I.D.milano Product Development I.D.milano Product Development Product Design blog that is part of the website of an Industrial Design company in Milan, Italy. Off-topic entries about humour, environmental issues, ,and engineering pop up frequently. Articles
Marketing vs. Design
2008-06-07 11:55:00 Marketing are the corporate function that everyone loves to hate. Dilbert has done a tremendous job of illustrating the friction that often develops between Engineering and Marketing. But what about Design ? Surely, the close working relationship that is required between Marketing and Design is going to result in more unpleasantness? (or should that be less). ... More About: Marketing
Infrasound
2008-06-02 13:55:00 Let me first state that I’m not a softy. I don’t watch chick-flicks and it takes something very significant to even get me to think about crying. However, get me on a commercial airplane at 30,000ft and all that quickly and mysteriously changes. I become a bit of a softy. Watching the inflight movie, I ... More About: Company
Environment 2008
2008-05-14 10:36:00 Listening to the radio news while sketching or modeling, there are frequent stories about the environment and sometimes it is all too easy to get a bit glum. With that in mind, I decided to put together a quick top 10 list. Firstly 10 reasons to be pessimistic about the future of the environment and ... More About: Environment , Green , 2008
Tata Jaguar
2008-05-13 10:56:00 After considering the peculiar aesthetics of the new Jaguar XF for a couple of weeks, I have a couple of theories as to what they are playing at. The question is, why would Jaguar, with such a rich motoring and racing history, throw away their strong design language at the same time the company is being ... More About: Design , Transportation , Tata
Jeremy Clarkson is a Moron
2008-05-08 11:01:00 What red-blooded male doesn’t like Top Gear? How can you not be drawn in by the throbbing engines, good-natured ribbing, and childish humour? However, let’s get serious for a moment and think about the message being delivered by the corpulent host. With his endearing grin and cocky attitude, he’s pushing big, dirty, ugly consumption. Top Gear, ... More About: Transportation , Green , Jeremy , Jeremy Clarkson , Clarkson
Salone Pics
2008-05-06 11:36:00 For most Design ers the middle of April is the highlight of the year. That’s because the “Salone” or furniture fair brings tens of thousands of people to Milan to check out thousands of new products and prototypes. Unfortunately for me, this year I was stuck in bed with a miserable flu for the week of ... More About: Italy
Soap Nuts
2008-03-09 12:19:00 This is the best little product that most people have never heard of. Soap Nuts are literally the shell of a nut that is a natural detergent and can totally replace your chemical laundry detergent. You get clean clothes. You can save money and, being 100% natural, its not harmful to the environment. I’ve been using ... More About: Green
Class ?A? Surfaces - part 2
2008-02-29 15:30:00 The catch with quality is that there is no quick and easy solution. Checkboxes can give you a measure of success but they don’t necessarily provide the whole picture. G2 curvature can often be a good thing, but it’s not a complete solution to quality surfacing. The image above is designed to portray how well-built surfaces ... More About: Modeling , Part , Class
Anthropomorphism
2008-02-28 17:21:00 Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to things or animals that aren’t. Most people look more or less the same. The differences that make us young or old or male or female or Asian or caucasisn are tiny. There may be just a slight changes in eye shape or a subtle differences in facial profile. ... More About: Design
Class “A” Surfaces - part 1
2008-02-24 21:24:00 There is a great deal of debate and confusion regarding quality surfacing and what may or may not represent a class “A” surface. Many Design studios state that they offer this kind of service. Some firms like ICEM (PTC) claim to have Class “A” software. This leads to many users wondering what they are using. Is it only a B modeller? What’s the deal? Should you be doing Class “A”? Well, here’s the I.D.milano answer. A class “A” surface is one without physical imperfection. “A” surfaces are the ones seen immediately by the customer and can be contrasted with the less visible and therefore less important class “B” surfaces that are less critical. These highly aesthetic “A” surfaces are closely associated with the automotive industry. When you wander around a new car in the showroom, all of the large panels you see will need to be of this quality. Anything painted with a metallic basecoat a... More About: Part
Surfacing is Key Development Skill
