Alexander Grünsteidl joined us in the studio today all the way from London. He’s one of the founders of Digital Well Being Labs, a company specialising in innovative consumer experiences through design.

Alexander talked to us in the morning about who he is and what he’s done (and how he got there); it was a very enjoyable presentation and gave me a lot of food for thought regarding the direction of my future but also in my way of thinking. He showcased many of his projects but emphasised his pilot store experiment in London; a store which was filled with exciting, cutting edge technology but to sell it as something else i.e.: technology didn’t need to be sold as technology.

Confusing? Well, here’s an example: a mobile phone with 1000’s of features is terrifying for some niches in the market (elderly, for example). So why not dumb it down or sell it as something else - don’t highlight it’s ability to tell the future or teleport you to Mars, but instead really listen to the consumer and sell it on how it can benefit the individual in question. On the other hand, my Granny (bless her) doesn’t understand the concept of a cordless phone so maybe there’s no winning.

We also had one on one mini-crits with Alexander about our individual projects. I’m still a little unsure as to what to take from my conversation with Mr Grünsteidl; he seemed to like the concept but felt that the rest of the user experience needed crafted a little more. Graham (and I) agree however that I do need to focus on a ‘story’ or ‘feature’ (a unique selling point, if you will). Still, I need to figure out exactly what that feature is. 

Alexander mentioned the ghost tracking feature of the Olympics (seeing other runs super imposed) so you can see what a 1/200th of a second actually looks like. Just an idea but could comparison work for me? People do love to rank themselves against other people; I’m worried this might turn into an unnecessary feature however - I slimmed my iPhone app down and need to be careful that I’m not adding weight to the project for the sake of adding features.

Hmm, stuff to think about…

PS: I’m beginning to like my project again - I think. I’ve tweaked the code a little and it seems a bit more responsive now. Really need to stop fiddling with the camera though and get the website done; this chat today highlighted that I think as I think it came across as a little weak in that area.

Also, the experience is quite nice with the monitor sat beside the unit. Here’s a photo of it, you can see me! How exciting…