TUESDAY 21st APRIL

Morning: Low Cost - High Benefits
by S. Mirti
Reducing costs means being able to reach a larger audience. Especially in this very moment, economy is suggesting design a possible way to follow, necessities are changing and most of all the concept of status is totally a different thing from just few months ago. Here it is a presentation that describes the concept behind low-cost systems, possibilities and benefits generated.

As introduction before we start, here the link to this special concert: “Music for one apartment and six drummers“. A great piece of music, conceived and made upon a 100% low-cost / high profit recipe…

So nice, we can use it as a soundtrack while reading the article.

Interesting to notice that apx 2 million people watched it on Youtube in the last months (not bad at all).

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Now that we’ve got the music, let’s start from a simple question:

If Ryanair or Easyjet can fly us at 1/20th of the normal cost, why can’t we develop products (or architectures or exhibitions or whatever design you are busy at) with the same principles?

Could we envision a new museum where we spend 10.000 euro to make it (rather than the normal 1.000.000 euro)?

We live in a world where the new keyword is “crisis”. Even the best practices, companies and architects are collapsing. No-one knows what to do (well, of course, someone knows…).

Of course, if the previous world collapsed, this idea of “having to reshape a new one” is very charming and interesting (especially if you are a designer and/or an architect). Here the link to “Germany Year Zero” (by Roberto Rossellini, 1945). Here below, an image of Dresden, after the infamous bombing in February 1945:

By then, the destruction was physical, now it is conceptual: the result is the same (or probably worse). In Dresden 1945, the school was destroyed and they had to re-build it (knowing “how” and “why”). Now, we have all of our schools in perfect shape, but we don’t know what to teach (assuming we do want to teach meaningful things).

Still, the only chance to move on is to look for the glass being half-full.

Chairman Mao (quoting Confucius) used to say: “Everything under heaven is in utter chaos, the situation is excellent!”. We do actually like his attitude very much. Now, how can we translate this concept into design field, AD 2009?

We have to admit that the outlook is quite dire. If we look public institutions, it seems they don’t have anymore money to run any kind of service and/or other things. No more money to run libraries, sport facilities, transportation systems, health care and all the rest…

If we look at private sector, the situation it is even worse: the old products, no one wants them anymore. Still, for the time being, no-one knows what will be the new products fitting the desires and necessities of a completely new world.

What can we say? All in all this is great moment (for the ones who have new concepts and new ideas).

This is the best moment to work on your creativity, insight, experimental attitudes: people are desparate, people will listen to you (because they have to, because they need new ideas, because their work is collapsing, because they cannot imagine and/or think of anything).

Crisis is always a great moment to move on, to push forward. Do you remember Orson Welles famous quote?

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgia’s they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!

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Pause # 1: Make the “phone call experiment”.

What is the phone call experiment? You call a person, whoever, the more important, the better it is. He/she can be the CEO of a company, the mayor of the city, the head of the fancy museum… Tell him/her: “listen, i’ve got an idea that will fix all your problems”.

You’ll get an appointment within the week.

Of course, you still need to have the “idea”. Then, the idea has to be good, feasible, viable. Not to mention, you must find a way to get paid (not so easy nowadays)….

Anyway, now it is great momente, because normally no-one would listen to you. This is a nice chance: now you succeed or fail because of the quality of your ideas, not because of your connections, because of the capital you have, because of external factors.

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Pause # 2: Prepare your “elevator pitch”

Make sure your idea is simple and easy to understand. It has to be an “elevator pitch”: something you can explain in the 30 second run of an elevator.

Imagine you meet Bill Gates in the elevator: you have apx 20 seconds to explain your concept and trying to convince him to fund your thing.

If Einstein was able to explain the theory of special relativity in three pages, you must be able to explain your idea in 20 seconds. If it takes longer, somewhere there is a mistake.

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Warning # 1: We want to be in the condition of the “meccanico”, not of the “carrozziere”

In Italy, we have two different business: the “meccanico” (mechanic), who is the guy who fix the engine and the mechanical part of your car. And then we have the “carrozziere” (no word in english), the guy who fix the bodywork of the car, its “skin”.

In these days, mechanics have a lot of work, their business is doing very well (before to buy a new car, you fix it over and over). At the same time, for “carrozziere” is a total disaster: no-one fix the little damages on body works anymore.

