a while back Mark Rolston the chief creative officer at Frog presented his ideas and theories about design strategy and its future.
View more presentations from Frog Design.
Category archives: Design-philo
Bouroullec design philo
02Jun09They have very nice work, my favorite is the colorful piece in the first picture. well it is geometric (triangle is my natural default design shape) – it is weird but we – designers – have a shape we gravitate to, whether is it a circle, square, an S curve… who knows but only you know or a good observer points that out about your work.
but anyway i love that they don’t have a formula to design and it should be like that because not all problems are the same. each problem is different and must be look at to how to solve it effectively, so if you do formulas you get dull “okay” answers… it is just not satisfying. but look at the article and also they were in objectified which is truly funny how they talk to each other.
How’s your creative process?
There is no set formula. Each project suggests a different approach. Yet, it is true that from the outside, it seems that the process is marked by some essential steps. First, there is thinking and dialog. Then or simultaneously comes the extensive step of drawing. After that or together with it come the steps of the modelling and 3D drawing… that dialog with manual drawing. Last, comes the prototype step … and the process gets back to the beginning: thinking, drawing etc. Until we get satisfied by the project…. [read more]
Dia-gramic Personal Resume
01Jun09I think this is a better way of starting to see resumes, well look for a second… this engages me to look further and to develop a sense if i like their “style” or not… their creativity or not… SO instantly i know if i would like this person. And it makes my life easier to decide yah or nah on the person…. it is harsher but the person set themselves up to be judge instantly instead of the traditional approach… except they would be on the bottom of my pile and maybe looked at when i think i need someone.
Flickr Photo Download: Personal Resume (updated).
Mistake-Practice-Reflexing
29May09I simply stated his first paragraphs of each mistake involving Dsearch. you may like it or not, but he has a valid point. the first mistake is a pet peeve i have, I get very annoyed with rigid questions that does not allow for openness to discover. oh well, it is practice.
Mistake 1: Not thinking hard enough about sampling. This is the most important thing. Especially if you have a number of “researchers” contributing. You gotta think about who you are going to talk to or watch.
Mistake 2: Not doing any Pre-thinking. If you don’t have a clue about the decisions your decision-makers have to make, then you aren’t giving them as much value as you could be.
Mistake 3: Trying to be unbiased. Don’t try to be a blank slate. It is a waste of time. I say “Don’t think about pink elephants”, and what jumps right into your minds-eye. Yep, you got it those darn pink elephants. Instead, work with what you know already.
Mistake 4: Not connecting the Pictures Together Many times we focus so much at the mirco level of the customer that we don’t understand the clients macro-view.
Mistake 5: Having More than Five Variables. Ok, so here is an easy one. Focus in on 5 conceptual variables. Not less than 3. Not more than 5.
ID sketching sketching…
27May09Headphone winners | Industrial Design Sketching and Drawing Tutorials.
I maybe in love and have the passion drive of a design researcher but come on… the illustrator inside me loves to draw… I dig the sketch composition… (a little secret about sketching – composition goes a long way…) i looked at the other competitors on the website and notice it was not about techniques or ideas (well… hesitating a bit) but execution and composer.
but i think the first image still need to relook at photoshop cause it is too air brushie and that is so has been! you can really make color marking in photoshop very sharp, it is called path tool and a bit of feathering. It is a terrible hill to climb to learn in the program but once over it, it is like sledding. WAH OHHHHHHHH!
New Hospital Design?
26May09“Some hospitals are taking evidence-based design seriously,” said Roger Ulrich, director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M. “Other institutions use pretty traditional design that pays lip service to the evidence. There may be high style, but the hospital is still noisy. Or the windows are too small to let much light in. There are missed opportunities.”
via Health Outcomes Driving New Hospital Design – NYTimes.com.
what is new hospital design giving every patient a single room and lots of light. that is correct! So what is new about that, well think back in the “age” the rich had their own room and lots of light cause they are high class, it is just that now, hospitals are now thinking of removing the “let everyone equal” to the new approach “let everyone be high class.” but being high class has a price… it is costly to build and maintain.
