Here is a potential reason for this disconnect:

As I was attempting to keep my breakfast down and fearing for my life in a New York taxi,  I began to wonder where New York City lands on the “Most Bike-Friendly City” list.  Perhaps it was my bike commuter self attempting to navigate the “Avenue of the America’s” while our driver sped down the streets of New York at what had to be 60 miles per hour.

The answer, number eight. Right after Madison and ahead of Austin, Texas.

Well, that seems a bit romantic. Perhaps there’s a media bias built into this survey? Or maybe the results are skewed by the size of NYC or the need to have such a big city represented.  Still, this doesn’t seem right. If New York is number eight, we need to up our standards for a more bike-friendly city.

Here’s my answer to the problem:

Adopt a London philosophy to having a car in the city. Known as the London Congestion Charge, you pay what equals out to be $15.00 per day to have a car in the city limits. And, if you wanted to add to the bonus, give something back for using a bike a certain number of days a year (perhaps a bonus on health insurance or other incentive).

Thoughts? The city is mostly occupied by cabs and car service now anyway, maybe a little more bike and walking transportation wouldn’t hurt much. And, it would put the city closer to our city of Minneapolis, where our largest hindrance is snow and ice, all the way into April sometimes.

Think about it New York, and get back to me. I’d like to hear your thoughts and see what you come up with. I’d also like to renew my romantic relationship with your fair city, without the cab fare and morning barf bag combo.

Or as Jerry McGuire would say, “Help me, help you.”

Aaron Keller is an author of two books on design, Design Matters: Logos and Packaging. He founded Capsule design in 1999 and continues to write for a variety of publications and blogs from his office in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The gist of the story is that different flowers employ different techniques – visual, tactile and otherwise – to attract the attention of nectar-seeking bees. It is the “otherwise” that gets really interesting in this piece. According to scientists well versed on the topic, bees become positively charged from the friction they encounter in their natural daily movements. And alternately, flowers at baseline have a negative charge. Their combined states cause pollen grains to transfer and stick to bees as they pass. As it turns out, bees can sense this electromagnetism and interact with it to make the nectar search more successful and efficient. Ah, evolution. It makes for such lovely, intuitive design.

According to Adam Cole, flowers are in the brand and advertising business – “If they can’t attract pollinators, they won’t be able to reproduce, so they really have to push their brand.” Mind. Blown. Let’s unpack this insight for a moment. Flowers spend a tremendous amount of energy on creating their distinct and attractive personal brand. They invest precious resources into perfecting color, pattern, texture, scent, shapes and more, all in an effort to stand out to the key Antophila (fancy word for bee – this is marketing, after all) population in a crowded nectar category. Even after they have perfected their brand, flowers may need to employ some targeted electromagnetic advertising to further attract and help bees navigate the options. The whole process reveals what marketers and creatives have known all along. To brand is a primal endeavor.

“Honey, It’s Electric: Bees sense Charge on Flowers” aired on February 22 when no one could predict Mother Nature’s cruel and depressing postponement of spring. If today’s sunshine has awoken your optimism , you can listen to the story here and dream of abundant May flowers.

What is ARTCRANK, exactly? This video does a better job of explaining it than I ever could:

I asked Natalie and Greg to pick three words that best describe their design inspiration.

Natalie: “Illustrative. Candid. Camaraderie.”

Greg: “Caffeinated. Mechanical. Whimsical.”

As they prepared the finishing touches to their posters (pssst….have you seen the sneak previews?), I connected with founder Charles Youel to learn a little bit more about bikes, art, design, and well, snacks and beer.

Q: If you could design the perfect bike ride, what would it look like?

For me, the perfect bike ride is one in which you don’t really notice where you’re headed, how far you’ve gone or how fast you’re going, because you’re too busy catching up and swapping stories with your friends. That said, one of the best parts of traveling with ARTCRANK is discovering and exploring a city by bike, which is something I usually end up doing solo. Either way, the thing I enjoy most about riding a bike is the sense of discovery. Even in a familiar place, you see things differently from the saddle, and those little moments of revelation are what stay with me. How’s that for an evasive answer?

