Design Thinking to meet people

When coming to the aspect of design theory we incorporate empathy, creativity and rationality to solve human centered problems, but it begs the question where to start. So, we thought what is a major issue in today's digital society that has escaped us. We came to the conclusion that it would be a friend that shares specific interests as you do.

One such example would be kayaking. It is not every day in Bozeman, Montana you run into an individual who kayaks so essentially the idea would be to create the medium to do so. The major issue we faced in the matter is how do you create a product that does not hold the individual by looks much like tinder is built.

While I am a slightly good looking individual my looks can still force individuals to not want to talk to me. So, when one checks their interests they are matched with other individuals who also have their interests as opposed to waiting for individuals to vary through all profiles and shoo out the ones they do not like the look of. The hope is that this medium would allow individuals to meet who would never have the opportunity in the start. 

Clever move Mr. President

This past weekend was host to the annual White House Correspondents dinner. In case you live under a rock that dinner is held by and for the journalists that cover the white house and presidents news. While presidents have been known to joke around during the dinner, Obama took things to the next level for reasons that are not all that obvious.

While this video has been blowing up all over social media because of its comedic value some really meaningful things are mixed in. The idea behind this is flawless, take something funny that can be shared amongst a variety of people and make it moving enough that it gets shared. In turn the message is displayed to a way larger audience. In reality products do this all the time, just think...

When you are sharing with people the message is definitely greater expressed and more people are going to talk about it. The hope that conversation will lead to action is the exact reason this occurred. So I say to you, well played Mr. President. Well Played.

Have we finally hit turbulence with EDM

In the past ten years a music known as EDM has all but taken over the main stream of every major music festival out there. It leaves us asking the question why do we keep paying all these folks enormous amounts of money to just press play. In fact, it is starting to be seen as such a joke even SNL picked up the opportunity to drop a jab.

As unfortunate as it is EDM and maybe just the way people are these days have led us to a new sort of problem with the whole industry, drug use. While drug use has always been a problem with any sort of real music application the real problem has been arising from individuals trying to cut the cost of the production of those drugs. In fact it has been making people rather sick.

One major example of that would be Electric Zoo a couple of years back which actually had to cancel its last day due to the 'health issues' that were arising during the festival. Some of those 'health risks' included the death of two individuals in their early twenties from corrupted drugs. The EDM area definitely needs to start steering away from the WoodStock days and more towards the classic ones, you know where people do not get hospitalized for trying to have a good time. 

The Paradox of Choice

Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically.

—quoted from Ch.5, The Paradox of Choice, 2004

With more choices than ever, we have come to the realization that we still aren't all that happy. The reason behind it is simple, there is such a variety in choice that with one decision comes a trade-off that leaves us not as satisfied. The perfect example is an individual in a ice cream shop.

 Places like Coldstone creamery have so many flavors that unless the individual has a distinct favorite they are going to be leaving dissatisfied in some sort of way. So, how do we fix the problems of too many choice? How do we reduce the clutter in our life.

Well there is a couple of ways. Reduce the clutter, take the 50,000 choices of cereal we have and narrow down the selection. Not in terms of the consumers choice, but in terms of the consumers ability to be happy with the decision they made. Another thing we can do is offer returns on larger variety items. Obviously this does not settle the issues of clutter, but it offers the individual a chance to make up what they think they have lost. 

  

The Sharing Economy, How our world has changed.

The world's new leading companies have one thing in common, the consumer is the real player. All that these entities have really done is creat the medium where all this business is done. So, what does it mean for the consumer in the future?

Empowerment. The make-up of major business is more in our hands than ever. Companies are building platforms around us. Using our feedback to forever better them, but this also leads us to a major problem of where do we go from here. When the consumer already controls the market at hand how is any individual supposed to really get ahead of each other. Our lust for a better capitalistic society has ushered us to a stale mate of business because at this point even the things we own are making other companies money.

Marijuana, how do we change a stigma?

Recently marijuana has become legal in two states. Consequently it has opened the market for a whole new field to market in. However it strikes a new combination of issues that markets have not really had to tackle at the same time before. Currently there are two main problems, the stigma that is surrounding marijuana and responsible consumption.

Quite simply our largest issue is the stigma that is surrounding Marijuana. The 'drug' is often seen as creating a mind dumbing, munchy eating, lazy individual, but the effects it has on an individual is just the beginning. The real starting point is to stop using slang like pot and grass in order to start the destigmatizing process (making it more official). The second moving point is to promote that marijuana won't actually melt you into a couch, completely changing the overall view that marijuana is this 'drug' that can destroy your life. 

Recently there has been a spike in the amount of individuals admitted to hospitals because the individuals thought they were overdosing. The second major changing point individuals needs is education on safe use. If people think they can safely use the substance much like alcohol the negative idea surrounding it can hopefully diminish. 

What we think about food

Recently there has been a lot of talk amongst stores and restaurants a like about selling certain meats. The meats they are selling are often conceived as being, less than for one reason or another, but recently there has been a change of heart in america. While the movement might not be so old in restaurants major companies are starting to pick up to meet a consumers demand.

Whole foods is one major chain that has started selling a meat that is seen as 'different'. To be exact, you can now purchase delicious rabbit meat there for approximately $13.00/pound depending on location. In turn this has led to an uprising of individuals arguing against the food simply because it is seen as a pet. If you were to ask me I would say your ridiculous rabbit is amazing, but that is just one such meat.

Another that is gaining minor popularity in restaurants, not so much grocery stores is pigeon or better known as squab. While this trend has started to pick up in the recent years, it still seems extremely strange to me, but that is exactly what our current problem is. There is a stigma around these meats that only the great United States see's as less than, so how do we change it? 

We assimilate to the world like we have been doing in the past couple of years. Recently the internet has opened up this ability to discover cultures and traditions that 30 years ago could only seen in a book or in person. Change the stigma on the food and you can change your idea on what is actually tasty.