2008-02-11 09:57:00 Surfacing is the key skill in product development that ties together the creative 2D conceptual phase with the more detailed, engineering part of the cycle. The problem you see with so many products is that the final product bears very little resemblance to the original concept sketch that the business team signed off on. Sometimes, this is simply because Design had no knowledge off or simply ignored the mechanical requirements. More frequently, it is because there is a disconnect between Industrial Design and Engineering. The core skill of the designer is naturally sketching. We’re all accustomed to the “wow” look of the concept car sketches historically carried out with markers and now frequently done on the computer. This represents the ideal goal of the design, the look that Marketing would kill to have delivered to the showroom floor but seldom see. Some Designers attempt to pull this “design intent” into a 3D model themselves while others crea... More About: Development , Skill
Design Student Portfolios
2008-02-04 10:10:00 As you might imagine, we receive a lot of student CVs and sample portfolios. This is true for all Design firms. Unfortunately for students of Design, each year there are many times fewer vacancies than there are graduating students. So, how do you make yourself stand out? Naturally, it helps if you’ve got talent and to ... More About: Student , Company , Portfolios
Wii HT? (head tracker)
2008-02-02 11:05:00 All Nintendo Wii fans no doubt love the playfulness and level of interaction that the Wii remote provides. Head tracking takes this interaction to the next level. Watch the video below (if you haven’t seen it already) and fail to be impressed! The big question is whether the current Wii hardware can handle the ... More About: Design , Technology , Tracker
Top 10 Things you may or may not know about Italy
2008-01-27 11:08:00 Contrary to popular opinion, Italians are great drivers. The popular image of Italians being crazy or reckless is probably founded on the fact that many drivers go very fast, routinely drive through red lights and break numerous traffic laws, etc. While this is all true, virtually all Italians are very capable and attentive drivers. Italy is ... More About: Things
Brains over Brawn
2008-01-17 09:25:00 In many gamers minds Nintendo was almost down and out. In 2003 Nintendo were failing to keep up with Playstation 2 and stock was trading at just 8 dollars. Nintendo’s 2nd generation box, the gamecube, was a distant third in the marketplace to Sony’s Playstation 2 and Microsofts Xbox. Today Nintendo is number 1 and ... More About: Design , Technology , Brains
CES 2008
2008-01-10 11:07:00 Today is the last day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Over the last few days some 140,000 visitors were either entertained or bored by around 2,700 exhibitors. While CeBit is still the worlds largest electronics tradeshow with more than 6000 exhibitors, companies are increasingly using CES for new product announcements. And ... More About: Design , Technology , 2008
Green Ships
2008-01-09 08:03:00 The high cost of fossil fuel is creating some interesting developments in the field of ship propulsion. The vast majority of the worlds ships use diesel engines. In the past couple of decades, the trend in ship design has been larger and faster. For example, the Emma Maersk that launched in 2006 can hold more ... More About: Technology , Transportation , Green , Ships
Gesture Interaction
2008-01-08 10:08:00 After decades of “traditional” interaction, the way in which we use electronic devices may finally be changing, albeit very slowly. Traditional refers to any device with a keyboard and screen, such as telephones, personal computers, televisions, etc. The first computer I used at school closely resembled a typewriter. Instead of a display, the output was printed ... More About: Design , Technology , Interaction , Interact
Buon Anno
2008-01-07 10:34:00 Monday morning and we’re back in the studio after the Christmas break. Naturally, we’re hoping for another strong year at I.D.milano Product Design. This will be our fifth and hopefully the most exciting. Today is a big day for Fabio Capello. Its the first day for the Italian as the new manager of England. He unwisely promised on the 17th of December to learn English in one month, which leaves him only a week or so to complete his task. I’ll be extremely impressed if he succeeds since I’ve been struggling with Italian for seven years. Most likely, Capello, whose names means “hair” will open himself up for much lampooning by the easily amused English press. It’s almost inevitable. In the unlikely event that the situation were reversed and we had a new English coach for the Italian team, I might be able to offer assistance. For example, if you want to wish someone a happy new year (buon anno), it is safer to just say seasons greetings (augur... More About: Anno
World?s First?
