Touch of Nostalgia, Touch of Modernity, A lot of Walking

 Pokemon Go was released the past summer, and was introduced to a lot of public acclaim. For months(and even now) the world saw everyone walking around glued to their phones trying to catch digital creatures. 

For some, it was a blast from the past where we got to relive our memories of our favorite show and/or game. For others, it was a fun exploring game and a creative way to get out. The game, similar to Niantic Lab's previous game Ingress relied on the user to use their cell phones to access this world of augmented reality.

Originally starting as an April Fool's Prank collaboration between Google and Nintendo, the popularity of the idea was highly received. The men behind Pokemon Go were Satoru Iwata, who was the former president of Nintendo, and John Hanke the CEO of Niantic Labs. Iwata became the public face of the company a while back when he focused Nintendo's reach to the mobile gaming world and social media. Unfortunately the game came out after his death, but the CEO of Pokemon accredits Iwata for collaborating for 2 solid years to create the Pokemon Go project. Hanke believes that augmented reality games are a great way to shape the future, as he transitioned from a VP at Google to founder of Niantic Labs, a startup gaming company to combine Google's GEO technology with gaming. Their first release Ingress was moderately successful, but it was Pokemon Go that put them on the map.  He believes that video games that offer a meditative effect should be applied to the outside world. As a quote from a Niantic employee "John wants people to out into the world. He’s stuck by that vision that the world is a great place to be present in, not behind a computer screen. It’s a very noble cause"[1]. 

The game was groundbreaking to say, because it was on the forefront of a new generation of games. It showed the new technology of augmented reality, especially on such a large scale integration of mobile technology and real life. It also motioned at video games that lead to a real life connection with other people.

Above is a picture where over 5000 people showed up for a Pokemon go gathering.

Pokemon Go shows that innovation clearly does not stay within restricted boundaries. Pokemon Go bridged the digital world with the real world through an everyday device such as the smart phone. Various combinations of technology, and the perseverance of vision like that of Iwata and Hanke allowed for such mold-breaking products to be made. It was through the Big-C creative mind of Hanke, who wanted to implement on a global scale a augmented reality video game that allowed for the people to do an action that involved video gaming and the real world. It also points to the intrinsic thinking of Hanke to implement video gaming into real life and the willingness to collude with major collaborations between Google, Niantic Labs, Pokemon, and Nintendo.

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/meet-john-hanke-the-eccentric-board-game-loving-visionary-who-ru/

[2]https://www.ft.com/content/596ec790-afe8-11e6-9c37-5787335499a0

[3]http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/world-updates/1207453/pokemon-go-is-still-going-strong-creator-insists

Genetically Modified….Pets?

There has been a lot of controversy recently about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the ethics of making GMOs commercially available, especially when it comes to the food we eat and potential health risks and benefits. However, genetically modified organisms have actually been around since the early 90’s, and was pretty revolutionary in the scientific community. As scientists learned more about the structure of DNA and how to manipulate it, they began to play around with modifying bacteria, then plants, food, and finally the most complex: animals. Now, I’m not here to convince you that genetic modification is ethical­- some believe that it could be the step that leads to curing diseases, others think it could lead to a world that is not as nature intended. Whether or not you believe that genetic modification is ethical, it certainly is creative in its applications.

You may have seen GloFish in your local pet store- they are little fish that come in all sorts of bright colors. This sounds like any other fish, except that under UV lights their colors become much more vibrant and they actually glow in the dark! This phenomenon is called biofluorescence and is achieved through genes passed down generation to generation, meaning that it is not a dye or injection and does not harm the fish in any way.

Now, biofluorescence wasn’t created by GloFish founders Alan Blake and Richard Crockett. In fact, it is a natural occurrence in many fish used as communication. It is also found in jellyfish, which have something called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) that allows them to essentially glow in the dark. This discovery is what made GloFish possible! The scientists that discovered GFP originally wanted to use the idea to create fish that glow in the presence of polluted water. They were definitely innovative, but unsuccessful in their end goal. Alan Blake and Richard Crockett, however, saw a commercial application for this scientific discovery.

