Keeping finnish industries competitive by design thinking - Herrmans

As a bicyclist I was thrilled to see a Finnish bicycle part manufacturer Herrmans seeking for a industrial designer the other year.
Not only that at some point I had spotted that the company might use some design thinking, but in the end because my good friend and extremely talented designer Mikael Heikkilä got the position.

I have been eagerly waiting to see the results of his design efforts and it really starts to have an effect on the brand previously known for OEM manufacturer.

I just replaced original Specialized grips with these Endorfin 3D grips.
I love the tiny detail and the caring thinking in how he has marked the left and right as well as the up directions. Marking these directions means that I can push them with ease and confidence to the bar and that just makes me feel good. -A feeling that is sometimes hard to justify in the R&D meetings, but makes a significant effect on the customer.

 

Design for errors

Example of Nielsens usability principle "design for errors" emerges in this "there I fixed it" -type of improvement of attached traditional finnish craftmanship.

Another good principle of "keep it simple" has failed in this case and there is some reported cases, when somebody has carefully closed the door behind - and locked a poor soul into the hut. Then again the repair (red string going inside the door) is kind of simple too ;)

Suddenly everything stops

Imagine that you rush into your hotel room with you hands full and drop your keycard to the floor when trying to shovel it into the main light switch while the door is closing behind you.

Suddenly you get a feeling that there's no rush and the best thing to do is crawl on the floor in total blackness.
-Further you can't avoid thinking that this was not considered, when the brilliant idea of key card operating main switch was introduced to hotel businnes.

Photo tagging - a simple application needed

One thing what I have been looking for is the easy way of tagging pictures, instead of moving items into specific folders to be able to find photos later. By tagging I can add two totally different tags, like Art and Oulu into same photo, and by doing that, find the photo among art references and among the pictures of Oulu city.

Picasa provides rather simple possibility to edit and search IPTC tags. Few days ago I was glad to hear that even my favorite viewer IrfanView also provides a possibility to view and edit IPTC data of .jpg files with just a few klicks. -It could be easier, but it's sufficient.



The surprising thing is that applications use this powerfull and potentially delightfully simple tagging system so little or create a complicated system around it..
Somebody interested in creating a nice little viewer with intuitive and effective tagging possibilities would pobably make a huge impact on the scene!

Photo albums ease of use

So far I have been force to use Flickr web albums because of its appealing simple looks and UI. When lookin photos, you don't want anything extra to bee visible. Difference between Picasa and Flickr is evident at least to my eyes.

Not that selection of webgallery for an Average Joe would be based on one single interaction, but still this is something to consider: In my default PC viewer(IrfanView) next picture is selected by simply using arrow keys. Also Facebook and Picasa has the same functionality. When using Flickr I have to use my mouse to click a small thumbnail to get next picture..
-So of to Picasa I go, thaks for great time Flickr. Disadvantages in this change are the looks and complexity of Picasa but advantages are simple and intuitive use and the fact that now I have all my stuff behind one Google account :)

Tivoli

This is one cornerstone for a ~30m high ferris-wheel. Some how it was comforting to see this After we took the ride.
-Scenery over Oulu was nice though.

80's style christmas decorations - for the bold ones

I guess colorfull christmas lights have been a global hit in 80's? Fortunately the illumination boom has settled and colors generally been tuned down in Finland and for sure not reached disproportionate scale like american youTube video Wizards of Winter illustrates.
How ever, I have never spotted these color lights made out of fur before. -Definitely a future collector item! =)

Perfect combination - Tsokka

Sometimes nature and technology create a perfection.
Tsokka, Pyhä.

I have to say that Tsokka is a refreshing exception on the Lappish service scene. (Not the typical ripping your money on your holiday) Really good food, great selection of drinks and dedicated staff.

Hating wet weather - no wonder!

Found one possible reason for me hating these current wet weathers.
My dear old boots seem to be in the end of their journey. These boots have walked on Copacabana, hiked on the Scotland highland, been carried on a tray by security woman in Tokyo airport and in almost every other place I've been in last 7 years -year around.
Since I'm from Laihia, I should understand that these are still in perfectly good shape othervice than the soles, and repair these or at least start using these only on dry weather. Or propose these to the Museum of stingyness in Laihia, where there's bunch of interesting items that has been used to the very end. But these are bit too normal for the museum, so I'll drop them to the bin with good consciousness. But for certain, my next boots will also be made by Jalas!

