This past weekend I had the pleasure of stumbling into a Soho gallery featuring the photography of Sue Kwon.
The show captures twenty years of pre-Giuliani New York in beautiful black and white photography. There’s an authenticity to Kwon’s work that immediately pulls you in and connects you with her subjects. You really get the feeling of being there, ready to walk up and join in the scene.
The show coincides with the release of her book, aptly titled “Only in New York”.
The opening reception is tonight 9/16 - 6-9pm: Clic Gallery
424 Broome Street, NYC
That’s what Jeff Jarvis’s new book aims to answer - not just for tech companies, but in many other industries.
In the above video he gives quick examples of this, such as crowd-sourcing automotive design and restaurant menus.
I have to say, those have to be the most un-compelling, and frankly, ill-advised ways to look at your business that he could have stated.
There’s a widely used axiom (source unknown), that goes like this…
If you asked a group of Porsche owners what they wanted they’d tell you things like, “smoother ride, more trunk space, more leg room”
They just designed a Volvo.
While crowd-sourcing can provide critical input, it’s not the formula for brand differentiation.
It’s also not universally loved within Google.
Former Google employee and Lead Designer, Doug Bowman explained his departure from Google on his blog...
“Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.”
Putting aside Doug’s interests here, it’s clear that Google has removed the human element, the emotion, out of the design process. Now, maybe this works for a company like Google that creates things for the masses, but there are many many businesses that don’t. And even some that do, such as Apple, wouldn’t be who they are if they democratized their product creation.
For certain companies, and for specific applications, crowd-sourcing can be a powerful tool. It’s working for Google. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the new paradigm, period.
I typically don’t slam a book before I read it. And I’m sure that there’s more to glean from Google than democratized design. But between this video and the Amazon user reviews, I’m having second thoughts about picking this one up.
Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief at Wired, and author of The Long Tail has recently released his new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price.
With the publishing industry currently imploding, “free” is very controversial these days. Malcolm Gladwell slammed Free last month in The New Yorker.
To put his money where his mouth is, Anderson released the entire book as a free audiobook available on iTunes. While his book cites compelling examples of how “free” translates into profits, I’m not sure how that will work for him here. Probably from enough chaps like me writing about it and linking to Amazon for the real book.
I’m about half-way through and haven’t hit anything revelatory. But maybe that’s because I’ve been listening in on this conversation for some time.
Stumbled into the fashion boutique Public School in Jersey City a few weeks ago and discovered photographer Josh Cheuse. In the 80’s Cheuse captured the music scene in New York, including the early days of hip-hop.
A lot of these photos are printed in his book Rockers Galore. Public School apparently has the last 20 in print - as well as large prints available for an amazing $300.
The show ends this Thursday.
When flipping through the book my wife noticed that her cousin, artist Michael Joo, was photographed alongside his friend Damien Hirst. Looks like artists are rockers too.
Here’s a interview with Cheuse created for the launch of the book.
After following a trail of retweets Mario Cavalli showed up on my radar. Wow, how come I’ve never heard of this guy before?
Based in the UK, Mario creates visual texturescapes that are quite mesmerizing.
In 2001 he founded Colony Media, which represents a group of directors that seem to share a similar artistic philosophy. The group includes Dave McKean, whom I’ve been a big fan of since his days in comics. It’s interesting to see how his work has evolved with the added dimensions of motion and sound.
Side note: Years ago when McKean did some work for my magazine, I sent him some of the fonts that I created. They continue to show up in his work from time to time, which is always fun for me to discover.