Alan Blake is a UT grad with a degree in finance and Richard Crockett is a biology grad who went to Yale. Timing played a big role for these men; Blake was in Austin, Texas during “the height of the dot-com bubble, and startups were everywhere.” Extrinsic motivation was all around in the form of jobs and money, and intrinsic motivation was fueled by the competition between startups like the one Blake worked for just before Crockett contacted him with the big idea: pets that glow in the dark. It took them two years to perfect the idea, and GloFish went on the market in 2003. It was an instant success because genetically modified pets were not heard of previously, and media debate got word out fast. Plus, what kid doesn’t want a glow in the dark pet fish?

Crockett went on to medical school, so Blake managed the company once it took off; I will analyze Blake only because he has been the voice of the company since it began and was crucial in connecting the science with the business world.

Now, Blake gives advice to future entrepreneurs, saying that breaking new ground is worth the hard work. “Blake has found passion to be the most important driving force behind the business.” Clearly, intrinsic motivation is what really matters to Blake. In the article “Rewarding creativity: when does it really matter?”, Baer et. Al. considers job type and motivation: 

“complex jobs (i.e., those characterized by high levels of autonomy, skill variety, identity, significance, and feedback) are expected to encourage higher levels of intrinsic motivation and creativity than jobs that are relatively simple and routine in nature.” 

In this context, it makes sense that Blake focuses on the intrinsic motivators; bringing something completely new to the market is probably pretty challenging and complex, and significance and feedback play large roles in his job.

The creation and sale of GloFish is a great example of how scientific discoveries can be utilized outside of the laboratory. They are not only fun pets, but can be used as a science lesson for kids or even a PSA that GMOs may be less harmful than the public believes. There may even be future creatives working off of Crockett and Blake’s ideas as GloFish seem to be only the beginning of commercialized genetic modification. The possibilities are endless!

http://www.nature.com/news/fish-flaunt-neon-glow-1.14488

http://alcalde.texasexes.org/2013/01/fishy-business/

http://www.today.mccombs.utexas.edu/2014/04/Alan-Blake-Glofish-CEO

“Rewarding creativity: when does it really matter?”, Baer et. Al.

ClearRx: Better Bottle

Every pharmacy has the standard pill bottle: orange with the little white cap on the top. Well, there is a problem with them. They are hard to read and impossible to distinguish from each other. My medicine cabinet at home has about 8 medicine bottles; all of them look the same and the tiny little print does not help either.

This problem is not uncommon. In fact, about five hundred thousand individuals worldwide due to misread drug instructions.  One individual that it especially impacted was a design student named Deborah Adler.  She was inspired to change the look of the pill bottle when her grandmother accidently took her grandfather’s medicine by accident because they shared the same initials H Adler and all the pill bottles were almost identical.  Her solution?  ClearRx. 

The first thing that you notice on the standard pill bottle is the pharmacy name; it is big and bold at the top of the bottle.  However, the drug information and the name of the user is in smaller print that is wrapped around the bottle.  In addition, any warnings are placed in a different orientation than the rest of the writing on the bottle with hard to read labels due to the red and black color combination. This bottle is not user friendly. It is hard to read and the information is not clear, so it is easy to understand why medication mix ups are common.

ClearRx makes the pill bottles user friendly. Instead of the standard cylindrical shape, it has two flat faces and the important information is highlighted by the font size and where it is placed on the bottle. The flat faces make it so that information is easy to read and that you can view the information from just opening up your medicine cabinet instead of taking out the bottle and having to turn it in order to search for the information. In addition, the first thing you notice on the bottle is the medication name that is in big, bold lettering at the top of the bottle. Following the drug name is all of the drug information that is labeled under it. In the back of the bottle, all of the precautions are labeled clearly with helpful pictures that aid the user. Finally, around the neck of each bottle, there is a different color ring that is specific to each user. It helps the user distinguish their medication from other family members.

So, how did a visual arts student come up with this innovative design? Growing up in a house full of doctors, Adler knew that she did not want to be a doctor. In fact, she wanted nothing to do with the medical field.  She decided to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts instead. In her last year of school, she had to come up with a final design project. Initially, she wanted to come up with a project based on linking cultures. However she decided not to pursue that project because “[she] wanted to do something that had more meaning, something that could make a difference in people’s lives.” Then she heard about her grandma’s accident and “[she felt] concerned for the safety of [her] grandparents. But as a designer, [she] saw a problem that needed to be solved”. She created many prototypes, such as creating a bottle that was completely rectangular. However, despite her liking the look, she believe it was too impractical and decided on the triangular shape instead. When she was organizing how the label was to be printed she states in an interview that, “people want to know the name of the drug first, then how they should take it. But it’s never presented that way.” This observation allowed her how the drug label should be organized.

