This last day was all about design, user experience, HTML and CSS. A 100% digital experience from the very beginning to the end.

At some point, every panelist talked about one annoying but recurrent question that we face in digital meetings and during our more disruptive nightmares: how this is going to work? Apple does it?

The answer to that is easy, and simple: if you took into consideration the proofs, then it’s going to work.

Every design and even digital ideas should be:

Desirable.
Most commonly worked on, engaging, easy-to-use, functional, attractive, magical.

Feasible.
Prototypable, scalable, distributable.

Viability.
Least commonly worked on, because of budget, expectations, etc.

In other words, as an idea designer you should move beyond storytelling and create a breadcrumb of proof.

1. Look beyond the brief: the brief describe what is missing, but it doesn’t give you the big picture. We need to understand the problem and how success is going to look like for this project.

2. Agree on measurement early in the process. You need to establish how success looks like for the business.

3. Test frequently, but mind your methods. We focus on testing the mechanics, navigation, color A vs. color B… Keep in mind that a design that is usable doesn’t mean it’s successful… It should change behavior. Always ask yourself: How users lift their lives using your design.

So…. Once you have a beautiful, measurable digital idea and design… You better be prepared to make it work across all platforms! That’s why I submerged myself into a familiar but not too familiar territory surrounded by developers: a conference about HTML and CSS!

Basically, the front-end developer that presented the work said that nowadays you can make a website – mobile site look like a video game, with all those bells and whistles, cool animations, fluid movements, etc etc… without compromising its responsiveness across all platforms.

In other words, today we can see equal quality of cool animations in desktop, and also in iPads, iPhones, Androids, etc… Without using flash. Wohooo!!!

Well, at that point of the day we learned about good design, good development, but what about good ideas?

So we attended: Breaking the mold with meaningful design!

Panelist hit the conference with a question that has been in my mind for a while:
Instead of criticize an idea, ask yourself how would you make it better?
This kind of thinking is what motivates improvement! Working in a team should always be about doing great work!
They also mentioned something that we already know but that we need to keep present mire often, which is:
Doing great work takes a lot of time. If you have to delay the ship day, you have to, until you get it right. And, what is to get it right? Get it right is being the best!

They put mobile applications as an example, and said something I couldn’t agree more: Your first costumers are the ones that set everything about your work, those first downloads… The first impression. So be careful, you can put your product in the hand of costumers to test it… and check how it’s doing… but that’s way different from putting it in their hands and with some ups and downs in the app tell them: BUY IT!

If it doesn’t work costumer will switch to another app instantly! You have to get it right the first time.

Finally, good thoughts to highlight: Good design loves constrain. It helps you to find solutions and solve the problem.

In a multidisciplinary team everybody should be a designer in their own way.

I’ll share with you presentations and links to check more info later!
It has been an awesome journey for all of us! I hope you got a bit of SXSWi by reading my posts!

Durante todo este tiempo pensé que cerca de 50,000 personas trabajan para SapientNitro. Cada una de las personas que vinieron y vienen los siguientes días son una valla andante. Alrededor del cuello hay que colgarse un letrero el cual te incomoda cada vez que vas a comer, vas al baño, te limpias la boca o decides ponerte un saco. A veces las ideas mas obvias, ya hechas, pero de alguna manera usadas de manera astuta sobresalen nuevamente, creando “Buzz” en cada rincón de Austin, Texas. Esta pancarta, “outdoor”, “print” o “poster” que llevas en el pecho durante cerca de 16 horas al dia esta sujeta con un lazo que tiene la modica suma de 16 logos (ya se, un sueño hecho realidad para cualquier cliente).¿Efectivo? DEFINITIVAMENTE. No hay una persona que haya asistido aquí, hasta la competencia de SapientNitro que no haya promovido a SapientNitro.

Si no me creen, miren a nuestro querido ex Zubi,Vincent “el modelo” Llopis.

Es interesante saber como en un lugar de trabajo las brechas generacionales pueden ayudar o no a la manera como nos comportamos y la verdad nunca me había detenido a pensar si al entenderlas podrían beneficiar la manera en que nos relacionamos.

Aquí voy a compartir algunos de los apartes que me llamaron la atención, y que tal vez nos ayuden a entender como ellos se mueven en nuestro entorno.

