DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

(Great) Illustration by Brock Davis via Fast Company.

Baratunde Thruston writes a very provocative piece in Fast Company in which he poses the question: What if brands stop trying to join the conversation and make products worth talking about? I personally think that both things are not mutually exclusive, social media not always is an attempt to compensate for bad, outdated or boring products, but hey, for a lot of brands out there do think that, so he has a very good point: "Brands are so desperate "to join the conversation" on social media that most only get as far as "I gotta do the social media!" and don't have a thoughtful way to determine what to do on the social media. They ask, "What's our Snapchat strategy?" without ever considering if they need one.

Can social media promotion work? Sure. I've employed it for myself and my clients. But we've reached a point in marketing where we seem to have forgotten our best "engagement strategy": the product itself. The actual thing you're trying to promote is itself its own vehicle for promotion. Whoa." Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 6'

As we share a couple of weeks ago, "the MoMA Design Store in New York City collaborated with the crowdfunding site to sell Kickstarter-successful products in stores and online, from May 13 to June 16. It's a part of NYCxDESIGN, a city-wide celebration of all things design." Have a look at some of the projects in Mashable. E.T.P. 9'

Photo: Flickr user Eli Christman via Fast Company.

Himanshu Saxena propose three new job titles that can companies to deal with two of the main issues that seem to be severely afflicting corporations today: how to survive gracefully in this uncongenial business environment and how to sustain leadership amidst growing competition and disenchanted customers. Are you willing to hire a Chief Reimagination Officer, and Chief Paradigm Officer and a Chief Paradox Officer? Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 4'

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via PSFK.

Good news for independent designers! The MoMA Design Shop now will sell successfully crowdsourced projects. "Crowdfunding campaigns have led to numerous contributions in the arts, fashion, and technology, and when it comes to crowdfunding Kickstarter is king. Despite the numerous successful projects that come out of Kickstarter, many of these items are hard to find once the funding period comes to an end. MoMA Design Store, being made aware of this problem, has decided to sell several successful Kickstarter projects during this year’s NYCxDESIGN." Read full article in PSFK. E.T.P. 3'

Image via The Daily Dot.

"Dubious tweets may soon become a thing of the past. TweetCred is a Chrome extension that rates the credibility of tweets on a scale of 1-7. Users will see each tweet in their timeline accompanied by seven stars. The more blue stars, the more credible the tweet. Users can also give feedback, telling TweetCred—get it? like “street cred”—whether a given rating is too high or too low". Read full article in The Daily Dot. E.T.P. 3'

Image via Mashable.

Nice infographic in Mashable presenting a brief story of data storage. "When you think about player pianos, your thoughts probably gravitate toward creepy ghosts rather than data storage innovation.
But you're wrong. The machines "know" which keys to play by reading data stored in punch cards — pieces of stock paper with holes punched into them. In the late 19th century, American inventor Herman Hollerith invented an electronic means by which to tabulate the information stored on them. In doing so, he set in motion modern data storage." Have a look in Mashable. E.T.P. 6'

TO DO (OR NOT TO DO) LIST

Kickstarter are coming to Central Saint Martins! If you are in London and you are a CSM student you definitely shouldn't miss this chance of getting to know this company the next Tuesday at 5pm. Kickstarter are an awesome company from New York. This company are full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of the general public. Since launching in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $822 million, funding 49,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now. CSM have 50 free places for students to attend first come first serve! More info in Suarts website.

Image via Tate Modern.

Making visible. This Wednesday 16th of October starts the Paul Klee exhibition at the Tate Modern Museum. Rediscover Klee’s extraordinary body of work and see it in a new light. Paintings, drawings and watercolours from collections around the world will be reunited and displayed alongside each other as the artist originally intended, often for the first time since Klee exhibited them himself. More info in the Tate website.

Image via The Shacklewell Arms Facebook event page.

Shacklewell Arts Fair. The Shacklewell Arms is holding its first Arts Fair on Saturday 19th October from 12.  The pub will be a hub of creativity, with local artists selling their goods.. There will prints for sale, as well as drawings, paintings, photographs, zines & many more.  We want to support artists in the area and hope to make it a regular event! There’ll be a DJ and the kitchen will be open serving good food. More info in the S.A. website.