Candy’s developing quite a portfolio of projects that toe the line between art and service (with a little social commentary thrown in for good measure) Her most recent work for GOOD Magazine invites neighbors to meet each other thanks to the Please Disturb/Can I Borrow? placards included in the most recent issue.
What I love most about this is how it takes the sharing behavior we’ve become all-too-comfortable with online and challenges us to bring it back to real-world situations.
One side says, Please Disturb! and allows you to list the things you have to loan (an extra ladder, salad, ammo, etc.) The other side says, Can I Borrow? and you can list the stuff you need. “Our neighbors have a lot of resources, skills, and odds and ends that we can share, borrow, and trade,” says Candy. “Think of it as an invitation or a low-tech status update for your front door.”
If you’re into this sort of thing, definitely check out her previous work visualizing the laws governing New York City Street Vendors and these flash cards demystifying NYC Tenants’ Rights.
Now this is the kind of jump in digital storytelling that gets me excited. The video is a little frenetic but it does an amazing job of showing how we’re only scratching the surface in terms of what’s possible for next generation storytelling on devices like the iPad (bonus points for clever use of the accelerometer).
My enthusiasm for things like this doesn’t mean I think (or want) children’s books as we know them today, to go away. I believe there’ll always be a place for tangible, tattered children’s books but I think we’ll create a new kind of vehicle through which to engage users (they will be more than readers) and Alice is just the beginning.
Seeing these demos gets me even more excited for the iPad. However, I’m skeptical that the publishers are going to be able to execute what is a fundamentally new *kind* of design – somewhere between print and digital – for a while, and don’t think that they won’t expect us to pay as they learn how to do it right.
Both of these are a few weeks old but I still wanted to call them out because I like them so much, for different reasons.
Chiquita Bananas: A Beautiful Brand Refresh
What I love about this was that they took branding that was already iconic and took it in a new, playful, and ultimately really memorable, direction.
Chiquita will always remind me sharing an office with Dennis, who’d eat a banana a day and cover his laptop with the Chiquita stickers from said bananas. Clearly he’s not alone in that endeavor and Chiquita is showcasing that behavior on the new site in support of this new campaign.
Just look at these things. They’re so f*cking cute I want to collect them all and nom the crap out of them.
Think rebranding bananas isn’t exciting? Here’s a great quote on finding that angle to build on when helping brands rebuild their identities:
Many times as designers we are tasked to help brands build or rebuild their identities. We may initially think that a clean slate is required to achieve a better identity, and in some cases that can be true if the existing brand identity has little to no value. But in most cases, there is always something that can be built on, discovered, or championed with any brand. It really just requires spending as much time as you can with the product, immersing yourself in it. Like method designing, you just have to live it and the work will flow through you.
The Heinz ketchup packet : A User-centered product redesign
Heinz’s effort is impressive because it improved both form and function, making the brand feel newer visually as well as functionally, addressing their major use cases, referred to as the “dippers” and the “squeezers.”
This is a redesign that just makes so much sense you wonder how it took so long to get here. Technology wasn’t holding it back. It was a matter of really looking at the problem from a user’s point of view and then making a change. Bravo.
“We nail facts into students’ heads and there’s nothing wrong with it if the goal is to employ someone for 40 years in a Ford Motor Company Model A factory.”
“The A students work for the B students, the C students run the businesses, and the D students have the buildings named after them.”
“Never ever hire someone who had a grade point average of 4.0.”
I highly recommend you take 4 minutes and 12 seconds to watch/listen to the whole thing.
Love to see Experience Design fall at the center of People, Technology, Business and Story. Most people (and companies) instinctively gravitate to the first three but it’s usually the last one that ties it all together to make something truly memorable.
A couple of weeks ago, New York City-based online grocer, FreshDirect launched their iPhone app (iTunes link), enabling their customers to easily shop for groceries in a way that caters to the needs of an audience that is increasingly mobile.
