Revisiting PILLOWTALK

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This afternoon, my group within the branding and advertising module met up in Starbucks for coffee in order to revisit our marketing techniques for the product 'Pillowtalk'.

We identified 2 potential market segments:

•  wives of those in the army
• business couples

As a group, we came to the conclusion that we should aim the product at 'business couples'.  We arrived at this decision because we felt that £199 for the Pillowtalk product (2 speakers and 2 rings) would be more affordable to this particular target audience, rather than wives of those in the army.  Business couples tend to be more stereotypically wealthy.  I guess this is because they're generically more mature, successful and professional. 

We also decided amongst ourselves that it would be best to target the early majority of the consumer population.  We felt that targeting businesswomen between the ages of 26-40 would be ideal as we thought it would be more likely that women would influence their partner to purchase this product.


WHAT is the product all about? 


Each person has a ring sensor they wear to bed at night, and a flat fabric panel which slots inside their pillowcase. The ring wirelessly communicates with the other person’s pillow; when one person goes to bed, their lover’s pillow begins to glow softly to indicate their presence. Placing your head on the pillow allows you to hear the real-time heartbeat of your loved one.


WHY purchase this product?


Reasons for purchasing this product can be divided up into rational/irrational decisions.


Rational:

• connects two lovers, regardless of the distance between them
• the product is cheaper than purchasing an accumulation of long distance flights

Irrational:

• creates an intimate interaction between two lovers, regardless of the distance between them
• a romantic gesture towards your lover
• proof that you're serious about your lover
• an emotional and sentimental experience

in saying these things..

WHAT will this product do for you as the consumer?

''When purchasing this product, you will automatically have the ability to connect with your long distance lover every night before you sleep.''

ADVERTISING THE PRODUCT

In order to best inform our target audience of the product, we decided that featuring an advertisement within a broadsheet newspaper would be ideal.  This way we would be able to target business couples of a certain wealth and maturity who are more likely to travel i.e. more likely to be away from their lover.  We also thought that we could advertise the product as a pull out extra within business women magazines.

Our group had also discussed featuring an advertisement within travel/flight magazines, however we felt that informing our audience of the product whilst they had already started their journey away from their partner wouldn't be ideal.  On the other hand, the target audience could be persuaded to purchase the product before leaving their partner on their next business trip!

A sketch of a potential advert:

The content of the advertisement is based on the rational and irrational decisions of buying the product.  The couple are seen standing either side of a heart (signifying their love for one another).  They are lovingly looking over at each other, realising that despite the distance between them, the fact that 'Pillowtalk' has been packed in the suitcase means that their romantic connection can still remain for the duration of the business trip.

The slogan could be either

• ''we're going to be okay, we've got Pillowtalk ''
• ''business trips made romantic, only with Pillowtalk '' (as seen on the advert sketched above)

WORKSHOP: Marketing Tools

In response to the branding and advertising lecture held on wednesday 14th september '11 -a workshop was held in the Dalhousie building, University of Dundee, to focus on marketing tools.


The purpose of this workshop was to give us an opportunity to practice using marketing tools in order to develop marketing strategies.


The workshop was carried out in teams.  Each team was composed of designers from different design backgrounds throughout DJCAD. 


TASK ONE. 


For the first task, our team decided to work towards producing a set of proposals for 'DJCAD Cantina'.  The tools we used were used to help stimulate creative responses.


We produced a general brainstorm on the cantina before carrying out a 'SWOT' analysis.  The SWOT analysis allowed us to determine the internal weaknesses and strengths as well as the external opportunities and threats of the DJCAD cantina.

After producing a SWOT analysis, we realised that there were many existing weaknesses.  Although the cantina is in the ideal location for art students to purchase food and drink, the variety and price of the products let the business down.  


We decided to produce a perceptual map in order to compare the cantina with other food/drink competitors within the University radius.  In doing this we realised that most other cafes/restaurants in the area have more variety in food with a higher quality, therefore emphasizing a need for change for the DJCAD cantina.

