Category Archives: China

Proportions

Published 01 Apr 2013 In Beijing, Culture. Tagged bicycle, chain, culture, norms, parking lot, protection, theft.

The picture The size of the bicycle in relationship to its parking space. The security chains in relationship to the likelihood of partial/total theft. The protection plastic wrapped around the saddle in relationship to the rusty rest of the bicycle. The reader The size of … Read More →

Duct Taped Scooter

Published 13 May 2012 In Street Hacks, Suzhou. Tagged duct tape, quick fix, scooter.

Most things can be bandaged and fixed with a roll of good old duct tape.

The Welcome Frog

Published 30 Apr 2012 In Pictograms, Shanghai. Tagged door mat, frog design, welcome.

A typical Chinese “Welcome” door mat in the picture below and a branded interpretation by frog design in their Jing’An district Shanghai studio in the picture above. Zàijiàn China, until next time.

Philips Backpack Meets Canon Jacket

Published 23 Apr 2012 In Beijing, Experience. Tagged advertising, brand, brave new world, context.

What objects and surfaces are suitable for branding? How about your private/corporate brand? Which kind of interaction and experience can or should be branded? Now factor in time, context and advertising. Branded new world.

Tools of the Trade II

Published 16 Jan 2012 In Beijing, Research Methods and Tools. Tagged asp-c, canon, DSLR, equipment, fullframe, gear, photo, photography.

Photojournalist setup: Fullframe + Wide Angle Zoom accompanied by APS-C + Tele Zoom. Also: Tools of the Trade I. Since you asked: no, those are not mine.

Oasis

Published 15 Jan 2012 In Beijing, Experience. Tagged digital, nomad, oasis, power, wifi.

Power and wifi are the water of todays digital nomads.

Color Palettes

Published 14 Jan 2012 In Design, Suzhou. Tagged bricks, Color, food, mortar, texture.

Textures and color palettes in Suzhou, China.

Building Blocks

Published 10 Jan 2012 In Culture, Qufu. Tagged building blocks, building buuble, housing, lego, size, speed, time to market.

Depending on where in the world you grew up and spent most of your lifetime, a first time visit to China will put your understanding of “big” into perspective. The multitude of building projects is jaw dropping – a housing bubble or merely an appropriate … Read More →

Fortune Tellers

Published 08 Jan 2012 In Culture, Hangzhou. Tagged bus station, foresight, fortune teller, future, goggles.

How does a digital fortune teller compare with someone more flesh and bone offering the same service? What is the value proposition of a fortune teller? To what degree is the medium the message? How would your answers affect pricing, appropriateness of different contexts or … Read More →

Gargles Blasted

Published 26 Nov 2011 In Experience, Shanghai. Tagged design research, diminishing returns, Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, personal experience, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Spicy: The earthly version of a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster at the Boxing Cat Brewery, Shanghai. Thought of the day: for the researcher of human experience, when is time to up the ante? How can you feed extremly contextualized experience back into the design process? What … Read More →

Bus Hopping

Published 21 Nov 2011 In China, Experience, Shanghai. Tagged bus, bus stop, public transportation, sign, travel, yuan.

An average of 2 Yuan (0,15$ or 0,11€) buys you a bus ride in Shanghai. Remember to take a picture of the bus stop sign if you can’t read Chinese characters. You might get (unintentionally) lost and visual reminders are helpful companions in distress.