people

IMAGES AND PORTRAIT COURTESY OF ELEPHANT DESIGN

CROWD
SOURCE
KOHEI

INTERVIEW BY EDWIN TAM

NISHIYAMA Honey sitter

The crowd’s wisdom pervades the Internet.

How would you describe yourself? Tell us more about these communities of interests.
Take for example, Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia, which con- I am a problem-solver. If there is an unsatisfying situation, I will use innovation These are virtual communities where people get together and help solve each
and creativity to solve it. other’s problems. Instead of waiting around, the community would simply cus-
tains the collective knowledge of Internet denizens. Each entry is
tomise a solution for that problem. It was the digital equivalent of the “Made
created by hobbyists and authoritative experts; in short, anyone.
Could we get an example? to Order” process! So I left McKinsey and started Elephant Design; that was
Its use and accuracy is regulated and monitored by other users.
CUUSOO.com is an example! The website, created in 1997, is entirely commu- when CUUSOO was born.
The implications are quite staggering. It is an example where a
nity-driven and connects users to manufacturers. The idea behind the website
definite authority is unnecessary and that ordinary folk might just is to digitise the “Made to Order” process. So CUUSOO is like a marketplace?
turn out to be as good as the “experts”. You can think of it as a temple without religion. Essentially, you make a wish and
How did CUUSOO come about? people will join you if they have similar wishes. A solution might be designed
Kohei Nishiyama, founder of Elephant Design, has been running There is a bit of a story behind it. by a community member to suit the wishes. It is then auctioned to interested
a website with a similar philosophy to Wikipedia. His website, manufacturers. When the pool of willing buyers reaches a manufacturer’s
CUUSOO, has an astonishing user base of 23,000 consumers, I used to work in a studio creating bags for customers. It was a traditional break-even point, they will make and ship the product to the community.
2,000 designers and 500 manufacturers. But what is more amaz- and old-style way of “Made to Order”: customers gave us their requirements,
ing is that CUUSOO democratises the design process by letting paid, left, and returned later for their customised bags. It was great for small What do users and manufacturers gain from using CUUSOO?
users post their wishes and drawing upon their wisdom to create studios. The orders and money were already there to pay for materials and On the user’s side, they get a customised product that meets their wishes.
unusual design solutions. effort. However, it became a nightmare as the business grew. For manufacturers, it reduces their risk as they will only make and ship the
products once they have sold enough.
Prior to founding Elephant Design, Nishiyama was a consultant A nightmare?
at McKinsey & Company where he primarily handled new product The greater the number of customers, the longer it took for them to get their The website’s many products – doughnut-shaped washing machine; compact
development projects. He had graduated with a BA from the bags! It was because each design took us seven to eight hours to create. Even IH; transparent memo pad – look well-designed. Where do designers come in?
University of Tokyo and majored in product design at the Kuwasawa with 16-hour workdays, one designer could only service two customers in a There are two ways where they come in.
Design Institute. His achievements have been rewarded with the day. It certainly limited business revenues.
Kuwasawa Design Award (2001) and Good Design Award. He is One: All designers are users. As they are trained in design and visualisation, it
And so you created CUUSOO? allows them to create solutions based on their wishes. Thus, we see from them
also a member of the Innovators Network, Japan Society; Young
Global Leaders, World Economic Forum and he is a judge (New These are virtual Not yet. I did not have a solution back then. Two things had to take place first. a solution attached to a problem. They are usually looking for manufacturers
communities where people and other people to create that critical mass.
Frontier Category) on the Japanese government’s Good Design get together and help solve One: I had to grow myself. Think of it like a role-playing game. You start off with
Award committee. each other’s problems.
Instead of waiting around, a weak character. You go out and get points to build the character so that he Two: Non-designers submit a wish. This wish might attract other designers

iSh speaks with Nishiyama and finds out more about the man and the community would simply can overcome enemies. My enemy was “How to increase my business revenue”. who have the same wish or find it interesting. They then create mock-ups
customise a solution for However, I did not have the skill sets, connections or abilities yet. So I went to based on the wish.
his virtual vision. that problem. university, got a degree and, on graduation, joined McKinsey Company.
It really is a complimentary process where the community helps a designer
Two: Technology had to catch up. During the mid-1990s, there was no com- to attain a critical mass for their designs, and designers help the community
mon Internet standard. There was only email and a few simple websites. We visualise their wishes.
simply could not do anything with available technology back then. While at
McKinsey, I worked on multi-media issues of technology and communications.
That was when I discovered an interesting social-technological phenomenon
– communities of interests.