That is my annoyance, this is not innovation but just a regenerating idea what we had in the past.
Cell phone call! 1983-2009
22May09Cell phones have evolved immensely since 1983, both in design and function.
From the Motorola DynaTAC, that power symbol that Michael Douglas wielded so forcefully in the movie “Wall Street”, to the iPhone 3G, which can take a picture, play a video, or run one of the thousands applications available from the Apple Store.
There are thousands of models of cell phones that have hit the streets between 1983 and now.
via The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983-2009 | Webdesigner Depot.
Design research video
22May09via Choosenick!.
Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.
this is one of those videos of raising the bar.
the editing – the story line and the way to they use design research to marketed as an entertaining video, but seriously when you watch the actual interview it is visually boring…. the story is important and they did a gooda job of that.
I am a firm believer of Milton Glaser
21May09i am just going to list the ten titles but be sure to read Milton Glaser ‘s take on his statements. For one I just love hearing from very establish designers saying what i am feeling but never could pin point it. This is what happens when i grew up with my parents friends and never with my own age group…
what he talks about is so true to what i am experiencing in the workforce, and it might be a reason why there are ton of early designers that quickly move away from their career path because what they ideally believe is actually false, and viewing that all designers as great observers of humanity and empathy is heartbreaking cause lets face all people are one and the same no matter what their job title are. They may have empathy or not… you must seek the right set of passionate people to work it is the main goal.
1.
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
2.
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
3.
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
4.
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
5.
LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
6.
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
7.
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
8.
DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
9.
ON AGING.
10.
TELL THE TRUTH.
ENJOY!
Era of User-Generated Devices
19May09
User-Generated Devices UGD, allowing people to enjoy themselves making their own equipment with friends, are making a showing in the electronics industry, fueled by the outsourcing of development and manufacturing, open constituent technologies, and other trends. Only companies capable of discarding the paradigm of volume production will be able to evolve apace with this new dimension in user participation.
The electronics industry has delivered a wide variety of entertainment to consumers: radio, television, audio, mobile phones, games and more. The enormous quantity of equipment shipped from the factories of electronics manufacturers has fascinated users around the globe. Profits from sales provided the capital for new research and development R&D, creating a host of new technologies. Electronics grew into a gigantic industry by delivering identical products to as many users as possible…
…
One excellent example is the development environment represented by widgets, now enjoying increasing use in PCs and becoming available to digital appliance users as well. In Sept 2008, Sony Corp of Japan began supplying the widget development tools for the AppliCast content download function packaged with its liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs to individual users. Although the tool had formerly been available only to professional developers, Sony released it to the general public. Widgets created by individuals run on the TVs. Similar tools are also provided by a host of newly emerged manufacturers in Internet appliances such as chumby industries inc of the US, in the form of “Web gadgets”.
The movement toward providing an environment supporting unrestricted Internet service to users, by mounting browsers, is spreading from flatscreen TVs into digital cameras. A variety of miniature detachable modules are available for digital appliances now, making it possible for users to modify shape, function and other characteristics with plug-ins.
In the second quarter of 2009, modu Ltd of Israel will release a mobile phone that can change its appearance, function, etc to match specific usage. The ultra-compact mobile phone is inserted into a “jacket” module for use, and a variety of different jackets offer various designs, functions, etc, as needed.
Consumer Imagination
All of these activities, however, are likely to create new ways to enjoy digital appliances, thanks to unique user ideas.
Equipment manufacturers provide the platforms, but users are thinking up ways to use them that the manufacturers never imagined. If these new uses appeal to a large number of users, all of a sudden a best-selling product is born.
Users no longer merely passively receive information from manufacturers, mass media and other sources, because now the environment makes it easy for them to obtain specialized information such as manufacturer technology. This simplified access is not limited to merely end products, but is rapidly spreading to the R&D field, almost in the realm of constituent technology, where specialized knowledge is crucial….
