Design Droplets » Designer Q&A

Matias Corea, Co-Founder & Chief Designer at Behance – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:30:35 +0000

Matias Corea, Co-Founder and Chief Designer at Behance shares his thoughts on his personal design philosophy, making ideas happen, creativity and typography. Please take the time to leave your thoughts in the comments, enjoy.

Matias Corea portrait by Julia Soler.

1. Matias, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

My parents are Argentinean and both architects. I was born in Barcelona, where I studied graphic design. My roots are in typography and print, but I fell in love with interactive design when I started Behance with Scott Belsky. I have lived in New York City since 2002 and I feel at home here. I’m a jazz lover, and I love driving my vintage BMW motorcycle around the city.

2. Can you talk about your influences and personal design philosophy?

In my school years in Barcelona, electronic music was omnipresent and offered many opportunities for design – flyers, posters, branding for clubs. That was a big source of inspiration for me, as it was a medium which gave me a lot of freedom and space for exploration. After class I would do my school and freelance projects at my little desk in my father’s architecture studio. All the conversations I overheard, the models being built behind me, the shelves packed with books and the work of the architects of the modern movement really left a mark on how I see and think about design.

To me, design is about solving problems, that’s what ‘being creative’ means to me. Limitations, boundaries, barriers, obstacles. I think that happens in every single creative project, even when we do personal work.

3. You are the chief designer at Behance, can you give a quick overview of Behance (what it is, where it came from, why it exists etc…) and share a bit about the development of Behance from a design perspective?

Behance is a company with the mission to organize the creative world. Everything we do serves that mission. We have developed the Behance Network, the largest Creative Professional community online, to help creatives present themselves and their work. We built the Action Method, a system for productivity on paper and online, and the 99% content site and conference, to share the best practices of the most productive creative people and teams.

We believe creative people have the most ideas, the most power to affect change, but the hardest time making those ideas happen. Design can play a huge role in helping people not just generate ideas but execute them. That’s why Behance is a design-driven company, always. Our audience is creative professionals, and we believe they are more likely to use systems they are attracted to. Design is also important in terms of usability – if our mission is to organize the creative world, then everything we put forward needs to be intuitive and incredibly easy to use, so that’s always a primary goal when facing a design challenge.

4. You are a fantastic example of design skills being highly transferable. You trained in Graphic Design, dabbled in Architecture through your fathers architecture practice, then jumped head first into web design with no prior experience, are involved in creating the 99% conference and co-created the Action Method products (product design). What are your thoughts multidisciplinary design and design skills being transferable to any field a designer puts her or his mind to?

I think all designers should be multidisciplinary. Design to me is a way of living and thinking, it’s about solving problems. In many ways, the process across fields is almost identical when we have a problem to solve.

The biggest challenge in jumping from print to web design was to understand that websites are basically visual databases. To be able to really take advantage of the possibilities for communication and information transfer that exist online, you need to open your mind and start thinking about the overall systems at play. Growing up in my father’s architecture studio helped me understand this. By looking at the blueprints of huge hospitals and other large, complex buildings, I learned to embrace dependencies between elements and to think about the big picture, not getting caught up in the visual details before the structure and flow of the system is defined.

5. While Behance provides amazing platforms and tools to empower designers and others to make ideas happen, what do you think designers can do to empower themselves to make their ideas happen?

We can provide all the possible tools in the world, but it’s up to designers to decide to use them. You have to want to change the way you work. What is it they say, that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery? Scott, my partner at Behance, recently wrote a book on this topic called Making Ideas Happen. He talks about how creatives get “addicted” to new ideas, and then when it comes to executing, they lose steam and focus.

Choose one thing and stick with it until it’s done. The best way to get there is different for everyone, you have to find the system that works for you and that you will actually use.

6. You love typography, what tips can you give product designers and industrial designers on using fonts on products?

There’s a subtlety to typographic work that a lot of people neglect. That’s why most people don’t even know what a typographer does for a living. Anyone can put type on a bottle or packaging but only the ones who understand typography can make it belong to the object.

I don’t think there are set rules or tricks to good typographic work, I think there should be a learning process in which you develop a feel for what works and what doesn’t. Collaboration with an experienced graphic designer is the best starting point to be able to do typographic work on your own.

7. Irrespective of whether its graphic, fashion or product design, in your opinion how is the web changing design?

I find it more interesting how design is changing the web. At the beginning, it was all about the tech side, the coders, the engineers. But every day we’re realizing that innovation comes as much from the designers that are trying to push the boundaries and think of different ways to use that technology. In many ways, technology is now trying to catch up with the creative uses that designers are finding for the medium.

On the other side, the web is allowing people around the globe to get more exposure, which brings to the surface better work, which ends up raising the bar across all fields in the creative industry.

8. How important is organization for making ideas happen?

Essential. There’s an excess of ideas and a lack of good execution. Organization helps to prioritize, and that leads to smart resource allocation, from personal energy to monetary management.

9. Apart from the Behance family of sites and products, what reading (online or offline) material would you recommend for designers?

For those who want to learn the basics on typography and understand where everything comes from, I recommend The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.

And, anything that is not about design – I really believe that inspiration and growth come from stepping outside of your ‘bubble’, your comfort zone. So I would suggest reading about other things. I think that it’s also very important to travel outside of your country. It may sound like a cliche, but different cultures and landscapes really do help open your mind. Most of my best ideas come from these moments of exploration and distance.

10. Matias, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

We need more designers that understand the web and can push it forward. Web design is no longer about applying the corporate color palette and making it look pretty. There’s a growing need for designers to take the lead in shaping the way we get information. Designers need to realize the role the Internet will play ten years from now, and trying to jump on it then will be much harder than starting now.

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Chris Jackson, Northwards Design – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:00:15 +0000

Chris Jackson is a lecturer in Industrial Design at Massey University in New Zealand. Chris runs design studio Northwards Design and previously spent a time working at Habitat with Tom Dixon. In this interview Chris talks about open source design, the current state of New Zealand design, transitioning from the United Kingdom to New Zealand (in a design sense) and much more. Enjoy.

1. Chris, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

I am originally from the UK and ran my own studio in London working for clients including Marset, Habitat, Innermost, Dark, The Guardian and 100% Design. I also spent a period working for Habitat when Tom Dixon was Creative Director. In 2006 I organised and curated the sustainable design exhibition TEN, then left England and travelled for a year before landing in New Zealand.

I am now Lecturer in Industrial Design at Massey University, Wellington, whilst also developing practice-based research projects with different manufacturers, designers and collaborators from all over the world.

Pythagoras

2. You run a design studio called Northwards Design, can you tell us about some of your latest projects?

I am just tidying up a design for this years TEN exhibition that will be based around the theme of Craft / DIY and a set of plans or engineering drawings that the public will use to make the design. I am also developing an ethical design research project with villagers in Cambodia and a small UK manufacturer. I am in the midst of a new lighting concept for an existing client and developing some older projects for manufacturer, including the Pythagoras stool, which I took to the ICFF last year. In terms of clients, I don’t really like naming names as you can never tell how far a project will get, and if it will make it to the public domain in the current climate.

Time Travel - designed with Paul Stafford

3. You have transitioned from the UK to New Zealand, what is the biggest difference you have noticed in terms of design and design culture? What similarities have you noticed?

I came to New Zealand from running a studio in London, which is a nucleus for design and creativity both in the UK and internationally. Some of the best galleries and exhibition spaces in the world hold cutting edge exhibitions and shows, and it has a dense design scene. I think this is lacking in New Zealand. Without any big tradeshows or fairs there is no really big celebration of design. This is obviously related to the small population and its remote location.

The nearest thing at the moment is the BLOW festival run by Massey University in Wellington, which is a combination of Graduate Degree shows alongside professional exhibitions, guest lectures and talks. Although it is a relatively young event, the program is growing and improving year by year, with great events crossing many disciplines.

There are also some great spaces like The New Dowse in Wellington that have a dynamic, provocative program of national and international exhibits, curated by passionate and insightful staff.

Similarly to England, there are lots of self-motivated shows and craft fairs that are initiated by the independent creatives, that are idiosyncratic,fun and inspirational.

4. In the world of design robust intellectual critique is largely absent, what are your thoughts on how designers and the design world can develop much more robust critique practices?

Good designers are all reflective practitioners. They are often the ones who are most critical about the work, and go through a robust process to arrive at the final conclusion. They will garner opinion from peers, colleagues and any relevant stakeholders within the project. This type of critique happens as a matter of fact during the design process, and is not necessarily broadcast or recorded, but is manifest within the final design.

I think we need to rely on some of the better journalists and design magazines that are still out there who understand design, designers and the process and can write critically, rather than acting as facilitators for advertising.

Within academic journals there is often critique and enquiry into design objects and projects, but because of their location and the manner in which they are written, it is not attractive or accessible to designers or the public. Maybe there needs to be some sort of sphere that sits between academic writing and a glossy design magazine, which is accessible to readers yet provides thoughtful, insightful and constructive critique as a focus rather than a consequence.

Superlow sofa

5. What are your thoughts on the future of design in terms of open source and manufacturing on demand?

Manufacturing on demand is a subject that I have researched within my own work through companies like Ponoko and Shapeways. There are a few interesting points to pick up on. Firstly numbers. You reach a critical mass with numbers in on demand manufacturing, where should you be fortunate enough to receive a large order, you are better to invest in different manufacture process that is more economically viable.

The materials are currently somewhat limited within these online portals, and to my understanding there is not one manufacturer with a series of different techniques and methods under one roof. When you examine Industrial design objects, many of the richest and most engaging are made from a combination of materials that rely on different expertise, and methods of assembly, to make them a reality.

When working through online portals, you can have components sent back to your studio, assemble them yourself, and ship them out again, but this is still only viable for smaller objects, and negates the positive sustainable attributes of the system by adding more shipping to the process when objects are also prone to damage, loss etc

Open source is again a worthy and innovative idea in terms of resources. Reflecting on some of my own projects that use an open source philosophy, it would be interesting to find out some hard data about the actual degree of up-take by members of the public to assess how successful ideas like creative commons licenses are and what effect they have in terms of countering problems of sustainability and their wider contribution to the design community.

Open source makes better sense in the context that it was conceived because technology and software are in constant flux and development, so having a means where skilled individuals can develop a product in a dynamic and diverse way is logical. A product designer works toward an end goal, where the function and use is embodied in the objects physicality. There is not the same amount of opportunity to maneuver in terms of personalising or adjusting it for an infinite amount of uses and needs. If the user doesn’t like the product, they won’t buy it, and if they are not a designer, then having something manufactured for them self can appear daunting, even prohibitive.

In both these models, marketing and promotion is the link between the concept and it’s take up by the public. Promoting products through the internet, blogs and a personal website, which is how many crafters and designers using manufacturing-on-demand portals operate, is a very transient thing, and has a very short life-span in terms of longevity of exposure.

For a manufacturer to accept a design into their catalogue they need to see value and long-term possibilities within the project. The product is promoted in different ways, tradeshows, exhibitions, magazines etc, experiences and images that stay around in people’s conscience for longer. There is also the opportunity to develop the product to a more refined level. Should technical problems develop, the manufacturer can resolve these through the life of the product, making it more engaging, useful and sustainable.

I think there is lots of potential in terms of combining technologies and design when dealing with open source and manufacturing on demand. It has worked best for me as a prototyping platform and to get ideas off the ground quickly. I’m sure as the field evolves it will provide further opportunity to innovate and challenge the industrial status quo.

Skyline

6. You currently lecturing at Massey University in New Zealand, how does this inform your design practice?

Feeding off the students enthusiasm and different perspectives on design is probably the major attraction. They are always looking and practicing at the cutting edge, so this is a great thing to be around, and sometimes inspires my own projects and thinking.

I am also very fortunate to be surrounded by experts and leading practitioners within a number of creative fields which affords me the opportunity for collaboration and to build new relationships that may have not happened anywhere else.

Pandora - Designed with Peter Mac Cann

7. You have designed and brought many unique and successful products to market, what advice would you give to other designers who are aiming to do a similar thing?

I think people need to think about what they want to do and what they want to achieve. I once asked a student why they studied design and the response was ‘I want to be like Tom Dixon’. Of course this is fine, but there also needs to be an appreciation of the cultural context and history that great designers and business people like Tom, Jasper Morrison, Ron Arad, Patricia Urquiola et al, came through, and the fact that many of us are mere mortals! I think reality TV has a lot to answer for in terms of certain aspirations.

Products have been the ultimate goal for many designers over the past century, but this mindset is changing rapidly. We now talk more about experiences and systems, multi-disciplinary practice and collaboration. Design thinking and process is as important as producing an object – and much more sustainable! We are now asked how we can translate design thinking into solutions for an ageing population and to solve problems within the health services. Designers are working in all sorts of margins that were never previously considered and the ground is fertile for new approaches and business models that utilise design methodologies and our unique perspectives on the world.

Metropolis

8. You have collaborated on a number of successful design projects, how important is collaboration in design?

I think collaboration is very important in contemporary design practice, as it broadens your view and understanding of design, and it’s many facets. You can only have so much personal expertise, so collaboration means you can go down avenues that you would either be unconfident of, or incompetent in. Collaboration also speeds up the design process, as there are less mistakes and backtracking from shared knowledge.

Collaboration is also a good way to build a far-reaching and eclectic design network. As design develops, you never know how you maybe working in the future, where or with whom, so developing a good network is also vital to developing your career.

At the same time, not everyone can collaborate. I have met a number of people who are so obtuse or hard to get along with, that you know that it would be very difficult to work with them. You should have a good feeling about collaboration. You need to put your own ego aside and be open to new ideas, opinions and really listen to what people are saying. I often collaborate with people who are friends and who I have respect for. If these people are not initially friends, then we generally end up as good friends by the end of the project.

3x3 Lamp

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of design and innovation in New Zealand?

There is something in New Zealand called ‘the number 8 wire mentality’, which is a reference to the ‘can-do’ attitude of kiwi’s being able to make anything from a particular gauge of garden wire. I think this has developed into a great spirit of innovation in the country, which is polarised in the film industry through the likes of Weta Workshops.

Companies like Formway Design have developed a great philosophy and design acumen and bring innovative products to the world market. There ‘Be’ Chair is the latest of these projects, which is also sold under licence through Knoll. There are also smaller companies like Wishbone studios who are developing unique and desirable ideas.

Chair 53

10. Chris, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Thanks for the considered questions. I think the biggest piece of advice is to persevere, have faith in yourself, and don’t pander to what you see in magazines or the latest trend. Build a body of work that you are confident in, rather than designing for notoriety. The work is the most important thing……..and be nice to each other!

Check out Chris’ studio Northwards Design and Research and Object a space for his conceptual, design research initiatives.

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Dan Formosa of Smart Design, Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:49:20 +0000

Dan Formosa is a consultant in product design and design research. He is a co-founder of Smart Design and has developed successful products in a wide range of categories for companies worldwide. Dan holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design, and both a Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Ergonomics and Biomechanics from New York University. This interview is part of Design Droplets coverage of AGIdeas 2010 where Dan Formosa presented on 28th of April 2010.

1. Dan, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

My background is in design, and also in ergonomics and biomechanics. That means I have always been interested in the “human” side of design – how design can affect our quality of life, improve performance and affect behavior. One of my first jobs out of college was joining the Eliot Noyes office to design the first IBM PC. That was 1977.

CIMZIA Pre Filled Syringe (photo credit: Smart Design)

2. You are one of the founders of Smart Design could you please give us a quick run down on Smart Design?

Smart Design was started primarily by several people who went to college together. It was a collection of friends. The grouping was initiated by Davin Stowell, who was working with Corning Glass, and included Tom Dair and Tucker Viemeister. Davin was taking on early projects and was busy enough to require additional help. We based our methods on the type of approach we were carving out at school – that designers should be hands-on, and that design should be about understanding people as opposed to things.

In a very early project, Davin defied marketing research at Corning Glass by designing a single serve, freezer-to-stovetop item called the GrabIt Bowl. While it initially failed their marketing studies, the design group persevered and it went on to become Corning’s best selling product ever.

In the first project we all worked on as a group, also for Corning, we undertook an ergonomic design problem in which we pulled together techniques in biomechanics and cognitive psychology. This was a type of an approach that no other design group was undertaking in the US at the time, so it was an early test of our beliefs about what and where design should be. It was very successful and laid the basis (and provided the needed credibility) for our approach to design, and for much of our future work.

