What If.....? An exercise in Creativity and What Iff'ing

What if we could see smells? You'd know the source of the bad smell in the kitchen--a plant, rubbish bin, wastebasket, old food in the refrigerator. You could see the perfume as it wafted off the girl wearing it--a visible "come on." Since we can see farther than we can smell, you could see who had an orange or banana in his lunch bag from across the room. Visible odors could be socially embarrassing in ways not necessary to detail.

Whether or not the "seeing smells" thought suggests the invention of an smell detecting device, a super sniffer like the ones used by the U.S. military to sniff out enemy soldiers, a main benefit of practicing what-iffing is to train the mind to explore unreality or imagined reality, to think about, for a few minutes, the necessary, logical consequences or facts needed to support such a change in real things. Too often when someone gets a new idea, little attempt is made to think about its logical consequences for a few minutes.

Notice when you mention a "what if" to your friends, their reaction will probably be to laugh and change the subject, or to laugh and suggest one funny consequence. There is little attempt to trace probable consequences thoroughly, to outline a full set of associated realities. By not doing so, we are in danger of cutting off many new ideas.

Try It Yourself

What If.

Choose one of the questions below and then trace the reasonable and logical consequences that would follow. You might be sure to think of both good and bad (and perhaps indifferent) consequences. List or describe (in a sentence or two each) at least ten consequences.
What if anyone could set up as a doctor?
What if each home could run the television only one hour a day?
What if petrol grew on trees and was a renewable resource?
What if exams were abolished in college?
What if our pets could talk?
What if we never had to sleep?
What if we could read other people's minds (and they could read ours)?
What if all marriages were automatically cancelled by the state every three years?
What if everybody looked almost exactly alike?
What if clocks and watches didn't exist and daylight lasted six months?

Be more creative, USES FOR A...

This is a simple technique that can be used for mental stimulation or practical application, depending on what you have in mind at the time. It is an excellent tool for breaking you out of a functionally fixated mindset. To use this technique, think of an item or object, usually a common one like a brick, toothpick, pencil, or bucket, and set the task of thinking of all the possible uses for that object, without regard to what the object is normally used for, what it is named, or how it is usually thought of.
Sometimes a time limit, like three to five minutes, is given. Other times a quantity limit, like 25 to 100 is given. All the techniques of idea generation are used, from checklist to attribute analysis to random stimulation.

Try It Yourself

Uses For.
Choose one of the items below and think of at least 25 original uses for it. (That is, you cannot list things that the item is already used for.) The uses can be fanciful, but should at least approach practicality. Describe each use in a sentence or two.

a cardboard box
a towel
a nail
a sheet of paper
a spoon
a fan
a roll of adding machine paper
a ball point pen
the yellow pages
an inner tube
a candle
three feet of Scotch tape
a plastic drinking glass
a toothpick
a marble
old newspapers
worn out automobile tyres
non-returnable soda bottles
tons of broken rubber bands
pencils

Creative Lighting...

Sculpter, Raphael Daden, was chosen to develop this lighting along the seafront at Brighton. Stunning.



Pedestrians interact with light-projected portraits from a video art installation in Trafalgar Square, London. Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's piece Under Scan features 1,000 interactive portraits of British people.

Wake up and Live - 12 Mental Exercises...

I came across this book which Dorothea Brande wrote in 1936 (which incidentally was made into a musical by Twentieth Century Fox). Here's what the New Yorker said about it at the time... "Now Mrs. Dorothea Brande has written a book and Simon & Schuster have published it, with the firm purpose in mind of getting me and all the other woolgatherers mentally organized so that, in a world which is going to pieces, we can be right up on our toes. I have no doubt that the book, which is called "Wake Up And Live!" will sell some two hundred thousand copies..."

In fact it sold 2 million copies...Inside are these twelve mental exercises, some of them are interesting to try out...

1. Spend an hour each day without saying anything except in answer to direct questions, in the midst of the usual group, without creating the impression that you’re sulking or ill. Be as ordinary as possible. But do not volunteer remarks or try to draw out information.

