From The Head Of Zeus Jones

I’ve been reading a lot about wabi-sabi lately, and in it I have found a window into the art of experience design. Wabi-sabi is described as “the artistic mouthpiece of the Zen movement.” It is a conceptual worldview and aesthetic ideal. Just as experience design seeks to address human needs in their diversity, frailty, and flaws, wabi-sabi acknowledges the impermanence and imperfection of the natural world as an aesthetic ideal. It transmits feelings of transience and flux. In contrast to the Greek ideals of perfect order and harmony which permeate our Western culture, wabi-sabi embodies simplicity and asymmetry. It provides “space for the mental collaboration of the audience.”

This space, combined with the transitory nature of wabi-sabi, resonates with the idea of adaptive interfaces that change along with the user and her environment. The wabi-sabi approach seeks to minimize the ego and any personal branding, focusing rather on drawing out the natural qualities of the piece. So it is with great experience design, where the user is pleasantly immersed in an action and free to discard any conscious thoughts of the interface. Just as wabi-sabi style tea cups encourage a more intimate communion with the experience of drinking the tea, the user of a well designed experience should be liberated from the mechanisms of interaction.

The form of wabi-sabi expression is drawn from the “properties of the material used and the function it provides,” and this holds equally true for creating usable design. The more I learn about wabi-sabi, the more I feel it is another excellent directional filter for experience design. What do you think?

Sources:
Juniper, Andrew. Wabi Sabi:The Japanese Art of Impermanence.
Koren, Leonard. Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers.

Technorati Tags: design, interaction, UX, wabi-sabi

The upgrade bug missed us completely here at Zeus Jones and we are all sticking with our 3G iphones, but we know that some of our loyal readers have probably succumbed to the allure of new Apple hardware and are proud owners of spanking new iPhones.

One thing we’ve noticed is that there aren’t any new features is that the iPhone 3GS looks disappointingly similar to the the iPhone 3G. No one can really tell that you’ve spent several hundred dollars more on your phone than people who still only have the 3G. So to rectify that situation, one of our designers, Celeste, has created some official Zeus Jones iPhone Bling which will mark you as a person of unusual discernment and taste.

Enjoy.

(These were designed specifically for the iPhone 3GS, but we believe they’ll also run on the 3G too – sssshhh.)

Technorati Tags: artwork, Backgrounds, iphone, Zeus Jones

It’s been busy here lately, not much time to put together a coherent thought let alone a blog post. Too much stuff swirling around in my head. However, the one thing I’ve been meaning to write a bit about was our recent co-presentation with Microsoft on operations as marketing.

The format was a 1-1/2 hour presentation from us and MS to some of their clients here in the Twin Cities. We kicked it off with a short deck that explains the concept of operations as marketing, then we handed over to Microsoft for an discussion of technologies that enable this kind of marketing and finally we finished with some case studies of work we’ve (ZJ and Microsoft) done to show how it can work in practice (sorry I can’t share the deck at the moment, maybe later). All in all we thought the presentation was a success. We had some good discussion afterwards and heard that a lot of the attendees rated it very highly. (Importantly, we have some good follow-ups too!)

What was most interesting though was while we had rehearsed a bit beforehand, we didn’t really know what Microsoft was going to say (nor they us), and to be honest, we were a bit nervous about that. However, when it finally came down to it, our talks were surprisingly consistent, because while operations as marketing is a great marketing story it’s an even better technology story.

As you know, the idea behind operations as marketing is to find some internal aspect of a company’s existing business, something that they’re already doing, that can be modified and made transparent in order to also serve as marketing. Because customers generally respond better to businesses who are better run, the best way to run your business can also be the best way to market your business. This is the definition that makes sense to a business or marketing person, but to a technology person, the way they’d translate that is that it’s about exposing one or more of your internal, back-end data feeds to the public.

For example the brilliant Hertz Freerider example that Beata shared, is enabled by exposing inventory data to the public. Dell Swarm is enabled by exposing sourcing data to the public.

As you can imagine, this is a particularly great story for a company like Microsoft to tell as its software powers the back-office of most of the world’s largest companies these days. In addition, products like Sharepoint are tailor-made for providing controlled access to vital back-end business data. What’s interesting about this is that this makes Microsoft a better partner for many agencies like us than traditional front-end players like Adobe or even web-based companies like Google!

I’ve been saying this over and over to a bunch of their people but I don’t get the sense they find it as interesting as I do. What do you think? Am I nuts here?

Technorati Tags: marketing, operations as marketing, technology, Zeus Jones

I was recently asked by Salih Kucukaga to do an interview with Grafik Tasarim, a Turkish design magazine. AND the issue is finally out! So I thought I’d share the translated version here. Click image above for larger view. Enjoy!
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Q&A
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Firstly, can you tell me about yourself for GT readers? Who is Celeste Prevost?
I’m a designer/illustrator currently living in Minneapolis working at Zeus Jones. I’m originally from Colorado where I attended the Art Institute of Colorado and received my BFA in graphic design. Had a couple internships, freelanced at a few studios in the Denver area and was later offered a position at Zeus Jones. I spend the majority of my free time consumed by the internet and if not by the internet then I’m off working on some idea or collaborating with friends and/or my husband Rob.

