And the winners of the copies of Learning Curves – An inspiring guide to improve your design sketching skills, the new book by Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén are:

Hamish Tennent – “Stop caring about what other people thing of your sketches! If you sketch for the purpose of sketching and not to please others, your ability will come along much quicker!”

Mason Watson – “ Best sketching tip I learned – Be observant to everything around you, that is where the inspiration will come to sketch, look at the forms and the way light hits different surfaces. Then always practice these when your sketching.”

Steven Wang -”It’s not about making each line perfect when you first start to sketch. It’s very liberating and free for me when I do gesture drawings. Beauty as well as imagination often lies in the imperfections.”

Congratulations to our winners. Each winner will recieve a signed copy of  Learning Curves – An inspiring guide to improve your design sketching skills, the new book by Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén plus a KeepCup  and a set of Moleskine journals.

Winners will be contacted via email.

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Win a copy of Learning Curves – An inspiring guide to improve your design sketching skills, the new book by Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén.

Design Droplets has a signed copy of the fantastic new design sketching book from Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén to give away to one lucky reader. You can read the recent Design Droplets review of the book, Learning Curves – An inspiring guide to improve your design sketching skills by Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén, here.

How do I to enter?

Just leave your best design sketching tip in the comments on the review post – “Learning Curves – Book Review” before 5pm (AEST) on the 30th of September 2011. 

Bonus Prizes

If we get comments on the book review post from over 50 entrants we will be giving away two extra copies of the book to two more lucky winner’s and as well as receiving a copy of Learning Curves each winner will receive a Design Droplets prize pack which includes a Keep Cup (winners get a choice of colour) and a set of Moleskine Journals.

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Win yourself a copy of Learning Curves, click here to find out how.

As most product designers and industrial designers would be aware there is a real shortage of good, high quality books on the topic of design sketching.

For many years designers were relying on the classic Presentation Techniques by Dick Powell. Presentation Techniques was certainly a great book for it’s time (and still is), however most copies were out of date for many years until a re-release was done around 2000. Then after many years of waiting for something new on the design sketching book front, in 2005 Design Sketching by Klara Sjolén and Erik Olofsson was released, an inspirational product design sketching book featuring twenty-four talented students from the Umeå Institute of Design. Hot on the heels of that came Sketching – Drawing Techniques For Product Designers by Koos Eissen and Roselin Steur and Analog Dreams by Michael DiTullo. While all of the above books are superb and provide various tips, tricks and techniques for improving your product design sketching, there was always a nagging feeling in the back of my mind there was something missing from them – what it is, I cannot specifically say.

When I received Learning Curves – An Inspiring Guide to Improve Your Design Sketching Skills by Allan Macdonald and Klara Sjolén I was elated to discover that this book has that “IT” which the others mentioned above are missing in some way. After several reading sessions, many flick throughs admiring the stunning sketches and pondering the great tips, and in between thinking ‘my god I need to polish my sketching skills’, I have come to believe that Learning Curves is probably the best design sketching book released in 20 years.

Learning Curves covers all the standard tips, tricks and techniques you would expect to find in a book dedicated to showing you how to improve your sketching skills. But where it is significantly different from most sketching books is that it actually assumes you have some level of sketching ability or at least that you are currently trying to develop a base level. Instead of focusing on starting completely from scratch, which many other sketching books do and Instead of belting you over the head with the basics, the book covers them quickly and succinctly, then moves through to medium and advanced skill areas.

Every page in Learning Curves is filled with beautiful sketches which sit along side paragraphs full of tips and tricks that are highly useful, informative and in most cases clearly answer some of those sketching questions many designers have argued over forever. Although what really makes the book great is that is doesn’t just force one persons point of view onto the reader, in fact it often presents various designers views, opposing points or ways of doing so readers can choose what works for them or the project they might be working on.

To achieve such an broad and, at the same time, deep exploration of design sketching, over 40 designers and sketching professionals contributed to the book. This means that everyone, whether a raw beginner or a seasoned professional can pick up Learning Curves and gain something from it. What is also really fantastic about the book is that instead of directly competing with the other design sketching books available it actually compliments them.

