Year-End Insight Mashup

Watching 2011 fade into the mist, one can’t help but reflect on the things that matter most…psych! Yes, this is a year end post. No, it’s not your dime-a-dozen New Year’s cogitation. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, we’re a pretty intellectually curious crew, learning and re-purposing ideas from the most far-flung sources. I was curious to hear from the gang what the most insightful things they heard or read in 2011 were and why. So I asked. Here’s what they had to say:

Ice Cube… on Design!

As it turns out, Ice Cube studied architectural drafting before becoming a rapper. Who knew he was a design aficionado?! He shares his fascinating perspective on the Eames House in this video. I love the parallels between design and music techniques like mashups and sampling. “It’s not about the pieces. It’s how the pieces work together.”

Just F’ing Do Something

I’m cheating and posting two, but they’re really just different statements of the same idea: just f’ing do something…good things will happen. I think of one or both of these any time I find myself in a rut or just procrastinating.

Sleepwalk With Me

I’m a big Mike Birbiglia fan anyway, but this special recording floored me. It’s technically a comedy album, but it is so much more than that…told as a single story with a lot of hilarious tangents, it’s a brilliant take on the human condition from the “everyman” perspective. The ease of delivery diverts you from how carefully it is constructed, and the humor is a sweet icing on top of what is actually a very emotional and heartfelt story. It has a little bit of everything in it, and the first listen provided me with one of those rare moments of realizing what I was experiencing was a “masterpiece”. An inspiring piece of work. An aside – yet another instance of how “we are all patients“.

“Be More Like Yourself” – Thomas Williams

Thom was a cherished poet, writer, artist, musician, husband and teacher to thousands of kids. He was my High School English teacher, mentor, and friend. Thom left us December, 2010. This quote embodies his simple-yet-challenging style. I wrote it down in my notebook after I learned of his passing and have revisited it throughout the year.

Food at Our Feet

I asked Emily if there are any healthy lunch spots near our office. “No.” But perhaps we were too literal. There’s food everywhere, at least according to Rene Redzepi, creator of Noma, a restaurant in Denmark that’s been recognized two years running as the best in the world. Much of his menu is made up of food he and his staff foraged from its surrounding environs. It’s the age-old artist trope of taking the obvious, the available, the overlooked…and transforming it through inspired labor into something that’s intangibly *more*. With a bit of study and some creativity in the kitchen, an evening walk could eliminate a trip to the grocery store.

Artfully Visualizing our Humanity

As a part of my Grad degree, we spent a lot of time looking into how to make vast amounts of abstract data accessible for people. This Ted talk by Aaron Koblin blew me away, not just for the way he brings complex data to life, but also for his collaborative, distributed projects including the Johnny Cash filmclip ‘Ain’t no Grave’. It’s really stunning to see how each contributor’s small artwork is woven into an amazing video. Really speaks to the power of collaboration, which is so central to what we do.

Louis CK Phenom/Father

In general, I’ve been a huge fan of what Louis CK has done this year. He writes, directs, even edits his own show, and his $5 pay-me-directly-to-download comedy special quickly grossed $1 million (with $280K promised to 5 different charities and $250K to staff bonuses). But what I read that struck me as most innovative is that he crams all his work into ½ a week so he can spend the other half with his kids.

Living with Ease

In Mettā (Loving Kindness) Meditation, a recurring theme is a “life filled with ease”. Sounds nice, huh? But try really being at ease. It’s tough to achieve. This relates back to Russ’ earlier post about the role of pervasive technology in our lives. From waking to sleep – and even during sleep – we are surrounded by tools to help make life easier. And they do. But it takes a lot to manage and tend to all these ease-making tools. We cram more into our days as a result of the time these tools have saved for us. I think about this a lot and how we in the design field can be making decisions that better facilitate ease, not just the promise of it.

Silly Things are Important Too

“Don’t wait until you know who you are to make things.” – Austin Kleon

I believe that we learn so much through the process of making something, whether that thing is a painting or poem, sketch or sculpture, or just a great big mess. Not only do we gain and practice new skills, the things that we create communicate aspects of ourselves that might never otherwise come to light. It’s important to acknowledge that making silly things is just as significant.

Sketching: The Visual Thinking Power Tool

Early in 2011 I read a great article by Mike Rohde on A List Apart about the importance of sketching. The practice of sketching has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. At Think Brownstone we always make sketchnotes of the conferences we attend. Sketching is a vital part of our design process, and so we’ve framed our whiteboards and sketch on them together every day. I wholeheartedly agree with Mike Rohde when he says “Sketches have an amazing ability to foster discussions about ideas. With colleagues and especially clients, I’ve found sketches give everyone involved the permission to consider, talk about, and challenge the ideas they represent. After all, it’s just a sketch.”

On behalf of the entire Think Brownstone team, we wish you a Happy New Year full of fun insights!

