“Carry a notebook and write down examples of good and poor design. After a week, you'll begin to realize that nearly everything is the product of a design decision.” WritingRealizingDecisionPoorWeekExampleDesignProductsNotebook Author:Daniel H. Pink
“There are a lot of products still to be discovered in the world and experimentation, for example with seafood and fish. There are thousands of products that we're not eating right now that maybe will be cultivated in a good agriculture situation, a sustainable, ecological way. Maybe there will be textures or flavors we hadn't even thought of. In the Amazon there are 400 fruits that are not cultivated right now. They're just incredible fruits. Textures, tastes that we don't know right now.” KnowsWorldWayStillsSituationExampleFoodProductsTasteRight NowEatingFruitIncrediblesFishesAgricultureFlavorTextureEcologicalAmazonExperimentationSeafoodEating Right Author:Ferran Adria
“In all these products, whether iron bridges, locomotives, automobiles, telescopes, cottages, airport-hangars, funicular railways, skyscrapers, or children's toys, the will towards a new style expresses itself. The similarity of these examples to the new creations in art consists in the same striving for clear, pure form which expresses truth in the objects.” ChildrenArtFormClearStyleExampleCreationObjectsProductsPureStriveBridgesIronToysAirportsAutomobileSimilarityTelescopesCottagesRailwaySkyscraperLocomotives Author:Theo van Doesburg
“It is not permissible for a Muslim to buy products of the countries that are in a state of war with Islam and Muslims, for example, Israel.” WarCountryStatesExampleProductsIslamIsrael Author:Ali al-Sistani
“Once shoppers become empowered, we will facilitate industries thinking in completely new terms; for example, making products that are totally biodegradable.” ThinkingTermExampleProductsIndustryEmpoweredFacilitateShoppersBiodegradable Author:Daniel Goleman
“User experience is really the whole totality. Opening the package good example. It's the total experience that matters. And that starts from when you first hear about a product experience is more based upon memory than reality. If your memory of the product is wonderful, you will excuse all sorts of incidental things.” IfsFirstsMatterWholeRealityMemoriesWonderfulExampleProductsExcuseOpeningUsersPackagesOur MemoriesTotalityGood ExamplesUser Experience Author:Donald A. Norman
“Although it is easier to find information these days, it is easier than ever before to find misinformation, pseudo-facts, unsupported and fringe opinions, and the like. Children should be taught at an early age what constitutes evidence, how to detect biases or distortions in newspaper accounts, and that there exist hierarchies of information sources. In the medical field, for example, a controlled experiment published in a peer-reviewed journal is a better source than a blog by the Ginseng Growers Association, promoting the health benefits of their own product.” ShouldChildrenFactsAgeOpinionInformationExampleFieldsTaughtProductsSourceEasierBenefitsEvidenceAccountsMedicalNewspapersExperimentsThese DaysControlledAssociationPeersJournalHierarchyPromotingFringeBlogsDistortionMisinformationPseudoHealth Benefits Author:Daniel Levitin
“We wield an enormous influence over the world through how we choose to vote and what we choose to buy. Again, it's the power of numbers. If voters hold their leaders responsible for doing something about global warming, it will get done. If most people refuse to buy products from companies that, for example, wrap products in more plastic than necessary, pretty soon the plastic wrapping will stop.” PeopleIfsWorldDoneNumbersCompanyLeaderInfluenceExampleProductsVoteResponsibleRefuseEnormousGlobal WarmingVotersPlasticWrapsWrapping Book:Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming Source: Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming
“Sellers in general maintain the quality of their products and services for fear of losing customers otherwise. But, when price controls create a situation where the amount demanded is greater than the amount supplied - a shortage - fear of losing customers is no longer as strong an incentive. For example, landlords typically reduce painting and repairs when there is rent control, because there is no need to fear vacancies when there are more tenants looking for apartments than there are apartments available.” NeedsStrongQualitySituationGreaterExamplePaintingProductsAmountLosingAvailableCustomersApartmentIncentivesShortageSellersLandlordTenantsVacancyRent Control Author:Thomas Sowell
“I think consumerism breeds dissatisfaction, and I think that the advertisers play to that. So I cannot be comfortable with that. On the other hand, the cornucopia of products and innovation - I love Apple, for example. That's a temple of consumerism in many ways.” ThinkingWayPlayHandsExampleProductsComfortableInnovationApplesTemplesConsumerismDissatisfactionAdvertisers Author:John Elkington
“The fact that used cars is our largest category is a good example. We would not have sat in a conference room and said, "Hey, how about used cars?" So what can be learned that is extensible to other companies is to ask what are your customers doing with your products that maybe you didn't anticipate that they would do? How do you think of your customers as your research and development lab, as opposed to having an R&D lab at headquarters?” ThinkingSaidFactsUsedAsksRoomsBusinessCompanyCarExampleProductsDevelopmentResearchCustomersHeySatCategoriesConferencesAnticipateThink Of YouLabsGood ExamplesResearch And DevelopmentHeadquartersUsed Car Author:Meg Whitman
