Belief

Belief. It’s an emotive word. It comes from the heart and makes the overused ‘authenticity’ seem contrived, because all-too-often it is.

Ironically, there’s an honesty in “helping our audience believe” because that’s how advertising and storytelling works. “Making it feel authentic” suggests a level of trying too hard without offering the small print.

It’s why Steve Jobs captivated an audience. We hung on every word. We believed – because he wasn’t simply selling us a product, he was living it. If we believe the person telling the story also rolls up their sleeves and gets under the skin, we feel their pain or share in their joy. We didn’t care that Steve knew how to sell and manipulate the narrative. Our focus wasn’t on authenticity, we simply believed.

Of course consumers, peers or investors know they’re being sold a story and the details, benefits and projections are important – but the magic lies in a collective belief. Once you invite the spark inside, the next step is to help the fire spread and the skill lies in developing a controlled burn rather than a blazing inferno.

I still believe Apple offers a reliable, quality product and experience that seamlessly weaves together all the digital touch-points of my life. But I no longer believe any of it will excite me – not like the Macintosh, the first Titanium PowerBook, the clamshell iBook, the first, second and third-generation iMac, the beautiful Cube or the iPod. Steve would be furious to discover the most exciting thing Apple has produced in the last decade is an orange prosumer smartphone!

As you know, this platform is full of AI. Posts about it, posts generated by it, posts about posts generated by it and posts generated by it about posts generated by it. The algorithm will probably never even show you this!

At college, a couple of fellow students and I devised a way to streamline the design process. There will always be design requirements that fall into the “that’ll do” category. If you identify this early on, you’ll clear the deck for work that deserves greater focus. Artificial Intelligence (and even Canva) offers quick wins for some design work that never really needs deep thought or skill. So stop pushing AI-generated slop that supposedly champions creativity and get better at identifying where it actually helps, so we can believe in the substance of a product, service or brand. AI won’t dilute humanity – humans inappropriately eulogising AI will.

I was contemplating the concept of time travel last week – as I so often do – and realised how believable period fiction is when actually written in that time.

More so than film or TV or the most immersive VR, if you read an author's words from the 1970's or earlier and they don't reference a mobile phone, it's because they have no knowledge of the technology’s existence rather than trying to 'unthink' them. We fully believe the time in which the story is set because it feels rooted in the period – and with our own brains supplying the visuals, we're not distracted by contemporary actors who we recognise from another time and place.

I still love the Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour movie 'Somewhere In Time' (itself an adaptation of the novel 'Bid Time Return') that tackles the theory of total time belief in order to experience it.

The first Christmas after my Dad died, cards arrived at the house from friends that hadn’t heard the news of his passing. They believed he was still alive – and to them, he was. This was the purist form of storytelling because unless they were told otherwise, there was no reason to dispute the ‘facts’.

The very best creative work in film and TV makes us believe in what we’re seeing on screen. But this translates to confidence in the studios and channels – I believe I’ll have engaging, entertaining content to watch on Paramount+, Disney+ or Netflix. It doesn’t need to feel authentic, but I believe I’ll continue to be entertained (unless we accept AI-generated scripts and actors).

As Designers we have problems to solve and the privilege to offer beautiful experiences to excite or empower an audience. But without belief we have no audience – and that’s the huge burden of responsibility at the feet of Marketing and Communication.

We have brilliant stories to tell, of magic to weave and no matter how much effort we focus on that being authentic, none of it matters if consumers don’t believe the story – and the brand.

Steve Jobs championed the art of ‘Thinking Different’ and that’s something uniquely human when we follow a tangent, deliver something unexpected and give us all a reason to believe.

Without belief, authenticity is powerless.

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes ... the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, about the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things.

They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Steve Jobs

Dawn of the DumbWatch 2.0

I’ve been living with the interactive wrist revolution for a few years and I first wrote about the state of the smartwatch market during my visit to CES 2015. For the following 12 months I found plenty of words but struggled to find the right ones. What went wrong?

I haven’t fallen out of love with smartwatches, but they haven’t made much of an effort to spice up our relationship. I’ve spent a year reviewing watches of all shapes and sizes, various operating systems with differing views on the future of the digital timepiece.

When I wrote my first Dawn of The DumbWatch (4 years after my HD3 SLYDE review), the Apple Watch still hadn’t arrived and all talk of smartwatches at CES 2015 was about Apple’s imminent entry into the market. We’d already been working with Cupertino’s timepiece prior to launch so I wasn’t as excited by it’s arrival as many. Was that through familiarity, or something else?

Apple sold more Watches in one day than the entire Android Wear market had in the previous year and as a standalone smartwatch, it’s the best of the best. The Retina screen is every bit as stunning as the iPhone’s and it’s beautifully made but I really wanted Apple to completely reinvent the watch, rather than evolve it.