E-Patient Connections Recap

Many of Think Brownstone’s clients are in the Life Sciences industry, so it’s critical for us to keep an eye both on how the industry is changing and on how patients themselves are engaging with healthcare professionals, each other and the industry itself. This isn’t the creepy kind of “let’s read what they’re saying and pose as patients” thing.  It’s a genuine desire to interact with people and learn what their needs and frustrations are, then find ways to close the gap. With that in mind, we try to participate in KruResearch’s e-Patient Connections each year.

It’s difficult to do justice to a 2-day conference in a single blog post, so I’ll hit the main themes I extracted from the sessions. As you know, we are fans of single-track conferences, so I was happy to learn that ePatcon switched back to a single-track model this year. If you want to review everything digitally available from the conference, I’d recommend reviewing their slides in slideshare.

Kicking It All Off

I’m a fan of Seth Godin’s blog and his book Tribes, and I’ve been wanting to hear him speak for a while. Although circuit speakers like Seth have a few standard presentations they pull out for speaking gigs like this, clearly Seth studied the goals of the conference and customized his work for the audience. The main themes:

• People like doing what other people are doing
• The general population of a tribe needs a leader
• Leaders don’t necessarily invent anything, they just show up to lead

These were great messages for the crowd, and something to really think about.

Following Seth was a truly inspiring vocal piece and patient story by Charity Tilleman-Dick, a Soprano who has suffered from several debilitating lung diseases and recently went through a lung transplant. Charity’s inspiring patient journey highlights how important it is for patients suffering from chronic diseases to have a laser-sharp focus on their goals. There really is no better way to kick off a conference that focuses on patients than to have an inspiring patient story.

Dr. Internet?

Data from Manhattan Research and Ron Gutman from HealthTap tells us more and more folks are using the Internet as their #1 health resource. Searching for health research increases as reliance on physicians decreases. Not necessarily a good thing, unless we can shore up the quality of the information people can find.

The e-Patient Bill of Rights

In one of the preconference sessions the day before I arrived, a group of e-Patients sat with some industry representatives to begin to spell out what they expect from their digital interactions. The e-Patient Bill of Rights was displayed prominently in the room for users to peruse. Patients want access to their own records, they want efficient communication methods, and they want more trustworthy information.

The Medical Community Reacts

Several presentations from physicians and medical communities showed that there are some progressive movements out there to engage with patients electronically. Julian Bond from the Detroit Medical Center and Ed Bennett from the University of Maryland Medical Center are both doing great things to engage with patients, physicians and medical students through social media channels. While the entire population of physicians have been slow to react to the notion of engaging with patients online, Dr. Kent Bottles and Dr. Bryan Vartabedian of 33charts.com both offered insight into the future of healthcare and the advances of some digitally-engaged physicians. Phil Bauman, a registered nurse from the Mayo Clinic’s center for Social Media discussed several approaches they have taken to pull medical professionals into social media spaces, including engaging in weekly online Twitter sessions under#RNchat and #MDchat.

Industry Lurches Forward

Chris Schroeder of Health Central opened his session asking, “Where are the pitchforks and torches?” – an apt question for everyone in the room. While all trends point to fully engaged e-patients, less-progressive physicians and industries have moved into the digital space at a snail’s pace, often blaming the litigious and regulatory environment. Chris theorizes that true healthcare reform with a strong digital component and a focus on patient empowerment won’t take place until patients scream loud enough.

So, how do we get there? Well, we start following the lead of more progressive organizations like:

• The Lance Armstrong Foundation, who announced the upcoming launch of their new iPad app for Cancer patients.
• Gilead Sciences, who discussed the importance of partnering with patient advocates when creating SpeakFromTheHeart.com in conjunction with Mended Hearts, a women’s heart health advocacy group
• Ignite Health, who discussed merging gaming concepts with health management tools
• Vgo Communications, who developed an internet-enabled robotic telepresence that allows patients to interact with their communities when they are otherwise unable to leave their homes or care centers

In a fascinating keynote, Harris Rosen from Rosen Hotels and Resorts described how he believed he could do better than what the insurance companies were offering. Today, his company is fully self-insured, covering thousands of lives for a fraction of what it would cost to go through a traditional insurance company. His approach isn’t without controversy (a strict anti-tobacco policy causes employees to undergo nicotine tests along with their drug tests), but it seems to be working.  In the very least, it should give health care professionals and providers pause when they gripe about the system. There are other models emerging.

Patients Are There and Are Waiting… Patiently

Jenni Prokopy of Chronicbabe.com and Kerri Sparling of SixUntilMe.com summarized the SXSH event the day before and kicked off their We Are All Patients campaign by stickering anyone who would let them. Jenni and Kerri are active E-patient advocates and good friends of Think Brownstone. Their campaign’s goal is to close the gap between patients and the healthcare system by reminding us that we all came into this world as patients and we’ll all leave it the same way. An atmosphere led by patients could put us all in a better position to get healthy.

