Yummy or Crummy?

I saw this Doritos package on the shelf back in May. I totally forgot that I took the photo until I ran across it while cleaning out the memory card on the phone. I took the photo because I thought it was another example of somebody trying to leverage what has been the marketing buzz word for the last few years: “the community” (or “user-generated content”). You were supposed to taste it, then tell the company what you think the flavor is. On one hand, the attempt to get on the bandwagon is pretty transparent — these days everyone wants you to submit your own story/photo/video and use it to market their product. But on the other hand, I think it’s pretty ballsy. The package design is dramatically different from their normal lineup, and instead it focuses on the “secret experiment” concept of the campaign. Plus they’re telling consumers to buy something without knowing what the flavor is. It’s like admitting that all their other flavors are just as artificial and lab-tested (which I’m sure most people realize but choose to ignore). I’ve always liked Doritos, and the main reason is probably because they never pretend to be the smart person’s snack. It’s the in-your-face, MSG-filled snack attack that you almost always regret later. With this campaign, it’s almost like they went a step further and were taunting the consumers. The secret flavor the X-13D experiment turned out to be cheeseburger. Brilliant! One heart-attack maker pretending to be another… An American classic wrapped up in a mystery… Correct guessers being celebrated as “winners”… The whole thing is so ironic I think the people who came up with the campaign should get an award!

Should Do This is the latest from Robot Co-Op who brought us 43 Things/Places/People. The “43″ series never stuck with me, but I think I’ll like SDT, because it’s not really about what I want but it’s what I think other people should do. I think most other people also find it easier to criticize others and point out what should be different with the world. Is that a personality flaw? Who cares! I think it’s more fun, too!

I like the nice details like the use of sub-domains so the URL of the list of things Apple should do reads like: http://apple.shoulddothis.com/, and so on. I like that agreeing/disagreeing is not used like a rating system. There is no incentive to agree/disagree just to bring something up higher/lower in ranking (like digg), so hopefully people are more honest.

Obviously there’s more work to come later (like aggregating similar suggestions and a more robust contact system), so it’ll be exciting to watch what they’ll accomplish in the near future. I’ll be checking back often to suggest more things. You should, too!

Just came back from this event: Tinker, Tailor, Maker, Sailor: New Perspectives on UX and the Web

It was hosted by ZAAZ, our alleged competitor. Their space was really nice — loved the big windows, and open space with booths and couches. And the location! Parking must be tough, but it’s not bad if it encourages taking a bus, etc.

Anyway, about the event. I liked all the speakers — I think I learned something from each one.

Lee LeFever: Lots of good pointers on preparing yourself for creating an online community. Maybe leaned a bit on a basic side, with advice like: Make it scalable; Have a community manager, etc. But a good start of a laundry list of things to consider — better than learning it the hard way!

Emma Rose: Did the impossible — explained the ethnographic research process in a really simple, practical way… in 15 minutes. Also she runs a program with University of Washington where she helps students conduct usability studies with real projects. Yes, I got her business card.

Jason Carmel: A real primer on web optimization. He was a very entertaining speaker, and that may be what I learned from him the most. Not putting down his presentation, but I was lucky enough to go to Google to learn the basics in March so it was everything I knew (which isn’t much).

Paul Ingram: The most ambitious presentation, and that’s why this was my favorite even though it probably wasn’t the most successful or polished. He spoke with passion about the need to create something new. I think everyone’s chord was struck at one point or another, being in a creative field and all. I think he would have liked a group hug at the end.

Thanks, ZAAZ!

OK I saw Superbad last Thursday thanks to SIFF‘s free member preview, but I couldn’t post about it until today because of my web host moving fiasco. Anyway, I’m now happily hosted with Dreamhost, and moving the WordPress database over was surprisingly easy. Anyway, that’s for another day…

I was pretty excited when I got the email from SIFF telling me about the preview — I was sad when its screenings got cancelled during the festival this year. Well — it didn’t disappoint! It was really funny. The plot was not nonexistent, but it wasn’t important. It was just a way to get the characters from A to B — what made this movie fun to watch was all the things in between. It was like watching several episodes of a funny TV show strung together to make up a movie. Oh yeah, with swearing. The characters are familiar — geeks who dream of not graduating high school as virgins. The driver of the plot is almost too cleché, too — it’s to get to a party with booze so they can, you know, not graduate as virgins. But somehow the dialogue and all the subplots make this movie seem more fresh. The movie also doesn’t disappoint in the area of gross humor — these “lowbrow” comedies all seem to include one or two really filthy jokes just to try to top (bottom?) each other. It’s mild compared to other R rated movies, but it still gets laughs.

