musings on NOOISMO™

i am often asked to define the nooka customer in terms of demographics, which is difficult for me as the nooka customer spans many different age, economic, and cultural groups. i am able to describe one part of their personality to which i coined the term "nooismo™" – a person who appreciates new developments in technology, art, design and culture. people who exhibit signs of nooismo are sometimes the trend-setters themselves, well-versed in the visual language of context in pop culture and able to see when something truly is 'noo' and fresh.

for example: courreges was a ground breaking fashion designer in the 1960s. he was one of the first to pioneer the use of industrial synthetics in fashion and his looks presented a utopian vision of the future. he is one of the grandfathers of 'nooismo'. the iphone is also a product that has nooismo appeal [and it would have even more without ATT!].

music is a good place to find an emotional connection to nooismo. at the moment, the label modular records is the finest example of a music company that successfully presents noo and fun bands [fun is an important component of nooismo]. if you're interested in bands in the past who exhibited the ultimate in nooismo for their time, i recommend this blog by Dave Renard – it's amazing, he digs up long forgotten and hidden gems.

other random past nooismos: inline skates were hailed as an innovation over traditional roller skates, but actually, their design predates the truck design that was popular for most of the 20th century. luckily someone found a way to reinvigorate their nooismo in the 1980s! fuel cell technology is another old innovation [invented in the 1800s] that will hopefully be noo again big time!

the nooka nooka corporate mascot

Many of you may know Nooka from press and shops on planet earth, but did you know that the brand is developing quite a following in higher dimensions as well? Drawn to Nooka by the similar sound of their name, the Nookas, extra-dimensional beings, made themselves known to me. After top-secret negotiations, they agreed to let Nooka base a mascot on their likeness!

Produced in a limited edition of 333 pieces X 3 colors in luxurious vinyl, the Nooka Nooka will initially only be available to stores for display [as the ‘horns’ of the Nooka Nooka” are perfectly sized to display nooka watches]. Any leftovers will be available for sale signed by yours truly for hundreds of dollars each. Available in April 2008.

photo is a sneak preview...more to come closer to the release.

XEROX Rebranding WTF?

xerox has demonstrated that they know absolutely nothing about branding and marketing by undertaking a redesign of their corporate identity [logo and graphic design style for the non-design set]. i guess i'm one of the few identity specialists that would turn away such business, but their previous logo and identity was perfectly fine -- iconic and well recognized. if they have a problem with the consumer, it's in the product or the advertising/marketing-- not the logo.

companies that really understand branding [like apple computers, and nooka] know that branding excels by maintaining 3 main principals: 1. consistent presentation [through the application of a kick-ass corporate identity program], 2. consistent messages, and 3. consistent high quality products that embody the first 2 principals. for a company like xerox, in terms of priority, steps 3 and 2 are the issue.

what xerox fails to grasp is that a new logo will not accomplish anything other than causing blog posts like this to pop up.

if any executives there want to hire my brand studio, berrymatch, to fix the mess, have them contact me. i would suggest a revitalization of the previous brand standards with a focus on language and message and deliver a new look-and-feel without replacing the logo [why throw out the only positive brand asset you have?] concurrent to that, i would put together a world-class team to redesign their products to launch WITH the new look-and-feel, not before.

NOOKA MYOOZIK

i can't believe i'm being so consistent with my blog, but i guess it's thanks to google analytics -- seeing what pages are getting viewed after press items and other blog mentions is actually quite engrossing. i could write only about nooka stuff [unfortunately, a lot of the stuff is now on a PR calendar --im told when i can blog about product releases:)] but that would give you guys a very narrow view of the the matthew waldman nooka experience!

aside from fine design, i am actually a bit of a music geek. and much like nooka, my musical tastes are not mainstream. music is always playing in my design studio, and luckily, we all tend to have similar tastes. i also like to think that nooka is the watch of the alternative/electronic music scene as we do see them popping up in photos of musicians at festivals [jenny wilson, mika, kanye west and many others!]. if you are a musician who owns a nooka, please send us a little bio with a photo of you wearing the nooka and we can post it in our press section online or just here.

what music got heavy rotation at the nooka studio in 2007?
our ill wills by the shout out louds,
brooklyn's own: glass candy,
smoke by white williams,
FABRICLIVE.36 by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney,
Leave Them All Behind 2 by MODULAR records,
sarolta zalatnay's greatest hits,
BIG SCIENCE by Laurie Anderson.

i'm too lazy to post links for all of the above, but if you don't own them, you do need them right now!

