EXPLORER - How to be an explorer of the world (exploration #1)

Write ten things about where you are sitting right now that you hadn't noticed when you sat down. Use your senses. Do it quickly. Do nog censor. Okay, begin. 

1. I sit with hunched shoulders.

2. 'We may not have it all together, but together we have it all'.

3. I see my hands.

4. My knees touch the underside of my desk.

5. I have glue on my desk

6. A picture of me, my brother and my dog.

7. I collect to much stuff.

8. There are a lot of things on my desk that can be thrown away. 

9. I'm tired

10. There's 10 cents on my desk. 

Photo: made by me

I thought of these 10 findings in like 30 seconds. It's weird to think of things you haven't thought about when you sit down. Right now I sit at my desk. A place where I always sit to make my homework or study for tests. It's so normal to sit here that I oversee a lot of things. Like that there's a picture of me my brother and my dog. I think my mom put it there but I didn't even noticed the picture. So if you thinks quick about 10 things you see that you see much more things than when you just sit there. I think I'm going to apply this on my daily life like in the train or at school. In that way maybe I see more things than normal. 

EXPLORER - How to be an explorer of the world (exploration #4)

Today I made a daily walk with my dog. And the exploration was: collect objects only on your way to work or school every day. Well I wasn't on my way to work or school but a daily walk with my dog is also a routine. I collected 10 items that you can see in the photo bellow.

1. leaf
2. piece of paper from a peppermint
3. straw
4. little feather
5. dandelion
6. little stone
7. piece of rubber
8. maple seeds
9. daisy
10. grass

Photo: made by me

These objects are not very special on its own. But when I did this exploration I lost my tunnel vision. I looked around with a wide perspective. And then in the beginning it's a little bit odd to pick things from the ground. But if you see them together you see the path that I walked today. You see a bit of nature and a bit from humans. You can also see it as an interweaving between human and nature. Because we pollute the world, and because of that the world becomes unhealthier. Also object 8 is a maple seed. But when I saw this I thought of something I did when I was a kid. We used to call them: 'rhinos' because we used to split them in 2 and put them on our noses like we were rhinos. It sounds weird but it made me laugh again. So you don't expect to find things on a walk that have a meaning to you. It was fun to do!

COOLHUNT - Playing shuffleboard glow in the dark.

Last week I read an article in the newspaper 'Metro' about an event with different kind of sports. The article pulled my attention because I saw sports like shuffleboard and bosaball. I've never heard of these kind of sports before, do you? 

WHAT? Sunday November 9, the day of the 'Andere Spelen' (different games) in the Jaarbeurs of Utrecht. This day it was all about offering thousands of children an opportunity to play one of these different games like; bounce, ultimate frisbee, bossaball, sword fighting, art roller skating, twirling, underwater hockey, shuffleboard and checkers. The 'Andere Spelen' is an initiative from A.S.R; The Dutch insurance company. They want to help children to move more and with this event they give the different unknown sports some attention. A lot of children don't know that these sports exist. So the children will get more motion and there's a chance for these sports to get more membership.

WHY? What makes it so awesome is that a game of shuffleboard is boring on it's own. But here you can play shuffleboard glow in the dark. This is definitely a great example of the 'experience economy' because these sports get an extra layer of experience and fun. It's a win win situation. It's also about 'the journey is in the product'. It's not about winning with this event. It's about letting children see and experience these different sports. If we look at the needs behind these trends we see the 'experience economy'.

Source: article Metro (10-11-14)

Source: http://i2.wp.com/www.gezondheidenco.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Andere-Spelen.jpg

COOLHUNT - Sid & Liv: a place that has lots of experience to offer!

As you walk through the 'van Welderenstraat' in Nijmegen you'll come along a little place that's overgrown with plants. It looks very cosy but if you come in you can feel the warmth of this place. That's Sid & Liv, a lunchroom, which will come with a new concept very soon!