2. Think for 30 minutes a day about one subject exclusively. Start with five minutes.

3. Write a letter without using the words I, me, mine, my.

4. Talk for 15 minutes a day without using I, me, my, mine.

5. Write a letter in a “successful” or placid tone. No misstatements, no lying. Look for aspects or activities that can be honestly reported that way.

6. Pause on the threshold of any crowded room and size it up.

7. Keep a new acquaintance talking about himself or herself without allowing him to become conscious of it. Turn back any courteous reciprocal questions in a way that your auditor doesn’t feel rebuffed.

8. Talk exclusively about yourself and your interests without complaining, boasting, or boring your companions.

9. Cut “I mean” or “As a matter of fact” or any other verbal mannerism out of your conversation.

10. Plan two hours of a day and stick to the plan.

11. Set yourself twelve tasks at random: e.g., go twenty miles from home using ordinary conveyance; go 12 hours without food; go eat a meal in the unlikelist place you can find; say nothing all day except in answer to questions; stay up all night and work.

12. From time to time, give yourself a day when you answer “yes” to any reasonable request.

Interesting...

6 word memoirs - which is your favourite?

This one really is relevant for me!
The Guardian has been running this competition to see who's six word memoir has the most resonance...which is your favourite? Here's the shortlist of the final 7 Take a look here You can find all of them here.

Think like a Bushman...An exercise to look at everyday objects differently...

An African Bushman, unaware of white culture, discovers an empty Coca Cola bottle in the Kalahari Desert. The bushman closely examines this mystical object (casually dropped by a passing pilot), wondering what it is good for. He then tries blowing into it, and is very pleased to learn that it makes a noise. In this creativity exercise you encourage your students to become Bushmen. Yes, bushmen...

You need to collect 5 to 10 props. You display a prop to your students and ask them to find a new use for it. This exercise encourages creativity since it forces the thinking process to erase or ignore what is known and come up with fresh ways of looking at something familiar.

Think about these, "Ways to..." and leave your ideas as comments...

These could be a good set of ice breakers, or longer tasks:

Ways to...
Brainstorming Exercise

Ways to get people painting and drawing
Ways to discover new bands
Marketing a new fragrance
Ways to discourage use of cars
Ways to find a new partner
Ways to encouraging people to keep exercising

I liked this exercise...I've called it Movie Maker..

This exercise is courtesey of John Cliff. www.johncliff.com

"You can add to your repertoire of creative tools. It will help you increase your output of ideas whenever you’re doing any sort of brainstorming, or even just kicking a few thoughts around with colleagues.

Make a huge movie screen in your mind and start creating vivid mental imagery of things that have anything at all to do with the topic under discussion.

Let’s say you’re kicking around a few ideas to do with product improvement. Create a mental movie of a suitable situation you’re familiar with.

You might, for example, put yourself in your local supermarket where you’re walking around looking at all those products on the shelves, the point-of-sale material, the overhead posters and displays.

And, specifically, look at close-ups of the products and packaging.

Now, look at the wealth of ideas you can see as you mentally stroll around the aisles - create a six-pack, sell two-for-one, add a free bonus product, change the package shape, put a handle on it, group like products together, add a promotional coupon - and so on.

Then change the movie. Maybe you could put yourself in an art gallery, or a circus, or a toy factory, or your local Kwik-Fit - and notice how different situations can generate even more ideas.

Then try mixing a few movies together – a hospital operating room with an airport check-in queue, a day at the beach with a retail furniture store, a public library with a dog show.

The possibilities are endless. And obviously the more you do this, the better you’ll get.

Why this yields results

We have two main channels for generating ideas – ‘visual’, where we think in pictures, and ‘auditory’, where we think in words.

The visual channel is faster because we can have pictures coming and going in a flash. It’s the mind’s main source of information. The auditory channel, on the other hand, can be useful, but it’s painfully slow. In fact, we can’t ‘think’ language any faster than we can talk it in real life.

And because of the way the mind works, we can’t be in both channels at the same time. So if you’re doing most of your thinking in words, you won’t get nearly as many ideas."

Thanks John.

John Cliff. www.johncliff.com

Great Buzz Marketing Campaigns for IKEA's launch in Frankfurt and Port Island Japan

The new routemaster...

