Design Crit

The recent NBA draft got me thinking, what does this have to do with design?  You might think, “nothing” since American team sports and designers in general don’t seem to mix, maybe its that “I’m an artist” vs. “I’m a team player” mentality, but that’s for another post.

Work with me here for a sec. Let’s look at some NBA draft results over the course of a few years.

Atlanta Hawks – 2005 – Selected Marvin Williams ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul

Detriot Pistons -2003 – Selected Darko Milicic ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

Golden State Warriors – 1996 – Selected Todd Fuller over Kobe Bryant,  Steve Nash

Los Angeles Clippers – 1988 – Selected Michael Olowokandi ahead of Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitki, Paul Pierce

And arguably, the biggest mistake…

Portland Trailblazers – 1984 – Selected Sam Bowie ahead of Micheal Jordan

The process of the NBA draft is full of analysis.  Having players come in for workouts (testing prototypes), lots of looking at statistics (intensive research), looking at how they fit as part of the team (portfolio analysis), then ultimately making the selection (placing the bet on the product).  The “companies” spend 2-3 years doing this research on any given player.

Look above again, all that testing, research and ultimately, placing the bet on how to move forward, sometimes, just doesn’t pay off.  Look at how many “bets” ended up as busts.

The Design connection: lots of research, data and testing doesn’t always pay off, especially if the data is wrong (duh, but lots of people don’t realize they are looking at just bad data), as in the examples above.  Even if the research was right, just seems like there are so many other factors that can turn things upside down that data doesnt seem to uncover.  What’s the current economic condition? What’s the competition doing? Did your product have a hidden flaw? Your product tested well, but just didn’t perform in the real world, that’s full of so many unknowns. But that’s what’s great about life, it always throws you a curve. (sorry for the mixed sports metaphor)

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate research, but i also think you can’t go overboard and you can’t let that drive every last decision you make.

ID’s first cut at judging media in 1999.

“minus ten”. A look back 10 years to see what was going on. I’ll pick out what I feel got Stuck in Time, good or bad design that was clearly of the moment. Ahead of Time will be a look at something that had brought some insight to the future and finally, the Test of Time will soon be design classics, at least imho.

Issue of ID before the Annual is always light, not very many ads from the consultants as they we all saving their pennies for the Annual.  Regardless, I was able to find a couple of nuggets.

John Maeda was making jaws drop in 1994 with Reactive Square, Flying letters and in then in 1998 with Tap, Type, Write.  This stuff is still great and WAY Ahead of Time. Its a shame that it only runs on a PowerPC.

Oh, and look at young John back then!

Heres something that i think i used to like.  The Motorola iden phone was clearly a memorable design.  But does it stand the test of time?  I believe it’s Stuck. Those damned ellipses again!

From ID Magazine, June 1999.

So I sorta bashed Hummer in this post for coming out with the H3 saying that a small Hummer, isn’t what “Hummer” people want.  They want, big, bold, over the top vehicles and this was a mistake for them. Fast forward 3 years…

The great news is that Hummer will survive and keep a few thousand Americans employed in the near term.  BUT…

What does it mean for a Chinese company to own Hummer?  What if:

Dior was owned by a Taiwanese company?

Calvin Klein was owned by a Latin Conglomerate?

Ducati was owned by Cowboys from Texas (fact) then lost their soul, and the italians bought ducati back (fact)

Would you feel the same about those brands?

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Arnell Group did the design of the new Tropicana package.  Seems like a lot of people hate it, so much that they are going back to the old design. Designers like it, most of my non designer friends don’t.  Arnell in ID Magazine seems to think that the client made the wrong call saying “you (consumer) like Grovestand, and they (Tropicana) didnt want to do it anymore. So you went to the store to get Grovestand and it wasn’t there. What does that have to do with design?”  He claims this is a “shopability” issue, not design.  I wonder if he had the insight to make a point to the client that us consumers liked Grovestand BEFORE he got paid?  I’m sure he got paid quite a bit for that work, IF Arnell said, ‘hey we think the consumers want Grovestand, so we’ll save you a lot of money, not do the work, but charge you 50% of the proposed fees for the advice!”

In the end, the clients ARE responsible for making decisions, regardless of what famous consultant is providing the advice.  That’s a big part of why I’m getting a taste of being the client…I know that I have the ultimate responsibility and accountability for decisions that get made, regardless of who might be whispering in my ear.

Google this, lots of passionate dialog on this.

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“minus ten”. A look back 10 years to see what was going on. I’ll pick out what I feel got Stuck in Time, good or bad design that was clearly of the moment. Ahead of Time will be a look at something that had brought some insight to the future and finally, the Test of Time will soon be design classics, at least imho.

Karim Rashid’s work for Issey Miyake = Ahead of Time simple clean lines and forms, so clean that maybe even puts this in the Test of Time category. What year was it that he went the way of the blobject? I wonder if Issey was heavily directing the project?  If you don’t think the square, simple lines were ahead of time…then take at look below, won’t find a sqaure or a simple line in what got stuck.