 Her design was bought by Target Pharmacy in 2005. However, due to the recent acquisition of Target Pharmacy by CVS, the bottles are no longer used there. But recently, there have been many petitions circulating calling for CVS to bring back the ClearRx bottles and some customers are actually scouring their trash bags looking for these pill bottles. For now they are gone, but I am sure not for long.

Her process connects to the idea of motivation. She felt motivated to complete this project because felt mainly intrinsically motivated. She wanted to make to change the pill bottle design so that people like her grandmother could take their medications safely.  She wanted to make a difference, as mentioned above, and she did. In addition, as mentioned in lecture, the first step in creativity is finding the problem. The standard orange pill bottles were used since the 1950’s and they haven’t changed since. It took Adler’s art background and her grandmother’s accident for this new product to emerge. It really does show how art and science can come together to create something that can benefit all.  

Sources:

http://www.adlerdesign.com/project/clear-rx-medication-system/

http://www.vox.com/2017/3/21/15004126/oscars-graphic-design

http://customerthink.com/how-to-bottle-a-great-customer-experience/

http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/11700/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4624799

The designer we all see, but never hear about

There’s probably millions of people familiar with Es Devlin’s work without even knowing it.

Beyoncé stepped out of an opening of a cube on her Formation tour. Louis Vuitton Models walked down a twisting pathway at the Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers his Hamlet soliloquy against the backdrop of a traditional Edwardian mansion.

That cube, those projections, and twisting pathway all come from the mind of stage designer, Es Devlin. She is known for her graphic sets for concerts, operas, plays, runway shows using light, film, sculpture, and even rain. She’s won Olivier Awards and has even been appointed Order of the British Empire in 2015.

Devlin’s parents have creative mindsets as well. Her father is a master crocheter and crafter, even making the dining table  out of scaffolding planks. in Devlin’s childhood home. “90% of the things in our house is from junk shops or we just painted them or made them,” her mother says. “I think Es has done the same thing.”

They didn’t see her becoming a stage designer after taking violin lessons at the Royal Academy, but she fell into the art of stage design after taking a course in theatre design and solidified her future in it when she won the 1995 Linbury prize for stage design-- which got her an official job as a set designer.

“Things are made to fill voids,” she says. “The impetus to fill that void to me is sort of fundamental.” What interests Devlin the most is the psychology of a space, always questioning “why? Why that block of light in the middle of the arena for U2’s Tour? Each time a singer sings this lyric, why should this set support or counterpoint what they sing? It seems Devlin’s motivation for creating her sets is highly intrinsic, presenting as many solutions to create space for art to take place.

Devlin definitely has her own graphic style in using mirrors and projections-- and there were some people who did not like it. However, she has “found willing collaborators who I’ve been able to align my paths of inquiry with”. These collaborators range from the artistic directors of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to Beyonce herself.

As for her creative process, it’s a mix of both logistical planning, client pleasing, and introspection. Devlin uses 5 ingredients in creating a set for a performance: space, light, darkness, scale, and time.Each project begins with  “a blank piece of paper, blank table, there’s usually one other person there,… could be a director, or a playwright, or the artist,” says Devlin. She’ll usually start drawing as they’re talking. What follows is a series of meetings, and in between her team will create models or she will draw the models to give her client(s) as many options as possible.

With Beyonce’s Formation Tour set, Devlin recalls that Beyonce was inspired by a TV preacher whom she spoke to as a child. “It was a combination in a child’s mind what TV does and what the language and tone of prayer feels like,” Devlin recalls. The large cuboid used in the tour became another way for Beyonce to broadcast her and what she is saying.

This won’t be the last time you’ll hear (or more likely, see) of Devlin’s projects-- she has projects lined up all the way until 2020. So keep your eyes open during your next concert tour-- she might have just designed the atmosphere you’re in.

Sources:

Collins, M. A., & Amabile, T. M. (1999). Motivation and creativity. In Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.) Handbook of Creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

“Abstract: The Art of Design, Stage Design: Es Devlin”. Dir. Elizabeth Chai Vsarahelyi, Morgan Neville. Radical Media, 2017. Netflix. Web. 25 March 2017.

