strategic design
cultural invention
experience design
meaningful experiences
design thinking
business design
design for business
service design
world design centers, california, london, tokyo, silicon alley, etc.
design research
human centered design
changing people’s behaviour
changing the way people see the world
analysis paralysis
what ever happened to the simple pleasures, passion and beauty that design brings?
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.
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.
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.
Designers typically hate it when people “vote” to make design decisions.
I just figured out how to add polling software to this blog…so how about this, a poll about a poll…
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The economy has been a like game, one where people have built up an interwoven, towering system, full of money, profit and excess. It starts with a small Tower, filled with resources. Each player takes turns, removing resources without regard to the overall system. They reinvest what they have taken, to make that tower bigger with the goal to create the biggest empire possible. Sounds fun yeah? The Tower is growing, people are making money, everyone is happy. The only thing the players see is that growing Tower of wealth, and even though its right in front of their faces, its foundation is becoming weaker and weaker. They have selfishly used all the resources without regard to the overall system. Something about the game won’t let them stop, many could walk away rich but the game entices them to keep going. In the end, it all comes crashing down. Everything was dependent on each other…and everyone is out. 
Remind you of Jenga? Let’s hope there wont be a Jenga Environment that comes crashing down on us as well. So what to do? Fortunately, there’s hope with our new President. People on the top floor of that Tower, all now hangin’ with everyone, at the bottom. So time to band together and rebuild, collectively as one. From Barack’s inauguration, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Thanks to Dan Clements for the conversation that led to the jenga analogy.