So I was having a chat with my friend Josh a few nights ago about how the iPhone has a very distinct component base and that there should be a simple magnet set to build ideas. I love the set of iPhone app magnets, but wanted a simple iPhone cutout that I could place a on top of a picture. While thinking about actually making these magnets, I thought about other heavily engrained digital experiences we have, and their call-to-action, so of course I had to make a Youtube playhead,  Youtube timeline, and a Facebook “like” button. This was going to be a fun little experiment.

Conclusion

Adding elements of specific digital experiences really do change the way one experiences the medium. Take this simple photo on my refrigerator of my girlfriend (far left), and her cousin (birthday boy), father, uncle, and grandmother taken in the late-80’s:

By adding some of these new elements,  the experience of  a simple photo suddenly begins to change.  I began with adding an iPhone screen with a call-answer screen in the middle, and found that I naturally began to think about voice, and what the man centered in the screen would sound like on the phone, and what he would be calling about. I then completely changed the parameters and added a YouTube interface on top of the photo, which suddenly made the photo feel much more real, and I naturally began to see the birthday party play out in my head. Thinking about what happened before and what might happen a few seconds after that frame.

YouTube creates some amazing popular pop culture references, so I had to create  T-Pain and Obama magnets to add some social dynamics within the photos as necessary. Who doesn’t want an auto-tune birthday party!

This was a fun exercise to remind myself how much the medium affects the message, and that just the flat remnants added to a still photo brings some of their unique qualities into experience. If you would like some of these magnets, let me know, and I’ll what I can do;)

Minimalism is becoming the new design feature. Thanks for that Apple. I couldn’t agree more. Every new product feature should be considered “guilty until proven innocent” in its quest to join the list of features that now make small electronic pamphlets into hundred page guide books. Fun. This is a well established conversation with some interesting opinions, but what I would rather talk about is innovation through the lens of frugality, which is quite different.

Start Connecting these two, because they're already hanging out.

My recent long-term trip through Asia granted me many little discoveries, but one that continued to amaze me was technology proliferation. Technology that I considered “out of reach” for rural parts of Vietnam and Laos were putting smiles on locals’ faces. Before a tour through some rice patties in SaPa, a local Hmong girl was searching YouTube for ancient Hmong chants, and found them, and shared them with her friends. This was brilliant to see. While we were hiking the hills, she got a text message which she giggled and quickly replied to, “It’s my boyfriend.”

I have tons of these little stories, and they’re all brought about by frugal innovation. These areas of the world do not have a problem using technology, but rather technology is typically expensive and scarce. With companies expanding their markets and design thinking to include more places like India and China, product lines of  cheap netbooks and mobile phones have expanded into these markets allowing Zi, our guide, to do what we do. And over time, I’m sure we will see creative usage that we didn’t think was possible.