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"With their fresh ideas and unique perspectives, they [creative people] can be, and often are, the reason for breakthrough products and new ways of working, and even the impetus for whole new businesses [...] they are different from you and me, the thinking goes".

Read Jack and Suzy Welch's article on BusinessWeek.

"According to a survey, 77 per cent of Canadians believe more diversity in work teams leads to more innovation, and 79 per cent of those surveyed say that Canada's cultural diversity will give companies a competitive advantage in a global economy in the future".

"The poll of 1,000 employees and managers conducted by Leger Marketing for the Xerox Research Centre of Canada found that there is great consistency of opinion across the country on the value of diversity".

Read Wallace Immen's article on theglobeandmail.com

Having creative people around and forming diverse teams appear to be two required ingredients for corporations to deliver innovative products and business practices. Both are meant to generate a variety of viewpoints increasing the chances for new ideas to surface, leapfrogging and setting products apart from their competitors.

Most references to "creatives" imply specific individual contributors whose problem solving skills make a difference, while diversity implies a collaborative effort, meaning teamwork combining different areas of expertise (e.g. cross-functional teams) as well as people representing a given range of "personas" based on professional experience, gender, age, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, all of which is expected to deliver out-of-the-box thinking.

Another post will follow. I would like to further develop some thoughts about the benefits and the risks when involving creatives and diverse teams and whether in-house resources would be enough or if, in fact, outside talent would be needed on a project basis.

In the meantime, please feel free to share your views either by leaving a comment on this blog or by sending me an email. Thanks!

José de Francisco  Chicago, 27 September 07  

“The Top 10″ at the time of uploading this post: [1] Design Concepts: Future Car. [2] Venture Capital Investment in Web 2.0. [3] Intellectual Property And Innovation In Virtual Worlds. [4] Project Ergofuturo: ErgoTrans (1991 Product Concept). [5] "Visual Futurist: The Art & Life Of Syd Mead". [6] Picnic' 07: Amsterdam's Innovation Festival. [7] Mobile Blogging (6): Use Your Phone As A 3G Modem. [8] Mobile Applications (1). [9] Virtual Ventures = Prediction Markets + Crowdsourcing. [10] Google's Street Smart: "360°Streetscapes"

Elite skate brand SUPREME has announced that their collaborative skate decks with Japanese Pop Art icon TAKASHI MURAKAMI and his protégé and fellow KaiKai Kiki collective member, the iconically-named MR., will go on sale in their new online shop on September and will be available in the US only. (Sorry, but all sold out).

 Collection of Sites Providing Free Web Icons and Buttons
12. February 2007, 12:49 UhrVikas Sah
HUGE COLLECTION OF RESOURCES HERE-DIG DEEP
http://tinyurl.com/2uaz23

clipped from www.technacular.com Free, Open Source icon set Around 245 icons for use in web applications. Released under Creative Commons license. All the images are gif files. They are categorized under “Alerts and color codes”, “Buttons”, “Documents and folders”, “Misc Metaphors and objects”, “Text Editor, “User and groups”

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Now playing: Prince - U Got The Look
via FoxyTunes

5inch.com is a neat site where you can get custom designed blank CDs and DVDRs. The site is part of the graphic design firm, Segura Inc. My favourite designs are Sakura and Cracked.

Flat Color, a Seattle-based art products site, has just opened their internet "doors" for business. They've got a pretty good starting point, too, since they've teamed up with Seattle artist Parskid for their first product release. They're offering the traditional Giclée prints (can't go wrong there) as well as a drinking glass and a pocket mirror (these are gaining popularity lately), all featuring some nice work from Parskid. Of course, all these items are a limited edition (everything is these days) and will soon be replaced with goods from another artist. If you're into Parskid's stuff like we are (it's a pretty serious crush), then you know what to do and when to do it. Keep an eye on Flat Color to see what else they've got up their sleeves. www.flatcolor.com and www.parskid.com

L'avevo già visto ma non ricordo di averlo mai postato: questo concetto di design 360 che vi studia non solo il prodotto ma anche il suo imballaggio e l'eventuale riutilizzo... ad esempio una tv ha bisogno di un involucro in polistirene per il trasporto che nel 99,999999% dei casi esaurisce la sua vita quando la tv viene estratta... ecco allora rendiamo l'imballaggio, sostegno diamo all'involucro una nuova vita sorrettiva uniamo alla congruenza plastica il plasticismo statico etc

Packing a sweet punch, this downloadable 560 pge (2 part) magazine looks great everytime. I'm still trying to take in reading a 280 page pdf! Go download some. Best not hit print with your home bubble jet mind! 

   

Acid Cloud

Designer: herr bert

I've come across the cutest custom button crafts lately. I had no idea they could be so charming and versatile, especially the fabric covered variety. Here are a few of my favorites, plus I've included two good tutorial links below:

Paper clips (top) and magnets and pushpins from Shim + Sons

The photos above are from Shim+Sons. The button crafts are available in their "shoppe" along with some nicely designed paper goods. I also really enjoy their blog and was pleasantly surprised that they were also Portland-based.

"Sienna Sunrise" ponytail holders (top) and headband from Gazzu

"Magical Forest" hair pins (top) and "Trip to the zoo" bookmarks by Meeting Streets Designs

Here are links to two really good tutorials, one for fabric covered thumbtacks at How About Orange and a fabric covered button tutorial at Little Thing by Magda K. Both of these ladies are really talented and do amazing work.

Come ogni venerdi appuntamento con i siti premiati dal portale Favourite Website Awards.

Oggi vi segnalo Air Jordan xx2

Il sito è strutturato in un ambiente a 360° in cui le sagome sono i nostri pulsanti, con i quali potremo visualizzare i relativi video di azioni da NBA.

Inoltre tramite il trascinamento del mouse potremo vedere cosa circoda il giocatore. Continue Reading »