Aesthetics
Dyson DC24 Blueprint
We recently upgraded to a Dyson DC24 Blueprint. Rather than the traditional golden and metal colorway, the blueprint comes in white and has added printed details about range of motion, stress testing, and more technical information. It’s a beautiful product, inside and out, so I decided to document some of the less expected angles and share the design.
Admiring Dyson’s from afar, I always imagined that part of the beauty was in a “secret” level of detail where the appearance of deceptively simple volumes with tangent intersections were actually more sophisticated curvature surfaces (like an Apple laptop). In reality, they’re really just the simple forms we’d expect. Why do you think this works? Is there something cognitively “right” about assigning this vocabulary to tools like a vacuum cleaner? Looking at the Dyson in person reminds me of Gray Holland’s hypothesis on surfacing can relate to functionality. It will be interesting to see how Dyson products evolve now that they’ve become a lifestyle brand. Anyway, here are the pictures:
DAAP Furniture Studio Student Work
How long does it take to design and build a chair? 10 weeks, according to UC’s school quarter. Led by Professor Dale Murray, twenty fourth-year students were the latest group to take on the challenge. Murray directed the students to use metaphor in the design of their chairs, and they presented a very broad range of ideas. Can you find the metaphor in each of these chairs?
Max Schlachter
Tracy Subisak
Jessica Wilson
Jacob Nitz
Chad Hodge
Ed Mangum
Some of the photos were by me and some were by Tracy Subisak. Check out the rest of them over at Flickr.
Swiffer WetJet
Swiffer’s new WetJet recently hit the shelves and Kaleidoscope played a big part in the design development. The redesigned device looks purposeful and powerful; and it backs it up through new usability features.. In terms of aesthetics, we gave the design a darker, more professional purple palette and reflective wave detail to create an experience more in line with other Swiffer products. We packed in lots of usability improvements, including tent-pole construction, dual spray heads, new bottle release, stronger handle ergonomics.
From the Kaleidoscope website:
The redesigned WetJet is more marketable, easier to use, and performs better than its predecessor (which was very successful in its own right). The aesthetic improvements and enhanced performance help it win at shelf and delight in the consumer’s home, while the human factors optimizations set WetJet apart from imitators.
Ziba’s Strategic New Office Space
Ziba recently moved into their new, beautiful office space in Portland’s Pearl District. Lots of writers have already covered the space, designed by Holst Architecture. There’s lots of good coverage by Core77, including this video:
Inside Ziba Design’s New Headquarters from Core77 on Vimeo.
More interesting than the space itself, an inspiring and attractive studio is a strategic move. There are a few drawbacks to a space like this, mainly that the investment might not attract the types of clients and projects they’re looking for, but I’m pretty confident that won’t be a big issue. I’m going to take some guesses here, but I’m pretty sure Ziba created this space for one or more of the following reasons:
- To attract and retain the best design talent (Who wouldn’t want to work in that office?)
- To attract the coolest clients (both new and existing), probably ones who care about a strong aesthetic point of view
- To generate a more consistent and diverse revenue source through the first floor retail space
- To inspire themselves to do their best work
- Walking the talk; showing the value of investing in design to their clients first hand
- To become a more visible part of the Portland community
- Proof of their long track record of successful projects
What do you think of Ziba’s new office? What do you think is the best reason for design consultants to have a good space?
A Conversation with Jarrod Beglinger of the Office for Lost Objects
The Office for Lost Objects is a great new design studio run by Jarrod Beglinger. Jarrod has degrees from MIT and Design Academy Eindhoven, in addition to professional experience with some of the world’s leading design-driven companies. Because The Office for Lost Objects is Jarrod’s outlet to present his personal point-of-view, I wanted to ask him a few questions to learn more about his approach.
You have experience in engineering, graphic design, and product design. Of all the opportunities that have come from this range, what makes furniture an exciting venture for you?
I am a big believer in craftsmanship. Although I have attempted to formulate a definition of craftsmanship wider than what people generally think of, making furniture is obviously a pretty direct way to express it. Also, I think furniture is atypically ubiquitous in the lives of most people. Somebody may not understand how engineering affects him, or respond to good graphic design, but when he goes home from work, he’s plopping down on a couch. It’s a unique opportunity to have that intimate an effect.
Somebody may not understand how engineering affects him, or respond to good graphic design, but when he goes home from work, he’s plopping down on a couch. It’s a unique opportunity to have that intimate an effect.
What are your goals for the Office for Lost Objects?
My main goal is to pursue a very personal vision. I believe I have something relevant to say, to the design community about what we’re doing, and about material culture in general. Of course, I would like it to be financially successful. There is no doubt a strong personal vision and a strong brand can contribute to this, and I’ve gotten very positive response to the initial work so far.
For the first time, Muji credited some of their latest work to Konstantin Grcic and James Irvine. What do you think of this change in brand strategy?
Well, Muji has long been something of a contradiction in terms for me, insofar as the name stems from the Japanese for “no brand,” yet it’s hard to argue the fact that Muji is – paradoxically – a strong brand. And strong brands do not happen by accident. I’m not sure if crediting Grcic and Irvine signals a large shift in strategy or maybe just a small one. After all, it’s no secret Muji has worked with renowned designers in the past – see Fukasawa’s iconic CD player. Either way, I think it’s great.
You’ve cited Morrison and Fukasawa as inspiration. With designers like these still doing great work, how do you make the Office for Lost Objects stand out from the establishment?
It goes back to having a strong personal vision and doing one’s best to stay true to that. I think designers like Morrison and Fukasawa (and Grcic, and the Bourellecs, etc.) certainly do that, both in their “own” work and what they do for clients. Hopefully, people will respond to something unique in what they see in my work. I have to believe they will, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth my time and effort to do the work and put it in front of people.
