Sorry for that cliffhanger of an ending in that last post, where I announced that I would be leaving Philips Design at the end of September. I like to be a little dramatic at times and I thought it would be a nice lead in to the story I’m going to tell you today.

So what, you may ask, am I going to do next?

I have spent most of my life working for people, or more accurately, designing for other people and making said people rich! Well not really…but I did decide that it was a time for a change. It was time to do something different and, more importantly, something for myself. I decided that I would like to be in a position where I would be able to call the shots and for a change, make the ultimate decision. Central to this plan, as you probably guessed by now, is Design Sojourn.

The Design Sojourn blog has actually been in operation for almost 5 years now! Throughout the history of this website, I have shared my ideas and thoughts on design, bounced these ideas (and sparred) with designers from all over the world. I even helped and mentored designers whenever I could. I hope such efforts have contributed to the international design industry as a whole and in return allowed me to build credibility as a designer.

So it is then logical to expand Design Sojourn into other areas beyond just blogging. I plan for Design Sojourn to evolve into a full fletch design consultancy and brand management company. Yup, I’m going to be a full time entrepreneur.

Here are a few more details:

Design Sojourn The Blog

First and foremost Design Sojourn the blog, will continue, but it’s going back to its roots. This blog cut its teeth by helping designers be the best they can be. Design Sojourn was and is all about “How to do good design, and make clever products”. I did, in recent years, moved this blog into Strategic Design. However by helping designers become more strategic, was still really in the same vein of helping designers be the best they can be. Being strategic is the name of the game in today’s design industry.

I have also taken a look at the state of my blog, and I have to say I’m not happy with it. In the recent years, my heavy workloads and family commitments have influenced a drop in the quality of my posts. I had a shocking realization that the posts people come to Design Sojourn for are more than 2 years old. The numbers don’t lie, and so this needs to be fixed.

As I will likely now have an opportunity to become the master of my own domain, (literally) I will be able to better manage my time to write more useful and engaging posts that will make your visit to Design Sojourn worthwhile. Growing Design Sojourn is high on the priority list, with a target of doubling readership in the next six months.

Finally, now that I am on my own, I will not be tied down nor associated with any brand. I’m now a Design Rōnin. A master-less designer roaming the world and kicking ass! Sorry, too many Akira Kurosawa movies.

Of cause I’m not about to take a “dump in my own backyard”, but do expect a more edgy tone, more rants, and of course, constructive criticism. Not being associated to any brand does provide a lot of freedom.

Design Sojourn Consulting

After everything, the unfortunate hash realities of life still exist. We still need to eat and I have a mortgage to pay. This is where things here at Design Sojourn will start to be a little different.

Many companies setup a company then a blog to get them going. I’ve actually flipped this approach on its head by turning my blog into a company, Design Sojourn Pte Ltd. Here is what we do:

Design Sojourn is a strategic design collective that features a multi-disciplinary team of designers, whom are the best in their respective industries.

We see ourselves as guides or translators for clients and partners in their journey in design.

Anchoring our creative process around the tenets of Joy with Functionality and Simple but Edgy, we offer full end-to-end design solutions that range from design languages that fulfill business needs; to commercially viable and resolved designs; to marketing, communications and new media solutions. However we are also small, flexible and nimble enough to take on that “quick kill” design problem. No job too big or too small.

I can promise you that other than getting a “Hire me” banner up, and an update to my About page, I will not be constantly reminding you of my consulting services. However, in the coming weeks, I will share more about Design Sojourn Consulting and what it stands for. Especially its design process which, I think, you might be interested to see?

If you, or someone you know, need my services or want to collaborate with me, please do not hesitate to contact me at brian@designsojourn.com. I won’t bite, and if something does come out of this, I will be in your debt, as this will allow me to continue to blog, not to mention pay my mortgage…

Design Sojourn Brand Management

The other thing that Design Sojourn Pte Ltd is going into is Design Entrepreneurship. As Design Producers, we design, develop, and produce products under our own brand or basket of brands. We also work closely with awesome designers to collaborate on products from design to market. When the time is right you will know who these awesome designers are.

I’m sure by now, you also know about our Spaces for Ideas brand? Well you will be pleased to know that we have spun the brand off Design Sojourn and given it its own dedicated site at www.spacesforideas.com. To celebrate the launch of the site, we have reduced the prices for the Expandable Sketchbook, so if you have not gotten your Sketchbook yet, do head on over and get one now!

We will also be expanding the Spaces for Ideas product range to include more sketchbook solutions. On a side note, SpacesforIdeas.com will focus more on sales transactions and product information. My sharing of development efforts, as well as the design activities will still be here on Design Sojourn. I’m guessing that you don’t want to be bothered with all this blogging noise when you make your purchases or vice versa?

