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IDEO on Design Thinking at The Harvard Business Review
2009-05-27 19:05:00
IDEO's Tim Brown has written a great article on Design Thinking for The Harvard Business Review . This one sure did the rounds in the studio! Recently, I discovered that there is a pdf version available right on their IDEO website. Do Enjoy!
More About: Creativity

A Controlled Democratic Design Process Gets Every Cubical Involved
2009-05-26 19:46:00
I recently read a really insightful interview with the members of the Griffin product development group on how they go about creating their wonderful accessories for the iPhone and iPod. One comment, in particular, struck a chord: How does the process begin? TC: Regardless of where the idea originates, the front end of the process is wide open; any one at Griffin can pitch a new product idea by writing up a one-page concept summary and presenting it to the team in a weekly product development meeting. That group bats it around, beats it up and decides whether it has enough potential to warrant further exploration. TC: A great product idea can come from anywhere. We all use and love the technologies that we build products to support, so sometimes we're just creating solutions that let us use our iPods and iPhones to do the things that we want to do. We also interact constantly with our customers to learn about their needs and pain points. Other times, we find an exciting techn...
More About: Design , Democratic , Process , Business Management

Redesigning The Rock-Paper-Scissors Game
2009-05-25 17:37:00
I really enjoy reading blogs where the author shares his or her musings and anecdotal thoughts. I find that this gives a good insight into how that author thinks. Even better if these thoughts come from a designer. Check out Smart Design's co-founder Tom Dair share his thoughts about redesigning the Rock -Paper -Scissors game. Tom argues that it does not seem logical that Paper trumps Rock, and sets out looking for a new Tri-factor that makes sense. As I was growing up, my mom had a lot of advice, especially when it came to safety. I used to hear "it's better to be a live chicken than a dead duck" a lot. Here's another one: "if there is ever an electrical storm, whatever you do, don't stand under a tree. The safest place during an electrical storm is in a car. The rubber tires protect it from the lightning". One day some teenagers in a fast moving Camaro hit a tree down the street from my house. The car was totaled; fortunately the teenagers survived. Mom, as usual, had a r...
More About: Game , Creativity , The Rock

What Role does Design Play within Your Organization?
2009-05-20 19:24:00
Designers often wonder or whine about how their work is not recognized, accepted or even respected in their organization. What many designers don't realize is how they or their designs are treated has to do with how the discipline of design is viewed within their organization. While most of the time I reference organizations that have in-house design teams, most of the topics of our discussion today can also apply to consultancies looking to service organizations that buy design services. There are many levels of how Design is viewed or integrated within an organization. This is what I like to call ?The Design Functionality Axis? as illustrated above. The Axis stretches from a low level Supplier relationship at the base of the triangle to a Strategic Design Leadership relationship. In the next few paragraphs, I hope to explain in detail what it means for a company to operate at these different Design functional levels, what designers working at these levels can expect and s...
More About: Design , Organization , Play , Role

Who Wants to be Part of a Designer Mentoring Program?
2009-05-13 18:27:00
Image from AllMoviePhoto That is right friends, I like to introduce to you a new activity on Design Sojourn and that is our very own Designer Mentoring Program . But before I go on, you might be wondering why I'm doing this? Let me share the reason with you. I often get a lot of email requests and questions for design advice. However, as I'm often very busy I don't get a chance to respond properly or even not at all. Not only that, I wonder if my advice really works, as I often don't get the full story or context of the problem. Worst still, when I do take the effort to give hearty advice, I don't even get an email reply of thanks! Who are these people? (Boo-hiss!) Because of all these point, I now want a much higher level of interaction and engagement with the people I'm helping. Hence my thoughts of running a Designer Mentoring Program here at Design Sojourn. Now, back to the program details. This program is targeted to designers of all levels looking to better...
More About: Part

Resonance, A Film about Design Strategy
2009-05-12 08:44:00
Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo. Check out this really slick film about design strategists, the methodology or tools they use, and how they identify the right ideas to go with. I can identify with this, as I always say these days it's not "what can we make?", but "what is the right thing to make?". This film was produced by the global innovation consultancy Continuum to share their strategic design process with the world. Nice work guys and thanks for sharing. Enjoy!
More About: Design , Film , Strategy

