Interaction Design Studio Profile: Ideo, Inc.
In a society that has slowly shifted toward constant innovation, product performance has become an expectation. Consumer demand can be largely based on a product’s design, practicality, and efficiency. To plan the implementation of innovation, many firms will turn to an interaction design studio to aid in their objective. Ideo, Inc. (known as Ideo) is widely known as a jack-of-all trades within the industry of change and design management. Between the company’s extensive service offerings and extremely knowledgeable staff, Ideo has been in BusinessWeek’s 25 most innovative companies.
Ideo was founded in 1991, and was formed through the merger of three smaller design firms. Continually growing with their diverse portfolio of services, Ideo began making a name for itself through the design and development of many familiar and well-known products, including Apple, Inc’s first Mouse for the Macintosh Computer. Design expert Tim Brown leads current executive management as the firm’s CEO. Additionally, Tim Brown has gained substantial recognition for his two books published on design thinking, as well as the numerous blogs, seminars and lectures he conducts. Mr. Brown has been responsible for leading the company to large gains and significant profitability.
Ideo is such a unique company because they really vary on what kinds of design consulting they offer. Their services include but are not limited to product design, interactive products and interfaces as well as corporate structure and strategic planning frameworks (which falls under management consulting). For the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on their contracted project for PNC Bank. This project was created in partnership with Ideo to implement the popular “Virtual Wallet” Banking Experience. PNC Bank wanted to expand and grow with a specific focus on “Generation Y”. With technology constantly evolving and younger Americans growing up with these products, online banking has been identified as a cultural norm. Ideo performed extensive market research to help identify the current and potentially future trends of the target market. With social networking and constant “connectivity” becoming more and more acceptable, Ideo knew that Generation-Y would have a need for “integration through embedded technology”. This kind of technology provides seamless and constant access to relevant financial information. Additional features include a mobile phone application (to allow anytime access), as well as a budgeting feature that allows an accountholder to place a certain amount of money in a restricted sub-account that will help those not good at budgeting become more fiscally responsible.
By helping PNC create a visually pleasing, market-specific online interface, Ideo was able to expand traditional banking into the competitive interactive market. Ideo changes the general perception of “design”. The company believes that every project they work on requires extensive numerical, statistical, and verified data that will help structure the product. Each project needs a focus and design objectives that will help the design team create an effective platform. All of Ideo’s design concepts are rigorously tested and challenged, which is another reason why the company is one of the industry’s leaders.
Works Cited
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/design-strategy.html
http://www.hoovers.com
http://www.ideo.com/
http://www.ideo.com/work/item/virtual-wallet-interactive-banking-experience/
http://www.ted.com/speakers/tim_brown.html
Thursday, May 13, 2010
102b paper
Funny Garbage Design Studio
Upon receiving the requirements for this assignment, I researched all four firms to see what company would be the most interesting to write about. After reading about all of the firms’ growth and success, Funny Garbage stuck out the most. Their website was bright and not overwhelming, with informal and almost “warm” friendly blurbs about their processes and their values. The pictures for the employees are light, casual, and modern. Established over 15 years ago, Funny Garbage has created a very positive reputation surrounding their product and service offerings.
The company has four main sectors that they are involved in: Entertainment, Websites, Applications, and Digital Business. All of these divisions are different, however fundamentally are very similar. Funny Garbage is a multiple-award winning firm, and it is because of their strategic approach at creating a project. Unlike traditional web design firms, Funny Garbage focuses on market demand as well as the psychology of perception and aesthetics. Their management style is also quite unique, because their design team is able to create and implement concepts without being stifled. This combination of an expert team and a new approach to design concepts has produced groundbreaking platforms. The company’s about us states it best:
‘Although Funny Garbage is best known in the industry for its award-winning graphic design, we have a world-class technology department that has been instrumental in establishing the company’s reputation. Design and technology are inseparable processes at Funny Garbage. We design for functionality, economy and scalability first, and then make a site look compelling and feel engaging.”
One project that stood out to me was their collaboration with Japanese Company Dentsu. The website Willing-to-try.com was created in 1999, and has won numerous awards (Flash Film Festival 2000 Award, ID Magazine Interactive Media Design Awards 2000, and New Media Invision 1999 Award (Best of Show). The website looks simplistic, with the flat linear drawings. At first glance, I didn’t notice anything particularly innovative. However after playing around on the site for almost half an hour, I was intrigued by the ease of use and the sophisticated interactive system the website has.
