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

Marketing people care about consumers’ purchase decision, therefore they evaluate and speculate their strategy upon key factors such as lifestyle, personality and environment, whether to use Facebook to create the hype or have celebrity to do the endorsement.    And the product people care about who their consumers are. Who are the products for and how to use it?    Target consumers are the ones we need to communicate with and they’re the ones who play our games. Today, I’d like to talk about how we define our target.    I often ask our R&D team, “Who are our

In the information era of high mobility, people demand not only convenience of information accessibility but also its availability, for example, you may download any application you want on your phone or take an interesting picture and upload the photo to Facebook to share with your friends. When we enjoy the convenience and information that technology brings through any device, we do it through “UI”.   What is UI(User Interface)? Actually UI is all around us, any interface that assists the interaction between a person and an item or between people is considered an UI, which includes icons, signs, sounds and

Barbie, a plastic doll without life, not only sold billion worldwide and live the legend for over half a century! From flight attendant, doctor, rock n roller, Barbie always stays on the front-line of fashion. She has thrown on numerous outfits, broken up and made up with boyfriend, Kenny countless times. Rumors about their relationship remains a mystery, her life story far more exciting and enticing than the people who own her. All of this attributed to her manufacturer, Mattel, the company that continuously create values for its product through stories.  Mattel not only infused life into its product,

Joyce, GM of Playcoo   “Surrounded by the institution of reality, fame and wealth, we often forget our passion and dream. Growing up, we couldn’t tell the difference between training and education. Find a love one or watch the movie alone in one weekend evening, you’ll rediscover the passion and the learning method that fits you the best.”       Film Introduction   Rancho, Farhan and Raju are students of Indian Institute of technology(one of the finest universities in India), they’re roommates and best friends with one another. However, in the campus that grades determine everything, Rancho, the

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

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

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

This year’s Game Developer Conference (GCD) was held in San Francisco Moscone Center from end of February to early March 2011. UI Design Center was very fortunate to have caught up and attended this gathering of global professional game designers. In fact, the gathering was filled with riveting experience sharing, ranging from casual to hardcore; from mobile, console to online games; from program, art, sound effect to marketing, covering each and every professional aspect in game industry.     However, we are not here to talk about what we’ve learned from that week in GDC (I’m sensing slight disappointment?)

Internet has already become one of the indispensible marketing tools in modern brand campaign. Official websites can be used to promote the business idea or launching of new products. Internet as a major communication tool has become a trend for years while the current trend is to combine virtual and real world. Some are moving from reality to virtual world and some are doing it the other way around. No matter what kind of method is used, the purpose is to build a deeper interactive relationship with the consumers. Now we will introduce some of these integration examples.  GT5

Gamania Cheer up Foundation, “Having a dream is a wonderful thing, the ultimate desire is satisfied through the realization of the dream. In the process, you may encounter frustration and obstacles, but as the book said, ‘say your dream out loud and invite friends who share the same dream to take that first step courageously!’”   ------------ Content Introduction    Realize your dream begins from believing yourself! If you have a dream, you could march toward realizing it! The author was determined to become an entrepreneur at the age of 10. She shares her precious experience and gives the

          Zombies are more than just prop to scare people, but an excellent tool for marketing   Zombies are probably the more popular character in recent years, appearing from novels, comics, video games, movies, commercials to TV series. In addition, there are even a slew of products created in the name of zombie, the trickiest thing is, the consumers don’t seem to get enough of it, and even find it fascinating. Maybe because zombies are now well adored by the public that many brands have started to use it as a marketing tool.    Let’s

  Everybody knows that there are three major features of M&M: it only melts in your mouth, not your hands, each package contains different flavors, and each color-coated chocolate has its own personification. M&M’s unique marketing operation is precisely the reason why it stands out among all other brands. Of all the strategies, the most commendable performance lies in its shaping of brand character.    Sweets, unlike 3C products, do not feature on being ‘stronger’, ‘faster’ in technological functions. High-tech products may cause heated discussion and generate much attention merely from their specifications. However, for sweets and snacks, the

  HOLE  IN  ELEVEN     The Japanese ladies who sell matches: こけしマッチ manufacturer    It is alleged that majority of Japanese people have A blood type. The notion implies that they often give off a sense of seriousness and demand for perfection. However, some anti-depressed merchandises mushroomed and brought smiles back to peoples’ faces in recent years. We have to give it to the Japanese: they may seem uptight to the bones, but they’ve got some quirky sense of humor and creativity.    Since the invention of lighter, matches gradually faded out of sight. At the brink of

G!VIOCE Recommend:  “Imagine when you throw your broken carpet to the garden, it can be decomposed and provided nutrition to the earth; the detergent flow through the river can actually nourish the river; when the garden and farms alike have signs written, ‘Dump the Waste Here’…” Cradle to Cradle’s visionary eco ideal will overthrow your perspective on green design and reexamine it.  Introduction In the nature, there is nothing to be disposed. When a cherry tree blossoms, the flowers will fall to the ground—nothing is being wasted here. Because all the dry branches, fallen leaves and flowers will return