How many ellipses can you put on a product?  How many ellipses can you use to shape a product?  How many ellipses can you put together, to make other shapes, that, look like ellipses?  Ellipses = Stuck in Time

And back to the sharp edge, this design from what I understand, put the Cadillac division in the black.  4 years after the concept, the 2003 CTS  showed up in the Matrix Reloaded and whether or not you think this car started the chamfer/sharp/edgy forms, it was clearly Ahead of Time.

Oh and frog on the back cover, touting web design, for the SFMOMA.

From ID Magazine, May 1999.

On my way home, NPR was interviewing a psychologist about people’s fear of the unknown, in this case, Swine Flu. Basically, the Doc was saying that people are afraid of Swine Flu because no one can connect the dots around who might get it or not, hence it seems, random. He went on to say that even though statistically, more people die from driving cars and crossing busy streets, people and the press don’t seem to obsess over this. Why? His theory was that driving cars and crossing busy streets puts the user in control, hence it feels like a known experience with nothing noteworthy to speak of.

So your chances of dieing are greater on the streets but since people aren’t in control of Swine Flu, it becomes a larger issue in their minds. So is it fair to say that people start to act irrationally when it comes to things unknown even though statistics prove there are larger issues at hand?  Why don’t people wear bright orange safety vests when crossing the streets?

So how does this connect to design? Well I’m thinking design research here when consumers are asked to comment on something really new. Ask a bunch of people about something they aren’t sure about, have no prior knowledge of and something they haven’t experienced before, basically, the unknown, how do you think they’ll respond? What is the psychology of the response? Will they be able to provide a rational answer? Will they try to tap into what they know but can’t since they are being asked to comment on the unknown and answer irrationally? People don’t want to sound stupid, yeah? So will they hide their fear of the unknown and pull a response out of their ass, hence sounding stupid?  Dooohh!

Gee, I don’t know.

Good researchers will say that HOW the respondents are recruited and HOW research itself is conducted should prevent those irrational answers.  But that weird psychology just seems to take over though, doesn’t it?

Here’s a new series that I’m going to try and keep up with call “minus ten”.  It’s a look back 10 years to see what was going on.  I’ll pick out what I feel got Stuck in Time, good or bad design that was clearly of the moment.  Ahead of Time will be a look at something that had brought some insight to the future and finally, the Test of Time will soon be design classics, at least imho.

Stuck in time: Apple blue G3, man those colors…

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Ahead of time: Give Kodak credit for going green on this recyclable camera, BUT
Stuck in time: this design got hit with the ugly stick.

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Test of Time: Knifes, the dots are a bit stuck, and the colors are more neutral than they look above, but I wouldn’t be unhappy pulling one of those knifes out of my pocket today.

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Ahead of time: This aesthetic for the mini home was definitely ahead.  It looks like it could have come out of Dwell magazine last year.

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Oh and give frog some credit for flying the Digital and Strategic flags back then. But that laptop, really stuck in time.

From ID Magazine, April 1999.

I’m not sure what to make of the latest series of Teague ads. They sure are spending a lot for those back covers of ID magazine.

and wtf…DESIGNTHISDAY.COM doesnt work.

I’ve spoken to a few people about the Olympic graphics campaign in Chicago, the consensus, nice, but not strong enough and memorable.  Chicago, Tokyo, Rio and Madrid are in the final four.  Read through the meaning of each logo and cast a vote.

Tokyo: “The Tokyo 2016 logo takes the form of a traditional Japanese knot known as “MUSUBI”. It integrates the five Olympic colours into a motif of colourful and decorative knotted strings which have long been utilised in Japan to signify blessings during times of celebration.”

Madrid: “A bright and colourful open hand that, in the words of its author, represents “unity among the different cultures, people, and nationalities that coexist in Madrid.” As well as “a friendly greeting where one appreciates the freshness of Madrid and its people.”

Rio:  “The Sugarloaf Mountain was chosen as a symbol, representing the natural richness of Rio de Janeiro. According to the ROCOG, the design as a whole conveys a heart shape, representing Brazilians’ passion and enthusiasm for sports.Through its mirroring effect, the symbol also forms a stylized clover.”

Chicago: “a unique six-pointed Chicago star represents a compass pointing in all directions reaching out to the world. Each point represents an Olympic value: Hope, Respect, Harmony, Friendship, Excellence and Celebration. The warm colors represent the flame and the sun, the cool colors represent the green parklands and blue waters of Lake Michigan.”

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Some might say they are riffing off Apple and some might say the design is so simple, its boring.  It also has a bit of mid 80’s Japanese electronics feel, think Sony back then.  I just played with the Spinn for a bit.  It’s definitely a nice product.  OLED display is awesome and the build quality is solid.

The Visual Media is really nice as well, simple swiss grid like feel.  They are also talking about a new home screen they are calling “magazine” style on some of their other big screen products.  I think its a really fresh take on media design.  It goes beyond the Apple jelly style buttons, or any buttons for that matter, you just interact with the media itself.  But their website, ugh, in this case, Flash doesnt have anything to do with how fast you can view all of their products.  The site is really painful to navigate as well. That said, the UI on the Spinn was a little strange combining touch and physical control in a way that wasn’t naturally intuitive.

You gotta love the original walkman, it changed the game in personal electronics. 1979…wow.