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291 days ago
By Linda Tischler David Kelley is well-known for his astute application of design thinking to many of life's intractable problems. Less known is that he's also a veritable Dr. Phil of good advice about life, careers, and the importance of not being a jerk. "If you ask people, was there ever a teacher or mentor who changed your life, many hundreds of people would say that was David Kelley. I'm one of them," his brother, Tom Kelley, told me. "If they spread the word....you can figure the exponential effect." In this spirit, we asked former students, co-workers and friends to share their favorite Kelley life lessons. Here's what they said: "Success tends to focus your efforts, failure assures me that you try something different and eventually better." -- from Perry Kleban, CEO, Timbuk2 "You're the best version of yourself when you manage to have fun doing your work." -- from Chris Flink, IDEO "You can't think your way through every ...
295 days ago
written by Nick de la Mare, Associate Creative Director, frog design There's a saying I remember from when I worked in advertising: "nothing kills a bad product faster than a good ad." That seemed to make a lot of sense when I heard it, but the more I look back I realize that it's defining things so narrowly as to be absurd. What IS a product anyway? A service-based thing like a house cleaner or a mechanic? A single-minded tool like a cup or hammer? Something digital and deeply nebulous like a Wi-Fi network? And what does "kill" mean in a world of constant innovation and updates in both successful and unsuccessful products? To compound that, what role does traditional advertising have to play anyway, especially as word-of-mouth is becoming the TRUE definer of success for so many products. We're now in a place where production costs are down and competition is up, products are networked into systems, and getting the actual thing into users hands is becoming more ...
295 days ago
written by Margaret Heffernan It took James Dyson 5,127 prototypes, 14 years of debt, and multiple lawsuits to create the top-selling upright vacuum cleaner in the United States. Exasperated with his vacuum, James Dyson took some cardboard, kitchen scissors, and duct tape and patched together his first bagless machine. With some trepidation, he switched it on. "There were no explosions, no blasts of dusty air," Dyson recalls of that day in 1978. "I was the only man in the world with a bagless vacuum cleaner!" The British inventor could not have known then that it would take thousands more prototypes—and years of debt, lawsuits, fury, and frustration—before he manufactured what is now the top-selling upright vacuum cleaner in the United States. Along the way, he would discover the simple secret to success: "People buy products if they're better." Dyson, 61, didn't start out as an engineer. He had trained at the Royal College of Art in London. ...
295 days ago
The last of the videos Plastics News (PN) shot at IDSA's national conference in Phoenix has just been posted in the Multimedia section of the newly redesigned PN web site. The 17-episode series covers topics ranging from China and sustainability to design education, as well as interviews with design officials from companies like Dell, Nike, HP, Navistar, Lenovo, Kor One and Crown Equipment. They're all worth a view. So is the new PN site which now offers full, free access to all viewers. You may want to watch the videos before you start sifting through PN's 15-year, 32,000-story print archives. Check the link below. http://www.plasticsnews.com/multimedia/video.html ps: IDSA is an abbreviation of Industrial Designers Society of America.
303 days ago
你可以说乔布斯是个完美主义者，也可以说他是偏执狂，cnn.com的一篇文章对他的评价很到位，“对于技术，或者股市，甚至是癌症，他都自作主张。这种性格即使他成为当今最伟大的CEO，也使他的公司冒了很大风险。” 国内关于斯蒂夫·乔布斯和他的苹果公司的传记不多。这本《撬开苹果》内容不算好，只能算一本乔布斯的粉丝书，作者利安德·卡尼是美国《连线》杂志的总编，是乔布斯的超级崇拜者。不过书中描述乔布斯是怎样孤注一掷地追求设计的这段故事，能够为这幅照片做详细的说明。 乔布斯十分注重电脑设计的每一个细节，包括电脑包装设计。事实上，乔布斯认为，在向消费者推介其“具有革命性”的计算机的过程中，第一批麦金塔电脑的包装是不可或缺的一部分。 在1984年，只有一些实验室的工作人员才见过像麦金塔这样的电脑；而且，只有资深工程师和电脑爱好者才使用个人电脑。早期的电脑以零部件的形式出售，需要使用者在工作台上对其进行焊接组装，它们可用于数学计算，使用者在光标处输入晦涩难懂的指令对电脑进行操作。 与此相反，乔布斯和麦金塔电脑的设计团队已经研发出了易于使用的电脑，这些电脑拥有生动的图像和简单的英语菜单，人们只需使用当时还比较陌生的点击设备——鼠标，就可完成操作。 为了帮助消费者熟悉鼠标和麦金塔电脑的其他部件，乔布斯认为，应当由购买者自己亲自从包装箱内取出电脑部件进行组装。通过组装电脑，用户将了解电脑的各个部件及电脑的工作原理。 该电脑的所有部件——主件、显示器、键盘、鼠标、电线、磁盘和使用说明书都是独立包装的。乔布斯和设计团队设计出了当时体积最小的包装箱，包装箱上印有黑白色的麦金塔电脑外形图以及“苹果”字样。那时候，乔布斯讲求“优雅”与“品味”，同时他的包装理念为科技行业引入了现在大家熟悉的“拆包装程序”。如今，从戴尔公司到手机制造商，每家公司都采用了这一令公司熟悉产品的做法。 苹果公司在设计产品包装时依然还使用最初的这些经验。 以下是埃弗(乔纳森·埃弗，现苹果公司主管设计的副总裁)在1999年就iMac的包装接受杂志采访时所说的话： ...