This is doubly exciting for me: first, as a huge fan of the brand and weekly FreshDirect customer for the past 7+ years but secondly as a mobile designer as it was the last project I had the amazing chance to lead while I was at Schematic.
FreshDirect.com occupies a very unique place in the world of online shopping for many reasons that I’m sure you can imagine. At a high level, it presents a fundamentally different shopping experience because a) many of their customers shop weekly and b) those shopping experience involves building a cart with many more items than most other cart-based online shopping sites. This creates very specific interaction needs that that the team at FreshDirect has spent the better part of the last decade honing and improving on their website. Solving the problem of taking the relevant parts of that experience and making them mobile was a really exciting one to tackle and this app is the result of that process.
We focused on designing an experience that complemented and enhanced the primary web experience while always remaining cognizant of the mobile medium – giving you quick access to previous orders and custom shopping lists you’ve created on the site, browsing your favorite items and weekly specials, updating your delivery times or searching for any item in the store for those times when you remember that one thing you neglected to throw in your cart.
Working on a mobile product for a local brand like FreshDirect that, if done right, could make a weekly routine that people undergo more pleasant, efficient and rewarding, was one of the best professional opportunities I’ve had as a designer. I couldn’t be more proud of the team I got to work with on the project and I’m so excited that everyone’s work is now out in the world for people to use. Also, FreshDirect has a history of listening to its customers to continually enhance their products so know that any thoughts/feedback you have on the app. will be welcomed by their team.
If you’re in New York and you feel that you’ve got better things to do with your time than spend hours each week combing the aisles of your local C-Town, check out FreshDirect and make sure you give the new iPhone app a spin (iTunes Link). Hope you like it!
Update from the comments: Also, wanted to let everyone know Fresh Direct just launched a contest to promote the app. Grand prize winner gets $500 Apple Store credit + $500 Fresh Direct credit, check it out: http://bit.ly/FD_AppContest
The team at Made by Many is building a neat little visualization tool for SXSW to give their readers a simple + visually compelling way to keep up with the team’s activities while they’re in Austin.
Not only is the mini-product idea itself clever but they’re also exposing their ongoing iterative design process to their readers as they build it. Great stuff.
As far as design and product development goes, how can this list not get you totally fired up. Pow!
Nooka speaks of a world of the tomorrow that is happening right now. It seems gloriously unattainable but is here in the palm of our hands. It is optimism, it is progress, and it is our future.
Universal Communication
Nooka believes in the power of universal languages like those used in math, science and commerce to increase understanding and enable diverse groups of people to work together. The universal visual language of Nooka creates a communication tool for all, promoting the exchange of ideas across the globe through great design.
Passion
Nooka believes that constant advances in technology and cultural change necessitate originality in design. Our lust for innovation through technoculture and our childlike belief that anything is possible drive us to constantly strive for the perfect design.
Interaction
The alternative approach to everyday objects in Nooka’s designs triggers thoughts of new possibilities and examination of our surroundings. Nooka products change the brain state of anyone they touch.
Purpose
Every Nooka object is designed with intention. It has the power of clarity, the power to reach the heart of everyone who interacts with it. Nooka is committed to the belief that anything is possible. It is only through a truly open mind that we may face the challenges ahead of us.
Inspiration
Nooka sees the whole world as inspiration; it absorbs energy from it and creates new forms.
Futurism
Nooka changes how we experience technology by placing it in new contexts. The futurist believes that this process always results in progress. Nooka is a futurist brand.
This site is meant to be a constant river of content that I'm finding online, delivered directly to you. You can get these links by following @everydayux on Twitter or by subscribing to the everydayUX RSS feed.
I maintain a more traditional blog, covering a wide range of topics over at www.alexrainert.com.
I'm a husband, new father & owner of a lovably neurotic vizsla. Obsessed with information, design, emerging tech, sports & food. Years ago I co-founded dodgeball.com and I'm currently head of product at foursquare.
A couple of weeks ago, New York City-based online grocer, 