• Para empezar esta generación prefieren no tener trabajo que trabajar en algo que odian.
• Hay que definir las expectativas que se tienen de ellos con respecto al trabajo que hacen.
• Quieren tener un impacto hacia la empresa y clientes con el trabajó que hacen.
• Déjalos que fallen, pero no los castigues.
• Están muy bien preparados.
• La comunicación es clave, la libertad es apreciada pero con estructura y organización.

Estas son algunas de las cosas que definen lo que esta generación Y es, y me imagino que aunque no aplican al 100% de todos las que la componen habrá varias de ellas que si los definen.

Mas que tratar de definirlos en unas pocas palabras lo que mas me dejo esta charla, es como conocer que define a cada generación, ayuda a entender muchos comportamientos, ayuda a potenciar las cualidades de cada generación que al final serán beneficiosas para la empresa, o mas allá para la beneficio de las ideas que producimos para nuestros consumidores. Al final todos ellos pertenecen a alguna de estas generaciones.

Travel instantly. Check this out.

Creepy? Weird? To our surprise it felt very friendly and approachable. What do you thing?
Note: Joe is asking why she does not have arms. I am saying, at least she have legs.

We couldn’t make it to this: ‘How will Art, copy & code re-imagine advertising?’ but we wish we had. I followed the whole conference on Twitter, and I have some notes for you and this link where you can find almost everything they said: http://www.artcopycode.com/#/

‘Digital was long treated like art in the past as another department at the end of the process. It has changed.’

Also, they presented the latest app for Volkswagen: VW Smileage.
Powered by Google.
To maximize fun on every ride.
To re-imagine your ride for the digital.

It seems to be very cool, check it out.

It’s worth mentioning that South by is not only about technology, but also about how you can sell what you create, so I attended this: How not to suck at presenting your work!

Here are some notes and even some tips you can put into practice:

Story telling strategies and acting techniques are key! Also, make the complex become simple and keep in mind that you do need to create emphatic no understanding in your audience.

When presenting creative: you should keep going back to the problem the client said they have in the brief and present your work as the full answer to it!

Here some vocal warmups!
Repeat in an ‘in crescendo’ pace: BDGD -ba da ga da-

Shake: shake your head, your shoulders and your back repeatedly.

Repeat loudly: Unique New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.

Summarizing:
- Practice to speak on-the-fly.
- Think on your feet.
- Fake it until you make it.

For more on-the-fly #sxsw insights follow me on Twitter: @valensulbaran

I keep you posted!

P.D: our feet hurt! but it was worth it!

9:30am….being on time for a session doesn’t guarantee entry…How Twitter Has Changed the Way We Watch TV (#tweetTV)

We ended up listening to this session sitting on the floor outside the meeting room (it was packed!).  Thankfully, they had the foresight to install a screen and speakers outside the room, so we were able to follow along.  Very interesting presentation by Jenn Dearing Davis of Union Metrics.

• Social TV = symbiotic relationship between social media & TV – is  impacting how TV is developed, created, broadcast, and consumed.
• 85% of people are multi-tasking while watching TV, usually with a smartphone or tablet.
• People are tweeting about shows to feel more connected to other viewers (sense of belonging; community).  Of those who Tweet about TV, 76% do it while watching TV live – it’s a “watch with other people” thing.
• We’re watching more live TV now than we did 5 yrs ago.  Live tweeting encourages fans to watch the show live (with ads!!!) vs watching on-demand.

And on to the other side of the river I went…TIME SHIFTING:  IS SPORTS THE LAST ONE STANDING?

After a half-mile walk or so amidst very windy conditions, I arrived at the south side of downtown for an interesting discussion on appointment-based viewing & sports led by CBS Sports, SVP & GM Jason Kint and SportsBusiness Journal’s John Ourand.  The premise of the discussion was sports as the ultimate reality tv show and the one category that consistently draws massive viewership numbers.  The discussion rapidly turned to March Madness & SuperBowl given the moderator as well as the 2012 Summer Olympics on NBC.

NBC Olympics:  despite the bad reviews NBC generated during the Summer Olympics for not broadcasting key events live on TV (they did do so via online streaming) and waiting for prime time to show them, their model yielded record breaking viewership.  Why?  Because people cared for the storytelling, the athletes’ profiles & journeys, as much as they cared for the competitive event itself.  NBC catered to both viewing audiences – those who wanted to experience the event live had the option of going online to do so, and those who wanted to experience the event but also get an even more engaging experience, got the TV coverage.

