Business Plans Don’t Work Nine out of ten business start-ups, and one in six business transformations will confirm it. Learning from the failures of the past, it becomes clear that we have been missing a key step in the execution of our business plans. That key step is the discovery of what works. In this three part series, I’ll look at the way in which business plans lead to failure, the way in which business model innovation can help, and the mindset that is needed to succeed in discovering a new path towards business success. What’s Wrong with a Business Plan? The business plan is widely accepted as the starting point for most major business initiatives, whether they are launching a new start-up, creating a new product line, or transforming existing operations. Our first problem is with the business plan itself. As an execution document, it is hardly surprising that 9 out of 10 new businesses will fail. What are the Risks of Getting it Wrong? image credit: freelanceswitch.com
How Textures Can Make a Huge Difference in Your Design The amount of options, directions, and aesthetic approaches you can choose from simply deciding which textures to use in your web design is mind boggling. Texture is one of the most versatile elements of web design being used currently, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be experimenting with texture in your designs. Sure, not every design benefits from even the most subtle texture, but you might be surprised how much texture can bring a design to life. What Is Texture? Texture is an interesting element of web design in that most texture is created as an illusion. It’s also important to note the relationship between patterns and texture. Subtle Textures Some of the best uses of texture in web design simply add the tiniest layer of complexity to a shade or gradient. Take, for example, LogoGala’s very simple but effective use of subtle texture in their web design. Another subtle but awesome use of texture lies in the design of W+K Studio website. Loud Textures Conclusion
Frog Design: 3 Things Wile E. Coyote Teaches Us About Creative Intelligence Bruce Nussbaum was right to close the book on Design Thinking. It is time to move on. Business never really got the message. There's a notion that you find out early in life whether you are creative. Creativity is generally viewed as an inherent quality within a person; there's a notion that you find out early in life whether you are creative or not. Putting HR in the Driver's Seat Why do I say that? The underlying message coming from Richard Florida, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, and others is that creativity should be viewed as a critical resource that is undervalued within most organizations and thus, represents a huge area for growth in the 21st century (hence the "Human Potential" referred to in the title). Misconceptions about Creativity The frog team spent two days injecting a series of games into the conference to inspire collaboration among participants and to challenge this assumption. 1. You would probably argue that Wile E.' 2. 3. Wile E. Group Intelligence
The Close Relationship Between Gestalt Principles and Design Inspiration and creativity always follow recognizable patterns which come from culture and social trends to be effective. To works well design has to consider not just the single element but how the totality is perceived. That’s how we can define the Gestalt Theory, a matter of perception. Visual elements are characterized form deep relationship which any good designer has to know and understand. We are going to see what is the Gestalt School is, which are its rules, what those said and why they are so important for designers. The Importance of the Psychology Approach Psychology is an important aspect of the design work because design is all about emotion and perception from the target. Gestalt Principles can really help in focusing attention and organizing contents in an effective way. They are not merely a mathematic scheme to follow but a way to reorganize contents to transform familiar object arranging them in unfamiliar views. What is the Gestalt Theory Perception Proximity Similarity
Why the Business Case is Killing Innovation Most business cases outline a problem, some potential solutions, and an investment strategy in the hope of gaining approval. Unfortunately this no longer works. Innovation is a Process We know that innovation is more than just a single activity involving a group of ‘creatives’ getting together and inventing wacky but wonderful ideas. Understand the problemClarify your vision of successDevelop the right questionCreate lots of ideasDevelop the most promising ideas into solutionsExperimentLaunch (this is where you should use a business case) For the sharp eyed amongst you, you may have noticed that we do still use a business case. Separate Ideas from Solutions It seems obvious that you should spend time up front defining the problem, understanding what a successful solution would look like (or at least eh benefits it will bring) and making sure you are asking the right question. But why separate ideation from solution building? This is an important shift in focus.
The United States of Design 2011 "Design Thinking" Isn't a Miracle Cure, but Here's How It Helps [This is a follow-up to Helen's previous article on design thinking, The Seven Deadly Sins That Choke Out Innovation ? Ed.] Recently, Kevin McCullagh of British product strategy consultancy, Plan organized a two-day event for executives to wrap their heads around the concept of design thinking?and, in particular, to think about how they might go about implementing it within their own organization. Kevin invited me along to give an overview of some of the things I've been thinking recently. Ladies and gentlemen, let me break this to you gently. Now before you throw down your coffee cups and storm out in disgust, let me explain that I? First, some context: Until July of 2010, I was the editor of innovation and design at Bloomberg BusinessWeek. I joined the magazine back in 2006, which was a time when design thinking was really beginning to take hold as a concept. Eager onlookers were left baffled about replicating this success. Suddenly, designers had a problem on their hands.
How To Do Design Thinking — What I Learned Building… David Kelley: The first step in the Design Thinking process is what we call the Understand phase: if you’re going to work in a certain area you really need to talk to experts. We’re generalists, we’re expert at process but if you really want to do something, if you’re going to design a new medical device, you have to really immerse yourself in it. So in the first step you end up studying the state of the art, going and talking to experts, doing research to bring yourself up to speed. You’d be really surprised how quickly you can get up to speed, even in a highly technical area, just from doing a little research and talking to experts. Then there’s the Observation phase. If we’re going to design a new gas station we’ll go and see how they pump gas in Japan. If you see somebody having trouble using something, or that they grimace or they’re unhappy or they’re scared, that’s a place that we could really do innovation because we can fix that. The next phase we call Visualize.