Throughout the 1980s we touted the concept of “design for everyone,” often a battle to convince companies that design had that sort of potential – and also that design research was an important factor that can lead to innovation, benefitting consumers and the company we were working for (Most companies at the time regarded design as a superficial coating, applied at a point in the project when it was too late to make a meaningful impact. And designers never interacted with consumers – that was marketing’s job.)

By the early 1990s our point had been well made.

For Corning Glass Works Serengeti sunglass line 1985 (photo credit: Smart Design)

3. Who and what inspires you?

My personal attitude towards design is very much influenced by the fact that I grew up in the baby-boom age, born in the 50s with childhood and teen years in the 60s. The student movement in the 1960s, and into the 70s, called for changing everything. We had very little respect for authority, so even now I like the idea of breaking rules. Inspiration comes from many fields, but based on people rather than things – and that can mean anyone from a musician to a political figure.

Ford Smart Gauge - Designing better drivers. (photo credit: Ford Motor Company, 2009)

4. Smart Design has designed many products, services and experiences across many different areas, what are the advantages of working across a variety as oppose to narrowing yourself to designing and specialising in one area (e.g. consumer electronics)?

Since our focus is designing for people, then that is the common ground. The same surgeon performing a delicate hospital procedure will also be home barbecuing for a party that weekend. While the product, situation and context might be very different, the people remain the same. Some people may be surprised how much we borrow or adapt design ideas, or make direct connections, between products or situations that, on the surface, seem quite different. If, for instance, we know how to design kitchen tools to include people who have arthritis, we also know a lot about accommodating the hands of female doctors, who often have difficulty using medical instruments historically designed for male doctors.

OXO Good Grips Original Range (photo credit: Smart Design)

5. Can you walk us through the development of something like the UCB/OXO Cimzia Prefilled Syringe or the Powermat Wireless Charging System, and in the process shed some light Smart Design’s Process and Design Methodologies?

We worked on a string of projects lately where we had a chance to “reinvent the wheel.” One of them is the Ford SmartGauge. Ford asked us to develop the interface for the instrument cluster on their 2010 Fusion Hybrid. For the first time they were incorporating two LCD panels, to each side a mechanical speedometer, as opposed to the mechanical gauges they have always used. Their request called for creating an “emotional connection”. We made a different recommendation – since driving style makes a big difference in fuel economy, we can help save fuel by developing an interface that would feed back proper information to the driver. So for the first time ever, the instrument cluster is telling the driver not just about the car’s performance – it’s telling the driver about the driver’s performance. This coaching is helping drivers get more than 10 additional miles per gallon.

With the OXO/Cimzia syringe, we set our goal not on the physical device itself, but on “compliance”. Our ultimate goal is to help get the self-injected medication successfully into each patient, once a month a prescribed. This sounds like a subtle distinction, but it makes a big difference in our design focus. We’ll automatically talk more about the people than the product, knowing that each individual’s perception and physical ability can have a significant impact on our overall goal. Our concepts and design directions follow accordingly.

6. Smart Design was founded in the 1980’s and has since grown it into a global leading product design company, what advice would you give to today’s designers who are setting out to start a design business?

We’re seeing a lot of acceptance of work methods that, even if appropriate ten years ago, are now obsolete. Many design groups will tell you they have a special “propriety” process that will lead to innovative solutions, when in reality most designers follow a common process. We also see too many design groups still following the lead of marketing research, no doubt because in many cases marketing groups within companies fund design projects. Marketing research is not design research, and there is so much to be done to advance the potential of design. I would therefore suggest that designers starting a business stand for something. Set out on a mission, have a passion for design and a vision of where they want to take their profession. Given that, stand by those convictions.

Johnson & Johnson Wondergrips Toothbrush (photo credit: Smart Design)

7. You have said previously that at Smart Design you “don’t care about the average people, we look at the extremes.” Can you expand on this? Why are people in the extreme more important to product designers than average people?

The average person provides little help for design. It’s a bit of a culture clash we have always had between marketing groups and our design team. Marketing often targets an average consumer, or subgroup, often defining that average in specific detail. For design, however, that average provides little information. For instance, design a doorway for an average person and half the people will bump their heads. We have always seen lots of opportunities in design by understanding the ends of the spectrum, not the middle. The slowest and fastest, novice and expert, shortest and tallest, and so on.

More specifically, we have taken an approach maybe even more unique. Many companies design for an average person, or a “persona” (an often used technique in which a fictional person is described, and given a name, based on a culmination of many people). I personally was never able to warm up to these fictional representations. Instead we have taken the approach of designing for a small group of actual people. We’ve been calling this approach “Six Real People,” although in reality the number can be six or more. It turns out that designing a product or service that six actual people love is far more difficult than designing for a fictional average or persona.

8. Quite a few of your peers (at other global consultancies) have recently been writing books on their experiences and methodologies, is this something we might expect to see from you in the future? And how important do you think it is for designers to share knowledge about their practice with others through mediums like books, blogs, videos etc…?

Definitely important. We’ve been sharing a lot of information – points of view, approaches to design, and specific design methods. But mainly this has been happening through conference talks, workshops, special lectures and online whitepapers. The book discussion has been coming up more and more often recently. So maybe.

We are also big fans of blogs, since they provide such a continuous, fluid means of communication – and often two-way. Also video. We have been getting much more into that medium, and will continue to do so.

XM Satellite Radio (photo credit: Smart Design)

9. What are your thoughts on the current state and trajectory of Industrial Design and Product Design, globally, as a profession?

Design can be a tremendously powerful force. While some people are pioneering efforts to realize that potential, many design groups are simply following past established protocols. Overall I see a bit too much timidness in the profession, a bit of insecurity and an unfortunate desire to “belong” rather than to stand out. In reality design has the ability to significantly affect human performance and behavior. It can also save energy, bring people together and improve lives worldwide. Designers as a group have the potential to fulfill a social responsibility, the extent to which still may be underestimated.

While some very noble efforts are recognized (at both the top and bottom of the world’s “pyramid”) they are often not leveraged to the extent they could be. Much of design is still a closed loop, with “outsiders,” such as financial, business and political leaders, just starting to appreciate its potential impact. So while the trajectory is pointing upwards, that line is not nearly as steep as it could be as we enter the 2010s.

Microsoft Windows Structural Packaging (photo credit: Smart Design)

10. Dan, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Just that, over here, we’re all maybe a little secretly jealous of the tremendous opportunity designers have in the Asia-Pacific region. Of course there has been really great design work and thinking coming out of the region for quite some time, but future opportunities are plentiful. While there is a tendency for everyone to want to think globally, this does not mean we need to homogenize our thinking. I hope we can all appreciate, and thrive on, our own heritage, beliefs, and local points of view – and share those with the world.

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AGIdeas NewStar – Interview with Brianna Hammond

Droplets Jr — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:00:50 +0000

In this interview graphic designer Brianna Hammond sheds some light on what the AGIdeas New Star award is all about and why you should be attending AGIdeas (as of publishing, tickets to AGIdeas are almost all sold out, get in really really quick if you want to attend this years event).

1. Brianna, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thanks for taking the time to chat. Can you give a quick run down on yourself?

Well, I’m 21, I live in Adelaide but I grew up in a small country town called Tumby Bay in South Australia. I’m currently in my Honours year of studying graphic design (Visual Communication) at UniSA. I love graphic design (obviously), photography, and playing Tetris. In January this year I traveled to Italy to complete a two week trial at Fabrica – the Benetton Group Communications Research Centre in Treviso. I was given this opportunity by winning the NewStar award at AGIdeas back in 2009.

2. In 2009 you were one of the Winners of agIdeas newstar award, since we are here to chat about NewStar – can you tell us about what the NewStar competition is?

NewStar is a great competition run by AGIdeas every year. It offers the chance for students and new graduates to have a trial at Fabrica in Italy, or two weeks work experience in a choice of leading international design studios. To enter the competition, you send in the three best pieces of your work, whether it be 2D, 3D or multimedia.

Decembeard Poster - A poster advertising the need for constant prostate cancer support.

3. What opportunities has winning the NewStar competition opened up to you?

Winning the NewStar competition paid for my return flights to Italy and enabled me to complete a two week trial at Fabrica in Treviso. I met amazing, talented people from all around the world.

4. Can you tell us a bit about your 2 week experience at Fabrica – the Benetton Group Communications Research Centre in Treviso, Italy?

My experience at Fabrica was amazing. Everything from the architecture of the building (by Tadao Ando) to the daily Italian Mensa (cafeteria style lunch), was exciting and new to me. I was briefed to do four projects during my two week trial, which was a lot of hard work, but I also had the chance to socialise with others and talk to them about the inspiring projects they were undertaking. It is a great creative environment in which I was constantly in awe of the talent around me.

Libraries SA annual report - A selection of pages from the Libraries Board of SA annual report.

5. Part of the NewStar award is an exhibition of entrants work, even if you hadn’t won the award, would entering have been worth is solely for the exhibition?

Of course! Being shortlisted was for me such a big achievement in itself. To have my work seen by international designers was an added bonus. Entering is worth it even if you aren’t shortlisted, it is a great chance to have someone else see your work and it is always good to collate your best work, just to see where you’re at.

6. What advice would you give to students who are considering entering this year or in future years?

Just go for it! It’s free to enter so why not?
I never in a million years thought I could possibly win it, so my winning the competition just proves that entering is worth it, even if you don’t think you stand a chance.

Looks Can Kill - Two posters from a campaign that I created after researching the issue of photo manipulation affecting body image.

7. What are your overall thought on agIdeas and why should people attend?

AGIdeas is great. You get to mingle with like-minded people, see professional’s work and hear them speak. I always leave Melbourne with an overwhelming amount of inspiration to do my own work, and even if you don’t recall the words of every speaker a few months later, it is worth it just for the motivation to be creative, not to mention the after-party!

8. Brianna, thank you for taking the time to talk. Before we wrap up do you have any final thoughts or advice?

To see more of my work you can go to www.brihammond.com

Wanted Creativity - This piece was created during my trial period at Fabrica. It is a call out for Fabrica applicants that is published in Colors magazine. This wanted creativity was made particularly for the Sea issue coming out later this year.

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Greig Brebner, Blunt Umbrella – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:56:35 +0000

Greig Brebner, designer of the Blunt Umbrella, talks about his journey developing the umbrella, design in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and the various parts of the commercialization process.

1. Greig, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself. (about a paragraph).

I am essentially a designer with a background in mechanical engineering design. I have always had a strong knowledge in plastic design and manufacture with my family owning a plastics manufacturing company. My professional background has seen me work for a major healthcare company in New Zealand and for a high tech company in Cambridge, UK developing wireless internet products. In this latter position as a mechanical design engineer my role was to design enclosures and antenna solutions for their technology. I would say that some of my ideas on the peculiarities of design aspects with regards to wind loadings were developed here. This proved helpful for designing the ultimate umbrella canopy!

My design philosophy it is “simple is better”. If you are struggling with a design that is becoming more and more complicated, more than often it isn’t going to work. And by work I mean in the entire sense, as a product that can be produced easily, as a product the end customer will appreciate and not struggle with. And the simple designs can be the hardest to come up with. They are the ones that when you look back you go why wasn’t that done years ago. And that is a real compliment when that is said about your design.

2. It has taken almost 10 years for you to create the Blunt Umbrella, can you share a broad brush overview of this journey with us?

It started when I arrived in London from New Zealand and I quickly realised how prolific umbrellas are in a large metropolitan city that relies heavily on public transport for commuting. Umbrellas there were more a necessity and more a part of a person’s attire. This intrigued me as did the fact they kept nearly taking my eyes out! I always look for things to design or change so I set myself the goal of developing a safer umbrella. When I started looking into umbrella design I reached the conclusion they weren’t maximising the canopy tension and this also went into the mix. As an umbrella canopy needs that tension to perform. So, it then took me approximately four years of countless prototypes until I arrived at the essence of the system we have now – which we term our radial tensioning system. Then it was a leap into first up tooling followed by the patent process.

I was then joined by Scott Kington who has a background in business development and together we formed a company about 5 years ago now. The idea was to get it to a point where we could decide whether to commercialize it through royalties or as our own brand. And since then it has been chasing significant investment, setting up manufacturing in China, refining the design into a production scale capable product and testing, testing, testing! Then came the branding and the first up marketing and the discussions with distributors, as well as our web presence to help push the interest through the early adopter community.. . .

3. You began the development of Blunt in the United Kingdom and then headed home to New Zealand to continue it, what are some of the differences between design and product development in the United Kingdom versus in New Zealand?

There are such huge differences between companies that it can be hard to determine whether the differences are company specific or country specific. I’ve worked for large companies and start ups. The large companies usually allow you the luxury of throwing resources, particularly money, into developing an answer. However, it can get bogged down in having to follow a structured team approach. Smaller companies require a more flexible approach which sometimes works out but then again sometimes it doesn’t. By this I mean, if resources are an issue then you look at reaching the product solution in as cost effective way as possible – and this can lead to very creative answers. However, there are certain applications where this can end up being a constraint. New Zealand is effectively quite isolated and is dominated my small scale businesses. Both these factors have pushed New Zealanders to become very adaptive to finding solutions. We are forced into undertaking many roles in the design process – whereas in my time in larger companies, and in the United Kingdom, we were more specific in our tasks.

4. You started off selling small quantities of blunt umbrellas in local Auckland stores and have now moved into much larger production (20,000+ umbrellas), what are some of the key differences that entrepreneurial designers need to be aware of when moving from boutique/batch production to large scale manufacturing?

I would say money and cashflow are key issues. That no matter how well connected and resourced you are, these things always take longer to scale up. Thus the focus shifts from being a design driven idea to a product that requires a business set up around it. And for designers like me that love to come up with unique and functional products, the business aspect can start consuming your time. So share your ideas and get people on board that have the passion for your product and the energy to set the business up around it.

5. Can you share as bit about your experience manufacturing in China? What were some of the challenges? What was expected and what was not?

The key for us was finding the right area of China to go to. As there are two distinct areas of China for umbrella manufacture with a definite delineation in the quality of umbrellas produced. The biggest reason we knew where to go is we tapped in to the expat community in China, who had already been there for many years – which meant we weren’t repeating mistakes that had been made in the past. We have a New Zealander who was the ex Design Director for a famous German umbrella brand and located right near our factory, who oversees a lot of our work there. So the greatest challenge to me would be identifying the right partner to work with – and we achieved that by tapping in to the knowledge of people that had gone there before.

6. Many Design Droplets readers are familiar with the process of designing a product (concepts, prototyping etc…) but can you give us some insight to the next step, the commercialisation process?

For the commercialization step you are going to need funding and it is as simple as that really. To get the funding you are going to need to convince your investors that your idea has potential to be a commercial success. And most will want to understand why your product is unique and will sell, and how you can protect that idea without the bigger companies coming along and simply getting that idea to market faster. i.e you will probably need some form of IP protection. And that requires more money! Unfortunately in the end it really is about the monetary value your idea or product can generate. Lots of good ideas will fail just because that funding source dries up. So, realize at the beginning it will take a lot more money than you think, longer than you think and find those investors that are going to support the idea long term.

7. Another major part of bringing a product to market is branding and positioning, what key things do you believe designers need to consider when they reach this stage?

Branding and positioning can be hard subjects to work through with their own unique issues. Branding can be a very confusing area as unlike in product design, where a solution either works or not, branding is very subjective. It’s more a feel. But even before you consider branding you need to consider your positioning and – more so for consumable products – you won’t be able to work your positioning out until you know your true costs for getting your product to market. So, work out where your product positions itself, then find someone that lives in the branding world that relates to where you think the product needs to be positioned. No point getting a Harvard educated professor to brand a product for skateboarders..and vice versa. And finally, remember simple is best. It can always go a different direction later but start with clean and simple.

8. So far what has been the biggest challenge of your journey with Blunt?

Just perseverance, looking back there a so many things that could stop the journey. From committing to the patent process, to the tooling costs, to chasing investment, to moving production to China. So many steps that without the belief that what you have is special would not make it possible. So you must believe 100% in your product being a better solution than anything else on the market.

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of design and innovation in New Zealand?

New Zealand has always been an innovative place because of the isolation factor. From the early days, it has always the mentality that anything can be fixed or made better. And there are some wonderful designers and design innovations stemming from New Zealand. Our big hurdle is translating that on the international scale. And the reality is, with a country our size, we require the help of countries that can manufacture to scale to make that happen. As with most countries though, not all companies are innovative, so I am really only talking about the ones that fall into that category that realize design can drive the business to new levels.

