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    Archive for February, 2009

    New Generation Code

    Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

    Fist I was attracted with their appearance with their black and white squares, later I found out what they actually are – pixel codes, bar codes in two-dimensional form.


    Source: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

    When bar codes became popular and universally recognized, the market began to search for codes capable of storing more information, more different character types, and that could be printed in smaller. Various efforts were made to increase the amount of information stored by bar codes. However, these improvements also caused problems such as enlarging the bar code area causing complications in reading and increasing printing cost. Two-dimensional cods are response to these needs, allowing information to be written in both the vertical and horizontal directions causes a considerably greater volume of information than a bar code.


    Source: http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/qrfeature-e.html

    On the market there are around 30 different two-dimensional codes. DataMatrix, Maxi Code, PDF417, Semacode, ShotCode are one of these codes that were developed in years. The most known-one and popular is QR Code, developed by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave and released in 1994. QR Codes were initially used for tracking parts in car industry, nowadays they are used in a much broader context.

    QR Code is two-dimensional bar code that stands for Quick Response, as it allows its contents to be decoded at high speed. It can encode different types of data, such as alphabetic and numeric characters, Kanji and Kana, Hiragana, symbols, binary, and control codes. The code can manage up to 7,089 numeric characters or maximum 4,296 alphanumeric, it can hold up to 2,953 bytes of binary information and maximum 1,817 characters of Kanji, full with Kana.

    Since QR Code carries information both horizontally and vertically, QR Code is capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code. They have error correction capability. Data can be restored even if the symbol is partially dirty or damaged. A maximum 30% of code words can be restored, depending on code’s level error correction.


    Source: http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/qrfeature-e.html

    We can define QR Code structure on “finder pattern” and “timing pattern”. “Finder pattern” is used to help detection a position of QR Code in decoder application. “Timing pattern” is used to help determine a symbol’s coordinate in decoder application. Yes, these three corners of the symbol allow QR Code 360 degree reading. In yellow color parts, encoded data (including error correct code) are stored. In cyan color parts, format information is.


    Source: http://www.swetake.com/qr/qr1_en.html

    There are no limits to creative QR Code use. Brands like H&M, Gucci, McDonald’s and others are using two-dimensional codes in communication with new generation users. McDonald’s is placing codes on hamburgers so that eaters can scan the package with their mobile phones and find out the nutritional information about the food they are eating. Customers are able to view the amount of calories in their meal, as well as the amount of sodium, fat, protein and carbs.

    The Miami Ad School in USA had created a campaign for company H&M. The campaign’s billboards and magazine prints contained a semacode, one of these two-dimensional codes. With this high-tech technology they tried to use sale opportunity in new way. Bystanders could scan the ad, the code, with their mobile phones. The Code contained web link that took them directly to the H&M page where they could easy choose the color and the size of the clothing on the ad, place the order and the cost was directly deducted from the purchaser’s mobile account.


    Source: http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2007/09/h-uses-semacodes-for-mobile-shopping.html

    Source:

    http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/aboutqr-e.html

    http://www.swetake.com/qr/qr1_en.html

    http://www.mojmikro.si/v_srediscu/tehnologije/quick_response_code

    http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2007/09/h-uses-semacodes-for-mobile-shopping.html

    http://calorielab.com/news/2006/09/15/mcdonalds-tags-food-with-high-tech-nutrition-information/

    Ines Kristan, Designer at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy

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    “Dialing for Dollars”

    Thursday, February 12th, 2009

    As a business development assistant, I am subscribed to many news, pages, blogs, etc., one of them is also BNET, a website for business management. And there, I came across an interesting article about sales. Geoffrey James posted a poll titled “Is Cold Calling Really Worth It? People in sales know how stressful and weird can cold calling be is it is very hard to be equal and strong if you are practically begging for an appointment. There were many answers and comments, one of the impressed James (and me) so much, that he decided to make it an official post.

    Ron Silver, sales coach, states that cold calling does not work, because people sound like they are making a cold call. Even the expression itself is unpleasant so Silver suggests we switch it with “Dialing for Dollars”.
    Source: blogs.pcworld.com

    When cold calling, most people want to get something from somebody. They are trying to get an appointment or an order. We are in nature reluctant to give something to someone we do not know, therefore many salespeople fail in their attempt. At this point, Silver makes a statement that “to get” is not the purpose of cold calling.

    Dialling for dollars is a disqualifying process. Your objective is to disqualify as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. That saves us time and money.

    Salesperson has up to one minute to express a specific reason for the prospect to wish to continue the conversation. You will be the most effective when your minute causes the prospect to identify the problem they need to solve. People will talk to you if you help the illuminate the problem they need to get fixed. Problems in business are mostly focusing on loss of money, wasted time, inefficiencies, loss of market share, etc. If the potential client (and not us) does not see something that has negative consequences for their business and seriously wants to get rid of the problem, we have the possibility of continuing the conversation. If there is a “fit”, we have a possibility of asking for a meeting where we could together with the prospect explore the possibilities of cooperation.