WHAT? Sid & Liv is a very cozy lunchroom. If you enter it looks like you're walking straight into a living room. The building has amazing old-fashioned high ceilings. You'll feel right at home when you're going into this lunchroom. What's so great about Sid & Liv is that everything you sit on or eat with is for sale in the lunchroom or on their webshop. In the front of the lunchroom there is a little shop with all kinds of goodies you can buy.
Sid & Liv also uses pure products like their tea they get from a small tea company (Betjeman & Barton). Also the coffee is 100% biological en hand picked. There's even biological beer. The bread is baked according to a biological recipe and all of their products are fresh everyday. Pure nature! At Sid & Liv you can go for a breakfast in the morning, a high tea in the afternoon or a 3 courses menu every last friday of the month.
But as icing on the cake they will introduce a new concept namely: Vänner (Friends in Swedish)! From 15 January Vänner opens their doors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 18.30 when Sid & Liv closes at 17.30. The building will be changed into a restaurant where you can enjoy a 3 meal course with your friends. It's an example of 'table d'hôtes'. This means that you and your friends can join Vänner for a 3 course menu that changes every week.

WHY? Because of the feeling that you walk into a living room it's an example of the trend 'living-room society'. Also it's unique that you can buy everything you eat with or sit on. There's also an example of 'authenticity' because Sid & Liv uses biological products. Nowadays we attach more value to eating pure and biologically. This is exactly something they respond to. Also they put on the card where the products are from. You can't get it more honest. It's an experience on it's own to sit here. Not only with friends but just to relax on your own. This is not a boring lunchroom but it has so much atmosphere and that's what we're looking for these days. If we look at the needs behind these trends we see 'durability' and 'experience economy'.

In short Sid & Liv is an amazing lunchroom where you can also join for dinner from 15 January at Vänner!

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In dutch:
Als je door de 'van Welderenstraat' in Nijmegen loopt kom je langs een kleine gevel die begroeid is met planten. Het ziet er heel gezellig uit en als je binnenkomt voel je de warmte van deze plek. Dat is Sid & Liv, een gezellige lunchroom, die binnenkort ook nog eens met een nieuw concept komen!

WAT? Sid & Liv is een gezellige lunchroom. Als je binnenkomt ljikt het alsof je meteen een woonkamer binnenkomt. Het gebouw heeft fantastische ouderwetse plafonds. Je voelt je meteen thuis als je deze lunchroom binnenkomt. Wat zo leuk is aan Sid & Liv is dat alles waar je mee eet of op zit ook te koop is in hun lunchroom en webshop. In het begin van de lunchroom zit een klein winkeltje waar je allerlei leuke hebbedingetjes kunt kopen.

Sid & Liv maakt ook gebruik van pure producten zoals hun thee die ze krijgen van een klein thee bedrijf (Betjeman & Barton). Ook de koffie is 100% biologisch en hand geplukt. Er is zelfs biologisch bier. Het brood is gebakken volgens biologisch recept en alle producten zijn dag vers. Lekker puur natuur dus! Bij Sid & Liv kun je terecht voor een ontbijtje in de ochtend, een high tea in de middag en elke laatste vrijdag van de maand een 3 gangen menu.

Maar als klapper op de vuurpijl komen ze met een nieuw concept namelijk: Vänner (Vrienden in het Zweeds)! Vanaf 15 Januari opent Vänner zijn deuren om 18.30 op Donderdag, Vrijdag en Zaterdag als Sid & Liv dicht gaat om 17.30. Het gebouw wordt omgetoverd tot een restaurant waar je kan genieten van een 3 gangen menu met je vrienden. Het is een voorbeeld van ‘tables d’hôtes’. Dat houdt in dat je samen met je vrienden kunt aanschuiven bij Vänner voor een 3 gangen menu die elke week veranderd.   