10. Greig, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Thank you Raph. My last comment would be that if you are thinking commercialization with your idea make sure it passes that test of uniqueness. It’s a long road but if your product is truly unique enough then you’ll find fellow believers and the journey will be easier. Don’t hold it all to yourself unless you want a lot of not much. Be prepared to share the idea around. And keep being creative as it truly makes the world a more interesting and beautiful place.

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Greg Holdsworth of Return To Sender – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:30:44 +0000

In this insightful interview New Zealand based designer Greg Holdsworth of Return To Sender touches on, designers utilising local materials and manufacturing, sustainability, the environmental issues surrounding coffins, how plastic is perceived and much more.

1. Greg, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

I can’t remember the birth of my environmental consciousness, but it was long before it became part of popular culture. It may have been seeing the sheer volume of waste heading into the local tip – we are all insulated from this now as our waste magically goes ‘away’. At least having a local tip kept people in touch with the end of product life cycles. Whatever the reasons, I have tried to bring this consciousness into everything I have been connected with over the years. My opportunity to make a significant difference came shortly after selling an Auckland based publishing business. I embarked on my product design career with a degree from UNITEC in Auckland. Upon completion of the degree I was faced with an opportunity so I took a risk. People liked my final year major project – but could I make a business from it?

2. You are the designer and founder of Return To Sender eco-caskets, can you talk about where Return To Sender came from and what inspired it?

The seed was sewn many years ago. My wife and I had had embarked on a big overseas experience and had a phone call in Paris one week in to the trip – her father had died. By the time we flew home his body had been returned to the family home. We spent some time standing around the coffin and couldn’t help noticing that the metal handles weren’t cold – further inspection revealed they were actually metal coated plastic. Having discovered this it was obvious the wood grain was artificial as well, not to mention the lining fabrics. From an ecological point of view this all seemed very sad, but the worst part was the mis-match of values between the man and the box he was lying in. My father-in-law was passionate about wood, spending weekends working on old sailing boats. He would have been horrified.

Artisan in St Mathews cathedral. Photo: Charles Howells

3. Return To Sender started off as a project in your final year of product design at UNITEC, can you share with us how you made the transition from university project to commercial entity?

There was a lot of positive feedback with the project and I had a friend who had just started a funeral directing business. I made a few caskets for her and then started talking to other funeral directors. This worked well as I had a ‘friendly’ first client who didn’t get upset as we worked through a few practical refinements. The next step to commercial entity was extending the range. There were only a few funeral directors forward thinking enough to use the Artisan – we figured the best way to get alongside the more conservative firms would be to offer some less radical designs, and then gently introduce them to something more edgy.

4. What has been the biggest hurdle you have faced in commercialising Return To Sender?

I like being the designer but in a small business you also need to be everyone else…. CEO, sales person, accountant etc. I don’t like being the sales guy, so the hurdle has been forcing myself to do it (without being side-tracked on an interesting design issue). The good news is that this doesn’t last forever. Most of my sales are repeat orders and the best new business comes from clients who discover us (rather than being ’sold’ to). This sounds simple but I think its a significant insight, it happened in our publishing business also.

For Metro magazine. Photo: Charles Howells

5. Your coffins are designed and manufactured in New Zealand and they produced using New Zealand timbers. In your opinion how important is it for designers to utilise local materials and manufacturing?

If you look at freight, many calculations point to things like supermarket goods having the biggest impact on the drive home from the shop – far greater than shipping from abroad. The same applies to plywood, which is very efficient to ship. This gives me some flexibility, which is just as well as NZ made plywood only comes in two flavours, treated or untreated (pine). Some of this ply is manufactured in China anyway from New Zealand logs. Solid wood is a different matter. So far I can source all I need locally. In terms of manufacture I am very uncomfortable outsourcing overseas. If everyone did this we would loose our capability to do anything useful…. could we really live sustainably if we were all accountants, lawyers and politicians?

6. With the proliferation of plastics and technologies like injection moulding traditional craftsmanship is something that has been lost in many areas of product design. Do designers have a role to play in reinvigorating appreciation and use of local craftsman and their skills?

Firstly, I would say there is nothing wrong with plastic – in fact its a fantastic material. What is unfortunate is the perception that its there to be thrown away. If we appreciated plastics and used the material for quality goods that lasted we could stop depleting a precious resource and reduce toxic waste streams. To answer your question – definitely. Products can convey meaning, there is an area between product and craft where craftsman qualities can reach a wider audience and product can be re-introduced to art. I like stripped down simplicity but a renaissance of decorative objects would be food for culture.

7. Should sustainability be a central tenant of the design profession or something that can be considered as an add on to the design and development process?

If sustainability is not the central tenant of the design profession our grandchildren will have nowhere to live.

Artisan in the park. Photo: Greg Holdsworth

8. Can you tell us about the environmental impacts of ‘normal’ coffins versus Return To Sender eco-coffins?

Normal is different in each country. In New Zealand coffins are like cheap office furniture – MDF, fake woodgrain and plastic handles / liners. This contributes to claims of 45 pollutants being released at some crematoriums, including dioxins from PVC woodgrain. MDF is tough in terms of impact resistance but it has little strength (think sagging bookshelves). This means you need a large mass to make something strong. Some Return To Sender coffins are a fraction of the mass of MDF units and have attractive wodgrain already – no need to conceal it with fake woodgrain. We integrate wooden handles in most cases so there are no extra parts and there is no opportunity for funeral directors to add metal coated plastic handles. The story changes if you look at the United States. They mainly use metal caskets, consuming over 100,000 tonnes of steel, 3,000 tonnes of copper and bronze, and over one and a half million tonnes of reinforced concrete for vaults each year. If we can replace this with minimal quantities of bio-degradable renewable resources the impact would be very significant.

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of New Zealand design?

Pockets of excellence would be a good description. It surprises me how we find out (sometimes by accident) about great work that has been going on for years in a back room somewhere. In some ways it would be nice to have more cohesion and showcase things more but its probably just a reflection of scale. Events like the Melbourne Design Festival are great but New Zealand probably just doesn’t have critical mass for that sort of thing yet.

Holdsworth Design Christmas Tree 2009. Photo: Greg Holdsworth

10. Greg, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Just ‘keep up the good work’ and thanks for inviting me. My main piece of advice for anyone wanting to build their own business is summed up in one word – ‘tenacity’. Bigger picture (life and business) can be summed up in ‘Wabi Sabi’.

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Interview with Gretha Oost of Half A Teaspoon

Raph Goldsworthy — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:23:16 +0000

In this interview Gretha Oost of Half A Teaspoon, a Melbourne based sustainable design and product development company, talks about the development of their soon to released product 321 Water.

1. Gretha, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

I have a background in corporate communications and moved to Australia from The Netherlands in 2004. I now reside in Melbourne and run a sustainable design and product development company. Half A Teaspoon is dedicated to making a positive contribution to the environment by bringing products to market that inspire consumers to use water consciously.

2. You are the founder of Half A Teaspoon and the inventor of 321 Water. Can you tell us about your vision for Half a Teaspoon and 321?

After reading about the environmental impact of bottled water in Anita Roddick’s ‘Trouble Water’ I researched why people drink bottled water and why we don’t re-use water bottles. Then I combined the features of both products into one. 321 Water is Re-useable, BPA free, convenient, great tasting water fresh from the tap is stylish and developed to protect the environment from more rubbish.

3. You have worked with Melbourne Industrial Design studio Charlwood Design to create the actual 321 Water Bottle. Since Design Droplets primarily features Industrial Designers, can you shed some light on the other side of the coin, from the perspective of being an inventor who engages an Industrial Designer or Design Studio? What do you expect from the Designer/Studio? What should they expect from you as a client?

Charlwood Design has proven experience with sustainable design so I knew that I was on the right track. My vision was to make a reusable drink bottle that filters tap water and is both visually appealing and practical for the mainstream, style-savvy consumer. Charlwood got it right from the start.

4. What did you look for when searching for an Industrial Designer to take your vision and turn it into reality?

We looked for an industrial design agency that has established itself as a provider of total product development, with expertise in sustainable design.

5. You are funding the development of 321 Water through a Crowd sourced funding model, can you tell us a bit about this model and why you chose to take this path as oppose to more traditional funding paths?

After winning the People’s Choice Award on the ABC’s New Inventors (July 2009) we received an overwhelming amount of enquiries. People wanted to know where they could buy 321 Water. This proved to us there was a demand and we then came up with the idea of crowd sourcing 321 Water. Let the demand create supply rather than the other way around.

We need 10,000 orders before production can begin. We have now reached half our target and already started the production process.

In addition, the process of securing finance and obtaining investors began in October 2009. The launch of 321 Water is scheduled for end of June 2010.

6. Marketing is an incredibly important part of taking a product from just a design to a commercial reality. Designers often think they have an understanding of marketing, but in many respects they don’t. As a marketer, what pointers on marketing would you give to designers who are trying to make their products a commercial success?

Think about who your target market is and start communicating with them as soon as possible. The crowd-funding model immediately got us in contact with our customers and they have taught us a lot.

7. What have been some of the challenges of bringing 321 Water to reality?

The main challenge is to get all the funding to start the manufacturing process. When taking the path of crowd funding there are many wonderful people who put their faith in us by paying already for their product. This is a huge responsibility but then again it is a massive motivating factor as well.

8. Half A Teaspoon received a funding grant from Design Victoria. In what ways, apart from monetary support, did this help bring 321 Water closer to reality?

Being a small business with exciting ideas, it is difficult to move them to the next phase. This grant has made it possible to go out and speak to interested parties. We are now not just talking about an idea we have an actual working prototype to show. This made our vision a reality and gave us the confidence to move forward to the next phase.

9. What is you opinion on the current state of the Australian Innovation?

I think that Australia is a very inventive country. Probably for the same reason as the Dutch, being a small population compared to the rest of the world, maybe we feel the need to prove ourselves. But it’s great and provides lots of opportunities.

10. Gretha, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

If you really, really believe in it, go for it. Be persistent! Don’t think it is going to be easy, the good thing is that taking a new product to market is an amazing and exciting journey.

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Sonny Lim Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:30:29 +0000

Sonny Lim, Senior Designer at BMW Group DesignworksUSA Singapore, shares his thoughts and advice on the role of a senior designer, working in-house versus working for a consultancy, working across multiple offices, the state of design in Singapore and much more.

1. Sonny, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself. (about a paragraph).

My heritage is probably the most interesting thing about me. My parents are originally from Singapore & Malaysia but moved to The Netherlands a long time ago. I was born and raised there so my native language is actually Dutch! That was just pure luck because The Netherlands is an amazing country for designers. Great design community, lots of talent and very self-critical. After graduating from TU Delft and working in Germany for a couple of years, I got the chance to move to Singapore for my current job. It is funny how working as a designer brought me full circle and back to my roots.

2. You are currently a Senior Designer at BMW Group DesignworksUSA in Singapore, can you tell us a bit about BMW Group DesignworksUSA?

There are around 135 people working for BMW Group DesignworksUSA, spread over three studios in LA, Munich and Singapore. Obviously we do many projects for our mother company which includes BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. We also work with a lot of external clients and design everything from consumer electronics to aircraft interiors and yachts. However, as a Strategic Design consultancy we can do so much more than just designing beautiful distinctive products.

We can show other companies how to define their entire product range in order to stand out, how to create new innovative products & services, how to become a design leader, how to be more sustainable and so on. It is much more holistic and mature approach towards design.

You have to look very closely at the world around you. A good analogy would be an architect who creates a city wide master plan rather than designing just one building. Or a graphic designer creating a complete corporate identity and not just a logo. The impact of strategic design on a company is much larger and more permanent.

Personally I think this approach and project mix makes it one of the most exciting design consultancies in the world. And we definitely have the longest name.

3. As Senior Designer, what are your roles and responsibilities, as oppose to the roles and responsibilities of someone who is a ‘designer’?

A Senior Designer takes the creative lead in a project. In other words he pulls and steers the less experienced designers while still creating designs himself. He is also the go-to-guy for any questions, feedback and to get things done. There is a fair amount of project management involved too: reviewing designs, planning, filtering information for the team, translating client/engineering/marketing/vendor feedback to relevant designs and so on. It is really like keeping a lot of balls in the air while trying to be a designer at the same time.

I enjoy the multiple roles and responsibilities and it keeps things interesting. It is very satisfying to guide a design team so they create great ideas as opposed to just focusing on your own work. When I started working I wanted to leave my mark in the design world and get exciting products out on the market. But after having done that for a couple of years, I felt a need to grow creatively. It is only natural that more experienced designers want to take more project responsibility too.

4. You have worked for companies in-house (Sony Ericsson and Adidas) and you now work for a consultancy, can you tell us a bit about the difference between working in-house and in a consultancy? How much of a difference is there in areas like workflows and methodologies?

Working as an in-house designer you usually work on one kind of product and experience everything from the first sketch to production. You really become a design specialist in that particular field. Your daily work is focused on creating the best product possible. As a consequence you learn a lot about designing a real product and the realities of mass-production. You also work closely together with other disciplines like marketing, engineers and developers. You learn how to listen to others and when to fight for your design. I think in-house design departments are great places to start your career. There is enough time and resources to develop your skills. Lots of opportunities to gain experience and to get an idea how big companies work.

On the other hand, a designer can experience many different projects and clients in a design consultancy. It could be a car interior design one week and a context research project the next. BMW Group DesignworksUSA tries to let designers work on as many different kinds of projects as possible. Cross fertilisation of skills and flexibility of mind are key to innovation and creativity. Usually there is less time for a project and deadlines are tight. You learn how to focus on the most important aspects and use creativity tools effectively to generate maximum results in the available time.

5. One of the key requirements in any design project for an established brand is designing the product to fit within that brand (its history, its current state and its vision for the future). When designing for a particular brand, as oppose to designing for a new brand or for no brand, what do designers need to take into account?

The designers need to have a deep understanding how the brand works, what the brand thinks is important, how they want to present themselves. In short: their brand values. More than often brands tend to describe themselves in relatively general terms like high-quality or innovative. It is part of our job to find out how these values translate into a tangible design. How to show a particular quality or value in a product is a creative process too and an essential skill when working with established brands.

6. BMW Group DesignworksUSA is an international team with offices across the globe, what does this mean for designers at the project level?

On a project level it means that every designer can tap into a vast pool of knowledge and experience from the entire company. Sometimes we get up a bit earlier or stay longer in the office so we can talk to the other teams in LA or Munich and share our thoughts. In the Singapore studio everybody is fluent in two or more languages and has worked around the world. That helps tremendously in communication and cultural sensitivity. Occasionally a designer flies to the other studio for a couple of weeks or even months to work on a project.

7. In one of the products you have designed, the Sennheiser OMX 980 earphones, you used materials extremely effectively to create a product with an aesthetic that speaks about exclusivity and luxury. In your opinion how important are the materials used in a design and do materials influence the overall success of a design?

Very important! Materials are often underused in product design. However they are only one aspect of a successful design. On the earphones we started with understanding Sennheiser’s heritage and brand, which spans more than 60 years of audio excellence. They have a simple philosophy of creating the best possible audio product and are commercially very successful. Sennheiser earphones were well built and monolithic but a little austere in their essentiality. I didn’t want to detract from any of that, but I did want to add something more in terms of recognisability. That ’something more’ had to start from the silhouette, what you see first from a distance, to then continue along the surfaces and into the smallest detail.

The idea of aiming for a distinctive silhouette is based on two things. The first is technical in nature: there are many parts that need to come together and the earphone has to be comfortable. We wanted to emphasise how ergonomics and Sennheiser’s sound expertise define both function and aesthetic elegance. We worked very hard to make the earphones as simple and light as possible. For example the OMX980 has half the amount of hinges and moving parts but is more comfortable and elegant than competitors.

The second aspect is communication: defining the ideal design symbol gives the brand incomparable strength.

Every detail, including material, is conceived with quality in mind and expresses a sense of exclusivity, but also the characteristic purity of a precious object. One of the secrets of this earphone range is surface treatment on a very small area. It is the feeling of knowing how to balance convexity and concavity, and the way light interacts with the surfaces. This is where our expertise and finesse in automotive surfacing is visible. Our earphones do not look like technical dentist’s instruments but like objects of desire.