Tell me you don't hum the Dr. Pepper theme song when you see this

While the event opened with the inspiring patient journey of Charity Tilleman-Dick, one of the final sessions was Kelly Young’s devastating struggle with Rheumatoid Arthritis. While Kelly struggled with finding the right specialists and securing the right treatments, she learned a great deal about her patient journey. Kelly manages RAWarrior.com to offer insight to patients with RA.

Kelly offered the following advice for the industry to take to heart as we all work to improve healthcare:

Patients are more involved in their own care than ever before. Taking their input in four areas is a critical component to improving healthcare:

• Patients could help create new methods to assess disease
• Patients could help design more effective clinical trials
• Patients could improve the focus and effectiveness of marketing efforts
• Patient-generated data could improve product inserts and warnings

Final Words

This post highlights only a third of the sessions over a two-day conference. Due to time limitations, I skipped a number of engaging speakers covering important topics. For me, the recurring theme throughout the event was that while things are slow to move, change is coming.

Experience Review: The BMW Guggenheim Lab

I’ve been told that I missed my calling as a theatre critic.  Most people walk out of shows and say, “Well that was nice.  Where should we go for dessert?”  Not me.  I’m that person who feels compelled to comment on every aspect of the experience, be it good or bad. E-ver-y-thing. That’s probably why I work here.

I was in Manhattan the other weekend and stopped by to check out the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a “mobile laboratory traveling around the world to inspire innovative ideas for urban life.”  While it might not be theatre, it is in fact a stage – with the singular purpose of inviting the audience up onto it to collectively brainstorm ideas for the improvement of urban life; a complex design problem if ever there was one.

So how did it fare? Here’s my official, unofficial review:

Um, Hello?

Entering from Houston street, the BMW Guggenheim Lab has a nice beer garden feel with trees and picnic tables and a chalkboard out front listing the day’s program offerings.  We happened to arrive while a program was underway and found ourselves awkwardly waffling outside, debating between “crashing” the program by walking in or turning around and leaving. Uncertainty led to a sense of unwelcome in a matter of seconds.

Walk into any good restaurant and someone’s there to greet you, make you feel welcome and inspire confidence that this is a place where you want to spend the next hour or so of your life, and you’re not going to get food poisoning.  There was no analogue here, compounded by the fact that as a visitor you aren’t entirely clear what the “lab” even is.  What kind of experience will it provide?  Will it be entertaining?  Are you going to learn anything?  Is anything going to be asked of you?  How long will it take?  Where should you go first?  Is it OK to just walk in?

We stood outside feeling mildly like peeping toms with these and other questions in our heads until I (seeing the glimmer of a blog post) mustered the courage to crash the party and walk in.

Emily at the BMW Guggenheim Lab (2nd From Right): "You keep using that word...I do not think it means what you think it means."

Climbing Over Chairs Is For Weddings

The act of walking in was, in itself, a feat.  The front of the space was loaded with long tables with people huddled around them all engrossed in discussions having something to do with maps and colored pens (we never learned what was going on there).  But to get in, we had to weave through this obstacle course of legs and bags and chairs to arrive at the only landmark I could make out as an official place for information: a podium, with a person standing at it.  Once I reached her, I mumbled something like, “Sorry… is this okay?” I felt like I was interrupting. Like I was in the way.

On the one hand, a crowded room of people earnestly talking about something is a really exciting thing to experience, but it fails if you don’t feel like there’s room metaphorically or even physically for you to join in.

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Next, we crossed a threshold that visually divides the space and entered a completely different realm.  It was open and airy, with people comfortably standing around what appeared to be a chessboard on the floor with sculptural game pieces on it.  It was like emerging from a stuffy, loud banquet room onto a cool veranda where the people you really want to spend time with are hanging out.

We were immediately engaged by a staff person inviting us to play a game.  The game is called Urbanology and you can play it on the Lab’s website.  But what works about it as a live experience is exactly what makes it lackluster as an online experience.  Briefly, Urbanology asks participants 10 yes/no questions on a variety of topics having to do with urban life.  People manning the game pieces (representing innovation, transportation, health, affordability, wealth, lifestyle, sustainability and livability) are asked to respond with their particular issue in mind.  For each question, the majority vote wins and the various game pieces either advance or fall back as a result of the vote.  Along the way, you’re shown the ratio of total votes in favor or against the question that your group just answered.   The game ends by likening the city you’ve created based on the final distribution of the issues on the board to real cities around the globe with similar issue prioritization.

