We have a lot of runners at Egg. A couple of us have experimented with the “freerunning” movement. In short, minimalist footwear to produce close-to-natural footstrike. While still within the minority, this freerunning movement is gaining traction (sorry, had to do it) and is proving to be a cost-of-entry innovation for most mainstream footwear companies. New Balance, Adidas and Nike have joined the race (there we go again).

These races against similar products inevitably produce a battle of differentiation (messaging, colorways, sponsors). Ultimately, the winner will harness an element of distinction its competition can’t match. I’ll propose Nike’s getting there with the below video. Always attentive to its ownership of the convergence between athletics and pop culture, Nike produced a video with the help of a couple Japanese DJ’s (not going to pretend I have the street cred to elaborate) that while absurd, highlighted the core attribute of its Nike Free shoe (next-to-natural flexibility) in a way that resonates with runners and peaks the interest of those profitable fashion-forward sneakerfreaks.

This is a challenge to rethink the way we communicate our most important attributes. Re-imagine how our targets experience the benefits we shout from the rooftops. Turn a simple function into art and in one down-beat, beat down the competition.

Ok this is really cool.

I always thought Dyson would be one of those one-hit-wonder kind of guys who had a great revolutionary idea that changed a category that no one had thought about in a long time.  I figured he would have this splash and retreat to count his millions on the tropical island of his choice.  But he has done it again folks, this time re-inventing the humble fan.

So for the twist on this one…no blades…sublime.  He now goes on the list of people I want to have a drink with before I die.  To be able to re-think the mundane and turn it into inspired innovation (which sells at a premium, mind you) is truly a gift.

I love the Evian couture bottle program. With the proliferation of bottled water brands that span the market from packaged tap water to luxury designer water, there is a natural comparison between bottled water and fashion.

Fashion sells textiles at extreme markup through design. Doesn’t Voss, Bling2O, Antipodes and other ‘Fine Waters’ do the same thing? Evian is clearly keeping a foot in this trend.

Here are some of the Evian designs so far. The latest one by Paul Smith is definitely my favorite.

Our Chicago office founder and MD recently turned 39 again, and in honor of his birthday, his loyal troops wanted to find a cool little t-shirt store and print up a customized tee (”39 4Eva”). It’s not too hard in Chicago (or any big city) to find these niche type boutiques, and none really seemed to stand out until they found the T-Shirt Deli.

One thing that inspires us at Egg is finding brands that really pay attention to their story. In order to be able to do that, they have to be obsessive about the details. The T-Shirt Deli’s story is about mimicking the best delis, offering t-shirt aficionados as many fonts as cheeses as well as the promise of something fresh and totally unique.

There are two elements of the story that they deliver so well.  One virtual, one real world.

First their T-Shirts are served up wrapped sugmarine/hoagie/hero style in butcher’s paper with the packaging held together with ironically contradictory stickers like “lean ham and kosher meat”. Great little details that show they care. Second, on their website the navigation looks like an old plastic deli board complete with miscolored letters and their mailing list invitation is a deli “take a ticket” stub. Nice little touches like this make a difference and suggest that if they care enough about these details, then their product will be similarly high quality.

I am totally inspired by the groundbreaking force-to-be-reckoned-with of social media it what is proving to be pivotal in the historic events in Iran this week.

It has catapulted a technology that I was previously entirely cynical about into the realms of the truly revolutionary with average Iranian citizens able to get their personal experiences out to the world despite media blackouts and internet censorship with simple micro-blogging.

Hooray for a media coming of age and finding it’s worth. I am brimming with ideas to incorporate Twitter methodologies into our work!

I heard about Le Whif on the radio recently and then saw it picked up by coolhunting earlier this month.  What sounds like a really cool innovation, feels like a shocking tease, which would ultimately be a wholly unsatisfactory experience. In essence, Le Whif is a “chocolate inhaler” (but’ I’m a chocolate inhaler, I hear you say…), which shoots micro fine chocolate molecules into your mouth to give you the sensation/flavor of eating chocolate without the calories of actually doing so. These molecules are small enough to prevent choking, which is nice.

According to its inventors, Le Whif is based on the idea that we’re eating smaller and smaller quantities at shorter and shorter intervals and this is the natural extension of that…food that you can breathe in, rather than chew and savor. First, I think the founding insight is flawed…we’re not eating smaller quantities, our portions are too big, so this doesn’t fit with the trend, but runs counter to it (which in this case is OK). However, where it misses the mark most, is that when you reduce portion size, you must increase intensity of experience to replace the volume loss. Le Whif cuts the enjoyment both ways, so what you’re left with is just chocolate air.  I’d guess that after one toot on Le Whif, you’d be gagging for a big ol bar of chocolate, the ultimate tease.

We often work in the world of packaging, looking for inspiration to create something new and dramatic. This is my favorite recent example of something truly breakthrough. This packaging is designed by Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese designer known for the simplicity of his work. Inspired by the basic maxim: “making people happy through industrial design”, Fukasawa is known for designing to the “essence” of the object in question. Everything non-essential is stripped away. Here’s a nice bit in the NYT Magazine about him if you want to read more.

Back in the 70s BMW commissioned some of the hottest artists of the day (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg etc) to paint a range of their cars. Check them all out here. These cars are going on display again at Grand Central Station in New York, for a couple of weeks only (the installation closes on April 6th).  While Warhol may have elevated everyday brands with his work (Campbell’s Soup Can etc), it seems more appropriate that a brand like BMW is re-imaged in this way. Actually using the cars as part of the art rather than portraying them on canvas, makes a difference, but I think it’s the fact that BMW were collaborating with this creation that elevates their part in the show. Campbell’s Soup didn’t ask Warhol to paint their cans. I wonder what would be a decent equivalent today (apart from Apple).

