I was reading "The Architect's Guide to Fame" and stumbled upon a brilliant quote that captures my (mostly negative) feelings about the current state of design for buildings, cars, clothes, and - yes - presentations:

"Bad design is smoke. Good design is a mirror."

- Juan-Carlos Fernandez

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 40 of 58

Garr Reynolds at KLA-Tencor Japan

Tuesday, February 16th

Learning Moment: Yokohama, Japan

We had a big day today.

I conducted the slide:ology workshop at our Japan office, where I was joined by Garr Reynolds - the author of Presentation Zen and Presentation Zen Design. Garr was, as expected, brilliant.

He spoke about Simplicity, Restraint, and Naturalness - three design criteria that are too often absent in the high-technology world. Garr models all three, making it easy for anyone to understand and identify with him and his message. He's also, by the way, a lot of fun. We had some good laughs throughout the day.

If you're ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hear Garr speak, take advantage. If you can't hear him speak live - order his DVD. It's the next best thing.

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 39 of 58

Yokohama Intercontinental Hotel Place-mat

Monday, February 15th

Learning Moment: Yokohama, Japan

The Yokohama Intercontinental Hotel is one of the more distinctive hotels in the world. It's shaped like (according to the website) a 'yacht under sail'. It's such a singular look that they echo the design in many of their graphics and souvenirs.

For example, the place mat above creates a yacht shape by using little yacht shapes.

This pattern is also in many on the fabric of many of the chairs and sofas.

Smart use of an excellent graphic.

Restroom Iconography XIV: Half Moon Bay, CA

Welcome to the Jungle!

We had lunch at the Flying Fish Grill in Half Moon Bay a few weeks ago. It's a small restaurant with decent, if overhyped food.

They have a single restroom that is in the building, but to quote my New England friends, "You can't get there, from here".

If you want to wash your hands or - ahem - do something else, you must walk out of the front door, turn left through the patio, turn left and walk the length of the building past the take-out window, turn left and go around the back of the building, turn left into the back door, look up at the sign above, walk past the company bulletin board and pantry, turn left into the kitchen, say 'Ola' to the cook staff, turn left into the back room where tacos are being made, turn left once more, open the door, and enter the restroom.

You have walked about 400 feet to reach a toilet that is 25 feet from where you were dining.

Strange, but at least they have fun with it.

There are at least three of these 'Restroom Safari' signs to help you find your way.

This is one case where it is truly about the journey, not the destination.

Restroom Iconography XIII: Mountain View, CA

A couple weeks ago, Angie and I had an excellent lunch at Cascal, in Mountain View, California. We'd been there before, but I'd never used their restroom. I know, I know - too much information, but stick with me...

On this occasion, I did use the restroom. On my way in, the tile door icons immediately caught my eye. I reached into my pocket for my camera and found it wasn't there.

Damn... I've been posting interesting restroom icons on this blog for the past year and was bummed to miss these.

I immediately started planning my next visit to Cascal - with a camera. I'm sure this says something about me, but I'm not sure what exactly it says. And I'm not sure I want to know...

Anyway, I made it back to Cascal this past week, with my buddy Ed Muzio. We had an excellent meal - ceviche, queso fundido, paella, and a Cuban wrap.

At the end, I excused myself to 'take photos of the bathroom icons'. I thought I'd mentioned this little hobby of mine to Ed, but his expression indicated that I hadn't.

I explained, and then shot these.

I love gesture drawings. Rodin's sketches of Cambodian dancers are some of my favorite images. So, you can imagine how pleased I was to add these to my icon collection.

I'm not sure which I like more - the toreador or the flamenco dancer. So, I offer both.

slide:ology @ KT

The incomparable Nancy Duarte at KT

Today was a very cool day.

Brent and I delivered the slide:ology workshop to a select audience of executives and influencers at KT. The turnout was great and the buzz was amazing.

Slide:ology author Nancy Duarte was in the house.

Duarte Senior Designer Eric "The MacGuyver of PowerPoint " Albertson was in the house.

