An Interactive Database of Ideas

Boston Consulting Group's tool enables researchers and companies to map who's working on what and where, allowing innovative collaboration By Brian Hindo Wouldn't it be great if there were a map you could follow to new ideas? A software tool developed by strategy firm Boston Consulting Group doesn't provide exactly that, but it can at least map out where ideas came from—and offer clues to where new ones may lie.

Inside Innovation: An Interactive Database of Ideas

5 Amazing Infographics - Design Diagrams for the Health Conscious

Nice big visuals - some designers were hired to do these infographics -- spotted by Mashable and revealed in this article...

Brand campaign for IBM Smarter Planet

Nicely done [vector graphic] brand ad campaign for IBM featuring iconographic illustrations for the theme of Smarter Planet (my shots from BWI airport) See all the icons in campaign on this page – make sure you click on each to see another beautiful graphic on the landing page for each icon: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet

"Good Experience Blog" with thoughtful writings on customer experience, user experience, human experience.

Check out Mark Hurst's "Good Experience" blog focused on customer experience, user experience, human experience. This page highlights his "Best of" articles from years of newsletters from his thoughtful writings. This page announces Gel ("Good Experience Live"), a conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms -- in business, art, society, technology, and life -- which sells out months before the event. He also runs an exclusive job board for professionals in design, usability, user experience, and customer experience.

Web Site Typography That Builds Brands

A Forrester research document that happily validates my career and expertise in typography!... Read an excerpt, the executive summary "Web Site Typography That Builds Brands" by Ron Rogowski.

Another interesting Forrester report, "Build Better Brand Experiences By Correlating Brand Attributes With Design Personas" by Ron Rogowski.

If you have been faced with challenges regarding your web user experience, online branding or interface design, go to Superseed for consultation, methods and a process for the specialties in web typography, design and user experience.

If you have specific questions about your website or online business, let us know... we will provide you with direction.

Superseed is Visiting Designer at Boston's SMFA

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) in Boston invited Margo Johnson, Executive Director, Superseed, to speak and present work as a visiting designer.

Margo met with faculty, Chantal Zakari, Carl Sesto and students in the the Text and Image Arts program which studies visual communication through graphic design, artists’ books, interactive Web, and multimedia while encouraging students to develop a personal voice.

Margo's presentation covered her career background, education, teaching, influences and her current business, Superseed.

The theme: "The need for creativity in the future U.S. economy" exposed students to a current news topic -- how businesses are seeking the creative thinking process of artists and designers.

She shared her approach, outlook and visual samples as inspiration to her design process. Discussion evolved on topics such as BusinessWeek's site on Innovation, web 2.0, marketing, trends, thesis, Emigre, typography, CalArts, art and photography.

Remix Event attracts visionaries and leaders in global design management

I've heard rave reviews of this annual DMI event in the past. Learn, share and network with international attendees and diverse leaders in global design management, executives, visionaries, product designers, creative directors, branding experts, artists and technology innovators. DMI Remix will have attendees from IBM, Philips, eBay, Harvard, Bose, Microsoft, Ziba Design, Anthem, CVS, ELEVEN - just to name a few.

I am attending. They have set up a social network blog site on Ning.com for the Remix event where you can view the attendees.

Visit DMI REMIX

Superseed to speak at Business Incubator - WomenBiz Roundtable

Event: Superseed.com Director, Margo Johnson, to speak at the WomenBiz Roundtable at the Amoskeag Business Incubator on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 6:30 PM.

Do-It-Yourself Marketing - How is your business engaging in marketing efforts on a tighter budget? Learn from a creative agency expert about how you can help your business improve awareness or increase sales using new do-it-yourself marketing tools. Get ideas, share ideas and discover new ways to do your own simple low cost branding, marketing and design.

Amoskeag Business Incubator map
33 South Commercial Street Manchester, NH 03101

Conference Report Published on Synergy of Design, Brand, Business

Read Margo Johnson's report of the "DMI Conference: Synergy of Design, Brand, Business" on the DMI (Design Management Institute) website. Conference videos and pdf presentations from all speakers available free with membership. >

Social Networking Device Idea Hunt

Big Idea Group conducts "Idea Hunts" for innovation-seeking companies. Hunts are searches for innovations or technologies in a particular area. Sponsors of past Idea Hunts include Staples, Thomson, Bell Sports, eToys, Dremel, and more.