8. Can you talk about your creative process and where you get your inspiration from?

I see design as looking for possibilities and possible futures, instead of only solving present-day problems. Products are a means of get people to behave and to feel in a particular way. Products earn their meaning in their interaction with people. The way you use a product is determined by the context for which it is designed. This context can be the world of today, tomorrow, or may lie years ahead. Future contexts demand new and different behaviours. My creative process is context-driven and I often ask myself questions like: “why does this product exist? And why does it exist in this way? What aesthetic conventions does it use? How has it evolved to be like it is?” The fun part is developing the meaning and a vision of what the product should mean to users. In essence this is the story the product should tell.

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of design in Singapore?

Singapore has a young and compact design scene. There is definitely a lot of attention for design and many people understand its value. In addition it is actively supported by initiatives like the DesignSingapore Council. The quality of design education varies quite a lot but the best design students are able to globally compete on the highest level. One of the biggest obstacles is cultural in nature. Academic achievements and grades are often perceived as more valuable than creativity and there is a lot of peer pressure on the kids to perform. Of course this attitude might lead to well-educated accountants and lawyers but rarely produces good designers. Ideally Singapore would have a design kindergarten where creativity is channeled and given a proper place.

10. Sonny, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

In Asia companies have a tendency to treat design like ketchup. It is seen as an instant and easy way to make a product look good. If companies want to gain a long-lasting competitive advantage, they need to invest time and resources to get their design management right. Deep thinking and taking the time for development lead to great design. There is no design award for speed or consumer recognition for fastest time-to-market.

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Charles Wilson Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:30:16 +0000

In this great to the point interview, Charles Wilson a freelance designer based in Sydney shares his thoughts on how designers should support each other, being a designer in Australia, the current state of Australian design and more. Enjoy.

1. Charles, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself. (about a paragraph).

Thanks Raph. I am a freelance designer based in Sydney. Most of my work has been in furniture – particularly with the Australian manufacturer, Woodmark, though I have also designed homewares and am currently working on a range of Architectural lighting.

2. You started out by forming a co-operative workshop with fellow graduates and created a collection of experimental furniture. How important is it for graduates (or even designers with quite progressed careers) to collaborate and support each other?

It can be especially valuable to exchange information and I’ve always had policy of being pretty open. If we’re not forthcoming about suppliers and technologies, brands, trade-shows, etc.it just holds everyone back. As for collaboration – that feels like a nice idea but I haven’t actually done it yet to be honest…

3. You have worked with both Australian (Woodmark, Euraluce and King Furniture) and International manufacturers (Magppie, MENU, Paustian), what differences have you noticed between working for international companies versus local companies?

I couldn’t really generalise except to say that Australia’s isolation is still, saddly, an issue in dealling with companies on the other side of the world. And though there are technologies facilitating imediate and accurate communication, it is amazing the benefits poximity has in doing business.

4. What advice would you give to those who are aiming to work with international or even local companies to produce their design?

Trust is probably the most important thing – Lack of trust has thwarted more good ideas than breach of trust. Try to avoid going in brandishing non-disclosure agreements and patents… If you’re uncertain of what your getting into, find out whether the company has worked with other independent designers before. If so that’s a good start as they would probably depend on having a reputation of treating designers well. If necessary contact one of the other designers to find out what you might expect in doing business with this company.

5. You have been awarded quite a few awards over the years, what affect has this type of recognition had on your career? And what advice do you have for others planning on entering design competitions and awards?

Well I haven’t stopped entering these competitions so my advice would be: Don’t try and be too original – judges generally prefer to play it safe. And best not worry too much about presentation – your idea is probably brilliant enough to be represented in just a few lines. Oh and if the deadline is too punishing, get some rest so that you stay fresh – clarity is important and they’re sure to slip you in a week or so late.

6. You have had a fair amount of press for your work. Apart from the obvious (producing awesome design work), what else do you think designers should do to help themselves get press coverage?

We’re fortunate to have an unusually well developed design media industry in Australia and practically every design publication here is keen to keep abreast of new designs and new talents. My advice is just to email them and follow up with a phone call. And another after that…. and…another.

Otherwise exhibitions and competitions have their own publicity machines so this can be a great way to introduce new work.

7. What are your thoughts on the current state of the Australian design scene?

Something that seems distinctive to the Australian scene is a pronounced and often hostile division between mainstream market-driven design, and that which is informed by a personal, creative expression. I think this divide is naive and unhelpful, and interestingly it is less pronounced in other mature design cultures such as the Danish and Italian scenes. Perhaps this is changing in Australia though – some of the younger design studios are mixing up client/market-responsive design with their own directional work.

8. What has been the biggest challenge associated with creating, promoting and selling yourself and your designs?

I’d have to say persisting in the face of rejections or derailments. Some of the work that I’m most proud of – designs with a real innovation in there function and use – I’ve had the most difficulty finding manufacturing partners for.

Charles, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here a Design Droplets.

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Interview with Pip Jamieson of The Loop

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:00:17 +0000

The Loop is the new kid on the block in the online portfolio hosting space in Australia. It also gives companies searching for creative talent some innovative new ways to search. I recently interviewed The Loop co-founder Pip Jamieson to find out more about this fantastic new site, chat about taking the entrepreneurial leap, what creatives can do to market themselves or to land that dream job, plus lots more. I hope you enjoy the interview and take the time to visit The Loop.

1. Pip, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

Yeah sure. After years of working in media for fantastic brands like MTV and the Brit Awards I recently took the entrepreneurial plunge and launched an online creative portfolio site call The Loop. We’ve been live for just over two months and the sites community is already well over 2000, with traffic doubling week on week. I must admit I still can’t quiet believe how fast it’s taken off.

2. You are one of the founders of The Loop, a brand spanking new site for connecting creative people, companies and jobs. What inspired you and your business partner Matt to start The Loop?

Both me and my partner in crime, Matt, used to work at MTV; Matt in Digital and me in marketing. The idea for The Loop was born out of my frustration in finding fresh creative talent – we were overly dependent on word of mouth and incredible people were slipping through the net.

On the flip side Matt, being the digital guy, was constantly being asked by other creatives for advice on the best way to build their own websites to showcase their work online and promote themselves to potential employers and clients.

We brought these two frustrations together and The Loop was born.

3. What value does The Loop provide to creatives that they can’t get by using sites like Behance.net, Coroflot, Carbonmade etc?

I’m actually a massive fan of international portfolio sites like Behance, Coroflot, Carbonmade etc. They’re great places to showcase creative work, facilitate collaboration and networking. However, what they all lack is connectivity to local employers and local job opportunities, which is the core aim of The Loop. We wanted to provide a platform that not only allows people to showcase their creative work online, and connect with other creatives, but also puts that work directly in front of local employers and clients, with the eventual aim of securing our users that dream job.

Unlike international sites Australian companies can also create profiles on The Loop and showcase their work to the creative community. People can easily search and identify that perfect company to work for. You can search anything from industry to location right down to whether they have a dog-friendly office or flexible working hours. In the end it’s all about improving connectivity in the Australian creative industry.

4. There’s a sea of creative portfolios on The Loop and across the web on many other sites. What advice would you give to creatives to make sure they can grab employers attention amongst this vast sea of creative work?

It an obvious one but keeping your portfolio current and relevant is key. It’s hard as creatives are notoriously overworked so finding the time to keep portfolios up-to-date can be difficult. I guess that’s one of the reasons we launched The Loop. We wanted to create a place where it was quick and easy for the time poor creative to upload new content with minimal hassle. Gone are the days when you had to update a physical portfolio and send out endless cvs and showreels; it’s all there on the site being viewed by potential employers on a daily basis.

I think another trick is to keep your portfolio professional but also approachable. While great content speaks volumes employers are also trying to identify if you’d be a good fit for their company. So writing a good bio and cv can put you ahead of the game.

Finally taking the time to work on personal creative projects that are a good reflection of your skills and the type of work you want to be doing is always a good idea. Unless you are one of the few creatives that has complete creative license over your work, including personal projects in your portfolio – and if you are I salute you – it’s a great way of showing what you are capable of and securing those jobs you want, not those jobs you need.

5. While networking and self-marketing online can be highly effective, what ways do you believe creatives should be networking and self-marketing offline?

While The Loop is a great way to showcase your work, build a contact list, apply for jobs and market yourself, it’s only part of the puzzle. Nothing beats face-to-face networking. Attending industry events like Agideas and Semi Permanent are a fantastic way to meet a tonne of like-minded people and companies, but they can be a bit pricey. Saying that some of the best contacts I’ve ever made is getting on the beers after an industry event, made the ticket price well worth it.

Doing short courses like those offered by AWARD, are great for building contacts and up-skilling at the same time. You can also join networking groups, there are a tonne of them out there, while getting out and about to creative events is a good way to build your profile.

We’ll shortly be introducing new functionality on The Loop that will allow users to set up their own networking groups and events – eventually I want The Loop to become a community both online and off.

6.The various creative industries are highly competitive areas, what practical advice would you give to creatives who are chasing a dream job with a particular employer?

Before you even start chasing and applying for that dream job make sure you have all your ducks in a row. A kick ass current portfolio, a well-written cv (tailored for the employer), some great references up your sleeve and some research on the company is a must. That way when you apply for the job your already leagues ahead of the pack.

If the company you want to work for isn’t currently advertising then taking the initiative and contacting them direct is a great way to go. Chat to whoever’s responsible for HR, try and get a meeting, send them a link to your portfolio and cv and ask them to contact you if an appropriate job comes available. This is actually how my business partner Matt got a job at MTV. He approached them direct and six months latter he got a call back, magic. That’s the great thing about online portfolio and cv sites, they’re always current so when a job does come up an employer has instant access to current skills and projects.

Something unique on The Loop, that we introduced specifically to ensure people don’t miss out on that dream job opportunity, is “Company Alerts”. For example if you’re desperate to work for a company on The Loop – and there are a heap of good ones: Frost Design, Moon Communications, Discovery, MTV, Animal Logic and loads more – and they’re not currently advertising jobs, you can set up a job alert for that company. That way when that company advertisers a job you’ll be the first to know.

7. From an employers point of view, how has the web changed the way companies source and recruit creative talent? What are the pros and cons of this level of accessibility to creatives through sites like The Loop?

Historically Word-of-Mouth has dominated as the key way of securing creative talent. Something like 90% of creative jobs never get advertised and some incredibly talented individuals are not getting their foot in the door because they didn’t go the right university or they don’t have a mate or a relative that works at a great company.

The web is starting to change this. The introduction of online jobs boards like Seek, gave companies a cheaper platform to advertise jobs and recruit talent so increased the amount of positions advertised, but mainly for more corporate jobs like accounting, engineering etc.

For creative positions it’s slightly harder as the convention applications process and specifically the traditional cv doesn’t cut it. Employers need to see portfolios and the time involved with collating and reviewing portfolios has meant word-of-mouth is still dominating.

The Loop will hopefully change all this by giving employer an affordable and time efficient platform that they can use to search for and identify perfect candidates, with the aim of increasing the amount of jobs advertised in creative fields. That’s the plan, and it looks like it’s working with employers already advertising jobs that wouldn’t have normally advertised.

8.You have come from a corporate environment and now taken the leap to be an entrepreneur by starting The Loop. What were/are the biggest challenges in taking this leap?

The hardest part was making the leap and resigning from jobs we both loved to start the site. We knew we’d have to do without a salary for over a year while we developed and launch the site while at the same time sinking our entire life savings into the project. I can’t tell you how scary that is! Especially as we resigned at the start of the GFC and job advertising revenue was plummeting. Everyone thought we where nuts, and there where moments we did too!

But to be honest it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. I now get emails all the time from users who have found work through the site, I can’t tell you how amazing that feels, to know not only is the site up and running, but it’s working – people were getting jobs! It makes the months of eating canned tuna kinda worth it!

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of creative industries within Australia?

The Australian creative industry is going from strength to strength. Growth is outstripping most other industries and we have more and more students graduating in creative minded subjects than ever before. But with this growth comes a greater amount of competition, both locally and internationally. It’s becoming increasingly important to develop networking and marketing skills to ensure you keep developing your skills and seize opportunities.

10. Pip, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

The sites now been live for just over two months, and I pinch myself daily on how well it’s all going! We’re about to roll out a whole heap of new functionality; like messages boards, allowing people to follow other peoples ‘ work, appreciate that work and make comments etc. However, it’s still really early days so if you’re readers have any suggestions or feedback on ways we can improve the site we’d love to hear from them. Just email me direct at pip.jamieson [@] theloop.com.au.

Oh and cheers for the interview Raph, I really enjoyed it!

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Mac Funamizu Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:44:48 +0000

While you may not know Mac Funamizu by name you will probably know his work including the redot winning ‘Future of Internet Search: Mobile version’ concept. Although Mac is not a professionally trained product designer, he is already making waves in the design world, amongst both design fans and professional designers with his fun designs that inspire and mesmerise. In this interview Mac shared his story with us. I hope you enjoy this interview.

1. Mac, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself. (about a paragraph).

Hello. Thank you very much for inviting me. I’m honored to be here. I’m Mac Funamizu. I started my career as an English teacher and translator. Back then, I had the chance to discover how important face-to-face communication is. I found it vital to convey the most important information in an efficient manner because people can only pay attention for a limited period of time, especially kids. To get people to understand, you have to improve your presentation skills: what words should be used at what point, in what way, at what speed, how loudly/softly, what should be drawn on a white board, etc. etc. Thanks to all that experience, my communication skills had been improved greatly. I’ve liked English since I was a kid and at university I majored English so I enjoyed seeing my students improve their English. I’d always wished I could help people with the communication skills I acquired, so I was really happy.

One day the school where I was teaching had to make a website and I happened to be in charge of it just because I knew a little about computers. I had no idea what to do, so I bought books and learned after work. Finally I made one with very simple HTML and CSS, which everyone said they loved very much. Then I realized that I could help people that way, too. Communication is not only done by talking face-to-face, but by designing something! Then again I picked up book after book at bookstores and read about web design, typography, color scheme, grid systems, CSS, motion design and studied graphic design applications. After I renewed the school’s website a few times and made some other sites, I decided to do this for a living, so I changed my career to design and became a designer in 2005.

Since then design has become everything to me, which is pretty rare as it is unusual for me to stick to one thing. I usually start and quit things very often.

2. You started off your professional career as a teacher and interpreter, what made you want to become a designer?

Oops, I’ve already mentioned it above.

3. You are an avid creator of concept gadgets, can you tell us about where you get your inspiration?

Whenever I feel that something is inconvenient, I try to figure out a way to solve the problem and jot it down on my sketchbook (Moleskine).

When I don’t have any good ideas on the spot, pretty often I hit upon a wonderful idea sometime later. The secret of this is that you have to work really hard, at least once, to rack your brain for an idea. That way your brain remembers it somehow and keeps working even when you’re doing other things, just like your computer downloading something in the background while working on a Word document. Most of the time I come up with a new idea on a crowded train on my way to work. Another thing I’ve started to find is that the more you’re experienced in designing, the less you work on a computer. The desktop is where I finish work (and get inspired seeing other designers’ works).

Another thing I try to do is to think, play, draw and do things like a child. Kids are geniuses when it comes to having fun even when they’re dealing with something serious. Whatever I do, I try to enjoy myself or to find a way to enjoy myself as much as I can.

4. Can you share the process you go through to create your gadget concepts?

What would you like for example? The looking glass? I don’t remember exactly, but I thought of it was when I was walking in a crowded station (Shinjuku station) and trying to find the signage of a building or something. If you have never been there, you might have no idea but Shinjuku station is always hectic with lots of lots of people and signals. I was then wondering if there was a good way to find just the right information I needed. What if I look through a glass that whites out all unnecessary information and tells me where the sign with the word I input in the device. I thought it would be very helpful. At the same time it would be able to show you the information you find on a map right in front of your eyes. You just touch the object you see through the glass and it recognizes what you’re pointing at with the installed cameras and GPS. And I thought of many other ways to use this device later.

Another way, as I mentioned above, is to have fun. Well-thought out products will be and have already been created by other great designers. On the other hand I didn’t have proper design education (although I want to some time), so I believe the only way I can survive is to make something more fun than any other designer. I always try to make something as 10 times as fun as an ordinary item.

5. In 2009 you won a red dot award for your ‘Future of Internet Search: Mobile version’ concept, this largely happened through the
concept being picked up by the online design community. What tips can you share on how designers can effectively use the web to promote
themselves?

I wrote about this concept on my blog, but the reason I started sharing my designs is to brush up my design skills. Getting my designs exposed to the world, I wanted to know what people think about them. I’m doing it just for fun and am not trying to earn any money out of it. By showing what you’ve got, your skills must be improved if you keep doing it for some time.

