The trailer mashup may have hit its peak a couple of years ago (hey, there’s at least one blog devoted solely to examples of the genre) with my favorites Shining and Toy Story Requiem. I’ve written before about how technology increasingly makes producer work available to consumers and so I was struck by the latest trailer [...]

Today marks the seventh (lucky seven!) anniversary of All This ChittahChattah! Photos courtesy of flickr users rgusick, _Harry Lime_, Leo Reynolds, rehuxley, skeeter torino, Juℓiette, korrey

I received this promotion from a local plumber. In addition to the more typical description of services offered, he provides a striking summary of his personal brand attributes: insightful, mature, courteous. Those are desirable characteristics in any professional setting; they are provocative when highlighted by a plumber.

Statue Folklore It seems to be a widespread instinct for passers-by to touch statues, in greeting or for luck, if they represent a popular personality, as when Tory Members of Parliament rub the toe of Winston Churchill’s statue at the entrance to the Chamber, and Liberals that of Lloyd George. Animal images also attract this affectionate [...]

Just got this bit of sp@m with the subject line: Make Money with Google Bailout Plan I love how they evoke the government bailouts as something now available to you, potential customer mark, and tie it to Google, a recent blue-chippy money brand. Of course, the image is something they can keep reusing and change the [...]

Steve was interviewed for a Lunar Design podcast about the balance between speed, creativity and innovation in the design process.

Inspired by my interactions column Hold Your Horses, I was interviewed for a Lunar Design podcast. How do speed, creativity and innovation intertwine in the design process? In this Connections episode, Gretchen Anderson and Lisa Leckie talk with Steve Portigal of Portigal Consulting about getting results through design research. Listen to podcast:

Ben Allen on the failure of attention to detail A chocolate company designs the outside of their package but not the rubber-meets-the-road inside. Diego Rodriguez on the power of details Even the screw heads line up in a hotel light switch, suggesting just that extra bit of perfection and detail. User Research Friday review by Janna Kimel “There was something [...]

From 2007, what would I do if appointed “Innovation Czar” (as they were calling it at the time) … I would introduce empathy processes into government, especially departments that interact with the public or with businesses. Everyone - EVERYONE - will go through the process that their “clients” go through, on a regular basis (say, once [...]

The impulse to touch and its long-term effects as remnants of previous touchers touching serve as an invitation Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, November 2008 Kyoto, Japan, January 2008 Also see previously: Friction Never Sleeps

Bar, San Leandro, California In-N-Out Burger, San Leandro, California

videos from User Research Friday 2008 My presentation was recorded! videos from 2008 Design Research Conference My workshop was not recorded

There’s an advertising aesthetic I’ve long been fond of, showing a diverse range of customers tiled to demonstrate, often in a faux-anthropological fashion, that the product appeals to everyone, but that as different as people are, they have this one thing in common. The other message conveyed is that you, or “we” are the brand, [...]

This review of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (an exploration of what causes people to be successful; get a taste from this recent New Yorker piece) reminded me of a long-ago correspondence I had with Mr. Gladwell. Date: 6/16/01 From: Steve Portigal (steve.portigal@—–) To: Malcolm Gladwell (malcolm@—-) I just thought I’d get the “I’m a fan!” thing out of the way [...]

A recent ad for Blackberry, showing every bit of the otherwise neutral device covered in imagery that references the richness of the life of someone who uses it. Evoking the strongly the aftermarket skins that enable a similar sort of customization. The ad is using the visual as a metaphor but it’s actually quite close [...]

(Updated to include audio and video) Here are my User Research Friday slides, along with audio and video. For me, the discussion at the end (there was a bit of stunned first-talk-of-the-day silence during question period so I turned it around on the audience and asked them to comment on the Escher-esque slide about design->research->design->) was [...]

In A Down Economy, Spam Sales Are Up Sales up for spam, pancake mix, instant potatoes, frozen pot pies and side dishes, rice, beans, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Velveeta. Sales down for paper towels, socks, shoe polish, women’s fragrances. Interesting, I guess, but why do they imply a comparison between foods on the upside [...]

User Research Friday review by Lane Halley @ Cooper “Should it be before or after design? Ideally, Steve recommends research and design, as a loop, done continuously.” User Research Friday review by Celeste Roschuni “Steve Portigal…This talk wound up going around in circles just a tad.”

A rather wonky discussion of design processes Jared Spool proposes the following hierarchy: 0) Unintended Design 1) Self Design 2) Genius Desig 3) Activity-Centered Design 4) User-Centered Design If you enjoyed my recent interactions column (available upon request) Some Different Approaches to Making Stuff, the discussion linked here might be of interest. Brandweek on Design Thinking Which is now apparently referred to [...]

Yesterday’s NYT Magazine article about the check cashing industry offered an insightful anecdote about the sometimes counter-intuitive tradeoffs people make: I met Oscar Enriquez leaving the Nix branch in Highland Park, a working-class area near Pasadena. He was skinny and just shy of middle age, with a quick grin and tattoos down his sunburned forearms. Enriquez [...]