I spent a lot of my time on the 73 and the 38 buses, both routemasters when I lived in Islington. I used them for work, shopping and meeting friends all the time. They were great to hop on and hop off; they took me through the heart of London - a fantastic sight-seeing tour, and quite often had eccentric bus-conducters who I built up a good rapport with - I missed them dearly when they were taken out of service. I loved them in the winter, everyone fought for the seats near the front away from the open door. I loved the 'bang bang' the conductor made when he was up on the top-deck to signal to the driver that the bus should start. The old fashioned ticket-machines, with the long, long tickets...Aaaahhh so many memories.

But, they are going to be reinvented. Here are the new proposals. What do you think?

"Hold very tightly, please, ladies and gentlemen. The announcement of the winner of the mayor of London's competition for the design of a new London bus, or Mk 2 Routemaster, is just around the corner. Here's one of the designs - an electric double-decker called the e21, powered by rechargeable batteries - submitted by Michael Kerz, a graduate of Central St Martin's School of Art and Design.

Given that the original Routemaster, one of the finest of all city buses, appeared at a time when diesel oil was a lot cheaper than it is today, perhaps it's right that a new generation RM should be electric. But, just as the much-missed Routemaster has long been seen as a tourist attraction, so Kerz's design plays on the fact; his e21 boasts a full length transparent roof so tourists can gawp at passing pediments, plane trees and pigeons as Londoners flick through newspapers, grimace along to the thumpa-whompa-tss-tss-tss of personal stereos, doze, eat, drink and fight.

Like the Mk 1 Routemaster, Kerz's Mk 2 sports an open rear platform, beloved by generations of Londoners, but condemned by Transport for London officials as being too dangerous. An automatic safety barrier would keep would-be leapers in control until the bus had stopped, but surely this undermines the very nature of an open platform: the chance to get on and off anywhere along central London's congested streets, no faster than they were in the days of horse-drawn buses.

Kerz, as you can see has tried to borrow something of the Routemaster's profile, but it must be said that the e21 does look just a little angular and brutal compared with the functional elegance of the gently curved original. With its big whizzy wheels and aggressive, cartoon-like stance, the e21 looks better suited to Wacky Races than Route 11.

Next week, we should find out what Transport for London's judges feel about designs from Kerz, other design students, architects - including Norman Foster, whose entry just happens to resemble a trolleybus - engineers, industrial designers and others. The panel, it's good to know, is 100 per cent celebrity-free and composed wholly of those who, if the new bus does go ahead, will run it in daily service.

I suggest that the winning design ought to be in the spirit of the Routemaster and its predecessors, stretching back to the London General B-Type double-decker of 1910, but may well look nothing like it. A true a successor to the Routemaster should be a truly modern city bus designed for a long and trouble-free life and as energy and space efficient as technically possible.

A new Routemaster mustn't be fashionable and it cannot be aimed primarily at the tourist market. It has to be at least 10 times better looking than contemporary London buses, which are bought off the shelf. It doesn't need video screens inside (please not; surely Londoners can still read or simply enjoy looking out of the window?). It needs a quiet engine, however powered, as well as silent brakes. Oh, and it needs a grown-up interior design - unlike 99 per cent of contemporary London buses.

Most of all, the RM2 must be a London bus. London is one of the richest cities in the world, supposedly one of the most creative, and together we must find a way to commission a bus that, one day, will be as famous and as respected as the original Routemaster. We'll soon find out."

The Guardian

The mini office...perfect for small space living...

Just came across this, it's a great idea for the small office and it doesn't need screws or fixings...
check it out

Orangina Naturally Juicy French (raunchy) version

This ad was banned in the UK as it was felt too raunchy for children. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) it has been a great hit in France. What do you think?

80 million tiny images

This is brilliant, developed by MIT, each one of these 80 million images is an entry in a visual dictionary, just click on one image to have a visual representation about each noun in the english dictionary

"We present a visualization of all the nouns in the English language arranged by semantic meaning. Each of the tiles in the mosaic is an arithmetic average of images relating to one of 53,464 nouns. The images for each word were obtained using Google's Image Search and other engines. A total of 7,527,697 images were used, each tile being the average of 140 images. The average reveals the dominant visual characteristics of each word. For some, the average turns out to be a recognizable image; for others the average is a colored blob. The list of nouns was obtained from Wordnet, a database compiled by lexicographers which records the semantic relationship between words."

