How we approach innovation at Redweb
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How we approach innovation at Redweb
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- I work at Redweb, a digital agency, specialising in web design & build, focusing on a user centric approachOur head office is in Bournemouth where we have 100 people & we have a small team in London redweb.com
- I run an innovation department called Redweb Labs
- I’ve been kindly invited here today to talk about: “how we approach innovation at Redweb” In the next 30 minutes, I’ll cover: i: A very quick intron to innovation & Redweb Labs ii: how we now work differently iii: how we see the future of the digital work we do
- Redweb labs is an evolution of our innovation dept, started in 2009Our objectives are: Explore, Experiment, Excite
- Exploring what’s happening in new technology, how it’s being used, how we could use it, and what possibilities it might open up.
- We do that through getting hands on: opening boxes, plugging in cables, installing code libraries, & freezing laptops. Learning how things work through experimenting, making and playing
- And it’s our job to let others know how we get on: what we find, what we learn, what new skills we pick up or fell short on, what problems we faced and solutions we found. Our conversation are with staff, and clients
- After several years of this we have developed a strong culture of innovation at Redweb We happy tackling incremental innovation like tweaking our processes, procedures And biting off bigger chunks , like more dedicated innovation projects, and areas of investigation
- And we’ve seen benefits for: our staff, their skills, our processes, and our projects All of which benefits our clients, and makes us a more exciting agency to work with and a more exciting agency to work at
- This short video MIB clip sums up redweb labs in a nutshell I love this clip - manly because it’s awesome when some one asks what you do, & your first line is “Have you seen MIB?”
- So, everyone is answering the same problems, and answering them in the same way Even the best of the best of the best can get too focused on the day to day To be innovative, you have to work differently I’m going to talk about 6 areas, where we’ve changed the way we used to work
- Our definition of Creativity = coming up with ideasOur definition of Innovation = making those ideas happen expand out then focus back in: diverge then converge (the further you can expand out, the more choices you have to focus in)
- So the first thing we did was to work harder to value & foster creativity
- Our second issue is dedication
- Nothing gets swallowed up quicker than - Personal time, R&D time, 20% time what ever you call it when the pressure of paid work starts building up, these are the first to go! Partly why we started the innovation department - with full time staff - to save this from happening
- We’ve also changed our offices dramatically - the physical spaces in which we work - to encourage people to work differently
- Which leads neatly on to courage
- Because our work is often about the journey not the destination we don’t know exactly where we’re heading - a difficult way for some people to work.But we want to see what’s possible, & discover new things, not copy what others have done.
- And like a car journey when you can’t get a GPS signal on your phone, there’s usually plenty of wrong turns, and mistakes. But that’s balanced by short cuts, and surprise attractions we find along the way
- Occasionally we get really lost, or break down completely This is our 3d printer that we built ourselves - and rebuilt, again and againWe had to make our own parts, and re-write software. After 18 months we’ve shelved it
- But - Just like a bad road trip - you always manage to get home safely some howAnd they’re often the most interesting trips! Our printer might not work, but we now know a man with one who does :)
- Which brings us neatly on to collaboration
- We learnt early on that our staff are amazing - more amazing than we gave them credit for Their Passion, knowledge, skill sets , and interests, continue to surprise us They want to make things better - They want to share what they knowwe’ve learnt to let them loose, trust them, support them
- But guess what, Other people are awesome tooCollaboration is now a big part of how we work: freelancers, friends, students, agencies, client partnerships
- We often work better with other people we have different conversations and learn different things it can bring an unexpected angle to ideas we’re working on
- So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we try and be open in all we do something which has greatly improved our work.
- Share things early - don’t be precious, or try & finish things first Use demos, prototypes, mock up, and sketches - to see what people think of our ideas and help them develop.
- we try & show our work and talk it through regularly. It helps us stay on track and it helps us see new things that we might have missed if we’re too focused
- All our Redweb Labs code now is OPEN SOURCED Something we started last year. Because we shouldSharing our code makes the web stronger, & helps others
- Our local digital scene is becoming a busier - which will hopefully make it better & stronger This is our 2 minute brain dump of meet up groups around Bournemouth from Meetdraw that we started several years ago now, to the local hack days that started just last year. It’s never been easier to meet collaborators. And share & co-create new ideas
- the last topic is Action
- It’s easy to talk about what you could do. It’s easy to over talk, over think, & over complicate things, and to talk yourself out of doing anything. But just Start making, after all - innovation is getting things done S U G T D - shut up & get to work
- One of our favourite ways to get things done are Hack projectsWe’ve been running hack projects since 2010
- I’m not talking about bad hacking, like hacking into your bank account, or stealing passwords from LinkedInor the charity/govt hack days, expecting devs to work for free (or pizza,) to their agenda, using data so uninspiring they can’t think what to do with it themselves.