To promote myself, I used social networking services like Flickr, Behance Network, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and a lot of other services (for free). Whenever I find a designer who has great works, I comment on them and try to get in touch with them, asking for advice.

6. Many of your concepts are fun, how important is it to have fun when coming up with design concepts?

Fun design is my raison d’etre. Making something fun and useful at the same time is the biggest strength. I have no design education so there’s no use no matter how much I envy young, talented designers who went to good schools, in trying to irectly compete with them. So I thought about what cannot be done by those educated people and found that by making something that people love, I could make very unique stuff that nobody else can think of. For this, I always think back my teacher experience to come up with what fun thing people would be interested in.

7. You produce some beautifully simple renderings to show off your concepts, what pieces of hardware and software do you use to create your concepts?

Hardware: I use 20 inch iMac, 12 inch Macbook Pro and a Moleskine. Software: I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Google Sketchup and Shade. Most of my design is done in my sketchbook and I use my Mac just for render the sketches into 3D objects on screen.

8. While you produce plenty of sketches and 3d renderings do you ever make physical prototypes to test your ideas? If yes, what do you use to make your prototypes?

For about a year since I started blogging, I didn’t make any prototypes, but gradually I found it necessary and started using paper, clay, cardboard and leather.

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of design in Japan?

I’m not in a position to talk about the state of design in this country, but personally I like it very much. Especially simple and beautiful designs I see these days. I don’t know why, but what gets my attention while I’m browsing websites is designs that are done by Japanese designers in many cases.

10. Mac, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

I’m now working very hard to learn to be a decent product designer and I am looking for a job. So if there’s someone who is interested, please contact me! Thank you very much. It was very nice talking.

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JooYoung Oh – Design Research Interview Part 2

Anna Lorenzetto — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:30:46 +0000

Design Droplets contributor Anna Lorenzetto recently conducted an interview with US based design researcher JooYoung Oh. JooYoung has extensive experience conducting design research for companies such as Dell, Whirlpool and Samsung.

In the following two part interview and accompanying case study JooYoung speaks about the various aspects of Design Research including data analysis and designing tools to support the process. Other discussion points include co-design and involving stakeholders in the research process. I hope you enjoy this interview and please take the time to share your thoughts on it in the comments. ~ Raph Goldsworthy, Editor.

Part One | Part Two (Now reading) | Part 3 – How to do Design Research

People are naturally judging or, discerning. What checks and balances do you have in place in your process to ensure that your influence does not affect the outcomes of the research?

At the beginning of a project the research team does a brain dump and lists their assumptions and then they go out into the field; this either verifies or refutes the assumptions made by the research team.

We also go through a rigorous data analysis once we enter all the data from interviews.

Once you have gathered information, you have all these data points from observing people; things such as their current experience, ideal solutions. Our brains cannot process all this stuff; it has to be organized, in order to see the patterns begin to emerge. We begin with our initial assumptions and then we confirm or refute these assumptions with the use of the gathered data.

The first set of analysis is to visualize the data. You have to create a visual representation of the data and by doing this you will begin to identify the patterns in the data. You check your hypothesis by going back to transcripts to stay objective.

How do you know when you have analyzed the raw data enough?

The process resembles lateral thinking by Edward De Bono. It’s a very intuitive and also a very collaborative process. First, we visualize the data so that everyone on the research team can intuitively understand the information, so that it is not one researcher’s ‘secret code’. By visualizing data, we will make sure that we immerse ourselves in the all data points including the photos, videos, quotes and artifacts from the interview so that we can debate our hypothesis. It often looks like a homicide investigation meeting with all the visuals.

The second step of analysis after visualization is to identify patterns. When the patterns arise you then ask “What does this mean?” And these usually become insight themes. We usually have many insight themes at the end of these from a week to a month’s analysis session. And at the third step, we ask ourselves what framework will best represent all the insights that we have found through sketching up diagrams.

These steps ensure that the research insights are an unbiased, pure and honest representation of the experts – the people.

I really like reading what Elisabeth B. N Sanders says when she discusses participatory design research methods and how people (users/clients) become partners (with designers/researchers) through the use of tools in a process of co-creation. How do you approach the design of tools to support the research process?

I love this topic.

The objective of tool creation is to enable people to express their current and ideal experiences and imagine the ideal solutions. When you interview a participant and try to get to their pain points and their frustrations, it’s not easy to get them to open up to a complete stranger. There are many ways of breaking the ice and I found using stimuli such as words and images help people to open up and recall their memories. When you use stimuli in the interview process it also helps the interview becomes less about the researcher and more about the participants and their stories. Another big advantage of using stimuli is that you gather visual data points as well as verbal. When you are sharing the insights, these visual stimuli can support your points.

There are stimuli for experience that assist people explain their emotions and experiences, and there are stimuli to help people explain their ideal SOLUTIONS. Designing stimuli for solutions very much resembles a reverse design process. We consider all the elements that a design team would consider when developing design solutions such as weight, size, proportion, color, material, shape, interaction, icons, the mechanism, information…etc. Once we make a list of all the elements, we find possible solutions for each element. Then, participants will use these multisensory stimuli to build their ideal solutions. The stimuli are often up to 100 things that represent an aspect of [the] solution. We tell the participants that anything is possible and to feel free to explore and pick things that they like, to paint the picture of their ideal solutions.

Do you think participatory design research can ever answer every question? Do you find this frustrating and does it ever concern you that within the process something fundamental may be missed?

No, not at all. Participatory design research can only answer part of your question and it always needs to be accompanied by observation and trend research so that you can have the complete picture.

What is the typical or optimum size of a sample?

This depends on the market, its segment, and the constraints of budget. I’d say if you have a few segments try to talk to at least 5 people per segment for analysis. I’ve done 5 to 100 sample qualitative research, yet prefer about 15-20 for its manageability. I’d say even if you only have 5 in the sample, it is better than nothing.

What do you find personally compelling about design research? What scope beyond traditional product and service outcomes, can you see where participatory design research can make a contribution?

I sometimes feel like I am a forensic scientist investigating a case. I love going through people’s houses and see what they have in their refrigerators. It is fascinating that everybody has an interesting story and I get to take a good peek at it.

Design research can be used anywhere that requires an understanding of people’s dreams and desires. It does not have to be for money making organizations it can be used within NPOs; it could go back to where it comes from, psychology and psychoanalysis. Another thing I really like to do, is use it in trends forecasting and analysis.

I’ve been working with a nonprofit political activist group called Not An Alternative. One of the projects we’ve done together includes a building occupation event in 2008 for a homeless group. You can see the case study on the Not An Alternative website. I’ve also participated in a lecture series organized by NAA in the fall of 2009; Part of Symbols, Branding and Persuasion: an Art and Politics Presentation Series. I gave a lecture and led a workshop for political activists, about techniques used to brand the ideal experience.

How do you expect design research and design as practices to evolve in the future? What type of future market place would you like to see?

I think that the tools design researchers develop and use can easily be used by anybody doing interviews; teachers trying to open up troubled kids, and even in psycho therapy sessions. I can see the tools used to predict the future trend. I sometimes day dream about traveling around the world interviewing designers and thinkers using participatory tools to gather their vision of the future. How [much] fun would this be?

I’d also love to see more collaboration between design researchers, designers and political activists for social change. Since we had the Art and Politics presentation at the Change You Want to See Gallery, the event organizers and I have been talking about ways to make the collaboration happen. We are brainstorming ideas around workshops that can bring activists and design researchers together.

Jooyoung Oh, thank you for your time today and all the best from Design Droplets.

If you enjoyed this interview, please take the time to share your thoughts and feedback in the comments. Next week in Part 3 of this interview Jooyoung Oh will illustrate typical scenes of the design research process.

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JooYoung Oh – Design Research Interview

Anna Lorenzetto — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:30:44 +0000

In the following two part interview and soon to be accompanying case study JooYoung speaks about the various aspects of Design Research including a definition, it’s benefits and the utilisation of stimuli in the research process. Other discussion points include co-designing, involving stakeholders in the research process and JooYoung speaking about her design practice. I hope you enjoy this interview and please take the time to share your thoughts on it in the comments. ~ Raph Goldsworthy, Editor.

Part One (Now reading) | Part Two | Part 3 – How to do Design Research

Jooyoung Oh, welcome to Design Droplets and thank you for speaking with us today. You are a design researcher who has experience conducting research for companies such as Dell, Whirlpool and Samsung to name a few. I am sure most people involved in design today, have heard the term design research, but, pretend that we haven’t and tell us what design research is about, and the benefits that can come from undertaking the process.

Well, if you view Wikipedia, you won’t find the precise meaning of the term; in fact you won’t find a complete definition anywhere because this is an area that has evolved in the last 30 years, and is still evolving. Basically, it is about getting to the core of people’s dreams and desires in order to acquire an informed view point for product development. Market researchers have been doing this for a while, but design research is differentiated from market research, because we focus on people and their experiences rather than the business side of it – I don’t like using the term users – people [is a better term]. At its core, this is really what design research is all about. Treating people as individuals that exist and experience through their lives, whether they use your product or not.

In design research, numbers and ranking are not as important as meaning behind those numbers. Numbers and rankings can’t tell you why people say what they say, or why people do the things they do. Because numbers can’t give you the insight into what people really desire, we use different methodologies to understand what [a person’s] core experience is and how it can inspire design. People are not always honest. They will tell you what they think you want to hear.

To be able to understand their underlying motivations and their desires, you need the qualitative information. We often do a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. We do qualitative observations and verify [these] through quantitative information. As a design researcher you have to be able to help designers understand what exactly needs to be done.

What are some of the benefits of design research? I guess the ultimate benefit is about the bottom line; what are some of the other benefits?

To be honest, I am a big fan of not relying on making purchases from corporations for various reasons, yet it is pretty much impossible to live a life in today’s world without purchasing a product from corporations. If people have to continue to buy things every day, then it is better for companies to respond with products that are appropriate to our life; there are ways that we can make this whole system work better for all.

So, for example, if we look at moms and diapers, a lot of environmentally conscious moms are reluctant to purchase diapers as a lot of it goes directly to landfill. If companies understand this and come up with diapers that are more appropriate and better for the environment, the company will increase profits [and] the consumer will be happy purchasing their products as well.

This is all good, but, if you stop at the point of mere improvement, you won’t stand out in the world of millions of products. Instead of merely providing better products, design research provides the power of imagining what has never been thought of. This is called the ideal experience. Instead of telling designers what to design we study why the design attributes have to be a certain way. We study underlying desires and how it translates into design attributes. It’s not just about coming up with amazing insights, but also, how to make these insights useful to multiple stakeholders.

Elizabeth Sanders discusses the evolution of product design as having gone from being a features based to a needs based process. Tell us about this.

It’s natural for companies to shift from a functional to an aspirational focus. Differentiating with features and functions doesn’t help you stand out in the market anymore. You cannot invent another mouse trap and expect to succeed. You have to differentiate yourself by creating emotional connections with your target audience. For example, MP3 players all play music and you can endlessly add functions yet the most successful MP3 players are not the ones that have the most features; they all work equally well. Products that are able to steal our hearts are going to stay and people will come back to you over and over.

This then becomes distilling the aspirational into business strategy. Does this mean that research teams will include people from the client company?

Absolutely. Sometimes I would take employees from the client company and I would train them in the steps we were going to take in the research process. If people don’t understand the process or see the value of the insights we discover, they will not act on the research findings. Chances are that you are going to produce reports that nobody cares about.

I witnessed that a lot of my clients who were involved from the very beginning until the end, including methodology development, field interviews and data analysis, were more likely to carry the insights through the whole product development process.

In your description of your design research practice you say that the focus is upon the ‘translation of ideal experience into attributes and ideal solutions (insight translation). Could you explain what you mean by this?

Whatever methodology you use, you want to be able to deliver the insights to the people coming up with the product in a ‘feelable’ form. Sometimes all this amazing data gets lost because it’s in a wordy report format. Insights should be delivered in an experiential form through which people can experience how their target audience feel and think.

The representation of insights and information is extremely important. It should be easy to digest and multisensory. To be able to achieve this, I start designing the research tools [to be] multisensory and experiential. When we provide participants tools that are already experiential and multisensory you have less work to do to represent insights in such a format.

Would you call your practice method a co-designing approach to design research? What are the major differences between user-centered and co-designing approaches to design research?

People mix the two terms all the time. When I use the term co-creation, designers often misinterpret it and think, “Oh, you think regular people can do our job”.

In the co-creation process, designers are still the [design] experts, yet we acknowledge that people are experts of their own experience. One cannot exist without the other. We do encourage non-designers to be creative and express their ideal experience and solutions during the interview process but we never use this information as it is. We turn the information into design cues and principals to feed the design process later.

Do you think that a user-centered approach (where the user is observed by an expert) is vulnerable to a less objective analysis and synthesis of the data compared with data from a participatory approach? How does co-designing avoid this?

You can’t just do co-creation exercises without observation or contextual research. For example, when we were conducting mobile phone research in Latin America, the co-creation exercise was always combined with contextual understanding coming from being there in the participants’ own environment.

A lot of valuable information comes from inserting yourself into the participant’s life. One should always follow Do-Say-Make. Observe what people DO, listen to what they SAY and give them tools to MAKE things that represent their ideal experiences and solutions. Depending on your subject matter, you may plan your approaches. For example, if you are trying to help a company create a new surgical tool, you may want to start with days of observation followed by a co-creation exercise in order to gain knowledge around the particular situation that you are unfamiliar with.

If you enjoyed this interview, please take the time to share your thoughts and feedback in the comments. Next week, Part 2 of this interview with Jooyoung Oh

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Ben McCarthy Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:30:54 +0000

Ben McCarthy is a Sydney born and raised Industrial Designer who currently lives and works (employed by Michael Young Studio) in Hong Kong. In this interview Ben talks about his past and present projects, transitioning his design practice to Hong Kong, design in Hong Kong and writing for Design Magazines. Ben is also the vocalist/guitarist in the band Poubelle International who will be releasing their debut CD on Feb 26 in Hong Kong (be sure to check out their quirky, but very cool video clip).

1. Ben, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

I design stuff they make in factories = industrial design. I operate between engineering and marketing, flirting with both. I’m employed by Michael Young Studio in Hong Kong, and I do my own design projects when ever possible outside that. I travel a lot. And I design more than I have to! I have a band called Poubelle International, and we’re launching our first CD next month. The band was started by three designers.

2. Can you tell me about your latest projects and focus?

My latest project was a study of contrasts between Asia and Europe. I spent 4 months of 2009 in Milan, italy, so the project was inspired by the historic artisan culture of italy, vs the technological, albeit unemotional, powerhouse of china. I guess you can say this is my focus of late, showing that there is some fantasic quality coming out of china, its not all toys and PCV pants. The perception is changing.

3. What is the typical process you go through to create your designs and products?

I sit in the bath, hot tub, ocean, lake or swimming pool (where avaibale) and I think hard about it for hours without drawing a thing. Then I drink beer, and play guitar for a while, and generally a solution comes when I’m not paying attention.. Then I hit the computer pretty hard. I’m fairly handy with the 3D work and can resolve the details to direct the factory. I do a lot of renderings to get people excited, and resolve the files for engineers to follow.

But every project is different. The watch was something I helped put together from the start, having a design in mind, a factory, and friends with a brand. The lamp was also self initiated, but was more of an artistic statement than a marketable goal, while my projects for Go Home have been responses to specific briefs.

4. You have exhibited in a range of exhibitions around the world, what essential things do designers exhibiting overseas need to consider?

There’s always a reason not to go. Consider that! And just do it. I’ve met some great friends exhibiting overseas, not just within the industry, if the opportunity is there to exhibit anywhere, I’ll take it.

5. You are currently based in Hong Kong, from a design practice and career perspective what impact has this had? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being located in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has access to manufacturing that is not avaible anywhere else in the world, ie, The watch project would not have happened from any other city. I had the design, worked directly with the factory, and Workshopped produced it. It was nice to pull a project together like that – its why I came here. The role of the designer is getting bigger, its no longer enough for a designer to sit at home drawing sofa’s and send them to B&B hoping for a 2% royalty. There are many other ways designers can add value to the production and marketing process.

6. How easy or hard was it to transition your design practice to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is a great city, the British made this place more cosmopolitan than any other asian city – but it’s the access to production that makes it attractive. Its an easy city to live in, so it was an easy city to move to. English is fine, tax is low, food is great, people are friendly on the whole, it’s a productive town, like London, or New York or Milan, people move here to get things done, not talk about it. So moving here was actually a lot easier than I suspected. I think because of the British history, expats are part of the local vernacular more so than other asian cities. For instance, I think if I’d moved to Tokyo, it would take decades before I would feel party of the culture, community etc.