A bunch of my favorite colleagues and internal clients were in the house.

Pizza... was in the house. What could be better?

Have you ever seen a lightbulb go off over someone's head?

Well, I saw 40 of them go off today. It was awesome.

We shared the principles of slide design. We looked at the results of an internal team that saw an 1800% improvement in slide design (yes... 1800%!!!).

We practiced a new way to create slides. We saw a change.

So, get off your butt. Buy slide:ology. Take the class.

Change your slides. Change the world.

Now (if not sooner).

Customer Delight: Carved in Wood...

A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I were certified to lead the program "InsideOut Coaching". At the end of the session, we were told, "Your certificates will be mailed to you."

Okay... cool... no big deal, we thought.

Today, I received my 'certificate'.

In a box.

A heavy box.

When I opened it, I found the etched piece of furniture shown above.

Seriously... it's not often I'm left speechless (trust me)... but this did it.

If that wasn't enough, there was an personalized letter from our coach - George Knight.

Wow... wow... and wow!

Attention to detail. Delighted customer. Name your buzzword.

But we were definitely buzzin!

14 Books on my Reading List

My reading list has grown dramatically, as I picked up a load of treasure at my two favorite used bookstores - Recycle Bookstore in San Jose & Bookbuyers in Mountain View. 

Here's what I picked up:

• The Practical Guide to Information Design by Ronnie Lipton
  A great looking textbook on information design.
• Understanding USA by Richard Saul Wurman
  I'm a big Wurman fan. This book has a lot of ugly graphics, but it certainly inspires new ideas.
• A Designer's Research Manual by Jen & Ken Visocky O'Grady
  The methodology looks a lot like IDEO's. That's a good thing...
• The Deming Dimension by Henry Neave
  Looks like a great summary of Deming's principles.
• Visual Literacy by Richard & Judith Wilde
  A book full of interesting graphic exercises. I'll try some of these in a workshop.
• Dancing Naked in the Mind Field by Kerry Mullis
  Any Nobel winning scientist who's not afraid to drop the f-bomb is okay with me.
• Frank Lloyd Wright by America Architects
  A nice short photo book that contains all the Wright buildings we've visited.
• The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright
  I love Wright's onery nature. This will be the first one in the pile that I read. I started it last night.
• improv wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson
  A book that encourages us to 'wing it' is worth reading.
• Practical Charting Techniques by Spear
  Looks like most of the principles that Tufte and Few are preaching today were already documented by Spear in 1969.
• Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath
  Yeah, I know... I should have already read this one... but I haven't.
• An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
  Bought this so I have some of Al's graphics available in my presentation class.
• The Serpents of Paradise by Edward Abbey
  One of my favorite authors (with Twain, Steinbeck, and Paul Theroux). I already have this, but couldn't pass up a hard-cover first edition.
• Mindset by Carol Dweck
  Once again, a book I've read, but picked up in hardcover.

VizThink 09 Highlights: XPLANE Discovery Cards

I am always looking for new tools to add to my toolbox, so I got all geeked up when I saw these Discovery Cards at the XPLANE booth at VizThink 09...

This card set is designed to facilitate the discussion of issues. There are four subsets in the deck - 'crisis', 'growth', and 'change' form the issues portion. The participant(s) will recognize their current issues in this set and set this side. They then tell the story of their problem. 

When this step is completed, the fourth subset - 'action' - is used to identify possible actions.

I love using visual and kinesthetic tools to facilitate discussion. I call them 'Externalization Engines'. Photos, Legos, Cards, Physical Modeling, Drawings, Posters: all of these allow people to present thoughts and feelings that are difficult to articulate.

My set of cards arrived today and they look great.

I can't wait to find a opportunity to use them.

Make sure to check out XPLANE's Discovery Cards, and I'll update you as soon as I use them.

VizThink 09 Highlights IV: Visualizing Tomorrow

My infographic of a factory going from 100% waste to 30% waste

At VizThink 09, I attended a 20-minutes session facilitated by Elizabeth Pastor of Humantific and accomplished way more than I though possible in 20 minutes.

