Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

A warm welcome to you dear reader! If you have not already, why not subscribe to my RSS feed, or get my latest thoughts on Industrial Design in your Email Inbox for free?

Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch? ~ D.T.

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!

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 via Wired

Image from YES Design

The books, reissued as part of the Penguin on Design series, include Munari’s 1965 book, Design As Art; McLuhan’s 1967 classic, The Medium is the Massage; Berger’s seminal Ways Of Seeing from 1972; and Sontag’s 1977 essay, On Photography.

Penguin has republished 4 great books on design with new covers with the help of YES studio from the UK.

Check out the full creative rational on Creative Review’s CR Blog.

Via: Aisle One.

Many brands are seeing the light.

From Nokia, Apple, Levis, Nike, Nintendo, to Bose, Samsung and Sony, companies today understand the power of branding and know that to allow consumer to fully experience their brand they must create an environment where the consumer is surrounded by the brand experience. Nothing does this better than putting the consumer in a direct sales environment or what we commonly call a “Concept Store”.

Within a “Concept Store, a you can fully manage the brand experience from the decor, design of the product placement, the background music, and even the smell! You can now create a truly 360 degree brand experience for your customers.

With a “Concept Store” you are able to filter out the “noise” of your competitors and now have the perfect opportunity to ensure your product is placed in the best possible light. No more have to deal with situations such as getting your product chucked on the floor just because the shared Point of Sales (POS) shelf has run out of space.

Really, this “Concept Store” marketing strategy allows you to build your brand equity in very authentic manner. You might, even sell more product while you are at it! (Notice selling comes at the very end?)

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Check out this amazing iPhone application, called Ocarina, that has currently got all of us in stitches or in awe! I have come across Guitar and Drum applications or simulations for the iPhone, but this has to take the cake! To get it to work, the program requires you to blow into the iPhone microphone thus turning your iPhone into a “true musical instrument”. Not only that, the software takes advantage of the iPhone’s accelerometer to control the depth (front to back) and rate (side to side) at which your music is produced!

Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone. Both experts and beginners will be amazed by this innovative player. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original. Unlike other musical applications, there are no pre-compiled riffs so musicians will find unlimited opportunities for self-expression. Advanced options allow you to choose between diatonic, minor and harmonic scales. Or channel your favorite video game adventurer with Smule’s Zeldarian mode.

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Being the Multi-disciplinary sort of designer, I was highly impressed with Monocle when I picked it up at one of my better newsstands early last year. Therefore I was very please to discover Monocle as a video podcast on iTunes and free to boot! Produced with equal quality and refinement as the magazine, the video podcasts are great “snack” for your latest culture fix.

Link to Monocle on iTunes.

“As real as it gets” by advertising firm, Bates 141 Jakarta. A very clever representation of, I dare say, one of our design software’s most recognizable user interface. Even the tag line is great. I love it!





Check out their production process and the full size (obviously photoshopped) final print image on their flickr site.

Via: Blankanvas

1) Check out this very cool short 3D film called “9″ by Shane Acker.

2) Coroflot’s Creative Seeds has a good article on how to keep your creativity flowing and growing: “Climbing out of the Genius Trap“.

3) Design is all about Change, we are used to it, but what about the rest and is change, though exciting, really good?

4) Struggling with your Nurbs to Parametric modeling conversions? Can’t get your Computer Aided Industrial Design (CAID) to speak properly with Mechanical CAD (MCAD)? Well help is on the way with this article that is almost a “cheat sheet” on how to get your Rhino to talk with Pro-Engineer. Nice work Sim!

5) Finally Go Olympics Go! How wonderful it is to finally be in Asia? Shall we forget about all our troubles and enjoy the cohesive spirit of the games?

Anyways, if you happened to be interested in the Industrial Design of the Olympic Medals which are a combination of 2 materials (metal and jade), check out the interview with the Olympic medal designer Xiao Yong here.

1) Billy Graham: Technology, faith and human shortcomings. A presentation he did on TED about the real problems we should be using design and technology to solve.

2) Tired of your Moleskine? (Mine’s not even open!) Check out this Monster collection of Moleskine hacks to give your new or tired Moleskine a new life.

3) Check out the strongest material tested. Though strong it looks very soft to me, ah the ironies of life.

4) While we are on technology, check out the new High-Tech Sports equipment and apparel that is going to help Olympic athletes win in Beijing.

5) Now lets get back to work with 9 ideas for better brainstorming.

6) Finally lets wrap it up with an interview with Ross Lovegrove on his thought on modern design, sustainability, and his very beautiful Solar Trees.

Mario Vellandi, Marketing Commando and part time Design Ninja, has published a fantastic collection of videos created after his recent attendance at Sustainable Brands 08.

All of these videos cover topics in marketing communications, product development, operations, human resources, and management. The camera may not be always perfect, but I tried my best to get the best audio and sharpest resolution. On each individual page, there is descriptive information below the video about the speaker(s), the presentation’s summary and analysis, and additionally related articles and resources for further learning.

Not all the videos are about marketing or branding, as there are some great ones that would interests Industrial and Product Designers. I’ve take the liberty to sort them out and list them here:

Clean Tech Investment - Bob O’Connor, Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati

CleanFish - Tim O’Shea:

PANEL - Current Consumer Brand Perception

Keen Footwear - Bobbie Parisi

PANEL - Designers Accord

PANEL - The New Social Ethic, Making Sustainability Personal

Method Products - Eric Ryan

PANEL - Avoiding Greenwash & Establishing Credibility

Design for the Other 90%

The Future of Sustainability - Mark Lee, SustainAbility

Hewlett-Packard, Printing & Imaging Division - Michelle Price

John Edson - Sustainable Product Design

Check out the complete list of videos at his Melodies of Marketing Blog.

All his videos are distributed by a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license, and may be downloaded and redistributed as appropriate. So please share and share alike!

Great job Mario, and thanks for the email heads up!