Super Bowl:  CBS leveraged 2nd screen experience by providing NFL super fans an even more enhanced Super Bowl experience, adding to that which they were already receiving via regular broadcast TV.  Second screen was used for alternate camera angles (i.e. viewing all 22 players on the field).  Twitter was used to identify which player was trending and then special cameras were fixated on this one player, so that fans at home could get two different, yet completely related, viewing experiences.

March Madness:  CBS model here is to offer early round games online and reserve championship moments for broadcast TV.  Their research has shown that due to the number of schools participating in the early rounds, more fans are apt to follow the games, and they do so online.  This online viewership decreases as the championship games approach.  TV is inverted.  Thus, the championship games on TV.  CBS digital solution is to provide users with Premium, Live, Video content – the king of the digital world as per CBS’ Jason Kint.

All this talk about TV, sports, digital and social platforms has given me an idea to explore for one of our clients.  I’ll share upon my return.

Some folks compare technology talk with rocket science.  At SXSW, it literally is:  ELON MUSK, SpaceX CEO

   I hate to admit that I had no idea who this man was, but then again, rocket science – why would I know, right?! He was Saturday’s Keynote Speaker.  Let’s just say he is a fascinating man.  Co-founder of Pay Pal, Tesla and now SpaceX.  Yes, folks, the man oversees the development of rockets and spacecrafts for missions to Earth orbit and other planets.  Didn’t I say, rocket science?  I wasn’t lying!  The character played by Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man (Tony Stark) is patterned after Mr. Musk.  Truly go read up on him.  Unique character!  Some memorable quotes…

• “You want education to be as much like a video game as possible.  You do not need to tell your kids to go play a game”
• “Biggest mistake I’ve made several times is to put too much weight on someone’s talents rather than their personality”

And my personal favorite,

• “I would like to die on Mars -  just not on impact”

And from rocket science, back to basics: 

IS YOUR DIGITAL READY FOR THE MINORITY MAJORITY?

A rapid 15-min session with Google’s Head of Industry Kevin Hartman confirmed information regarding the multicultural influence in mainstream culture, specifically in music, language, food, tv, even names – the big cultural shift.  He then went on to explore, albeit briefly, how the digital strategies of countless (otherwise) forward-thinking companies fail to account for this new reality, limiting their ability to genuinely connect with contemporary American consumers.  Overall, a pretty basic session, confirming industry knowledge.

WHY HISPANICS LOVE TOYOTA AND HATE SOFIA VERGARA

Yashoda Sampath, Sr Researcher at Huge in NY was the presenter of this 2nd 15-min session.  I do wish hers would have been longer as her agency conducted a research on the Hispanic digital consumer and what they actually want to do and see online.  The study, which is available at hugeinc.com/ideas is meant to shed key insights on Hispanics relation to the digital space.  I can’t wait to download the study and maybe stumble upon that secret sauce!  According to the study, Hispanic love Toyota because the brand recognizes their Latino heritage (i.e. Somos muchos latinos) and Hispanics hate Sofia Vergara because her public persona is like that of a modern-day Charo.

More former Zubiete reunions and meeting my “nemesis”

The ladies on the left…Vanessa, Jemilly, yours truly and Jen.  The guy in the middle, Santiago, was dubbed, “de carino of course”, my work nemesis.  He oversees the Chevrolet business at LatinWorks.  We chatted for a while – no, no trade secrets were exchanged.  Buena gente…And to the right, a very blonde Jen Batchelor!

And that was a wrap on day 2 folks!

Getting our bearings…and checking out the competition

…the conference events are spread out across the entire downtown area, so some events are just a short walk from each other within the Austin Conventions Center while others require walking short distances to other venues – or even catching a shuttle to the South side of the river.

Enter CATCH A CHEVY

Others have already posted on this, but what Chevy did at this conference can not be over-looked.  Highlights…

50…that’s right….50 Chevy vehicles were available for this effort….Chevy Malibu and Chevy Cruze.

NO FORCED product pitches.  The first time we caught a ride on one of these, purely for research purposes I had to ask the driver to show me something.  His reply:  oh…we’re here to drive you and make sure you have a good time…not to sell you.  Needless to say, my jaw dropped to the floor.  Another time, the driver did do a bit of a product demo, but it was done so organically, that it never felt like a pitch.  He wasn’t sure of the location we were headed (or so he claimed), and he requested ONSTAR’s help for directions.  One can catch a Chevy all over downtown, but one can also call for one – I mean, “twitter” for one at #ChevySXSW.  My overall impression of this effort by Chevy is that the brand was making my life/experience at conference better via less aching feet and saving time!

