So the Dan Ariely behavioural economics course I did? I got 93.5%, and a statement of accomplishment signed by the master himself. YES!
I did better than I expected, which means I prove one of the experiments I read about during the course, that women undervalue themselves when in a group, which coincidentally was also proved in a recent University of Massachusetts study that I heard about on Wired UK’s podcast that I listened to this morning.
I’m already getting better at this sort of thing 
I was really glad to be a part of the International Women’s Day Tech City Showcase on March 8th. It was a great group of very smart women who were showcasing their work across a range of industries: design, games, retail, education, music, media and more. The format was very flexible, it was a really informal atmosphere and so diverse in terms of work showcased that there was bound to be something for everyone. Leila showcased her thermal printer from Happenstance, Haiyan Zhang used MindWave and Leap Motion to build a cat staring game (yes you heard that right!), Codasign showcased a music-making banana with Makey Makey (later figured out they were the ones I did the Arduino ghost-making workshop with last year) – they were just a handful of the brilliant projects there. Very inspiring.
Thanks to Alex, Becky, Ana and Natasha for organising!
Thank you XKCD. Onwards and upwards, as I officially begin 2013.
The final class focussed on books and book design. Some of the projects we did included:
- Bookshelves that were unusual in their design. I drew a couple of designs but my favourite was the one in the shape of a fish-tank. Imagine having that on a wall to house your books!
- A poster advertising the merits of books to encourage more people to read
- A poster for Putney Library as a venue for people to discover new worlds through books
- An 8-page graphic novel featuring myself (yeah that was a bit crazy – not only did we have to develop a whole storyline in 15 minutes, we had to draw it as well)
- The frontage of a bookshop of any kind; mine was a travel bookstore with a facade that looked like a globe
- A cover for my autobiography if it was written today
- A logo for a photography magazine called ‘First Impressions’
- The cover of a magazine that doesn’t exist, so we had to invent one and then draw a cover. I created one for a magazine called (rather unimaginatively) ‘Innovation Monthly’
- And last but not least, we had to make a book from scratch. Some of my classmates made beautiful ones, I went a bit left-field and made a notebook that looked like Pac-Man, the idea being as you flip through the book it would look as if he was eating something, with the pages altering in size accordingly. One piece of advice for anyone who wants to make a book from scratch: don’t make a circular one! Much easier to use the traditional square or rectangular shapes when you’re working with needles, thread and glue to stick it together.
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The whole course was a crash course in creativity. No idea was too bad, we were forced to think on the fly so planning was out of the window. For someone like me it was uncomfortable in the beginning because I’m so used to getting briefed in advance and having some time to decide what I want to do. But there’s definitely something to be said for working on the fly – as planners we probably don’t do that enough. It’s a very honest way of working, and it brings out the assumptions and thoughts about an issue or brand that you might think about but never really voice. This incredibly agile way of working encourages creativity as well – injecting ideas of all kinds into a situation is the only way you can solve a problem when confronted with something that at first glance seems insurmountable, but probably isn’t.
Absolutely glad I did it.
I realise I haven’t yet posted what I did in the second half of my design course last month.
The third session I went to was about encouraging us to think differently about media, and encouraging us to remix ideas. Projects we undertook included:
- Designing an animal that was a hybrid of a hamster and something else that had a superpower. Mine was a hamster-spider hybrid that produced silk. Yeah, haha.
- Designing a carrier bag for products bought from a spy shop; the conundrum is self-explanatory
- Designing coins for a government on Mars. My coin designs had sharp edges and an alien-inspired look in green and orange.
- Designing a shoe-sole in a way that it reflected the owner’s personality. Mine were stilettos that had ‘connect the dots’ inscribed, for a vixen that aimed to lead men on.
- Designing an avatar for myself as a superpower
- Designing a poster advertising deep fried Mars bars, the Scottish speciality
Image credit: John V Willshire
Some of you already know this, but for those who don’t, here’s the official blog post: I’ve joined PHD London as Head of Innovation. I was waiting to finish my first day before I said anything (for no particular reason, really), but now it’s out there!
Made by Many was a brilliant place for the 3 years I was there, but I’m extremely excited about PHD and the opportunities it offers me, as a global media agency, to do a lot more than I had the chance to do before. The people seem to be really nice so far, even though it’s early days, and though I have to overcome being known as ‘the new John Willshire‘ (which, to be clear, I never will be – I’ll create my own little niche), I think there’s some good stuff I can do here.
And the day I joined, the news that we won the Sony Ericsson account was announced, so it’s good news all round!
The lovely Eva-Lotta Lamm used the talk I did at She Says in September as fodder for one of her sketchnotes, which features in a book she’s just released. Some inspiring ideas from other inspiring talks are included, quite chuffed to be a part of this project of hers! Here’s the Flickr set.
It’s been a fair amount of time since I blogged, I know. Happy 2011 to all. In case some of you missed it, on Christmas Day last year I wrote a post for the3six5 project. With heavy snow across the East Coast of America at the moment, maybe you’d like to see it (or revisit it, as the case may be), here. The sentiment stays the same, in any case!
