dechezette

06 July 09

It Might Get Loud

Back in my previous life I was an axeman. I won’t get into it just now why I put down my axe, but I’m happy to say that recently I’ve picked it back up. For a time, I quite seriously pursued music as a career.

In my early days of being in a band, guitar virtuosos reigned. At the time it was all about the flare — the faster and flashier the guitar solos, the better. It was hard not to get caught up in it all. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t really good at it. I lacked the chops.

Rather than let that get me down, I intuitively worked within my limitations. This led to hours and hours of experimentation with tone and effects. These limitation pushed me to create a unique and signature sound, and ultimately find my voice.

So it’s no surprise that the documentary It Might Get Loud has me pretty darn excited. White Stripes guitarist Jack White pushes The Edge and Jimmy Page to reveal the secrets behind some of the classic sounds they’ve managed to birth out of their gear.

While Jimmy Page ranks up there as one of the original virtuosos, The Edge certainly doesn’t. He’s consistently downplayed his chops in interviews. I would say that he was the guitarist that I most related to back in my day.

For me, those days were my earliest lessons of transforming limitations into innovations. The results were encouraging and indelible.
Adrian Belew was another one of my guitar effect heroes. Check out some of the bizarre tones he creates with King Crimson.

04 June 09

Great Ideas Come From Great Insights

I have to be honest, I’ve never looked at Coors marketing as innovative. But after watching this video I found myself impressed with their philosophy and standards around creating great ideas.

Patrick Edson, MillerCoors VP of Marketing Innovation, talks about how the these great ideas come from the 20% of insights that few have. The insights that are about understanding beyond the obvious and about what’s not being said by your customers.

Good stuff.

27 May 09

Design Agency Continuum Tells Us How They Find the Right Idea

What is Design Strategy? Why are ideas more important than insights?

Design and innovation consultants Continuum have put together this entertaining and informative 11 minute video to give you a look into their process and philosophy.

The real challenge lay less in the technical problem but often…in trying to solve the human problem. It’s about understanding their needs and their aspirations and meeting them in some way. So, we are serving them. But sometimes their needs are to be surprised and delighted, and they can’t tell us how to surprise and delight them. That has to come from us, as creative people in our profession.

via Core77

19 May 09

The Gospel According to The Office

I snapped this one in front of the church around the corner from my home. I applaud the inventiveness here.

04 May 09

Moto’s Scalable Multi-Touch

Last week Moto released a video and some specs on their new scalable multi-touch technology. Unlike Microsoft’s Surface technology, Moto’s Sensing Screen doesn’t require a bulking projection set up — it’s thin and can scale up to 50”. They’re also claiming that it’s less expensive to produce as well. Pretty exciting stuff.

More info is on Moto’s website.