We did quick warm-up drawing exercises, and then started making meaning.

By the end of the session, I had created the graphic above. It's a today/tomorrow image of a company going from 100% to a strategy with 33% reuse and 33% recycling.

I'm not bragging about the art or anything, but it's amazing what you can learn in 20-minutes.

VizThink 09 Highlights II - Jessica Hagy

Jessica Hagy debunks 15 Professional 'Rules'

If you haven't seen Jessica Hagy's brilliant Indexed site or book, you should go look at it now. Don't even bother with my site until you've spent an hour in hers... really.. hers is a treasure. I grant you permission to go there (if only Jennifer had just said that.. "Go Brad. Hell, it's Angelina. Clearly, I've been bested").

Jessica gave a very funny, informal presentation where she summarized 15 professional rules, and then debunked all of them. In between, she had us use her favorite tools - Venn diagrams and the X-Y axis - to make some sense of our worlds.

This was my favorite exercise.

1. Draw a 2-circle Venn Diagram.
2. Label the first circle with something you're really good at.
3. Label the second circle "Prostitution"
4. Find the relationship between the two (if you're a lawyer, the overlap will obviously be much greater than the one in my diagram).

Here's mine.

Teaching is what I do, but it was hard to find a common area, at first.

Then I found it - Students named John.

Try the exercise.

And if you get a chance to see Jessica present, I recommend you do it.

Restroom Iconography VII: Hanauma Bay

While in Hawaii in January, Angie and I went snorkeling at Oahu's Hanauma Bay. The snorkeling was mediocre - the seas were rough and visibility suffered.

But - I found another cool restroom icon.

This man icon is roughed up around the edges, giving it a primitive feel, and then a tapa cloth was added around his groin.

I found it particularly interesting that they decided to distress the handicapped icon as well.

It really does look like an abstract petroglyph when that is done to it.

Just another example of how you can take a mundane object that we see every day and add a little character or culture to it.

Restroom Iconography VI: Waikiki Beach Walk

Our recent trip to Honolulu proved to be a treasure trove for Restroom Iconography.

This one, which I found at Waikiki Beach Walk, looks like it could have been inspired by the classic surf film, "Endless Summer" (a film which had a profound effect on me, as a kid).

Anyway, this sign has classic lines, and the wood inlay is - I think - an excellent touch.

Another example of design that is effective and attractive!

Restroom Iconography V: Hawaii

Hawaii must be a mecca of improvisational restroom icon design.

I found a number of interesting variations during this recent trip.
This sign is located at Honolulu International Airport.

Once again, we have a simple update of the traditional international icon.
The addition of an aloha shirt and the Hawaiian word for man tells us where we are, while maintaining the integrity of the original design.

How can you localize a standard offering with a splash of color or a pattern?

Restroom Iconography IV: Hawaii

In our continuing series of restroom iconography, we return to Hawaii.
This week, we find another creative interpretation of the familiar international icon.

Two nice features here:

1. The use of petroglyph symbols for the icons. I'm a big petroglyph fan, so I appreciate the nod to ancient culture - even if they probably just used a bush back then.
2. The use of Hawaiian language. The Hawaiian language is a beautiful one, so I'm pleased whenever I see it.

One minor criticism: The woman looks like an Amazon.
She's quite a bit bigger than the male icon. Too much poi?

Restroom Iconography III: Japan

This is a no-peeing zone...

In a country where a man can heed natures' call just about anywhere - in an alley, in a bush, by the side of the road, off the end of a train platform - it's rare to find a place where you can't relieve yourself (just another reason why I love Japan).

Here, however - in a Tokyo parking lot by a pachinko parlor in a neighborhood close to Asakusa Temple - peeing is prohibited.

There is much to admire about this icon: The realistic pelvic thrust, the dotted stream, and of course the strategic placement of the cross line.

I also will give extra points for going with a square versus the usual circular red 'no' symbol.