"Urbanology" In Action

What was more fascinating than the game or its results (and why Urbanology as an online single-player game falls short) was how a group of strangers played it together.  Of the approximately 15 people participating, we had a very wide cross-section of ages, races and ethnicities and I’m certain a host of other variables not easily discernible on the surface.  Everyone quickly got into the game.  They offered explanations for their votes.  They asked questions of each other.  They tried to persuade others to see the issue from their perspective. They shared what is important to them.  They listened respectfully.  They engaged.  They gave thought to their position on issues they may have never considered before.  They learned that others, people they might assume were much like them, hold completely different opinions.  They laughed.  They agreed to disagree.  And they respected the majority vote as final. It was democracy in action – albeit a no-stakes version.  Nevertheless, it was a refreshing experience, and reminded me a heck of a lot of the way we design Think Sessions to work.

Unsolicited Design Advice

I can’t say that what I took away from Urbanology was the intended “lesson.” Given the stated purpose of the Lab, my guess is no.  But that’s the beauty of a stage after all, you put something up there and it’s up to the individual audience member to decide what, if anything, they’ll take away from it.

Ultimately, I’d say it was a worthwhile experience cooked up by organizations we admire (though you might want to revisit that website design, guys…) - but if I might make a suggestion: flip the spaces.  Use the game as the entry point, engaging people around the fun they might have spending more time with and learning from the strangers around them.  Then invite those who are hungry for more into the “serious table space” where they can roll up their sleeves, sketch ideas, build off of each other, and – without even being aware of it – participate in the early stages of what is the core of the design process: identifying problems, casting visions, observing and asking, and brainstorming solutions together – another important aspect of democracy in action.

Bastille Day Cheese Day, Episode Trois: Madame Fromage Gets It

For a bit of the history of Bastille Day Cheese Day, read Russ’ blog post from last year.

My Uncle Bernard and Aunt Nadine lived in a suburb of Paris within spitting distance of the Château de Versaille. Staying with them was always a treat. Whenever I visited, I always made it home in time for dinner to enjoy their company and a home-cooked meal. After dinner, Bernard would open the tupperware container that held a variety of cheeses, waft the scent into his face and declare, “Ahhhhh, comme les pieds des anges” which translates to “Ahhhhh, like the feet of angels.” If you were a guest at Think Brownstone this past Thursday, you know what Bernard was talking about. It was the third annual Bastille Day Cheese Day and the Think Space smelled like a locker room in heaven.

There are many signs that we threw a successful event: 1) the party lasted longer than we expected 2) many guests reached out afterwards to tell us not only that they had a good time, but that they learned something 3) while Brownstoners were cleaning up, everyone started to throw out new ideas for Bastille Day Cheese Day 2012.

Guests Mingle Before the Festivities Begin

So I spent some time this weekend reflecting on what made our quirky little event so successful. Here are a few of my thoughts on how we approached the event – not surprisingly, they are very similar to what we do every day at Think Brownstone:

Have a Goal

We never wanted Bastille Day Cheese Day to just be a party; it’s an experience like anything else we do. In this case, we apply our design process to something different from our normal routine, but the first step is always the same: clearly articulate what you want to accomplish. My personal goals for this event have always been to educate friends of Think Brownstone about artisan cheese and make sure that everyone has a great time doing it. Our old venue was getting in the way of some of that. So, this year we moved the event to the Think Space, bought some wine, and invited a guest speaker.

Bring in the Experts

I’m no stranger to cheese. I learned the difference between my bries and my blues by following my father into small cheese shops throughout my childhood, but I’m no expert. So, after two years of being the host of BDCD, I knew we needed to bring in the big guns. That’s why we reached out to the super-talented cheese blogger Tenaya Darlington, a.k.a Madame Fromage. Madame Fromage designed a four-course tasting menu focused on four styles of cheese. Each course paired a classic French with an American counterpart made in the same style. Tenaya worked with the cheesemongers at DiBruno Brothers to ensure we had the best selections at their peak of ripeness.

Madame Fromage and a Perfectly-Ripened Wedge of Humboldt Fog

Tenaya also provided us with the types of wine to pair with each course. Although a few of us at Think Brownstone have been known to enjoy a bottle of wine now and then, we wanted to do this right. So we reached out to a friend to help select the right pairings for each course. The only contribution I made to the selections was the addition of the Belgian ale Duvel, so our beer drinking friends had a good alternative to the bubbly that went with the first course.

Trust

When we first started planning this, I asked Carl, “What’s our budget?” His answer was at first frustrating, but I totally got it. He said, “Let’s do this right.” Every time I was about to commit to spend some money, I went back to him and said, “I want to do this, it’s going to cost this much.” Carl’s response was always something like, “That sounds right. Go for it.”