The image above shows our SWOT analysis, our marketing proposal and our perceptual map.


TASK TWO


Our second task asked us to apply the same marketing tools to help a real life client with her real life business, Little Riot.  The business has been set up by a recent interactive media design graduate of DJCAD.  The product the client wanted us to market was 'Pillow Talk'.  The product has been designed as an aim to connect long distance lovers.

How it works: Each person has a ring sensor they wear to bed at night, and a flat fabric panel which slots inside their pillowcase. The ring wirelessly communicates with the other person’s pillow; when one person goes to bed, their lover’s pillow begins to glow softly to indicate their presence. Placing your head on the pillow allows you to hear the real-time heartbeat of your loved one. The result is an intimate interaction between two lovers, regardless of the distance between them.

As a group we produced a SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the product.  This allowed us to confirm that there is an existing gap in the market for a product like 'Pillow Talk'.  It also allowed us to think about potential competitors in the interactive design market.

As a group we wondered how the product would be delivered to the customer.  This was an issue that was identified as a weakness when carrying out the SWOT analysis.  We wondered if the two separate pillows and rings would be sent to one house hold, or to two separate addresses (saying as long distance couples live apart, therefore living at different addresses...)

We also identified the need for wifi as a weakness.  If a customer does not have wifi, then the product can not be used for it's purpose.   


When focusing on the opportunities of the product, we thought about how and where the product could be sold.  We reckoned the product would be best sold at airports and travel shops, as the products' target audience are more likely to be concentrated at these locations. 

I really enjoyed the workshop as it gave me real life experience in trying to market an existing product.  I now realize the importance of carrying out marketing tools such as a SWOT analysis or a perceptual map.  They are great ways of really 'getting to know' a product.

Architectural storage

Why not store all your belongs on your desk architecturally...!?

......architectural design is limitless!

GIDE: Creativity for local enterprises.

At the beginning of this week, we were told that we were par-taking in an international project where 7 European design institutions will each respond to the design theme: 'CREATIVITY FOR LOCAL ENTERPRISES'


GIDE is an international consortium of higher-education design schools, which work together to enrich the experience of students in the areas of interior architecture, art and design interdisciplinary practice and industrial & interaction design. 


GIDE members include design schools in:

• Scotland
• Belgium
• Germany
• Italy
• Slovenia
• Switzerland 
• England. 

GIDE has a long history, beginning with exchanges of
students and teaching staff as long ago as 1995. http://www.gide-net.eu/

In reaction to this brief, our year group of 25 third year interior environmental designers got together to brainstorm/discuss a number of possible creative strategies, interventions, processes and offerings that could be introduced to local enterprises.


The point of the exercise was to think about how local enterprises can be improved so that their profile in the market is more desirable by the public/their own specific audience.

When brainstorming the strategies involved in 'Co-Work' we were able to identify that a successful business partnership between 2 already successful companies, can lead to company collaboration, which in turn can potentially generate more business and more money. 


I look forward to researching more on this topic and hope to get my teeth stuck into this GIDE project!

assignment five- summer reading and other plans (part b)

As it is important to integrate design into our everyday lives, I want to make it a priority to read appropriate books, keep up to date with my blog and connect with others throughout the summer period.  

My plans are as follows:

Reading.

'Interior Design Drawing' by Alan Hughes

As an interior designer, it is important to understand how to illustrate and convey your ideas in a way in which others can fully understand.  Reading this book should hopefully inspire me to come up with other ways to illustrate my work.

'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell

After gaining so much insight from 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell in the beginning of the academic year, I thought this book by the same author would be an appropriate read.  As the book examines factors that contribute to high levels of success, for example how Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates achieved his wealth, I thought this book would be encouraging and innovative.

'The Total Beauty Of Sustainable Products' by Edwin Datschefski

As sustainability is becoming part of the design vocabulary, I feel that is it essential to become acquainted with the world of sustainability.  I am aware that we need to optimise the benefits for the economy, and the benefits for the environment.  In the past it seems like the environment has come second to the profit, but unless we have the economy, society and environment working together we can't have a sustainable future.

