Back to the Future

I wonder if the phenomenal pace of technology has shortened our horizons. The entire process of concept, development and implementation of new ideas happens in the blink of an eye. So the future is always now.

With that in mind I chuckled when I came across the GM truck of the future. The 50s were a period of incredible optimism. But the technology was hampered by the availability of materials and the science to understand their application. Making sure that the seemingly infinite demand for washing machines and refrigerators was filled meant volume was the order of the day. Modern marketing arose to convince consumers that cosmetic changes were sufficient reason to choose between one brand and another or to replace a product with many years of life left. The idea of keeping up with the Joneses was born.

Those rules don't apply any more. Great design is expected but it can't conceal a lack of utility. Likewise high degrees of utility with a dissatisfying user experience is a recipe for failure.

The past was a simpler place.

Comments

Addict-o-matic

A cool resource for you to try. Aggregates search topics from a number of sources. Thanks to Brand DNA (again) for the heads-up.

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St

Shoulders of giants

"A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience." "Life is just one damned thing after another." (Both from Elbert Hubbard - look him up on the wikipedia . If it's wrong - change it)

ThoughtSpurs

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