WALTER AMERIKA BLOGS

Developing design education

On my way again to further develop the educational curriculum for Design Academy Eindhoven. Times are changing and so is design education. How can DAE build upon a great past and looking towards an even greater future. Design is moving more and more towards the centre of society. It's about product, services, systems, experience design nowadays. Influenced by technology, connected with the arts, still struggling with sustainability...it surrounds us. From the cradle to the grave. It's a joy to contribute to the thinking and doing within DAE to give form and meaning to a program that suits some of the best design talent in the world.

Not nearby Eindhoven, but I don't mind because it's great
to contribute to the thinking and doing within DAE to give form and meaning to a program that suits some of the best design talent in the world.

Did Apple forget to register 'Steve Jobs' as a brandname? And if so, who's the owner now?

Did Apple really forget to register 'Steve Jobs' as a brandname? And if so, who's the owner now? That question pops up today as a result of the fight of Apple against the ' Steve Jobs Doll'. Website PaidContent.org runs an article in which they claim that Apple is going to loose the case, because in most US states ii is legal to portray a dead person. Five years ago it was confirmed that no one for instance holds the image rights to Marilyn Monroe. But much more interesting is the fact that on Apple's long list of registered trademarks the name of Steve Jobs does not seem to appear. Did Jobs own this brand himself (seems logical on one hand, but not from a corporate point of view) than his family probably may call themselves lucky. Or was there some smart ass who figured out that investing in the brand Steve Jobs might one day pay off. Let's wait and see...

more than the sum of all parts (dutch creative industrie 2012 invitation to join up)

 http://creatieveindustrienederland.ning.com/?xgi=0URdQWvknpUU1y

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR BEST WISHES

Influencers, Short Docu on 'how trends and creativity become contagious'

 

Presenting Dutch Design Week to a bigger audience

 

Nachbarn Niederlande

I recently was interviewed for German online magazine Fluter who did a theme issue on their neighbor Netherlands. Among the subjects also of course Dutch Design. Only this time, next to a more historical glance in the past, with quite an interesting twist. Dutch Design and its role in a multicultural society. Read the article here  

Occupy Wall Street's Moral margin call

The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement is in itself not sure what is they are protesting against. Reform of the banking system is one and understandable, breaking down capitalism is another and already less well thought through and certainly less easy to force. So let's stick with the first one for a moment.

In my point of view, the first of two things that should be set in action is getting commercial banks (with interests of individual clients) from the stock market system. I see no reason at all why they were allowed to go public in the first place. The moment unknown shareholders get into the picture, you know you can loose control and that you are in for a struggle for survival.

The second big change should be to maximize the seize of banks. The model of clientgroup driven banks seems more than adequate in modern times. The handling of clients in a 21st century internet environment leaves enough profit (if you want to make it) also with a lesser nummber of clients.

But even then, it's in the end about people. People who are aware that they represent others peoples money. And therefor other peoples mortgages or rent, healthcare, education, in other words lives, in other words futures. Because this is not only affecting this generation, but also those to come.

So basically I guess, it starts with a Moral Margin Call to anyone in the financial system. Get rid of the standard suits and ties, the decorum, the bonusses, the attitude...and just go to work, work hard, have fun, live happy. Be one of of us again. You have a great profession like any surgeon, any schoolteacher or any plummer. Nothing more, nothing less.

The movie Margin Call, a thriller that revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis, is opening early November in Dutch cinemas. Trailer below.

Breakfast Talk at the Stedelijk Museum

 I was invited yesterday morning to address entrepreneurs from the Amsterdam Area on the subject on culture and business. Tried to make clear that there's a mutual charasteristic between creative people and entrepreneurs. They both dare to take risks. And that they need each other in order to both grow their business. The statements made resonated quite well with the full room audience. Nice thing about the early talk was that it was situated in the renewed Stedelijk Museum which I did not get a chance to see previously. And although I was a bit pressed in time, the quick glimpse gave me a good feeling. Light, spacious, qualitatively done...the rooms and halls have a nice atmosphere to them. Not as big a change as I expected, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

By the way, I can recommend the current show on display on Design Master Wim Crouwel. If not for his outstanding work, than surely only for the great 60's picture of him by Paul Huf when you enter. 

