Thursday December 3 is Boulder Digital Works first big party. Rumor has it there is going to be a major Wii boxing grudge match. We’ll see what happens.
Posts Tagged ‘Boulder Digital Works’
Boulder Digital Boxing
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009BDW @ CP+B OMG!
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Crispin Porter + Bogusky's appropriation of the Colorado state flag.
For a minute I thought my phone was vibrating. Then I realized it was the air.
Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Boulder office was literally buzzing when I visited last Tuesday along with my fellow Boulder Digital Works students, the program’s coordinators and one of our interns.
We rode some of their low rider bikes around the entry area, watched a dog piss on a pole and got the grand tour of the place that we had been hearing so much about during the previous six weeks.
The tour was an eye opener. There were people everywhere. In much of Colorado’s Front Range people don’t have big yards so they head to parks, open space and trails to spend time outdoors. At CP+B, a similar principle seems to apply.
All but the top dogs have insignificant workspaces. This spreads people all over the warehouse space to work. There were people on the patio, in the kitchen, in the entry, on the bleachers and everywhere in between.
They call it a factory and in a lot of ways it looks like one. The ducts in the ceiling are exposed, the floor is a smooth grey and there is plenty of exposed plywood. A second “floor” was added as the office grew from the original 40 that started in Boulder to the hundreds there now.
We saw familiar faces, checked out their 3-D printers used for product prototyping and finished our day with a two hour session in one of the conference rooms learning about account management with Acct. Manager Jeff Graham.
Throughout the session footsteps above were audible and outside a constant smattering of voices could be heard. The mildly chaotic scene was a stark contrast from life at Boulder Digital Works.
Things at BDW are relaxed, safe and quiet, like a womb. Seeing that real world out there was important. But equally as important was hitting the snooze button on that wake up call, knowing we have another year to try, trip, fail, succeed, experiment and dream within our safe training grounds at BDW.
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- BDW’s Justin McCammon boards Cripsin Porter + Bogusky’s Disruptive Thinker Transport for the ride to the office
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- The elephant at CP+B’s office much like the cover of their book, Hoopla.
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- The B Cycle kiosk at CP+B.
Bogusky in The Schoolhouse
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Alex Bogusky came into Boulder Digital Works last week.
He’s part of a little shop in town called Crispin Porter + Bogusky. They’ve done work for car companies, food companies and software companies.
He came in to critique the final breakout session of the latest Boulder Digital Works 36 hour workshop. Each group in the workshop had about an hour to come up with a product and a digital ecosystem around the product. The products ranged from a self-guided lawn mower to a campaign based around a minor league baseball team. Each had some very cool ideas attached.
Bogusky listened to each presentation intently along with the workshop’s instructors. After each, he gave some constructive criticism.
Here is what it boiled down to.
1. What’s the big idea?
A lot of the groups got caught up in a flurry of multimedia concepts, but forgot to attach their product to a central idea.
2. Make the thing, the thing
Several of the groups had great ideas, but often forgot to relate them to the central product. As a result they strayed far from the basic concepts their product represented.
3. Present ideas not media plans
A couple of the groups presented plans for extensive strategies that encompassed everything from TV spots to augmented reality. However, many of these plans forgot to include the big idea. No big idea with a big media plan means a lot of money spent on nothing in particular.
4. What is the big thing you’re trying to overcome?
Bogusky encouraged each group to find the cultural tension in the lives of their customers and to figure out how their product or service could address that tension.
His ideas and feedback were right in line with a lot of what we’ve been talking about in BDW 60 Weeks. It’s not rocket science, but Bogusky’s comments show sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in technology and forget about your users or the central idea that reflect the main product or service. It’s great to hear one of the top dogs in the game reiterating the thoughts my classmates and I have been having over the past five weeks and change.
55 more weeks and we’ll be taking those ideas for a long walk in the big wide world.