For those of you who are as passionate about green living as I am, you must check out ecopop.com.  The website was launched in 2006 by Chad Rea who saw a real need to create a virtual world where edgy companies can put their real-life, innovative ideas on display.  Ranging from food and beverage to transportation and travel, ecopop.com works as a starting point for the public (i.e., you) to view, discuss and even launch their own ideas. 

Ecopop adds fuel to the fire of inspiration, with its end goal being the generation of new ways to “greenify” our world.  As the site puts it, “The world could use better ideas… to you and all of your crazy, sexy, cool, world-changing, profit-making, do-gooding ideas, we welcome you to ecopop.com.  Inspire at will.”

One of my favorite ideas has to be the reinvention of the business card.  Based on the Cradle to Cradle mentality (if you haven’t read it, read it… immediately), companies are beginning to design business cards that move past the traditional ways of recycled paper and into new, unchartered waters of, yes you guessed it, sustainability.  Because let’s be honest, where do half of your business cards really end up? 

Companies are turning their basic card stock business cards into other, more constructive devices.  For instance, why hand out something as boring as a paper business card, when you can give your client a handy-dandy moist towelette with your business information conveniently printed on the eco-friendly wrapper?  Yes, a little unconventional, but definitely buzz-worthy.  Another great example is the wildflowers card.  That’s right – there are actual seeds planted in the business card paper.  So regardless of where the card ends up, you can rest easy knowing your card is not harming the environment.

The possibilities are endless.  Got a better idea?  Visit ecopop.com.

High gas prices have inspired (compelled?) yet another innovation:  changing the design of a gallon of milk so that it is cheaper to ship and more environmentally friendly (more containers can be packed into a truck).  Added benefits include fresher milk and lower prices.  Still, there seem to be too many consumer complaints: spills more frequently, hard for kids to handle, and loss of the beloved “spout.”  Sam’s Club is even offering demonstrations (complete with cookies!) to try and alleviate consumer frustration.

I wonder if the industrial design team spent enough time with the consumer – watching and listening in homes, during dinner, after school – and incorporating consumer feedback into their design from the beginning.  Indeed, it seems an incredible opportunity to not only increase package efficiency but, while you’re in there already redesigning the line, to surprise and delight your consumer with easier to open, easier to pour, and fresher milk.  Interestingly, it seems taking the time upfront to understand the consumer perspective seems particularly important for such a nostalgic item.  It would be a shame for this environmentally-friendly redesign to fail because it ignored the needs of those who always make the final call: consumers.

I wouldn’t say I do a lot of window shopping.  And I certainly don’t get stopped in my tracks very often when I do.  So it’s kind of hard to explain what happened to me last week… Channeling my inner-five-year-old spirit, I came across a toy that I just had to have right then and there!  And where the five-year-old me would have had to create an impassioned speech to my father or mother before we walked out of the store, I had the joy of pulling out a credit card while saying to myself “yes, you can now afford this toy… particularly because you haven’t bought yourself a child’s toy in about 30 years.”  So what happened?  I’d say a couple of things have come together to make the automoblox idea particularly compelling:

1.  Great design can transcend age and gender.  (My four-year-old daughter loves this car as much as I do.)

2.  Human insight is always more powerful than “consumer” insight.  All people like to create, even if they’re not very good at it.  This toy encourages creation by inviting you take it apart and conceive a new configuration. 

3.  People connect with stories more than products.  The designer’s story is prominently played up in the packaging… a frustrated “real car” designer who wanted to reinvent a category.

4.  Material matters.  There’s nothing “cheap” about this product… from the solid wood to gorgeous, molded resin… it’s just a delight to hold in the hand.

So how come this sort of experience doesn’t happen more often?  Why aren’t there more products out there that follow these simple truths?  Maybe they’re out there and I’m missing them.  But this was definitely a once-in-a-decade kind of experience for me.  (Or maybe I’m overstating it… my Father’s Day gift this year is a new Arbor blunt-nose longboard.  Sweeeeeeet!)

I loved last Thursday’s article in the New York Times entitled, “The Slow Life Picks Up Speed.”  A friend sent it to me with the message: “this has Megan written all over it…” – I thought at first she was referring to my hectic life in ostensibly “balanced” Boulder, Colorado, but upon reading the article discovered something much closer to my personal passions.   The article talks about a corollary movement to Slow Food, something called Slow Design.  Here, objects (furniture, clothing, homes) that are purposefully created and consumed are celebrated.  Thoughtful design, from the practical to the conceptual, is commended, while action/fabrication with little regards to long-term consequence (e.g., too-big houses in quick-rise developments) is viewed with concern.   Like the unique sustenance and satisfaction that is discovered in preparing and eating a meal made, thoughtfully, from scratch (see Julie’s post “An Experiment for the New Year”), there is unique joy to be found in objects whose construction occurred with a long-term perspective on the impact of all constituents in mind.  As the design think tank and website SlowLab.com states, “Slowness is not time-based. It doesn't refer to how long it takes to make or do something, but rather describes the individual's elevated state of awareness in the process of creation, the quality of its tangible outcomes and a richer experience for the community it engages.”  Such a cool thing to keep in mind as we strive to understand the consumer’s relationship with the many products/brands she touches, purchases, employs, and comes to trust and believe in during her day-to-day life.