A Post-it Pad makes a great Cup Coaster
2009-05-10 17:25:00
I slipped early into a meeting right before it was about to start with a cup of hot tea in my hand. My second for the day, freshly brewed and in a freshly washed cup. Not wanting to create wet rings on the wooden table, I unconsciously did the same thing I usually do, I used a post-it pad as my coaster.
More About: Post , Great

What Can Our World Be In 2050?
2009-05-06 17:40:00
Ok, I might as well spill the beans. One of the big reasons why I have been really busy, is that I am helping organize the next icsid congress 2009 here in Singapore! The congress will run from November 23rd-25th, and if you are interested to go the early bird registration (about 25% off!) is currently open to all ! So back to this discussion. I was invited to be the Chair of the Special Operations Sub-Committee. We were originally meant to sort of be a fast-response, stop-gap group, looking at issues or "dirty jobs" that no one else has the time to do. However the role has since evolved into social media strategy and networking. Strange things I get up to these days, no?
More About: World

Loyalty Points, What?s the Point?
2009-05-04 17:23:00
I recently had a discussion with my better half on how “Loyalty Point s” are pointless these days. (Please excuse the pun!) I rather have a clutter free wallet than carry my Ikea or local hardware store loyalty card. Why accumulate points and work for delay gratification when I can get immediate ...
More About: Points , Business Management

Which Member of Your Design Team do You Represent?
2009-04-28 19:56:00
Image Source: Michael Roller. Michael Roller has written a great post describing the 4 key members of a design team and the different roles they play. They are a little complicated at first glance, so I have taken the liberty to add to this discussion by translating these roles into the more common design titles we are familiar with (in brackets are my contributions):
More About: Design , Management , Team

Getting Inside Design Strategies with Hartmut Esslinger
2009-04-28 19:03:00
Guy Kawasaki, in his usual 10 point interview format, talks with Hartmut Esslinger founder of frog design and someone BusinessWeek calls "the most influential American industrial designer since the 1930s". In the interview, Hartmut shares his thoughts on Steve Jobs' brain, "Why big companies create crappy products?", and his Top 10 best and worst products of all time. It is a great interview and a primer for Hartmut's new book: A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business. (Out in June) I am looking forward to the book and will do a review as soon as I can get my hands on one! Interestingly in question #9 of the interview, we get to hear, from the "horse's mouth", why there was a limited success with the $100 Laptop Project. This pretty much echos my views I have shared in the past. Do check out the full interview transcript here. Via: iPlot
More About: Inside , Business Management

Make Every Bit of a Design?s Experience Count
2009-04-27 18:49:00
Over the weekend we went to a fairly up market restaurant for dinner. It was a nice little quaint setup with enthusiastic waiters and fantastic food. My rack of lamb was particularly delicious. All in all it was a good meal, good company and a good night. However it ...
More About: Design , Experience , Make , Count

Sorry!
2009-04-25 18:17:00
What a crazy few months I had on both my work and home front! As a result of this I have not had the time to blog, and so I like to apologize for the lack of posts or updates. However I have been keeping track of all your comments so do keep ...

Have you Evolved?
2009-04-22 08:09:00
I was very thrilled to be able to visite the Droog store in Amsterdam. Sorry I don’t have any pictures as I was so excited to go in to the store that I forgot! Anyways it is worth a trip there if any of you are next in Amsterdam. What was also ...
More About: Business Management

The Dark Side of Design
2009-04-15 16:03:00
Image by Balakov This is my second article, that I wrote for Yanko Design (YD). As I know some Design Sojourn readers don't really frequent YD, I have decided to republish and keep a record of the article here. Enjoy, and I'm looking forward to your comments if you have not left any before! There is something really nasty about the Design Industry; something many know of but never really spoke of. In our ever-competitive society, we always seem to celebrate the winners, and outcast the losers. We often talk about the one that made it to the top and leave no space for second place.
More About: Dark , The Dark , Side , The Dark Side