Design Thinking: It’s about the people stupid
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Week two was a “Creative” week on the calendar at Boulder Digital Works, although the previous week’s “Business” focus and this week’s “Technology” leaning have brought out plenty of creativity from the 12 of us.
The main focus of week 2/60 was Design Thinking. We started by watching a couple videos from Tim Brown of Ideo, moved on to redesign the water fountain and a system for getting people to drop bottled water and then were exposed to Lane Becker, founder of GetSatisfaction.com and Winston Binch of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.
Two crucial elements of design thinking that we explored throughout the week were returning design to the big time by using it to create tools and systems not just objects and products and putting the user at the center of everything you do. These notions are changing the world of design and that’s almost hard to believe because they’re so basic. If the user isn’t at the center of design considerations who is? Wouldn’t every system and product be better and more successful if the creative team behind it considered the end user in the design process?
The concept of user centered design doesn’t blow your mind, but the idea that this hasn’t been the norm does. Alex Bogusky and John Winsor explore this in their new book Baked In.
Crowdsourcing My Bio
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
I’ve got to put a bio on the student page for Boulder Digital Works. I decided to crowdsource it. I asked acquaintances, friends, family and colleagues to tell me who I am.
I’m in the midst of the book Groundswell and thought this would be a great exercise. Groundswell is essentially about how communities of people have come together via social media and the digital universe and how their contributions determine brand identity as opposed to the it used to be with companies controlling their images unfettered.
The groundswell comments I received varied from “best son-in-law” to “Dan is a fucking loony” and “modern day Rasputin.” They said things I never would have thought of or said about myself. This was a lot of fun.
Here’s the amalgamation from what everyone said that I plan to put on the site:
Dan crowdsourced his bio. He is a storyteller who has told some unforgettable tales, both absurd and true. Dan gets off his ass to do things. He’s the guy in the dance off, a f@#*ing loony, a modern day Rasputin, the best son-in-law, the worst cook and a little stinker. He’s hilarious, confident, creative, industrious, independent, thoughtful, optimistic and sarcastic. Dan’s got a zest for life and a bit of swagger. He is a fountain of the unexpected and a loyal friend. Olives are his enemy and fresh powder is his ally. A deep curiosity for the world drives him. He’s a passionate multimedia producer, filmmaker and writer. Dan’s a dog lover, traveler and a lucky man to have a wife who deals with him, inspires him and partakes in his shenanigans.
Here’s what they said exactly.
Up to the line below was added on Nov. 4, 2009
You are the same as when you were born. Happy, totally non traditional! Never one for the big block buster, more the sleeper independent film. Happy! The last thing you on your list of things to do was watch TV. A true baseball kid, loved to play the game, watch the game, talk about the game, go to a game and knows the statistics. Happy! Definitely self confident, always an excellent sense of self. One characteristic I never realized was so neat, was your wanting to be a part of something but not needing to be the star. Of course wonderful sense of humor, and a lovely way of connecting with people…and dogs!
One thing you left out is that you are really good at asking questions. Not just stupid questions like such as “how is your day going” more like you ask thoughtful insightful questions about peoples livelihoods because you truly care and want to learn about them.
You are: Red Sox, Patriots, kind, funny, and creative. You’re also a listener, smiler, and go-getter. You make people want to be around you.
Dan Viens is a rare concoction of ambition, cognizance, and bedlam best served at room temperature.
Gives great advice on your wedding day.
Is a Blazers fan. Was there when Brandon Roy hit “That Shot” against the Houston Rockets. Go Blazers.
Knows that a text message reading “are you watching this game” actually means “I don’t want to ruin anything for you, but if you’re not watching this game then turn it on right now.”
funny, witty, fast, sharp, stubborn, realistic, sensitive, creative, serious, dog lover, nature lover, trendy, foodie, drinkie, fun
I think you are someone people can always count on. Someone with a witty sense of humor, someone people trust, someone that cares, someone that makes people laugh. And most importantly someone who likes to have fun and make sure everyone around you is having fun