USERs. Disruptive ideas.iTerative thinking.

An exploration

“we are going through some sort of paradigm shift, there are things that are changing and my guess would be nobody clearly knows what it is . . .”-Harsha Gangadharbatla

WTF is water?Many of the ideas covered over the term pieced together a complicated philosophy that goes beyond digital. In order to better understand abstract thought, it is important to be able to apply it, which is what we wanted to do coming out of this class. For this project, we decided to take what we learned and engage in conversations with other people to see how and if any of these ideas apply to them.

Hoping to bring the class concepts down from a buzzword level to a “real world” level, we interviewed seven people in advertising, education, journalism, product design and manufacturing, asking them how the following ideas play into the work that they do: User experience, idea generation, iterations and disruptive thinking.

Similar to water, we do not o!en think about these theories and how important they are as stand-alone concepts, whatever "eld or reality in which we exist. By relating our research to the concepts explored in the past eight weeks, and in conjunction with the Ad School’s teachings, we were able to triangulate a clearer understanding of applied strategy.

-Kelsey harris, ranjit steiner, Kiefer Versteegh

Nickolaus SugaiJunior Copywriter, 72andsunny

Thoughts on idea generating and iteration: Ideas are less tagline and more conceptual at 72andSunny. 72andSunny has what he refers to as a “wall culture.” If you have an idea, it has to be placed on the wall. Once the idea is there, it belongs to the team and people can then work, add, and delete from said idea. O!en times briefs have a turnaround of a half day, leaving little room to iterate. Once his creative team receives a brief, it is more about generating multiple ideas, and then multiple sub-ideas from one of those ideas etc. #e 72 creative model focuses more on coming up with many angles and ideas in hopes that one or two of them will be on target, and less about coming up with one idea and shaping it to "nd the path through the maze, so to say. “It is constant idea generation, all completely di$erent ideas; red, green, blue -- all a part from each other.”

Thoughts on the user: “Inherently if you are following brief you are following what users and

consumers want, so you are de"nitely trying to hit very speci"c markets.” As a creative, measuring the value of your work in the "eld of advertising can be hazy, especially when trying to "nd a happy medium between your ideas and what the user wants. “#at is something I have been trying to ask

myself, because there are two sides: one side is, ‘Oh I made great work, this is my voice, I see myself and all my creative energy that I put into that work’ and the other side is, “Well, I made this ad and it increased sales by 15%, that is a successful ad … but I think personally, at this stage in my career, I am more concerned with the former.”

Besides persuading people to buy a product, user response to your creative work can be tricky to measure. He gives the examples of the Facebook ad, “…No one really liked that ad, but if I wrote that ad I would be stoked, it would be an awesome piece for my portfolio,” versus the Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign where, “A lot of people liked those ads…but at the end of the day it did not help Levi’s sell jeans, but it was shared and it became kind of endemic to people, to the target market anyway…”

Thoughts on creating in academia versus industry: #e freedom you receive in the ad program is both a liability and an asset, Nick says. You never again will have the ability to take on every role or to come up with an idea and just run with it. “What I have been learning at 72, is you cannot have emotional ownership of your ideas.” He wonders if that realistic heartbreak and hacking apart of your creative concepts is something that should be taught more.

“Inherently if you

are following brief

you are following

what users and

consumers want, so

you are definitely

trying to hit very

specific markets.”

Assistant Professor, University of Oregon

Harsha GangadharbatlaThoughts on idea generating and iterations: Harsha’s research is more conceptual than applied, he says. #e approach is, “Let’s try and understand this idea and then build from that knowledge…It may not look like there are immediate implications from the work that I do,” says Harsha. So, if he is curious about something, he will then experiment to see what he may "nd. #ere may be a general goal of understanding, but what that understanding is and how he will get there is not always certain.

Thoughts on the user: “As far as my research is concerned, when I ask questions, I don’t think about what the implications are,” says Harsha. “It is something that I read or talk about, then I get curious and think, ‘Oh, I wonder why that is,’ and then I follow that line of thought; investigate more to see why that is.” It is more curiosity on his part, not whether or not people will be interested or a$ected. But, considering that his research focuses on how

consumers process advertising, when such an e$ectiveness measure is noted, brands or clients are usually interested in such a "nding.

