Rothacker Reviews

Beyond Trend

Beyond Trend by Matt Mattus

Beyond Trend is laced with a passion for design.  It is sooooo inspiring!  Like little kids grow up and want to be police and firemen, after reading Matt's book (three times now), I want to be a designer!  If I were involved in an association for designers, I'd make Beyond Trend required reading for members.  If I owned a company that used designers and caught them reading Beyond Trend, I'd promote them.  Okay, that last one's a stretch.  But their value in my eyes sure would increase.

The business world today is paying attention to the wink of design leaders.  "Pssst guys!  Get on board.  Good design will capture your customer's heart and soul."  Whether you have companies that truly get the benefits of design or companies led by CEO's who have a vague idea of what design is: "Bob, I think there is something to this design thing.  Create a design department.  Stick it between the mailroom and accounting."...the field is opening wide up.  While more people are filling creative roles, the creative work-output is growing exponentially and growing exponentially vanilla.  An overabundance of design and an overabundance of sameness.  Matt:

...it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell a Target TV ad from a Sears ad.

Moving beyond trend is Matt's answer to his own question: "In an over-designed world, how does a designer design?"  How one gets there is what this book is all about.

Basically, Matt's book is written to and for designers, those in the trenches trying to crank out new and creative work.  But he sneaks in a chapter devoted to their bosses.  It is pure gold.  In very clear and concise terms, Matt delineates between the two styles of companies I reference above. 

There is one really strong theme that courses through Matt's work.  It is the foundation and framework for moving beyond trend.  It begins with a passion for design.  And it ends with the ability to explain your output.  What informed us?  Why did it?  And where did this influence come from?  Matt asks:

How can you problem solve, or create "new," or "get it" (and help others "get it") if you never did in the first place?

The ability of a designer to move beyond trend is directly related to the work that they put in between the passion part and the explanation part.  Matt guides the student of design here with a carefully created map on how to get there and how to become a culture creator at the same time.

Matt designed this book himself and infuses brilliant pictures, illustration and art to help tell his story. 

I smoked-n-signed Beyond Trend.  It is one of the best books I've ever read!

"Jeepers dave, that's a pretty strong statement!"

You know why I feel so strongly about this book?  Because I think it's not only a recipe for designers to elevate their game above status-quo, but it will also help other creatives like artists and writers!!

Design: A Vehicle's Speedometer

I must pause here even before I begin.  I cannot thank Dan Pink enough for opening my mind to the world of design with his book, A Whole New Mind.

I am a pretty-partial-to-aesthetics kinda guy.  But I am also a frolicking-fan-to-function kinda guy too.  When looking through the design lens of function at stuff in the world, I try to ask, what if, why and why not?  I say try because to try lets me open the door to the hamster wheel and climb outside.  More often than not I am reading about others doing this fabulously better than me.  That's cool however, I'm not proud.  I'd rather learn.

Back to trying.  When you begin to ask the questions, your mind begins to build new pathways.  It's like cracking a small hole in a vacuum and knowledge and ideas rush in. 

Here is a brilliant example by Tom Vanderbilt.  Tom takes the common speedometer, asks these and similar questions and creates a wondrous vacuum!

Btw, A Whole New Mind was written over three years ago and today it is ranking # 130 at Amazon.  Amazing!

Why Listen to dave?

About dave:  From the tag line underneath my site's name you can see I write reviews on books, businesses and folks.  You can also see that I am neither a celebrity, leader or expert.  Why then should you read my stuff and take action on my recommendations?

I like to think that I have an eye and ear for people who are sincere, authentic and want to succeed. I am attracted to people or things who travel in the opposite direction of status-quo.  In a world of change, status-quo was yesterday.  And in a world of change, status-quo is a greased rope that survivors do not trust.  The opposite?  Those are people who are constantly learning and evolving.  They walk about in the world eyes wide open.  They observe, they listen, they synthesize and then they produce (or try to with all of their might), stuff that makes the world a better place.

As a dad, husband and Baby Boomer, I care very deeply about this:  I passionately want the younger generations to succeed and the older generation to be valued!  To know and understand me then, is to know the lens in which I view the world. 

Design: Whipped Creme & Long Hair

What can whipped creme do to long hair to produce a stunning look?  Well, I am fairly certain that one must first have the kind of hair that you can do something with - like Cory Kennedy.

As an appreciator of advertising and marketing, I actually subject myself to more advertisements than the average human being.  Over the years, I have built up an above average ad-force field.  To penetrate that force field and take hold of my attention, something must stand out.  Cory Kennedy's hair stands out.

