One of my many tasks here at the Planet is to come up with creative ways for our team to interact, have fun and stay healthy. Recently, while searching for some imaginative ideas, I ran across this wonderful article by Andrew Tarvin called “101 Ways to Create Humor at Work”.

Along with take a nap at work and dance in the elevator, here are a few more of my favs:

• Be Hularious: Hold a hula-hoop contest.
• Be Inspired: Start off each day by watching an inspirational video.
• Be a Storyteller: Pick a story from your weekend to share with others.
• Be Happy for 60 Minutes: Organize a happy hour with your co-workers.
• Be Original: Brainstorm your own unique way of bringing humor to work.

Bringing humor into the work place just might be one of the best investments you can make for yourself and your employees. Research shows that happy people are healthier people and laughter creates some mighty powerful brain-altering chemicals. In fact, if you were to buy all the chemicals created by a good laugh they would carry a pretty hefty price tag. And yet you can create these chemicals for yourself and your co-workers at no cost by simply engaging in laughter.

The chemicals produced by laughter have extraordinary positive healing effects on your body and mind.  They boost your immune system, improve your outlook on life and diminish symptoms of depression. Researchers have found that your state of mind has everything to do with the functioning of your immune system. By engaging in laughter, you can boost both your mind and your body.

But what if you can’t find anything to laugh about? Here are some ideas I’m working on: I posted a crossword puzzle on the refrigerator. Now when we take a coffee break everyone gathers around to figure out the clues. I’ve implemented spontaneous 15-minute “fun break” at least once a week – our first “fun break” we played a game I created. I call it the “Treasure Hunt Word Search”. Here are the rules:

• Pick out a word that is 10 or more letters.
• Draw the letters on paper and cut them out individually.
• Hide the letters around the office (outside or inside).
• Tell everyone how many letters they have to find.
• Give them 15 minutes to find all the letters and unscramble the Word.

Read my blog post next month to find how Design the Planet continues to make our workplace healthier and happier. In the meantime, visit our Facebook page to see pictures of our latest venture into creative play and health through laughter and, while you’re there, post some of your own ideas for generating laughter at work.

So come on everyone, join in. Find ways everyday to get laughter into your life and work environment, even if it means being a little weird, it will mean a wealth of health.

Although Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was before my time (1954), my dad was a fan so I remember watching it when I was young. It may be time for a refresher though.

Photo from telegraph.co.uk

Let’s start with bringing the old back to new, or at least now. Some may think releasing a chapter of a book a week at a time is new, but according to the USA Today article, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy used to do this regularly. The author actually states the model of a serialized novel is over 175 years old. Although this model is old hat, the next is something I do not think the Jetsons ever dreamed about in their wildest dreams.

The past couple of years, Google has added Street View to their online map database. If you haven’t seen it yet – because you live under a rock – you can now see the building on the street you are looking at – including your rock. While looking on the street view, you can move up & down the street and turn around. (Google “street view fun” to see the more humorous pictures Google’s cameras have captured.) Google recently announced they have now captured “streets” on all 7 continents. They admit to not having everything done. Brazil is their only country complete for South America and a small island in Antarctica is the lone representative there. Actually, my street in the suburbs of New Orleans is not listed. (Weird, I know.)

Google captured images of narrow roadways and hard to reach areas using tricycles, snowmobiles, and other small vehicles.

I do not think I could have ever imagined a company driving up & down every street in the world taking pictures. This was a mind boggling thought just 5 years ago and only a company like Google would dream up something so far fetched and then foot the bill for it.

Now, how does this work in the world of design, websites, & brand marketing? I know these articles may seem off-topic for our blog, but technology does go hand and hand with our professional and personal worlds nowadays. Also, there is a sense of marketing in here. The serialized novel builds a community of followers all waiting in anticipation for the next piece of the story. This is a much stronger community than the more traditional book release where after the initial rush, every reader is on their own pace. For the Google street view, this shows you how if you build a tool that people need or want, you can sell advertising to be profitable. Also, the past Olympics in Vancouver utilized this technology well. They worked with Google to survey the ski mountains and other event venues so fans could experience the slopes and other attractions like never before from their computers. Many times advertising and cost-effective marketing requires out of the box thinking and using technology for a different purpose.

How do you use technology to market your brand, build your brand community, or reach out to potential customers?