Take a look here

Feel like playing...?

I just came across this web-site called Sodaplay on the Time Top 50 web-sites - just had a play around with some of the graphics myself, here's what Time had to say about it....

"If you like to play God, the British interactive design company Soda Creative Technologies Ltd. can help you work out your controlling--er, creative--urges. Its Sodaconstructor game gives you a wire-frame, jellyfish-like creature that marches jauntily back and forth across your computer screen; it's up to you to alter physique or physics (by turning gravity on or off, for example). Don't be surprised if you end up growing so proud of your new pet that you want to trot it out like a show poodle in the Sodazoo."

Try it here....

Creativity is...

If you got the bug from the previous post...

...here's a simple mind-mapping course!

Tony Buzan - In search of genius through mind-mapping

If you don't yet use mind-mapping to help you with creativity, lateral thinking, problem solving, planning and organising your life, take a look at this. Tony Buzan, the inventor of mind-mapping takes 6 difficult children in a problem school - see what happens at the end of 6 months....

Is it just a guitar? Use your creativity...what else could it be...

Everyone looks at things in a different way. Try this exercise and see what you (and perhaps your friends) come up with.
Print off this image and make it into something else.

I got this evercise from an interesting blog
before and after, if you want some inspiration before you start, take a look at what the guitar shape turned into!

If you want to send me your examples so that I can post them up, email me at sue.alouche@orange.fr

A short Creativity Exercise - What could you access from a cashpoint?

Image coutesey of www.legaljuice.com

What other things could you access from a cashpoint machine? We go there so many times to get money, couldn't we get other things too?

But be practical, consider size, security, practicality. I bet you'll have 10 ideas in 10 minutes!

Adapted from an exercise from Caffeine for the mind

Why not add your ideas as comments to this post...

The Starck Reality of the French President's office accessories..oh, and the Euro!.

"Behind the summits and meetings, France wants its European presidency to be all about style and impeccable good taste.

Appalled by the tacky plastic pens, badges and Velcro-fastening free shoulder-bags that are often synonymous with major events like this, the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has enlisted an artistic director: Philippe Starck, the French design guru famous for his style pieces, from chairs to juice-squeezers.

"There are lots of things that traditionally are given to journalists, ministers, delegates," Starck has explained to the news agency AFP. "For the first time in the history of the EU, everything produced will be of high quality."

Starck, famous for interiors that included the private apartments of former Socialist president François Mitterrand, will style select interiors and exteriors of buildings for some events.

He has also produced more than a dozen EU presidency items, including pens, notebooks and small bags which will be given out to delegates. The stylish goodie bags have already caused ructions when a Starck-designed European briefcase was sent to all French MPs, featuring stationery, a towel rail and a pale grey tie. Some of the women MPs, who all received the ties, denounced it as the height of male chauvinism.

But for ordinary EU citizens unable to blag a set of Starck freebies, he has designed a special two-euro coin - 20 million of which will go into circulation across Europe from today.

"Bernard Kouchner wants the French presidency to have a very interesting, very creative profile, " Starck said. The idea was to show "a very modern, very creative France of high technologies, not France wearing a beret, but an avant-garde France"."
The Guardian 1 July 2008

Starck has also just been commissioned by the BBC to head up a new series about the future of design. Why didn't they choose someone English, there's so many fab designers in the UK - why Starck! He needs to do one over here....the deco revolution has started in France, and soon we'll have "trés grande designs" "Brico SOS" and "Comment reviver votre longere"

Patrick Blanc's Vertical Gardens

Check out Patrick Blanc's beautiful vertical gardens currently on show at the International Design Centre in Melbourne.

This year's festival has the theme Strength in Numbers, and celebrates both collaboration and brilliant solutions to pressing contemporary issues. French artist and scientist Patrick Blanc's vertical garden, transforms a 47 square metre wall into a living and permanent installation.

"This garden needs no soil, and only a small amount of water. It has its own irrigation system. Cities are developing at such a fast rate, and we no longer have room for gardens. He's not just presenting an option, but a beautiful, practical option. The environmental message can be communicated in so many forms, and I think having statistics thrown at us is not the only way."