Carl knew that when Tenaya suggested sparkling wine with the first course, we weren’t going to buy a case of Dom Perignon at $150 per bottle, but we also weren’t going to buy a Andre Brut at $4.50. His direction was clear, “Do it right.” He didn’t want to constrain us and he knew that I was going to check back every once in a while to make sure we weren’t completely off base. Our biggest splurge was that case of Duvel (I was thrilled to see a few bottles left in the fridge for our post-yoga cocktail hour).

Phil Walks the Crowd Through the Wine Pairings

Working with this level of trust is liberating and something I often see clients craving from their leadership. Nobody wants to break the bank, and there are checks and balances in every organization to make sure that doesn’t happen. While being trusted is liberating, it also instills a sense of responsibility.

Have Fun Expanding Your Horizons

We talk about the value of fun all the time. BDCD is a great example of what we’re talking about. We get to show off our skills in designing experiences beyond the typical projects we do every day and we all get to have a great time doing it.

One of my favorite moments of the evening happened with the blue cheese course. Blue cheeses get a bad rap sometimes. When Tenaya noticed a group of people struggling with the Roquefort, she grabbed a bottle of Sauternes and walked them through the blues very carefully. They became fans. When it comes to designing a great cheese experience, Madame Fromage gets it.

We often hear from our friends and clients that Think Brownstone must be a great place to work. Not to toot our own horn too much, but they’re right. We love what we do, we love who we work with and I love the fact that it gives us the opportunity to apply our skills to something quirky, fun and delicious like BDCD.

Russ described the evening best in an email to the company on Friday morning: “BDCD is an awesome tradition… what started as another gentle ribbing of Phil’s Fabulous Frenchness has really become a celebration of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and genuine interest in different cultures and backgrounds…” The success of the evening was due largely to the contribution of Madame Fromage. If you like cheese, want to learn more about cheese or just like good food writing, read her blog (beginners start here) and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

If you want to recreate your own Bastille Day Cheese Day, download Tenaya’s tasting notes, take it to your local cheese shop and talk to the cheese mongers. They may not have everything in the list, but they will be able to suggest alternatives. For tips on how to lay out a beautiful cheese board, check out our BDCD flickr set. Oh, and if you couldn’t make it this year, hit us up around May 2012 when we start planning it again.

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Papa

Inspired by Russ’ post a few months ago about his dad, I’ve been thinking about the things I learned from my father.  This Father’s Day, I woke up early to run to the bakery and pick up some goodies for brunch, and this blog post started to form. I would never have time to document everything Papa has taught me through life or how I value them today, but two important lessons are below. The first is one of the secrets to a happy life and the second lives at the core of the design process.

Lesson #1: Leave No Baguette Untorn

Between 1974 and the early 80′s, we had a common Saturday morning routine. Around 7AM, Papa would stick his head in the bedroom my brother and I shared and whisper very loudly, “Paul, Philip, are you awake yet?” Although this sounded like a question, it actually meant, “Get up, get dressed, half the day has gone and there are things to do.” By 7:30, we were standing at the counter of the only French bakery in suburban Philadelphia, buying the weekend’s supply of baguettes and croissants. As a treat, we’d order 3 pain-au-chocolats. You may know them better as chocolate croissants.

Leave No Baguette Untorn

Back in the car, the pain-au-chocolats would disappear in a shower of pastry flakes. Once they were done, we would wait for my father to reach into the bag and tear off the end of one of the warm baguettes before we followed suit. Baguette + Car = Snack is a rule I follow to this day. My mother, my loving wife, and my brothers- and sisters-in-law have all learned to live with the fact that a Charron is incapable of delivering a stick of bread unharmed.

It is important to understand that Papa emigrated from France to the US in his late teens. Here, he went to college, joined the army, became a citizen, married Mom and they raised a family. His patriotism, like that of many who choose to be an American, runs deeper than many natural born Americans. I am grateful, however, that he never shed the culinary side of his upbringing. A true Frenchman knows that good bread is one of the secrets to happiness. After all, you never know when you’ll get hit by a bus…you may as well be eating good bread when it happens.

Lesson #2: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

After the bakery, we would often head to the appliance repair shop. Here we’d pick up a belt, motor, thermostat, or switch for Papa’s nemesis: the 1973 GE electric dryer.

It still lives: the bain of Papa's existence. Photo: courtesy Papa and his new Blackberry

Papa is an electrical engineer. More specifically, he worked as an aerospace engineer. Due to the top-secret nature of most of his work, I’ll never know the specifics of his job. I do know that he knew astronauts and he designed things that orbit the earth. Despite these accomplishments, he could never permanently repair that damn dryer.

So, over the course of a decade, I spent many weekends in the laundry room absorbing Papa’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. The repetition made it stick. Mr. Miagi had “Wax on, wax off.” Papa had, “Hold the flashlight.” Here’s how it worked:

Step 1 – Identification and Initial Diagnosis

Mom would say, “The dryer doesn’t work.” Papa would begin to diagnose the problem with a few questions: What isn’t happening? Does it still get hot? Is it spinning? Does it make a sound? As frustrating as this must have been for Mom, he started from the beginning. No question was too stupid. Once he had a general idea of the condition, we’d head to the laundry room to work on Step 2.