 Q: Is there anything about the Minneapolis show we should particularly excited about (besides, of course, seeing the beauteous work of our Capsule pride and joys)?

 I fall in love with about 10 different posters every time we do a show. Even after seven years and a thousand or so posters about bikes, I am always amazed at what this simple machine inspires in the imaginations of the artists in our shows, and I think that’s something that first-time show goers and longtime fans alike can get excited about. Apart from the posters, it’s cool to see people who would probably otherwise never find themselves in the same place discovering that they have something in common. Also, there’s beer. I’m always excited about that.

Q: How do you know a show’s a success?

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a roomful of people enjoying the work of local artists. Every time someone leaves our show with an original work of art created by someone they’d never heard of before they walked it, I know we’re doing well.

Q: ARTCRANK has been described as “a poster party for bike people.” What’s the relationship between design and bikes?

Riding a bicycle is an act of creative expression, an art form that changes every time a person goes for a ride. I can ride the same streets every day, but it’s always a different experience, and I see the world in a different way. Bicycles are simple, beautiful machines, and I think that spare aesthetic appeals to artists and designers in particular. But I truly believe that riding a bicycle inspires people to create, to want to make something.

Q: And finally, what we’re really dying to know about the show: will there be snacks?

Oh yes. We’ve got five food trucks and carts coming to the Opening Night Party: Gastrotruck, Fork In The Road, Sassy Spoon, Chef Shack, Nate Dogs and Potter’s Pasties. If you can’t anything to eat at ARTCRANK this year, it’s entirely possible that you just don’t like food.

 A Capsule crew will be out at Grainbelt Studios this Saturday night drinking beer, eating lobster rolls, and of course, celebrating bikes + design. We couldn’t be more excited.

Until now, that is. Earlier this week we witnessed possibly the first true brand merger. Yes, it does seem contrary to the statements above, but it is true. Office Depot and OfficeMax, two well-known powers in the office supply industry, have agreed to merge. These companies are so similar that they have long been virtually interchangeable. Who among us has not given someone directions to the Office Depot down the street, only to have them arrive at an OfficeMax? And here’s the thing – it doesn’t matter. The difference between the brand experiences is minimal, and the same office supply needs are being met.

This feels like a match made in brand heaven, and we thank the powers that be for bringing OfficeMax and Office Depot together. The effort to save jobs and supply small businesses is necessary and admirable. May we all hope, however, that the resulting name is not OfficeMaxDepot.

Aaron Keller
Managing Principal
Likelihood of Confusion Instigator

Intriguing, yes? The waking up of everything. An interesting debate could take place around the idea that the Internet will wake things up and enable them to communicate with us. The Internet has been around long enough now that this is easy to imagine, but let your mind wander a bit.

What would it be like if all our cars could communicate with each other on the freeway? Would we be able to turn on our cruise control and, with permission, have it set by the semi we’d like to draft?

What would it be like if all our clothing were digital and could be made heavier or lighter based on the weather situation? Or what if our clothing could give us a workout as we go about our daily business?

What if our food could communicate with us and when we consumed something it would automatically tally our calorie count? When we hit our self-imposed, post-holiday indulgence limit an alarm could sound to cut us off. Or, perhaps we could print our food. No, really. Thanks, MIT. (This idea is especially appealing to the winter-weary Minnesotan looking for reasons not to leave the house.)

This brings us to the most important piece of the Cisco video – we are nearly there! It certainly makes the future seem exciting, and the present important. With all the potential innovations, it makes me think the economy is poised for a good kick in the asterisk.

Capsule is excited to get started on these ideas. Bring us in, or come to visit us at any one of our events, and we will begin a conversation about the future.

Aaron Keller
Managing Principal
Excited Futurist

Image by Evgenij Soloviev.

So, here’s a thought on this. Because my reading has recently been around human and cultural memory, along with the influence of habits, I suggest that Valentine’s Day, and other holidays, are really about how we remember.