If you don't know MOO, you should!

It's a great place where you can print as many images as you want on the back of your business cards, as well as lots of other interesting personalised promotions....great for small businesses, or for personal cards or promotions. Take a look at MOO here....

Left Brained or Right Brained...?

Take this simple test here...

Write here, right now - great typography!

Take a look...don't try this at home....with a permanent marker!

What's in a name...

I was reading one of my favourite french blogs - Why Travel to France, and came across this today....two flavours of jam - 'Arse scratch' and 'Old boy' - mmmm wonder what's inside? France has a knack of producing products with interesting names...how about French Rabbit wine - sold in a tetrapak! Or Le Freak and Elephant on a Tightrope, developed for English speaking audiences to help flagging sales of French wine. What do you think of this strategy?

Has John McCain gone Branding Bonkers? He wants to literally 'brand' democrats!

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (CAP) - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is refusing to back down from incendiary statements he recently made suggesting that registered Democrats be branded with a letter 'D' in order to tell them apart from "real Americans." He made the suggestion at a campaign stop in St. Paul.

"My friends, these Democrats - they walk among us, and we don't even know it," McCain said at a town hall meeting. "They wear our clothes. They eat our food. They pee in our toilets.

"And if there's anything that Vietnam has taught me, it's that you don't pee in another man's toilet," McCain added after a lengthy pause.

Under McCain's proposal, every voting precinct in the country would be assigned a Precinct Branding Officer, who would be equipped with a steak branding iron containing a 1 1/2" high letter 'D' on a 10" long handle. As voters declare their party affiliation at the polls this November, they would be branded as appropriate before being allowed to vote.

"It's really not as archaic as it sounds," said McCain spokesperson Sylvester McBean during a phone interview with CAP News. "I mean, they can pick where they want to be branded; it's not like we're gonna slap a 'D' on their forehead if they don't want. And we will have registered nurses on hand in case things don't go quite as planned.

God help us if he gets into power!

Fun Ice Breaker

Need to energise your meeting? Having a team building meeting? Need to add small snaps of creativite to a workshop?
This is just the exercise for you! This is more suitable for small groups of say 5 or 6 people

Icebreaker Game - If I were a...
A fun icebreaker game to encourage creativity, best for smaller groups.
Ask each person to say what they would be and why, if they were a...
• A piece of fruit
• An historical figure
• A household object
• A cartoon character
• Any other off the wall group you can think of!
I would be a pineapple as I am exotic, sweet and zingy.
I would be a whisk as I like to stir things up.
I would be Taz as I rush around like a crazy creature!
Time to allow for this activity 20 mins

IceBreaker Game...

This ice breaker game is best for 10 or so people.

Bring 5 random items to the meeting and place them in the centre of the group.

Each person is encouraged to come up with an alternative use for the item, or to
come up with a phrase associated with the item.

Item ideas; toy dog, cardboard box, chair, wooden spoon, picture, scarf or anything
else around the home or office.

Creative uses; e.g. use cardboard box as handbag,
Have a few ideas prepared to start the game off.

Brainstorming Activity 1 – Night and Day

Busy people need routines and shortcuts to make it through the day. If we had to
consciously think about the steps involved in making a cup of tea, we’d have
exhausting our thinking energy before we’d even left the house in the morning.
Routine thinking may save time and energy, but seriously hampers creative
brainstorming, so use this exercise to challenge traditional thoughts and encourage
creativity.

Make a list of common words e.g. night, smart, heavy, quick, apple. Get your team
to list the first opposite meaning word that springs to mind e.g. day, stupid, light,
slow, pear. This will flush out the obvious, routine words. Challenge your team to
come up with at least 3 further opposite words for each word e.g.

Night = day,sun,white,awake, .....
Smart = stupid, scruffy, shabby, in-elegant, clumsy, gawky

You’ll find some similar meaning words creep into your list – that’s fine as these can
spark further opposite meaning words. Remember ideas breed ideas and to keep
critical, analytical thinking in check. Limit the time spent on this activity to 10-15
minutes, to keep it fresh and focused.

Now it’s time to introduce the “real” brainstorming activity. Write your problem
statement clearly and simply, and let those creative minds go to work on generating
new and non-routine ideas to solve the problem.