Step 2 – Analysis and Verification

We would pull the dryer away from the wall, disconnect the vent, unplug the beast, remove the service panel, test the suspect component with a voltmeter, remove the faulty part, and get a good night’s sleep. Even though you had a good idea for what the problem was – you had a bevy of tools to make sure you were fixing the right thing. At 8 years old, Papa was walking me through circuit diagrams. By 10, they kind of made sense. From 23 to 40, I have been drawing flowcharts on whiteboards to help clients improve their own processes.

Step 3 – Repair

After picking up the much-needed weekend necessities of bread and cheese, we’d buy the replacement parts and head home to make the repair. Installation is often the quickest part of the process.

Step 4 – Testing

After installation, we’d pull out the voltmeter to see if the circuit was behaving correctly. Then we’d partially reassemble the drier. Before closing up and reconnecting the vent  - we would plug it in to make sure it worked. If something still isn’t working – head back to Step 1. Testing is an incremental process. If you test at the very end and discover the problem persists or that you caused a new problem, it’s a lot more work to re-dis-assemble the thing. Test in stages and you waste less time, energy and frustration.

Design Is Problem Solving

This process and the rules around it are no different than what I do every day at work. Design is problem solving. Regardless of whether you’re fixing a dryer or helping a client solve a business challenge, the core of the process is universal. I know that the steps that put satellites in space and kept a dryer alive for almost forty years are going to help our clients.

My folks are moving soon and Papa promised that the dryer isn’t going with them. That’s OK. The dryer has paid its dues and the ol’ man deserves to sleep in on Saturdays.

CDC’s Zombie Apocalypse Goes Viral

It’s been a busy week at Think Brownstone and I’ve been trying to post something on the Think Blog. Although I have a backlog of topics to get to, every time I put hands to keyboard I had a bout of writer’s block…  until Brad mentioned the odd juxtaposition of the upcoming Rapture and the CDC’s blog post on preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse May 16th.

Since the original publication on the 16th, the CDC’s article has been going viral at a slow, lurching pace. It finally landed on the front page of CNN at 2:09 May 19th. Coincidentally, most scientists agree that’s about the same amount of time it would take the Solanum Virus to overtake the US Eastern Seaboard.

Braaaaaiiiinnnnsssstorming

I’m confident that the CDC’s blog post and the Rapture events are purely coincidental, but I wanted to take a moment to commend the CDC’s courage in publishing this story. The article is actually a well thought-out piece that uses the zombie apocalypse as a metaphor for emergency preparedness. As it turns out, most of what you need to do to prepare for a zombie attack is similar to what you would be doing if there were a hurricane or tornado warning.

If I had to guess how this article was approved for publication, I’d imagine some government stuffed shirt raised concern that this serious topic deserves a serious treatment. Turns out, the government has tried that approach before with mixed results. One or two wise folks in the room pointed out that the goal of the article was to raise awareness. What better way to raise awareness than to get attention with a tongue-in-cheek title and introduction?

Perhaps this mini-campaign came out of a technique we use at Think Brownstone when a team is having trouble generating new ideas: Reverse Brainstorming. In a reverse braaaiiinnnnssss storming session, the participants come up with ideas that would prevent them from achieving a goal or that would cause their problem state. Once you have a good list, brainstorm ways to prevent those things from happening. Poof – you now have a list of things to help achieve your original goal. It’s the reverse-reverse psychology of brainstorming methods and, among other things, it can help get you out of a rut.

The CDC only gets one chance to do something like this before it starts to look schlocky, and I think they aced it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to buy some duct tape, canned beans, a baseball bat, and some extra shotgun shells (’cause you know, rule #2 and all).

Standout Sessions At SXSW

After my post about the overall experience of SXSW Interactive (an experience that left some things to be desired), I wanted to also do a quick recap of the highpoints. Despite the hit-and-miss scorecard for the sessions I attended, there were a few real standouts and two earlier ones that I have some sketchnotes on to boot.

“The New Frontier Of Social Gaming”
Brian Reynolds of Zynga
One of my favorites, this session provided some great insight around the secrets of designing successful social games and was one of the few that had actual bullets that could be taken away and applied to your own projects and ideas. I tend to like sessions that are broadly interesting but also have some take-away potential for practical application – this fit the bill nicely.