Dentsu wanted to create a program that would be captivating, simplistic, and educationally stimulating. Funny Garbage provided all of the research and concepts surrounding the project, presenting a new way to incorporate active learning into everyday life. The platform of the website involves user interaction; the visitor chooses certain words that most associates with the simple abstract shapes shown on the screen. These words then change the image to produce a different abstract scenario. The concept behind this simple website truly is innovative and groundbreaking, especially because this came out in 1999! The Internet has evolved and morphed so drastically over the past ten years, that a website like Willing-to-try.com is well beyond the technology at the time. Funny Garbage has continued to create groundbreaking media and graphic design, and has continued to use a very methodical and logical approach towards their concepts. This unique business model has and will continue to ensure success for Funny Garbage in the years to come.
Works Cited
www.funnygarbage.com
www.willing-to-try.com
www.hoovers.com
Upon receiving the requirements for this assignment, I researched all four firms to see what company would be the most interesting to write about. After reading about all of the firms’ growth and success, Funny Garbage stuck out the most. Their website was bright and not overwhelming, with informal and almost “warm” friendly blurbs about their processes and their values. The pictures for the employees are light, casual, and modern. Established over 15 years ago, Funny Garbage has created a very positive reputation surrounding their product and service offerings.
The company has four main sectors that they are involved in: Entertainment, Websites, Applications, and Digital Business. All of these divisions are different, however fundamentally are very similar. Funny Garbage is a multiple-award winning firm, and it is because of their strategic approach at creating a project. Unlike traditional web design firms, Funny Garbage focuses on market demand as well as the psychology of perception and aesthetics. Their management style is also quite unique, because their design team is able to create and implement concepts without being stifled. This combination of an expert team and a new approach to design concepts has produced groundbreaking platforms. The company’s about us states it best:
‘Although Funny Garbage is best known in the industry for its award-winning graphic design, we have a world-class technology department that has been instrumental in establishing the company’s reputation. Design and technology are inseparable processes at Funny Garbage. We design for functionality, economy and scalability first, and then make a site look compelling and feel engaging.”
One project that stood out to me was their collaboration with Japanese Company Dentsu. The website Willing-to-try.com was created in 1999, and has won numerous awards (Flash Film Festival 2000 Award, ID Magazine Interactive Media Design Awards 2000, and New Media Invision 1999 Award (Best of Show). The website looks simplistic, with the flat linear drawings. At first glance, I didn’t notice anything particularly innovative. However after playing around on the site for almost half an hour, I was intrigued by the ease of use and the sophisticated interactive system the website has.
Dentsu wanted to create a program that would be captivating, simplistic, and educationally stimulating. Funny Garbage provided all of the research and concepts surrounding the project, presenting a new way to incorporate active learning into everyday life. The platform of the website involves user interaction; the visitor chooses certain words that most associates with the simple abstract shapes shown on the screen. These words then change the image to produce a different abstract scenario. The concept behind this simple website truly is innovative and groundbreaking, especially because this came out in 1999! The Internet has evolved and morphed so drastically over the past ten years, that a website like Willing-to-try.com is well beyond the technology at the time. Funny Garbage has continued to create groundbreaking media and graphic design, and has continued to use a very methodical and logical approach towards their concepts. This unique business model has and will continue to ensure success for Funny Garbage in the years to come.
Works Cited
www.funnygarbage.com
www.willing-to-try.com
www.hoovers.com
cool animation
our aspirations for our next animation:
http://koikoikoi.com/2010/02/davidopes-mesmerizing-animations/
"What does the client do (and can they say it concisely)?
What doesn't the client do, or do well (especially in respect to competitors)?
What differentiates the client from their competitors?
You need a client to sell you on their product, but you also need to identify their shortcomings, which are key for seeing how to position a client. For example, finding out that your client has higher prices and more fragile products, but better warranties and customer service, might lead to different design decisions. Looking at what they don't do also focuses the brainstorming work later on."
What doesn't the client do, or do well (especially in respect to competitors)?
What differentiates the client from their competitors?
You need a client to sell you on their product, but you also need to identify their shortcomings, which are key for seeing how to position a client. For example, finding out that your client has higher prices and more fragile products, but better warranties and customer service, might lead to different design decisions. Looking at what they don't do also focuses the brainstorming work later on."
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