7. What are your thoughts on the current state of the design scene in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong’s design scene is not its strength, its production scene is its biggest asset, and is what draws other design studios to HK. There are some great designers working out of HK, and even large studios overseas with smaller offices here. This fuels some kind of ‘scene’ but its hardly east london. The benefit is the ability to quickly turn ideas around into realities with less bullshit.

8. You have worked for various design studios and manufacturers, what are your thoughts on managing the designer, manufacturer relationship?

All business is about relationships.. possibly even all of life is all about relationships.. I’ve gone into projects without even signing contracts, just because the relationships are sound. The designer manufacturer relationship hinges on an understanding that both parties are adding value to each other. Some designers won’t help factories progress, and some factories won’t think outside the box. The most fruitful projects have been the ones that both parties trust each other and make consessions towards an innovative outcome.

9. You were indesignlive.com’s Hong Kong editor, why do you think designers should write for or contribute to printed or online publications?

I was yes. I haven’t contributed much recently as I spent 5 months abroard in 2009.. my relationship with indesignlive.com was very organic and a great experience. There’s tones of stuff to shout about here in HK, that seems innocuous to locals, but blows peoples minds in Australia. The chance for me to unearth some of these things, while developing a writing technique was something I enjoyed. I’m not a writer, but the time I spent writing for indesignlive made me look into things more deeply, with a new eyes which was healthy, I’d encourage everyone to dabble in some form of philanthropic journalisim at some point, regardless of the outcome, some times its more important to write, than for it to be read.

10. Ben, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Urm.. no. Don’t believe the hype about the “crunchy credit” if anything, its provided new opportunities for creatives.

These might also interest you.

Nick Rennie – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:25:38 +0000

In this interview Nick Rennie of Happy Finish Design talks about the challenges of setting up his own studio, showing work at trade shows, his inspirations and developing relationships with manufacturers.

Highlights

“I feel that by getting your work out there is the best way to promote you as a brand, and to open up the opportunity to work with manufacturers you may not have had exposure to, prior to that time”

“For me there is really only one major concern. and that is, that I believe in the company that will produce my work.”

“Australia is probably one of the worst regions in the industry to work. We have almost no manufacturing industry here, so trying to make a living is almost impossible.”

1. Nick, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give me a quick introduction on yourself.

I am a product designer specialising in furniture and lighting, based in Melbourne, Australia. I work mainly with companies based in Asia and Europe, but also collaborate with certain Australian based manufacturers as well.

2. You founded Happy Finish Design in 2001/2002, can you tell me a bit about some of the challenges of establishing your own design studio?

I guess the hardest part, was the fact that at the time there were very few local manufacturers looking to work with new designers. As a result I decided that I would try and base myself in Australia but look to work with international companies instead. Whilst good in theory this takes a lot of time, energy, but most importantly luck. I had solo exhibitions in Milan as part of salone satellite in 2002, 2003, 2004. this was very important in my development and exposure as a designer, but also extremely costly and draining

Chiku Porro

3. You show your work on the international stage via design fairs and exhibitions, what three key things do you believe designers need to consider if they are looking to show their wares at these types of events?

Firstly that once its in the public domain, its basically public property. So make sure that you are either protected or aware of the legalities involved in this. Each area of the world is different, and you may need to protect the designs in multiple areas, at great cost.

Secondly to not be afraid. I feel that by getting your work out there is the best way to promote you as a brand, and to open up the opportunity to work with manufacturers you may not have had exposure to, prior to that time.

And finally that you have to look at this as a long term project rather than a one time smash and grab. You need to invest time and money in to people and manufacturers trusting you as a designer.

Hotbed Table

4. Can you tell me a bit about the typical process you go through to create products?

It works on two levels.

Firstly as self initiated projects, which are basically ideas that pop in to my head.

Secondly if a client approaches me to design something, then I already have a brief and an end result in mind. This is much more structured and has a definitive outcome.

The process for both, are very much the same though. Once an initial idea is formed, its basically researching on the internet to make sure there is nothing similar. I find the best websites are stylepark and architonic. (These are both great databases of current products). Then its just working through the details, until I am happy with the final form. Making mockups, renderings etc, until I am ready to present

Idee Chair

5. You do a fair bit of prototyping and manufacturing of your products overseas, what are your thoughts on creating lasting and successful relationships with overseas manufacturers?

The most important part about working as a designer, are the relationships you have with the people in the industry. A design is only part of the equation. I have spent the last ten years travelling to Milan and Japan, with the main emphasis on creating and nurturing relationships within the industry. I have found that a company is more willing to collaborate with someone they trust, than an unknown entity. I guess when it comes down to it, its all about trust. And this I feel is the only thing that is important when working with someone. They trust in your ideas and originality and you trust the fact that they will produce your product to the highest standard. Initially though, there can be a leap of faith on both or one side, and this is also something to take in to consideration.

Mushroom Light

6. You sell your designs around the globe, what things do you believe designers need to consider when they are looking to export their wares?

For me there is really only one major concern. and that is, that I believe in the company that will produce my work.

Know that you may get burnt by some people, but don’t let this hold you back. the companies that I deal with, have all been fantastic.

Although there is another major problem to be aware of.. and that is the industry of design copies or rip offs… But that is just as likely to take place in Australia as any other conutry

Cubrick Storage Units

7. Which creative people are you inspired by? And why?

Locally Helen Kontouris is number one. We have travelled together for a long time now, heading to the main shows, and its fantastic to have someone in the same position as me. Our success and failures continually drive each other in. There is infact a great little community of Australian designers I find really inspirational. Adam Goodrum, Simone LeAmon, Jim Moody, Lucas Chirnside, Thomas Coward, and I bunch more I cant think of right now.

Internationally, I am lucky to have made some great friends with similar designers in japan. Jin Kuramoto, Teru Yanagihara, Yusuke Seki, Hiro Tsuboi to name a few. This is my Japanese family and their work and enthusiasm continues to inspire.

From the famous designers, Jasper Morrison, Konstantic Grcic, Sam Hecht, Naoto Fukasawa, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec and Tokujin Yoshioka,

I like simple designs, nice, clean and well thought out. I find these designers the best proponents of this style.

Spoon Daybed

8. What are your thoughts on the current state of Australian Design?

I think it is now in an incredibly healthy position. When I first went away to Milan in 2000, the only Australian designer anyone knew was Marc Newson. Now you could go to all the major manufacturers and they could name two or three more. Last year was a massive year for aus designers with major international manufacturers. The quality of work is world class, and I think the new generation is going to really make its mark.

It can however always improve.

Squash Bowl

9. What was the hardest part of getting to where you are now?

Where do I start???

Ill divide this up in to two parts.

Firstly the continual belief in that this is what im supposed to do. And sacrificing pretty much everything in the pursuit of this dream.

Secondly the financial side of things. Unfortunately, Australia is probably one of the worst regions in the industry to work. We have almost no manufacturing industry here, so trying to make a living is almost impossible. An example is that for me, the best three furniture designers based in Australia, don’t actually make a living from royalties.

Twist Bowl

10. Nick, thank you for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Just to continually support Australian design. If you have the choice of a local or internationally designed product. try and go local.

And finally and probably most importantly buy original products, NOT inferior copies.

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Drew Smith – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:00:54 +0000

Drew Smith is a design strategist, trend analyst and journalist hailing from Sydney, Australia. Drew has worked and lectured in Europe, the UK and Australia. Currently freelance, Drew writes DownSideup Design, a blog where he muses on design strategy and trends in the automotive industry. He has worked for clients such as Toyota/Lexus, Volkswagen, Kia and The Movement Design Bureau.

In this fantastic interview Drew shares his thoughts and insights on a variety of topics including the current state of the automotive industry, how designers can be more strategic and the future of design education. Enjoy and please take the time to leave your thoughts and musings in the comments.

Highlights

“The automotive industry is at a real crossroads and there’s enormous potential for positive change by thinking deeply about personal mobility and whether the car, as we currently know it, is the best solution.”

“Australians have a tendency to see design as an elitist pursuit concerned simply with the aesthetics of things.”

“It’s vital that young designers start building the networks that will allow them to tap into the best emerging practice from all over the world.”

1. Drew, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give me a quick introduction on yourself.

It all started when I was 6. There was a Porsche 928 parked across the road from the family home. After a brief conversation with my mum about whether it was a sports car or a race car, I decided a) that I was in love and b) I wanted to be involved in the car industry, whatever it took and I began drawing cars anywhere and anytime I could.

After an Industrial Design degree from UTS in Sydney and a Masters in Automotive Design from Coventry University in the UK I now work as a design strategist, primarily within the automotive industry, helping design and marketing teams better understand the cultural and technological changes that will affect their future product line-ups.

A typical project might include in-depth research into emerging social or technological trends and seeing how these will impact on the exterior or interior concept for a vehicle, benchmarking existing vehicles for perceived quality or brand relevance or analysing trends from the furniture, consumer product and automotive shows to inform and influence future concepts.

2. You currently blog your musings on design strategy and the automotive industry at DownsideUpDesign, how does blogging inform your design?

There’s two components to the interaction between my blogging and my work as a design strategist.

Firstly, to be able to blog, as you well know, one needs to be well informed, particularly when I’m talking about developing trends and how they might apply to the car industry, so I end up doing enormous amounts of reading across many different topics and media types. In that lies the very essence of how blogging informs my design strategy work: to help clients make strategic decisions about future products, I must be able to inform them of emerging social and technological trends and how they’re going to impact their customers and, by consequence, their product development cycle. Reading-to-blog helps me achieve the depth of knowledge I need to be able to assist them.

Secondly, blogging is a fantastic way to reach an audience of people who, although not necessarily working in the same industry as me, are interested in the same things I’m talking about. Because of this I can connect with these people either through comments on my posts, email or – if I’m really lucky – in person. When that happens, it’s incredibly powerful because I can very quickly test my ideas out, refine them or blend them together with the ideas of others.

3. What are your thoughts on the current and future state of the automotive industry, in terms of Design?

I think the automotive industry is at a real crossroads and there’s enormous potential for positive change by thinking deeply about personal mobility and whether the car, as we currently know it, is the best solution to all the mobility issues we face.

For a long time now I think there’s been a level of complacency within the automotive sector. Brands have capitalised on years of relatively easy success to branch out into ever-smaller niches or indulge in lazy evolution that does nothing for brand capital but allows them to turn a quick buck. The examples are manifold, Porsche and it’s Cayenne being the most well-known, but as the conditions for owning a car become more difficult I think consumers will be increasingly discerning about where they choose to spend their money. Car makers will have to work harder than ever to get mainstream customers to part with their cash so I’m hoping that this will lead to a refocusing on developing vehicles that solve more problems than they create or, perhaps more realistically, simply create less problems!

We’ve already seen the downsizing trend take hold in Europe which has seen car buyers moving down one or even two sizes of vehicle (say, from an Audi A6 to an A4 or even A2/A3). Just because down-sizers are trading down in size, however, they don’t want to lose the features or prestige of the car they’re leaving behind. Brands like Audi, BMW and VW have managed to create products that ease the transition back down through the product portfolio by making sure that their small cars look and, just as importantly, feel as good as their big ones so the sense of compromise is greatly reduced.

I don’t see the downsizing trend reversing any time soon and there were signs at the Frankfurt show that manufacturers are looking to provide even smaller products that are far better suited than the traditional car to the urban context, where over 50% of the world’s population now lives. The Renault Twizy, for example, is a 2-seater urban runabout that, to sit in, feels just like a much larger car, removing a psychological barrier to its adoption.

On the flip side, there are signs that some companies will simply squander this opportunity and continue to operate as they have been for the last 100 years. In my view, they’ll do so at their peril. One of the things that nearly brought down the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) was the stifling bureaucracy and stubbornness that ensured that when they really needed to change, and fast, they were stuck resolutely in the mud.

To that end, it’s been fascinating to watch the small start-ups like Aptera, Fisker, Local Motors and the like as they’ve adopted a much more agile approach to designing and building cars.

Local design and production is another interesting trend that I think will have legs, particularly as the financial and environmental cost of international supply chains becomes unmanageable. We’re already seeing the beginnings of this shift with Local Motors in the States and Gordon Murray’s T25 city car, which has been designed from the outset for local adaptation and production.

For me, though, the really exciting developments will look at automotive design beyond the vehicle (perhaps this is better termed mobility design). It’s my hope that we will start to develop – in earnest – integrated systems, rather than individual products, that will still permit us the freedom of the car ownership model while mitigating the social an environmental impacts that come with millions of individually owned vehicles.

4. You have worked in Europe as a Design strategist in the automotive industry, what is this Design strategy business all about? And how do you think Australian designers can be more strategic?

For me, strategic design is about integrating design at the very core of the business model. I think designers have been viewed, and indeed I think many of us have, to date, viewed ourselves as providing the end product. Anything beyond or before that is the responsibility of the market researchers, the sales and marketing team, the management team etc.

Design strategy is about taking our unique mix of problem solving skills and applying them to aspects of the business beyond simply creating a product in order to foster a holistic brand or business presence. It’s been really enjoyable to witness how the insights that I gained from the development of a product or a system can be used to develop and support a business model from start to finish.

I think the most important thing Australian designers can do is to start viewing themselves as having a fundamental role in the business of business. It’s no longer enough to view the delivery of design work as the end result. One of the quickest ways into this mind-set is to start reconciling brand values with design output, because if Apple has demonstrated anything, the strongest marketing material is the product you put into customers’ hands.

There are so many brands out there that speak one language but deliver another in their products. For brands to build strong, lasting and profitable relationships with consumers it’s imperative to remove the discord between the espoused and the experienced. I think industrial designers are amongst the best people to achieve that.

5. What do you believe the Australian design scene can learn from the European design scene or vice versa?

I think where Europe really excels is in the level of design awareness, both at an industrial level and more broadly in the public conscience.

Looking at the business side of design, there’s a far greater level of shared understanding between manufacturers and SMEs and designers and both the EU and national governments are working to improve this all the time.

While in England, I worked in a consultancy that accessed both EU and UK funding to connect designers with the manufacturing sector in the West Midlands, the once-thriving industrial heart of the UK. Because of rising labour costs and the explosion of the eastern European and Chinese manufacturing industries, you could see the lifeblood of this area draining away with each factory closure.

Working with both established designers and design students from Coventry University, we would run design interventions with these companies, helping them to see how they could take their machinery, processes and, most importantly, their invaluable knowledge and adapt them to new, more profitable product areas.

It was fantastically rewarding because, on the one hand, I witnessed the strengthening the manufacturing sector as they began to see the impact of design on the bottom line. On the other hand, students who might have been generalists on graduation learned valuable, industry specific skills.

When looking at the issue of public awareness of design, I think Australians have a tendency to see design as an elitist pursuit concerned simply with the aesthetics of things. We need to better demonstrate how design can positively impact other aspects of our existence, things like quality-of-life, the environment and the economy. We also need to better publicise design – and the Australian design industry – to encourage people to expect good design, not just be pleasantly surprised when they happen upon it. It’s not just a question of educating the public either. Our governments need to be encouraged to take a pro-design approach to the development of infrastructure projects and cultural initiatives so that design becomes an integral part of how our cities and states present themselves. The state of public design and architecture in New South Wales at the moment is such that it can make a grown man cry, despite the best efforts of Paul Keating!

What can the European scene learn from us? To communicate a sense of fun! Perhaps because there is such a strongly established, historical design conscience in Europe, there can be a creeping sense of stolidity in form, colour and material selections in European products (the mercurial Dutch aside, of course). Australian designers tend to be a little more experimental and, while not always hitting the mark entirely, there’s an authentically care-free spirit that runs through many of our products that sets them apart on the international stage.

6. What are your thoughts on the current design culture and design consciousness of Sydney?

You’d have to be a Melbournite to ask me that! Look, I’ve always used a little analogy to describe the difference between Sydney and Melbourne to the people I’m met on my travels and it goes like this:

Sydney’s the brassy, busty blonde in a sequinned Versace gown that’s slit up to here. She’s beautiful, glamorous and above all she loves to party.

Melbourne, on the other hand, is a tad more demure, a rich brunette dressed in Prada, thinking somewhat more deeply about the world around her.