WAAROM? Door het gevoel dat je binnenkomt in een woonkamer is het een voorbeeld van de trend ‘living-room society’. Het is ook uniek dat alles waar je mee eet of op zit ook te koop is. Er is ook een voorbeeld van ‘authenticiteit’ omdat Sid & Liv gebruik maakt van biologische producten. Hedendaags hechten we meer waarde aan puur en biologisch eten. Dit is iets waar ze perfect op inspelen. Ze zetten namelijk ook op de kaart waar de producten vandaan komen. Eerlijker kun je het niet krijgen. Het is al een ervaring op zich om daar te zitten. Niet alleen met vrienden maar ook om zelf lekker te relaxen. Dit is alles behalve een saaie lunchroom doordat het een gezellige sfeer heeft. En dat is iets waar we naar zoeken tegenwoordig. Als we kijken naar de behoeftes achter de trends zien we ‘duurzaamheid’ en ‘experience economy’.

Kortom Sid & Liv is een fantastische lunchroom waar je vanaf 15 Januari ook terecht kunt voor een 3 gangen menu bij Vänner!

All photos are made by me.

COOLHUNT - A free hand poked tattoo.

Last week I bought a little book that's named: "Always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn then always be a unicorn". I bought it at the Concept store Make my Day (Read article here). It's a book with snapshots of the weird and wonderful world of the Tumblr generation. It's written by Pernille Kok-Jensen and Els Dragt. In this book I found something interesting. Mr. Pokesman, a guy whose hobby is making hand poked machine-free tattoos. 

WHAT? So his hobby is making hand poked machine-free tattoos. One day he made one for his colleague and from then on he started with this hobby. He has a blog on Tumblr where he posts pictures of some process and results. But he also answers questions and he posts sketches and inspiring material. (Mr. Pokesman Tumblr). He has no specific target audience. He does it for free. But the hand poked tattoos are for everybody now. On the internet there is a website where they teach you how to make hand poked tattoos by yourself! In the video below you can see how it works. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mlfqiJ6IhA

WHY? What gives this hand poking tattoos an extra layer of experience is that Mr. Pokesman doesn't only want to show that tattoo designs can be cool but also the whole setting around it: the place where the tattoo is made, the instrument used, the entire process and the result of course. So it's not about going to a tattoo shop for tattoo but this man creates a whole new experience to it. And also if we can make this ourselves it's also something on a mega based trend, namely individualism. But this new form of tattoos is a great example of 'the experience is in the product' and 'the journey is more important than the destiny'. So if you want a tattoo but you want something different, try a hand poked tattoo!

Photo: my own

Sources: 
- 'Always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn then always be a unicorn'. 
- http://mrpokesman.tumblr.com

COOLHUNT - Open a coke. Open a new friendship.

We all remember the personalized bottles from Coca Cola. The campaign 'Share a coke with' was a great success. It was such a success that people pulled the supermarkets upside down to find their names on the Coca Cola bottles. But now Coca Cola comes with a new action. 

WHAT? The campaign is called 'The friendly twist'. They created this concept with an underlying thought namely: a lot of people are having struggles with a new study. Younger people have to adapt to a new place and new people. Coca Cola is now trying to bring these people together to start a conversation to get through an exciting day. The idea is that on the first day of school there are bottles of coke available for the new students. Coca Cola invented a cap for the coke bottles that you can not open on your own. You need somebody else. So you have to start a conversation with somebody else. In the video below you can see how it works. 

WHY? This campaign is a great success because Coca Cola really empathized with their target audience. With this new bottle they make it easy for new students to start a conversation. And once there is a conversation it will be a lot easier for them to connect with each other. 
This campaign is a typical example of 'the experience is in the product'. This is not the first time Coca Cola pulled this off. With just a simple bottle of coke they connect people with each other. The slogan of the campaign is: Open a coke. Open a new friendship. And that's exactly what they're doing. So how strong is this campaign. With a simple product they create new friendships. And they respond to a mega trend namely: individualism. Nowadays it's simple to crawl into your phone when you don't know anyone. But when you're trying to drink a bottle of coke on your first day of school you have to communicate with people you don't know, how brilliant is that!

source: http://allesoverjongeren.nl/coca-cola-verbindt-jongeren-met-friendly-twist/