Can you see the squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray?
This proves we are contextual beings and our experience is dependent on perception of the surroundings…this is a key design principle on User Experience – contrast and context.
You can see the proof here:
http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_proof.html
The lobby of the Elysian.
Over the past few years, zig has been working with the Elysian, a 60-story hotel and residence that aims to redefine the Chicago hospitality experience with a unique operating model built around delivering remarkable moments. The agency worked closely with Elysian to build a brand that could bring that promise to life. Now that the doors are open and guests are raving, we can share the fruits of our labor. And share we did, with the New York Times.
And you can browse some of our work in the gallery below. Enjoy!
As some of you may have noticed via my recent tweets (@jj_sullivan), I attended the annual Deloitte TMT Predictions this week.
Every year Deloitte recruits their 6000-strong global TMT practice to look at industry-leading research, information and insights to formulate hundreds of predictions for the coming year in Technology, Media, and Telecommuncations. They present an overall shortlist as well as category-specific lists at events around the world this time of year.
There was also a great discussion panel with Chris Wormold from RIM, Charley Lax (huge VC investor in Canadian businesses), Paul Kedrosky @pKedrosky (big Canadian VC investor who’s moved south of the border) and Duncan Stewart, Director of Deloitte Canada Research. You can recap some of the conversation on the twitter feed #TMTPred2010, just search for #TMTPred2010 on Twitter.
Info on each category and global predictions available here.
Another great bit is their report card on past predictions, at the above URL as well, as some of these predictions take longer to gestate than a year. Last year they were 67% correct. Worth a quick read and scan of the link if you’ve got 10-15 minutes.
Some quotes:
“Good enough becomes better than perfect.”
“…it’s all about the mobile internet.”
“…[advertising buys] likely to experience the greatest growth are search, click, social network and cost–per-action. … most vulnerable to losing share to online are magazines and newspapers; radio and outdoor are in the middle, and broadcast and specialty TV/cable seem to be most resilient.”
Fill your ears with a delightul jingle jam.
www.zigjinglejam.com
This year, we hosted our first-ever zig Kid’s Christmas party, complete with popcorn, pizza, crafts, tattoos, face painting, presents for the kids, a magic show…and booze for Mom and Dad. Of course, Santa Claus also made an appearance. And yes, that’s Mazen dressed up as an elf.
In the video above, Swedish publisher Bonnier shows how their magazines would look and feel on a tablet.
I think magazines proactively showing how they will be able to thrive once the next wave of mass-adopted technology arrives (i.e. tablets) will help to limit the perception that the industry is doomed. By showing that they are thinking of how the industry will evolve to meet new technological standards, it gives consumer some faith that these publications will be reborn once this technology arrives.
I would easily pay 10$ for a digital subscription to the numerous magazines or newspapers I enjoy. Not only will they be taking the majority of printing costs out of the equation, they will be able to layer on limitless amounts of supplementary media onto their current content offering. These publications will be able to deliver their content with the breadth, presentation, and immediacy that people have become accustom to online, on the very devices that people are used to receiving this content on.
Magazines and newspapers currently require people to actively seek them out to deliver their content, but people no longer have any interest in actively seeking out what they want. People want the things they want to come to them, and that is what tablets will allow them to do.
I love reading magazines and newspapers, but not to the extent of going to the store to buy a physical copy. If you can bring me your content on something that I can kick back and relax while reading, then I’d be happy to pay. Until then I’ll read for free online.
As for now, Esquire is attempting to bridge the gap until tablets come to fruition by publishing their magazine through an iPhone application.
(My whole argument is based on the 99.9999% chance that the iTablet is real, and its spectacular.)
Here is another demonstration for Sports Illustrated, on how it would function on a tablet. Awesome.
(via @fastcompany, @sluu, therobhayes.com)
I came across a couple of interesting lists regarding viral videos. The first is Mashable.com’s list of the top 10 most innovative viral video ads of 2009. This includes agency-created videos, as well as ways that brands leveraged popular user generated videos correctly, and in some cases, incorrectly. Interesting to watch either way.
http://mashable.com/2009/12/07/viral-video-ads/
The second is Youtube’s top 31 most popular videos of 2009 presented in an advent calendar format. We’re currently on day 17.
http://www.youtube.com/newyears
As interesting as I think the Joshua Bell stunt was, I don’t know that it proves much. For the vast majority of people who walk through a subway station is there really a significant difference between one of the finest violinists in the world and someone who has played classical music for 25 years but has never made it to the pinnacle? I think not.
A more interesting angle on the socially constructed appreciation of art phenomenon, and something that is a lot more rigorous from a research standpoint, would be the Music Genome Project and Pandora. Tim Westergren and his colleagues would posit that they can determine what you should like based on your honest feedback to a series of songs.
They suggest that the influence of your social peers in stated music preference is massive. You like Jack White because your friends do and you hate Celine Dion because they do. Take away all outside influences and just listen to the music alone and your preferences will be different.
Here’s a good read on Pandora.
As an aside: they’ve since determined that there’s nothing special in the varnish that Stradivari used. Just oil and resin.
Fascinating.
The Washington Post conducted an experiment in the Washington Metro. Joshua Bell, one of the world’s most talented violinists, played some of the most intricate and complex music ever composed for the violin (Bach) on a $3.5 million Stradivarius. In the subway.
After 43 minutes, hardly anyone stopped to listen, and he only made a few dollars. Quite a stark contrast to selling out concert halls where seats cost $100+.
The Post wanted to examine what determines our appreciation of beauty…is it totally socially constructed, dictated? Can we appreciate a work of art that is not in the expected frame?
Check out the clip on YouTube below, and read the article here.
The power in advertising has shifted from the brands to the consumer; if you build it, they won’t necessarily come. Now we are forced to provide value to the consumer, giving them something they want, not just what we think they need.
Because of this, we now need to start building content for the consumer’s wants and needs, not just for the brand’s needs. In short, we need to “understand human behaviour on the web and build sites and applications that work with those behaviours, not against them.”
This presentation by the guys at Jet Cooper goes a long way in helping to understand that there is in fact a human at the other end of everything digital we do. That human can make or break a brand’s success, so we need to everything we can to make their experience an engaging and pleasant one.
The consumer is now driving the ship, we need to do everything we can to get on board.
After a month of awkwardness and creepy feelings, the men of zig came through with some sizable moustaches. The big question in everybody’s mind is, who wore it best? So take a gander at the dusters below and give us your vote.
The Art of Seduction by Steve Barr
DJ Tres Mauvais Beauvais
Joel ‘The 5th Beatle’ Nicolle
Kelly. Niall Kelly.
Michael ‘Boss Hog’ Clowater
Mr. Jennifer Dark
Battalion Chief Macgregor, NYFD
Rob ‘The Teen ‘Stache’ Hayes
Jeremy Thompson: No Retouching Required
JJ ‘A Little Somethin’ For the Ladies’ Sullivan
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