Some SketchNotes From The Brian Reynolds Session

“How Many Rungs? Social Change & The Engagement Ladder”
George Weiner of Dosomething
Laura Cochran of Gannett
Patty Huber of Groupon
Tom Dawkins of Hopelab
Robert Rosenthal of Volunteermatch
Panels can be tough depending on how they’re run. Pitfalls at the opposite end of the spectrum would be a quick 5-10 minutes from each participant with a loosely unifying theme following by quick Q&A, or a bicker-fest right out of the gate with no common thread (like the one I attended with folks from big banks and “indie” banks sniping at each other for an hour). But this particular panel worked – it was more unified than most with some engaging participants with compelling ideas and points. There was a novel take on the typical engagement ladder model and good conversation around it, as well as some talk about companies like Zamzee and their unique engagement model. Definitely some folks and companies worth following.

SketchNotes From The Social Change Panel

“Cheaper, Better, Faster: Can Casual Games Save Education?”
Gary Goldberger of Fablevision
Kristy Bowden of D2D Fund
Scot Osterweil of MIT Education Arcade
Ward Tisdale of Advanced Micro Devices
Another panel, and one that suffered a bit from the time constraint – I think that panels have the potential to be extremely valuable, but when you’ve got one with 4-5 folks on it and it’s stuffed into an hour slot, it can be limiting. Though all of these participants did well, it was a real pleasure learning about the work Scot Osterweil has been doing and I think in particular he captured the imagination of the audience, based on the volume of questions aimed at him afterward.

That leads me to the Heath Track, and the two sessions I attended over there – both of which were outstanding and had me so engaged that I actually forgot to take notes.

“Your Computer Is The Next Wonder Drug”
Jonathan Richman of DoseOfDigital
A fascinating session on the future of the integration of technology in healthcare and in particular, how we’ll integrate this kind of technology into our own lives to personally track and monitor our health on a daily basis. But interestingly, there was also a lot of talk about the psychology around it all and how certain technologies may address curious habits humans have regarding proactive vs. reactive measures toward increasing health. I’ve found myself thinking about messages from this session since, and even quoting it to others – a sure sign that it hit the mark.

“Health Communities: Superheroes Who Need A Justice League”
Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe
I was already a fan of Jenni’s from seeing her at BlogWorld in Las Vegas back in November, but this session really hit home for me because it aligned very closely with some of the conversations we’ve been having around Think Brownstone on how to take action on the promise of “Social Health”. There’s a lot of talk about it, but few seem to take active steps toward doing it – not Jenni. She not only created a space to start walking the talk, but has been actively monitoring it to see what’s working and what isn’t, making adjustments and improvements, and distilling the learning so it can be replicated elsewhere for communities in need. A superhero in her own right!

Those were really the standout sessions for me, despite attending nearly double this amount while in Austin. But hey, this post is about accentuating the positive – and if SXSW beefs up the speaker list with ringers like these, we could be on the road to redemption. Well done, folks!

User Experience Off-Roadin’

I’d like to introduce myself: I’m Kristen, the newest member of Think Brownstone. On our website, I’ve been dubbed the “off-roader” of the team, an appropriate nickname given the perspective I bring with me: I have a long history in the learning industry, with expertise in the field of Learning Experience Design (LXD, or Instructional Design, as it is most commonly known). It’s not a typical skillset or background among Information Architects, Visual Designers, Human Factors Specialists, and others in the field of User Experience, so I’d like to make a second introduction: UXD, meet LXD.

I’ve written before about the critical intersection of UXD and LXD, in my role at a learning design firm. Then, it was an attempt to open the minds of learning designers to the relevance of UXD and the critical mistake of overlooking the user experience in designing learning experiences. Now I’d like to make a reciprocal introduction to UXDers.

How, exactly, is the learning design angle relevant to an Experience Design firm and those practicing in the various disciplines of UXD? To start, the two fields share common ground in Cognitive Science and Psychology. The same research about mental processes like categorization, perception, and memory that informs ideas and practices from a UXD perspective is much the same as that which informs andragogy/pedagogy from a learning design perspective.

In addition to that common ground, there are specific outputs that have crossed paths between the two disciplines. The learning industry has seen a major uptick in the use of serious games as a learning strategy, and gamification is a topic of much discussion in both Learning and User Experience Design. In fact, Karl Kapp offers some interesting commentary on the Sabastian Deterding’s Google Talk “Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right” and draws direct lines from his ideas to what learning designers have always done.

Many user experiences have an impact on learning, whether intentional or not. Take social media, for example – a common and critical component of many user experience designs. Opportunities for informal learning and the creation of personal learning networks (rooted in Connectivism) are some of the affordances offered by social media tools. These are important components of a holistic, supportive, and continuous learning experience. There have even been scientific studies that show a connection between the use of social media and stimulation of brain activity and our inclination to learn in a social setting. Having an understanding of the principles of learning design can take that social media app (and many other user experiences) even further to support a learning experience as well.

Those are just a few thoughts on what LXD can bring to the practice of UXD. As I get settled here at Think Brownstone, I’ll continue to explore the connections among our many disciplines and areas of study, and will share my thoughts and insights as I go.