Design Business Review
2009-04-10 19:26:00
Designers are in the business of doing business; their clients rely on them to make smart, market-savvy decisions and yet there is no resource to provide the necessary knowledge to make these decisions wisely. DBR is simple, pragmatic advice on the business of creativity. Our readers will gain a strategic advantage in their profession by learning how to get a job, win clients, and survive the recession.
More About: Business , Design , Review , Business Management

Meta Design Links: 10 April 09
2009-04-09 19:20:00
I like to bring back our regular Friday "link love" feature this Good Friday! 1) Design is The Problem : Tim Brown's thoughts on Design Thinking 2) Make something Cool Everyday: Behance Network 3) 10 Industrial Designers worth following on Twitter: Design Droplets 4) Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights: Ted Talks 5) Today's Future Designer: Drivers of Change "The role of the designer in the business world is changing. With increased activity at a strategic level and the innate skills that support community and collaboration, the designer has the skill set to play a pivotal role in today's business. In addition, they have the desire to work with new tools and are experienced in making the complex simple. In a world where technological innovation has increased the complexity of both the products and services we consume, achieving elegance has become the hallmark of good design." Do enjoy and have a Happy Egg Hunting Easter friends!
More About: April , Links , Meta

Design should be an Iterative Process not a Linear one
2009-04-08 16:24:00
Anders Ramsay, a UX designer, has done an excellent job in explaining on his blog the advantages of a iterative design process versus a "Waterfall" (or Linear as I call it) design process. He gets a nod from me for explaining that Industrial Design ers have been practicing Iterative Design methodologies for a while. However, I have often noticed that with the pressures of time and budget, Industrial Designers tend to slide back to the more linear processes. This is very dangerous to do, why? Please let me explain.
More About: Process , Business Management

Call them Clients? No, they are Business Partners!
2009-04-02 17:10:00
I recently visited the website of the book "The Art of Client Service" written by veteran advertising Account Manager Robert Solomon. Though I have yet to read the book (I plan to eventually!), the content really resonates with me, as it is a snap shot of the Strategic Design Management role I play daily. One thing that I find a little odd though about the Book?s title was the Book's reference of the "client". This is because I was part of a discussion where we agreed to reclassify "clients" as "business partners". Please let me explain.
More About: Business , Clients , Call , Partners , Business Management

Innovation? What a waste of time!
2009-03-28 14:31:00
Gadi Amit, president of NewDealDesign, writes at The Fast Company Blog that Innovation (or Design Thinking?), as championed by the likes of Bruce Nussbaum (BusinessWeek's Design Blog) and David Kelly (IDEO), is "killing" Industrial Design by forcing an "analytical structure" over something that is more intuitive. Very interesting, it sounds to me that this is very similar to what people often complain as the failure of most MBA programs. Has Design lost its way in the avenues of business plans and ROIs (return of investments)?
More About: Time , Waste , Business Management

20 Tips for Designers to Beat the Recession
2009-03-27 16:36:00
This article was originally published on Yanko Design. As I know some Design Sojourn readers don't really frequent YD, I thought it might be a good idea to republish it here as well. I have also re-edited some of the text to make it more relevant to DS readers. Enjoy! It is all around us, talk of doom, gloom, job cuts, job losses and recession etc. This is not what a young designer, fresh out of school, wants to hear. It is also not what an employed designer wants to hear. However it is not the end of the road, and as long as the Earth keeps turning, there will be a tomorrow. Personally, I like to believe a recession is a time of great opportunity for everyone. Especially for forward looking designers who have the right skills and are well placed to take advantage of a recovering economy.
More About: Tips , Designers , Beat , Recession

Apple?s iPhone Strategy is Now Clear
2009-03-24 14:52:00
I'm sure many of us "poo-pooed" Apple 's first generation iPhone as sorely lacking in the technology department. However, no one can doubt the buzz the impending launch of the iPhone OS version 3.0 has created. On the flip side, if we can look through the marketing, we can see that there is a very clever strategy at work here.
More About: Business , Iphone , Strategy , Clear

Are Concept Products a Lie?
2009-03-19 18:23:00
You can find a boat load of Concept Products everywhere on the Internet these days. Every second news article seems to be a new concept mobile phone, PC or even a car. But are we fooling ourselves with Concept Products and patting our collective backs with a liberal round of “Mental Masturbation”? According to ...