Christmas for me has been just one of the many events that my family has celebrated since I was a little girl. That may sound strange to some: how can it not be the most eagerly awaited festival of the year, as it probably is for most of you? The answer lies not so much in the religion I was born into – I am a Hindu – but more in the spirit of multi-culturalism that my parents cultivated in my sister and I right from the beginning. I was born in the UK, and as far as I can remember Christmas was celebrated by my family in much the same way as it is in most parts of the Western world. Even today, though my parents live in India, my mother makes the traditional Christmas roast chicken, Yorkshire pudding and Christmas pudding every year, though hardly any of our neighbours, even those that are Christian, do.
In India, God takes many forms. Within the one country there are so many different religions that growing up I learnt to appreciate Hinduism, Islam and Christianity equally. I am not particularly religious though. I believe that all religions, in essence, preach peace and goodwill amongst mankind. I find it particularly disturbing, therefore, when I see and hear about the tragedies of terrorism that have scarred people the world over recently in the name of religion. At Christmas, I’d like to take the opportunity to celebrate the good instead.
This Christmas, my husband, some friends and I have rented a cottage in Wales and are spending the holidays together. For my part, I’m making sure we have some proper Christmas food (including the turkey), and Christmas crackers for everyone. We’re far away from our families in India, but I’m determined not to let that spoil Christmas. Our friends have become a part of our family, as I’m sure is the case for a lot of you, and after all, isn’t Christmas about spending time with loved ones? The cottage may not have a roaring fire in the fireplace, but it’s a cheery white snowy Christmas for us. It couldn’t be more perfect.
Merry Christmas, peace and joy to one and all.
About the author: Anjali Ramachandran likes storytelling, robots and bright colours. She works with social technology company Made by Many in London, can be found tweeting as @anjali28 and blogging at One Size Fits One.
Mia Salituro, a young PR hopeful, interviewed me for her blog recently. The questions were simple and fun: you can read the interview here.
Also, since I talk to brands a lot on Twitter, Guy Stephens who was the Customer Services Manager at Carphone Warehouse last year when I was in contact with the brand, and now at Foviance, interviewed me for a white paper he was contributing to. The results are here.
I had a very bad experience with American Airlines on my way back from the US a couple of weeks ago. Thought I’d describe it here so you can tell me what you think.
So, I get to the airport 2 minutes late to check in my baggage for my flight to Austin from Los Angeles. (If I was travelling just with hand luggage, I would have been fine). No, there was no way they could change the rule to accommodate me. OK, bad luck. I agree it was my mistake I got there late. The solution was to be put on the next flight – which would still get me there in time for my connecting flight to London, but (of course) it was full as they cancelled a flight 3 days ago and were still managing the overflow from it. They’d only be able to put me on standby. Given that I had an international connecting flight to catch, I was advised to go to another airline and see if I could get a confirmed seat by buying a new ticket from them. No, they would not be able to help me despite having a partnership agreement with the international airline I was flying. No, they would not be able to check with the other domestic airline they suggested I go to as they didn’t have any agreement with them. And no, they would not be able to hold my standby position either. So, trying to find my way around an unfamiliar airport, I run downstairs to catch the airport shuttle bus which would take me to the terminal from which the other airline operated. After getting on (and off) a wrong bus, I finally reached and made my way to the ticketing counter of the other airline. There, I waited in a long queue and got to the desk only to learn that they wouldn’t be able to help me as the earliest flight they had would get me to Austin too late for my connecting flight. So I catch the shuttle back, and go back to the original airline to see if I can keep my standby position. No – too late for that, apparently, again by – hold your breath – 2 minutes. The lady at the ticket booth was reasonably polite, given the situation, but referred me to her supervisor standing next to her, who was downright unpleasant. (Marisa at the American Airlines counter in Los Angeles, that’s you). I would have switched the positions of the two. The manager looked like she needed way more front-desk training than the person who was reporting to her.
I then tried calling the international airline (their local ticketing booth at the airport was not yet open so I couldn’t go in person), and was told that due to restrictions on my ticket, I could not change my reservation EVEN THOUGH I OFFERED TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE. The solution they offered? To buy a fresh one-way ticket (of course), but at what cost? Double the cost of my original RETURN ticket.
I was in tears by then but fortunately called family and friends to see what the cost of an alternative ticket would be on any available international airline. Guess what? I was able to get one at LESS THAN ONE-THIRD the cost quoted by the international airline I was originally booked on, which I finally took.
I inferred these things:
The whole experience was very distressing, and I tried to think about what other solutions could have been:
- Staff from the first airline could have checked with staff from the other domestic airline by phone to see if anything was available, or at the very least given me a number to call so I wouldn’t have had to waste valuable time dashing all the way across. I was after all a paying customer.
- They could have kept me on standby and given me x number of minutes to get back to them after checking with the other airline so I wouldn’t be late to check my bag in.
- They could have offered to put my bag inside the aircraft in a space chosen by them after everyone else had stored theirs (I had only one suitcase which was only slightly bigger than regular cabin baggage, and I’m not being subjective).
- The international airline could have offered to put me on the next flight for a price that wasn’t ridiculous. I wasn’t changing my ticket for fun after all.
I thought the airline industry was a customer-focussed business. I was grossly mistaken. The attitude is more like ‘You paid money for a ticket on our airline? You poor fool!’
This is the true test of customer service. American Airlines, all I request is to be reimbursed for the cost of my ticket. Let’s see if anyone out there is listening on your behalf.
