I just picked up $7.85 of items at our local Duane Reed. My receipt is 16 inches long. 5 items 16 inches.

Half the receipt explains their “Dollar Rewards” scheme. First, who is reading this? Not enough people to justify doubling your paper output. Also, the ink is all grayed and streaked – the result perhaps of printing twice as much receipt as anyone needs.

To save trees – and money – Duane Reed should instead print their sales pitch and disclaimer on a nice color flyer, something people can and will read because it offers them actual value, perhaps by notifying them of items that will be on-sale next week. It should be optional: if you don’t want it, the cashier doesn’t stick it in your bag: more trees and ink saved.

In fact, the receipt itself should be optional. I’m not going to return a bottle of water, so I don’t need 8 inches of receipt memorializing my investment in Poland Spring. It’s like they’re saying ‘here, throw this out.’ What a waste.

This isn’t meager tree-hugging, cutting their receipt printing in half would not only save them thousands of paper rolls and ink refills, it’d cut the time wasted post-sale while everyone waits for the receipt to be printed. Time, Money, Customer Satisfaction.

not modified
not frozen
not preserved
not processed
not dyed
not concentrated
no MSG
no hormones
no sugar added
no artificial flavoring
no fragrance

Funny, don’t the ingredients start that way? We are paying more for companies to do less to our products. We are paying a premium to eat, wash, and wear healthy – when that’s how food starts!

Is it any wonder consumers don’t trust food producers?

Touch sensitive light controls are very cool - you simply run your finger across a panel and behold the glow. It’s a great way to increase reliability: it eliminates the need for moving parts and the resulting gaps where dirt, water, or air can penetrate and corrode the fixture. But try to turn the light on in the winter when you’re wearing gloves: darkness.

US Air’s short-hop propeller planes have such touch sensitive switches. When it’s 70 degrees outside (or 90 inside, as there’s no A/C) the switches are fine, but in the winter the cabin is dark: nobody can operate the switches with gloves on.
When designing anything, ask: Where has the user just been? What are they wearing? Does this change by season?
The same problem would prevent gloved laborers from operating a touchpad on a laptop. Other glove wearers: medical professionals, food service personel, artisans, athletes, and toll collectors.

Cherished recipes are like great stories, passed from generation to generation and friend to neighbor. Like legends, there is no one true version of any dish - each artist adds their own angle, a bit from their heritage or a compromise for their diet or religious restrictions.

Enter AllRecipes.com - not just a database of dishes, but a community of cooks.

One thing the site does really well: when you rate a dish you also leave a comment. This is important because “1 of 5″ isn’t as telling as “needs less allspice” - if you saw 1 of 5, you’d skip it, but now you reduce the allspice and enjoy an otherwise great recipe.

AllRecipes guides users to give specific information, and that creates rich content. How specific are the ratings you collect?

If you want to kick your innovation into high gear, volunteer your work. There is no more challenging, creative and blue-sky client than a great charity.

Why? Charities understand more clearly than any business that their purpose is to connect with people.

Successful charities (and businesses!):

1. tell an emotional story
2. connect with each person on a personal level
3. leave room for each ‘client’ to transform their own experience
4. help members share their experience with others
5. work with similar organizations on shared causes

(more…)

Marketing guru (no relation) Seth Godin shares his insights on collaborating with a designer (link).We’d start by breaking down #5 - clearly outlining your goals:

1. Where do you want to be in 3-5 years?
1. See Guru Virtue 10: Vision . Design is an investment, returns should continue for years.
2. What makes you different?
1. Don’t compare, redefine the playing field.
3. What do you want people to say about you?
4. How will you get them to say it? (more…)