Take My Money!

What convinces us to buy something? How do you get people excited about a stepping stool that makes you poop better?

A pooping unicorn! That’s exactly what you were thinking, wasn’t it?

Well, if you’ve seen the following commercial before, than maybe it was. If you haven’t, I can almost promise you that you won’t forgot this stepping stool after watching this:

Did you watch that until the end? Tell me you didn’t, at the very least, watch the first 30 seconds. Scrolling through your Facebook or other social media, what kind of videos catch your attention to the point where you may turn on the volume or stop scrolling to watch the whole thing?

These are the kinds of questions that the Harmon Brothers aim to solve. Namely, how to get people excited about a mattress, a poop stool, or duct tape? The Harmon Brothers are not coming up with things you see from most ad agencies and commercials day to day, and that’s why they are currently one of the most desired ad agencies in the nation. Their most well-known clients include Poo Pourri, Squatty Potty, OraBrush, Purple, VidAngel and FiberFix.

Who Are The Harmon Brothers?

The Harmon Brothers agency is in fact headed by four brothers – Jeffrey, Neal, Daniel and Theron.

Daniel Harmon and his brothers aren’t new to the sales world. They were raised in a poor Mormon family with nine siblings. As teenagers, they would collect potatoes from their Uncle’s Idaho Potato farm and go door to door to sell them to raise money for their needs. As they grew older, they gained experienced through missionary work, and even selling ADT alarm systems.

Today, with all the incoming job proposals stemming from their increasing success, the brothers hold one thing close (in addition to their religious beliefs): “if we don’t believe in it, we don’t sell it. Period.”

In a study collected by Amabile, Torance mentioned that “people who were doing what they loved were more creative in their pursuits.”(Collins and Amabile, Motivation and Creativity). So, similarly, in order to come up with a creative way to sell a product, the agency has to believe in the product. But Jeffrey Harmon wants to ensure that while the agency is working on selling unique or taboo products, they also try to demonstrate their creative range (for example their Moving Christmas Hymn which they filmed with The Piano Guys, which broke the Guinness World Record for most living figures in a Nativity scene (1,039 people).

So, what exactly is a Harmon Brothers Video and why is it unique?

*Not their brands

The Harmon Brothers have combined two types of advertising: branding and infomercials. One of the first things the brothers and their colleagues ask themselves when tackling a risky or taboo topic is, “How do we make it so that people want to talk about this at the dinner table?”

With most of their products, this doesn’t come easy simply due to the nature of the product. In the past, disgust towards bodily function was maintained in the commercial industry. However, fairly recently, there has been a drive for change. Playful and brave ads, like the Harmon brothers, are leading the industry because they not only have kept up with the expansion of social media but figured out a way to make provocative or taboo topics feel more comfortable to discuss. Additionally, people are more likely to stay through the whole video if it is comedic and educational. Otherwise, why waste time watching an ad?

While creativity is always a goal in mind, the agency never “banks on virality”. In other words, while in the process of making the campaign, the agency never plans for their videos to go viral. Just as mentioned by Collins, creativity is “evidenced by active engagement with the challenges of the task and total immersion in the activity without regard to the possible rewards awaiting the creator” (Collins and Amabile, Motivation and Creativity). The brothers build their campaigns with the intention of driving sales and making people want to buy the product, virality is usually an unexpected reward for their creativity. 

How Do They Do It?

Most importantly they work on engaging people, learning their product, mastering the platform of distribution and aiming to understand what their audience wants. For example, they know to release videos simultaneously to Facebook and YouTube, and understand that a great chunk of Facebook users (roughly 25%) are using their smart phones. As a solution, they integrate subtitles into the mobile videos to try to lure customers in. As Sternberg puts it “knowledge of the ‘state of the market’ in a domain helps a person avoid reinventing ideas or products that society already experience” (Lubart and Sternberg – The Investment Approach to Creativity).

Due to their acquired knowledge, research and creativity, many of the agency’s videos have gone viral. For example, the Chatbook Promo landed 1 million views in the first 24 hours. Currently, the video has over 75 million views.

Bobby Edwards, the CEO of Squatty Potty, said that the Harmon Brother’s ad transformed his product from “something you’d hide in the shower before guests arrived into a conversation piece”. Not only that but, 3 months after the video was release, the company saw a 600 percent increase in online sales!

