Quote:

Po: "There is no charge for awesomeness... or attractiveness."

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone

Cool playground toys

Inspiration comes from many different places. We are on vacation in
Park City, Utah. At the playground near the hotel, there are these
neat toys. They work a lot like a 'scoop' as my 3 year old calls
them. He is not quite bog enough, but he was absolutely capivated by
them. Long live mechanical engineers.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone

validation

Like all designer, it was interesting to watch the latest Apple product release (even if the design was leaked a few months ago). To me the most interesting part is its construction; basically a metal frame (which also acts as an antenna) which is then capped off with two pieces of glass. As I watched the ‘design’ video on Apple’s site and they explained the construction, the first thing that came to mind was Kaleidoscope’s Greener Grass concept phone the LINC. The LINC phone, designed with carbon foot print and recyclability in mind, has a metal frame captured by glass. I am NOT suggesting that Apple stole the idea from Kaleidoscope’s design team, as I believe that all good designers push for new and interesting forms which in most cases require innovative manufacturing techniques. The difference is that some designers work in an organization that enables disruptive thinking. Most designers work for companies (or with clients) that are content with incremental change.

As a designer with a soft spot for killer execution and finish I am glad to see that Apple continues to push the envelope of what is possible. It is also nice to see that Kaleidoscope’s designers are ahead of the curve.

Bad design

Subject: Bad design

We had a couple of people's last day today. Panera provided the
breakfast. Their drink dispensers are horrible. They are filled on
end) vertically, but when are used in the office (horizontally) the
coffee or orange juice pours all over the rug or floor or table.
This definately falls into the "who on earth designed this!?"

happy chinese new year: year of the dragon

i have worked with asia enough to know when chinese new year is... as everything shuts down. On our designers is from taiwan and wished me a 'happy chinese new year!'

i don't know how my son knew it was chinese new year, nor did i know how he know that it is the year of the dragon. but he does and this is what he made for me. not bad for a seven year old. it inspires me!

More cool graphics

Here are some lifestyle graphics from the mini booth at the autoshow.
It seems like mini and scion are the only brands that really support
lifestyle.

Clean diesel

Here is a detail of the graphic for Volkswagen's clean diesel cars at
the autoshow. I like the flame that are really leaves.

Form follows function

A cool detail from a fiesta headlight at the Detroit auto show.

On Sunday, there was an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer that caught my eye. I have read about Bob McDonald before and I am intrigued with the new CEO and chairman of P&G.

Somewhat by design and somewhat by chance, I have had opportunities to lead others both professionally and in other areas. I have always felt that there is a difference between 'leadership' and 'management.' Although the two are often intertwined, if I had to choose one over the other I would choose leadership.

It is nice to see some of my thoughts and ideas validated by someone of McDonald's stature. There are a couple of points from the article that think are better quoted verbatim as I don't think I could do them justice.

First,

In fact, McDonald rejects what he calls "charismatic leadership," symbolized in the movie "Patton" by George C. Scott standing in front of the American flag delivering a macho, profanity-laced pep talk to the troops.

"That's not leadership," McDonald said.

Instead, he practices "servant leadership," the management practice espoused by author Stephen Covey and others that calls for leaders to put the needs of their colleagues and organizations first.

"Humility is a key leadership trait we need to have," McDonald told a recent gathering of P&G general managers in Cincinnati. "How can we be empathetic to consumers if we're not humble?"

It is nice to see some of my thoughts and ideas validated by someone of McDonald's stature. There are a couple of points from the article that think are better quoted verbatim as I don't think I could do them justice.

Second, this was a side bar in the article and these 10 tenants are printed on cards and are frequently handed out to senior leadership in P&G.

''What I Believe In''

Bob McDonald keeps a one-page, double-sided handout titled "What I Believe In" that he gives to P&G managers and others. It contains these principles that he says influence him:

Living a life driven by purpose is more meaningful than meandering through life without direction.

Character is the most important trait of a leader.

Everyone wants to succeed, and success is contagious.

Putting people in the right jobs is one of the most important jobs of a leader.

Diverse groups of people are more innovative than homogenous groups.

Ineffective systems and cultures are bigger barriers to achievement than the talents of people.

Recruiting is top priority.

There will be some people in the organization who will not make it on the journey.

Organizations renew themselves.

The true test of the leader is the performance of the organization when they are absent or after they depart.

Below is a link for the whole article. A nice read for a Sunday afternoon.

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20100115/BIZ01/1170310/0/NEWS0103/P-G-chief-Humble-leadership

beauty in suburban cincinnati?

i said that my family is the most important thing in my life. well my cool wife snapped this shot (with her first gen iphone) this evening a sent it to me. for all those naysayers, i say the mid-west is beautiful!

inspiration

i started this blog when i made the jump to a smartphone. there were all kinds of things i discovered i could do while mobile. while the world of smartphone is still fascinating to me, it seems so yesterday. maybe that is because my iphone is six months old and the (usable) internet in my pocket is just a given. i love my iphone even though it drops calls way too often.

i recently relocated to ohio when my company, kaleidoscope (www.kascope.com) calls home. i am the director of design as such i see lots of things that i find interesting or inspiring. you will notice the name of the blog is no longer chris_mobile, but chris_is_mobile. when ever i see something cool, it will hopefully show up here. (and most likely from my iphone) i am not sure what they did but the iphone 3gs camera is almost good enough to not ever use a point and shoot camera ever again so i assume most of the posts will be generated on the go via my iphone.

the coolest thing in my life is my family and they take priority over everything else, so post frequency may vary. likewise, my company is in the midst of a format change on our website and i hope to be posting cool stuff there too.