Every once in awhile, we all read something that someone wrote or hear about something that someone said and think to ourselves... "that's exactly what I've been thinking... couldn't have said it better." This was, in many ways, one of those instances for me. Paul Isakson of Space 150 recently made this presentation to his agency. I found it on Creative Generalist.
A little over a week ago I heard a fascinating presentation by Grant McCracken about pattern recognition during which he referenced the changing ideas about consumerism. I'll get to this in a minute. Today's lifehack.org post offered brilliant insight into the trends of downsizing and decluttering. While a lot of the thinking goes back to being green (of course), even more of it seems to just go back to common sense, decency, courtesy, and in essence, most anything anyone is taught in preschool... "don't make a mess... if you do, clean it up... don't waste things..." etc.. Regardless, I'm glad to see so much information on such fascinating and important trends rounded-up in one place.
Beyond these two rather flimsy examples, the shrinking of the world and all of our possessions, as well as the redefining of what it means to be a "consumer," are two topics that have been very much on my mind recently. Then today at lunch, I stumbled upon a story about the Terra Bite Lounge - Seattle's new coolest east-side coffee house with no set prices on any of its items. That's right. People simply pay what they want, when they want. They don't even have someone there to take your money. Click here to read more about what I'm talking about.
As Seattle is very much on the cutting edge of so much that is related to downsizing and decluttering, the changing model of consumerism, as well as the changing relationship between brands and the people who buy their stuff, I'll be very curious to follow the success or failure of Terra Bite. "Pay people what they deserve... help people who need a hand... be selfless..." etc. - again, all life lessons we learned in preschool. I'd love to learn more about the people who operate and go to Terra Bite. I wonder, how do they live their lives in the realm of downsizing and decluttering? If anyone from Terra Bite is reading this, I'd love to talk with you sometime. Perhaps next time I'm in Seattle, we can meet for... coffee? If anyone from any other restaurants or stores with a similar business model are reading this, I'd love to talk with you as well. Then again, this is a blog... I'd love to talk to anyone, really.
I admit it. I bought my daughter a Bedazzler last summer to keep her creative juices flowing (and my husband from going crazy trying to keep her meaningfully engaged.) Of course it came with guidelines (from me) that she couldn't bedazzle anything living or large. Apparently, those rules don't apply outside the Beatty household. Since then I've seen bedazzled cars (on Flickr), people and pets (that's scary stuff). I chuckled at the variety of bedazzled products placed in Disney's recent film, The Game Plan, which we rented this weekend. And every guy (my husband included!) can appreciate the horror of carrying a phone covered with bling in Verizon's TV spot which I saw the other night while watching American Idol.
It's all a part of the MIY (Make it yourself) trend where kids and adults are tapping into their creative side to express their individuality. I think it's great way for brands to encourage people to engage with their product actively and to give them reason to show and tell others about it. Its also a perfect segue into a conversation about the importance of reusing items and giving them a new purpose, not to mention a fresh look. Green, with bling. Now that's an interesting mash-up!
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