During a recent business trip to London I had two very memorable dining experiences that shared an uncommon element—experiencing the kitchen before experiencing the restaurant!

The first restaurant, Belgo, was a mussels place that sat in the basement of an old stone building. You enter from street level into a small dimly lit room where you are greeted by a hostess who leads you down a long dark stairwell that take you straight to an expansive view of the kitchen. You see many chefs busily preparing mussel creations and get the sense that this is a place that takes food seriously and wants you to know it! The end feeling is that you are like a rock star who has some exclusive back door access from the proprietor that the rest of the world isn’t privileged enough to experience. The décor was authentic and utilitarian, the food was outstanding and the wait staff was knowledgeable and friendly, but that entry experience was the pièce de résistance!

Zizzi, the second restaurant, had a similar experience, except that you entered onto a mezzanine that allowed you to look down over the entire kitchen and restaurant. From above you could feel the bustling energy of the busy kitchen with its bright colors of food and flashes of fire that really opens your eyes wide and has you leaning over the railing to see more. The mezzanine was such that you had to walk twenty feet out over the restaurant then switch back to get to the metal curving staircase that leads you right to the hostess podium. Again, a total rock star feeling as the hostess is looking at you the whole time you are descending the stairs as though you are the only guest of the evening!

I love cars. I love old cars, I love new cars and I especially love those wacky concept cars that stretch your imagination and predict what could be. I love the Batmobile and Herbie the Love bug. I have loved working with many of the automotive brands, exploiting the branded traits and individual personalities that make them distinctive. I have recently enjoyed watching both Hyundai and Kia rise from their former selves to become the darlings of the automobile industry.

I don’t know about your neighborhood, but in our market, the new Hyundai Sonata is selling like the proverbial hotcake. The factory is at capacity and Hyundai is asking for more, according to Automotive News. Maybe a little more design forward than the other guys, doesn’t look like anything else, lots of models to choose from…all adding up to an attractive package.

Kia also seems to be on a bit of a winning streak, with aggressive new product that has a distinctive, sporty flair. It seems like they have something new and notable out every few months or so. Their new “tiger” inspired front styling is both modern and different and works well against their portfolio of product thus far.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the Korean emergence is in the saturation of advertising across a variety of touch points. Using upbeat music in a car ad is nothing new, but putting a sock monkey or a hamster at the wheel certainly is. I love the quirky attitude that the brand is displaying, the ads are very memorable. Likewise, Hyundai’s use of Jeff Bridges as their spokesperson is also refreshing. The ads come across as honest and down to earth and his voice has a casual, intriguing quality.

Several years ago, the concept of ‘ideating’ was given much notoriety by a television commercial that showed a group of people lying on the floor doing what appeared to be a whole lot of absolutely nothing.

“We’re ideating,” I remember the young lady in the commercial saying to someone who apparently stumbled upon the session. After that, the use of the word “ideating” was met with muffled snickering and if you used it in a meeting you ran the risk of being subjected to many unsavory references to that commercial. For good reason. It resonated with folks who had actually been in ideation sessions where little was accomplished. A common thing, perhaps, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

As I write this, I am fresh off a very successful “ideation” meeting where new thoughts were flying. People were allowing themselves the freedom to act and think differently than they had in the past. The devil’s advocate–who has a nasty habit of throwing monkey wrenches into so many good ideas before they germinate–was nowhere to be seen.

Ideas, good ideas, were flowing and it made for a session that was terrifically fruitful. It was so energizing!

So it’s that time of year again. Over the next three months, you can find me at my kid’s high school athletic field, watching his soccer team practice four nights a week. I rather enjoy those days. They’re a combination of fresh air and pride watching my kid trying to be the next great Springboro High goalkeeper.

As I sit here this evening, there is a slight wind that keeps the flag flying, pulling its cable against the flagpole, creating that hollow metal pinging sound. At the far end of the bleachers, a runner is doing some stair work. Her shoes make a sharp pop, I can feel the vibrations down my row as she hustles up and back down again. The evening sun is warm and the smell of freshly cut grass fills the stadium. Based on these sensations, you could blindfold me and I’d still know where I was.

A few retail brands stand out when I think of sensorial experiences. How many times have you smelled a Cinnabon before you saw it? You can smell and usually hear an Abercrombie before you come across one in the local mall. A similar volume of music (not to mention the genre) somehow seems very out of place in an Orvis store. Bath and Body Shop does a nice job of seasonal scents to grab your attention.

As retail designers, we rely a lot on the visual sense to communicate to consumers. But let’s not forget that those brands that engage all of the senses create the most memorable experiences.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time in our Madrid office collaborating with a cross disciplinary team to brainstorm and develop a cultural food destination concept that would be a reference point for the city of Madrid. So far project and our ideas are having great success with the client and we are really excited about the potential of the concept.

The experience of working abroad, for however long a period of time, in another office is fantastic! If you ever get the chance to work in another office, especially globally, drop what you are doing and go! It’s a great way to get a fresh perspective on what we do by seeing how other offices/cultures work and engage with each other and their clients. Anytime you can get exposed to new people and fresh processes and ideas it’s really energizing! This is true from both parties perspectives as well. The creative tools I brought were greatly appreciated by everyone, since it was a fresh way of working for them. So, the door swings both ways. I conducted a brainstorming/ideation session with the internal team only, and it was great to see everyone get excited by this “new” way of digging through ideas to discover the concept. By the end, our brains hurt, we were a little sweaty and tired, so we went off to the bar to refresh our creative minds.

Stay ahead of rapid expansion
Singapore, Seoul, and Mumbai are cutting edge markets and this means high expectations. Going into a project as a designer in these cities is intimidating. Shoppers live in aesthetic cultures where every imaginable design has been popularized. These cities are changing organically. It almost seems instantaneous. Within 3 months of being away from Singapore three new malls have opened. It’s all about knowing past/ present memes and looking toward ways of either (1) creating a new twist or (2) breaking the boundaries all together.

Stand out
In most cases Western design tends to fit in with its surroundings. Success in Asia is all about being bold. Whether it be a silly chewing gum commercial or neon signage that puts Times Square to shame, there is always something screaming for your attention. When you consider how busy people are in cities like Beijing and Tokyo, getting someone’s attention takes a strong effort. In my opinion, the solution to this is a simple design that allows for a detox from all the noise.

The “All-you-can-eat Buffet of Food for Thought.” IdeaFestival 2010 is what this statement is referring to. I just received my ‘personal invitation’ to attend the yearly conference held in Louisville, KY, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I feel more creative just thinking about it.

IdeaFestival is “a world-class event that attracts leading global innovators and thinkers to discuss and celebrate imagination, new perspectives and transformational ideas. It explores the cross-cutting nature of innovation over a range of diverse disciplines.” I should say so! As descriptive as that is, until you experience the event yourself it is very hard to get across just how great it is.