http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/ 2008-11-20T13:21:36Z http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/1998/the-future-of-search.html Much has been written about Adaptive Path's "futurethink" program on the future of the browser for Mozilla. <br><br>Now, <a target="_blank" href="http://petitinvention.wordpress.com/about/">Mac Funamizu </a>a web/graphic designer working in Tokyo, Japan has developed some great visuals showing some interesting concepts around the future of search.<br><br><a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/edcotton/2803979342/" title="The Future of Search by ed100, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/2803979342_d961f01ce2_o.jpg" alt="The Future of Search " height="471" width="487"></a><br><a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/edcotton/2803128605/" title="Future of Search by ed100, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2803128605_27a9aca588_o.jpg" alt="Future of Search" height="454" width="491"></a><br><br>Posted by Ed Cotton Influx Insights 2008-08-27T15:13:33Z http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/1949/japan-is-the-new-inspiration-for-starbucks.html <b>Jean-Marie Shields</b>, Head of Trends at <b>Starbucks</b> gave an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.psfk.com/2008/07/psfk-liveblog-thoughtful-change.html">excellent presentation</a> at last week's PSFK conference in San Francisco. <br><br>It became clear that the brand is increasingly looking to Japan as a source of inspiration for the future direction of the Starbucks brand. <br><br>Tokyo's coffee houses and cafes are at the forefront of using recycled and natural materials for their interiors and being highly creative in the overall experience. <br><br>One example is the <b>Otemachi Cafe</b> which Metropolis Magazine <a target="_blank" href="http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/606/restaurants.asp">reviewed</a> a few years back.<br><i><b><br><span class="text">"The café is almost entirely constructed from recycled materials. Wood and marble from the old Shin-Marunouchi Building were used to build the bar, old whisky barrels and scrap wood were transformed into chairs, and mobile-phones and plastic bags melted down to make the table tops. The space is eclectic, but never jumbled, and pervaded by an indoor garden..."</span><br><br></b></i>I think it's safe to predict that we will see Starbucks experiment with its store designed in the next year or so, perhaps rolling out some radical new pilot designs.<br><br>The brand is going to need to evolve to stay fresh and given that according to Jean-Marie Shields, the number 1 customer request on <b>My Starbucks Idea</b>, is for "Conversations", it would be good to have environment that's more conducive to that. <i><b><br></b></i><br><br><br>Posted by Ed Cotton Influx Insights 2008-07-19T14:09:29Z http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/1667/tokyo--design-week-and-beyond.html One of our designers at BSSP, Vince Montelongo, just got back from Tokyo. He attended Design Week and took shots of other interesting stuff. <br><br>Here are his photos.<br><br><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=50733656@N00&amp;set_id=72157602998259044/show&amp;tags=Cars,Lotus,Exige" align="middle" frameborder="0" height="500" scrolling="no" width="500"></iframe><br><small>Created with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br><br>Posted by Ed Cotton Influx Insights 2007-11-15T17:08:28Z 35.737595151747826 138.548583984375