    Essentials of cold calling according to Silver:
    + Tell them your name and your company.
    + Ask for permission for one minute and tell them they can end the conversation after that if they want to.
    + Get right to the point.
    + Never try to convince the prospect, let them try to convince you it is worth your time and effort to meet with them.
    + Respect your agreement.

    He also gave an example, but I think it is better to give one for Vizuarna:
    “Hello, This is Lea Lipovšek from Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy. May I take one minute to tell you why I am calling and then you can tell me if we should continue speaking. Today in a time of fierce economic conditions we all want to downsize our costs. Not the best planned and structured website decreases its visit and increases communication costs. Corporate identity and brand architecture within it that with time become incoherent, diminish happiness of the employees as well as happiness and loyalty of the clients. Mrs. Novak, are you maybe dealing with some of these problems or is everything running smoothly?”

    In less than a minute we have someone on the line we can help or not. If they do not have any problems that we can fix at the moment, then it is over – for now.

    Silver recommends that calling is scheduled as an event in our calendar. As such, it will be easier to do it with consistency. The post is concluded with an optimistic thought. The best thing about cold calling is that we do not have to do it forever. Once we have a satisfied client base, they will become promoters of your business and there will be a far lesser need for cold calling.

    Source: http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=731
    Picture: http://blogs.pcworld.com/phoneconnection/archives/coldcall.jpg

    Lea Lipovšek, Business Development Asistant at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy

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    Bangalore, ‘design city’ of the future

    Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

    Bangalore is the capital of Indian state Karnataka, that lies in the southern part of that incredible land. I spent the last month in South India. And I felt in love with it.


    Source: I2fly

    The first thing that I saw, when I came back to my working place, was the title in Design week ‘Bangalore heralded as a ‘design city’ of the future’. I could never associate that city with design, especially not as the ‘design city’ of the future. I remember it only as a train junction, when I travelled from Humpi to Mysor. It is very polluted, but economy and IT expanded in the last years. The city should be one of the most pleasant places to hang out in India. And it is very popular among young people.


    Source: http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/?p=544

    If I ask myself how do I imagine a design city of the future, the answer would be glittering, iconic towers, sterile environment and minimalism. And Bangalore in India isn’t that. It is like every Indian city, where tradition is still very strong, where some people live like 100 years ago, polluted, messy, crowded… So in this case we don’t talk about design from the esthetical point of view and design that is connected to industry. We are talking about social design.

    But why was this Indian city heralded as ‘design city’? A debate held at the Design Museum in London in December 2008, where four international experts introduced arguments why there city should be the next design hub. And Bangalore, represented by Professor MP Rajan of Ahmedabad’s National Institute of Design, won against Moscow, Beijing and Sao Paulo.


    Professor MP Rajan,     Source: http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/

    He spoke about ‘intangible’ aspects of design. He believes that social conscious community can teach the world about intangibility in design. Here is the question of understanding feelings and not about aesthetics.

    Professor showed some live examples of his theory.
    First example is Industree Craft Foundation. That was established in 1986 by a designer and volunteer and it is based in Bangalore. They support local artisans. The organization connects artisans with market. So it helps them to earn more. Industree collaborate with fifty shops all over India, IKEA, Crate & Barrel etc. and are members of International Fair Trade Association. There are two wings, one is ‘for-profit’ Industree Crafts Private Limited and ‘non-profit’ Industree Crafts Foundation. First involves retail, design, sourcing, warehousing and artisan improvements. And the second takes care of capacity building, skill training and design development.


    Source: http://www.industreecrafts.org

    Second example is Daily Dump. In India pollution is a big problem. Most people are just not aware of it. The garbage is everywhere, people just throw everything on the ground, they burn plastics on every corner etc. But designer Poonam Bir Kasturi found one solution, Daily Dump. It is trying to make some changes in this way and tries to educate people to become green citizens. On there web page they introduce themselves as ‘Daily Dump is a brand, a service, a set of products and a way of life that we hope people begin to subscribe to’. They educate people how to convert household waste in to high-quality compost. 70% of all wastes in household are organic and all of organic waste can be composted.

    One more example is Jaagore Re! One Billion Votes. It is national campaign launched by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy and Tate Tea. It is focused on young voting popopulation to vote. People in India don’t trust there politicians. One guy said to me, that 99,9 % of politicians are corrupted and I read an article about braded votes in India. Karnataka is the leading state where more than 40% of votes are braded. So this campaign tries to make young people aware of there power to change the current situation. They provide solutions to all voting needs.


    Source: http://www.jaagore.com

    Professor Ranjan believes that design is a strong tool for a better tomorrow, so do I. And those examples show us that changes are possible.

    Sources:
    http://www.designweek.co.uk/Articles/140948/Bangalore+the+%E2%80%98design+city%E2%80%99+of+the+future.html

    http://www.dailydump.org

    http://www.industreecrafts.org/

    http://www.jaagore.com/main.php

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore

    http://www.socialmedian.com/story/2438655/design-week-on-bangalore-city-of-the-future

    Polonca Peterca, Strategic Designer at Vizuarna, strategic design consultancy

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