On Design Sojourn, you can expect some announcements as well as the banners you see now. I’ve dumped the ugly Google ads, and will continue to streamline the site’s design so these ads do not overpower your reading. However, they will be a necessary evil, as Design Sojourn is the main marketing engine for my Spaces for Ideas products. Please do let me know, if you have any feedback on this matter?

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There are a few other things in the works, but they are currently too premature to talk about it now. I’ll let you know as soon as they are ready to fly! All I can say is that they will be quite awesome.

What do you think? Am I out of my mind? Many of you have been part of my own design sojourn right from the start as friends and loyal supporters. It has been a great honor journeying with you and I do hope to get your continued support of this website and in all my future endeavors. Thank you.

Friends, the time has finally come! After spending a number of weeks finalizing the Spaces for Ideas Sketchbook, I can now confidently be in a position to take pre-orders!

Let’s sum up the Spaces for Ideas Sketchbook in my usual favorite way, as a nice succinct marketing tagline?

The Spaces for Ideas Sketchbook: Designed for people not afraid of big ideas!

Specifically, the key points are:

Who should buy it:
1) Creative people not afraid of producing and managing big ideas!
2) Team players looking for a platform for brainstorming with other people.
3) Ardent sketchers tired of pages that seem to run out of space.
4) Mobile nomads seeking affordable and portable sketchbook solutions.
5) Organized people looking for simple solutions for design documentation.

Who is this not for:
1) Creatives who have to sketch on small tables like those found in airplanes. Still a possible solution, as you can sketch on the folded A6 pages.
2) People who are allergic to creases.
3) Designers who have phobias of large empty pages.
4) People who can’t give up their boring standard sketchbooks for a paradigm-changing product!

One of the most challenging parts of this project was having to work out the costing and pricing strategies. I wanted to keep the prices as affordable as possible. However as my initial manufacturing quantities are not high (I’m funding this 100% out of pocket!) these prices are the best I can do at this time. Hopefully in future I can substantially increase the sales volumes and bring the prices down even more!

That being said, I would like to offer you each sketchbook at USD $15. As I much prefer to move volumes, I would encourage you to purchase a set of 5 sketchbooks at USD $60 instead. 5 Sketchbooks at $12 each is a 20% discount I’m giving you as a thank you for not having me queue at the post office for too long!

However to celebrate this momentous occasion and also get this show off to a flying start, I’m going to offer an additional 15% pre-order only discount! This means each sketchbook now costs $12.75 and $51 for 5! This special pre-order discount will last until Sunday 11 April 2010, 11.59pm, when we will have the official launch and all the pre-orders shipped!

The Pre-Order discount is over as this product has launched! Get your sketchbook at the Spaces for Ideas Store now!

Just in case you don’t happen to know what all this fuss is about, check out the background story on how I came up with this design and got it realized:

4) Spaces for Ideas: The Final Prototype

iPhone and 15cm Ruler for sizing!

If you have not already, do check out the earlier posts first as they will give you a greater insight on how this design came to be.

3) Spaces for Ideas: The Brand

So here it is, the final prototype for my Spaces for Ideas expandable sketchbook. Actually this prototype has been in my care for the last 2-3 weeks, however I had delayed releasing it to all of you as I wanted to finalize the brand and get the design protection registration going. As both are finally in place, I like to now introduce this sketchbook to all of you!

I would say this prototype is about 95% there. The only difference between this prototype and the final product are two things. Firstly the spine will be in the same material as the pages and secondly the Spaces for Ideas logo will be quietly debossed on to the front cover. The rest of it, i.e. the size and how it unfolds is accurately depicted in the images after the jump.

Edit: I’ve decided against the white spine as it looks unfinished, and debossing does not work with the logo. The logo needs to be silk-screened.

I plan to produce two versions. One is an A6 sized book (on the top) that expands into an A3 page. The other is an A5 sized book that expands into a good-sized A2 page. I will eventually produce both versions, but due to budget constraints I can only start with one. That’s where I need your help; I need to know which size resonates with you the most?

Let’s take a look in detail with the A6 version that expands into an A3 page. The A6 version sits nice and tight in my hand. Both A6 and A5 versions has 5 pages folded into a form fitting package.

I did not like the inside texture of the cover, so I’ve asked the supplier to line the inside in the same material as the page. Due to the construction, the inside lining extends and becomes part of the spine’s material as well.

There you go, expanded into its full A3 glory!

As you can see from the first page, the hump that was a problem in the previous prototype is now resolved, by reducing the total number of folded pages from 20 to 5. This also allows me to product a cheaper solution that you can buy in bulk. This creates a situation where you can dedicate each expandable sketchbook to a project.

The 2nd page expanded and unfolded, between the 1st and 3rd folded pages.