“Entrepreneurs don't really make mistakes, though. We just make decisions that seem right at the time, but which sometimes turn out to have been the wrong path to take. For example, we allowed a buyer to place a huge opening order and later had to take some product back. We didn't have our sell-through programs in place, so in hindsight, it would have been wiser to sell in less product at the outset. The scary thing is you are always making decisions without knowing the future.” Has BeensSometimesSeemsOrderTurnsDecisionBusinessMistakeKnowingPathExampleProductsHugeProgramSellsEntrepreneurScaryOpeningMaking MistakesWiserHindsightMaking DecisionsBuyersScary ThingsWrong PathKnowing The Future Author:Tom Szaky
“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be. Before people making a buying decision, they have many questions. For example, why they should buy from you, why your product is better than other similar products, why they should trust you, and why they should buy it now, etc.” PeopleShouldDecisionExampleProductsAdvertisingBuyingEtcPersuasiveInformative Author:David Ogilvy
“The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it's going to kill you. And most people do not get this straight in their heads. But a fellow like Buffett does. For example, when we were in the textile business, which is a terrible commodity business, we were making low-end textiles-which are a real commodity product. And one day, the people came to Warren and said, "They've invented a new loom that we think will do twice as much work as our old ones."” PeopleThinkingDoeSaidRealEndsHelpingTechnologyExampleProductsTerribleLessonsOne DayLowsFellowsCommodityBuffettTextilesMicroeconomics Author:Charlie Munger
“The other thing that gives a scientific man the creeps in the world today are the methods of choosing leaders - in every nation. Today, for example, in the United States, the two political parties have decided to employ public relations men, that is, advertising men, who are trained in the necessary methods of telling the truth or lying in order to develop a product.” MenWorldGivingTwoStatesTodayPoliticalLyingOrderNationsUnitedPartyLeaderUnited StatesExampleProductsDecidedRelationMethodAdvertisingTelling The TruthPolitical PartiesCreepsWorld TodayPublic Relations Author:Richard P. Feynman
“Go where your customers take you! For example, did you know that Sony's first product was a rice cooker? Since abandoning the rice cooker, it has merely managed to become the world's biggest consumer electronics company.” KnowsWorldFirstsCompanyExampleProductsCustomersConsumersRiceDid You KnowElectronicsSonyCookers Author:Naveen Jain
“Our Government is fostering economic growth in Kitchener, Cambridge and all of the Waterloo Region by investing in our innovative businesses. Today's announcement is a great example of how we are helping high-potential companies bring great ideas to market faster. Helping our entrepreneurs and original thinkers export their products and services to the rest of the world creates jobs, growth and economic prosperity here at home.” WorldIdeasHelpingHomeGovernmentTodayJobsGrowthCompanyEconomicExampleProductsOriginalsEntrepreneurInvestingProsperityFasterRegionsThinkerInnovativeEconomic GrowthGreat IdeaAnnouncementsCambridgeFosteringWaterlooEconomic ProsperityJob Growth Author:Gary Goodyear
“Not to say that the process assumes anything of "greater" or "lesser" importance, though: it's just more graphic information. Take the surrealists, for example, or a work by Cage. For me, there's a great value in doing this with literature. There's a certain form of dependence; process and product inform each other, depend on each other. I consider myself a writer who doesn't write with a style, almost. I begin with tension, with a vibe, a character.” WritingCharacterFormCertainValuesLiteratureProcessGreaterStyleInformationExampleProductsDependsImportanceAssumingTensionDependenceCagesGraphicGreat ValueSurrealist Author:Sergio Chejfec
“That said, a lot of people buy products with "green" in the brand name, but make no attempt to understand what it would really take to live sustainably. I think one of the most pernicious examples of magical environmental thinking is the anti-GMO movement.” PeopleThinkingSaidNamesExampleMovementProductsGreenEnvironmentalBrandsPerniciousGmosBrand Names Author:Annalee Newitz
“Every day, there are 770 million Cokes consumed, which means that there are 770 million purchasing decisions made each day regarding the product. To support those decisions, the company must constantly reinvest in its marketing links to its customers. As a result, a high level of creativity must go into everything the company does, from cause-related campaigns - Coca-Cola and its sponsorship of the Olympic Village in Atlanta, for example - to new catch phrases, commercials, marketing slogans, advertising campaigns and promotional tie-ins.” MeanDoeMadeCausesDecisionLevelsResultsCompanyCreativityMillionsSupportExampleProductsMarketingCustomersCampaignsAdvertisingTiesPhrasesRelatedEach DayVillageLinksConsumedSlogansCokeHigh LevelAtlantaPurchasingDecisions MadeCoca ColaSponsorship Author:John Kao
“One of the best ways to convince someone is to use a telling example, a story, a narrative. When Steve Jobs announced a new product, he told a story, exzlaining how a product would change the world as we know it. He turned Apple into a story whose challenges and adventures you want to hear about.” KnowsWorldWayWantStoriesUseJobsChallengesExampleAdventureProductsBest WayNarrativeApplesChanging The WorldConvinceNew Products Author:Kabir Sehgal