Both characters, without question, have their merits. Having lived in some fairly grim European cities, Sydney’s youthful exuberance and devil-may-care attitude is so beguiling and refreshing but I sometimes wish we could be a little less light-hearted and take the business of design more seriously. That’s an area where Melbourne, in the Australian scheme of things, really excels.

I think that things will start improving for Sydney as our institutions get a handle on the importance of strategic design. Having just completed a semester of teaching at UTS, I had a great opportunity to sit and chat about the future of industrial design with my fellow lecturers along with other design professionals. The recognition of the importance of strategic design and the will to develop its practise is there, we just need to integrate it into teaching and promote it’s usefulness to industry and businesses alike.

Also, as I’ve said previously, I think Sydney also suffers from a lack of appreciation or awareness of design which means that, more often than not, we’ll accept second best. In the public realm we rely far too much on our natural assets, the bridge and the opera house!

Drew's MA thesis project, the Renault Helios, explored the integration of OLED displays into vehicle surfaces to facilitate customisation.

7. Having lectured in Europe & at UTS in Sydney, what are your thoughts on the future of Design Education?

The UK, where I previously lectured, and Australia both seem to be engaged – for better or worse – in a balancing of the economy, previously heavily dependant on manufacturing, to one increasingly built on the delivery of services. The challenge for educators is how to prepare industrial designers to productively interface with both.

We still need to teach the traditional design skills that enable the development of manufactured goods but there needs to be a greater focus on developing strategic and research skills that will enable young designers to dovetail their unique approach to problem-solving with broader business objectives. There are murmurings of a greater synergy between UTS’s Business and Design schools and this, to me, would be a really exciting development.

It also seems obvious to me that industrial design students are ideally placed to capitalise on the inexorable rise in the importance of interface design to the overall product design process. There are so many examples of great 3D design being let down by an awful 2D interface or vice versa. Students should be able to go out in to industry feeling equally at ease with both, allowing them to encourage a unified experience for the end user.

8. What key skills and traits will Australian Designers need in the future to remain relevant as China becomes increasingly focused on innovation and design as opposed to manufacturing?

Not having worked in China, or indeed with a Chinese company before, I’m hesitant to hold forth on this one but no matter where you work in the world, it’s your cross-cultural skills that will help you through the door and keep the machine of business well oiled.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to spend some time in France and became pretty fluent in French. Despite the main language of the automotive design sector being English, having a European language to call on has broken down many barriers and allowed me to make connections that otherwise would have been lost in translation. The same will also hold true in China. I’ve also heard that understanding Chinese business etiquette is a key to success in that market, as in many ways the approach to negotiating and signing off on deals is radically different to ours.

Underpinning all of this, of course, is the need for designers to cultivate the openness, tolerance and generosity of spirit that is inherent to anyone wanting to make the world a little (or a lot) better.

9. Being geographically remote, how do you think Australian Designers can continue to remain internationally relevant and at the cutting edge of design?

As much as the internet has broken down many of the barriers that kept Australia somewhat in the dark by allowing us to stay on top of developments in design practice as they occur, there’s really no substitute for going out and gaining real-world experience in different parts of the globe.

As Australian designers, we need to take every opportunity to collaborate with designers and manufacturers in other parts of the world. In so doing we not only get to experience different approaches to design process and gain cultural insight but, in line with the answer to your previous question, we gain a better understanding of how to work cross-culturally.

Whatever way you chose to get your fix, be it a university exchange, working overseas for a couple of years or participating in shows or conferences, it’s vital that young designers start building the networks that will allow them to tap into the best emerging practice from all over the world.

Drew at work, photographing a Ford Fiesta for a design benchmarking project.

10. Drew, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

There’s always more than one way to skin a cat!

I always wanted to be the guy on the studio floor, sketching furiously day-in, day-out, but it was never going to be my bag. Thanks to some wonderfully supportive thesis supervisors, Nick Hull and Cherrie Lebbon, I saw that there were other ways to help shape the future of automotive design. Now, working as a design strategist, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Oh, and the Porsche 928 is still my favourite piece of automotive design.

These might also interest you.

Daniel+Emma – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:00:43 +0000

Daniel To and Emma Aiston (AKA Daniel+Emma) are the Adelaide based design duo who have gained notoriety in the global design community for their product collections Shapes and Solids. In this interview they share their design philosophy, talk about where they believe Australian design is headed and more. Enjoy and don’t forget to take the time to leave a comment or two sharing your thoughts on their interview.

Highlights

“We see no need in creating big bold statements, instead we would rather design things that are more humble and undemanding…”

“…as designers we should be having fun and reflect this sentiment in each piece we make.”

“Exhibiting…not only allows you to see the big companies but also meet with other young designers that you can speak to and gain information from.”

1. Daniel and Emma, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give me a quick introduction on yourselves.

We (Daniel To and Emma Aiston) met whilst studying Industrial Design at the University of South Australia. After both graduating in 2007, we spent almost 2 years gaining experience with various design studios in London (Thorsten Van Elten, Committee, Marc Newson, Philips Design). After launching our first series together ‘Shapes’ at 100% Design London last year, and then taking the same collection to show during Tokyo Design Week at 100% Design, we returned back home to Adelaide, Australia. ‘Solids’, our most recent collection was launched during London Design week this year. This collection was also shortlisted for the Bombay sapphire Design Discovery awards where we came runner up.

2. You have both worked for internationally acclaimed design houses including Marc Newson & Phillips Design, how have your experiences working for big name design houses informed your current design practice?

Where ever we have worked we gain experiences both positive and negative. Each experience has taught us different skills, some on business structure, some on how to work together as a team and some on what not to be.

Solids

3. Can you tell me about the typical process you go through to create products?

Some ideas take months and others seconds. One thing that remains constant is that we work together. It might be one of us that has an idea first but we build on this collaboratively and nurture the design until it is something we are both happy with.

4. Can you elaborate on your design philosophy of ‘just nice’ ?

This is something that every design is entitled to. We see no need in creating big bold statements, instead we would rather design things that are more humble and undemanding, things that are lovely to look at and hold, that make you smile, something that you just have not because you need it but because you want it.

Stationary Container

6. You have recently returned from 100% Design London 2009, where you launched Solids, can you tell me a bit about Solids and about your experiences at 100% Design London?

Solids is a collection of desk objects based on basic 3D shapes, which was a natural progression from our first collection, Shapes, which was based on 2D graphical forms. For us this years 100% Design was better than the previous even though it was smaller, the atmosphere was more intimate and we felt as though the whole show flowed more freely. We exhibited in the 100% Futures section that promotes emerging designers and gained many valuable contacts that we would not have made if we just showed in Australia.

6. Why do you believe designers should be taking their wares to design shows/fairs like 100% Design?

While in university we only saw what was happening in other parts of the design world through the internet and magazines. By going overseas it has given us several opportunities to really see what the design world was like beyond the glossy paper. Exhibiting at 100% Design not only allows you to see the big companies but also meet with other young designers that you can speak to and gain information from. On the other end of the scale, when you exhibit in a big hall like 100% you get to be exposed to the main design magazines and buyers from all over the world.

Rubberband Ball

7. What has been the biggest challenge creating, promoting and selling your collections Shapes and Solids?

Having no idea what to do! We are currently dealing with many aspects to being independent designers that we didn’t think we would have to tackle for a little while yet! For instance at the moment we are grappling with the idea of manufacturing ‘Solids’…and then all of the promotion and sales that will go along with it. Neither of us are particularly good at being a salesman or woman so it is all a bit out of our comfort zone.

Clock

8. What is the key skill you believe Australian designers need to focus on developing?

Original work.

Dinner Set

9. Can you share your thoughts on the current state of design in Australia?

We believe Australia is beginning to establish itself as a nation interested in design and hopefully in the next decade we can see it grow. For us to be involved in the building of a proper design community in this country is very exciting. We are very passionate about staying in Australia, especially Adelaide and working from a place that we love doing what we love!

Fan

10. Daniel and Emma, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

I think for us we try not to take things too seriously! We are adamant that as designers we should be having fun and reflect this sentiment in each piece we make. For us we try not to place too many expectations on the work we do, and just go along for the ride…….which at the moment is a bit like being on a rollercoaster! Our advice would be to enjoy the little things in life, and take time out to smell the roses!

Radio

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Simone LeAmon – Designer Q&A

Raph Goldsworthy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:00:59 +0000

Simone LeAmon Portrait Photograph Tobias Titz

Simone LeAmon is a Melbourne based interdisciplinary designer who runs the O.S INITIATIVE design consultancy. Simone has worked on a diverse range of design projects including interiors, furniture, products and creative direction for Australian and international clients.

Highlights

“Someone once said to me that either; the work is the story or the story is the work. If you can see evidence of both, a project can be truly satisfying.”

“The scope for self-marketing and promotion is considerably larger now with the Web. The forums for exposing your work are multiplying all the time. This said, you still need a strategy – and you need an angle.”

“More designers should write and publish – but, it takes time to develop a line of inquiry.”

“Australian designers are under-exposed both nationally and internationally. Design festivals only achieve so much…….”

1. Simone, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give me a quick introduction on yourself.

In the first person! O.K, I’ll do my best, excuse me if I don’t sound witty – it’s been a long week.

Central to my practice is the creation of experiences. It is this capacity to move people – emotionally and mentally that draws me to design. This said, it took me several years to formalise my practice as a designer. I commenced my career in the contemporary arts studying sculpture at the VCA. This training emphasised an engagement with concepts, materiality and process. Principally, it facilitated experimentation and exploration.

This led me to the coveted studio of Susan Cohn where my training continued. From this time on my practice embraced art, craft and design dialogues and inevitably took on an interdisciplinary character. Intent on forging a career as both artist and designer I felt the need to formalise my qualifications in design receiving a masters in industrial design from RMIT University. In the ensuing years I co-founded n+1 equals studio and pursued several international projects courtesy of arts grants and studio residencies.

Inspired and encouraged by the people I met in Milan while living there (2001) I looked for engagement with design manufacturers and galleries. Since that time I have established my own design consultancy called O.S INITIATIVE and worked on a diverse range of design projects including interiors, furniture, products and creative direction. I live in Melbourne and work with Australian and international clients and when I can I go overseas to the Fairs for business.

Simone LeAmon. Lepidoptera, chair 2009. Stainless steel, automotive textiles, polyester cord and foam. 110.0 x 130.0 x 120.0cm. Photograph Sean Kelly

2. One of your more recent projects that Design Droplets readers are probably familiar with is the Lepidoptera chair, can you tell me bit about this particular project?

Someone once said to me that either; the work is the story or the story is the work. If you can see evidence of both, a project can be truly satisfying. This was my experience with Lepidoptera, produced for the Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award at the National Gallery of Victoria in March this year. Traditionally the Rigg Award has focused on overtly creative and conceptual forms of craft and design – it isn’t about the perfection of 20th Century design philosophies. Hence, the project delivered an opportunity to practise what I enjoy most, that is; to develop a conceptual underpinning for a work and see where it leads. To this end, Lepidoptera was a journey – and when I completed the prototype I thought; mmm, you’re strange – but I really like you.

In 2008 I visited an automotive textile manufacturer on the outskirts of Melbourne. I was shown a vast collection of stillage (textile remnants) which had been developed for the interiors of Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi vehicles manufactured in Victoria over the past decade. I was intrigued and suggested to the company that I could do something with it, a couple of weeks later it was in my studio. For several months I entertained different design ideas, curiously none were furniture. When I was selected for Rigg Award I knew it I had to use it – the references to automotive, material by-product and Australian manufacturing was irresistible.

Regarding the title: Lepidoptera is the species name for butterflies, translated from Greek it means ‘scale’ and ‘wing’ thus, the chair draws on the anatomy of a butterfly’s wing to inform the lamination of the textiles and the structure. I had read earlier in the year how the concept of ’structural colour’ as evidenced in a butterfly’s wings was inspiring research in the areas of automotive paint (millions of tiny scales in layers of differing densities make the colour). Further reading into Australian butterflies and I learnt that there shifting habitats are assisting current perspectives on climate change. When pieces of information start to fall together in this way I get excited.

Simone LeAmon. Lepidoptera sketch 2009. Ink and oil pastel on paper. 30.0 x 40.0cm

3. Through out your career you have received a large amount of press for your work, apart from impressiveness of the work itself, what else do you to do make sure your projects are picked up by media and press?

I learnt the value of marketing oneself and work when I was making and exhibiting artwork in the mid 90’s. Starting out in artist-run spaces (galleries operated by artist collectives) I did all of my own marketing and promotion. I learnt from my peer group that making contact with arts writers, journalists, curators and collectors was critical to the overall success of your exhibition. A review in the paper brought relative notoriety and it assisted the development of your career. I also had a part-time job at Craft Victoria which facilitated many introductions. I graduated to writing the media releases for the Craft Victoria exhibitions and spoke to the press on a week-by-week basis, needless to say I learnt a few tricks.

The scope for self-marketing and promotion is considerably larger now with the Web. The forums for exposing your work are multiplying all the time. This said, you still need a strategy – and you need an angle. Targeting the media is essentially establishing dialogues with editors, journalists and publishers. You forward stories to people not the medium. If you pursue self-styled ‘gorilla’ marketing you still need an angle. In general, Australian designers manage the media themselves and few have any media training (this explains a lot). I can spend hours of my week responding to media requests from all around the globe. Whether responding or selling a story I understand that it is a critical aspect of my business – I live/work in an attention economy. When I catch up with my peers overseas during the Fairs they are often moaning about how much they are paying their P.R agent! It is an eye-opener to the cult of design and of personality. If you have an agent (they take a percentage of your income) manufacturers and the media assume your sought after. I would like an agent because of the time it would save me!

Simone LeAmon. I Wish, candle holders 2007. 316 Stainless steel. Dimensions variable. Photograph Tobias Titz

4. You have also written for, and been published in, various publications, how important has writing been to the progression of your design practice and of your career?

I believe it is important that designers have a voice. I recall reading essays in art school by the American artists Robert Morris and Donald Judd from the 1960s and 70s and I assumed it was part of a creative’s job. Writing was a means of spreading your ideas and ultimately promoting your brand of philosophy. I witnessed Susan Cohn write on the subjects of kitsch, technology and street jewellery and engage academics to write her catalogue essays. I began to write in the company of curating exhibitions for Craft Victoria – the texts weren’t great but they found an audience. Soon I was being approached by peers to write on their work. Young and emerging they knew how valuable it was to have someone to reflect on their work and go public with it. Only this was before the World Wide Web hence, we would send the texts to every art magazine in Australia! Few were printed.

I am accustomed to writing on my own work, the work of others and more recently on design issues in general. It can be immensely rewarding particularly when you have the opportunity to expose the wonderful work of a colleague or peer. For several terms I delivered an elective in industrial design at RMT called ‘design writing’. Many of the students who attended the elective now write for design blogs and magazines. I love reading their articles; there voices are full of enthusiasm and supported by great thinking. More designers should write and publish – but, it takes time to develop a line of inquiry. I am tired of reading mere opinion which does little more than polarise the community.

Simone LeAmon. Xeno, floor lamp 2008. Computer visualisation.

5. Can you tell me a bit about your design philosophy?

More?

O.K, lets put this in some context. I am drawn to design because it manifests in all facets of contemporary life. I am particularly fascinated how it (design) mediates all forms of capital including natural, cultural, fiscal and social.
I have always had passion for products that tell a story through process and material; I look for the narratives underpinning production techniques and materials. However, for me the most compelling aspect of design is developing a concept that communicates to the client and respective audience/market. Design is an opportunity to connect with people, listen to their needs and deliver experiences which reflect positively on society and of course the designer. Design should inspire peoples and cultures to grow, transform and look to the future.

Simone LeAmon. T-Light, table lamp 2008. Computer visualisation.

6. You currently lecture in Industrial Design at RMIT University, what are your thoughts on the current state of Australian design education?

You could drive a truck through the gaps in Design education in Australia. In my view one of the principal omissions is that there have been significant changes in the technological, economic and political landscapes – issues of sustainability, globalisation and the rapid mutation of design tools and manufacturing mean that little regard is given to these critical topics. It isn’t a reflection on the education institutions per se but more the acknowledgement of the rapidly shifting environment delivered in these three major areas. Gone are the days of mastery in one specific area. The Australian experience needs to enter the education system at some point.

Simone LeAmon. Glide, mousepad 2009. Wool felt and stainless steel. Photography Jeremy Dillon.

