We Make Money Not Art must be one of the most popular blogs on the web. Written by Régine Debatty, its anarchic mix of products, gizmos, new-age-cool-stuff and seems to be read and loved by everyone from Birmingham culture-jammers to New York ad execs. We thought we’d ask Regine a few questions about the success of her site.
Q. So, tell me about your site.
Ouch! describing my website! We-make-money-not-art is a blog about media artists (mis)using technologies. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to be but it’s getting more and more personal and the stories posted depend on my interests of the moment (biotechnologies, vintage cars, etc.)
Q. OK, so what do you do?
I left my job a few months ago in order to be able to blog more. But as I want to eat and travel around, I’m also writing for other publications about digital art, interaction design and technology for women. I’m also working as a consultant, trying to convince tech companies to keep their eyes open on what media artists are doing.
Q. How does the consultancy and blogging overlap?
Perfectly. I’d say that my blogging feeds my other activities and vice-versa. The blog is a wonderful business card. People I thought I was doomed to admire from afar contact me to say hello or to propose me some collaboration.
Q. How do you decide what gets published on your site?
There’s a very subjective element: I have to like the project or product I write about. It should also be something I haven’t seen or read about before. It has to be creative, make me smile or make me think.
Q. Your site features lots of new ideas. What do you see as the main trends in product / design development?
User are taking a more and more active part in the process. There’s the customisation trend of course. We all love it, it makes us feel that we really “own” a product.
Also a certain attention is given now to very specific market segments, such as the very young, the very old, ethnic minorities and other special-interest groups (even, euh… pets.)
Technology doesn’t frighten as much as it used to and is coming closer to us. Even physically. Think about a famous product such as the jacket with ipod controls, or the less mainstream Hug Shirt which is embedded with sensors and electronics that allow to feel the physical closeness of a distant loved one.
This also means that a discipline like interaction design is on the rise.
Q. What do you think your site offers that a traditional trend reporting consultancy may not offer offer.
I think the strengh of my blog is the content, it deals with a topic that is –so far– quite neglected by mainstream media: what artists, hackers or just amateurs are doing with technology. In particular, what they are not supposed to do with technology. The projects I write about may sound weird. Well… many of them are quite weird but if you go beyond your first movement of surprise, you’ll see that their ideas are in tune with the preoccupations of society. Sometimes, you can even stumble on a work that says more about today’s society than a study written by a team of sociologs.
So I hope my blog gives a fresh perspective on technology and can encourage companies to keep an eye on what these artists are working on.
Q. How do you see brands and corporations reaction to the idea of ‘Sustainability’?
I’ll be cynical and say that a number of brands that promote sustainability often do it for marketing reasons.
What interests me more than brands selling new “sustainable” products, is the development of tools that allow people like you and me and my mum to check whether the product they want to buy is sustainable, eco-friendly, ethically correct, etc. Two examples that come to my mind now are the Corporate Fallout Detector (a device that scans barcodes of goods, and makes a clicking noise based on the environmental or ethical record) and Visible Food (an online database that allows you to search vital information on the ‘invisibles’ that come with the product and which impact health, labor and global trade, society and the natural environment)
Q. If I worked in product development, what top tips would you give me to help me find inspiration in my day to day job?
Go where you’re not expected to go. Let me just give you an example: if you had been to the Salone del Mobile in Milan this year, you might have yawned a lot at the main exhibitions because the “must see” events had been previously announced, commented and were heavily published all over the design magazines afterwards. On the other hand, you would have discovered many stimulating talents by visiting the “fuori salone” exhibitions: young graduates from Dutch art school, crazy Belgian or Italian designers, etc.
Then get out of the strictly design sphere once in a while: take a look at what people like hackers and media artists are doing. These guys have the pulse on today’s society aspirations and concerns as well.
Thanks
Other IF Interviews Of Interest
Interview With David Gensler Of The KDU
Interview With Niku Banaie, Director Of Innovation At Naked (Part I)
Interview With Anastasia Goodstein Of Ypulse
Interview With Björn Jeffery Of Manolo.se
Interview With Josh Rubin, Mr. Cool Hunter
Interview With Eddi Yip Of Adfunture
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