Evolution or revolution, they couldn’t avoid the issue of battery life and to conserve energy, Apple ensured the screen only turned on with a finger tap or turn of the wrist. Both actions annoy me. I want to be able to glance at my watch (often subtly) to tell the time, not tap it or bend my wrist at an unnatural angle.

It’s as this traditional timepiece that the Apple Watch suffers. I’m not entirely comfortable wrapping something around my wrist that so many others are wearing, even if the $1,500 Hermès model is available online this week. I still wear a watch and think of it as an extension of my personality, as an accessory that says something about me – but that’s not the future market for this device, or smartwatches in general.

My 6 and 10 year old daughters think most of the watches I test are brilliant and would happily wear one. Their views of conventional watches haven’t been tarnished by obsolescence and they haven’t replaced watches with a smartphone screen. They like the shiny interactive stuff and they’re very much the future smartwatch audience.

What about the rest?

Will.i.am PULS

The year didn’t begin well… Will.i.am’s PULS didn’t arrive in stores but it had potentially the worst user experience of any device, ever. So that’s probably not a bad thing. Will get’s a point for trying, but loses the rest for making a mess of everything else.

Michael Bastion ChronoWing [Update]

Although I love the look of this watch, I gave this a pretty poor review last time. I felt I owed you all an update. Not only did the watch stop working altogether on several occasions, but the metal started to permanently scar my wrist. The strap finally came undone and it fell off! I have never lost a watch in my life, so at least the Chronowing has one first to its name. A slow hand clap for HP.

Cogito Classic (Black Metal)

I’ve always had a soft spot for this watch and tried a couple of earlier models with rubber straps. The main watch design looks great and the concept of analogue hands over a digital face makes perfect sense to maximise battery life. The metal strap boosts the perceived quality but the ‘smart’ part died on me, again. RIP Cogito.

Samsung Gear S2/S2 Classic and Moto 360 Sport

What a difference a year makes! Although Samsung have actually been in the smartwatch game for years, they’ve never really made an impression on consumers. The audience wasn’t ready for the Galaxy Gear and there certainly wasn’t any glamour surrounding the launch, but the Apple Watch changed all this. Samsung, like so many others are now basking in the halo effect of Apple’s range, fashion connections and interactivity.

I originally got my hands on both Samsung models (S2 and S2 Classic) at IFA in Berlin last year and I have to say I’m impressed – with the quality of materials and both the product and on-screen design. I prefer the regular model with its contemporary approach but the Classic is a much nicer conventional watch design than the heavy-handed LG Urbane or Huawei Watch.

Interaction is controlled by a mixture of touchscreen inputs and a rotating bezel. This outer ring essentially replicates the Apple Watch crown or pinch-zoom action and I quite like it.

Motorola’s new Moto 360 Sport needs very little description other than to say it’s similar to the S2 but lacks the outer ring and gains iOS support.

Fitbit Blaze

Another established player enters the battle for the wrist. Fitbit have followed Apple’s fashion/custom format with a variety of straps. The centre of the watch is actually removable so it can be used in activities that don’t require a watch - although a wrist worn strappy thing seems the obvious choice to me. I like the form factor and it gets points for that but it isn’t going to set the world alight.

TAG Heuer Connected

Not wishing to be left behind by all the Silicon Valley new money, TAG introduced its $1,500 high-end smartwatch last year, partnering with Intel and Google (the new money). It looks and feels great, then you turn it on and it runs Android Wear which in itself isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a cheap thing. Also, the standard watch faces all mimic TAG designs and they could have tried harder, or at least attempted something stylish AND contemporary. 

Casio WSD-F10

Let’s get one thing clear, I think this smartwatch has an awful name. Now that’s out of the way, it’s only good stuff. Casio are following their own path, rather than multiple models and styles, they offer 4 colours, all with the same tough rubber strap, running Android Wear but with bespoke faces displaying an array of action data. It looks tough and backs that up by playing tough. It's water and shock proof and connects to Casio’s action-camera to operate it remotely. I’d happily add this to my (albeit pretty shoddy) collection.

Olio Model One

I fell for this watch the first time I saw a photo. Ironically, I was sat in a secret Apple Watch development room in Cupertino with the Olio on my screen, so a slightly awkward moment!

When most viable competitors are striving to set up and control their own app stores, Olio has taken a different tack. They’ve dismissed the idea of a store, preferring instead to only offer the essentials.

Whether this strategy works or not remains to be seen but Olio expects to sell far fewer watches than its rivals anyway, adopting a more traditional approach to timepiece production. Mine arrives at the end of this month. Until then, I’m sporting an analogue watch. Crazy.

