Dominos Fesses Up...

...and I LOVE it! They're admitting their old pizza was crap so that you'll give the new stuff a chance.

Check out the full article here, but this quote pretty much sums it all up:

"The old days of trying to spin things simply doesn't work anymore," President Patrick Doyle, who will become CEO in March, told The Associated Press in an interview. "Great brands going forward are going to have a level of honesty and transparency that hasn't been seen before."

Please, let this succeed and educate the other American companies who are still looking to squeeze margins and pull fast ones on customers in order to save their bottom lines.

What is TRASH, really?

My son put two and two together the other day and asked me, "Mommy, where does the trash GO?" Good question. I explained what I do know about the modern trash system, and he seemed fine with that. Later on he asked me who lives at the "landfill." My earlier explanation must have conjured up images of a town on top of a giant mountain of landfill, in an awful country called Trashland, where people don't throw anything away because they live with it all.

Well, the sad truth is that place does exist, here and there hidden in areas people don't visit on purpose. There are some people who have to live with the refuse the rest of us create, often in poorer parts of the world. That's such a depressing thought that it really motivates me on a daily basis to do the right thing. After a decade in product development, privileged to the dirty secrets behind making, selling and trashing the things we use, this is the bottom line:

Don't bring it into your home: buy less, avoid packaging and bags, use refillable systems and concentrates, make your own when possible (cleaning products for example), provide restaurants with your own containers for leftovers or takeout (recycling is imperfect, do it but don't rely on it - reducing is the best policy!)

Don't let it leave your home: reuse anything durable (get creative, list things you need and things you have and see what matches!), compost, garbage disposal, use as many glass, metal, ceramic, and wood products as you can (especially food storage containers like my favorite Pyrex shown below)

"Momtrepreneurs" a Sign of the Times

Cottage industries are popping up all around us as the unemployment rate continues to increase. Many, many people are asking themselves that question we all face at one point or another, "what do I really want to do?"

The answer for many of us involves bringing something new into the world, rather than answering to someone else's beck and call. Putting something new into the world takes guts, determination, some financial risk and a lot of faith. But don't let that discourage you, because lots of people are doing it right now and finding tremendous success. Remember, if you have a need chances are many other people share it with you....and they're just waiting for you to solve their problems for them.

A great example, from a self-described "momtrepreneur" is the Bath Luve line of baby bath products - specifically the original Luve washcloths designed to cover and warm a baby while in the bath. A simple, intuitive and easy to produce item that connects with parents in an instant at retail - a great strategy for a startup. This mom took advantage of her experience as a consumer and it will most likely translate into success, unlike companies who enter markets with which they have no real connection. A lesson for the future of business = be true to your passions, for only then will you offer consumers a product that connects with theirs!

Christmas Time is Here Again!

Analysts are on the fence about predictions for this year's Christmas season. I'm going to hang with the optimists here and predict a small to moderate amount of growth over last year's numbers. We may even read the terms "surprisingly strong" in reference to Black Friday's numbers. Waiting with baited breath!!

What's hot this year? Check out Zhu Zhu pets, a toy line specifically designed for today's economic climate with every item under $20! Frankly, it's a great line. It's personal, economical, modifiable, and creates a self-contained play universe. Very well done. I apologize for the music, but check them out here:

Can you Guess What This is??

No, it's not a toilet. No, it's not a dishwasher. A very very over the top potato scrubber? Nope, it's a head massager. Specifically, the Headtime scalp massager, produced by Kinatech.

"Global warming isn't just bad for the planet; it's bad for BUSINESS."

The Financial Page of the October 19 New Yorker has an interesting piece about several big-name companies exiting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Exiting" is a bit of an understatement; really they're quitting. The Chamber is opposed to global-warming legislation, and Apple, Exelon, and Nike have all defected because they don't agree with the stance.

Historically, this is a new thing. Companies don't come and go from the Chamber, because they want to present a united front. They make statements and have varied opinions, but generally they stay in the Chamber.

Until now. It seems that the impending financial and housing crisis wasn't enough to make companies leave 5 years ago, but the price of ignoring global warming is too high. The resignations may just be a matter of self-preservation, but then again we can always hope that maybe there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Verdict: Adcraft Nonstick Pans are...

Adcraft is one of those brands you won't find on the shelf at Williams Sonoma or Crate & Barrel. In business since 1952, Adcraft (short for Admiral Craft Equipment) is one of the leading equipment suppliers to the restaurant industry. They know how to make pans.

I've tortured one of their tiny non-stick omelet pans for over a year, and the water still beads up on the "Excalibur" coating. Plus, it cost me less than $50. Plus, the big cushy silicone handle never heats up. If you cook eggs, ever, you need this pan. You can find them at your local restaurant supply store - just google it.

The Adcraft nonstick omelet pan gets a GOOD verdict - in fact, I should make a new AWESOME category for this one.

Lesson 03: Sorting Ideas

You've done your research, and now you have a big pile of photos and notes to sort through. You've had a thousand ideas and done a good job documenting them - taking digital pics and jotting down notes as you went...now what?

Step 1: Physically represent each and every little idea INDIVIDUALLY. transfer notes to individual notecards or post-its. Print out all of your images, setting your printer to print 4-6 images to a page.Step 2: Put like with like. Group notecards and images that seem to go together. Staple duplicates into little bunches to consolidate. Use your sharpie like crazy, circling, noting and X-ing out anything you think of as you go.

Step 3: Use a labeling system as you go. My favorite way to do this is to circle my icons. A question mark in a circle is an item that needs to be answered or addressed. An exclamation point in a circle is a point of interest, or a consumer insight. A lightbulb in a circle is an idea for a solution. Create your hierarchy of easily spotted icons to help you visually organize your grouped findings.Step 4: Consolidate your groups as much as possible and organize them into columns of ideas. I like to put the most promising ideas at the top. Put these columns into a logical order, a sequence that it's easy to describe to someone conversationally. This order will most likely relate to the order of questions in your design brief, resulting in a roadmap to the perfect presentation of solutions for your client.

Snobject: Folding Bike, Brand TBD

RCA student Dominic Hargreaves' design for a folding bike:

According to Treehugger,

The Guardian reports that three companies have already shown interest in making a production model, which would make the Contortionist "one of those extremely rare items that move directly from design student project into the shops."

via treehugger

Snobject: Fruitscapes

Stefano Giovanonni's Fruitscape for Alessi. Shiny, swoopy and seductive. I can't resist the high polish and ambiguous form which incidentally holds fruit in place quite well.