As designers for trade shows or any other medium, we are often required to present our ideas across, in a group environment. Our sub-conscious tend to focus on the body language of the decision maker. However, another approach might be to seek out the influencers in the group. The film below attempts to understand the basic ingredients of what makes a person influential in an esoteric way without any metric analysis. It explores the concept of the role that influencers play. John Maxwell, the leadership guru, says, when you are talking to the group and you make a statement, observe what the members of the group typically do. More often, they look for the non-verbal queues from the influencer. For example, if the influencer is nodding his head or made an eye-contact with you, many members in the group will agree with what was presented and if the influencer is shaking his head, many members in the group will disagree with what is being stated. To get into the habit of knowing the traits of influencers, observe people in a group setting and scrtinize how they interact with each other, whether it be a family gathering, in a shopping mall, in a cafe or in a playground. You will learn a lot simply by observing. Happy Influencing! Articles you might like
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"Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls"... Jelaluddin Rumi {13th century Sufi mystic, scholar, poet and a 21st century inspirational genesis.} Convention teaches us to be cautious of Ambiguity. The art of communication preaches about the dubious nature of Ambiguity. Dictionary defines Ambiguity as an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context, unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning. For example, "Lucy doesn't like dressing with her turkey, however she likes stuffing". Ambiguity is an enigma. Ambiguity is incertitude. Ambiguity is inconclusiveness, indefiniteness, indeterminateness. Ambiguity is obscurity. Ambiguity is vagueness. Given this baggage that Ambiguity is burdened with, I am of the unconventional opinion that Ambiguity lends plurality of meanings to an object or design; the possibility of being read or used in different ways. Smart phones are the tangible products of Ambiguity at its finest. Ambiguity enriches design and adds layers of probabilities in the viewer's mind. Ambiguity is the mistress of our complex minds. How then, does Ambiguity heighten experiential marketing like trade shows? Here is where contradiction comes into play. The age old trade show marketing precept that you have 3 seconds to demonstrate who you are and what you do is being radically tested. In an age of hyper-competition the only way to distinguish from the masses is to build your own tribe. Once, that has been established Ambiguity becomes your ally. Use this spice to enhance the expression of your designs and you will treasure the results. I started with Rumi. I end with Rumi. He calls this ambiguous space "Zero Circle". I see this as a space of pure potential. Miracles happen in this space. Be helpless, dumbfounded, Unable to say yes or no. Then a stretcher will come from grace to gather us up. We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty. If we say we can, we're lying. If we say No, we don't see it, That No will behead us And shut tight our window onto spirit. So let us rather not be sure of anything, Beside ourselves, and only that, so Miraculous beings come running to help. Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute, We shall be saying finally, With tremendous eloquence, Lead us. When we have totally surrendered to that beauty, We shall be a mighty kindness. Articles you might like
With search engines, media portals and social networking sites cluttered with dozens of links and banners ads and magazines scattered with inserts and advertorials, how do we break through the clutter to grab the attention of consumers? Increasingly, the long lost science of tracking eye movements is coming back in vogue as markets figure out how to make eye contact with their target customers. Eye tracking first appeared more than 100 years ago. It measures a person’s gaze toward a screen, a page or 3D space [trade shows, events and exhibitions] to record what they look at (and don’t look at) and for how long, providing valuable data on customer behavior. For many years the most consistent way users viewed pages according to eye tracking tests, was in an “F” pattern (also known as the “golden triangle”). This means that viewers first looked at the upper left corner, then scanned down and over in a consistent pattern. But recent evidence shows that the "F" pattern has made the transition to an "E". Gord Hotchkiss, president of Enquiro and a columnist for MediaPost.com’s Search Insider, conducted some research only to find out some unexpected discoveries that run counter to the classic “F” conclusion. Hotchkiss’ research revealed that more people are viewing online content in an “E” pattern. They start by looking at graphics in the middle of the page first and then follow the copy up and down from there. And though bigger images were better at grabbing attention, this rule was still true even when small thumbprint images were used. If this is true for online page viewing imagine the effect of "E" in a 3D space design. Simple, large, mural is the key to holding viewer gaze. Below are tips on how to make the most of this field of study. Keep it simple. Keep it real. Viewers are instinctively drawn to human faces and there’s growing evidence that “real people” rather than professional models are more likely to keep their attention. And Not too colorful. Eye tracking research has shown that black, white, red, yellow, blue and green (primary colors) are the most likely to get noticed [online]. Eye tracking is a subtle science yet the minor movements it follows can have a major impact on how your content is received. By incorporating these ideas into your creatives you may be able to influence where a viewer’s gaze not only begins, but where it holds, and that could make all the difference. Articles you might like
“I would define intellectual elegance as a mind that is continually refining itself with education and knowledge. Intellectual elegance is the opposite of intellectual vulgarity.” Massimo Vignelli Intellectual elegance is that exalted level of intelligence which has produced all the masterpieces in the history of mankind. I believe it resides in the most beautiful emotion that we experience in the mysterious within us. The Hindu sages call it serpent shakti. The Chinese Masters call it chi. It is intellectual elegance that Einstein speaks about when he says: "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion." History and our post-modern society is interspersed with Intellectual Elegance. It is in the eloquence of the Pyramids, in the Renaissance paintings, in the sublime writings of Goethe, in Pythagorean Theorems, in Tesla Coil Theory. You name it, it is there. It is the golden thread that guides us to the best solution of whatever we do. It is the definitive goal of our minds - the one beyond compromises. "It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science...To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly....." [Einstein 1930]....this is Intellectual Elegance. Intellectual elegance is also our community consciousness and our moral imperative. It is the deepest meaning and the ethos of Design. Articles you might like
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Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. Franz Kafka |