Design critic, Donald Norman once said, “A product that has good functions is important; a product that is easy to learn and use is also important. However, what’s more important is that the product has to make people feel a sense of pleasure.” The Alessi water boiler with bird whistle designed by American architect, Michael Graves is the best example of that.   Alessi’s design has always been fond by many, it can be attributed to two reasons, 1. the much praised Italian craftsmanship and 2. the design concept, “look for fun stuff in life.”  This water boiler with

If Maru-Waka didn’t get Jaime Hayón to do cross-over collaboration, I think we wouldn’t have even heard of the name, “Maru-Waka”, not to mention knowing the spirit and culture behind “Choemon-gama” the traditional ceramics kiln that has more than 130 years of history. What I’m trying to say is, “celebrity-effect” and “cross-over collaboration” still work like a charm to this day, especially when you can not only bring in free media report but create new spark in the product. Then that’s really a heck of investment!  The collaboration took place during the Tokyo Design Week in 2009. The president

Make the Year of Hare Pop: Creative Porcelain Painting Show GCN held a creative porcelain painting show in June 2011 to encourage fellow Gamanians to be creative, inspiring and innovative. This year the show went with the theme of the Chinese lunar year—the Year of Hare. The activity lasted a month, each department must work as a team to finish 4-5 rabbit/hare figurines. At the end of the activity, each staff would choose the most creative work. The prizes include restaurant vouchers, travel cards, tickets to amusement parks etc.  At the beginning of the activity, each department was given

Even in the cold of winter, Gamanian’s passion and enthusiasm does not diminish. On December 14, 2011 Gamania Korea rejoiced in elated spirits as it held its year-end banquet at a Korean Barbeque restaurant where you can eat barbequed meat and drink hot liquor. The restaurant specializes in Korean barbeque-style pork. Because the environment is more comfortable and open, and they provide unlimited alcoholic beverages, it has become the tradition of Gamania Korea to hold its year-end banquet at the Korean barbeque restaurant.  ▲(Image source：http://www.blackpigseoul.co.kr)   In July of 2011, Gamania Korea established the “Tornado Studio” (TND) R&D company,

At the end of the year, although GUS did not throw a luxurious end-of-year banquet, the heart-warming Christmas luncheon was still an essential Christmas tradition. On December 16, 2011, the GUS Christmas luncheon was held in a Japanese-Style Shabu Shabu restaurant. The warm steam from the hotpots gave our American colleagues a special sense of warm and caring. Thank you, everyone, for your hard work and dedication throughout the year of 2011. Please continue your excellent work in 2012! ▲John the big guy (second from the right in the next picture) challenged Jerry (second from the left) to a

▲GHQ-CSO-Jennyhm Lee   Little Tip: Categorize according to frequency of use; don’t move it if you don’t need to use it; one year is the limit; establish rules.   Jennyhm is the secretary for the Group Strategic Director’s Office. She has developed some good habits in the workplace, which allow her to increase her work efficiency and prevents her from having to waste time looking for certain objects. Jennyhm’s secret to high workplace efficiency is being able to find anything she needs in a very short period of time.       As the Age-Old Chinese Proverb goes: “If

▲GTW-GOBU2-Ken Tang   Little Tip: Learn to categorize; be on the same side as your boss; know what your boss wants.  Recommended Books: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, The 7Habits og Highly Effective People     Different Tasks Have Different Levels of Priority   Do you often feel that you don’t have enough time? Or, that you have a lot of work that you cannot finish in time? Ken, the Director of Gamania’s Second Operations Division, provides us with some of his secrets for easily completing his tasks at work and leaving enough free time to

▲GHQ-CSO-Connie Ma   Little Tip: Form as many relationships as possible; update frequently; resources are all around us.   Connie often travels to various places around the globe. She represents the company in negotiations, the signing of contracts, and understanding subsidiary companies’ operations, and, she is also responsible for the licensing of games. As the Director of the Global Marketing and Development Division, Connie’s professional networks are like the transportation infrastructure of an advanced modern city – not only extending in all directions, but also easily accessible and readily available.     Ready at Any Time, Available within an

▲GTW-IS-Jason Lin   Little Tip: Good health can be achieved by exercising just 15 minutes every day Recommended Books: The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises Gamanians, in addition to working hard at work, have you remembered to take care of your own health as well? All Gamanians know about the gym on the second floor of Gamania Headquarters, but only a few people ever go and take advantage of it. To encourage Gamanians to exercise more, in October of last year Gamania hired Jason （林笈申） to come to Gamania and work as the dedicated exercise trainer for Gamanians