 

#iSadLogo . Feel free to use in remembrance of #SteveJobs, #iSad

 

The new business paradigm: Creative Company Culture

Interesting article In the Dutch Financial Newspaper this morning on failure and success of innovation. It highlights the results of a recent survey by Booz & Company (still to be published), that indicates that there's no direct correlation between investments in R&D and company results. Booz came to this conclusion by analyzing 1400 innovation cycli of media-and software companies in The Netherlands, France, the UK en the US. Basically, I guess, it makes sense. Although results might be different if the study was done amongst more traditional industries. But overall it doesn't make sense to spend huge sums of money on research and development if there no such thing as what I call a Creative Company Culture (instead of what Dutch Professor Henk Volberda calls social innovation, a term I associate with for instance city or public service improvement). I mean an open environment that connects R&D with Design Management and Brand Building, led from within the Board in close cooperation with the Floor. Personaly I am astonished by the fact that modern companies like Apple and Google are well known examples by now, but that making that transition by more traditional companies takes so long. Especially in these times: as everybody says, don't waste a good crises. What better times are there to reset you company culture, bring in fresh blood, improve your innovation lifestyle and embrace creativity as a driving force for future growth and added value. 

Back to Business

Summer(?) is over. It's back to the business of creativity and innovation, brandbuilding and design, industrial and educational...love it. Looking forward to the opening of the Academic Year at Design Academy Eindhoven and preparing for things to come, waiting on decisionmaking Ministry of Innovation for policies on Dutch Creative Industries, negociating new television appareance, working on new wine idea, etc. 

Clarence leaves, Bobby still here

Sad news for Rock ' Roll lovers like myself. Clarence 'Big Man' Clemons, the legendary saxophonist in the E Street Band who played alongside Bruce Springsteen for the past 40 years, died yesterday of the consequences of a stroke on June 12th. Clemons was a driving force behind the E Street Band. His playing on tracks like "Born To Run," "Thunder Road," "Jungleland," "Dancing In The Dark"  represent some of the most famous sax work in the history of rock & roll. The only one close to him, in fact for me even bigger is Bobby Keys, Mr Brown Sugar. Known for his touring with The Rolling Stones and his 'chemistry' with Keith Richards, he is probably right now the survivor sax player in the R&R arena. Hopefully for years to come, although you never know with these big sax fellows.

 

New Dutch Cultural Policies known. Have a vote!

Only for Dutch readers. Check out the poll at Creatieve Industrie Nederland and have your say on the plans of OCW policymaker Halbe Zijlstra. Is it that bad or should we give it a try? 

From University Policies to Creative Business Strategies. Or from Sauerkraut to Sour Faces.

This week in retrospective: It started with visiting an ACA two day conference (Academic Cooperation Association) held at the University of Vienna. The  conference was about what makes a university excellent in terms of higher education, and explored questions on how does higher education play a role in maintaining and building civil society, addressing today’s global challenges, international cooperation, etc. In general the subject was interesting enough, but they tried to kill it upfront with very dull presentations. The sauerkraut diner was there of course as well as the obligatory break out session, which turned into a slight anarchistic moment of class room rebellion. Maybe the beautiful weather had something to do with it. Anyway, it gave Anne Mieke Eggenkamp, the chair of the Design Academy Eindhoven and myself plenty of time to discuss future plans for our own institution. 

Wednesday was basicly enjoying a game of golf and discussing details on why and how to integrate the Creative Industries into an regional knowledge and innovation strategy for the North West of Holland. The region is struggling to claim a distinctive socio-economic position and is rapidly falling behind in terms of cultural and inspirational settings, as came out this week in the 2011 Atlas of Dutch Cities. The political climate is not helping either. Hope they realize that if they start making some clear choices the region might be one of the most attractive of the Netherlands.

Thursday was again a conference day. This time on design. Theme of the event was 'What Design Can Do'. Which in itself is a good theme (although What Design Should Do would have been better), however the public was wrong. Almost like at the Higher Education Conference in Vienna, it's professionals talking solely to their own peer group. In this case designers convincing designers how important the role of design is for future developments and the big issues of our time. Don't get me wrong: I highly belief in the power of creativity as Oliviero Toscani stated in a far too long speech, but if there are no policy makers, business people, religious leaders, media tycoons, financial traders etc in the audience to create a joint effort to change or reset, why bother organizing an event with this theme? I truly admire the organizers for their energy and drive, but I keep my doubts on the fact that nobody wants to join creative forces and over and over and over these conferences keep popping up without making an real impact. However, I do need to make my apologies in regard to a Twitter message I send out, merely stating 'Good Theme, Wrong Public'. It created some sour faces, because it did not explain enough of the thoughts as mentioned above. There's nothing wrong with designers! In fact, they are much nicer and more content driven than advertising people (and I know, because I was one). Oops hope I don't piss off the old ad gang. Love them too. Most of them, that is. 