In addition to the CATCH A CHEVY, they also had a few muscle cars to test drive.  One could sign up (hand-raiser opportunity) to test-drive either a Camaro or a Corvette.  Inside the Austin Convention Center, Chevy’s presence was pretty standard.  Sign-up to enter to win tix to the 2014 SXSW conference (again, another hand-raiser opportunity; this one a bit more forced).

Supporting our own…the #newAmerican Lounge at SXSW

Jen H. and I had a chance to charge our phones*, learn more about the new American Airlines and take this fun pic.  The pic, if we so chose to, was used as part of a mosaic projected on the Lounge’s wall.  Picture was also shareable via email and various social media outlets.  Free back massages were also being offered via appointment at the American Lounge

P.S.  I cant seem to escape aviation-related subjects!

Learning something…”LATINOS y MOBILE:  A SILVER BULLET?”

This was the one panel we were able to catch on our first day.** From the title, I was expecting an entirely different kind of panel than the one we experienced.  Long story short, the panel was public-policy driven and it was mostly focused on how technology, specifically mobile can help close the digital divide.  We downloaded the presentation and will make it available to all once we get back. If you want to access it now, #mobileLTN.

Learning some more…3M Virtual Presenter

This was probably one of the coolest innovations we experienced during Day 1:  the 3M Virtual Presenter.  Please do check out the link below, so you can get a taste for what we experienced.  A great option for our CPG and retail clients as well as a different approach to brand/event activations.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Graphics/3Mgraphics/Applications/UniqueApplications/VirtualPresenter/

Reconnecting with former Zubietes….

SXSW brings folks from all over the country and from various interactive disciplines.  Say hello to Vanessa Lizama and Jose Acosta.  It was great to share the Southby experience with them.

Inquiring minds wanted to know….FAST COMPANY & TARGET RETAIL ACCELERATOR HAPPY HOUR

Fast Company, Starbucks and Target took over one of the many watering holes in the city and turned it into an arcade (#tarcade), evoking nostalgia with classic video arcade games such as Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and the like as well as rocking 80s tunes.

And on to LINCOLN we went…

I’m not quite sure what Lincoln was trying to achieve here (pop-up tent with a vehicle on display).  My take is that they were attempting to engage the SXSW “design” community as the information provided within the pop-up tent was design driven (design is one of the brand pillars).  I’m curious to see how Lincoln refers to this activation and its results.

BIGGEST LO-Z-ER…staying the course…

The interaction between Ivan and Sofi regarding Ivan’s healthy eating habits (or lack thereof) has been hilarious!  If Ivan continues to listen to coach Sofi, he will be the biggest LOZER!  There is a funny story involving a burger, fries and a pizza.  Just ask them!

*Battery charge stations were abundant.  Every sponsor had charging stations as part of their displays/experiences.

**We learned (the hard way) that just being on time to a panel wasn’t enough.  If you wanted a shot at potential seating, you best be outside your venue at least 30 – 45 mins prior…and if you wanted to attend one of the keynote speakers’ lectures (live), you had best had at least 1 – 2 hours to kill just waiting in line.

Alrighty folks – that wraps Day 1 @ SXSW 2013!!!!

One of the first lessons we learned is to tell a story with images, so this one, ironically, will have none as I dont have access to them right now.  However, I do want to provide some context as to the structure of a typical day here at SXSW.

The conference lasts from March 8 – 17 and is divided into 3 waves:  interactive, film and music.  Film lasts the entire length of the festival whereas interactive goes from March 8 – 12 and music takes over Austin the 2nd half.  From what we’ve heard from the locals, the folks here for the interactive portion (that’s us) are more business-focused and more laid-back than those coming for the music portion.  Apparently, music = FUN, perhaps too much fun…

Back to interactive and a typical day’s agenda. Here we go….

9:30am – 10:30am Conference panels, seminars, workshops, lectures, etc

11am – noon More conference panels, seminars, workshops, lectures, etc

12:30pm – 1:30pm more of the above

2pm Daily featured keynote speaker (and quick lunch on the go)

3:30pm – 4:30pm more panels, etc

5pm – 6pm last set of panels for the day

As you can tell, days are pretty long; filled with interesting people, thoughts, ideas, technology, and most importantly, inspiration – to do better, to be better!

After each day wraps up, we reunite at one of the social events to let off some much needed steam.  Tomorrow is our last day here.  Cant wait to see what it brings!

Stay tuned for more — Maylinn