▲GHQ-CRO-Nan Chen   Little Tip: Put just one object back into its place each day, and in time, everything will be neat and clean Recommended Book: The Magic Book of Organizing    Are you constantly angry because you can’t find certain objects or documents? Here are some tips from the Group R&D Chief’s administrative assistant Kitty (Nan Chen) for effectively organizing your work environment.    Kitty’s office is like a warm home – it is not only clean and well organized, but also very complete in that it has everything you can think of or need, including food, clothes,

The one and only: Collette, established on Saint-Honoré Street, Paris, in March 1997, is definitely the coolest, raddest fashion shop in the world. Combining creativity from fields of lifestyle, culture, design, music, aesthetics, trend, vogue and gourmet, Collette is the first “Concept” shop in the world and the first extreme “cross-over” brand.     Not so long ago, Collette just finished its garage shop front renovation project with its neighbor, Chanel. It is now ready to launch its new vigorous fashion concept shop, “The Away Project” on March 28th 2011. Collette packed a solid legion of brand power as

The overwhelming popularity of the Apple iPod or iPhone in recent years has reminded us how influential excellent UI designs can simplify our life and even determine the sales of products. Because the UI, or User Interface, is the first product impression for users when they start using a product, a poor UI design will only frustrate users who may put products aside after a few tries. Then, these cleverly or sophisticatedly designed features soon become useless decoration of products. This is because the effort that product designers put into product designs remains invisible to users, and they can

Most marketing campaigns are designed either to promote new products or services, or increase sales. Under this premise, buzz marketing campaigns are easier to strategize than promotions of brand images.    Some products or services are low involvement in nature. They are like air; we barely feel their existence, and even if we use them everyday, we are not motivated to pay attention to them. Products such toilet paper, drinks or shampoo fall into this category. However, if there is a new product launched at this time, marketers can easily generate buzz to communicate with customers, but so doing

“As the clock is ticking, skin becomes saggy. Why do I realize its importance only after time has passed?” The line from Tourbillon by Eason Chan has thoroughly revealed the treachery of time. Before the legendary 2012 doomsday, novelty notebooks and calendars recently introduced to the market seem to promise a better 2012 for us. The tattoo calendar from AGUA Design can mark dates on your skin, makig your body a carrier of dates to remind us that time flies. You feel apprehensive yet naughty.   AGUA, founded under the leadership of AGUA since 1994, is specialized in developing

I used this award-winning film to discuss about how to create a CF when I was working in China.     Epuron - the Power of Wind         https://youtu.be/6IjUkNmUcHc We usually say there are lots of techniques to express your creativity in a CF. One such techniques is how you can guide audiences – what kind of stories you intend to present to audiences with what kind of scenes. So, by the time audiences follow your tempo and finish the CF, they can still recall key messages stored in their memory.    Here comes the key

  The uber-“Moe” online game, DIVINA Online packed a copious content for close best. The official characters’ voices were dubbed by renowned voice actor Norio Wakamoto (dubbed in Dragon Ball Z) and voice actress, Moe Goto (dubbed in Naughty Kiss). Players may select their favorite voice actors to go with the characters they created. Since the beginning of CB in March 10th, DIVINA Online had a head start ranking at top 5 on the first day of launch. The server opened for CB was jammed pack on the first day! This spring, DIVINA Online will give you the hottest

Chief Development Officer – Alan Kuo: “Bringing to you heart warming stories through simple homemade dishes and flavors in stores that are worthwhile to taste. Just like what I heard before: Our heart will warm up after we are full. So I recommend the Japanese drama that goes by the same name.”  Sneak Preview - Late Night Diner (Japanese drama)：      https://youtu.be/RgQtA4iJHsM Official Site – Late Night Diner (Japanese drama)：http://www.meshiya.tv About Late Night Diner    Abe Yaro’s Late Night Diner takes place at a diner that opens at mid-night and is located inside an alley in a busy

Last month, the unprecedented March 11 mega-quake in Japan shocked the whole world. Since then, everyone has been praying for Japan and its people. Gamanians have been following the update ever since they heard about the news. Quite a few of them even tried to acquire local status through Lync system.    Fortunately, colleagues in Japan were quick to react to the disaster and everyone was safe. However, facing arduous challenges in the post-quake Japan isn’t easy, we’re sure that everyone can get back on their feet swiftly and courageously. G!Voice editor team invited Gamania Support Group which consists