As you can see the A5 version is a little bigger, but it is still a tight 5 page (folded) package.

Here it is unfolded into its full A2 glory. This is great for creative people looking to do large mind maps, brainstorming in groups, and generally not afraid of big ideas!

So lets look at how the both sizes compare? The A5 to A2 version sits above the A6 to A3 version. I’ve brought back my iPhone and 15 cm ruler to give this comparison exercise a sense of scale.

Just in case you are interested, each sketchbook will be shipped in a sturdy and bubble padded envelope.

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Right, so what do you guys think? Which one will you likely go for? I await your feedback and comments with baited breath!

The next step after this is I will finalize the production volume, costing numbers and hopefully start taking pre-orders! I hope you are as excited as I am to bring this “baby” into the world.

This product has launched! Get your sketchbook at the Spaces for Ideas Store now!

If you have not already, do check out the earlier posts first as they will give you a greater insight on how this design came to be.

2) Spaces for Ideas: The First Prototype

It is time for a long overdue update on my Spaces for Ideas Project. This time I like to share with you the brand that I am building for this product. I have always been a strong supporter of branding and this time around it is no different. Understanding the value of branding, motivated me to create a log that could communicate instantly what Spaces for Ideas was all about.

I started out speaking to a few graphic designers and branding houses, but due to cost issues and not having full clarity what I wanted, I decided to put the money into my product and carved out some time to really thinking about this brand. If I did not know what I wanted, budget was likely going to be wasted. However as I got deeper into it, I realized I was enjoying the process, and decided to take it all the way to the end.

So without further adieu please have a look at my brand development process after the jump. (Warning picture heavy, but image size managed). Oh by the way, I’m no typographer, so I would love to hear your feedback and ways I can improve the final design.

I started out with an objective of creating both a brand name and a brand icon. I saw naming and logo creation, as a combined activity as there was a chance that the name itself could become a logo. As with all of my design development activities, I often approach it from a commercial angle by establishing a marketing tagline or elevator pitch as part of my design brief. This gives me a good idea of what this logo or product has to stand for. (Top right)

I also like to anchor some basic descriptor keywords in my brief to further flesh out the design direction for the brand. I wanted Spaces for Ideas to be simple, clean, minimal (reflecting the product’s industrial design) and not look like the typical web 2.0 “chicklet”. I also wanted it to have, what I like to call, the “Fedex Arrow Effect”. This logo had to represent what the product stood for in a clever and but almost cheeky way. Before I forget, I also had to consider my functional constraints. This logo also has to be able to be de-bossed as well as fit the usual range marketing collaterals like name cards, with compliments slips etc.

After settling with “Spaces for Ideas” as a brand name I started to look at how the logo icon can succinctly represent that brand name. As you can see, some of my initial ideas stylizing how the sketchbook worked.

I took the most obvious route with this logo design. I needed to somehow represent a “space” with an icon. Easier said than done. A space is essentially that, a void filled with air. Taking up the challenge, I explored some ideas, where I cut up some font lines and used a human’s ability of “closure” to fill in the blanks. I soon settled on a concept that uses the interplay between positive and negative space.

I quickly mocked up the concept in Illustrator to see how it would look like in a controlled manner. I did like the paint lines very much, but this is not a design that is going to work de-bossed.

I realize, after playing around in Illustrator for a bit, I was stuck at a dead end. Also illustrator was not a program for me to design easily in, so back to the drawing board or sketchbook for that matter.

I continued to explore the meaning of “Space” with known representations like mountains and hills. Unfortunately all the concepts still lack the impact I desired.

Hey an empty box is a “space” to put stuff in right? I seriously considered using perspective lines to mark out a “space” before an object is drawn into it.

More box inspired concepts, this time with the words to represent lines. Ugly.

Even more boxes. I’m really struggling here!

I even experimented to cutting words horizontally in half. People only read the top half of the words anyway. Still this concept did not give me that Fedex effect I wanted.

I need to break out of this box thing. So I started to brainstorm other representations. A good one that I liked was how empty space was created between a bookshelf. (Bottom left) So Space is created between things. However, if I articulated a bookshelf as my logo would be just amateur work as it has little relation to my product. However liking the bookshelf concept very much, I parked the idea in the back of my mind and continued to explore.

As you can see, I’m still struggling to break away from boxes. I thought these box hole concepts might do the trick, but a box icon was a pretty common thing to find in logos. (I did some online research on the number of logos that had a box in it, and it was a lot!) Overall it’s still not good enough.

I finally realize that it might be near impossible to create a logo icon to represent “space”. So I went back to the tried and proven: Typography logos. That is when it hit me; the Bookshelf concept combined with typography produced a word with each letters representing a book.

I knew I finally got it. As with most solutions in design, you just know when you got it.