7. What are your thoughts on the current state of the Australian design scene?

Designers work in silos and for those designers focused on product most practice in relative isolation. This is an issue. Effort to establish a cross disciplinary dialogue and collaborative working sector is required if we wish to establish a scene comparable to other nations. The circumstance for product and industrial designers is exasperated when there is no national body or organisation. Investigations into the role of Design in local, regional and export markets need to occur to attract venture capital into the sector.

I often think that Australian (product) designers should be household names as like many Australian fashion designers. Shouldn’t we be investigating similar models to the fashion industry? What has stopped venture capital entering the sector thus far? We must remind ourselves that thriving design scenes exist in the company of healthy commercial frameworks. Australian designers are under-exposed both nationally and internationally. Design festivals only achieve so much…….

Simone LeAmon. Bodywork, female motorcycle suit 2003. Computer visualisation.

8. There are some people who would consider several pieces of your design work to fall into the realm of art, what are your thoughts on design versus art? Where is the line between the two?

It is true that people are often divided when speaking of my work – and, honestly I enjoy the conversation, practice should occur in the company of debate. Unfortunately, I find the arguments somewhat predictable these days. Once upon a time you could separate the two by means of intent, function and production but those days are long passed. The cultural and economic frames of both art and design (and craft) are shifting and many would suggest that they are morphing towards each other. We can’t afford to rest on our laurels, hybridity is reflected everywhere – in thinking, theory, science and biology so why not in production?

9. What was the hardest part of getting to where you are now?

Interestingly, it is the passage of time. It has taken longer than I anticipated to get where I am now.

10. Simone, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Thank you – and keep up the great work!

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Designer Q&A with Ross Didier

Raph Goldsworthy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:09:50 +0000

Ross Didier is a Melbourne based designer, he runs Ross Didier Design which designs one-off pieces for architecture-specific spaces and ranges for manufacturing production for a wide array of clients. In this interview Ross shares his thoughts on dealing with manufacturers, design for manufacture versus design for one off and sustainability in the Australian furniture industry.

Highlights

“Be prepared, be very, very prepared!”

“By creating great dialogue, I have found opportunities to clearly hear what the client wants and then share my own creative philosophies to a final stage.”

“It would be good if the Australian creative scene could be packaged in some intellectual way…”

1.Ross, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, could you please give me a quick introduction to yourself.

Hi Raph. Good to meet.

Firstly, can I mention that I like your business name. An old friend of mine, that I catch up with once a year, somewhere in the world for a good old creative chin-wag, were talking of such topics of persistence and time a few months ago in London. We were discussing how signature styles develop and concepts mature over time like a dripping tap.

We were detailing this idea of filling the bath quickly where the temperature of the water was either ice cold or boiling hot and then how much energy was required to maintain these temperatures over time compared to the gradual drops of a dripping tap filling the bath at room temperature.

It was a really fascinating topic that left a morning hangover but I really like the journey of creating a body of work over time.

As for Ross Didier : a contract chameleon specialising in product design.

Tiller Chairs

2. Your business stems from family manufacturing enterprises that started out in the 1930s, can you tell us a bit about the transition from manufacture to design service?

A difficult one to define as manufacturing and design are so inter-linked and over 70 years I suppose different personality types that drive a business also carve their future course.

Dice

3. You have exhibited at design fairs including the Milan Salone Satellite and the ICFF, what types of things do designers need to consider if they want to exhibit their wares at these types of shows?

Be prepared, be very, very prepared! Exhibiting internationally is an exhilarating opportunity but very expensive.
You really need to define the agenda that you’re going for and then sometimes wait years to receive results.

Obelisk Sofa

4. What advice do you have for designers who are new to dealing with manufacturers?

I like the relationships that have developed with some manufacturers. The personal link has been the reason why projects have grown and why others have had an expiry date. I find that if the relationship takes root it can be brilliant.

Udder Chandelier

5. You hold BA degrees in Fine Art Sculpture and Industrial Design, what are your thoughts on design versus art?

Design is a conceptual sell out and Art no longer has a relevant voice! Aarrrgh, always a good battle for debate and always capable to ruffle a few feathers but I think it is an inspirational topic to keep alive. Some designers like to blend the two seamlessly and blow over the subject with irrelevance but I like to keep the differences clear.

Elfin

6. You design products for architectural and interior projects, can you tell me a bit about designing for an architectural or interior design project as oppose to designing for straight manufacture and distribution?

Designing for architectural and interior projects is approached as site specific, loaded with all the concerns for one-off practicalities and sometimes fitted installation. Product planned for factory multiples is very much designing for market positioning where choice of materials, manufacturing technique and intended market volume, all effect the final result. When designing for a site specific space the aesthetic is already directed to some degree: the building may be all glass and means that electrical wires need to be concealed from view, or an outside court yard may be very large which requires a grand sized bench to accommodate or simple form chairs are used on mass in a public seating foyer so it does not appear too busy as a single installation. Products for straight manufacture have different priorities, and I often find have a lot more of my own personality imbedded.

Connected Table

7. Two important parts of a project where you are designing for a client are, clear communication and providing support for the client, can you tell us a bit about how you go about this?

I worked in a factory once that had an old poster about making a swing. It showed a picture of what the designer conceived, what the engineer would construct, how the manufacturer would make, what the accountant thought could be afforded, what the children desired, what the council thought appropriate and then finally what the client really wanted. Now, it’s obviously not that easy but this has really stuck at the back of my mind about designing to brief. By creating great dialogue, I have found opportunities to clearly hear what the client wants and then share my own creative philosophies to a final stage.

Lush

8. What are your thoughts on sustainability in the Australian furniture industry?

An undefined area at present and a little messy in management but at least it has started and is on the radar. I look forward to the day when you can confidently specify standard product that is sustainable without question. When all timbers are responsibly plantation grown, plastics and metals have been recycled where capable, polyurethane foams replaced by alternatives, no toxic additives handled by humans and all energy gained from non-depleting sources. These are industries that can grow incredibly and the current combined efforts between scientists, manufactures, inventors and designers are creating a new Renaissance.

Bombala

9. Which up and coming Australian designers do you think people should be watching and why?

I see new designers and older established designers that I think are worthy of more industry credit. The world in general should be watching Australian talent as more are positioned on the international platform and defiantly making ripples on the world scene. It would be good if the Australian creative scene could be packaged in some intellectual way and take on the world like Droog did in Holland, New Britannia did in UK, Belgium, Denmark, etc, but this takes government initiative and guts.

Tongue Lounge

10. Ross, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

If you ever need to make the choice of working on a prawn trawler or for Matt Blatt, definitely widen your career horizon and go to sea.

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Designer Q&A with Jesse Diephuis

Raph Goldsworthy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:00:29 +0000

Jesse Diephus has almost a decade of experience in the automotive industry, having worked in the USA, Japan and Australia for companies including General Motors and Holden. Jesse currently runs JD Synergy Design and also participates as the Senior Designer on AutoHorizon’s FR1 Project. Jesse’s interview offers great insight for anyone looking to gain entry into the highly competitive area of Automotive Design.

Highlights

“Automotive Design is basically a highly specialized sector of industrial design and the process is very similar to product design. In one studio there may be as many as 8 designers working on 2 to 3 projects at a time. One major difference from Automotive Design compared to Product Design is that it is difficult to change something late in the development process.”

“I would also recommend to those who are interested in automotive design to be aware of the other roles necessary to develop a vehicle. There is a lot of work that goes into research and development behind the scenes that most people don’t know about and it would be in your best interest to know about these other professions.”

“It is important to listen to what other people have to say about your designs including Non-designers. Most customers are not designers and they see things very differently than we do.”

1. Jesse, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us, could you please give us a quick introduction on yourself.

Thank you Raph, I appreciate the opportunity to participate on Design Droplets. I have been designing professionally for almost 9 years. I’m originally from the US, I graduated from the Art Center College of Design (ACCD) with an industrial design/transportation design degree.

My industrial design career began as soon I started my internship at Mattel in Los Angeles, where I got the chance to work for HotWheels as a Toy Designer. My automotive career began when I was offered a position to work in Tokyo for a Japanese Automotive Design consultancy called Milai. Upon returning to L.A. in 2001 I worked as an Industrial Design freelancer, developing design sketches and sometimes working on Alias models. Eventually I was recruited to work for GM in Detroit. Following an eye-opening 3 year automotive experience in Detroit I decided to further my international experience and signed on with Milai again in Tokyo.

Now here in Australia, during the last 3 years of my career I have worked as a Creative Designer with the Holden Design team in Port Melbourne. Additionally, I have been participating as senior designer on the FR1 project for the AutoHorizon in Docklands.

FR1 Chassis Direction 2007

2. You are our first automotive design interviewee here on Design Droplets, can you tell us a bit about the automotive design field? How does it differ from other forms of product or industrial design?

Automotive Design is basically a highly specialized sector of industrial design and the process is very similar to product design. In one studio there may be as many as 8 designers working on 2 to 3 projects at a time. One major difference from Automotive Design compared to Product Design is that it is difficult to change something late in the development process. A major change late in the program can potentially affect all the other components within the vehicle from the suppliers to engineering of vehicle architecture. So when we begin a program I think we utilize more designers upfront to contribute to the initial phases in order to ensure that we have considered is more than one style.

Due to the number and complexity of parts I think Automotive Design adapts new technology more readily than any other product. There are always newer, better or more efficient ways to integrate features along with improved safety and comfort controls. When these technologies overlap it can also sometimes affect the overall design.

Most car development programs take longer than product design. It may take anywhere between 1 ½ – 5 years depending on whether we are working on a Production program or developing a showcar. There are many things to consider relative to cost and product planning for future audiences. This is why we need strong forecasting information before we set out to design our vehicles. I have personally attended some of these Foresight seminars and I found them to be very insightful as a guide in considering future markets. Forecasting becomes very difficult when you start speaking of faint signals or distant scenarios that are 5, 10 or even 15 years into the future. Since there are no crystal balls, the best thing we can do is to try and reduce the risk.

FR1 Chassis CAD Front

3. You have worked in design in various parts of the world including Japan and the USA, how do the design cultures in these place differ from the design culture here in Australia?

It is difficult to compare cultures but I can tell you that Japan was an amazing experience. I had never imagined that so many people could be living in one place! There are many interesting things to observe in a city such as Tokyo. I often noticed all the gadgets and neon signs against the old world traditional architectures. Australia is also beautiful place, and from what I have experienced so far I find it very comfortable living here and I find the newer architecture to be very modern. Design-wise, what I have observed in each of the cultures is that everyone is very capable in regard to automotive design. In Japan I did see a greater variety in the small cars than compared to the US. In the US they tend to drive pickup trucks more so than anywhere else I have visited. Here in Australia it is more common to see a Ute instead of a pickup, but I think Australia also has an advantageous diversity in the smaller European and Asian cars which are not offered in the US.

FR1 Headlamp Model exploded view

4. What are your thoughts on the future of automotive design?

I am very interested in the newer technologies and I spend time considering how to adapt some of these into both automotive and other design industries. Sometimes there are clear-cut needs that require a specific product but investment costs can be a major hurdle. I hope to see more involvement with Government for funding Design and Development projects in Automotive and Transportation Design. There are still areas untapped in terms of Personal Mobility, Food Distribution and Emergency Services. I think it would prove to be a worthy investigation as to how we could better utilize some of the latest technology for transporting people, goods and services.

In terms of impacts on future Car Designs, I think robotic technologies and crash avoidance softwares will begin to change things in a new way. Ideas currently being explored in Personal Mobility such as Toyota i-Swing, GM PUMA concept and the Honda Asimo & Walking-Assist devices were all initially developed outside automotive design arena. Now they seem to be interacting with the studios more and I think this will open doors for even more opportunities in the future.

FR1 Chassis CAD Side View

5. Every facet of the design industry has a slightly different development process. Can you talk about the typical product development process in the automotive industry?

Most studios begin the process the same way with a design brief. The Design brief is the document which outlines the program intent. Normally it contains an analysis of all the forecasting work, market research, competition comparison charts, product positioning statements and key engineering hard-point criteria to consider all before the sketching begins. For production programs we usually sketch over existing models or have an underlay of a rough Alias model to draw over. We do this for several weeks in a competition between other Designers (and sometimes other studios). The initial sketches and development renderings are presented in quick succession. This process is held over several weeks with formal reviews and there are target dates that must be signed off on by Design Manager, Design Chief and the Design Director. Once theme selection has taken place the designers are allocated skilled clay modellers who take the 2D information to sculpt a scaled-down clay model for the studio to evaluate. Then working as a team it takes a combination of Engineers, Designers, Clay Modellers and Digital Modellers (Alias CAD) to refine and improve what the brief has called for. Each Designers sets out to realize their creative vision for the brief.

FR1 Chassis update June 2009

6. What advice would you give to students/professionals who want to pursue a career in automotive/transport design?

Besides studying design, I would also recommend to those who are interested in automotive design to be aware of the other roles necessary to develop a vehicle. There is a lot of work that goes into research and development behind the scenes that most people don’t know about and it would be in your best interest to know about these other professions.

Most car designers gravitate towards sports cars and that’s Ok, as long as you recognize that it’s a niche market for these vehicles. But when you attempt to design an efficient car for the Indian market, as an example, it is actually more difficult because it has more criteria to adhere to and it involves strict cost restraints. It is actually a little easier to design an expensive car because the cost is usually expected to be higher. My advice then is to learn about lots of different types of cars including the more economical cars for places like India and other future markets.

FR1 Hero Chassis Render

7. Can you share your creative process and design philosophy with Design Droplets readers?

When I start a project I try to think of where the company has been and also what I think the company is capable of. I want to excite people within the organization with where the product could go, so a clear vision is needed in order to pitch a design succinctly in a formal presentation.

It’s really up to my sensibilities to measure the potential in a product and to project a vision for a concept through illustrations, so I have to know the limits for how far to take to creative license. I also try to add some elements that that make it unique.

When I search for a direction for which to take a design I have to resist the temptation to put too much in or I could risk over-cooking a design. I look for inspiration everywhere, and I try not to repeat what already has been done by someone else. It is common to find similar ideas or themes that have been executed before, so the important thing is that the ideas and sketches work in harmony with the overall design brief.

I am fascinated with the mechanical aspects of cars. There are so many different ways to integrate technologies or combine material these days. F1 race cars are the ultimate in this regard. I always get inspired by reading science and technology forums where they highlight remarkable breakthroughs. Sometimes I will take an opportunity to suggest, integrate or propose what may have been overlooked for a vehicle.

I think to achieve a successful result in any car design requires the consideration for the whole thing. Customers will appreciate outstanding designs for both the Exterior and the Interior. It requires an ability to step back from the product and to be able to consider the end users and to consider all the steps on how to fulfil a market demand.

FR1 Chassis Render

8. What skills do you think students coming out of Design School need be equipped with?

Drawing skills are essential. You would have a hard time convincing non-designers in a car company to share a common vision without seductive sketches and illustrations depicting new form languages.

Design presentation skill is also something that I would recommend knowing more about. When I was in school it was discussed, but I don’t think that there was enough emphasis on it.

Digital skills are the norm these days, so if you don’t know how to use Photoshop software or understand basic Alias modelling skills, my advice would be to stay in school until you have learned them well.

One skill you might not learn in school is the ability to receive criticism. It is important to listen to what other people have to say about your designs including Non-designers. Most customers are not designers and they see things very differently than we do. It is also more professional to respectfully receive a critique rather than retort or refuse advice.

9. Digital visualization, CAD and rapid prototyping are starting to become tools that are accessible to almost anyone, how do you think this will influence product design in the next 3 -5 years? How have these tools changed the way you design?

Alias AutoStudio is now the standard software for car designers. However I hope see a time in when this will be replaced with something more intuitive. I welcome it! I think there are many developers trying to come out with different ways to generate digital surfaces. Analysis tools and rendering tools are getting better all the time. I know there are softwares which can calculate load paths now, and it would be great to see something that allows both the freedom of intuitive form-modelling that was combined with capability to share data seamlessly with engineers. In 3- 5 years I would expect this type of software to greatly improve the design process, to speed up development time and also to become more affordable.

New Wing development 2009

10. Jesse, thank you very much for your time and for sharing your knowledge and experience with Design Droplets readers. Before we wrap up do you have any final comments, thoughts or advice?

If you are going to become a designer then learn how to sketch and keep sketching.

If you want to study Automotive Design, try to appreciate the basic engineering principles that go into primary structures and try to understand how parts are manufactured.

Study automotive history and learn where different cars come from and how they were initially developed.

Know about part lines intersections on a car and try to understand the different ways components like seats and steering wheels are packaged.

Talent will get you in the door.