So, is there hope for Dawn of The DumbWatch 3.0? I’ll be talking about ‘Hearables' next time, when the info goes in-ear. But I can’t tell you about that yet…

If you want to fill in any more gaps, all the CES and smartwatch gossip is on The Digital Loop.

Making Music at WWDC

If you’re looking for a comprehensive summary of everything covered in today’s WWDC keynote, move along now, there’s nothing to see here. If however you’re after a look behind the scenes of the Moscone memorandum and its impact on developers, brands and consumers over the next 12 months, you’re in the right place.

My day began at 3:15am when my alarm jolted me rudely into consciousness. As my jet-lagged brain took in the surroundings of my shabby-chic San Francisco hotel room, I checked the charge levels of my mobile devices. It was going to be a long day.

Armed with my 15” MacBook Pro, 11” MacBook Air, iPad Mini, iPhone 6, 42mm Apple Watch and a bag full of battery chargers, I made the ten minute cold, dark and lonely cab ride to the Moscone Centre. It was keynote day and to ensure a decent seat I had to begin my queuing ‘experience’ at 4am.

I’m no stranger to the iQueue. In 2010 I stood outside the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York waiting a mere 12 hours for the launch of the iPad. We were 6th and 7th in line, behind representatives of the four corners of the world… and a guy in a deckchair that waits in ALL the lines. He’s not a developer so isn’t at WWDC.

You’d think 4am would be early enough, right? Not a chance. I began writing this crouched on the floor round the back of the Moscone West Convention Centre, next to the bins. This international globe-trotting ain’t as glamorous as you think. Assuming you think it’s glamorous of course.

To cut a long and rather tedious story short, the Moscone Center doors opened at 7am and the iQueue was directed like a shuffling chain-gang to the inner hall where our next 3 hour wait began.

Through a combination of running, elbowing and misdirection I found a seat in the front row of the ‘non-VIP’ enclosure with a good view of Tim Cook’s kick-off. He took to the stage to deliver the usual stats about global eyeballs and fingertips on iOS and OS X and positive words about Apple Watch.

Others will have summarised word-for-word the minutia of the keynote. As mentioned, I don't intend to do this so here are my top 5 announcements.

Watch Kit 2.0

Apple set the standard for Apple Watch apps early on. We were restricted to a limited feature set, using official Watch Kit designated GUI (Graphical User Interface) and restricted access to the sensors on the watch itself. We made the most of this with our Porsche Car Connect app, launched on Day 1. You can read more about that [here].

This tight control wasn’t out of character for Apple (the original iPhone didn’t even have an App Store at launch) and the idea was to keep the focus firmly on the hardware and its OS, rather than take the Android Wear approach and encourage a free for all.

At WWDC, the development door has been pushed open a little and we now have access to sensors and buttons not previously in our armoury, making the watch a much more interesting proposition when pushing creative barriers, if not breaking them all down just yet.

Consumers will appreciate the new photo watch faces and customisable content but I’m still waiting for full watch faces to make the device truly personal or an easy win for brands.

Apple Music

Hands up if you love iTunes… anyone? Bueller? Yep, it’s been a necessary evil since day one. Poor search (that still applies to the App Store and iBooks Store), cranky UI and little or no encouragement to actually access all your music, movies and books.

Apple wants all that to change with the introduction of Apple Music and Beats1. With the focus firmly on streamed music and playlists or shows curated by humans rather than algorithms, Apple have proved they are probably the only organisation capable of combining all the essential content, features and platforms to deliver an end-to-end music service.

That doesn’t mean everything they offer from the start will be the best but by placing it all in one place, they certainly make it easier. The music labels should also be happy with Apple Music as it offers them a higher profile for both new and established artists and brings music, video and more to an audience likely to pay for both a streaming service and downloadable tracks.

So, farewell to cranky old iTunes on our desktops? No, I'm afraid we'll have to suffer that for a while longer, until the new UI and user experience filters down from Apple Music. It's a shame this isn't a replacement, just an improvement to music discovery, not its storage once purchased.

Apple Music is available soon in the US, UK and Australia and on Android by the end of the year. The first three months access will be free then $9.99 a month. I think the Tide may have just gone out for Jay Z…

Apple News

It will probably be referred to as ‘News’ but whatever it’s called, it looks like a potential Flipboard killer. Having worked with publishers, Apple revealed its digital magazine platform, providing a customisable feed with live interactive content.

