Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

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Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch? ~ D.T.

c8- h10- n4- o2 by Gilad Davidi

Beautiful work by the students from The Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Ramat Gan. They were tasked by their lecturers to re-invent the Coffee (and Espresso) or Tea Cup by “deep diving” into our coffee culture and understanding the coffee drinking rituals involved.

Espresso and Cappuccino cups by Lee Casper

Overall fantastic work, and a great showcase of how Designers can gain critical insight for product creation through ethnographic studies. Just where is this school? I would love to visit it!

Check out the rest of the refreshing concepts at Design Boom.

I slipped early into a meeting right before it was about to start with a cup of hot tea in my hand. My second for the day, freshly brewed and in a freshly washed cup. Not wanting to create wet rings on the wooden table, I unconsciously did the same thing I usually do, I used a post-it pad as my coaster.

My colleague next to me, pointed to the cup and asked me, “you use a post-it pad as a coaster?”.

It dawned on me, why not? A post-it pad is the perfect coaster! It’s the perfect size for a cup, and it’s thick enough to insulate the table top from my hot cup. Also if you have spilled beverage from a full cup collecting at the cup’s base, you would just need to peel away and dispose the stained sheet of wet rings, and you have a fresh coaster top!

Only problem is that post-it pads are not waterproof and tend to soak up the wet stains creating crinkly and warped pads or sheets. Perhaps I should start a project creating recyclable post-it pads made up of thicker paper or plastic sheets? What do you think, would you buy one?

Ah, the joy of creative exercises for the mind.

I like to bring back our regular Friday “link love” feature this Good Friday!

1) Design is The Problem : Tim Brown’s thoughts on Design Thinking

2) Make something Cool Everyday: Behance Network

3) 10 Industrial Designers worth following on Twitter: Design Droplets

4) Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights: Ted Talks

5) Today’s Future Designer: Drivers of Change

“The role of the designer in the business world is changing. With increased activity at a strategic level and the innate skills that support community and collaboration, the designer has the skill set to play a pivotal role in today’s business. In addition, they have the desire to work with new tools and are experienced in making the complex simple. In a world where technological innovation has increased the complexity of both the products and services we consume, achieving elegance has become the hallmark of good design.”

Do enjoy and have a Happy Egg Hunting Easter friends!

Edit: I thought long and hard on whether I should post this or not, as I know anything perceived as negative of Apple will receive a lot of flack. And it has. However, let me set the record straight. I have full respect for the Apple Design team and by no means belittling any of their amazing effort. In fact I have recognized that they are almost 100% responsible for making business leaders recognize the power of design. So let me clarify, what I’m doing here is asking “Why?” and the reason for their strategy behind it all. I therefore would like to have a constructive discussion here and will not hesitate to delete comments that do not have any value add to this discussion.

I had a little shiver of anticipation when I heard from a colleague that Apple had released a new iPod Shuffle. What did the boys from Cupertino think up next?

When Apple’s homepage finished loading up, my immediate response was “What the hell is that?”

Also suitably confused I asked myself “Why”?

Why would there be a need for a super thin half a Mahjong tile that could talk back to you? Ok, so Apple decided to build a product around a great user interface that works with a technology that converts text to voice. Great! But tell me, what is the point of this product?

Later that day a friend SMSed me.

“What do u think of the new Shuffle?” He asked.

“Hmm…I’m starting to think what is the point of it all?” I SMSed back.

Beep. “The Apple brand is about great ideas and a company that innovates at all costs by pushes the boundaries. However such ideas with does not necessary make the Shuffle a better product.”

“Innovation for innovation’s sake?” I thought.

Beep. Another message came in. “But you are right, what is the point of having this product? When the rest of my iPods still work fine?”

Exactly the point of this post.

It has now come to a point where making a product smaller becomes a pointless exercise. How much smaller can you make it before the product becomes unusable?

Is having a device operating on pure remote control efficient? Don’t you think that this great technology could have been easily included in the next iPhone / iPod update? Then, is there even a reason for this product’s existence?

I think there will be a number of struggles ahead for Apple. With such frequent product updates, many of which are incremental, is there a point to even upgrade your already thin iPod Nano to the next new one?

Interestingly, it also looks like the world has finally caught up with Apple. With every product reiteration, Apple’s innovative application of technology in an easy to use framework does not seem to get them that far ahead of the crowd these days. With competitors getting better in creating equally compelling products, Apple’s impact just seems less and less exciting to me.