'Sustainable Design: Toward a New ethic in Architecture and Town Planning' by Marie-Helene Contal-Chavannes and Jana Revdin

This book should hopefully provide me with appropriate insight into the work of the international Global Award for sustainable architecture prizewinners.

'Sustainable Urban Design: An environmental approach' by Randall Thomas and Adam Richie

As it is thought that 3/4 of the worlds population will be urban by the end of the 21st century, it is important to ensure cities are healthy and sustainable.  This book will set out some of the basic principles of the design of our future cities.

Blog.

Personalisation

Time needs to be spent adding personal touches to my blog to enhance its uniqueness. 

Contact details

I must include an email address/contact number as well as details about what my intentions within the design world are.

Adding a portfolio

It is crucial to show what you as a designer are all about.  Providing a portfolio will allow viewers to view/comment on any previous or current projects.

More blog posts

I want to become more disciplined in sharing my design ideas and thoughts with the outside world.  I guess the best way to do this is to keep more up to date with my blog posts.

Documentation

Documentation of relevant/interesting designs throughout the world is a way of keeping up to date with design all over the world.  I want to be forced to have an opinion on new design ideas.  This should hopefully allow me to gain more knowledge within my discipline.

Connect.

Twitter

Getting a twitter account is essential if I want to follow any current/up-coming designers.

Fourth year IED students

Connecting with students within my own disapline who are soon to begin their final year on the course should give me great insight into what is to come for me after another year.

Design students in other countries

Using twitter and my email, I want to be able to see what other design students are getting up to. I want to be able to talk to them about my own work.  Who knows, we might even have skype calls in order to show/describe our projects in more detail.

Architectural/interior design companies

Connecting with potential employers should allow me to find out the criteria for employment. Companies may be able to give me information what they look for in a designer.

Students within other disciplines

Textiles, Jewellery making, Graphic design, Illustration, Animation, Time based art and Fine art are some of the other disciplines within DJCAD that I could potentially connect with.  Meeting up with students from other disciplines could provide me with inspiration within some of my projects.

assignment five- planning for the future (part a)

Research proposal: Designing urban environments as an attempt to minimise crime.

Introduction.

After reading 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell in the beginning of the academic year, I became intrigued with the topic of 'crime prevention' found in chapter four of the book.  What particularly interested me was the opportunity to resolve such a problem, through design.  In semester 1 I researched how landscape architecture could potentially benefit run down areas within cities and how installing aesthetically pleasing atmospheres within a space could encourage positive behaviour.  I found that urbanism plays a large role in aiming to prevent crime in public places.  Urbanism can create physical and psychological spaces that can help peacemaking occur in run down areas of cities.  In the journal, 'Behaving Badly in Public Places' by H. Shaftoe, I found the author to share my interest of discovering existing links between design of urban spaces and the way people behave in them.  The author mentions how field experiments have been carried out, whereby aspects of the environment are manipulated to test the effect on levels of crime in an area.  This is a method that I find appropriate in researching why crime exists in environments today.


It has been found that certain physical situations and environments can encourage anti-social behaviour or allow crime to occur.  


In terms of designing urban environments as an attempt to minimise crime we need to think about redesigning and securing such places to limit criminal activity.  In order to do this, I have decided to produce a research proposal focusing on an existing urban environment that experiences crime daily.

Existing design problem

Hollister Co. is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch Co whose stores are designed as surf shacks with ambient atmospheric interiors, dimly lit with noise of loud music.  Knowing that an interior like this isn't ideal to limit criminal activity, I made it my priority to visit Hollister Co. Victoria Square, Belfast to discuss with a staff member if there were any evident links between the design of the interior and the way members of the public behave/react within the space. 

