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Peter Waters

Related Links Reviews

 Assignment 1 (1)

This article from Forbes relates 11 presentation lessons you can learn from Applefounder Steve Jobs. One of the points that hit closest on the nose in terms of designwas to build simple, visual slides. In his presentation, Jobs used a total of 19 wordsacross 12 slides, implementing the idea of “picture superiority.” 

This was a very interesting article because I could see how to relate this to my“product,” Tidybot. The simple idea of a house-cleaning robot got a lot of positivereactions from both my friends and people I didn’t know, and it seemed the simpler

the ideas, the more willing customers will be to buy it.

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/10/04/11-presentation-lessons-you-can-still-learn-from-steve-jobs/2/) 

 Assignment 2 (4):

In Seth Godin’s blog, titled ‘Define: Brand,’ he describes how a brand is much more

than the logo or “texture,” it’s about the set of memories, expectations, andrelationships that the customers have come to associate with that particular brandname. He compares a brand to a cowboy hat: it takes more than a hat to become acowboy.

I would agree with Godin’s article. Branding is very important, and if your audience

will pay a premium over other brands that’s where you want to be. While design isincredibly important, you need that extra element of branding to make it a long-lasting product.

(http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/define-brand.html)  

This article from fastcodesign.com relates four tips in creating a brand in relation tostorytelling. They are: share what you care about, empower people to make it their

own, localize, and be discriminating.

Looking at Tidybot again, you can see all four of these principles in my faux“marketing.” Obviously I was sharing a product that I cared about, and I empowered

people to make it their own by showing all the different types of people that usedthe product. I also localized by using Facebook, and discriminated by making it available only through the special Tidybot website.

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(http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662388/ideo-good-stories-make-good-brands-heres-4-tips-and-7-examples) 

The article, entitled ‘Brand Authenticity: A New Story’ explains what creating a

successful brand entails. First and foremost, creating a brand is about establishing

the “story,” or the character of the brand. Brands need to relate to the customer insome way, so they need to be flexible to appeal to as many different types of peopleas possible.

(http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/brand_new_conference_a_review_by_ideo.php) 

This tumblr page brings up all sorts of articles talking about “the transmedia

experience.” The latest article, from whatworkswhere.com, talks about the four I’s of 

storytelling through transmedia: Immersion, Interactivity, Integration, and Impact.

I’m not exactly sure if I’ve implemented these techniques in my Tidybot marketingin this class, but there is certainly a lot of room to do that. Robots have a huge mark on our culture, whether it is from movies or real life, so having some kind of “story,”

or perhaps a personality, is a key element to my product.

(http://transmediaexperience.tumblr.com/ ) 

 Assignment 3 (3)

Paul-rand.com is an archival site meant to honor the life work of designer PaulRand.

(http://www.paul-rand.com/) 

This article examines the function and effectiveness of a good logo. It relates therelative effectiveness of a logo to a flag. Although two flags (say the very different French and Saudi Arabian flag) both function effectively, in battle a flag could befriend or foe. It’s all a matter of what we associate with it (the same goes for logosand products).

(http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/thoughts_logosflags/#.UNyR4LZqaBQ) 

This article goes over four principles summed up by one of the “holy trinity” of design, Paul Rand. He talks about how a logo only derives meaning from its product,how the subject of a logo need not match that of its product, that your presentationto a client is extremely meaningful, and that simplicity is not a goal but a by-product of a good idea.

In designing my logo for Tidybot, I did keep in mind some of these principles.Although my symbol did not directly relate to my product, the way I presented it to

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potential clients was simple, and they will likely associate the symbol with theirlives being made easier.

(http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/09/04/4-principles-by-paul-rand-that-may-surprise-you/ ) 

 Assignment 4 (1)

This article, written by Riley Gibson, describes how interacting with loyal fans of your product’s Facebook page is essential in keeping it from being stagnant. Keyconcepts are to reward loyalty, build a two-way relationship, and ask for help.

I implemented all of these tips except for rewarding loyalty (because this coursedoesn’t last that long). I certainly wasn’t afraid to ask for help, and my “fans” in turnhelped to spread the word even more. I also built a communication to fans byhaving “Tidybot” respond to some of their comments. 

(http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/facebook-base-engage-superfans/238773/ ) 

 Assignment 5a (2)

This article relates an astonishing, but understandable figure: that web users spendroughly 69% of the time looking at the left side of the screen instead of the right.This is a very interesting fact that becomes more obvious once you stop to think about it. I immediately thought of the fact that I placed the “Buy Now” button on the

left-most side of my Tidybot webpage (which I didn’t realize was such a good move

at the time).

(http://www.nngroup.com/articles/horizontal-attention-leans-left/ ) 

This article examines the key differences between print and web design. The bigdifference is the canvas on which each medium is presented. Print design is 2-dimensional with a fixed-size, whereas web design gives the illusion of 2-dimensions with an emphasis on movement.

I noticed this difference in both the class blog and the Tidybot website I created.The class blog heavily features a scrolling aspect, along with interactive media, suchas PowerPoint slides and video, something impossible to achieve in a print medium,at least for now.

(http://www.nngroup.com/articles/differences-between-print-design-and-web-design/ ) 

 Assignment 5b (0)

 Assignment 5c (1)

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Information designer Edward Tufte had achieved great success (being a go-to figurefor the likes of Bill Gates, IBM, and NASA), but had one of his hardest jobs yet whenhe was requested by one of President Obama’s officials to design a site charting

every single dollar spent of the $787 billion stimulus bill. Tufte made sure to designthe site focusing on the hard data rather than the “ornamental,” designer aspects of 

marketing.

I learned from this article that you have to know your product and who you’re

selling it to when designing a site for it. In my case (Tidybot), I wanted people tofeel at ease, so I wouldn’t have included the hard data from Tufte’s government job. 

(http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/03/09/how-master-information-designer-edward-tufte-can-help-obama-govern.html)