Our RFID Wallets @ Design Boom Mart, Stockholm Furniture Fair

Here at Canal Mercer Designs, we like apply systematic designs to the white space. What’s the white space? It’s that gap we see when >something< doesn’t really meet usability. It could be design, it could be pricing, it could be supply chain management. On the consumer level, it’s frequently technology. It’s a fun thing to identify and design for because usually people will hack solutions together, generally look really physically or emotionally uncomfortable in certain situations, or be “spaced out” while doing something. Technology is often so commoditised that we take certain obfuscations for granted.

As an example, when was the last time that you really thought about what happens when you pay for something with your credit card at the till?

I’m a little biased when it comes to thinking about what happens to transactions at the till. I’d cut my teeth in tech by coding payment processing systems for many of the big banks and working on biometric payment POS (Point of Sale) and kiosk systems. Unfortunately, I was also a victim of ID theft.

In September 2011, we started some product development research around RFID technology and identity fraud. This led to a series of talks and workshops locally and internationally around the dangers of RFID enabled identity theft. In 2010, identity theft was a $54 billion problem in the US alone. Since we love the tactile, and we wanted an excuse to play with materials, this research resulted in a few prototypes of RFID shielded wallets. These wallets are not fool proof, nothing ever is. However, they do redirect attempts at reading the RFID signals in credit cards and passports during the time that the credit cards and passports are in the wallets.

Fast forward 4 or so months and we’ve just heard that we were selected as a vendor at the Design Boom Mart at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in Sweden! We’re super honored (and truth be told, each of us is rallying to go to represent ). This is pretty exciting stuff as only 35 designers are chosen for this mart. Interested in finding out more?

Here’s coverage of last year’s Mart with an interesting video from another designer from Brunel (my Alma Mater ).

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/13065/designboom-mart-at-stockholm-furniture-fair-2011.html

blockout protest

Innovation is not enough: Kodak files for chapter 11

Today, Kodak, a 100+ year old brand with a massive worldwide presence, filed for chapter 11.

For me it was a sad day indeed.

Some people look at Kodak and shake their heads, and say things like,”they should have seen digital coming!”.

And this is where they are wrong. Kodak did see digital coming. So much so that Kodak was the first company to invent the digital camera (1986). Kodak had also done massive research on OLED (Organic LED) displays. Both super innovative and cutting edge stuff. Both technologies that would significantly change USER BEHAVIOUR.

So why did Kodak fail in such a spectacular way? The same reason that most companies fail when faced with the threat of extinction. F E A R.

Let’s keep in mind that Kodak had a glorious consumer film business (with the infrastructure to back it). It was a business that they wanted desperately to hold on to. But as with most things, when we hold on too tight, we are at risk of losing everything. Kodak was reticent to “eat it’s young” in moving to digital. Additionally, Kodak had to answer to the demands of retailers who had their pockets lined with a very plush line of revenue from Kodak’s print business. The retailers felt entitled. Never mind that this was a line of business that they never had without Kodak.

So Kodak sat between a rock and a hard place, wanting to please its retailers, its consumers, its stockholders, and themselves. What they didn’t believe was the change in consumer behaviour towards digital. No one wanted to print anything anymore, and even those gorgeous photobooks (I’m biased, I worked on that product) were not enough to turn things around.

So what can we learn from this? Here’s a quick review:
1) consumer behaviour changes – anticipate it
2) what works today may not work tomorrow – be ready to turn your organisation around
3) be brave – you an never please everyone so do the best thing you can for the consumers and your organisation
4) know who your real threats are – and be ready to confront the fact that it might be you
5) don’t sit on your laurels – you will die