A member of staff was able to inform me that 71 items are stolen on average per week from their Belfast Hollister Co. store.  By looking at the images above, it is not surprising that so many items are stolen as it appears difficult to even see the merchandise due to the dim lighting.  

Methods designed as an attempt to minimise crime within the Hollister Co. store.
After brainstorming potential research methods to minimise crime within a retail store, I realised that observation would be the most appropriate way to achieve successful results.


There are five degrees of observation that make up the research investigation:

• Concise note making of the interior environment of a Hollister Co. store in terms of the positioning of lighting and merchandise.  After making notes on the interior environment, a detailed account along with an accurate annotated drawing of the interior space should be produced.  It would be important to take note of where the merchandise is displayed within the store in order to determine the probability of theft.  Are there areas in the interior space that are dark enough for no one to notice theft?  Is it true to say that the dimmed lighting within the store plays a part in how an individual might act?  Do customers think that they cannot be seen?

• Thorough observation of how customers make their way around the store.  Using the service design tool of 'System Mapping', a precise account of how a person makes his/her way around the store can be obtained.  The service tool will take into account the flow of materials, energy, information and money through the system

• Taking note of the positioning of the staff  in relation to the positioning of the public within the store.  An accurate account of the distribution of staff within the building at any one time will help reduce potential shoplifting attempts.

• Differentiating between the customers who actually purchase items in the store and those who are there to 'browse'.  Making a point of noting who does and who does not purchase items from the store.  Are there customers who repetitively 'browse' the shop and still don't make a purchase?  What are the possible intentions of these customers? 

• Interviewing customers on why they think shoplifting occurs within the store.  Regular customers to Hollister Co. may provide some relevant insight into why/how customers would shoplift from the store.  Unknown to us, they may be aware of possible techniques that criminals use to steal items.  The interviews would be semi-structured/casual so as to gain maximum material without putting the interviewees under pressure.

Strengths and Limitations

Gathering primary evidence through five different methods of observation enhances the reliability of the research proposal.  To prevent any limitations, photographic, video and audio evidence must be carried out throughout the entire building, and throughout the interview process.  This way the information can be decoded accurately.  Photographic and video evidence will also reduce any potential ambiguity when the material is eventually analysed. 

Potential Problems

Members of the public may not provide accurate results, therefore reducing the degree of accuracy in the investigation.  This is a problem that can occur within any investigation, therefore trust is essential when interviewing.

Falsely accusing a member of the public of theft is out of line.  Therefore, as accuracy is crucial within this investigation we must rely on CCTV footage as well as our own results in order to arrive at a fair and accurate decision concerning a situation.

Plan

To accurately carry out this research proposal it would be ideal for me to carry out these methods within a group.  Ideally, the group should consist of an architect, an interior designer and a criminologist.  The task could be carried out in a full day and would take approximately a week to convert the primary evidence into a suitable and accurate conclusion.

Plan B

If the desired amount of information is not received within the assigned day, the same experiment would have to be carried out a week from that date.  

Desired results
Following the research proposal, it would be ideal to have enough insight into how/why so many items are stolen each week so that measures could be taken to reduce the degree of criminal activity within Hollister Co. stores.  It is important to highlight to Hollister Co. that although their interior environment is perfect for their target audience, it does not take the appropriate precautions when it comes to theft. 

Office Design: How Google do it.

Google is always known for having 'extremely cool' offices.  It has the reputation as one of the best places to work in the world- due to the interior design!

The new London HQ is located near Buckingham Palace.  The new 40,000sft offices have a prominent 'beach theme' throughout, designed by architect Scott Brownrigg.  His aim was to create an atmosphere which excited employees when they arrived in their place of work.

The reception features the iconic 'google' name..

the offices have slides instead of stairs!

gondolas instead of meeting rooms...

Jungle themed meeting spaces...

beach themed meeting areas..

where better to voice your opinion..but in a boat!?

Conference calls......

Now who wouldn't want to work in a place like that!? -some people may think it's crazy but surely it's appropriate in this current economic climate?