‘Snail Mail My Email’ and ‘Postcardly’
I ran across two similar services recently that put the Fresh Ideas strategy ‘Think Both/And’ into play.
Snail Mail My Email: combines the efficiency of digital with the high-touch of analog. “The project seeks to bring back appreciation for the art of letter writing by letting participants submit emails, which are then transcribed on paper, tucked into an envelope, and dropped in the mail. The project even pays for your postage, and they offer “one custom option” per letter, ranging from a doodle to a lipstick kiss.”
“Postcardly turns your emails into real-life postcards, delivered by U.S. Mail. It’s especially great for staying in touch with older family members who don’t use computers…. Just send an email with an attached photo the way you normally send an email: your photo will be on the front of the postcard, your words will go on the back.”
How could melding an ‘old’ with a ‘new’ help you reach others in a different way?
The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions
Information Is Beautiful provides … umm, beautiful … examples of the Fresh Ideas strategy Draw It Forward at play.
This graphic of The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions is so clearly informative it now appears in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
What could you understand better by drawing a visual map of it?
Where In the World
Alan Taylor created a bird’s eye opportunity to practice the Fresh Ideas strategy “Stock the Pond” with a Google Earth puzzle:
“Looking at the world through via Google Earth offers striking images of the diversity of our planet and the impact that humans have had on it…. We’re challenging you to figure out where in the world each of the images below is taken. (You’ll find answers and links at the bottom of the entry.) North is not always up in these pictures, and, apart from a bit of contrast, they are unaltered images provided by Google and its mapping partners.”
Take a look – to solve it, or to appreciate a different frame of reference.
Where Ideas Come From
In this video, Steven Johnson illustrates the importance of exercising the Fresh Ideas strategy ‘Network Differently.’
Creating systems and spaces that allow the hunches lurking in the back of your mind to collide with hunches lurking in the back of others’ minds, he points out, optimizes how “chance favors the connected mind.”
‘Confronting Stupid’ with Seth Godin
Successful author and entrepreneur Seth Godin consistently provides provocative examples of the Fresh Ideas strategy “Be the Contrarian.”
His ability to make you think by highlighting an alternative point of view are on clear display on his All Marketers Are Liars blog and in this recent post from the Seth Godin blog, which he titled “Confronting Stupid”:
“…The comedian who fears that each new joke might fail, the writer who has to say something new, the leader who must improvise, solving new problems on a regular basis. What makes this work hard is that it might not work. More and more people now have jobs that require them to confront the risk of appearing stupid on a regular basis.”
Indelible Impacts
While inking a concept onto your body sounds like an indelible way to “‘Make It Personal,” some tattoo designs have become so common they verge on the impersonal.
This is definitely not the case with the tattoos highlighted on a recent mental floss posting – which include a:
- molecular biophysicist’s math equations.
- pragmatist’s 8” ruler
- computer scientist’s reboot
Which of the Fresh Ideas strategies you’ve learned have you found are powerful enough to “tattoo” them to your mind?
“E-Mail, Simplified”
Shortmail provides a succinct example of the Fresh Ideas strategy “Remove a Core Component” by removing the limitlessness component of e-mails.
Like a robust Twitter, all Shortmail messages must be less than 500 characters.
More concise messages and no attachments could mean the end of e-mail folders.
Could this be a way to make clearing out your inbox less taxing, and even more fruitful?
(Counting spaces, this e-mail contains 437 characters.)
Slingshot
Slingshot is a spirited but informed read that helps its readers hone the Fresh Ideas strategy Make a Note of Unusual Combinations.
While considering the success of combining well-established concepts (“cafés” + “quick-service platform” = Starbucks), particular attention is paid to creating lifestyle enrichments that appeal to a broad audience.
Other new combinations with market driving possibilities include:
- MyCube: social network sites + the ability protect content online = a private, monetized Facebook
- Square: handheld devices + credit card readers = mobile transactions.
Whether or not you read the book, you can continuously ask, “How could I combine some of the things that make my life better?”
“Handschrift”
José Ernesto Rodriguez touched on the Fresh Ideas strategy ‘Be More Sensable” when he created a relatable new font using his hands and a photocopier.
It’s not particularly elegant or sophisticated, but by literally leaving his fingerprints he keeps your attention.
In our age of high tech efficiency, how could a higher touch approach make your work more compelling?
ManCans
Thirteen-year-old Hart Main had no use for his sister’s “girly” candles.
That is, until he applied the Fresh Ideas strategy “Make It Personal” and created ManCans.
Hart is enjoying the sweet smell of success, making and selling candles that smell like things he knows men like to
Eat:
- New York Style pizza
- coffee
- bacon
Be around:
- new mitt
- fresh cut grass
- Grandpa’s pipe
And do:
- sawdust
- gear head
- campfire
Where’s the opportunity in something that just “isn’t you” … yet?