Do schools today kill creativity? (Ken Robinson, TEDTalks)

This brings up some really interesting questions about the way we educate children...particularly in France.

What do people say behind your back?

''We already have a personal brand, whether we have consciously developed it or not,'' says Europe's leading authority on personal branding, Lesley Everett. ''Your personal brand is what people say about you, behind your back,'' she explains succinctly.

A personal brand, according to Everett, is a collection of powerful and clear ideas people have about us, when they think of us, though most of the time we're not clear about what people are actually saying about us behind our back.

Often, the creation and management of the personal brand is left to chance, because we as individuals are unaware of what perceptions other people have of us. Personal branding is about taking control of your personal brand, managing those perceptions, in a way that reflects who you are as an authentic person, and making sure people ''get you'' when they mean you, rather than judge you to be someone you are not.

A personal brand evolves over time, with a layer being added by everything you do everyday. Everett says that simple things, like a chat at the coffee machine, the email you sent, the message you left on the voice mail, every meeting and presentation contribute to building your brand. These interactions work as the counterpart of ''brand touchpoints'' for product and corporate brands.

Just as the old maxim ''your reputation precedes you'' goes, your personal brand too travels far and wide, and its reach is almost limitless, says Everett. ''Like ripples, you know they travel outwards, though you don't know how far they will go,'' she explains. This makes it all the more important for you to take proactive control of your personal brand.

Is it all about the image?
''Image is part of the personal brand,'' says Everett, ''but on its own, image can be perceived as being very superficial.'' Personal branding, as taught by Everett and her Walking Tall methodology, starts developing the personal brand from inside out.

Motivators, drivers, beliefs, values, standards, and strengths are those parts of the personal brand that are not visually apparent to people. What people do see, is the stuff that is ''the tip of the iceberg'' as Everett chooses to call it – the myths that they judge you on – which comprise voice, body language, dress and appearance, attitude and behaviour.

Personal branding is about creating a congruence between the apparent, and the inside. ''The starting point,'' according to Everett, ''is to think about what you really stand for, and then think about how you are going to package yourself and how you are going to project yourself so that people judge you in the way that you want to be judged.''

The personal brand and corporate brand
''People are becoming the strongest element of the corporate brand,'' explains Everett, irrespective of the fact whether you are an entrepreneur, or whether you work for a large, global organisation. So, how do you personify the brand attributes of the corporate brand? In situations where you fail to deliver more than once, people tend to see you and inefficient and unreliable, which if different to how you see yourself at that point of time, as you may not have been able to get that report delivered, or do that promised call back on account of other interruptions that life threw in your path. Everett shares the example of working with a company that had responsiveness as one of their values, but each time she telephoned them, their voice mail would kick in, and it would take three days or more for the call to be returned. This made an absolute mockery of their brand value of responsiveness," says Everett.

If you want to know how to Walk Tall with your own brand, take a look here...

Getting Married, then these are a must!

We've had bride and groom loo rolls, so now it's the turn of the humble Kleenex tissue to get a wedding makeover. Let's face it, you and your guests are probably going to be using a lot of these on the day, so I guess it makes sense to customise the box. MyKleenexTissue.com allow you to do just that, by printing your choice of photo, message or logo onto a box of tissues which you can then set out on your tables or place discretely in your ceremony venue for the use of those who need them. Some might call it overkill to have tissues which match the theme of your wedding, but at just $4.99 per box, at least they won't eat into your budget too much.

Now your baby can star in it's own movie...

Want a new baby birth card with a difference. Enter www.5starbaby.com, which offers personalized birth announcements fashioned after movie advertisement posters.

Take a look at the web site for more info

Fancy a quick nap? Well now you can, at the Ikea Nap Hotel!

Last week, IKEA offered fatigued Stockholm shoppers a similar form of respite by installing a Sovhotell (sleep hotel) in one of the city's downtown shopping centres. After checking in at Sovhotell's front desk, guests were asked whether they normally sleep on their stomach, side or back, and were given a pillow to suit their personal sleeping style. In addition to single and double beds, the Sovhotell also featured a bridal suite.