Any projects you’re currently working on that we should look for in the coming year?
Like a lot designers, I’ve got more ideas than time or resources. One of my biggest efforts in the coming year will be about commercializing some of my work. I would also like to exhibit new work at ICFF 2010 – you should definitely look
for me there!
Thanks!
Photos via Dwell’s coverage of the Office for Lost Objects.
Drew Smith Responds to my Mazda 3 Love
A few weeks ago, I professed my love for the new Mazda 3 production, saying it was a great translation of the Nagare theme that Mazda has been using to impress car show attendees. To get a better perspective on the subject, I asked transportation design strategist Drew Smith for his thoughts on the subject. His comment was so thoughtful that I thought it deserved it’s own post. Here it is:
For me this car is a physical embodiment of the massive challenges that automotive designers face when translating a conceptual design language into something that can be produced to a (low) cost.
The whole Nagare series of cars was predicated on the development of a premium – read more expensive to produce – surface and form language that was designed to shift Mazda upmarket. A succesful, authentic production implementation was always going to rely on high levels of attention to detail and manufacturing skill.
With that in mind, I’m not sure that this implementation of the Nagare achieves those goals. Where the concept cars almost universally reminded me of the unbroken surface of a fast-flowing stream (carrying with it connotations of Japanese natural beauty etc.), the implementation on this vehicle is somewhat less high-minded and a lot of it comes down to the way cars are made.
If you separate front, middle and back of the car there are three different games being played.
At the front, it’s clear that they’re trying to cram in as much Nagare-ness as they can to get the facial recognition synapses firing in the prospective buyer. The front clip is actually the cheapest place to play with lots of form and depth, so it’s really no wonder they went to town with it. The fact that it comes across as pretty overdone, however, runs completely counter to the underlying theme of the Nagare – flow – language.
The side surfaces of the car are far more successful in communicating the intent of the language, with the crease in the lower door being particularly nice to let the eye linger on. Funnily enough, these are the most expensive surface to do well, and although they lack much of the magic of the show cars, they’re still nicely resolved.
The rear of the car is probably the biggest disappointment as it doesn’t really speak of anything intrinsically Mazda or Nagare and is an uncomfortable amalgam of many other cars. This isn’t a problem unique to Mazda, however.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my first run-in with the new Mazda 3. I thought it was a great translation of the Nagare design theme that Mazda has been using. To get a better perspective, I asked transporation design strategist Drew Smith for his thoughts on the subject:
They’re far from alone in letting the back of the car get away from them, as evidenced by the new Mercedes E-Class, a car that has almost no rear-end identity.
The front lamps, as you point out, do have some lovely detailing in them that support the theme, but a look at the rears shows none of the same deftness of touch. Similarly, the grille insert pattern is a nice little detail that is let down by the discordant crossbar and number plate placement.
At the end of all this, I come back to my opening statement. The car is representative of the massive challenges we face and the compromises that must be made to make something at a cost that the market can take. If Mazda hadn’t spent so many concepts teasing us with stunningly resolved surfaces, details and proportions, this car would not disappoint me nearly so much, as truth be told, it IS a good piece of production work.
The problem was that, as an industry tragic (and please, dear Strategic Aesthetics reader, remember that that is what I am. I am not a normal person 
), my expectations had been set much higher.
If I put my consumer hat on, I think you might have nailed it Michael. At the end of the day, Mazda is still (despite all their work to the contrary) as mainstream producer selling cars to mainstream consumers. And on that front, I think that the 3 provides a startling new face that deserves to do well in the market place.
I’m still holding out hope for a Mazda that really does justice to all their hard work, however. A new, electric RX-7 based on the Taiki would do nicely!
Thanks again, Drew!
Wanderlust: Kaleidoscope’s 2009 Furniture Design Trends
Earlier this year, the Kaleidoscope team attended the ICFF and the Salone in Milan to check out the furniture. Collecting and organizing our observations, we put together this trend document, now on slideshare:
At Kaleidoscope, we think trends are great, but identifying them isn’t enough. We believe that documents like this one are only as useful to the extent that they’re actionable. With that in mind, we supplemented the trends themselves with three guidelines for applying them (slides 40-44): Assess how the trend overlaps with your work, Immerse yourself in the trend, and last but not least, Create something informed by the trend.
We hope you enjoy this document and welcome any feedback!
Chair Studio
UCID Juniors recently finished their highly anticipated spring studio – the chair project. It’s an opportunity for the confident upperclassmen to put their aesthetic stamp on an iconic object. They used a nice range of materials, proportions, processes, and aesthetics, making for a really nice collection of work. For more lots more photos, check out the kydlo photostream.
Sam Amis
Brian Bjelovuk
Jenna Edgemon
David Kennedy
Kyle Lewis presents
Professor Tony Kawanari
More of Diane Hay’s Art
I’ve been really sensitive to the use of color in product design lately. Much of this inspiration comes from my interior designer wife and artist mother-in-law. The three of us just installed Diane’s latest series of work at Brutopia in Cincinnati’s Clifton neighborhood, which will be up through June. It’s a massive display of colors, check out these photos from our installation.
AiAiAi in Color
These AiAiAi Pipe earbuds over at DijitalFix are hot. The colors are impressive and the packaging is sleek and simple. I especially like how the minimal 3D forms help celebrate the color choices. Most mainstream manufacturers treat earbuds and headphones as functional products, missing the hugely expressive component they have for many people. More intuitive lifestyle brands like AiAiAi, WESC, and Skull Candy understand this. Major brands take note, this is a great example of how color can be used as a product differentiator at little to no cost to the bottom line.
via NotCot
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