The Harmon Brother have received well deserved wide recognition. They were honored for Video at Utah Business’ 2017 “Sales Marketer of the Year (SAMY), AdWeek’s 5^th most viewed video in 2013, and have been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

Of course, the success of the Harmon Brothers did not come without a few fails and mistakes. For one, they have learned that they cannot take on a client who hasn’t completely figured out their product because a good product is a pillar to a successful campaign. However, they also quickly take the opportunity to learn from their failures, as Neal Harmon said in an interview, “you never fail until you quit”. Benton Crane, managing director of the Harmon Brother’s agency, summaries the Harmon Brother’s strategy as so: the key is to take on projects the agency is passionate about and to let creativity be the number one rule”.

And, if you want more, here is the Sequel to the Squatty Potty video, also now a direct competitor for Poo-Pouri):

 Here is an additional presentation that Daniel Harmon put together at a conference, giving advice on what makes advertising successful.

Hammocraft - The Ultimate Lounging Device

Do you enjoy laying in a hammock? Do you frequently visit a lake? If you answered both questions with a “yes,” I have great news for you. The Hammocraft can meet all of your hammock and relaxation needs.

The Hammocraft is made of an aluminum pole frame to maintain the structure and support. These poles also contain straps to attach up to five hammocks. This frame can be attached to kayaks, SUPs, or an inflatable raft. This device can also be left on land if you do not have access to trees to hang up a hammock.  Its versatility and ease of transport and assembly make this the perfect accessory for all trips to the lake, to the river, or to leave permanently in your backyard.

On their Kickstarter website, Bland Hoke and Bryan Carpenter describe the ideas behind their invention and the evolution of the Hammocraft. These two grew up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where they developed their love for the outdoors and for hammocks. They began their journey towards the creation of the Hammocraft by first conquering camping in hammocks, an unconventional method of camping to most people. Next, they launched “extreme hammocking,” which included hanging hammocks in risky sites like the side of a cliff or on top of a waterfall.  

In addition to their experience camping outdoors with hammocks, Hoke and Carpenter repurposed junk piles inside of metal shops. This background laid the foundation for their ultimate creation. Using their skills in the metal shop, they started with welding a hammock frame to a car in order to fulfill their “fascination with relaxation and transportation.” Along those same lines, they developed hammock bikes used to get around the playa at Burning Man, a festival “dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.” At this festival, they had their second introduction to the use of metal in their inventions. They created the sculpture Flutter Tunnel, a path lit at night by solar powered flashlights.  

The next evolutionary stage in their creative process was transitioning the hammock to water. They are always looking for ultimate relaxation, and they had not attempted to relax in hammocks on water. Their first model was able to float and sustain the weight of people in hammocks, "but it was heavy, too unstable, and difficult to transport."

While attempting to fix the stability problems of the first Hammocraft, the second prototype fitted onto a white water raft was too heavy for transportation.

Through renovation, research, and development, the Hammock was born. With this design, they have solved the problems of weight, strength, transport, and ease of assembly with this frame.

The creation of the Hammocraft by Hoke and Carpenter was intrinsically motivated by their desire to master their environment, as described by Collins and Amabile. The Hammocraft creation seems to be motivated by their enjoyment and satisfaction that they derive from engaging in creating and testing out the various prototypes of the Hammocraft. Hoke and Carpenter were not motivated by others’ evaluations, but in the context of self-evaluation. Their ultimate product exhibits extreme creativity due to their intrinsic motivation, expertise in their field, and divergent thinking. As described by Van Steenburgh, divergent thinking increases insightful thought that was required in their creation of a floatation device using hammocks.  Through the collaboration of Hoke and Carpenter, they were able to push each other to new ideas for their products.

Although there are many ways to lounge on the water or in a hammock, Hoke and Carpenter recognized previously unrecognized problem that had not been solved. The Hammocraft provides the perfect combination of convenience and compatibility for any occasion, whether you have a floating device or not. Not only can you float on kayaks, SUPs, or inflatable boats, you can also attach wheels and use the hammocks as sails to ride on your Hammocraft!

Sources:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blandhoke/flutter-tunnel-spreading-light-through-art

http://burningman.org/event/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2140041392/hammocrafttm-a-5-person-hammock-frame-for-land-or

https://www.hammocraft.com