The proof will be in the simplicity of integration with online content and how this will be monetised when News looks as good as a regular digital magazine. Publishers or bloggers can now sign up to use ‘News Publisher’ and get their hands on the tools required. Watch this space…

Car Play

Greater integration and wireless connectivity and now Apple Music. All cars should offer both iOS and Android integration as standard in the next few years, adding functionality both in and out of the car so we’re ticking boxes here.

Clearly our Porsche Car Connect app is the perfect example of this but the challenge remains for designers, developers and marketers to make the brand experience as seamless as possible with both technical, lifestyle and service information living in digital harmony within the app ecosystem.

Apple TV 2.0

Only joking, it didn’t make an appearance because Apple hadn’t joined all the dots – hardware, software (including apps) and the big one… content. The content is there, it’s just the issues that remain, such as localisation, advertising and subscription models.

This hasn’t been an easy business for Apple as the direct download and rental models are far less complicated than streaming. Whilst Apple has been trying to own the end-to-end experience, the market has moved on around them with major players such as NetFlix and Amazon making substantial gains. Apple TV is still poised to make the next step very soon…

The two main headlines this year were Apple Watch OS2 and Apple Music. The rest provided interesting updates but nothing to change the world, unless you aim to use these tools to do it yourself.

WWDC is an Apple Event so naturally we all have iPhones and MacBooks of one shape or size. I’m comfortable with this as it’s the right (and in our collective opinion) the best kit for the job. I’m less at ease with the fact we all have Apple Watches. I’ve always worn a watch 1. to tell the time and 2. because I actually like wearing one - as a personal statement. It’s not very personal when everyone has the same thing.

I’ve ordered my personalised strap from Casetify to alleviate some design anxiety but I’m still not happy to run with the crowd. I’ll feature that strap later this week in my new Dawn of The DumbWatch article, alongside the Olio Model One and metal Cogito Classic.

I’m also surrounded by developers wearing the official WWDC15 fleece. I have mine on under a jacket as it feels a little like a school uniform. That and it was freezing next to the bins!

Fast Forward

On April 3rd 2010, the iPad was unleashed on the world and our first iPad app was ready to download on day one. Fast forward to April 24th 2015 and our first Apple Watch app is available on the day the Cupertino giant’s smartwatch hits the streets. Brandwidth’s bloody good at this stuff, but we don’t like to shout about it.

It’s easy to claim innovation and futurology are all about predicting trends and second-guessing the market. What’s more useful for clients is to take control of the path for their products, services and delivery based on facts. To achieve this, businesses need to get better at shaping their own futures. 

In 2010 the iPad-related headlines were for our incredible Guinness World Records app, now we’ve developed an extension to our existing Vodafone Porsche Car Connect app for Apple Watch. Neither of these apps were knee-jerk reactions to product announcements, they were carefully planned, developed and crafted titles, targeted to maximise user experience for new audiences.

We didn’t wait for an official announcement for either tablet or watch. I hinted at the possibility of Apple’s tablet back in 2009 (and referenced the ‘iPad’) and we’ve been planning for an Apple Watch for nearly three years. The Porsche Car Connect app wouldn’t have been possible without a visionary client, willing to take a few risks for a well-deserved halo effect. The same can be said for Guinness World Records and both clients shared in the roller-coaster ride towards launch day. It was worth every minute!

By creating bespoke products for new technology we’ve added value rather than noise. Unfortunately, for the next few months there will be a lot of white noise surrounding the Apple Watch. The temptation for existing app publishers will be to develop smartwatch extensions just for the sake of it. To make something just because they can and because their audience is demanding content for their new toys.

Stop. if you merely add clutter to what is already a small piece of digital real estate, you’ll run the risk of consumers wanting the app off their watch AND their smartphone.

We’re entering a challenging phase in UI design. Just when you thought screens were getting bigger, along comes a new era of tiny wrist-worn technology requiring effective and intelligent design, not merely smaller text and images.

Here’s the smartwatch rule to apply, as a designer, developer or client: “If there is value added by delivering information or functionality more conveniently on the wrist than any other screen, do it. It’s the future and your audience will expect it.”

We’re not afraid of firsts but they’re carefully researched, meticulously planned and expertly produced. They’re not punts based on guesswork, dressed up as analysis. We don’t bet it all on red unless we’ve been instrumental in designing a red thing.

Top L-R: Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips, Early Apple Watch connected concept, Oculus Rift Light Saber battle. Bottom L-R: Toyota Auris 3D filming, Lexus Symphony Orchestra, Holiday Inn Green Room.

It’s not all about Apple and apps either, demonstrated by our award-winning Lexus Symphony Orchestra, 3D screens, gestural interaction and a gold medal won at the Hampton Court Flower Show for our Holiday Inn Green Room… and a bunch of things you haven’t seen yet.

The future’s bright, because we’re busy designing bright things.