“Meccanico” and “carrozziere” used to do a very similar activity, very similar business. In this new world, we want to be on the “meccanico” side, not on the “carrozziere”…

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Warning #2: don’t forget the classic ones

Piaggio, the company of Vespa used to be in airplane business: most of the Italian bombers of World War II were built by Piaggio. In 1945 italy was shattered, no need for airforce bombers, a complete business without “market”.

What to do? What to do with all these little components and parts left in the factories?

The question for mr. D’Ascanio (the head engineer) was simple: use the little engines used to sparkle the big ones, to make some kind of new system of transportation.

So, as a final result.. The same engine used as a component of the bigger system used by the airforce bomber, became the main propeller for the little vespa scooter.

Of course, what is very impressive is this mr D’Ascanio inventing the scooter when the concept of scooter was not existing yet…

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Also, this moment calls for new dictionaries, a complete new set of communication tools…

This is absolutely great! These things don’t happen so often. There is space to experiment, to test, to try new and unknown possibilities… Now, we can do all kind of things.

We can take materials from the past, to change their meaning, their function, to use them in a completely different way…

Below, the famous square in Lucca: two thousand years ago, it was a roman amphiteatre. Then, through the centuries the original building changed its function, meaning, organization.. Still, the shape factor remained the same…

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After this visual (and short) introduction, here below 5 case-studies useful to map our territory…

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casy study # 1: iPhone marketing strategy (or, how Vodafone is able to sell 500 euro phones in a moment no-one has money).

The system is easy: I’ve been asked how much I pay per month with my actual contract (TIM). I replied i do pay apx 100/150 euro. They offered me a 79 euro deal (30 min per day of talk + some thousands sms per week). Then, if I add 20 euro per month (for 24 months), I also get an iPhone.

Final result: I am very happy because I’ve saved a lot of money, and, at the same time, I paid my 480 euro for the iPhone (20 euros x 24 months).

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casy study # 2: Ikea concept, or: imagine you go to a restaurant and they tell you that you have to cook yourself your own dinner. That would be strange, isn’t it?

Well, this is what Ikea does with the furniture: they convinced us that is very cool and hip to build them up ourselves.

And we are very happy…

The revolution Ikea did, is mostly cultural. Imagine the average living room in Italy until few years ago: there were clear rule on what is acceptable and ok, and what is not (acceptable and ok). Ikea succeeded in completely transforming the ten tenets of the Italian household religion…

Once in the Ikea realm it is also worth mentioning the shrewd “Leko” campaign in France: all made around the Ikea concept (a conceptual Ikea car).

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casy study # 3: The book-on-demand. Thanks to Lulu (and/or many other web-based services) everyone can write, publish and sell his/her own book, like being a famous writer.

What is interesting in this case, is the skill to play with people’s desire (I want to be a writer), pushing our deep desires to unknown extremes (I can publish my book, print as many copy I want / need, I can sell it via their webshop - my book next to famous writer’s ones…)

Here for instance, a very nice idea: how to make a design magazine using this system. Or, another example, the yearbook for a school.

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Case study #4: Esterni activities in Milan. All kind of fascinating and intriguing concepts: “share-a-bed”, different uses for parking lots, the “casa per i designer” (temporary hotel for young designers) and much more.

Bravissimi!

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casy study # 5: Then we have two concepts/ideas developed lately within Id-lab. The diffuse-restaurant and an interesting concept for a Museum on Holocaust.

We are currently working a lot about this concept. New ideas for museums, new concepts, new attitudes.

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casy study # 6: iPhone (again). This time on this idea of “making your own application”. The SDK kit.

In this case what is truly fascinating is this idea that you can make your own application (via the kit), and try to sell it worldwide. Completely different than any other phone company. Also, very succesful.

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casy study # 7: Crispin Jones watches. In this case, what is truly fascinating is the whole production/sale process. A lot to learn from mr. Jones’ attitude…

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Well, this collection is open to all kind of suggestions and comments. For the time being, thanks a lot for your attention.

Afternoon: “Pins & Bags” by V. Carta
Learning how to craft gadgets with low cost materials and techniques. Promotion is the medium to reach clients, but objects are the medium to reach users. Here we do both things at the same time, teaching why it’s only when costs are lowered to the minimum that design achieves the best results.

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