Matias Impivaara's Profile

The design award of the week goes to all designers and engineers who work on details that are rarely seen by the end user but give the product that last little touch of premium. Continue reading

Posted Dec 5, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Light marketing

It is getting colder here now, but it is not the cold that kills you, it is the darkness. Umeå energi gets this week's design award for fighting the dark side. Continue reading

Posted Nov 30, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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About customer loyalty and keeping your marketing promises

Had a less than perfect air travel experience last week, but I know we will be taking the same airline next time again. Continue reading

Posted Oct 17, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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The Internet makes me appreciate creative work

Lately, I have considered recognition of creativity in the Internet age. A common claim is that the Internet generation no longer understands the value of professional creative work. What I have been thinking about is the exact opposite. Continue reading

Posted Oct 4, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Building blocks of innovation

For the past few weeks, our home has been a construction site again. This time we have been using agile development methods. The design award of the week goes to Lego for providing the building blocks. Continue reading

Posted Sep 28, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Ordinary and happy

I have been reading quite a lot of books lately. What strikes me is that in most them people are unhappy. I find it depressing. We need more stories about happy ordinary people. One does not have to be terminally ill to appreciate the simple things in life. Continue reading

Posted Sep 18, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Blogger's block

It has been a while since the last time I published something on my blog. I started wondering why I have ended up postponing it. Is there a block that every blog artist reaches after 46 entries? Continue reading

Posted Sep 14, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Holidaze!

To get everybody to the right holiday spirit, I want to share a hilarious product detail: Holiday jackets now have pockets with metal shielding so that you have a place where your mobile phone certainly has no coverage. Enjoy your summer! Continue reading

Posted Jun 30, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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3G makes my holidays better

You know that summer is here when all newspapers seem to warn about mobile technology that does not allow proper holidays. Oh, puh-leeze! This kind of thinking should have died with the dinosaurs. We finally got 3G at the summer cottage and it is just wonderful. Continue reading

Posted Jun 27, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Smoke gets in your head

Smokehead have done vodka marketing on whisky. It works, because in the bottle you find the authentic stuff. Smokehead gets the design award of the week for provoking a good discussion. Continue reading

Posted Jun 15, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Best of both worlds

I finally got to reading The Lean Startup. A topic I find especially captivating is how the book's principles could be applied in large organizations. Internal venturing is the most intriguing business paradox I know. Continue reading

Posted Jun 11, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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External Concentration Problem Syndrome

Erratic work patterns are trying to take over, and they have a clever viral way of doing that. When did the workplace become the place we don't go to when we want to work? Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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I have seen the future

I have seen the future of design. And the nice part of it all was that I didn’t have to abuse a crystal ball or any other substance to see it. All it took was a couple of days at Umeå Institute of Design. Continue reading

Posted Jun 7, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Creative breaks

It has been a quiet couple of weeks in my blog. The paradox is that they have been busy weeks and there would have been plenty of things to write about. To me, this proves a point: if you want a person to do any kind of creative work, give the person a break. More would get done. Continue reading

Posted May 16, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Long-term plans to watch

Start-up coaches are promoting lean business, fast iterations and quick mistakes, but many venture capitalists still want long-term business plans. To demonstrate the difficulties of predicting consumer behavior, here is the story of my plans for TV watching at home during the past three years. Continue reading

Posted Apr 18, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Who cares about apps?

There are “only” 70 000 or so applications available for the Windows Phone platform, when iPhone and Android users could choose from about half a million. Does it really matter? Continue reading

Posted Apr 13, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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An appliance? Sounds good!

I have a wireless multi-room sound system at home. It is several years old now and it is still great. It does not support photo sharing, you can’t view videos with it. It doesn’t have an alarm clock or a Facebook widget. It just plays music. Works like a dream. Continue reading

Posted Apr 12, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Crossing cultures

I am back in Sweden after a few weeks in France and I have a minor cultural shock. The weather was colder, but that is not what provoked the shock. It wasn’t the short lunch breaks either. Continue reading

Posted Apr 5, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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You can't sell innovation

Innovation is often presented as a solution to the growth problems of western economies. I have been following a couple of start-ups lately and I have an impression it is not innovation we are missing. I call for more support systems that can link start-up companies with outside help. Anyone? Continue reading

Posted Mar 30, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Drugs on the corner

The public drug expenditure per capita is very high in France. This has generated an interesting side business of pharmacy crosses. This weeks design award goes to pharmacy cross animators for reminding us that there are potential niche business areas waiting around every corner. Continue reading

Posted Mar 26, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Lawyers and other people with negative jobs

Business lawyers are hired to control risk. That slows things down and makes business difficult, but we can’t give them a bonus for closing quick deals. We need something else. The answer is strong business ownership. Continue reading

Posted Mar 23, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Urban dating

An interesting feature of Paris is the way they stamp the date on the asphalt whenever they fix a whole in the ground. I assume that this is useful from the infrastructure management point of view, but it also lays the ground for a fascinating inner-city pastime. Continue reading

Posted Mar 21, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Changing lanes

Looking out from the office window at the traffic honking in gridlock down on the street made me think how traffic behavior would work as a business analogy. If you are from a small town with a slow driving culture, make sure you don’t do business like people around you drive. Continue reading

Posted Mar 15, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Fold a seat, please!

I have often wondered why all durable and affordable (read: plastic) folding chairs for outdoor use need to be ugly. Luckily, it seems I don’t need to worry. Some people still care. Continue reading

Posted Mar 14, 2012 at Yes, hello, everything!

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Palautteenne on rekisteröity. Pitäiskö siis lopettaa kaikki vakava bisnespohdinta ja keskittyä kielivitseihin ja valokuviin?

Commented Mar 13, 2012 on A post about posts at Yes, hello, everything!