Thoughts on working in academia versus industry: Harsha does not usually have to think along the lines of what the immediate impact of his research will be or the monetary value.”I guess that is one of the advantages of being in academia, because your job is not tied to whether your idea is going to bring in money or if your idea is politically correct, etc,” he says. “Brands can’t

a$ord that luxury of "nding things out for the sake of "nding things out, they always have to come back to some justi"cation for the time and money they spent either creating a product or doing research for a product or the behavioral change they are trying to bring about.”

“Brands can’t afford that luxury of finding things out for the sake of finding things out, they always have to come back to some justification for the time and money they spent”

Thomas SteinerSEO Strategist, AKQA

Thoughts on user experience and iterative processs: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a relatively new addition to strategy and is quickly becoming a vital tool across all markets. With the importance of “inbound marketing” and the general shift toward push-pull marketing, SEO uses insight into a user’s tendencies to push certain products. SEO’s focus is in understanding consumer behavior, trends and processes, particularly in search and media. “It is important for them to look at who is engaging with the site,” says Thomas. “If we are working off an existing site, we can analyze the types of devices and technologies the visitors are using and what channels are driving them to the site.” This provides an understanding of who the user is, so his team can effectively decide were to allocate demand. He recalls a moment when they had to simplify

a site due to some new user insights: “One of our sites had a tremendous amount of iPad traffic, but a disproportionate amount of search traffic from Yahoo,” he says. “The assumption was, ‘You have a lot of moms using the site’…this led us to believe that we need to simplify the experience for a less tech-savvy consumer-base.” The data forced

them to take a step back and reassess the site for the user, rather than having to create a less than stellar product or scrap the entire thing. This back-and-forth

interaction between the user and the site is the foundation for AKQA’s strategy and provides the creative department with reliable insight.

Thoughts on Strategy and Execution:Thomas does not consider himself a so-called creative, stating, “SEO strategy is not founded in the “ah ha” moments, but rather by data driven analysis.” “Common sense problems” are addressed prior to data analysis, and only after these

issues are ironed out does AKQA begin to shift its focus to the type of engagement the site expects to receive. The site’s needs are then adapted based on the research, the target audience or the client, offering the creative and UX departments information to shape the next step. This research also provides a platform to fall back on in case of any unexpected change.

Thoughts on Disruptive Ideas:Thomas emphasizes the importance of individuality on both a personal and organizational level. “At AKQA we are constantly trying to push what’s possible,” he says. “For our clients, we are not trying to fall into the pattern where most competitors imitate the market leader-our goal is to leapfrog them.”

“SEO strategy is not founded in the “ah ha” moments, but rather by data driven analysis.”

Ivar vongMobile and Web developer, emerald media group

thoughts on disruptive ideas in a static industry: Ivar’s work places him at the intersection of technology and journalism. “I felt like college kids should be at the front of the curve but we weren’t,” says Ivar. “#e internet is the best tool for storytelling, but for some reason journalism has lagged behind the rest of the innovation on the internet, so we need to do something about it.” #e Emerald Media Group is a business, so while the move to digital is vital to its long-term survival, they must balance making this as a successful transition that can generate pro"t, especially considering most of its ad revenue comes from print. “We can switch from being a capital ‘J’ company to being an information company, but how can we build an information system that both helps students and funds a nonpro"t news company?” says Ivar. He goes on, “Right now our revenue from digital is 3% and our goal is 20%. In "ve years it may be too late to make this digital transition.” With this year’s shi!, the Emerald is able to, “Fuck a bunch of shit up now so we can "gure something out by the time it gets to be

more important.”One way they are trying to do this is by coming out with a housing app in February 2013, which will be a way to pool existing ad revenue from rental agencies into the digital platform as well as provide a service app to students that is much needed. “I don’t think students are going to pay for content, which is "ne, but we need to make money,” says Ivar.

