A typical disposable tin baking tray says “Support the bottom of pan” - on the bottom of the pan.

Let’s assume most folks don’t consider needlessly supporting the bottom of an empty pan.

After they’ve cooked whatever’s covering the bottom how do they read the covert message?

Why don’t they stamp the message atop the side rims of the pan? That’s where we go to grab the pan in the first place.

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

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Next time you feel there’s no way to differentiate the style of your product, here’s an exercise to generate a few ideas, or at least a few extra lbs around the waist.

Get Influenced:

Wrapped, a Hersey’s “bar” and Nestle’s Crunch seem to have the same shape.

Inside, however, they are completely different animals… (more…)