Guests were welcome to snooze for 15 minutes, and were given eye masks and headphones with soothing soundscapes to help them benefit from their sponsored power naps. According to IKEA, inspiration for the Sovhotell came from Japanese capsule hotels and from the fact that the shoppers in its own stores are occasionally found napping in the bedroom section.

Website: www.ikea.com

How do we know products are really green?

Are you confused about green products, eco products, biologique products? There are so many, how do we really know if they are green, dark green, light green or not green at all...this might help you.

"In the lawless and unregulated landscape of going green, it became clear that someone, somewhere, needed to step in to provide some semblance of order and a credible means of measuring the myriad of ways companies can go, and pretend to go, green. Here are three watchdogs that deserve recognition....read the rest of the article at Brandchannel here...

Numbers and letters are the latest a mini trend...

If you want to know what other mini-trends there are right now, check out Design Sponge here...Its a great design blog...constantly being up-dated with new products and trends...

Social Networking in Plain English

Confused about social networking....look no further!

Personalisation gone ga ga

Japanese company Yosimiya is selling bags of rice printed with a newborn's photo, name and date of birth. The bags are shaped to resemble a swaddled baby. But the key feature is that the bags contain the baby's exact weight in rice. Holding the bag will therefore feel like holding the baby. The personalized, made-to-order 'dakigokochi' are priced from JPY 3500 (USD 32 / EUR 22).

What do you want to drink?

Do you usually answer "whatever"? My husband does and it drives me mad, we usually spend 5 minutes debating all the drinks there could be at the bar, and he ends up by saying, I don't mind, you choose whatever.

Well this drink is for you my love! It's just perfect, cos the next time, I shall serve it up to you, by saying "OK you asked for whatever, now you've got it!"

"Singapore beverage company Out of the Box has launched two complementary brands: Anything and Whatever. Anything is fizzy and comes in six flavors (Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer), while Whatever is non-carbonated (Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea, Chrysanthemum Tea). The surprise part? Consumers
don't know which flavour they're getting until they take a sip. Cans are simply labelled Anything and Whatever, and the list of ingredients is limited to generic wording. Worth bringing a surprise to market in 2008, even if it's just a one-off, and even if only to make me feel really happy - the next time."

Its all down to our DNA...

Personalisation is already here is many of our products and brands, but now we have a new trend which relates to our DNA - how personalised is that? Here are two examples...

DNA 11 creates personalized art from DNA and fingerprints. For DNA art, a simple method of non-invasive collection includes a mouth swab. The company then harvests a sample of the client’s DNA to capture their genetic fingerprint and transforms it into an artistic representation of a person’s life code. Prices range from EUR 299 to EUR 892. To get started, clients simply select a size and custom color. DNA 11 then sends out a FingerPrint collection kit that includes: a fingerprint collection card, easy-to-use ink strips, and step-by-step directions.

Story and images thanks to www.trendwatching;com



Along the same lines, My DNA Fragrance makes individual fragrances by incorporating their clients’ DNA. The company sends customers a home swab kit to collect the DNA sample, which they then use to create the perfume. The one-time DNA swab and lab test costs USD 99.99, while a 4oz. bottle costs USD 134.99. From the site: “The fragrance is subtle and explodes into your unique mixture of exotic smells. The fragrance is delivered in a 4 oz. aluminum bottle which preserves the freshness of your fragrant elixir.” Soon to follow: lotion, bath products, and shampoo & conditioner.

Worried about your status...? Worry no more!

Don't worry brand manager's have got that sorted, they will tell you how to communicate your status when you buy their brand. It's the latest trend according to Trendwatching/Spring Spotter, a great trend web-site I pop into from time-to-time!

This trend is called STATUS STORIES: As more brands (have to) go niche and therefore tell stories that aren't known to the masses, consumers will increasingly have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases. Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.

Have you bought anything recently you want to tell us about? How about these juices, aren't they beautiful? Serve them up at your dinner table and see your guests desperate for the story behind them - the status story of course...

How to be GREEN even when you 're dead!

I just found this list of GREEN do's and don'ts on The Telegraph web-site including what and what not to do when you die!
How green are you?

DO'S AND DON'T'S

Going green is not just about recycling.