Styles, trends and fashions come and go.  There's just something about long hair on women that for me, has always been attractive.  I do not think long hair looks good on all women*, but on some it does.

The other amazing thing about whipped creme and hair here, is the look that whipped creme can effect.  An Internet search of Ms. Kennedy reveals just what whipped creme can do.  Unbelievable!

If you performed that Internet search, you will quickly found out that Cory is a bit of a wild child.  A very young wild child.  While my intent is to try and not judge here, I can't help but to think if Cory were my daughter I wouldn't be too happy. Personal stuff aside, Cory Kennedy (click on play video diary to see the hair style I am referring to) is evidence that whipped creme has the potential to produce whiplash.

*Rosemary, my wife,has absolutely gorgeous hair and it isn't long.

Designers: How to Create

Ms. Designer, in a world of sameness, how can your work stand out; how can it be different?  According to Matt Mattus, Senior Director/Creative - Intellectual Development Property at Hasbro, you need to become a culture creator.

Matt recently wrote an article in the December isssue of HOW magazine titled: Become a Cultural Creator.  There is no available link to the article at this time, but I will say, this one article is worth the price of the magazine, which is available at most chain bookstores. 

To wet your appetite, I'll list Matt's top ten ways to become a cultural creator:

Have endless curiosity

Do research

Develop intellect

Be respectful

Gravitate to excellence

Develop expertise

Be interested in validity

Create fearlessly

Respect rarity

Be original

If as a designer, you would like people to connect with the meaning of your work, which is a layer below asthetics, you should embrace Matt's guidelines!

According to Wikipedia the word culture comes from the latin word cultura, stemming from the word colere, and means to cultivate.

If you look at Matt's list, every single item takes hold of the verb cultivate and envelops it.  Take for instance curiosity.  If as a designer, you do not ooze curiosity, you are going through the motions.  As a matter of fact, you should lay your body down in a puddle so those who pack their lives to the brim with curiosity don't have to get their feet wet. To be curious is to take the gas cap off of the tank.  To cultivate is to fill er up...with the discovery of new things. 

With each different picture taken; with each different experienced lived; with each different entry in your design journal, you are nurturing, growing, improving, tending and fostering the grist for your creative mill. 

Even if someone were able to stoke their creative mill with exactly the same stuff as yours, the product would never be the same.  You know why...there isn't another you.  (my wife would leave the planet if there was another me :)  What comes out will always be different.  The key however, is to get the stuff into your mill and then give yourself a chance to be different.

Okay, put down your keyboard and slowly back away from the computer.  Good.  Now go out and pick up a copy of this magazine today!

Here is a little inexpensive something to help you in the process of cultivating:

That's Different: Bench Barrow

From Core77 Design Blog ---

 

Bench to go - pure ingenuity!  From Rogier Martens.

Jack's Notebook

Jack's Notebook by Gregg Fraley

Do you remember when the World Series games were played in the afternoon?  Do you know what a young teenage boy did with a hollowed out book......on one of those October afternoons......while at school?  Why listened to the ballgame of course.  I, errrrr he had to trick the teachers into thinking he was studying.

Do you know what Gregg Fraley does by writing Jack's Notebook?  He spins a tale about Jack, a young man who is tired of the daily grind.  He wants a job that has meaning, that makes him jump out of bed and look forward to the day ahead.  Jack joins forces with Dreadlocks girl - Molly, and together they set forth upon a page-turning adventure in search of a new job for Jack.  One key to Jack's success is that he carries a notebook around and journals the journey.  Mr. Fraley however, does something else.  He tricks us. Just when we think we're being held spellbound by an interesting story, we're really being taught how to creatively solve problems.

CPS (Creative Problem Solving) was developed by master creative guru Alex Osborn and now retired professor, Dr. Sidney J. Parnes.  Gregg weaves his own version of CPS throughout Jack's adventure.  He also provides a reference guide to the process in the back of the book.

Gregg says to not get too up tight about processes and methods.  He breaks it down into basics.  Make a list and then make a choice.  One part about this I really, really like.  Do not judge your ideas while making your list.  This will stifle creativity and imagination.  Instead just get the ideas out of your head. I have found that once you've created your list, it's best to let it simmer and brew for a day before beginning to make choices.

This book was Smoked-n-Signed!

Pick up a copy of Jack's Notebook, pick up a notebook for yourself --- and let the journey begin!

