The Weekly Idea: The Humility of Good Design

Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 11:00 am in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, creativity/imagination, must read by brody

I take most things in life for granted. Turn the key, the car starts. Hit the “popcorn” button… done. Want a song? Download it. Need any – any – information? Fingertips. Things have gotten “easy,” in a sense, because of how they are designed.

We only notice the things that are broken.

There are a million things that go into good design that no one will ever see.

If something is designed well:

• it cannot advertise all the problems it solved.
• it cannot advertise the process needed to get to where it is.
• it cannot advertise all the design of other things needed to create the design of this thing.
• it cannot advertise waste, failure, and experimentation.

Good design can only be itself, a reflection of its creator, and a service to its user. Good design cannot say how good it is (this would kill its intended purpose). It must remain content at simply being good.

Good design fundamentally requires humility.

This is a pill many people are still not willing to swallow. Look at the billboards around you. Look at some popular websites. Look at the cable box remote. These are often not humble designs. Therefore, their effectiveness wanes. The business goal is missed. And there’s more clutter and less beauty in the world.

“Good design is as little design as possible,” says German designer Dieter Rams. Good design gets out of the way and just feels inevitable and leaves us wondering, “How can this be anything other than how it is?”

brody

P.S. The ideas in this post are inspired by the documentary Objectified, “a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them” (IMDB). Below is a clip of Apple’s Senior Vice President, Jonny Ive. It is formative and normative for the work we aspire to do at Blue Ocean Ideas. Check it out!

Weekly Idea: Meet Maggie, Our New Keeper of All Things Blue Ocean Ideas

Posted on December 7th, 2011 at 9:47 am in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, must read, story by greg

When Brody and I started this business it was a lot of grandiose ideas and shared ideals. We were dreamers living the dream. We had all the things necessary for success:

• no cash
• no experience
• no clients
• no idea how difficult things would be

We worked hard. Very hard. Days, nights, weekends, holidays. We just worked.

And a magical thing happened:

With every project we grew and learned and got better at our craft. And we multi-tasked. While I was developing a strategy for a client, Brody was coming up with the big idea. While Brody was out meeting prospects I was developing a method to the madness. Brody wrote the Weekly Ideas while I kept the books (sort of). It was all hands on deck and between the two of us we wore what felt like 30 hats.

And we were having a ball. But we were getting really tired.

And then another magical thing happened:

We found people that loved what we were doing and wanted to join us on our mission. So we added staff and started to grow. And then the 30 hats felt like 20. What a relief.

And something else magical happened. We started getting good at what we do. And it wasn’t that Brody and I were getting good, it was that Blue Ocean Ideas was getting good at delivering for our clients. It was a team thing. We also found that we continued to struggle with some things. Details, mostly. And this could sometimes prevent each of us from doing what we’re best at.

And then another magical thing happened:

We found someone to join us and help fill the gaps that we had. Meet Maggie!

Maggie started Monday and is already making an impact. It’s fun to watch progress happen.

Maggie’s the quarterback, the coordinator, the keeper of Basecamp, the stickler for getting loose ends not loose any more, the “I’m on it like white on rice” person. She will help ensure that even while we continue to grow our clients are having the best experience possible.

You’ll love her.

We do already.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

p.s. Want to know more about Maggie? Here’s the scoop. If you want to send her a welcome email you can reach her at maggie@blueoceanideas.net.

Weekly Idea: An Optical Illusion and Brand Development

Posted on November 22nd, 2011 at 2:02 pm in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, brand development, ideas, thought provoking by brody

Stare at the center of this image for several seconds. Relax. Keep staring.

Did you see it? The colors vanish.

This is called Troxler’s Fading (click for another visual example).

Here’s the principle: “Unvarying stimulus soon disappears from our awareness.” (Wikipedia) It’s just like how you can’t “feel” your shirt right now in the same way as when you put it on this morning.

The exact same thing is true for your brand. If you don’t move, if you don’t create edges, if you never surprise you will vanish.

Brands are built on consistency. If you’re not consistent, you’re not delivering on a promise. But no one ever said that consistency has to be predictable.

Predictable soon becomes invisible.

All of us are so busy that we are forced to ignore the predictable. What does this mean for your brand?

Take a risk,

brody

P.S. Yes, I can hear you now… “I want my latte to predictably taste the same at every Starbucks I go to.” You’re right. I’m not talking about the quality of your product or service. I’m talking about your advertising and messaging.