I wrapped up the concept phase by creating a definitive sketch of the design. This is something I also always do, as it catalogues one clear sketch to represent the concept or idea. Always as a precaution, it is also always a good idea to list the keywords from your design brief to make sure that the final logo matches your design objectives.

Time to select some fonts with the help of my keywords in my design brief. Also, I like to quickly thank a number of you who recommended font sites to visit on my Twitter stream.

I continued the refinement by picking a font and explored some placements. Slotting text in between other text has potential readability issues. So I really need to make sure I refine this direction well.

I selected the best potential arrangements and applied them 3 fonts that I short-listed.

So late one night, at 2.55am, I jumped out of bed with a solution to what I think is the best arrangement. This final layout (above) naturally aligns to how people read. “Spaces” is read left to right, and then “for ideas” read from top to bottom. If you notice, I went with a much cleaner font, even though I like to the first one I used that had “spaces” on each character. I felt that made the font look too busy and complicated.

All in all, I really enjoyed this brand creation process, and I hope you did to. I find it interesting, how much I could apply some of my Industrial Design methodologies, such as looking for insights to the natural behavior and expectations of people, to this logo exercise. I think understanding your process and the application of methodologies are key to success of any design, not just a logo design. Finally, as mentioned in the beginning of this post, look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

Edit 2: Check out the final installment of this project, Spaces for Ideas: The Final Prototype.

This product has launched! Get your sketchbook at the Spaces for Ideas Store now!

If you have not already, do check out the earlier posts first as they will give you a greater insight on how this design came to be.

1) Spaces for Ideas: The Beginning

Here we are finally, pictures of my first prototype for the Spaces for Ideas sketchbook! But before I get ahead of myself, let me pick up from where I left of in the last post Spaces for Ideas: The Beginning.

If I know you clever reader, you would have realized 2 things about the first post. First, the post was fairly generic and second I did not really set out a concept direction I wanted to go for at the end of the post. The reason was because I wanted to build up a background story around my thought process.

So as a recap here are some of the key elements I think the ideal sketchbook should have.

1. A sketchbook that highlights the work and not itself
2. Well constructed and affordable
3. No spines getting in the way of cross page sketching
4. Just the right size but with enough space or room to play with
5. “Boundary-less” pages
6. Flexible enough to do what you will
7. Decent quality paper that takes all non-wet mediums like ink, pencil or markers.
8. Appeals to everyone, not just designers

Unfortunately, I’ve learnt very early in my career that if you threw everything you wanted into a product you just end up with a mess. Thus my quiet objective in our discussion in the first post was to really prioritize which elements were important and in what combinations should they be built in.

I decided that the first of my 7 sketchbook solutions (yes 7!) would focus on creating a sketchbook around point 4-6. After a lot of thinking, sketching, and working in an iterative manner, the “expandable” sketchbook concept was born. What really amazed me about my process was this concept eventually inspired the name for the entire brand collection: Spaces for Ideas.

So now, lets take a look at my first prototype, which was incidentally an EPIC FAIL! Heh-heh. Hmm maybe I should have built a better quick mockup? Make many mistakes, but make them early!

This A6 sized book is ah…way too thick. It contains 20 pages of good quality 100gsm bright white, lightly textured paper that is quite nice to write on. Furthermore the book’s A6 size in proportion to the thickness makes it feel more like a pocket dictionary or bible. Grab your nearest one and you will know what I mean. It is a beast!

Here is the trick of this concept; the A6 sketchbook unfolds out into a generous A3 page. The sketchbook’s binding solution was a bitch to work out, as the folded A3 sheet becomes a thick wad that is about 6-7 times thicker than a single sheet. So the 20 folded pages inflates itself into something like a 120 page sketchbook. While my Binder is not much of an origami expert (the page unfolded upside down), he managed to figure out how to stuff those thick wads of paper into a book!

Here is where the biggest problem lies. The 20 sheets of folded A3 paper creates a large “hump” under the first unfolded sheet. This really spoils the drawing/writing experience.

Well that’s all from me for this update on Spaces for Ideas. I think you can easily see from this prototype that there are a lot of obvious problems that needs to be solved. Therefore almost immediately after studying it, I went ahead to brief the Binder on what to refine. Luckily, they will happy to make me another prototype.

Just as a teaser, I actually have the final prototype right here in front of me and it is looking great. There is still a lot to do, so please bear with me? I will share the next update after I work out a few more issues like branding and logistics. As usual I look forward to your comments and please do keep in touch?

Edit 2: Check out the next installment of this project, Spaces for Ideas: The Brand.

Edit 3: Check out the final installment of this project, Spaces for Ideas: The Final Prototype.

This product has launched! Get your sketchbook at the Spaces for Ideas Store now!