One thing was obvious to me – some companies get branding and others do not. Case in point, the M&M Store is a 3-story behemoth of a store that sells clothing, jewelry, magnets, kitchen wear, custom M&M colors, more clothes, purses made of wrappers, coin banks, etc. (You get the point hopefully.) The entire store was colorful, entertaining, branded, and even smelled a bit like chocolate. One thing that particularly impressed me was how the store carried out the brand consistently throughout the store. Even the freight elevator was marked with a cute M&M character with a witty saying [look right] instead of just a sign. Very clever and it keeps you in the brand experience. The yellow M&M even holds the box upside personifying his dimwitted nature.

Across the street is the Hershey store with an elaborately designed exterior that is even more inviting than the M&Ms store. Walking into the store, my wife & I both had visions of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory in our minds. We were sadly disappointed. The store is unique for a typical mall store, but for Times Square, the inside fell flat. We walked along the crowded aisles and found our favorite candy and bought a shirt for my brother-in-law (he loves Reeses) and stood in line to check out.

After leaving the Hershey store, something stood out to me. You can not buy a bag of M&Ms at the M&M store. They had M&Ms, but they were all in tins, mugs, creative packaging, and the like. Most of the items in the Hershey store, I could buy at any drugstore or grocery store. Also, I noticed the noise, lines, and chaos at the Hershey store even know the M&M store was much louder, had more people, and had more going on. This is because the Hershey store was an store that sold candy not a place to experience a brand.

This was an eye opening experience for me that showed my money does not make the brand experience. Although, the brand experience makes money. We spent 3 times as much at the M&Ms store and went back numerous times throughout our short vacation.

If you’re in NYC, check out these two stores and the new Pop Tart World. Pop Tart Word just opened the week before we visited Times Square and they’re doing a lot of great things. It is not quite M&Ms yet, but you can make your own Pop Tart t-shirt, create a custom box of the pastries, and enjoy their Pop Tart cuisine. I think was a little too old for Pop Tart World’s impact, but I’m glad we found it (new means not on maps.)

In freshman naivete, I presumed that my future as a collegiate remained a mystery behind one of only two doors to the university art department: “Studio Art, This Way” and, “Everything That Isn’t Studio Art, That Way…and don’t forget to go buy your Mac.” (sigh)

How did I misconceive that my days as a quote, unquote “Graphic Design” student would be spent applying myself to the rigorous development of learning how to communicate visually – or at all?

According to Webster: to communicate is to “impart or interchange information by speech, writing, or  signs.” Because communication “provides a passage between places where no apparent line of relationship exists,” it should be said that communication design provides a passage between places where no apparent line of relationship exists.

In my mind, the task of the artist is to take in all sensations of day-to-day life and connect each dot into an illustrious product. For the graphic designer, this means building bridges between client and creative, between business and brand identity. Great advertisements and identities carry the kindred ability to translate universal, complex themes into a single, solid, highly-effective result – which can be an overwhelming task, to say the least.

Have you ever hit the dead end of creative thought? Here’s a tip from Stefan Mumaw, author of Caffeine for the Creative Mind, who introduces us to the daily practice of creative exercising:

Write the name of [your project and primary focus, client, or idea] in the center of a piece of paper, giving yourself ample room to expand the idea. Draw six lines from that central thought bubble, and at the end of each line, write a word that is related to the word in the center. Now, draw another six lines from each of those words and continue the process until you have four “expansions.” Your challenge is to take a word from the outermost extension of the web of words and try to connect it to the central idea.

Today, I love  this challenge that comes with every project. To practice the childlike endeavor of “connect the dots” can only ensure persistent growth in an ever-progressing industry. Communication Design.

Can you guess what you can't see on Google Maps?

We’ve had a lot of conversations in the office about the power of Google and what they might do with it. Google has a great office culture (Google “google office“) and provides many free apps, such as Docs, Analytics, and Maps to drive traffic to their websites. I am still astonished every time I look at the street views on Google Maps and see some of my favorite places.

I recently found this video that made my think that A) Google has a conscience or B) Google is not the most powerful organization in the world. This video shows you 10 spots on Google Maps that you can’t see. Most of them are military and government related, but check it out. There is an entire country that is not shown in detail. Can you guess what it is? You may be right.

A more appropriate font would have been a traditional serif font like Garamond or even a script font.

Why, oh why do people use these horrid fonts? Please stop the insanity.