It's a sign of my maturity that I didn't steal the darn thing (it would look great in my office).

And a sign of my immaturity that I regret that I didn't steal it...

Restroom Iconography II: Hawaii

Here's the 2nd in my series of photos that capture creative restroom icons around the world.

This one is from Hawaii.

Unfortunately, my notes don't indicate where these restrooms are.

If you know, please share...

The previous image I shared displayed a very loose interpretation of the international icon for a human figure.

This one, on the other hand, embraces the rounded, bland figure that we're all familiar with and dresses it up with a grass skirt, coconut bikini, and frangipani flower.

Where Am I?

It's one of my pet peeves of travel:
'International' hotel design.

While I think it's supposed to convey sophistication, it only implies a lack of imagination.
When I wake up, I like to have some visual cues as to where the hell I am... but most hotels don't give me those cues.


Here are Four Hotels in Four Countries around the globe. Nice rooms. Nice hotels.

But can you tell me where they are?
I bet you can't.

Let's list all the possible places where the visual cues could be placed:

• The Floor - carpet design, fabric, or wood
• The Walls - color, texture, pattern, paper
• Lamps
• Furniture - bed, chairs, tables, etc.
• Art - vases, paintings, carvings
• Fabrics- bedspread, curtains, pillows

These hotels either ignored the possiblities, or shopped at the kind of bland interior design shop that could be found in the back aisles at Sears.

The question I always ask is, "Why?"

Is it really easier to buy fake French furniture than to souce local materials?

Are there still travelers who want every hotel room to be the same for consistency sake?

It can't be because this makes people feel at home... whose home looks like this?

Here's a free idea for hotels trying to differentiate themselves:

Hang two digital frames in each room. Let guests (maybe just members?) log on to the website and pick their art.

In Hawaii, I can choose Kim Taylor-Reece, Vintage Hula posters, upload family photos, or - if I'm really lame - pick from the 'cute cat collection'.

In Japan, I can choose from Hokusai, vintage Kurosawa posters, scenes of Mt. Fuji, or geisha.

And you can always have the default Monet's lilies, for people who don't want to think...

As ESPN's Bill Simmons would say, "Someone needs to make this happen"!

Restroom Iconography I: Mexico

Maybe it's my fascination with the human figure.
Maybe it's my interest in graphic design.

Maybe I'm just odd...

Whatever the reason, I am unreasonably delighted when I encounter a restroom with an atypical male/female icon on its' signboard.

I found this elegant icon outside the ladies room at the Marquis Resort in Los Cabos. I was waiting there for my wife (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

I'm not sure that Frank Lloyd Wright had restroom signs in mind when he said, "God is in the details". At the same time, I'm pretty sure he'd approve.

Note to Interior Designers

I believe that design communicates.
And that good communication should be designed.
I created the phrase DesignComm to cover both these beliefs.

Here's a lesson in DesignComm.
Design doesn't just communicate by how it looks.
Just like words represent only a fraction of communication, visuals only represent a fraction of design.

Case in point - The Hilton Cabo San Lucas Resort.
Our room is beautiful, it really is.

I love the colors. The room looks Mexican.
A pet peeve of mine is hotel rooms that are of 'International' design. I don't know what that means, except "no place on earth really looks like this".
I should be able to wake up and, without leaving the bed, tell you what country I'm in.
The Hilton succeeds at this.

Now the bad news. Cabo is a hot, humid, seaside environment.
And our room is filled with fabric.
Look at the photo above... 6 pillows and a ton of cushions. There are more pillows on the bed and there are fabric curtains.

What does this mean? Must and mildew.
The room smells like my grandmothers closet. We have to open the patio doors, which freshens the room, but brings in more sea breezes to continue the cycle of humidity.

Now, I'm not an interior designer, but even I wouldn't load a seaside villa with fabric.
Why do they do it? Because they don't have to live in it?

How about some blinds? And taking away 9/10 of the pillows?

If design communicates, then this room communicates, "We weren't thinking when we designed this!".