2007-12-18 08:34:00 The Personal Rapid Transit system, a pod from which is shown above, opening at Heathrow next year, is frequently touted as the world’s first. But is it? A quick google search reveals that the world is littered with various failed and successful PRT systems. A particularly interesting comparison, both commercially and technically, can be made ... More About: Technology , World , Transportation
Yan, Tan, Tethera?
2007-11-28 12:03:00 Yan, tan, tethera? What’s this all about? Well, bear with me and I’ll get back to the sheep in a minute. One of the major trends in society, at least in the last 200 years, has been the incorporation of and conformity to new standards. Whether you are using your computer, talking on the telephone or ... More About: Design , Thera
Process - Does it really matter what CAD tool you use?
2007-11-27 10:01:00 If you are looking to hire a product design company, here is the normal process… The design firm creates sketches or renderings according to your design brief. A design is chosen and a CAD model is created or refined resulting in a final database. Your company must rebuild the data properly using Pro/Engineer or Solidworks (or other). There are ... More About: Design , Company , Tool , Modeling , Matter
Future of Computing?
2007-11-22 09:27:00 At the moment the Playstation 3 is probably most synonymous with the decision to incorporate Blu-ray, the long-delayed product launch, and the fact that Sony lose money on everyone they sell. In the longer term the Playstation may be most remembered for the introduction of the 8-core, parallel processing, Cell chip. Developed by Sony, Toshiba and ... More About: Technology , Future , Computing
Ikea
2007-11-21 10:46:00 I love Ikea . You can’t beat it for cleanly designed furniture at low prices. Right now I’m sitting on an Ikea chair, using an Ikea desk lamp. Behind me is an Ikea shelving unit. The only thing that bothers me about Ikea is the misdirection. Just like a magician surreptitiously switching an object from one ... More About: Design
Amazon Digital Paper Reader
2007-11-20 13:20:00 Amazon launch their “Kindle” electronic paper reader today. If its a hit, it could do for Amazon what the Ipod did for Apple. If its a flop, it probably won’t do too much to hurt the company. The design of the reader is a bit dull. Its pretty much the same format as the Sony ... More About: Design , Technology , Amazon , Reader , Paper
Future of Design - Newson Style
2007-11-19 18:07:00 The hand-crafted, aluminium-wrapped, idiosyncratic sculpture that is Marc Newson’s Lockheed Lounge may be the direction of Industrial Design . Not because of its materials or function or design language, but because of who wants to buy it. I was first going to write a post about how Newson produces great sculptural forms but he doesn’t really do ... More About: Future , Style
Why smart cars are only slightly smart
2007-11-16 16:56:00 Like so many things that receive loads of publicity, the “smart” car (coming to the US soon) promised a lot more than it delivered. It has been a familiar sight on the streets here in Europe since 1997. Why is it smart? Well, its small, its a great design, and its easy to park. Why is it ... More About: Technology , Cars , Green , Smart , Smart Car
Too much Design?
2007-11-15 10:01:00 The toilet bowl cleaner “rim blocks” above were designed for Henkel by Alessi designer Miriam Mirri. They have been on the market since 2005 and, according to Henkel, have been a massive marketing success. The first design is a two man kayak and the second is a chap on a windsurfer. I’ve used this product. It ... More About: Design , Green , Materials
Interpersonal Italians
2007-11-14 14:00:00 Top 6 Things you can do in public in Italy that you can’t do other places You can stare at other people anytime, anywhere. Its OK. Everyone else does. Touching is OK. Even with complete strangers to some degree. There are limits, but in general arms, shoulders are up for grabs. You can stand incredibly close together ... More About: Interpersonal , Italians
The Curse of Design
More articles from this author:2007-11-11 10:05:00 The design industry is great, but there are downsides. One of the biggest problems with design is that when your eye is fine-tuned to design details it is impossible to switch it on and off. You can’t be a Design er during the week and a non-Designer at the weekend. This leads to tremendous difficulties finding ... More About: Curse 1, 2, 3 |
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