VistaPrint uses print on demand technology to mass customized business cards, wedding invitations, and other printed ephemera. They are easily one of the largest mass customization businesses with revenues of close to $750MM. They have recently started to dabble in television advertising and the subject of their commercials are the small and medium sized businesses they serve. The commercial embedded below highlights a small company called “YouBar” which will customize a granola bar to your taste from a list of fixed ingredients.
It is a neat milestone in that it is one of the first major mass customization companies to utilize mainstream marketing (the custom M&M’s are the only other example that comes to mind). It is also great to see them focusing on another business that combines the internet and physical production to customize products for end users. Hopefully, the campaign will continue and many more interesting businesses will have a chance to draft of Vistaprint’s pioneering success.
I’ve been writing about 3D Printing since when I first created this blog in late 2008. I wrote about MakerBot when they were first announced and many, many times subsequently. I was impressed by the concept and thought the team was cool, but wasn’t sure about the utility. I had a lot of doubts:
- My company had a $50K 3D printer and compared to that, the output from the MakerBot was pretty weak. Why bother?
- What would I do if it broke? The buzz in maker circles was that the tech support wasn’t great.
- What could I do with such poor resolution?
- Did I have the skills to actually build this thing? What if I spent $1,000 and 40 hours and it didn’t turn on.
But, my arguments started to wear down. The MakerBot guys kept improving. Interesting capabilities were demonstrated by pioneers of this new technology. I saw sample parts at MakerFaires. A freshman in high school told me he built one. I was putting off prototyping simple projects on the machine at work or with Shapeways because the cost was so high. I got tired of typing and wanted to start tinkering.
Then I saw the RC Koopa Shell racers and decided to buy one. This product finally made it clear that at the right scale and with the right the design, the MakerBot could be an amazing tool. I waited until the Thing-O-Matic went on sale after Thanksgiving and and pressed the virtual print button.
I’ve successfully assembled my kit (with a fair amount of frustration), started printing, and will be sharing my builds soon.
The Rice Krispie treat has remained largely unchanged from its origins in the 1920′s to the modern day. Maybe your mom would throw in chocolate chips, but I had never seen as wild a variation as this multi-color version made with Fruit Loops.
It also took the Kellogg company over 7o years to start selling a packaged version of the treat that has been a bake sale staple for its entire existence. This seems like the food equivalent of not putting wheels on luggage for 30 or so years after wide spread commercial aviation.
The DIY culture seems to be changing this. Last year, a woman invented a new kind of cookie by baking an Oreo inside a chocolate chip cookie. Within 2 weeks the recipe had evolved on the internet and many experiments were conducted.
Just like Darwin’s finches adapted to the varied environments of the Galapagos, DIYers are adapting to the “fame” that the internet provides. Adaptation doesn’t lead to survival in this case, but social capital. Inventive chefs now have an audience that might only include their Facebook friends, but still they become the Martha Stewart of their circle. In some cases, a cake a mother makes for her child can end up in the New York Times as was the case with Anya Richardson’sAngry Birds cake.
Fruit flies are the common medium to do experiments in genetics because of their quick reproduction cycles. I think food might be the equivalent in the DIY world because of the low cost of experimentation and easy access to tools. Today we see the DIY influence in cakes, tomorrow cars?
Having gone to art school I’m used to eccentricity. Working alongside amazing scientists and engineers I’m also used to the mix of intelligence and quirkiness. Alex Hornstein is eccentric and seems like a really smart guy, but also possesses a dash of maniacal boldness I’ve never quite seen before. When I first chatted with him he explained how he was hacking a very dangerous medical device – and testing the product on himself. Since then I’ve followed his activities which similarly straddle the line between brilliant and crazy.
For his latest adventure, Alex and his partner Bilal Ghalib are driving around the country in a Prius filled with cheap 3D printers (Hooked up to the car’s power supply).
They are using this blog to launch the Pocket Factory project a business that will design, produce, and sell products made on 3D printers (MakerBot Industries was kind enough to donate two).
