Getting cool with nitrogen

'Cool', Brands and 'Cool' Brands

The term ‘cool’ is widely used expression in popular culture. This word is prefixed liberally with anything including people, behavior, place and brands. Notwithstanding ambiguity about what it stands there is complete clarity that it certainly adds value. ‘Cool’ in this perspective is precious resource which can be used in brand building. The authors’ exploration into its genesis and meaning r...

J-brand: What image of youth is getting sold in Japan’s “gross national cool”?

The story of J-cool—the global trade and popularity of Japanese youth goods— has been much heralded by the press and government officials in this first decade of the new millennium. Spurred by an article written in 2002 by the American journalist Douglas McGray who coined the term “Japan’s GNC” (gross national cool), the lexicon of “cool,” “Japanese cool,” “J-cool,” or “GNC,” has caught on in r...

To cool or not to cool?

Too Cool at School - Understanding Cool Teenagers

Cool can be thought about on three levels; the having of cool things, the doing of cool stuff and the being of cool. Whilst there is some understanding of cool products, the concept, of being cool is much more elusive to designers and developers of systems. This study examines this space by using a set of pre-prepared teenage personas as probes with a set of teenagers with the aim of better und...

Getting started with tables

BACKGROUND Tables are often overlooked by many readers of papers who tend to focus on the text. Good tables tell much of the story of a paper and give a richer insight into the details of the study participants and the main research findings. Being confident in reading tables and constructing clear tables are important skills for researchers to master. METHOD Common forms of tables were consi...