The incompetent/juvenile cop jokes last a bit too long, and that’s my only complaint. I’m definitely showing my age with these comparisons… But the writing is smarter than, say, Van Wilder, and it’s not as slap-sticky as Scary Movie (or the derivatives) or Dude, Where’s My Car? — the only thing I can think of that’s close is American Pie, but the characters are definitely more likable in Superbad!

Lucretia and I are back from Japan! We were there for three weeks — the longest vacation I’ve had while also being employed full-time. Check out the photos on Flickr.

I had a ton of fun on the trip. It was nice to finally get over how much I felt like a foreigner inside. I simply accepted the fact that I’ve been living in the US longer than in Japan, so it’s natural to feel out of touch. Once I did that, it was really easy to just enjoy all the cool and weird things that Japan offers to tourists!

• Super ice cubes and bendy straws
  I don’t know why, but the ice cubes in the drinks we ordered in Japan melted at an amazingly slow rate. So by the time I was done with my drink the cubes were still maintaining their original shape and size. Might be good if you don’t like your drink to be watered down, but I found it a little annoying because I usually like to keep sipping on the mixture of the melted ice and the drink residue. And the Japanese people love bendy straws! Almost everywhere we went, the drinks came with bendy straws. Awesome!
• Super displays on trains
  If you live in Japan, you spend A LOT of time riding trains and subways. It’s well known that trains in Japan are almost always on time, and the densely woven networks make the trains convenient for everyone. Well, the attention to detail is paid not only in the timetables and the networks, but inside the trains themselves. On some trains, the display by the door tells you: the current and the next station, number of minutes to the next station, which side will open, transfer information, where the stairs, elevators and escalators will be in the next station in relation to the car you’re in, AND it does this in both Japanese and English!
• Super lack of personal space
  When we took trains in Kobe, Kyoto, or Osaka, we could easily find seats during off-peak hours. But we learned that in and around Tokyo, trains are always crowded. Luckily we never really had to get on a REALLY crowded train during the peak of the rush hour, where somebody has to push your butt in with a stick so they can close the door. But at least a few times we felt somewhat uncomfortable with the lack of personal space on a crowded train. My dad, who’s retired now, told me that the train he used to take was so crammed, he literally could not move any part of his body once he got on — for an hour!

I’ll stop here for now — I’m going to try to create a series of posts about Japan. This is going to take a while…

(Creating a new category, Travel)

Oh how I missed you, Japan!

It’s been more than two weeks since we arrived here. I hope to do a more detailed post later, but I wanted to do a quick update to talk about three things.

Humidity
Oh my frigging sweaty balls! I forgot how humid and uncomfortable summer can be in Japan. We change our pajamas daily because we wake up every morning in a pool of our own sweat.

Earthquake
Niigata area was hit again with a big earthquake. It looks pretty scary, but fortunately for us we were not affected.

Typhoon
The day after we went to Kyushu, a pretty big typhoon entered the country. We were greeted with rain and some strong wind, but we escaped the worst from this potential disaster, too. In other areas people suffered landslides and drowning.

Time and time again I’m reminded of the resilience of the people here. We feel lucky to have survived these things!

Lucretia and I are leaving for Japan tomorrow. I’ve been jokingly calling this trip a “Look-at-me-I-have-a-wife Tour.” All kidding aside, this is the trip that we have been meaning to make since we got married in August 2005. My father has been wanting to gather all the extended family members who couldn’t come to the wedding in Seattle, and hold some kind of a mini reception in Japan. We had a very ambitious plan last year to go to Germany for the World Cup, and then to Japan in one trip. Eventually the common sense set in and we had to abandon the Japan part (FIFA couldn’t move the soccer tournament — what jerks!).

So anyway we booked this trip back in March, but the timing couldn’t be worse from the work point of view. Of course the big project I was supposed to work on has gotten pushed, and now it’s slated to kick off in mid July, when the original schedule would have had me finished with it by now. We’re in the middle of trying to recruit so we can grow our department and handle the crazy amount of work that’s been pouring in. So I’ve been working rather hard during the past few weeks to make up for it. The reality is everything will be just fine, but it’s still difficult not to feel guilty about the whole thing. I’m usually pretty good at separating work and personal stuff in my head, but I have a feeling I’ll be dragging this one a bit.