(Design) Thinking About Bernard L. Brock

Years ago in graduate school I had the honor to study with Bernard L. Brock, a profound critic and theorist who was passionate about rhetorical criticism — the process and methods for conducting comprehensive and systematic analyses of persuasive communication. Dr. Brock cultivated, in me and countless other students, a deep appreciation and disciplined approach for analyzing rhetorical acts, simple to complex, to evaluate their “dramatic” impact on our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Many of his students, friends and colleagues referred to him as Bernie. But, despite the fact that I felt a personal connection and sincere appreciation for his scholarly devotion and guidance as my advisor, I referred to him as Dr. Brock.

Dr. Brock is the reason why I devoted most of my mid-twenties seeking to understand the symbolic actions that drove the fatal struggle between the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in Nigeria and the Royal Dutch Shell oil and gas company; or conducting a dramatistic analysis of news coverage surrounding the “500-year flood” (now one of many) to argue that the widespread use of the “unjust war” metaphor could ultimately impact our attitudes toward the environment; or applying experiential criticism as a lens to describe the  Grateful Dead concert experience and the profound lessons that Jerry and the band taught us about the power of community.

Some of Dr. Brock's Books & Those He Contributed To

Dr. Brock is the reason why I continue to share my passion for rhetorical criticism by mentoring students on the St. Joseph’s University speech team as they analyze and articulate answers to critical questions about The Onion’s deliberate use of political satire during the mournful days after 9/11; or David Horowitz’s controversial act to denounce reparations for slavery; or the socio-politico impact of the LA Gang Tours.

Dr. Brock would often repeat: Describe, Interpret, Evaluate… Describe, Interpret, Evaluate during our round table discussions about rhetorical criticism. As a lifetime scholar of Kenneth Burke, he favored the Burkeian approach as a theoretical framework through which to analyze communication as symbolic action. He believed that a dramatistic analysis of human motives and the forms of thought and expression, conveyed through language, could help us understand and respond strategically to the situations around us.

In many ways, Dr. Brock was a Design Thinker. Design is rhetoric – it is symbolic, motive-driven, representative and persuasive. It has consequences. It serves as a narrative of our social reality, is driven by our belief systems and spurs collective action. It demands our descriptive and interpretive judgments about its effectiveness so that we may respond accordingly. Rhetorical theories can serve as our lens and provide us with the language and structure to dig deeper and draw conclusions that go beyond the obvious – to make more informed decisions in the future based on a better understanding of its impact on the human condition.

Sadly, Dr. Brock passed away on March 31, 2006. It had been years since I last spoke to him and it wasn’t until years later when I had learned of his passing. I’ve thought of him often since my mid-twenties and always intended to express my sincere gratitude but life got in the way. Something I’ll always regret.

So, to Dr. Brock –thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your passion and your critical impulse. It was contagious and the experience design community can learn immensely from your thinking. I intend to help further that cause.

Inspired By The “Think Truck”

When was the last time a dump truck made you think?

I snapped this picture about 2 weeks ago and I have to admit, this dump truck, in all its classic soot and grime, has stuck with me. At first I spent some time thinking about the dump truck industry and how that truck in particular driving down route 263 fits into a global puzzle of more-than-epic proportions (perhaps you might be able to intuit my political leanings from this, just maybe). But what are we to do with all our garbage?

Then the Think truck made me wonder what might be boldly painted on the back of its fellow fleet-members.  When the dump trucks are all tucked in at night is it a modern version of the seven dwarfs with, “Question,” “Decide,” “Challenge,” “Do”, “Learn”, and “Change” snoring away beside lovable ‘ol “Think”?

Then I noticed something else, I’m reading the backs of cars and trucks all the time now.  Hunting for the gems in the rough.  I pull up close to make out the messages on the back of the snow- and salt-encrusted cars.  Today I was behind a Tastykake® truck that had a bumper sticker saying “This Truck Equipped with Tasty Breaks.”  I have to admit, I’m a total sucker for things that make me think, if only for a split second and no matter how cheesy– but think!  And then the light turned green and I drove off looking for more.

It’s sort of like an example of real-world Easter Eggs – those hidden messages and bits of fun embedded in digital designs – albeit maybe not as hidden. But like their digital counterparts, these little messages can make the routine a bit more interesting and engaging, while capitalizing on the “fun factor”. Though I’ve created this game myself across a wider system that may be oblivious to me as a target audience, it speaks to the human tendency to turn things into games, to explore, and to want to be surprised. Food for thought in our designs – digital and otherwise.

So here’s to the Think truck that gets it.  One well-placed, unexpected word has got me thinking and seeing the world with fresh eyes.  I hope Think’s fellow truck-dwarfs are out there somewhere cause I can’t wait to find myself behind another and to see where it takes me.