It’s really not about Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media

Posted on November 16th, 2011 at 11:15 am in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, ideas, social media by greg

We have a lot of clients that are hot to trot about social media. And to be honest we are too.

At this moment in history Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms can be great ways to communicate.

We use them.

We have prospective clients who find us on social media. Many of them eventually buy from us.

And we LOVE that.

But I have to remind myself all the time:

Great communication is not about the tools.

It’s about the message. It’s about consistency. It’s about providing meaningful content. It’s about going where your audience is.

Right now that’s happening on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Websites, YouTube, and many other places, of course. But it will change over time.

The fundamental challenge is timeless:

Tell your story well.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

p.s. I took some time off of social media myself. Here’s why.

Weekly Idea: The Leadership of Erik DeVriendt

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 at 10:43 am in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, brand development, ideas by brody

I was on hand for the dedication of the newest Chick-fil-A restaurant in the world. It opens today in Richmond, Virginia.

After a family-style meal at a local restaurant, my good friend and owner of the new Chick-fil-A store, Erik DeVriendt, delivered a simple, caring, and important keynote address to his 70 new employees.

It had everything to do with brand development. But, Erik didn’t use a single phrase like “brand development,” and he hardly talked about “business stuff” at all.

Instead, he talked about people.

He talked about the purpose of his restaurant.

He talked about the story his team would be writing.

He talked about why they are going to do what they do.

Congratulations! You were chosen to be here. I’m here to serve you. Whether you work here for several weeks or the next 40 years, my job is to make sure you feel like you were a part of something meaningful. You’re here to create remarkable experiences for our guests. Delight everyone that comes to our stores: our vendors, our team members, and our guests. Invest in the success of this store and our mission. This requires that you take a long-term view. Pioneer in the way you serve people. Take chances in going over the top to serve people. I’ll protect and correct you when you need it. Do whatever you can to make our restaurant feel like home to our guests. Be yourself, and use this opportunity to become the best version of yourself.

Erik’s entire speech was off the cuff and from the heart. You can’t do that unless you live and breath your vision.

Whoever tells the stories shapes the culture.

Erik told the story well, and he invited everyone there to be a part of it with him. Think they’ll do well?

What’s the culture like where you work? Brands start with how your people create those experiences for your clients. I hope you’re telling a good story to cultivate the results you want.

“Delight, invest, pioneer.”

brody

Weekly Idea: Moneyball

Posted on October 27th, 2011 at 11:47 am in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, culture, ideas, story by greg

On my 40th birthday I snuck out of the office a little early. Swung by Starbucks and grabbed my luxurious “Venti Americano, no room.” Went home and grabbed my kids and Elise.

Then we went and saw the movie Moneyball.

I’d been waiting for a week to see it.

It was terrific.

I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it. There were many lessons, but here’s my one big takeaway:

If you understand what drives your organization’s results, you can focus on that one thing and get drastically better performance.

Sounds painfully simple, right? And probably obvious? But the truth is very few organizations understand what drives their results.

The Oakland A’s realized that a baseball team of players with good on base percentages would cause them to win games. This was not the conventional wisdom at the time.

For Starbucks it is creating “third spaces” for people to connect with each other and themselves. Another simple, but innovative marketing concept at the time.

And for Blue Ocean Ideas?

Our driver is quality content. When we create quality content people connect with us, start relationships with us, and become clients.

This happens on the web when people search for content that we have produced, when we write articles and blog posts, when we tweet, when we share on Facebook, when we create films highlighting our work, and more.

If you build it (the right things for the right reasons) they will come (because they trust you).

What drives your organization’s results? What are you building?

Keep moving forward,

Greg

p.s. Our friend Chris Hourihan from Morgan Stanley in New York sent us a great article from Harvard Business Review titled “Selling is Not About Relationships.” Check it out. If you’re responsible for sales or business development in your organization it’s worth wrestling with.

Weekly Idea: The Single Most Strategic Thing You Can Do

Posted on October 19th, 2011 at 2:51 pm in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, ideas, thought provoking by brody

The single most strategic thing you can do is ask “Why?”.

In every circumstance, for every decision, ask “Why?”.

And when you have an answer to that question, take your answer and ask “Why?”.

Keep on asking why to every answer you get. Turn it into a habit. This will help make sure that what you’re doing is an intentional and meaningful decision.

This isn’t an exercise in skepticism. It’s an exercise in purpose.