Learning Curves is an extremely well written and informative design sketching book that will assist product designers or industrial designers of any level to build and develop their design sketching skills.

Learning Curves will make a great addition to any designers book shelf and truly compliments the other sketching books that are available, while also providing fresh insights. You can order your copy directly from the design sketching website.

Win yourself a copy of Learning Curves, click here to find out how.

I think that a sense of inquisitiveness and the willingness to try is so important for design, for developing those tentative, fragile ideas into a real product.
— Jonathan Ive

Although it has been a bit quiet around here recently (aiming to change this soon), there are some great discussions on industrial design kicking along in the new Design Droplets LinkedIn group. While the group has previously been a closed group, the now open Design Droplets LinkedIn group has got a new lease on life. If you are a LinkedIn user then I hope you will come over and join in the Industrial Design discussions in the Design Droplets LinkedIn group.

Come of the current discussions include

• Intellectual Property in Design
• Communicating the value of Design
• Will Australia’s new Carbon Tax be a boon for Designers?

I look forward to seeing you on the Design Droplets LinkedIn group.

Design Droplets and Interphase Design present Industrial Design: In the future, where to from here?, an interactive panel led discussion to celebrate World Industrial Design Day 2011 and explore the future of the Industrial Design & Product Development professions in Australia.

Grab 20% off tickets, only available until 15 June - Book your ticket now.

The design industry in Australia is an ever changing and fluid entity, full of challenges that we don’t always fully comprehend. From government policy to changes in consumer behaviour and the emergence of new technolgies, with new challenge appearing everyday there are a vast array of changes that all have far reaching impacts on our profession and our ability to successfully innovate and stay competitive in a global marketplace.

“Industrial Design: In the future, where to from here?” will challenge the way you practice as a designer and explore the following question: What does the future of the design profession in Australia look like and what does this mean for us?

Panelists will include Colin Redmond (Interphase Design), Andrew Fallshaw (Bellroy), Nicolas Hogios (Toyota Style Australia), Fiona K Boyd (RushCrowds & Arts Hub), Antony DiMase (DiMase Architects) and Alister Montgomery (KPMG).

For further details on presenters visit Industrial Design: In The Future, Where To From Here?

Four reasons to attend this event:

• Gain new ideas, insights and perspectives
• Build & extend your professional network
• Share your view, contribute your voice to the future of Australian design
• Relax, enjoy an evening of conversation and ideas

Grab 20% off your ticket, only available until 15 June - Book your ticket now.

Supported By

I have been known by many of my fellow designers to wax lyrical about the one things that I believe  every designer needs to be successful, great presentation skills. Designers are usually pretty talented at coming up with great sketches and ideas, but their presentation skills often leave a lot to be desired. The fact is that you can have all the amazing ideas you want. However if you lack the skills to be able to present your ideas to someone other than your mum, then it’s never going to happen. Your idea will be nothing more than, well an idea in your head. You can even have a fantastic fully realistic prototype, but if you can’t present it effectively and convince others of the value of your idea, again your out of luck.

Whether its a thirty second elevator pitch or a full blown hour long digital presentation you need to be able to convince at least one other person (preferably someone who can help you move your idea forward in some way) that your idea is fantastic. If you have this skill, to be able to effectively present your idea and make others as passionate about your idea as you, then you will get a long way as a designer.

Even if you are already a fantastic presenter (I know that my own presentation skills need polishing from time to time) you can always learn a thing or two more. So whether you are a presentation novice or a presentation pro I suggest you take a look at slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations.

When I first came across Slide:ology I had no ideas who Nancy Duarte actually was. And why would I? She is located in Silicon Valley, a fairly long way from Melbourne. However it turns out that Nancy Duarte and her design firm Duarte Design not only have a few big name clients, but she is actually considered an authority on presentation development and design, and the book really shows just how much she knows.

