Yesterday I was discussing with one of the backers of CPU Wars, about the creation of the project and its success. What made this idea real and successful? Acting on it. 

A lot of other people might have had the same or similar idea, but never acted on it. When you are faced with a new idea, with the unknown you have two options:

1. Start working on it
2. Do nothing and then complain about the great idea that you once had and never did anything about

For me, it has always been the first. This way, if I fail at least I can say that I gave it a try. Of course this is just the beginning, but what sets apart wantrepreneurs from entrepreneurs is not generating or finding ideas. It's acting on them.

We all have a lot of ideas, so when you find that certain one, the one that makes you feel all tingly when you think about it, act on it. Stop procrastinating and thinking about all the worst scenarios. Dedicate some of your free time and start working, at least you'll get the experience.

I always want to create the best and most helpful content for you, so I've decided to reach out and ask for your help and suggestions.

I will be starting a complete guide to branding and I want to know what you want me to cover. It will be our way of helping everyone and really showing what branding can do for you. We will start from the fundamentals of branding and move on to how you can work on creating a stronger and memorabe brand.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, then send me a line to harry [at] minimoko [dot] com.

Yesterday I was revisitng a nice article by Smashing Magazine, titled Designing for a Hierarchy of Needs. Steven has done a great job applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to design. I personally agree with this model but I won't be talking about this today.

What I wanted to talk about is how simplicity can help you cover some of these needs. Specifically it can help you achieve the needs of Functionality and Usability.

Functionality
Functionality is one of the core elements when using simplicity in our design process. Before anything else, our design needs to include the needed functions. Not only that but through a simplification process we can identify and decide what functionality is really needed. The result is a design that provides the most needed functions while doing away with any functions that would complicate the user experience.

Usability
Usability is another core element when using simplicity in our design process. What we are designing must be functional and very usable. Through multiple revisions the aim is to make it so usable that it feels natural, familiar and doesn't need any explanations. The user is key in this process and depending on who you are designing for you need to make certain decisions. Since knowledge can make something easier to use, the target audience is a determining factor in the simplification process.

Just covering these two needs can really help you design better and create a better user experience. Design is not just about how things look but how they work. Covering these basic needs is essential and simplicity can help you do that. 

The scene is set, everyone is at their positions, knows what they have to do, knows their lines and then a blooper happens. What happens next? Take 2.

I know what you're thinking, what does this have to do with anything? When we work on something we expect to do everything right from the beginning. Instead of starting and acting, we spend endless hours planning in order to avoid any mistake or failure.

What's the alternative? Start, act, try new things. If you fail, that's no problem. Try again. Each time you will become better and stronger. Don't expect to get it right from the beginning, there are many things to learn and the best way to learn them is by acting and learning from your mistakes.

Design has an important problem. Good design is usually invisible and most people can't perceive it's value. The truth is that everything that we interact with has been designed either by someone or nature.

Good design can make all the difference, whether you are creating a product or service. Design deals not only with the perceivable beauty of things but more importantly with the minute features that make or break something. Take a minute and think of small things that have been specifically designed to enhance your experience that you rarely think about. The locking sound of an iPhone, the groove underneath your kitchen's work-tops, unobtrusive notifications in web apps. Everything has been carefully designed to make your experience better.

The most important of the above is the experience. Good design works to create a good and more natural experience for your customers/users. To get the benefits you need to embrace design and introduce it into your culture. How you do this is up to you, but the best choice is to start learning and bring designers in your team.

Don't overlook the power of design, embrace it and create things that are usable, beautiful and "natural".

You and your team are the most valuable assets of your brand. Even though you need to do a lot of research, testing and work, you need to remember to listen to your gut feelings.

Your gut is what will keep you passionate and in love with your brand. If that passion dies then you will be in trouble. People want to buy from you and what you represent, they don't care if you have followed all the rules and guides. They want to be able to connect with you and understand what you stand for.

Build your brand and listen to your gut, it knows what's right for you. If people are opposing to your views and ideas, then maybe you are speaking to the wrong people. Make sure that you love what you do and find the people that are like you.

I learnt about BLUFing from someone that had served for a long time in the US army. A BLUF in this case stands for Bottom Line Up Front and is one of the most effective ways to get your message across.

At school and university we learn about how we need to build up our arguments and ideas until we reach a conclusion. In this case the conclusion is the only place where we can communicate our ideas. Since that's how we've been taught, a lot of us continue communicating in this way after we leave school.

BLUFing turns this on its head. You start with your conclusion, strong idea, belief and then work on explaining it. This way you get your message across faster and more strongly. You have complete freedom to talk about your beliefs first and then move to the details if you have time. Your busy audience will also thank you for this as they can get the value first and will be more engaged.

Learn to BLUF and deliver value quickly.

Practice is something that deserves it's own post. I've mentioned time and time again that in order to achieve what I talk about, you need to practice. It's not just a matter of doing it whenever you need it or whenever it comes to your mind. You need to practice on what you want to achieve on a daily basis.

This is the only way to become good at something. You can't wake up one day and know how to simplify, you need to practice over and over. The same principles, the same ideas. Learn, fail and grow.

Once you've done your 10,000 hours, you can start calling yourself a guru, an expert or anything else you like. Until then, you need to practice daily and as often as possible during the day.

Failing and making mistakes is not enough in order to learn and become better. You also need to dedicate time on reflecting on what has happened and why it didn't work.

Here's where a problem lies. When most people reflect on bad experiences, their feelings resurface. There's anger, anxiety, stress, fear, tears and emptiness. In order for the reflection to work and make you better you need to turn these feelings around.

Examine the past experiences without passing judgement and feeling bad. Things happen for a reason and by reflecting positively on the past you learn and expand your brain capacity. You can even create new pathways in your brain and start feeling better. Think of what could have gone worse or how your failure protected you from things getting worse.

As always, for this to work you need to turn it into a practice. Try to at least dedicate an hour once a week reflecting on past experiences. Turning the bad ones into good ones and learning from them. You will then gradually start feeling better and facing problems with a more positive attitude.

Around a month ago, I wrote about how you need to support your decisions, especially when they have to do with your brand.

Similarly to how Gap reacted to everyone's reaction when they tried to change their logo, HP has now stepped back and won't be changing their logo. To be fair, they never made an official announcement about the change. With everything moving so fast though, just an indication from the brand agency they we working with was enough to set everything on fire.

This supports what I talked about a month ago. When you want to make an important change to your brand, take your time and when you decide what the change will be support it. Your brand is not just your logo, it's a sum of all the parts and everyone that is involved with it brings it to life.