Hacking everything: A different type of problem solving
Hackers are a different type of problem solver; they take short cuts, and approach problems from different angles to get to their goal. +rehabstudio are Creative Hackers.
Hackers Focus On The Solution. It’s important to focus on what you’re trying to achieve rather than what you want to make.
Hackers Access The Network. They break down the ecosystem around problems- working out which elements they can use to help break through to the solution.
Hackers Experiment and Build. They see the value of building up a code depository and idea base they can use at any time.
Hackers Prove and Test. Hackers don’t wait to prove that something works- they do it the whole way through. Testing and validating ideas is very important in this process. Who wouldn’t rather find out they have a bad idea on day 1 rather than on day 200.
Hackers are Open and Transparent. Sharing ideas, code, information so others can build upon our work.
After an unsatisfactory year last year we wanted to create better, faster more effective work. We wanted to apply technology into the creative process. Through a process called Triage, +rehabstudio became a group of Creative Hackers. These are the principles we built into.
Creativity lives within constraints. We approach the work in a sprint of a one-week timeframe. Each day our creatives are forced to work around a specific insight or a piece of technology coming up with lo-fi ideas that can range from a piece of comedy to a piece of code.
Quantity over quality. Our creatives are encouraged to get as many low-fi ideas down on paper as possible. We focus on getting a broad range of concepts together and then killing them off at the testing stage.
Done is better than perfect; perfect it once its done. We want to test every idea we have; ideas don’t need to be finished to be tested. We only cull an idea if at the testing stage it’s found to not work. If it doesn’t though, that’s when we begin to polish.
“Shops need to stop thinking “location, location, location” and start thinking “experience, experience, experience”.”- Tom Le Bree, Strategy Partner
Prototypes not presentations. In digital it’s very difficult to explain ideas through traditional means of a comp or a storyboard. Often it’s important to experience the user journey to understand the emotion in the idea. So by creating prototypes, which can be anything from a video to clickable code, we’re able to build experiences quickly that people can test.
We sell to customers, not to clients. Through Google hangouts, we take prototypes and see how people who aren’t connected with the brand, feel about the product. We then take their feedback and put it back into the work, polishing the product each time.
Open for all to see. Our approach is to not do presentations. All of our work is on a shared Google Doc for all to see (including our stakeholders) so no time is wasted trying to sell the idea to the client.