DO

• Fit energy-efficient light bulbs (see Telegraph offer, below)
• Insulate your house
• Wash your clothes at low temperatures
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Buy local, seasonal food
• Share car journeys
• Recycle as much as you can
• Fit water-saving devices to your loos
• Invest your money responsibly
• Include a green funeral in your will
• Buy products made from recycled materials
• Check for FSC certification on wood and paper products
• Take up cycling and walking
• Print on both sides of a sheet of paper
• Get a reusable shopping bag
• Switch to a "green" electricity supplier
• Buy top energy-rated appliances
• Have a shower rather than a bath
• Repair rather than replace products
• Buy an energy monitoring device
• Turn lights off when you leave a room
• Put an insulating jacket on your boiler
• Re-use gift-wrapping paper
• Buy organic produce
• Eat wild food
• Ask fashion retailers what they're doing to cut pollution from dyes and chemicals
• Reduce or eliminate your air travel

DON'T

• Buy bottled water
• Buy food or goods that come by air
• Buy too many clothes
• Leave your computer, TV and other equipment on stand-by
• Buy gold or diamonds
• Fly to your holiday destination
• Eat too much meat
• Buy black-listed fish
• Drive a gas-guzzling car
• Use a tumble dryer
• Install air-conditioning
• Throw away unwanted gifts
• Make your lawn look like a carpet
• Worry about weeds (too much)
• Bother with air fresheners
• Get an Aga if you haven't yet got one
• Buy gas log or coal fires (fake fires)
• Upgrade your mobile phone too fast
• Buy disposable cameras or barbecues
• Buy incandescent or halogen bulbs
• Drive fast and erratically
• Use peat or buy peat-grown plants
• Buy over-packaged products
• Get cremated
• Leave your car engine running
• Overheat your house (or office)
• Buy cut flowers

10 GREEN DEATH TIPS

Horrible as it may be, it's very important to make plans for your death while you're still compos mentis - even more so if you're concerned about green issues. Here are my 10 top tips:

• Donate your organs
• Say no to embalming
• Remove all jewellery and gold teeth before burial or cremation
• Dress minimal in death and choose natural fibre clothes such as hemp
• Select a "green" coffin (those made from recycled newspapers are best)
• Give cremation a miss
• If you want to be buried, chose a natural burial ground rather than an overcrowded graveyard
• Re-use graves after 20 years and put bones in an ossuary, as they do in Europe
• Choose not to have a headstone
• Don't waste valuable resources on elaborate pet coffins, urns and caskets

Personalisation gone mad!

The craze for personalisation has made Domino's pizza think.
Now you can personalise your pizza by telling them what toppings you want, what thickness of bread, how much sauce and cheese, but one better than that...you can also name your pizza - so get your naming hats on the next time you order a takeaway - it's getting more and more complicated by the day! I thought takeaway's were supposed to be the easy option...now we have to be a copywriter and a pizza constructor to get our pizza order sanctioned.

The shoebox with imagination...

Camper, the company that develops those great 'twin' shoes...now brings you the shoebox of the imagination.
Take a look at their latest video, keep clicking the box after it tells you too and see what happens! You can find it here...

New materials B.glass

B.glass is a technique of a frozen explosion of glass. A sheet of tempered glass is sealed between of panels. When it is shattered, numerous sparkling fragments are produced which glitter along the cracks. Each panel is original and unique in composition and colour. The glass is alive, it is changing and polyvalent. Suggestive as only transparency can be. The material has multiple applications: Transparent panels can be used for windows, light covering with reflecting metal supports and top furnishings. Impact is produced in various sizes thickness and colour.

If you want to know more about innovative new materials, you need to sign up for Materia's newsletter. It's also a great web site, check it out here...

Helvetica - Erik Spiekermann

Need I say more...

Check out l'Atlas in Paris

The wonderful cosmic street art of l'Atlas is being exhibited in Paris

French street artist L'Atlas believes that "actions tell more than words."
His exhibition Cosmic Graffiti in Paris will testify that he is true to his word.

From January 9th to 27th his latest bodies of work will be presented at Studio 55.
L'Atlas' art is luminous and sparse, dark and profound and often leaves you wondering why you got caught in his visual maelstrom.

http://www.latlas.net/