At the 2009 Service Design Network Conference in Madeira, STBY and Spur presented a paper together with Reach client T-Mobile on in particular how our use of video made our design research ‘stick’ throughout the process. In the paper we discuss the problem of the lost shoes. At the start of concept development processes we often do some kind of ethnographic research to be able to step into the shoes of the people we design for. But when the process develops, these shoes don’t fit anymore or get lost. We wondered: How can we keep walking in the shoes of our users throughout the entire design process?

Short video films recorded by the participants in our initial research proved to be an answer that not only worked surprisingly well to keep stories from the people we designed for at the centre of the design process and even the business case we had to develop, but these films were also very inspiring for the whole team. The paper explains how we benefitted from the films in detail.

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Yes, an old original iPhone car charger and…what’s this? The iPhone 3Gs cannot take the same charging accessories as the iPhone original!? So..basically the introduction of something new forces something old to be tossed out? Maybe there’s something that can be done with the old charger, but, I mean…really? Is this “Good Design” or adhering to those Green sensibilities that Apple is so often associated?

Think not.

Epic Fail. Epic, epic fail. I’m slack jawed. Shocking.

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Intrigued to see this promo by mobile telco Orange to bring mobile phone chargers that you pump by hand into concert venues for the summer. There’s an angle here about sustainability but I was most excited to see that the service providers are really thinking about the needs clearly, the idea that summer festivals bring groups of people together to interact and text, send pictures, and so on, and that when you’re in an environment like that, there’s no access to power. It may simply be a promotion but it’s a powerful acknowledgement of need and ties nicely to some of what we’re uncovering in our current Charging Up research project, especially as we begin to focus on key needs and heading into ideation.

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The device could help speed the spread of the so-called “smart grid,” a network of sensors and controls that could reduce energy consumption, enable the large-scale use of renewable energy, and save consumers money. Smart-grid projects will receive billions of dollars in funding under the stimulus bill signed into law in February. Tendril’s device could be used by utilities to introduce variable-pricing schemes that discourage the use of electricity during times of peak demand, reducing the need for the most expensive and most polluting power plants. Eventually it could be used to help the electricity grid accommodate more electricity from variable sources of renewable electricity, such as wind and solar. Read more..

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A recent column of Graeme Philipson on energy consumption in the IT industry raised a lot of interest. It said that this year might be the year of green IT – the year corporate computer users become aware not only of the energy consumption of their IT function, but of the important role IT has to play in reducing the carbon footprint of the whole organisation. Read more..

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When traveling from Paris to the Alps by highspeed train this winter we found this sticker above our seats.

It looked like a shy mobile phone to me at first, but it’s true meaning became clear when I needed to visit the toilets later on and came across the yellow sticker.

It was above a cosy bench in the corridor between carriages. A special corner for making calls! So this is how to do it:

The only tricky bit is that your cosy bench is doubling as a baby change unit. I’m not sure the babies will stand in line until you finish your call. If not, close your nose!

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