Take aways from 2011 IDA Congress

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Digital v.s. Traditional Content?

Is it really the end of printing content and traditional publishing house? Where does opportunities for printing business lie?

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

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Seamless Engagement

"Feeding or pushing information to users are obsolete. In the future, people will be able to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, share and critic each other’s thoughts in a seamless way."

The AVShanghai 2011 was filled with manufacturers, developers, and material vendors. This was not a huge exhibitions, about 80 companies, including PHLIPS, Mitsubishi, LG and Samsung, participated.

A range of commercialized products were displayed in the exhibition: different forms of large display, interactive kiosk, interactive display, seamlessly tiled large display, etc.



Although many of the products showed allow one way of information delivery, that is, displaying information and expect to attract viewers, there is an emerging trends of content syncronization across devices (platforms). Combining with the fever for social media and interactive exhibition space design, I believe it wouldn’t be far to find people interacting more intuitively and sponstaneously on these synced devices.



Feeding or pushing information to users are absolete. In the future, people will be able to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, share and critic each other’s thoughts in a seamless way.

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The Power of China

Merchandise shipment estimation from Harvard Business Review



Original Article: http://hbr.org/2011/06/what-the-west-doesnt-get-about-china/ar/1
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Fragmentation of truth?

Days of Our Lives by Wong Hoy Cheong

I passed by the Eslite Gallery by accident. Maybe I should call it a lovely surprise cause it gave me much more than what I have expected.

The MUJI show on the 6th floor were interesting yet disappointing in some ways. There was a sense of emptiness... The content was too superficial. My heart craved for some inspirational content. Some real substance of self-revelation.

Of all works exhibited, two of them are my favorite.



Re: Looking
Wong fabricate a documentary on how the Malaysian Empire and it's former colony: Austria. The presentation was so real that I second thought of the content and my own understanding of the South East Asian history. How easy is it to reinvent the truth! Are we in some ways deceived by others? Ohmae Kenichi urged that all should doubt what you think as unshakable truth. The key to problem solving is not finding the right answers but to always question what you think you know.

Oh Sulukule, Darling Sulukule showed Wong's effort in liberating the right of news delivery. It was very interesting to see how children frame and share their thoughts. All clips are in their own unique structure and way of filming. Not one of them is repeated.

Go visit Wong's show. I appreciate if you can share your thought with me at this blog.


Eslite Gallery: http://www.eslitegallery.com/page2-1.asp
Article on Re: Looking from Nafas: Wong Hoy Cheong, Re: Looking
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A bad example of displaying information

inexplicit and mashed information containing multiple magnitudes are confusing and misleading

I recently came across a graph published by The Economist Online. The purpose of the graph is to showcase the relationship between parents' level of education and their offspring's level of education and earning. However, the graph is confusing to interpret and to me, it is misleading.

ONE of the reasons people try to get ahead is to boost their children’s chances in life. And indeed the children of the well-off and well-educated earn more and learn more than their less fortunate peers—but to an extent that varies from place to place. In Ireland and Luxembourg, sons of fathers with a university degree or the equivalent are around 70 percentage points more likely to complete tertiary education than those whose fathers failed to graduate high school. In Britain and Portugal, a still-hefty 40-percentage-point lead is dwarfed by the premium in wages commanded by those with well-educated fathers, suggesting that other factors alongside education—social networks and employment markets that disproportionately reward those at the top—contribute to the cascade of advantage through the generations too.Click here to access the original post on The Economic Online.

What is the correlation of "percentage points" in acquiring university degree and "percentage increase" in wage? Did the two pieces of information came from the same group of subjects or did them come from mashed up census data?

The implies the editor drawn from the graph is also inappropriate. "That other factors alongside education—social networks and employment markets that disproportionately reward those at the top—contribute to the cascade of advantage through the generations, too." How about traditional values and cultural acceptance? Britain, Portugal and the Netherlands are known for their adventurous entrepreneurship, it is possible that education background is not valued as much as in Greece. Thus, wages do not reflect the person' level of education.

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Data on Home Modifications for the Disabled

Data on Home Modifications for the Disabled

Posted using ShareThis

This website is definitely a self-promoting medium for Bathroom Safety Systems. However, it contains many useful and current design recommendations for bathroom safety issues. Much of its information is common sense yet it is nice to have all these organized and ready to access.

A brilliant way to campaign a business and a great site for bathroom remodeling know-how.
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Tony Fernandes: to succeed is to understand

candid and clear insights on management and entrepreneurship



I came across Tony Fernandes' interview with The Economist and found this thirteen minute conversation extremely interesting and inspiring. Fernandes is a living proof that by implementing a well-developed business plan, you can succeed in any industry. The key is understanding.

In this short interview, Fernandes talked about his upbringing, education abroad, professional experiences, and most important of all, his decision on launching AirAsia post 9/11. His confidence roots deep in his understanding of his own capabilities, political and economical climate of South East Asia.

He clearly pointed out the appealing opportunities and potential threats in the South East Asia airline industry.

This market consists of 600 million consumers with most of them underserved. Trading with neighboring countries are common but airfare before AirAsia was unaffordable for most people in South East Asia. The situation was worsen by the lacking of Open skies agreements and the fact that most South East Asian airlines were operated by or affiliated with governments. By implementing a successful operation model and proposing the open skies agreement between his native Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, he made "Now everyone can fly." a reality.

I later visited Fernandes' blog. He is constantly compare and reflect on his business model. His own review and discussion on Singapore Airline and AirAsia praised Singapore Airline (view original post here):

1) Focus and disciplined. They stick to their model religiously. They are premium brand and they don't cut corners i.e. they are not a 5 stars value airline. They are a 5 star premium airline.
2) They market aggressively. Too many companies don't put enough into marketing.
3) They hire the best people. It's a meritocracy. The competition within the organization is fierce and the best people get the jobs.
4) The government is very pro-business. Bureaucracy is kept to a minimum. Things are done fast, infrastructure is been built quickly.
5) They innovate - the first all business class airline to New York. They're the first to order the A380.

Lesson for today: Be critical about your self, your environment and your competitors so you understand. Reflect and improve.
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What do we do with design

My personal journey and revelation as a designer.



What do we do with design by Ying Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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YingDesign Vol.1 Available

The first issue of YingDesign: the research issue is available!


YingDesign Vol. 1 by Ying Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Feel free to pass it along! You can download the document here
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