It's smelling like winter

Nice sun shiny autumn is turning into winter. First morning frost was visible this morning.

Temporary traffic guidance

There's a little interest -if all- to arrange traffic guidance properly during road maintenance operations. Usually you end up slowing your speed down to 30 kmph for some kilometers to ensure safe working conditions to the workers who are at home spending their sunday although the signs have been left to bug the law obeying public. This is also creating the inflation for the traffic signs, which I have written also before.

These pictures however present the guidance for alternative routing for bicycles on a construction site in Oulu. The first picture shows the starting point guidance and the second shows the guidance back to the original route. The first sign creates an assumption that following signs will also be visible and trustworthy. In the next available situation this customer trust is trashed.
-Remember to take a map with you..

Finnish summer (27.6.08)

Proper error-message

Very often error notifications are useless and provide a little choices for the user. This notification from Google gives user some real choices while informing honestly that things can go wrong.
-Big thumbs up for Google!

Noodle House & Bar1

Already two months ago I was glad that next to my local bar there's a Noodle House.
Despite it sounded tempting I haven't seen a single customer inside. -That usually says something. Still I engouraged myself and tried the place. The noodles were great! And actually 3 other customer seemed to be thinking like me because they popped in while I was waiting my portion.

My local bar, Bar1 does it differently. It's a new bar, but it seems that they make sure there's a regular growd sitting around to make it comfy. -Place worth to visit. Both on Kauppurienkatu in Oulu.

Amazing picture collections from Crooked Brains

Today added one post from Crooked Brains to my Just read about-list.
Then I added second one.. ..and I knew I was in trouble. For so long I have fight against this urge!

-The problem is that the picture collections are absolutely Great and not only they fill my Reader, but a single post would fill entire page of my Just read about..
So please do check it. So far I haven't figured out any use for these, but surely they open eyes for all kind of abnormalities ;D Here's some sample pics.










Meat art collection: Simone Racheli


Star wars origami collection: Phillip West

Animal love collection: Animateca

And finally a pair of advertisement collections:

Some interesting findings

Been busy lately, but here's some findings

Microsoft breaking into map services; Imposing bird-eye perspective views for example Oulu city centre from 4 different directions.
Flock; a web browser that combines blogs, friends, picture services and some more into same window.
Smugmug; competitor to Flickr?

Parking ticket again - Rovaniemen parkkipirkot

I just hate being ticketed because of parking. Especially in a small town like Rovaniemi. -I also hate speed-traps, that instinctively make me step on my brakes 13 times while I'm driving between Oulu and Rovaniemi (and this time it seemed to be slippery too).
Today I received a ticket. -I took my bike to for service and placed my car on front of the shop making sure everybody have enough space. -Everybody else had, but the warden. There's no place for explanations - those women are rude here in Rovaniemi.

The shop owner felt bad. -He said it happens a lot.
I continued to Kauppayhtiö to have a comfort-baquette and started to read a newspaper Lapin Kansa (21./22.10.07).
Another bicycle-shop owner was complaining about the same topic. -He actually ended up changing his whole profession 'due' the wardens. -Please read more from the pic, where the text is unfortunately only in finnish.

Why mobile keyboard is below the display?

Posted from N73 through Flickr

I've been wanting to have a reversed phone for a long time. I cannot see why it couldn't be possible.
In the regular layout, with the hands of taiga- region dweller, it's nearly impossible to reach the lowest keys like C.

Perfect evening at lake Inari

Posted from N73 through Flickr

First evening was still, warm and absolutely No mosquitos. In the morning it was raining slightly, but it doesn't really matter while paddling. -You end up getting wet anyway.

The lake itself is remote, quiet and complex with all it's islands. Great place for kayaking and camping. The water is really good and clear even on finnish scale.

Vuosaari by bike

Posted from N73 through Flickr

After living in Helsinki for awhile I think that this city is heaven for XC-biker!

Today I took the subway to east and we started to explore forests around Vuosaari. Kallahti was a great place, felt nothing like Southern Finland. Also Uutela with the beautiful cow sculptures by Miina Äkkijyrkkä is a sight to see! (On Google Maps)

And don't forget the sausages. -Plenty of places to grill, but unfortunately no axes.