This “keep asking why” technique is exactly the process we engage in with client work. Why does that message matter to your client? Why is that a good strategy? Why does this button go here? Why does this link say it that way? Why should we film at this angle? Why choose this music? Why do we think this certain thing is important?

Why do we do this?

Because we have to start with the assumption that know one cares. If that’s your starting point, you have to be intentional.

And earning the right to be heard (while having something meaningful to say) is the best marketing strategy we know.

What are you going to ask “Why?” about this week? I’d love to hear about it.

brody

P.S. This is a corollary idea, but it’s still good advice from our friend Pat: “You can’t just want what you want. You have to want what your wants lead you to.”

Weekly Idea: The Cost of Doing Nothing

Posted on October 12th, 2011 at 10:17 am in Blog, The Weekly Idea, ideas, thought provoking by greg

“The system produces exactly the results that it is intended to produce.”

I’ve always attributed that quote to Peter Drucker but I can’t find support for that. If anyone has an actual citation it’s worth a free lunch at Thai One On in Towson with me.

I choose to look at this phrase this way:

“If I do nothing, nothing will change.”

I know that sounds remarkably simplistic. And it is. But it’s true.

The cost of doing nothing is accepting things as they are without need for change.

And if your systems are producing the results you want to get, by all means you should keep doing what you are doing.

But I don’t want to fool myself:

“The cost of doing nothing is not nothing. It’s the continuation of the results I’m getting.”

Keep Moving Forward,

Greg

Blue Ocean Ideas would not exist without Steve Jobs

Posted on October 6th, 2011 at 3:40 pm in Blog, Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, must read, story, thought provoking by brody

All day, every day, we are on our Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Everything we make for our clients happens on a Mac. Standards, like various web standards, video compression standards… even our own “design standards,” are results of Steve’s influence.

But forget all that.

Blue Ocean Ideas would not exist without Steve Jobs because the way we think, the way we see the world, even the way we define a brand is because of Steve. In other words, Steve’s leadership is found in the very essence of who we are as an organization, and who Greg and I are as leaders.

Here is some of Steve’s wisdom that has shaped who we are:

• “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
• “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.”
• “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”
• “Focus is about saying no. And the result of that focus is going to be some really great products. Where the total is much greater than the sum of the parts.”
• “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve the innovator was also Steve the marketer. Apple’s iconic “Think Different” ad campaign started when Steve returned to Apple in 1997. This was it’s core copy:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve gave me and gave Blue Ocean Ideas a kind of permission and freedom to pursue this.

Personally, I can’t imagine what life would be like without Steve Jobs’ influence on the world. If you use Apple products, you know what I mean. Really, I can’t imagine life without Steve’s products. What I imagine would be a little more chaotic, a little less enjoyable, and a little less important. Which is why I’m a little scared of a future without Steve. Steve created a standard I could trust. Steve had the clout to change things for the better by my own definition of “better.” Steve gave me hope.

I didn’t think all of this until I was driven to tears by the news of his death.

I will be forever grateful for Steve. And I’m reminded to be forever grateful of the hope I have that isn’t Steve, that transcends Steve, and that endures.
brody

P.S. For the best tribute I read last night, see Simon Sinek’s comments here.

Weekly Idea: You Can Lead a Horse To Water…

Posted on September 27th, 2011 at 5:17 pm in Blue Ocean Ideas, The Weekly Idea, ideas, thought provoking by greg

I made a bold statement to a client last week.

“We’ve been working with you for a long time. We work with other organizations in your field, and we could help you strategically so that you can tell your story MUCH better.”

We’ve watched their marketing & communications efforts for years. They don’t have a comprehensive strategy. As a result every piece we do for them is a “one off,” without any consistent theme in message or aesthetic. There’s no plan, only product. The lack of coordination doesn’t scale and it doesn’t leverage to make the most of who they are. This is the opposite of brand development.

This scenario makes me sad and frustrated. I know they could do a better job telling the story of all the ways they help their clients.

And here’s the killer: They are a great organization. They know their business and do a good job of serving their clients.

And we love doing work for them. We’re invested in them. We’re committed to them.

If they took a good look at what they were doing from an outsider’s perspective, they would recognize it.

And before you think I’m getting all high horse on you: I’ll be the first to admit that Blue Ocean Ideas needs outside help so that we stay on target with our brand building. I’m a big believer in getting outsiders to help you craft your message. Even for myself.

So I’m preaching to me as well:

You can’t force a horse to drink.

You can lead a horse to water.

Don’t settle for average.

Greg