The other concern is that it’s been five years since the last time I was in Japan. What that means is more people to visit, and more souvenirs to bring. Not that I don’t enjoy bringing gifts to people, but I feel uneasy when I don’t even know what these people might appreciate or exactly who to buy gifts for, even. I will be seeing some of my cousins whom I haven’t seen in over 12 years. I don’t even know how old some of them are. Here is a (not-so-complete) list of what Lucretia and I are packing to give to various people:

• 20+ bags of Tully’s coffee
• 9 boxes of smoked salmon
• 5 boxes of Aplets & Cotlets candy (by request)
• 4 Starbucks (original Pike Place location) mugs
• Kenji Johjima bobblehead
• Various t-shirts, including Mariners, Seahawks, and general Seattle related
• Various toys for my nephew and niece, including Blockus
• NY Cosmos t-shirt from Thorwbackmax.com

In addition, we sent 20+ sets of photo-frame coasters from Crate & Barrel. We knew those would be way too heavy and cumbersome to carry. We’re glad we did that — we still have enough goods to fill one whole suitcase.

So there are certainly some crummy things about this whole thing — but wait! I’m also very excited about the trip. For one, I’m super relieved to be finally taking a vacation. I was starting to feel really burnt out, so no matter what I said above I’m NOT feeling guilty about taking a break. I’m also glad we’re going to Japan of all places. There’s a lot I want to do (ride the sick-looking bullet trains) and buy (hopefully some DS games). Obviously spending time with family is something I’m looking forward to. I’m definitely enthusiastic about the next three weeks.

Check my Flickr page for photos. We’ll do our best to upload as often as possible!

Date: 6/30
Days since last fill-up: 15
Miles driven: 393.8
Gallons purchased: 9.162
MPG: 42.98

Woo hoo. Not using AC yet.

There, I resisted saying, “it’s a wrap!”

This year’s SIFF sort of came and went. Seems like everyone I talked to said, “it’s over already?” But I guess that’s because we always seem to be super busy around this time… I miss those days when I actually had time to see 29 films (2005) while also planning a wedding!

Anyway some quick recaps… I expected more of a roudy crowd for Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls, for being a local film and all. But it was a pretty tame audience (except for the presence of Skeletora), maybe because it was the second showing. The film was fun as expected, but a little lacking in terms of the “story” element that a lot of the documentaries these days have. The filmmakers seemed content in just filming and having the rollergirls talk about themselves, and no compelling characters or plots emerged. Maybe that’s disingenious to expect from a documentary — what? That’s what a fiction is for? But if you want to tell an engaging story, you can’t just string together interviews no matter how interesting you think those people are. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the film and I liked the people in it — maybe that’s the problem… There was no villain!

Molière was cute, witty, funny, and touching at the same time. It’s a fictional account of early part of Molière‘s life, and it speculates as to how he became considered to be one of the greatest comedic playwrights in his time. The director Laurent Tirard introduced the film by saying he hopes that more people will learn about the playwright’s work because of the movie. I feel that he succeeded, because the movie was very approachable, and made both Lucretia and myself curious about the kind of work he produced. Not that we’re jumping on Amazon to buy his plays, but if we came across one someday we might pick it up to read it.

Cinerama was a great choice for the closing night venue. It was grand enough to mirror the spectacle of the opening night — and it’s just a damn great movie theater. We skipped the party, though — I wish we knew more friends who have enough money and time to enjoy SIFF (being pretty much free, it’s easier for us).

Here’s a list of skills essential for a designer to take on a more strategic role rather than a tactical one, from Luke Wroblewski’s Functioning Form.

I would add one more to this list:

Learn to build consensus.
It’s essential to approach these high-level meetings with stakeholders as a chance to get everyone on the same page. If you’re a good designer, your solution will always be gounded on long- and short-term business objectives. What separates you as a good strategist is your skill to corral disparate organizational needs and allow your client to shoot for the same goal as a group. If everyone feels like they’re heard during strategy phase, it builds a good foundation for when you get into actual design and implementation. The client will trust you and you will feel like you’re working together. But if you come off as an outside expert who’s telling them what’s best for them, there will always be somebody who will make a point of diagreeing with you, and you’re in for a rocky project. Sometimes it’s not even about design. It comes down to involving the client and making them feel invested in the process.

Something else about this topic in general… I’m just starting to learn how to lead these strategic meetings with high-level stakeholders, and I want to stress that this and other skills that Luke lists on his post are all learnable. I think many designers fall in the trap of thinking that they’re somehow more authentic than those in the suit talking strategy, and it’s not their role, or they can’t because “it’s not me” to speak in business terms. I myself used to associate “strategy” with something a little negative, because I felt that real value was in a solid design and implementation rather than just talking about something to death. But now I realize that in order to win bigger clients and have a meaningful impact as a designer, you have to share a strategic vision with the client as well. As someone who’s always been tactical, the learning curve has been pretty steep. Fortunately I have great coworkers who can teach me a few points and keep a very collaborative environment internally, so we’re able to brainstorm almost daily about how best to improve as a group in this direction. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share some of the things we collectively learned.