Trends: Trendwatching

Do you have unopened e-mail newsletters in your inbox?

"Well, errrr, yeah dave, I do."

And those are the ones that you allow into your inbox, aren't they?

"Yeah man, I just don't have time to read them.  But you know, I do pick one or two off every so often."

Do you use Google's GMail?

"daaaaave, I see where you're going with this...."

I let approximately ten e-mail newsletters through my front gate each week and a half dozen more per month.  I read one.  I need to prune two or three from this list. For the balance though, I lean on Google's search capability in my GMail account. 

"dave, that sounds good on paper dude, but how often do you really bring up old e-mail newsletters?"

Not often.  But let me tell you about how a person at a company that sends these newsletters broke through the din of white noise marketing and helped me out.  Michell Zappa, a trend analyst at Trendwatching.com, sent me an e-mail.  Her company noticed that I hadn't opened up their Trend Briefing monthly newsletter for quite a while.  Her concern was two-fold.  One, perhaps my junk mail folder was scarfing up the briefings and I wasn't getting any, and two, perhaps I really didn't want to receive them anymore.  In that case I could opt out and they wouldn't bother me anymore.

Now, of course Michell didn't personally send me this e-mail.  But the thought and gesture pegged out the dave "that's different" meter.  It was so Amazonian.  It meant enough for me to reply back and thank them for their concern.  Janna van Hasselt, from client services did personally reply back to me and thanked me for my note.

Guess what.  A few days later I opened the latest briefing and read it.  Man am I  glad that I did!  If you appreciate knowing what makes consumers do what they do, the pulse of business today, the various economy-related cultures and design (because their briefing is of most excellent design), then sign up for a Trend Briefing of your own today!

Tampa: Marketing Solutions

One more day at work for the MAN is one more day too many!  It's time to take your education and work experiences and put them to work - for You, Inc.  It's time to start your own business.

You hook up with your lawyer and accountant buddies.  They give you some good advice.  You launch.  You startup.  It's official.  It really is now You, Inc.  Cool!

The first day you hang out your shingle.  Boy did that feel good!  You get busy doing your thing.  It sure does feel good!  But then a stark reality begins to set in.  How am I going to get customers to my door?  You drive up and down Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and and a second cold, stark reality sets in.  There are four other businesses just like yours!  Yipes!  What do you do??

You call Jason and Jennelle.  That's what you do.  Right now. Jason Wilson and Jennelle Diaz Sherman own Full Circle Marketing Solutions.  Jason and Jennelle are two of the most passionate people I've ever met.  Their desire to help business owners just like you is off the charts. 

What I really like about these guys is that they're not going to storm into your business and tell you what to do.  No, they are going to sit down and talk with you.  They are going to learn what you and your business is all about.  They will ask questions.  You will sense their concern.  And you will feel their energy.  And you will begin to envision customers lining up at your door.  You will.  But they won't, if you don't contact them.  Contact them today!

 

 

Do You Matter?

Do You Matter? by Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery with Russ Hall

Why yes Virginia, you do!

Does your company matter?

Well Virginia, we're not sure about that!

Here is what this book is all about.  I've read the book twice and the authors do a nice, succinct job in describing it themselves.

I have already read somewhere someone whining about the author's excessive use of Apple as an example.  It did not bother me one bit.  As a matter of fact, it helps to enhance the book's main point. 

Here is a visual that I had twice through Do You Matter?  Robert and Stewart standing in front of an auditorium filled with CEO's from the world's top companies presenting a seminar on what the book is about.  The CEO's then leave the seminar, book in hand.  Back at their office, they shelve the book and go back to business as usual. 

It certainly is not that Robert and Stewart's message isn't compelling enough.  Delivered on the great white horse of Design powerhouse Pentagram, it's actually quite piercing.  The problem is that the CEO's minds are shelled in titanium.

If you work for a company that does not holistically embrace this concept of design, (read: titanium shelled cranium), I suggest you use this book as a What Color is Your Parachute? guide to escape.

The greatest value in my opinion, of Do You Matter? can be found in applying the question to You, Inc.  It could be You as a writer, You as a student, You as a worker, You as a sole proprietor or You as a mom.  In addition to the customer experience, do you matter to those with whom you interact?  Can you put yourself in their shoes?  Do you provide value?  If so, consistently?  In a consistent manner?

You can have a lot of fun using the complete, holistic design that the lads talk about here, to build a better sparkling You, Inc.  Tom would be most proud! 

This book was smoked-n-signed.  ...and I am recommending it to anyone who will listen!