They’re documenting successes, failures, and pit stops along the way (and 3D printing in road side diners while they’re at it). Their goal is to help people make a living off of their designs by reducing the friction by reducing the steps required to pressing the “print” button.
If you are at all interested in 3D printing and next generation manufacturing check out their blog. Its content is protean, but also practical, and certainly thought provoking. For instance in a few random posts you will read about:
Using 3D printed parts to cast metal
A tool kit they are developing to easily model model rocket nose cones
Surface model capture of 3D objects with photos
New materials that you can force through a 3D printer
…And a whole lot more. So much writing about 3D printing is about the future possibilities they unlock and how they will transform industries over the coming decades. Alex is actually pushing the boundaries of the industry and trying to hasten the arrival of the future.
Any child of the 80′s will remember this “Idents” from MTV, the creative animations that would pop on between videos to reinforce the burgeoning brand. At the time they were the most avant garde design work most Americans could see on a regular basis. Looking at this collection, one thing that pops out is the pure physicality of these clips. Every one was made with a camera on a stand, taking pictures of clay or by scratching and coloring pieces of celluloid. This was a world before FinalCut and AfterEffects. A time when making a movie literally meant MAKING movement.
The world has advanced and largely for the better. We live in an age where anyone with a MacBook, some video editing software, and talent can create animations and digital videos that garner millions of page views and Hollywood contracts. Still, these movies are a fun time capsule where media was MEDIA and not “0′s and 1′s”.
Maker and educator extraordinaire Chris Connors shared this tweet which was presumably about making vs. buying gifts for Christmas. It is an interesting insight into the psychology of someone who is interested in making stuff, but see’s more barriers than opportunities.
+ Tools – This is a major barrier for many people and few are lucky enough to have a well appointed workshop, but there is always the Singer Problem. If tools were the major problem, why don’t more people sew their own clothes (sewing machines are cheap and wide spread), experiment more with cooking, or create computer graphics master pieces.
+ Supplies – Again, there is a kernel of truth here, and you may not be able to cheaply and readily source exotic hardwoods or performance thermoplastics, but fabric, food, and pixels are all affordable.
+ Time – I think this is the biggest creativity and maker killer. At the most basic level, you can interpret this as the time it takes to actually make one widget, but there are many other facets:
+ Procrastination – It’s easy to put off making forcing you to buy something at the last minute. I think this tendency to put things off has its basis in fear. Fear of:
+ Ideas – Will I think of a clever enough idea?
+ Quality – Will I be able to execute this well? What if I invest a couple hours and my product isn’t impressive enough?
A little bit of fear and trepidations is probably a good thing in the world of DIY, otherwise we’d be flooded with horribly knit sweaters and inedible fruit cakes, but removing fear and maybe giving people “Hand Turkeys” we could help amplify new voices and create new customers.
BattleBots, Food Network Challenge, Iron Chef America, Chopped, Project Runway, Cupcake Wars. These are justsome of the TV shows that combine DIY projects with a competitive format. The conventional wisdom is that competition and artistic expression don’t mix. There isn’t one right solution in art the way there is in math. A landscape painting by [...]
This has been a great week for metal working enthusiasts who also like nightmarish subject matter whether your taste is 13th century Italian poetry, or 21st century zombie pop culture. This amazing suit of armor would fit perfectly into the Walking Dead or other Zombie fare. Via Makezine And this stunning knife does a great [...]
This holiday season there has been a torrent of articles about how bricks and mortar retailers are facing increased competition from ecommerce and mobile apps. Amazon was widely criticized for offering app users a coupon not to buy something at a bricks and mortar store. Slate provided a blue print for how physical retailers could [...]
@JennWebb, a blogger at O’Reilly media has posted a couple interesting posts to the “O’Reilly Radar” the publishers all purpose blog. Both are worth a read, the first covers the tumultuous world of publishing in 2011 and what it portends for 2012. The second is a shorter piece about “$0.99” pricing in the book world. What struck [...]