The focus of the book is about putting together excellent slides (or visual communication aids) that actually communicate rather than the other essential parts of a presentation, such as knowing what you are talking about or not uming or arring to much. That side of presentation really comes down to two things, a. know you tropic inside and out and b. practising you presentation till you are blue in the face.

While as a designer you are probably very comfortable creating graphics or designs for products or logos, you probably aren’t as good as you think you are at creating effective and meaningful slides for a presentation.

Here are five lessons from the book I think are worth highlighting.

1. You might have been told by your lecturer in design school or you last boss that you needed your logo or name/company name on every slide, you don’t. As the book says “The people who have come to hear you speak most likely know who you work for. Use your first and last slides to identify yourself or company”.

2. A slide with more than a few words is not a slide, it’s a document. Slides are visual aids. “The default template in PowerPoint is a slideument. This is not a visual aid; it is a document. Avoid two line titles when giving a presentation because of the distance the eye has to travel across the slide. In fact, consider doing a presentation with titles only”.

3. Create an audience persona before you start your slides/presentation. You probably how you often create personas of someone who might use your product. Well you can do the same for your presentations audience. By defining them you can mold your messages to them and therefore communicate more effectively.

4. Before you get all gung-ho in Power Point or your favourite graphics program sit down and sketch out your slides. Organise the presentation and reorganise until it has a logical flow.

5. Practice your presentations. Whether its in front of colleagues (or for students, classmates). “It’s important to test drive your presentation with colleagues before taking it it out on the road”.

Hopefully the above tips will assist you to improve your presentations and if you want to learn more then I suggest you get a copy of Slideology as it is a must have in the toolkit of any designer. Learn to present and communicate effectively and you will find that more of your design endeavours will succeed.

slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations is available on Amazon and Fishpond.

Dr Shane Moon, a presenter at the 2011 AGIdeas International Design Week, speaks about market research, how designers can harness it to produce successful outcomes, some of the misconceptions designers hold about market research and much more.

1. Shane, welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself and your background.

My life has been understanding human behaviour. But as a sporting nut – selfishly I started out studying brain chemicals and their impact on sporting performances hoping to find the magic bullet to make be a faster triathlete! I didn’t find it per se but along the way got to work with some great Olympic level athletes, that is, until I snatched up an opportunity to go into the clinical and forensic fields. Basically, I got to do some profiling and assessment of serious violent offenders who were in maximum security prisons or a community setting. Mind boggling insight into the bad side of humanity but never a dull a moment thats for sure. As cliche as it is, consumer behaviour came out of left field over some casual conversations with marketing & advertising friends – next thing I new was facilitating focus groups and as they say the rest is history…

2. You are the co-founder of Inner Truth, a neuromarket research company, can you talk a bit about what Inner Truth’s work and what neuromarket research is?

Inner Truth focusses on combining conventional research with the latest technological and theoretical advances in the cognitive sciences (i.e. psychology and neuroscience) to truthfully identify the insights behind the right big ideas being created. Our work is focussing on several elements across the marketing mix from package design, to print, to TV commercials, to branding and so on. We use conventional research to get consumers to tell us about their preferences, usage behaviour, cultural norms etc but combine this with recording eye movements and full brain activity recording called electroencephalogram or EEG for short. This way we can understand what parts of the brain are activated that consumers are not aware of and cannot tell us about but directly influence their decisions.

3. Where does neuromarket research fit in with other more traditional types of quantitative and qualitative research techniques?

Despite, EEG being quantitative data collection, that is, our brain activity is measures in numbers, I prefer to classify neuromarket research fitting closer to qualitative side of research. Meaning if you picture a continuum with qualitative research on one end and quantitative on the other neuromarket research is closer to the qualitative side of that continuum.

4. Some Design Droplets readers will be unfamiliar with the area of market research, can you explain how market research can informs and fit with product design and development?

