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In a meeting in Mountain View the other day someone said "would it pass Larry's toothbrush test?".
Larry Page likes to judge new products and services by asking this question. It means can you imagine this being used twice a day, all over the world. It's a nice piece of rhetoric.
It reminded me of Iain's idea to start a company that only made things that were the same size as the square in an Expedit. Screen, speakers, coffee makers etc. That was a good idea.
Went to see Michael Craig-Martin at the Serpentine. Very good. Very short. Exhibitions seem to be getting shorter.
Great colours. I've always been rubbish at colours so for a while now I've been saving pictures and taking photos of good colours and making colour palettes in illustrator when I get the chance.
Speaking at O'Reilly Design. Might be nice to meet up. Inbox me. I think it's going to rain.
I went to the Wired Retail conference late last year.
Some observations.
Drones are a huge distraction
Over half the presentations mentioned drones or drone delivery. This feels like a huge distraction to me. We're a long way off from that working in towns and cities (maybe not rural areas). Policy makers are struggling with self-driving cars, which is a much simpler problem set than drone delivery in built up areas.
This is way more interesting anyway.
Everyone referred to real shops as "offline".
Offline and online. That's it. That was the clear view of the new digital businesses.
This is a talent war and resources are scarce
Ocado were very impressive as you'd expect. They have 600 developers and they are recruiting a similar number this year. Likewise Zalando. Zalando? You might not have heard of them. Started in 2008 now has a $3billion turnover. Get hiring now.
Platforms, platforms, platforms
Ocado - our business is a big pipe that gets things to your home
Zalano - ""The platforms in China were so connected," Gentz said. "So they’re already able to deliver consumer experiences that are far beyond what we get in Europe." More here
.
Roshnee a designer I met in Mumbai six years ago has made a taxi highlighting to men the issues women face travelling in India.
The BBC World Service interviewed her about it too.
Important stuff. Have a listen.
More details here.
Bought my Dad a digital photo frame
Neil and his listeners have nominated me for Post of the Month. Glenn, Kieran, Javier, Nicky, David, Mark, Gemma and Marcus vote for me!
I think the responsive layout works better when the pictures are massive. It gives the impression of controlled line length within the constraints of Typepad's design settings.
Anyway. Good morning Glenn, Kieran, Javier, Nicky, David, Mark, Gemma and Marcus.
This was recommended to me over Christmas. The one on the left about English Architecture, not the one on the right about Dulwich. Although the Dulwich Estate have a decent track record when it comes to modernist housing, we'll leave that to another time.
Space, Hope, and Brutalism: English Architecture, 1945-1975 is massive, heavy and fascinating.
I found some history of the Co-op which was relevant to my interests.
Remarkable to think that in the 50's the Co-op Insurance Boss went on architecture tours in the US to seek inspiration.
And fascinating to learn that the furniture and decoration were designed by Design Research Unit.
Here's a bad photo of the back of that building. Must get myself a proper tour.
There is more interesting stuff about a Co-op in Sheffield, but I'll save that for another post.
Design Research Unit, they keep popping up, don't they?
Anyway.
I've spent all Christmas fiddling with my blog layout, which you should never do, to get it to work on a phone. Which it does now.
It just looks rubbish everywhere else.
All I really want is the simplest possible layout with one column, one typeface and one size, one colour and the odd bit of bold. Fully responsive and with decent line lengths on big screens.
But I'm stuck on Typepad and I don't think anyone works at Typepad anymore. But then I don't think anyone reads this anymore just Russell and Famous Rob.
Anyway, this is proper blogging. It's like it's 2008 all over again.
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