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 Coloron
Cartier MP3 player
Prada wine cooler

Nanamemo

IH heater
Why put up and distribute a toolkit?
From my years of work, I have crystallised the aforementioned points into a pro-
CUUSOO and Threadless (an online T-shirt design company) seem quite similar. cedure. More importantly, I want to share my know-how with the community.
Both are community-driven, solicit designs from the community, and produce Gucci colour TV
designs voted as popular. What is the difference between the two websites? I must emphasise that the toolkit is not final. There will be revisions and up-
Unlike Threadless, we do not produce the designs. Instead, manufacturers dates to the toolkit. And often, it is users who contribute to them. For example,
produce the designs. We simply connect the community and the manufactur- it was users who thought about making a video and putting them on YouTube.
ers. For example, we have a tie-up called “CUUSOO-MUJI”. What happens is We saw its value and included it into the toolkit.
that MUJI makes available their 7,000 MUJI products to our users. Our users
can customise them as they wish. Users then market the new designs on our CUUSOO sounds very democratic. It is a complete reversal of the rote-teaching
website. Once MUJI receives 1,000 orders, they will produce the customisation, that goes on in schools…
ship it to users and add it to their existing product line. Through it all, we run Ha ha. It is interesting that you mentioned schools.
the system that connects users and MUJI.
There are seven universities that use CUUSOO to teach marketing. The
Not every CUUSOO user is a designer. Based on this, how do you help your students gain credit when they post wishes; get votes for their wishes and
users get started? designs; and when their wishes or designs are “product-ised”. It all started
We educate the user. The website has a toolkit that is free for use. If users when students told their teachers that they were bored in class. The teacher
create products using the toolkit, we ask that they spilt royalties with us. Prospecta light looked for something fun. That’s how they came upon CUUSOO.
The toolkit has 55 steps. It begins with “What do we need?” and ends with
“Receiving Royalties”. It covers three main areas: observe; find a solution; It allowed students to practice their theory and learn why marketing is
and grow your community. important. It is also good for us – we get students who remain as active
users and contribute to the community. While the course did not produce
Could you tell us briefly about the three areas? a product, there was another student who customised a MUJI product and
To observe is to identify the issue. We encourage users to write down what received royalty for it.
bugs them and take photographs. The photographs allow them to step back
and objectively observe it from a third person’s perspective. It is amazing how How does CUUSOO get revenue?
it helps people identify the issue! Apart from splitting royalties with designers with “product-ised” designs, we
get manufacturer sponsorships. For example, MUJI sponsors the “CUUSOO-
Find a solution. It could be as simple as changing your behaviours. However, MUJI” project because they do not have the resources to manage a community.
for problems that cannot be solved through behavioural change, then it might In return, we settle disputes within the community, nurture it, solve problems
be better to make a solution. That is where we come in. and update the toolkit. Also, we spilt royalties with manufacturers who
produce designs garnered through the website. The revenue is used to sustain
Grow your community. Why? An individual is weaker than a group. We wish-realising activities and to automate the process.
encourage users to make nice photos, self-explanatory notes, videos; and
link them to social networks such as YouTube or Facebook. This allows them What have you got lined up in the future?
to draw upon their community’s expertise and gather feedback to make a Hmmm... For one, I want our service to be available in English so more people
better product. can get involved! You will see the new version up and running soon.

Workaholic chair For more information on Kohei Nishiyama’s work, visit www.cuusoo.com or
www.elephant-design.com.
Portable lamp

100 © 2007 Page One Publishing Private Limited | Permission is granted for this article to be reproduced in its original form solely for non-commercial use. No part of this article may be reproduced or 101
distributed for commercial intents or purposes without written permission from the publisher.