What kind of users would go for Toughbooks? Okay, obvious ones include construction site workers, policemen, soldiers and field researchers. Less obvious are the ‘road warriors’: business people who travel extensively and demand notebooks that can take a pummeling. Panasonic has released a range of Toughbooks for these particular group of users. These business-class Toughies are much lighter (light for the toughbook category mind you) than their brawny cousins but make no mistake, they are up for the hard knocks.

Since its introduction, Dell, Twinhead and Motorola have released their rugged notebooks as well. Watch Panasonic versus Motorola below.

Outwit.

Some creatives think that creativity just happens. They believe inspiration cannot come on demand; they must patiently wait for it to drop onto their laps from the ether. Couldn’t be further from the truth. An idea is a result of the new combination of existing memories, thoughts and concepts. The creative who invests in opening his or her mind to new things will enjoy a stream of fresh combinations every time. The creative who does nothing to feed his mind will end up with nothing ideas.

Fresh ideas are premium in an age of stale, derivative stuff. Fresh ideas that outsmart competitors and break away from convention are what every client, no matter how conservative, secretly wants from you. They may kill your fantastic concepts 99.99% of the time but take heart: if you keep trying, one killer idea will get through.

Outlast.

Creatives are usually taught how to churn out ideas on a daily basis. Few are ever taught how to persevere. This is why some have given up trying to raise the bar for themselves. They are always complaining about how weak-minded clients are, how clients never buy anything good, or how great things were in the Nineties (or Eighties depending on their age).

So how do you stay in the game for the long haul, creatively?

First, take your work less seriously. Remind yourself that it’s only advertising/graphics/webpage/radio/TV – stuff that’s fleeting at best. Even the best campaigns in the world are replaced with new ones over time. This will reduce your blood pressure and ensure you don’t end up in an asylum or become a real bitch/arse to work with.

Secondly, keep abreast of the latest. Know what’s happening in the world. Read. Listen. Watch. Share what your discoveries with others and they will share their goodies with you.

Thirdly, have a conscious desire to want to do better work. Like an athlete, don’t settle for second place. Be the best you can be for your clients and yourself. Dream in lightyears and take each day as a small step towards that dream.

Outplay.

Take time-outs regularly to invigorate your body, soul and brain. You aren’t a robot: if you keep trying to outdo yourself without taking a break, you will burn out – I can guarantee this from my own experience. Once burnt out, it can take ages for you to get back into the game. And this doesn’t do you, your company and your clients any good whatsoever.

So go play foosball. Take up kickboxing. Sleep for a week. Read a good novel. Have sex on a secluded beach. Forget about work. Just go play. If you come back to work and you immediately feel tired out, you haven’t played enough.

These tips will help you be a creative survivor in the fast-paced, competitive creative industry and come out on top.

Reality check: clients are more interested in the strategic summary more than anything else. They don’t have the time to read every page of a fifty-page strat document. They want to know your strategic recommendation fast. That’s what you’re paid for.

Good news: it is possible to speed up the process of getting to a strategic solution for a client and even nail down Homepage elements in record time. To do this, carry out shallow and rapid Engagement Review and Recommendation*

Shallow? Does that mean rushing through the strategic process? No. Shallow in the sense of focussing your energy on what’s IMPORTANT. Instead of diving deep into every factoid, look for data that stands out from research: deep valleys and high peaks.

The purpose of strategy is to arrive at the best possible solution within knowledge, time and resource limitations.

A brief overview of key data and factors will be enough to give the strategist an understanding of the major issues of the design problem. Time saved going over mounds of data and documenting everything gives the strategist more think time. Much of what is documented in the early stages of strategic processes is no longer relevant post-presentation anyway. More importantly, a rapid process of feedback and iteration of solutions will lead to a final solution that will be well orbed and thought out.

So instead of doing:

Long analysis > documentation of analysis > solution > iterations of solution > documentation of final solution

Do:

Rapid analysis > solution > rapid iterations of solution > documentation of final solution

Rapid Prototyping in practice.

At Cru, we map out and draw our strategy with markers on large sheets of paper. All this after receiving and digesting the client’s brief and related data, of course. The clearer and more succinct the brief, the faster we can be.

The sheets are presented to the team for feedback. We re-map and redesign. After that, we present to the client. We redo the strategy and homepage design on the spot, in collaboration with the client. Once we have reached an agreement on the strategy, I proceed to document the Engagement Review and Recommendation formally, and establish the creative direction in the process.

Clients are very open to receiving and reviewing strategic concepts on big sheets of paper. Perhaps it’s a response to the stiffness of PowerPoint. Maybe it’s because they can see all the important stuff at once. I believe it’s both.

Give it a go. Godspeed.

*Context, content, user > engaging proposition > user engagement scenarios > Homepage design/paper prototypes.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ddJrPKXfHM

whitevoid.

– Fabrica 

(Joel: Ikea better sit up and take note.)

1st Law

“A complex system of many functions can be simplified by carefully grouping related functions.”

2nd Law

“The positive emotional response derived from a simplicity experience has less to do with utility, and more to do with saving time.”

3rd Law

“When the richness of an experience is increased in a manner that facilitates the perception of the overall intent, by all means don’t skimp. Add more!”

4th Law

“The more you know about something beforehand, the simpler it will ultimately be perceived.”

5th Law

“A material’s failure to comply to a specific application provides indication that its more natural usage lies elsewhere.”

6th Law

“In order to ‘feel’, you gotta have noise. Too much noise, and all you’ve got is noise.”*

7th Law

“The more care, attention, and effort applied to that which is less, the more it shall be perceived as more than it really is.”

8th Law

Recognize not only the absolute laws of the physical universe as important constraints, but also the artificial laws as of equal importance when striving for simplicity.”*

*Excuse me, but huh?