As children we enjoy the “getting” part of holidays and as we age we enjoy the “giving” part. But sometimes we forget to give. We get busy with life and it is difficult to summon the ability or motivation to give every day. We have holidays to remind us of the important people, behaviors and moments in our lives. We are human. We are flawed and we forget. But we also love. A holiday reminder to love is a good thing, and having something or someone to love is even better.

Be more human today. Give a compliment. Give a thank you. Give a wink. Give a smile. This is a holiday to remember that we are giving beings.

Enjoy this day.

Aaron Keller
Managing Principal

(Illustration by Moritz Resl)

Maybe my age is showing, but the cliches are getting old and the “big ideas” are getting smaller and smaller.

Waking up on Sunday, my expectations included San Francisco running away with a win and the commercials offering us some interesting creative work. This has been the “typical” Super Bowl of the last decade or so, with the exception of last year and now this year.

Is this a trend? Could the games be getting better as the teams are more evenly matched? Could the commercials be getting worse because brands are not seeing the returns and therefore not investing? Curious. At a minimum you’d have to admit to actually watching the entire game this year and finding yourself using the commercial breaks for their typical role: a bathroom break.

1. Chrysler with both their ads, in particular the Dodge Ram “Farmers.” Amazingly well done and I’d bet there were hardened farmers holding back tears on that one.
2. Budweiser always does a good job appealing to a diverse audience base—and telling a compelling story—for beer. Can’t help but like the work.
3. Coca-Cola was rather creative with their security camera commercial, but I don’t think it got as much attention as it should have—perhaps the execution wasn’t right.
4. Sketchers’ “Man vs. Cheetah” was cliche but funny, though I’m not a fan of the brand because it is known for taking shoe designs from other brands.
5. Audi’s “Prom” ad was funny and a bit less cliche, but I couldn’t help notice they’re going after a younger audience and the strategy just doesn’t make sense to me.
6. While extremely vulgar, GoDaddy did manage to do a good job getting the attention of 16-28 year old males with “The Kiss.” But I felt like taking a shower after watching it.

Here’s to an equal balance of great creative work on this day of commercials and a great game each and every year going forward.

Aaron Keller
Managing Principal

Email Meryl Houser Burman with your resume and portfolio (preferably a PDF with work samples).

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Listening to conference speakers is great because you get visual and verbal stories that might not be shared in the same way in one-on-one conversation. Reading books is a great way to consume a cleaned up version of any brand story. But the best method for me will always be a smile and a conversation.

I think it’s the authenticity of story telling, the way we’ve needed to tell stories to make sure people would remember them through the ages. Today we don’t need memories, we have LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and every other digital medium to hold them.

So, here’s the piece to think about. If you’re out networking, be sure to brush up your stories. Clean them, edit them, and make sure they have enough drama to be memorable. You may have social networks, but for me, nothing replaces a really good story.

And, if you’re attending the Packaging That Sells conference, be sure to look around and connect with others. Regardless of whether you’re in a corporation or consulting firm, you’ll benefit from listening to stories. And I guarantee you’ll benefit from telling a compelling story of your own.

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Join us on Thursday, September 27 at 7:30 a.m. at Capsule Café for a continental breakfast among connections new and old, and the opportunity to hear Kathy discuss how Minnesota can remain competitive as a desired homebase for great creatives.

About Kathy Tunheim

As principal and CEO of Tunheim Partners, Kathy oversees strategic planning for clients and is actively involved in client service and counseling. Under her leadership, Tunheim Partners has grown to be one of Minnesota’s largest public relations agencies. Kathy also serves as global president of IPREX, a worldwide enterprise of leading independent public relations firms. Her part-time appointment as a senior advisor to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton began in 2011 and centers around economic and job growth.

About Think + Link

Capsule’s Think + Link for a Living is an invitation-only gathering of like-minded people, coming together each month to network while discussing hot topics and important issues. It’s an invaluable sharing of insight and inspiration. We look forward to having you join us. Contact Kitty Hart at 612.341.4525 or email khart@capsule.us for an invitation.

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