Finally, Friday was a day of creative strategies. Lunch with a creative agency, which directors and shareholders consulted me last year on their future path. Great to hear that they are on track again. Then tea with a friend and former colleague on his business (very interesting ideas on artificial intelligence, syncing 'building languages' in order to cut down costs or prototype possibilities, etc). And finally drinks at the new venue of a young and promising company called Studelta, which I advised during their start up period on brand strategy and internal culture. Not an easy sector for them at the moment, temporary workforce and recruitment, but they are on to something. Nice straightforward people, good concept. Wish them all the best.

Hacking Europe's Cultural Heritage

I've been asked to promote a hackaton. Never heard of it before. But anyway, seems like a good initiative. So here it is:

 

Europeana provides multi-lingual access to more than 17 million digital items from Europe’s museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. Recently, we have introduced our new service Search API which enables Europeana content to be available beyond the Europeana portal and in a way that is engaging and useful for users. Europeana has planned a series of hackathons to showcase the benefits of the API usage for data providers, partners and end-users (our first was held on 1-2 April 2011in cooperation with Beeld en Geluid)

Hack4Europe! is a series of hack days organised by the Europeana Foundation and its partners Collections Trust, Museu Picasso, Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center and Swedish National Heritage Board. The hackathon roadshow will be held simultaneously in 4 locations (London, Barcelona, Poznan and Stockholm) in the week 6 - 12 June and will provide an exciting environment to explore the potential of open cultural data for social and economic growth in Europe.

Each hackathon will bring together up to 30 developers from creative industries and cultural institutions from the hosting country and the surrounding area. They will have access to the diverse and rich Europeana collections containing over 17 million records, Europeana Search API (incl. a test key and technical documentation) and Europeana Linked Open Data Pilot datasets which currently comprise about 3 million Europeana records available under a CC0 license.

Participants will be encouraged to try out their ideas for creative reuse of the Europeana content and build applications showcasing the social and business value of open cultural data. Best prototypes will be awarded prizes during the hackathon days and four finalists will be invited to the Digital Agenda Assembly on 16 -17 June in Brussels where EU Commissioner Ms. Neelie Kroes will award the winners during a special ceremony.

Find out more about the registration and local events on http://version1.europeana.eu/web/api/hackathons  / #hack4europe

 

Image by Florian Krautli

Become a member of Creatieve Industrie Nederland and get 100 euro discount on the 4th Creative Company Conference on June 7 2011

Everybody working within or with the Dutch Creative Industries who now joins up with the FREE online community Creatieve Industrie Nederland, gets a 100 euro entry fee discount for the upcoming Creative Company Conference on the 7th of June 2011. From the program:

 

Morning: Explore the hot trend of Creative Value Networks – How to design a network organization that is connected, creative, smart and effective.

Long Lunch: CCC Experience – A new 2-hours-program of 15 interactive activities to enhance your creativity, network capabilities and enable you to tap the brains of CCC speakers and other business and innovation experts.

Afternoon: Case studies of Creative Entrepreneurship – How innovative pioneers ride the waves of change and chaos to define the new face of entrepreneurship in the terra-connected world.

 

Best of the bunch

Although certainly not a goal in itself, it's always nice to have The New York Times declare your educational show as 'best of the bunch'. Congratulations to all students of Design Academy Eindhoven for successfully putting yourself to the test again in Milan. 

Businessweek reports reasons for design

Businessweek Magazine researched the value of design. For instance to startups or in healtcare. On a more general level there's an article by Ravi Sawhney and Deepa Prahalad, who run a Californian design and innovation company. They figure there are four major reasons to give design a more central role in business strategy: consumer knowledge, risk mitigation, boosting marketing and branding and sustainability improvement. They in fact wrote a book about it. Didn't read it yet, so cannot give you any recommendation on buying it. However, the rise of design as a business innovation tool is clear.

Back from Milan Design Fair : Proud, Happy and Confused

Just came back from first time Milans Salon del Mobili, the international design hot spot. In my new role as Connector (creative and strategic advisor to the executive board) of the Design Academy Eindhoven Family. The DAE decided to move to a new place, where Curator Ilse Crawford put together an amazing show, called This Way. Together with of course...the students, graduates and alumni of the academy who were involved in everything: content, catering, carpentering, you name it. The buzz is already going around, that the academy has found new ground. Next to design with a cultural meaning, traditionally the strong point of the academy, we are seeing design with social relevance and design with an economic value.

And all the students seem to be very happy and in itself makes tutors and all heads of design departments even more happy of course. Personally I also left a bit confused to see that in this day and age the established design community forgets to make a point about its enormous potential to a changing world.