Cross-Pollinate

We all love our comfort zones. We love working with the same group of people and with our team. The problem with that is that we don't let anyone from the outside of our team influence our work.

In order to innovate and come up with great ideas you need cross-pollination. You need to invite people that you don't usually work with to join your team and brainstorm, come up with ideas and prototype. The more diverse the group is the better the results.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a dedicated group, this really helps with your creativity. Be however receptive to new ideas from the outside and work with people from different backgrounds to get inspired. They can be colleagues from different departments, partners, clients, users, customers, students or any other group you have access to.

Once you have come up with great ideas and ways of doing things you can work with your team to prototype and implement them.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Be an Artist

No matter what industry you are in, you need to work like an artist. The best description I have seen for art and especially modern art is "I could do that + but you didn't".

In your industry you want to convey two things. First, that there is some mystery in what you do. Second, although people think they can do your work, if they try they'll find out that they can't.

For the mystery part, you have to make some of your work seem almost magical. You need to give enough information so people understand what you do and at the same time keep some parts hidden so they have some mystery.

For the "I could do that" part, your work needs to be like modern part. You need to be innovative and excellent at what you do. This will allow you to leave people with a feeling that if they try to do what you do, they might do it but it won't be as good.

Any work can be like art. Always be innovative, bold and unique. It will bring you attention and the recognition you deserve.

P.S. Monday is a bank holiday in the UK, so we will see you again on Tuesday.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

The New Playing Field (Re-post)

This post was originally posted on Harry's personal blog.

The world has changed and has allowed inventors and innovators to bring ideas to market in a very diffent way.

In the past, when you had a great idea which had come even all the way to have a prototype and a proof of concept, you had a big obstacle to overcome, funding. You had to either raise a huge amount of cash or get some investors to buy into the idea and then trust you with their funds to get it to market. This has now changed, through services like kickstarter you have the ability to talk directly to your potential customers and get them to trust your product before even producing it. This not only helps you raise funds but gives your target customers the feeling that they are contributing in the process.

The best example of this are the TikTok+LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kits. The design studio that wanted to produce this gadget had the brilliant idea to put it on kickstarter and get people to pledge their money in order to get their hands on a great product. A few weeks later the project had exceeded any expectation, the original total pledge amount was $15,000 and as I type this post it has now reached $663,591!

This change is of huge benefit to people that have great ideas and can make something happen. No more time lost chasing investors and trying to persuade banks to spare their cash. If you have a great product that will make people take out their cards from their wallets and buy it, then you have no obstacle in front of you. All I have to say is good luck!

Posted by minimoko 

Innovation and Branding #BrandingThursdays

When innovating, you need to renew something that exists and make it better. Sometimes when this is done, people overlook what the brand, for which they are innovating, is all about. You need to always keep in mind what the brand stands for and what the brand promise is.

To explain this it's better to look at an example. I have chosen Tesco and how they have used their "Every Little Helps" message and promise to introduce and provide a new way of doing a lot of different services. Tesco started their "every little helps" campaign by providing a better experience for when people shop at their stores. The main focus is always providing a bit of saving compared to the other chains and adding a few other benefits to create the best value for the customer. Now Tesco has ventured into a lot of different services including Tesco Money, Tesco Mobile, Tesco Entertainment and Tesco Direct. In all ventures they have always done the two things that have made them successful in the grocery market, they try to offer a very cost effective solution and add a bit more to make it a better value. So they offer a consistent promise.

I enjoyed how they communicated their efforts for Tesco Mobile in the latest campaign, where they state that instead of spending on sponsorship, they decided to offer triple clubcard points (their famous loyalty scheme) for the money spent on mobile services. It shows how they put their customer first and that's how they got the first place in the grocery market.

So when innovating it is essential that you maintain the brand promise and sometimes using the brand promise you can find ways to provide new services and products.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Innovation and Simplicity #SimplicityTuesdays

Innovation is currently very high on everyone's agenda. However, sometimes people get confused about the definition of a word, so when that happens we turn to the trustful resources of dictionaries and definition websites to see what the real definition is.

So what we found in most resources, is that innovation is the action of renewing something (usually by introducing new methods) and not creating something new. 

Now turning to simplicity, the act of simplification is in itself innovative. In order to simplify something you need to start with something existing (which is complicated) and then renew it in order to create something that is more useful and valuable. So innovation is an integral part of simplicity, as shown in the image above. 

On the other hand, innovation doesn't necessarily include simplicity. As we have seen many times, an innovation can lead in something being more complicated (by adding a lot of "innovative features") and difficult to use.

So the next time you have to innovate, maybe try simplifying instead and innovation will come naturally.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Simplicity Day 2010 | 12th July

 

With less than a month left we are getting very excited about Simplicity Day! Simplicity Day is the event to discuss how simplicity affects our daily lives and how we can innovate by simplifying. It will take place at THECUBEon 12th July 2010 at 6pm.

The event will begin with a talk on Simplicity by us, and will continue with a Simplicity & Innovation workshop led by Stuart Scott, a De Bono Certified Master Trainer. We will close the event with food and drinks.

Book your place for the workshop NOW as there are only 24 spaces available. You can book for the workshop by contacting us at hello@minimoko.com or on www.minimoko.com/simplicityday. All registered participants will be entered in a drawing for a fundamental book on Simplicity.

See you all there!

 

Posted by Harry Mylonadis