“Dear Volkswagen. I’m stuck in traffic and my ‘Smileage’ is zero.”

My second post as guest editor for Branded Arts Review is all about Volkswagen's new app, Smileage.

Smileage is the first cab off the rank in Google’s Art, Copy & Code project, and for this reason alone it’s worth checking out.

The app allows you to tag passengers, share photos, virtually ‘punch’ other cars, and lets friends keep track of your journey. I'm not convinced it's going to change the world, but you can decide for yourself...

"I like to soak in now-ness"

This week, I interviewed Nathan Yong for Incubate magazine.

Nathan Yong is an industrial designer based in Singapore, who creates furniture and objects that are deceptively simple and beautifully engineered. He is taking the international design world by storm, yet remains endearingly humble.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from our interview:

"I see poetry in the everyday: an ice cream dropping on the ground, a sad child, a rusty tool, a broken chair... everything seems to be in slow motion and beautiful for me... I know it is a cliche but it's true for me, I like to soak in now-ness."

"To me beauty is skin deep, we need more depth to appreciate how things work, and from these understandings we can appreciate the things around us, it is my way of respecting life.

"Design is sexy but without any purpose or reason, it can be dumb at times. Engineering is clever and that to me is sexy."

"My constant goal is to always be a better designer and a person, I believe the rest are transient and don't really matter."

www.nathanyongdesign.com

Target at TED & SXSW. Really?

I'm delighted to be guest editing Branded Arts Review this month, which critiques innovative projects that infiltrate popular culture, yet were created and funded by brands.

For my first post, I've written about Target.

When you think of Target, you probably think of its bullseye logo and the cheap clothes, kitchen appliances, tea towels, garden rakes and underpants that are sold from its gigantic superstores.

So what was Target doing last week at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, the world’s über-cool barometer of innovation and a breeding ground for the likes of Twitter?

And what was Target doing at TED’s Long Beach, California conference a couple of weeks earlier?

Was it a stroke of sponsorship genius? Or is Target skewing oddly off course, forgetting it is not in fact a start-up tech company, but a discount retailer?

You can read my critique here

Svbscription is Christmas wrapped in a box (but it's for men, sorry ladies)

I'd never heard of subscription services 'til now, but I love the concept.

What could be better than receiving a box full of designer trinkets every few months, curated by someone cooler than you? By the time your box arrives, you'll have forgotten that you paid an obscene amount of money to subscribe.

I was curious to see that Portable’s Creative Director, Andrew Apostola, is one of four 'modern gentleman' behind Svbscription.

I interviewed Andrew back in 2011, along with his business partner Simon Goodrich, when they explained their vision for Portable - a technology company with an eye for fashion and art, based in Melbourne and New York.

I'm a fan of the idea and a fan of Portable, so if you're a discerning man with an eye for beautiful things, check out the site

My latest project has 2 heads, 4 ears and 20 toes

I've been busy on a different project lately, which has kept me from updating this blog.

I know. Adorable. I made them myself.

Introducing Hunter & Ashley, identical twin sproglets, who have made my life very busy, chaotic, sleepless and - from a writing point-of-view - unproductive. And yet, so much more fulfilling.

Design Integration Pilot

"The Design Integration Pilot is helping Australian manufacturing businesses transform through design, proving designers may become in demand as business strategists."

I recently wrote about the Design Integration Pilot, which is helping Australian manufacturing businesses transform through design. Similar initiatives have proven hugely successful in countries like the UK and New Zealand, so it's about time we got a program of our own - we'll need something to fall back on if our coal runs out.

In a nutshell, the DIP is a pilot program that unites designers and manufacturers in South Australia and New South Wales with the goal of driving innovation, profitability and global competitiveness.

As one interviewee told me: “Australia is experiencing a blind spot and a skills gap. I don’t think Australia’s tertiary education system gives sufficient emphasis to design as a problem-solving enterprise. We have to move away from defining ‘design’ as a product outcome, to seeing ‘design’ as a process.”

Designers of the future will have the opportunity to design not just products, logos and brands, but also business strategies, operational systems and business models.

Read the full article here

Who are the most powerful people in media, marketing & advertising in Australia?

The answer depends on who you ask, but every year AdNews publishes its 'Power 50' list, and this year I helped to write a few of the profiles.

My profiles included Mark Lollback, chief marketing officer at McDonalds Australia; Jerry Harris, News Limited; and Andy Lark, Chief Marketing & Online Officer at Commonwealth Bank, who all made their debut to the 'Power 50' ranking in 2012.

To read my incredibly insightful profiles, I'm afraid you have to be a subscriber, but the list is out in today's issue

Beyond the dots

The latest issue of Incubate is out, and it features an article I wrote about contemporary indigenous artists & the stereotypes that surround them.

I had the pleasure of meeting Brisbane artist Vernon Ah Kee, who believes his graphic artworks and charcoal portraits (left) paint a more realistic picture of Aboriginality than dot paintings of the desert. To Ah Kee, such images portray a utopian, stereotypical view that is increasingly out-of-touch with how the vast majority of Aborigines live.

I also interviewed Jonathan Jones, considered one of the most distinctive Aboriginal artists to emerge in Australia over the past decade.

You can download issue 7 of Incubate magazine here

Taking advantage of the digital economy

I recently interviewed digital entrepreneurs in Australia and the UK about the best ways of taking advantage of the National Broadband Network (NBN). I know what you're thinking. NBN = snore. But the technology will open up lots of doors (and competition from overseas), so if you're a digital or creative entrepreneur it's worth reading.

I loved speaking to Art Processors in Melbourne, which developed an impressive mobile platform called 'The O' for the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania. Art Processors are now taking the technology global, because it has the potential to transform the experience of visiting art galleries.

I also loved speaking to the co-founder of London-based CultureLabel.com, a website that sells affordable art from galleries around the world. Don't visit the site if you don't want to tempted to spend money. You've been warned.

Read the story here on CreativeInnovation.net.au

UTS: Designing the Future of Business - a copywriting project with Frost Design

I had the pleasure of working with Frost Design and Professor Roy Green recently, helping UTS Business School articulate its vision for the future of business education.


Professor Green is Dean of UTS Business School and is highly respected amongst Australian business executives. Since joining UTS Business School a year or two ago, he has completely reshaped the university's approach to business eduction, and believes 'integrative thinking' should play a major role in shaping business graduates of the future.

I worked closely with Professor Green and Frost Design to write a new brochure for UTS Business School, which launched at the Opera House on 21 March.

The university's approach to business education is embedded it its new campus, designed by Frank Gehry. The idea is that design thinking is now crucial to management, and the campus is symbolic of the fact that leaders of the future will need to be creative, as well as business savvy.

Gehry describes the building as a "tree of knowledge" - an evolving, growing organism that fosters collaboration and the cross-pollination of ideas - and this sketch (above) is his original design sketch for the campus, which should open in 2013.