thoughts on The user “#e Internet makes very little money for the company, but it’s also an amazing tool, and if you are not serving your users, then you are not being smart,” says Ivar. “Even if there is no money there, it is what people are using and your job is not to ignore it because it makes no money but leverage what people are using to do something cool.” Ivar has created the Ducks Game Day football app, which has over 3000 downloads with roughly 1200 users a week. For a service such as this, not much research had to be done, all they had to think was, “What is a big deal on the Oregon campus?” Being on the university surrounded by its target audience allows the Emerald to have a pulse reading on the users, so there

is no shortage of ideas, Ivar says. “Ultimately the app is for the user, it is not to put the Emerald in the App store or to make me feel good about my ability to write an iOS app.”

thoughts on the iterative process:#ere has been a lot of hype around the Emerald’s “Revolution,” but the transition has not and will continue to not be a quick one. Besides Ivar, the newsroom itself has to continue to test out and determine the best ways to display their content digitally. #ere have been plenty of issues with the website in these "rst three months, and an advantage of being at a small news company with no high-paying investors is having the %exibility to test out what works best. In terms of creating apps, Ivar understands the di&culty in making an e$ective native app. While they may function better than a web app, for the most part people use the former to get their information. “It’s hard to break into peoples daily habits,”he says.

Ivar pays attention to analytics in determining how to tweak the products. “We spent a lot of time

ivar vongcontinued

Meb steinerSpecial Needs Educator, Palo Alto Unified School District

static processes & disruptive ideas: Given the bureaucratic nature of the education system, implementing new ideas depends on a variety of factors. The top-down approach has its benefits, but makes it difficult to develop an idea into the district curriculum. Meb has experienced success working with entire classrooms as well as individual students, but recently pushed to integrate special needs students into “normal” classrooms. The idea of bringing traditionally isolated students into crowded classrooms was met with resistance and required constant analysis and proof of succss along the way. This emphasis on the individual experience within the classroom was somewhat foreign to the district. Her aim to include, rather than separate the special needs student from his peers was well received. It was a disruptive idea that adapted existing elements of the curriculum to fit the child’s needs.

thoughts on ITerations:The same restrictions which make innovative ideas hard to implement, boost iterative thinking through data. “The system makes it that all behavior plans and curriculum adaptations are documented and data is taken,” says Meb. “Assessments of children’s knowledge of subjects is done to see where they start and where they end up...Armed with this observation and knowledge of the student you can then begin to develop a plan for them to succeed.” Evaluating curriculum at different stages of development allows for evolution based off of qualitative analysis. Small-scale experimental ideas take place within class rooms with the hopes of the possibility of larger scale implementation. “The creativity [in education] comes when you are adapting tested ideas to suit the needs of the student -- because of their own unique situation.” Rigorous revisions that adapted to the changes found in the child’s behaviors made it possible for the Inclusion program to be included in testing across the district.

planning the football app and discovered a lot of people use it during the game on Saturday,” says Ivar. “I thought the usership would be a little bit lower, but it is something like "ve times what it is during a week day ... I didn’t plan for that, but thats why we have analytics, thats why we track data.” If he chooses to revisit the app next June before football season, revisions to the app, such as adding a real-time score card, will be considered among other things. At the same time, some seemingly useful features can end up getting axed early on a!er initial testing. Ivar had considered having push alerts for injuries and it was written into the beta before it launched. “80% of the people that tested it did not allow push noti"cations for an app they were only beta testing, so I scrapped it.”

“Once a company gets comfortable with a system, even if it is destroying them or not helpful, they get into this pattern and it is hard to break it.” -Tana Sollars

Tana Sollarsproduct design student, university of oregon

Thoughts on idea generation:Idea-generating is initially tackled as a means to solve a problem. While solutions may already exist, Tana has to redirect her focus to the problem she is solving and disregard what is already out there for the time-being. In thinking this way, Tana says, “You have to go back to the basics, do a lot of research and understand what is wrong with the products we already have.” In the process of coming up with an idea to solve an abstract problem, forcing herself to think beyond what already exists produces some outlandish ideas. “When I first got into product design I thought that was a weird way to start, you end up coming up with these ideas that are physically impossible to construct,” she says. “But I think that is a good starting point because you have these abstract ideas that then become like stepping stones for something that might work, that was never thought of before because no one looked at it in that way.”