These are opportunities for inventors to create innovations that a sponsor is actively seeking. Besides offering the chance for licensing contracts, Hunts often involve monetary or merchandise prizes.

A really interesting approach and detailed method of entry. Check out the latest two hunts (with a deadline of aug 5, 2008) >

Synergy of Brand, Design, Business

Just spent last week at DMI’s Brand/Design 20 Conference, where experts explored synergy, collaboration, and strategy. With attendees at around 125, the event was just the right size for a more intimate gathering. I was impressed with the valuable insight from speakers and diverse attendees. Instead of showing off glitzy end results, speakers gave a peek behind the scenes into operational process, collaboration methods and how design thinking is becoming more integrated into business strategy in more and more large corporations. I look forward to more events from DMI. Each presentation can be purchased online as conference recordings on the DMI website.

Nanomaterials and branding?

An intriguing material, Sony’s flexible OLED full color display film prototype (image at left), a flexible plastic electronic display brings possibilities for branding and material reduction.
See article: What’s driving innovation in food packaging
from DesignWeek

Viewing Patterns for Web Home Pages

See these diagrams and article on "Viewing Patterns for Homepages" showing how a user's eyes view a web page and which zones are viewed the most. Heatmap diagrams overlay web news sites revealing focal points.

Article by Eyetrack > Written by Laura Ruel and Steve Outing, project managers; research and tools by Colin Johnson, Greg Edwards, and Leslie Kues of Eyetools Inc.

Branding A New LG

Making A Name Branding A New LG

South Korean electronics conglomerate LG has had some fine moments recently: 15 million people worldwide have bought its "Chocolate" mobile phone since its launch in 2007. Last November, Oprah chose LG's $4,000 HDTV refrigerator as one of her "favorite things."... Elizabeth Woyke 02.07.08, 6:00 AM ET

Read Forbes Article >

Super Smart Eco Ad Campaign

Check out this brilliant World Wildlife Fund ad campaign in the form of bathroom towel dispensers! Article by Kate and Jill via Inhabitat

E-mail Spam Art

A story about an someone who was tired of email spam. She created hand lettering doodles which in just more than a week got more than 50,000 views on Flickr. Read more from BrandNoise and NYT here.

Smartthings Diagrammatic Narrative

A diagrammatic narrative represents a day in the life of a fictional designer during the year 2030 (interacts with and guided by smart things — objects, systems, and environments with embedded intelligence that has conversational and sensory capabilities). The project was made by Irene Pereyra & Tom Klinkowstein for the Singapore Design Festival.

An exploratory visual map displaying complex information in a way that can be absorbed in a non-linear fashion. You will need to use your pdf reader zoom tool. Download this jumbo visual map as a pdf >

Massive Change

Exhibition invites viewers to consider the dynamic future of design culture and the crucial real-life choices we must make. Curated by Bruce Mau & the Institute without Boundaries

Explore the Exhibition – see links to wonderful QuickTime VRs:
http://www.massivechange.com/exhibition

Visual Mapping

A beautiful collection of visual mapping, diagram design and data visualization of information from a firm called VisualComplexity.
-> View 500+ project shots by:
slide show > or category >

MFA vs MBA

A fun story to share as I am part of an MFA vs MBA household (an MFA is Master of Fine Arts which covers a graduate degree in art, design or writing)...

MFA vs MBA (aired on Public Radio Marketplace in 2005)
Business schools will be launching their graduates into the real world over the next few weeks. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks at Wharton's commencement this Sunday. Pepsico's president will do the honors at Columbia Business School next Wednesday. General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt shares his thoughts with the graduating class at the Harvard Business School in June. These stars are all at the top of their game. But commentator Dan Pink says an MBA won't necessarily get you there: Listen to this commentary > (you will need Real Player to listen to the story).