noo years predictions

happy new year everybody! i spent new years throwing a party in my apartment for friends but strangely, no one took any photographs! here are some of my loose predictions for 2008.

google phone: february 24, 2008 the google phone will be announced, but not a "techno-marvel" like the iphone , but rather a return to an old business model like broadcast television and radio -- totally free cell phone service supported by their already robust ad sales machine. this will revitalize the technology hardware sector as consumers, free from monthly bills, spend more and more on fashion driven handsets. savvy phone makers will hire nooka to develop high end models and interface innovations.

michael bloomberg will enter the presidential race by the end of january putting an articulate focus on issues, not party politics. it's a long shot, but i predict the following tickets: bloomberg/obama on both democrat and independent tickets, and huckabee/clinton on republican.

nooka zircs finally arrive in stores in spring causing a social trend and renewed interest in science fiction fashion. this catapults designer matthew waldman onto the scene as both a talk show host and action hero movie star.

image: new york sky # 70. © 2007 matthew waldman, all rights reserved.

let's all complain about air travel 2

finally a post on the jetlagged blog that makes sense!
read it here.

let's all complain about air travel

I have always struggled with people's inability to discern the difference between senseless whining and complaining. A complaint is the voicing of a legitimate concern with the positive goal of improvement. Granted, a complaint should be voiced in a constructive manner to get the best response, but moreover than not, people simply take it as whining and ignore the intended message (i won't even begin to address the inability of even well-educated people to have a truly intellectual discussion on the subject of religion, politics or computer operating systems!)

To me, designers and inventors are great complainers. Many of us will start with a verbal gripe, but luckily, many also sit down and draft solutions to all sorts of vexations! I find designer stories very engaging, especially when they can identify their motivation, inspiration and influences in/of their work. One theme that comes up in my own process is air travel (which will bring me to the point of this blog entry).

By the time I was conscious of air travel, the boeing 747 was already flying for a few years. If I remember correctly, my first non-infant flying experience was on a National airlines flight to Miami on a DC-10. Concords were flying over my head from the beach club on Long Island giving out a short sonic boom we would wait to hear. It was also at this time that Start Trek was popular in reruns, Space 1999 was must-see-tv and overall, Sci-Fi was prime-time. From my childhood perspective, the 747 and DC-10 were not even the height of technology for travel at the time as we had the concord in the air and space shuttle on the way. Our sights were set for colonies on the moon by 1999 and trips to Tokyo in super sonic jets cutting the trip to 5 hours (not to mention hovercrafts!)!

This is where I must insert my amazement and awe in technological advancements in computers and mobile telecommunications as I like to keep things on a positive note, but my frustration with things like air travel is a major component of my motivation in creating Nooka – airplanes and wristwatches are 2 things that do not match the level of advancement that should be acceptable in a world that has room for the iphone!

Anyway, why am I writing this? Because the New York Times has a blog that never ceases to anger me on the subject of air travel [access it here]. The NYT is normally a consumer-first news source, but this particular blog seems to be a mouthpiece for the industry itself. Sometimes they do address some concerns like rediculous and pointless security measures, but moreover it is a rebuke to anyone who complains about the state of air travel in 2007 [and soon 2008].

My point? I am on an airplane a minimum of 10 flights a year since 1987. A flight to Tokyo in 1977 took 15 hours from NYC and guess what? It still takes that long in 2007! A computer in 1977 was pretty much 0 for me as home computers were a rarity then yet we have seen increases in speed and technology that only a mathematician could express for me. Why should we not have higher expectations for air travel? The Jetlagged blog sometimes refers to when people had to take boats and trains as a scolding to people complaining about airtravel, and I use the same argument to make my point: it is not 1907 anymore. Everything gets faster and safer...why not air travel?

As for service on the planes: let the people who made the decision to not serve food on short flights prepare for a trip to starting in a suburban household in central New Jersey with a vegetarian and a child with Celiac disease. Let them see how 2 hours flying time does not mean 2 hours travel time for even a family living near a major airport (or anyone for that matter with current security procedures). Let the city planners and politicians travel with a lower middle class family with 2 children and their luggage on a bus to a midwest airport or on the subway+airtrain here in NYC. Let them find a healthy meal in an airport.

I say it's time for EVERYBODY to complain and complain in an articulate and productive manner so blogs like jetlagged get with the program -- and please note, this is not an airline-only problem -- the airports and the government are equally responsible for creating infrastructure and systems that keep air travel a safe and efficient experience. And a note to all the aeronautic engineers out there: where the hell is my anti-gravity drive hovercraft?