{"id":900,"date":"2006-06-02T08:45:30","date_gmt":"2006-06-02T15:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2006\/06\/to_be_cool_or_not_to_be\/"},"modified":"2006-06-02T08:45:30","modified_gmt":"2006-06-02T15:45:30","slug":"to_be_cool_or_not_to_be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/to_be_cool_or_not_to_be.php","title":{"rendered":"To be cool, or not to be"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marketing maven Grant MacDonald offers a <a href=\"http:\/\/hubmagazine.com\/?p=104\">top-ten list of &#8221;basic instincts&#8221; among teens<\/a>, targeted by his firm when trying to make a product or service &#8221;cool&#8221; to the youngens. If your work involves making <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iquint.co.uk\/\">sackbut ensembles<\/a> hip and trendy, this list is worth a look (heaven knows you&#8217;ll need the help). In a nutshell the ten basic instincts are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Personal Expression:<\/b> Teens want to be known for having their own styles and identities.\n<li><b>Social Connection:<\/b> Teens want to be accepted and validated by their peers for who they are.\n<li><b>Accomplishment:<\/b> Every teen wants to be recognized (by peers and parents) as being really good at something.\n<li><b>Belonging:<\/b> Every generation has its big identifying issues or generational consciousness. For this generation, it is technological smarts\/leadership, diversity and tolerance.\n<li><b>Freedom:<\/b> Teens are constantly under the thumb of rules, regulations, authority, parents, expectations and pressure. Think how powerful your brand could be if it offered release and escape to teens.\n<li><b>Rebellion:<\/b> Teens define their identities by destroying the rules, taboos, institutions and sometimes smashing the mailboxes that came before them.\n<li><b>Tribalism:<\/b> Rites of passage are so important in making a statement that one has arrived on the scene.\n<li><b>Risk Taking:<\/b> It is amazing that some of us survive our teens. We were invincible, bulletproof and immortal. We defined ourselves by pushing the envelope and testing the limits.\n<li><b>Cynicism:<\/b> Teens define themselves by questioning institutional rules and authority. They want their own set of guidelines, not the ones of previous generations.\n<li><b>Sexuality:<\/b> This is about more than sex. It is about allure, control, attraction and influence as a validation for who you are.\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yet, according to design maven Bruce Mau in his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brucemaudesign.com\/manifesto.html\">Incomplete Manifesto<\/a> (thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neillarcherroan.com\/blog\/main\/dont_be_cool_1.php\">Neill<\/a> for the link), the effort to be &#8221;cool&#8221; is both limiting and sad, says he:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><br \/>\n<b>Don&#8217;t be cool.<\/b> Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.<br \/>\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marketing maven Grant MacDonald offers a top-ten list of &#8221;basic instincts&#8221; among teens, targeted by his firm when trying to make a product or service &#8221;cool&#8221; to the youngens. If your work involves making sackbut ensembles hip and trendy, this list is worth a look (heaven knows you&#8217;ll need the help). In a nutshell the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}