3 Seconds is all You Got for Your Designs to Sell!
2009-03-18 18:22:00
Source: You-Did Tic. Tock. Tic. Tock. Tic. Tock. Three seconds. That's all you've really got to make the sale. Source: The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less (Amazon Link) In a blink of an eye, a potential buyer would have entered a store, quickly scan the different products on the shelf and then make a decision to engage with a particular product. All this happens in just 3-5 seconds! A product?s external housing is one of the first things a customer sees. This means for your designs to be successful, it will only have 3 seconds to capture the buying interests of your target customer. In today?s ultra competitive market landscape represented by information overload, saturated product offerings and competent competitors who can also do good design, ensuring that your design does this job well is no easy task. So then how do you do it? Here is how I think it can be done.
More About: Designs

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about The Creative Genius at TED
2009-03-17 05:58:00
Elizabeth Gilbert , author of Eat, Pray, Love, gives a great little talk about creative ventures, the creative genius and how we are ruining it (them). Very interesting, especially the part about how each great creative venture "kills" us bit by bit, metaphorically that is! Designers you can relate right? Heh-heh. Enjoy!
More About: Creative , Elizabeth , Genius

The New iPod Shuffle: I?m Sorry, but What?s the Point?
2009-03-14 08:15:00
Edit: I thought long and hard on whether I should post this or not, as I know anything perceived as negative of Apple will receive a lot of flack. And it has. However, let me set the record straight. I have full respect for the Apple Design team and by no means belittling any of their amazing effort. In fact I have recognized that they are almost 100% responsible for making business leaders recognize the power of design. So let me clarify, what I'm doing here is asking "Why?" and the reason for their strategy behind it all. I therefore would like to have a constructive discussion here and will not hesitate to delete comments that do not have any value add to this discussion. I had a little shiver of anticipation when I heard from a colleague that Apple had released a new iPod Shuffle . What did the boys from Cupertino think up next? When Apple?s homepage finished loading up, my immediate response was "What the hell is that?" Also suitably confused I asked myself ?Why?? ...
More About: Ipod , Point

How to be a (Fill in the Blank) Superstar?
2009-03-11 06:32:00
Or: How to build your personal brand by blogging? How To Be A (Fill in Blank ) Superstar ?View more presentations from designsojourn. Wow. What a great evening meeting and interacting with hot chicks and cool guys, Bloggers are great!

How to Market your Blog like a Brand?
2009-03-05 16:08:00
The very lovely Pat Law from Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence Team , has invited me to share some of my thoughts on this theme. I will be thinking about what to present over the next few days, but at this time it looks like my presentation will be something along the lines of blogging, building ...
More About: Design , Market , Blog , Brand

Dieter Rams and his 10 Design Commandments
2009-02-28 16:35:00
My first exposure to Dieter Rams was through a German lecturer I had at school that really idolized him. Perhaps it was that constant, "Dieter did this" or "Dieter would have done that" that really put me off! Now that I think about it, he even looked and dress like him! However through out the years, I have come to recognize Dieter's extensive and important influence over modern industrial design. I know we have discussed Dieter before, but I have decided to create a post specially dedicated to this design legend who also happens to be going through a second renaissance. Do enjoy! Dieter Rams, designer - Cold War Modern from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.
More About: Design , Industrial Design , Commandments

Apple, you are a STUD!
2009-02-26 02:26:00
Apple customarily comes late to the game, sitting and watching and then releasing its own, usually better, take on the current offerings. If Apple went to a party, it would turn up last and leave with the hottest girl there.Via: Anders Ramsay.com via Wired
More About: Apple