. This effect is, to an important extent, driven by perceptions that handmade products symbolically “contain love.” The authors validate this love account by controlling for alternative value drivers of handmade production (effort, product quality, uniqueness, authenticity, and pride). The handmade effect is moderated by two factors that affect the value of love. Specifically, consumers indicate stronger purchase intentions for handmade than machine-made products when buying gifts for their loved ones but not for more distant gift recipients, and they pay more for handmade gifts when purchased to convey love than simply to acquire the best-performing product.

Cases

Sterilizer in beauty stores

Leave a comment

Must buy items in Korea are skin care products. As the Korean entertainment programs including TV programs, movies, and music videos became highly popular in Asia, the beauty products made in Korean enjoy its strong brand power. Many cosmetic stores in Seoul are crowded by foreign visitors.

I have noticed in the stores that many foreign visitors avoid trying on samples because of their hygiene concerns. Interestingly, many cosmetic stores have their own sterilizers, like labs or hospitals. Visitors can use them by simply putting the skin care or body care products or beauty tools inside for 5 minutes.

DML_Cosmetic sterilizer