- Our Hack projects are based around learning, trying new things, pushing boundaries. Doing something we’ve never tried before. Our defn: “An event where designers & developers gather together to make cool stuff”
- The brief we give our teams is simple: To solve a problem, and solve it brilliantly
- Our teams get 32 hours: 9am - 4 pm & through the night it’s fast, furious, exhausting, exhilarating it’s noisy as there’s plenty of shouting across the lab - plan A doesn’t work , plan B, plan C decisions on the spot - no time for meetings or conf calls
- And those decisions are our decisions - No second guessing what a client might want, there’s no AM, or PM hovering or muttering about usual best practices. It’s great to focus on doing everything our way, it’s not client work, it’s our work. It’s all about taking risks, do what we believe, making something we’re proud of
- The outcome - is that we aim to deliver a demo, imagination tool, a functional proof of concept. Which we present to the company at 4 pm
- We’re often asked to predict what we think will happen in the future we usually decline as it’s more fun to laugh at other people getting it wrong than getting it wrong ourselves But there’s a few concepts that we think are key - here they are
- firstly, the future is frictionless
- Frictionless by platform and device. Frictionless by taskI should be able to complete any task on any device, whichever device I have to hand. I shouldn’t need to swap from my phone to see a link from an email. Or to laptop to fill out a form using a proper keyboard. (All the sites we build are responsive & adaptive, but it needs constant focus & attention)
- And Frictionless when it comes to web content. This is the page you used to see when searching of “When the clocks go forward?” it’s hard to find the information you searched for its full of distractions & things that pull your eyes all over the place. (I feel like I’ve been mugged or hijacked)
- This is what we have now. The new GDS page that replaces it. It’s brilliant. - the clocks go forward 30 March”. It’s focused on what the user wants: the information they’re after. It’s not about what else govt might want to say - they’ve stopped shouting a hundred other things at the user. Its beautiful, it’s clutter free, it’s focused, it’s frictionless.
- When I buy shoes, why do I not see the mens shoes (in my size) straight away? All my devices know who I am, what sex I am, what size I am. They know all my preferences. There’s a nav bar to help me find other things if I’m after a gift, or something for Saturday night! We work with content (CEM) systems that learn habits & preferences so we can change the content we deliver - to be frictionless
- And when it comes to frictionless, Don’t even get me started about QR codes I want the content (if its relevant), not download an app, point it, look like a dork, URLs are simpler, more memorable, and have clues in to what I might see frictionless means - Just in time, not just in case. - I don’t need to carry knowledge around with me when I have google in my pocket and I don’t need hundreds of apps when I have the web.
- 2 - the future is invisible
- The way we interact with computers - the input methods - are becoming so frictionless they are invisible.the keyboard & mouse have been around for 30 years - even touch screens are now second nature - touch, gesture,Nike fuel band & wearables - motion Nest - temperature, Siri Glass - voice, Laep motion - fingers heart thing - nymi wrist motion thing - myo.
- Objects are becoming connected, (to help save us time & effort, and carry out boring tasks invisibly)the overused example is connected fridges that order more groceries as we run out - we’ve talked it into happening
- We now have bins that let the council know when they need emptying and we have parking spaces that alert us if they’re empty A while ago, we connected a recycling bin to our network. Using a light sensor we can count bin usage - and encourage people to recycle more
- More interestingly, when we’ve connected our objects, what will they say to each other? Can we move beyond utilitarian uses and make room for emotion?Check out the Addicted Products project where toasters, love to be used, can asked to be re-homed if neglected We should stop thinking: internet of things, and think: things of the internet
- Our newest member of staff at Redweb Labs - is ambient Lionel He’s an exercise in ambient technology. Always on, he has a raspberry pi in his clay head. & He uses the same api as Google Glass. He listens out for people saying ‘hello’ and then, of course, answers back by singing “is it me you’re looking for”Which ensures after the morning rush, we all have that ear worm firmly embedded for the rest of the day
- Lastly, the future needs to be memorable Everyone’s fighting to be heard, formats are becoming shorter, attention spans are dropping, the channels we once loved are filling with spam, and in what’s been termed Social Media fracking brands are invading our social media channels trying to get us to like them on FB rather than buy their products - how do you stand out?
- Nike talk about spending money on making ads that are so good people want to watch them, more than anything else that’s on at the same time. Rather than throwing so much money placing the ad everywhere, so it can’t be avoided
- They’ve gone from selling shoes & running vests to helping runners run better, smarter, and enjoy it more. A shift from their own goals, to their customer goals. They accept that running is hard, but promise that they will do everything they can to help support us
- Branded entertainment has evolved - Authenticity of content takes precedence over being advertised to. Content first, logo last. Often including user generated, user submitted - be a part of it, to have memorable experience, make their own stories. The idea of making things people want (to be a part of) rather than making people want things. examples: Red bull stratos Carling: be the coach Mont Blanc: the beauty of a second Canon: Imagin8ion
- We wanted to make client visits to redweb HQ more memorable We built a prototype experiential sign in book, using leap motion, which tracks your hands in space A Lionel Ritchie soundtrack ‘Hello” plays- instead of signing a book, visitors sculpt themselves in our 3d browser clay we can print this data, on a 3d printer, while they are in a meeting- and present it to them as they leave.
- And then my favourite project from last year
- some bright spark worked out that Redweb is an anagram of brewedSo, now we have a bar, maybe we should make our own beer? OK
- But what to do with all that beer? apart from drink it we talked about inputs earlier - We got our hands on a head set that can measure your brain waves - it triangulates from 3 touch points We put together a system that goes like this
- We took it on to TedxBrixton - People loved it People loved being part of it, meeting the challenge, and pouring a beer with their brain They loved having a beer (fairly rank, it didn’t travel well, and wasn’t great in the heat of summer) They also loved their story behind how they got that beer - we saw lots of people taking photos, sharing, texting their mates
- We had a pop up beer night in a pop restaurant in Mayfair Where more people were amazed at their new beer pouring superpowers Even sceptics managed it in the end, after we’d convinced them there were no hidden levers or switches
- We hosted an evening for Journalists and drinks brands, As the night went on, unsurprisingly it became harder and harder to pour beer.
- And we learnt that the only thing that makes people happier than a free beer is another free beer!
- So that’s how we see things shaping upIt’s what digital work & experiences could be, and should be in the future but starting now