Thoughts on iterative process:“A product is never done being designed,” says Tana. “There are always improvements, so instead of going back to the drawing board there are just things you have to tweak.” It may be more challenging, but being able to modify as she moves forward is vital in product design. “Sometimes I will lose my reasoning behind doing

something,” says Tana. “I will think ‘Well, this is a stupid design, why would anyone want this?’ and will look at the big picture and think, ‘This isn’t useful at all.’” When that happens, she has to repurpose or find meaning behind the the product again, or she, “…May hit a wall and realize this is not a realistic product anyone would ever want.”

Thoughts on the user: Designing for your user is a basic tenant of product design, as well as research, but it can still be hard to divorce yourself from your ideas. “I think it is impossible to completely separate your own interests and your own desire for what you want the product to be from what the user needs, but you find a middle ground and that is what is important -- to know you are not designing it for yourself but for someone else,” says Tana.

Thoughts on working in an academic versus industry setting:“In the classroom all you are talking about is product design, all you are thinking about is designing for the user; there aren’t many limitations,” says Tana. “I think that is a good thing because they want you to be able to expand and explore and see what you are good at, but when you get into the context of a real job, there are so many more restrictions.”A!er working at a local large-scale, high-end leather company, she notes she was, “Designing something they want you to design, but you don’t really know the customer, and that is a disconnect…you need to know the customer to be able to understand what they want.”One major fallback at the company was in the communication between the business and the creative side. A common occurrence was when she would develop a prototype on the computer, instead of waiting to receive the initial sample from the factory, her boss would order a thousand of said sample. #ese products would likely have something simple wrong with them, like an incorrectly placed snap, but since the business end decided to forgo one step in the production process, they were le! with a thousand faulty bags. “Once a company gets comfortable with a system, even if it is destroying them or not helpful, they get into this pattern and it is hard to break it,” says Tana.

“I think it is

impossible to

completely separate

your own interests

and your own desire

for what you want

the product to be”

rhonda felderaw materials supervisor, ATI Albany

On Static Processes and Disruptive Ideas:Disruptive ideas can be hard to push for in institutions which are very set in their ways. #e metals industry is a very top down corporate environment, and Rhonda has struggled to make even the smallest ideas come to life. “for someone to come in and look at things di$erently and in their eyes try to re-create the wheel... they feeI like they’ve come up with the best way, they’ve already been down this road and they’ve heard everything. So I have to justify and explain to them that im trying something new.”Rhonda explained that in taking up the role of supervisor, she sought new ways of looking at old processes. In a shop with molten hot metals, there is little room for experimentation. Routines and rules are mostly in place so that no one is literally incinerated or crushed. #is sti$ following of routines and almost tradition-like way of doing things can cover up ine&ciencies or worse,says Rhonda. “Once you get to doing something over and over again

you get complacent, or you get used to doing it so that you don’t see the hazards around you” Her solution was to take employees from di$erent parts of the plant and have them observe her workers do the same routine jobs they had been performing for decades. Her goal was to get outside perspectives, and in doing so uncover more e&cient, o!entimes obvious to outsider solutions.

One disruptive idea led so far as to shut down plant operations entirely. “I observed a lack of clear understanding of EPA regulations, so I decided to dig deeper into commonly accepted tasks” #is led Rhonda to discover that many routine

processes she supervised were not up to radiation standards. Eventually resulting in the temporary shut down of part of the plant, and a reworking of many safety rules.

Before she even applied innovative thinking to her employees, however, she focused her attention on her own position. In her department at ATI, internal promotions do not receive much training, so she took it upon herself to seek out ways of learning the processes she would be managing. Her solution was simple: train as a new employe in every position that existed under her supervision. She believes that this has played a signi"cant role in her success and ability to come up with disruptive ideas.

“Once you get to doing something over and over again you get complacent, or you get used to doing it so that you don’t see the hazards around you”

until the next iteration . . .