Market research in general is great for product design and development because you can get to understand many things from the consumer or end user perspective. For example, by diving into the lives of consumers (i.e. by in home research, diaries, ethnography etc) you can identify endless opportunities for new product developments that in the end make our lives easier – think of the microwave, dishwasher, modern day ovens, vacuums, etc. Likewise, by talking to consumers you can understand how they use products already and see immediately how designs could be changed to improve the product or alter it to offer the user a better experience. Again picture the modern washing machine and how it has changed over the years from the early models which were simple big scrubbing boards and tubs of water!

5. How can neuromarket research methodologies assist product designers?

Neuromarket research fits into the picture through the design phase best, that is once concepts are initially developed but not necessarily into full production yet. Understanding the subconscious responses to design concepts allows to you modify the concepts to really make it a BIG IDEA that creates some intense neurological connections with consumers.

6. You have specialised in market research for over ten years, what are some of the misconceptions that designers have about what market researchers can or cannot do for designers?

I think the biggest misconception is that market research takes away from the creative process. Great designers and creatives in agencies understand and embrace market research as like a lighthouse beacon, used as a guide to steer one through the dark of consumer responses. With the introduction of neuromarket research into the toolbox this light is even brighter and more effective than ever.

7. Can you share your thoughts on how you believe ever advancing market research techniques and new widespread changes such as the emergence of social media will change the way that products are designed and developed?

I think gone are the days where businesses create products and expect consumers buy them – that is old logic of marketing and business; it really was a one sided affair. Love or hate globalisation from a business perspective, from a social globalisation perspective businesses must change the way they think about product development and design. The new marketing and business logic is that businesses must work collaboratively with consumers and have a two way dialogue that co-creates value for both. If you go it alone as a business now – you will be left out in the dark.

8. Shane, thank you for taking the time to share your story and insights. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?.

My pleasure and always happy to talk about how research compliments design. My parting thoughts would be that designers should reconsider any negative views and consider market research not as a barrier rather as an enabler for design success in the marketplace.

Core77 Design Awards
Deadline: May 3rd, 2011
Recognising excellence in all areas of design enterprise, the Core77 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and its practitioners.
Prizes: See website for details

NPB Design Competition
Deadline: May 1st, 2011
We are putting out a challenge to all cyclists, artists and designers: design your own graphics for a NeilPryde Diablo on the theme of Freedom. As the theme suggests, anything goes. Break free from common conceptions and let your imagination fly.
Prizes: US$1,000 & a Diablo frameset

GHOST PROJECT International Design Competition
Deadline: April 4th, 2011
The Ghost Project competition is open to all persons 35 years of age and younger from all over the world. Applicants can be individual authors or groups of authors. Each applicant can submit more than one entry.
Prizes: The winning projects will be part of the core Talent exhibition at the Mikser Festival, Southeast Europe’s largest regional festival of creativity and innovation.

2011 Design for Direct Digital Manufacturing Competition
Deadline: April 25th, 2011
Design a product that illustrates the benefits and impact of direct digital manufacturing. For 2011, student designers are encouraged to use their imagination to design a product intended to be, or be part of, a system that utilizes direct digital manufacturing (DDM) in features. The product must be able to be used in another assembly. It will need to be fabricated mainly using DDM processes.
Prizes: See website for details.

Are you running a design competition? Send your press release to press@designdroplets.com

Have you found something we missed? Drop us a line via our contact form with details on the competition.

Link Love is back again for 2011. It’s all about exploring, sharing and enjoying – spread the Link Love.

The Strange Powers of the Placebo Effect
A very interesting video on the power of Placebos. How could you use Placebos in your design? Or have you seen them effectively utilised in a design? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

10 Attributes of Successful Freelance Designers
Have you got what it takes to be a successful freelancer? Maybe these 10 attributes will help you determine whether you have or not.

Why Bad Ideas are Good Ideas
Ideas are a journey. They start at one point, travel this way and that and usually arrive at a destination that looks nothing like where they began…

6 Simple Yoga Stretches for Daily De-Stressing
If you are like me and spend more time than is good for you working. Then here are some great yoga stretches you can do to relax a bit during the work day or after it.

Frog Design Timeline
An interesting and interactive timeline on the history of Frog Design.