You have so many brilliant works in your portfolio. Clean and strong use of typography. How did you get interested in typography?
Signage has always inspired me and to this day is some of my favorite typography. I also have this strange obsession with reading labels… constantly and often the same labels multiple times, not sure how that relates. I also love hand-drawn type it has so much personality which I really enjoy.

What is the effect of typography on a design product? How do you decide the right typography when you are working on a project?
What I find most interesting is how people pick the fonts they use and what they represent to them. I don’t feel like I’m too particular about the type that I use in a project I usually stick with my favorites and use the one that “feels right”, I like to keep it simple. If I have something in mind when starting a project I will jump right into designing a custom type treatment or taking an existing font and tweaking it to my liking.

You work for Zeus Jones. It’s a quite interesting design agency. Especially the website is definitely worth to visit. Great example of how a next generation agency website to be. Tell me about Zeus Jones, when did you start to working? What do you do there?
Zeus Jones is a strategy based company who goal is to help modernize business with smart solutions. Design is then a facility to help push/deliver the ideas that require a design solution. I started at Zeus Jones a little over a year ago as a designer after a short stint as a freelancer in Denver, Colorado. I do a little bit of everything at ZJ but mostly I just make our ideas come to life whether through design or just helping direct the finished product.

What kind of projects have you been recently working on?
Lately I have been working on packaging and collateral materials for Thymes (a Minneapolis-based bath and body company). I’ve also been busy with icon work for a variety of projects. A recent favorite of mine, is a poster I created for a local art show titled Artcrank, a show themed around bikes.

Do you have some design fields that you would prefer to work?
I enjoy identity, and just about anything that requires some level of illustration – especially iconography.

How do you start a project? What is your design process?
My process is pretty loose. I usually first cruise my resources for imagery, patterns, etc that inspire a certain mood that I want. I then sketch, but generally very loosely. And then I jump right into design and try a few ideas out. I also like to get the ideas in front of someone else, see what ideas/thoughts they have which helps bring in new perspectives into my work that I hadn’t thought of.

What’s the story of your recent project Hand of God Font?
Hand of God was created as a fun gift to give away during the holidays. Inspired by the ‘Zeus’ of Zeus Jones to represent Zeus throwing lightning bolts. It was also an opportunity for me to try my hand at creating a font which I hadn’t done prior.

There are some personal designs on your website too. How often do you make personal designs?
As often as I can. I like to participate in local art events and/or work freelance projects in my spare time. Keeps me busy, gives me a break from the mundane and is generally the work that I like to do the most.

Your domain is Designisfine. What’s the story behind it? And what makes a design fine.
It’s catchy! It started as a joke because it rhymed so well. It stuck and so I began to use it as a portfolio moniker. What makes a design ‘fine’ for me? Generally something that is very simple, and clever and illustrative.

Do you have any designers that you have been recently following?
I like so many! Here are my current favorites most of which lean heavily on the illustration side:
1. Arlo
2. A Friend of Mine
3. Experimental Jetset
4. Eighthourday
5. James Joyce
6. Lance Wyman

What you know about Turkish graphic design and designers?
I unfortunately know very little about Turkish graphic design. Send me some links!

And your final words, what would you like to say to Turkish graphic designers?
Get your work out there. Don’t fuss too much about making it perfect. Love what you do.

Technorati Tags: celeste prevost, designisfine, grafik tasarim

Traditional brand marketing is an effort to build perception around a desired business outcome (usually shareholder value). But the audience isn’t that interested in whether or not you make your numbers this quarter. In fact, every dollar spent on creating perception is a dollar that could have been spent improving the lives of your customers.

It’s the quality of the products, services, interactions with an organization that builds an authentic brand character. If this sounds radical, or if you’re still using marketing to try and manipulate perception, you are walking on thin ice. For your consumers and observers, there is no such thing as a “brand experience,” only a human experience which may be associated with a brand. The meaning of the interactions themselves must be addressed.

Take, for example, the notorious private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. Their stated mission is “empowering a talented collection of seasoned professionals from a wide range of disciplines, directing them to develop cost efficient and operationally effective solutions for the US Government and other clientele.” But after employees were accused of using excessive force resulting in the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians, the company lost their U.S. government contract to operate in Iraq. The response? Blackwater rebranded itself under the new moniker Xe, an identity that Wired’s Noah Shachtman aptly calls “inscrutable and opaque.” Yet the lawsuits continue – families of seven more Iraqi civilians have filed suit against the company just this week.

Curated perception has long been a free-for-all land grab aimed squarely at focusing the attention of a market. Because information is now instantly and freely shared, those brands with the largest gaps between fabricated perception (traditional marketing) and the authentic character of their actions (products, services, human interactions) will be the quickest to sputter and implode. This is true no matter what new platforms are employed to manipulate awareness, or what tools we use to examine them. Brand experience is an illusion, human experience is real. The problem is not perception, but rather the consequences of human behavior. The solution is found through trying to change perception, but through creating more constructive human interactions and positive, authentic experiences.

Shakespeare’s message is more true today than ever – “the truth will out.”