Apple customarily comes late to the game, sitting and watching and then releasing its own, usually better, take on the current offerings. If Apple went to a party, it would turn up last and leave with the hottest girl there.

Via: Anders Ramsay via Wired

Every second French Fry is either burnt, has a harden end or too short for satisfactory consumption.
 
Did you know that there are people who go around checking that this does not happen?

Posted via email from TDOET: The Design of Everyday Things

Once in a while I would come across a design idea that is just pure brilliance, I just have to share it here with you. The sheer simplicity of the solution is just mind boggling. So much so that it sends tingles down my spine. Furthermore, when you start to bring the potential environmental impact into the picture, you can really see that this is just “great design” in action.

Design Engineer Sherwood Forlee has come up with this very clever staple-less paper holding solution. Just cut the slot, fold back the edge and tuck it under the back of the paper. Check out step by step process below and the rest of her fantastic work here.

Via: My friends at Yanko Design.

Image from YES Design

The books, reissued as part of the Penguin on Design series, include Munari’s 1965 book, Design As Art; McLuhan’s 1967 classic, The Medium is the Massage; Berger’s seminal Ways Of Seeing from 1972; and Sontag’s 1977 essay, On Photography.

Penguin has republished 4 great books on design with new covers with the help of YES studio from the UK.

Check out the full creative rational on Creative Review’s CR Blog.

Via: Aisle One.

Many brands are seeing the light.

From Nokia, Apple, Levis, Nike, Nintendo, to Bose, Samsung and Sony, companies today understand the power of branding and know that to allow consumer to fully experience their brand they must create an environment where the consumer is surrounded by the brand experience. Nothing does this better than putting the consumer in a direct sales environment or what we commonly call a “Concept Store”.

Within a “Concept Store, a you can fully manage the brand experience from the decor, design of the product placement, the background music, and even the smell! You can now create a truly 360 degree brand experience for your customers.

With a “Concept Store” you are able to filter out the “noise” of your competitors and now have the perfect opportunity to ensure your product is placed in the best possible light. No more have to deal with situations such as getting your product chucked on the floor just because the shared Point of Sales (POS) shelf has run out of space.

Really, this “Concept Store” marketing strategy allows you to build your brand equity in very authentic manner. You might, even sell more product while you are at it! (Notice selling comes at the very end?)

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Image from BusinessWeek, original camera image comes from Ralph London of the London Collection.

Check out this interesting article on Wired.com on how Bill Buxton, a Microsoft Researcher has complimented Jony Ive and how Jony has learn from the success of Kodak’s Vest Pocket camera line.

In a letter published by BusinessWeek.com, Microsoft Research’s Principal Scientist (Bill Buxtom) suggests it’s no mistake that the golden era of American industrial design happened between 1927 and 1929, on the verge of the Great Depression. Tough economic times, he says, have a habit of bringing out the best designs from the most talented individuals: “Firms employed these folks because they brought real value. It was about survival, not visual lollipops.

Amused, I went to BusinessWeek for more details.

Did Apple steal the idea from Kodak? Not at all. Was Apple aware of the Vanity Kodak, and the what and the how of Teague’s contribution? Without a doubt: Jonathan Ive is an outstanding designer, and the Vanity Kodak is one of the classic examples in the history of industrial design. What Apple did was learn from history, and adopt, adapt, and assimilate past success to current context. That is simply good, intelligent design in action. It is also a very good lesson: an obsession with the new and original, without a deep literacy and appreciation for the past, leads to a path of missed opportunities.

All right, I’m not sure if Bill’s claim about Apple being inspired by historic designs are true, but I fully agree on his observations about how the best Industrial Design come during times of trouble and greatest need, just as the article describes during the verge of the Great Depression in 1927-1929.

Very similar to the economic crisis we are all facing today, much of what we do in design will go into rounds of consolidations, and hard decisions will have to be made. As the businesses focus on the important things, we get an opportunity to really look at our design contribution, especially in areas where it can add value and/or make a difference for the consumer. I encourage all of you to grab this opportunity and push your design’s contribution within your organization to the next level.

If you have not already, check out my recent article on “10 Useful Cost Saving Design Strategies for these Troubled Times” to get you going!