Michael Roller

IDSA Comes to Portland

So far Portland has been a great place to host this year’s IDSA national conference. I’ve already drank plenty of local beer, notably Heater Allen, and had Voodoo doughnuts. We’ve heard some great lectures on DIY, the craft movement, crowdsourcing, and the future of creativity. I’m honored to be writing for IDSA while I’m here, so check out the blog to see some of my posts. I’ll try to cover the highlights for my readers on this site as well.

Last night, design*sponge’s Grace Bonney starting us off nicely with a short history on the good, bad, and ugly of do-it-yourself since 2004. She along with subsequent speakers, inspired me to evolve and reconsider my own definition of DIY. More than just painting your own fence, DIY is the next phase of fostering creativity and inviting another wave of collaborators to projects. In keeping with the theme, I recorded video of her talk so you can watch it for yourself. Here is part 1 of 3. Enjoy!

Tags: definitions, diy, experimentation, idsa

The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer

Being a great industrial designer requires a nuanced balance of many important skills and personality traits, but which matter the most?

A few weeks ago, I initiated a project with the goal of uncovering information about how industrial designers process and evaluate the complex, nuanced combination of skills and traits that are thrown at them every time they look at a portfolio or meet someone for an interview. I sent out surveys to senior designers to get feedback that would help students and young designers understand where to focus their energy. After receiving 100 responses, I’m happy to say that this document confirms some things intuitively believed and also uncovers some interesting surprises. How important is good sketching relative to a good personality? As it turns out, they’re neck and neck.

Even though this document uses scores and percentages to organize the information, it’s important to remember that the study is still largely qualitative. With that in mind, I hope you’ll leave your comments and help me start a constructive discussion on what’s important to the young designers for which this project was created.

Tags: definitions, interviews, personality, presentations, student work

Design Skills: Which Matter Most?

We all know that being a great industrial designer isn’t as simple as being a good sketcher, having a creative personality, or observing objectively. Being a great industrial designer requires a nuanced balance of many important skills and personality traits, but which matter the most?

In an effort to better understand and organize a young designer’s skill set, I’ve initiated a survey to gain insights from industrial design managers around the world. The survey is a brief set of 7 questions that asks design managers to record their preferences when interviewing junior designers. With the insights from this project, I’ll distill the results into guidelines that will help young designers better develop themselves.

If you’re an industrial designer who is or has been responsible for hiring co-op, intern, or junior industrial designers, I hope you’ll participate. If you don’t fit the profile but are still interested in the project, please share it with your team to help me get a diverse set of responses.

Tags: design management, personality, survey

All the “ID” work at the 2010 DAAPworks

Last week, University of Cincinnati seniors showed off their final projects. Here is a selection of the industrial design projects. (I wish I could have documented the whole show!) There was a great range of work, with a strong interest in furniture this year. My main criticism is with some of the critics themselves, who still think “ID” is defined only as products and tangible objects. Sure, it’s always great to casually walk through the space and breathe in beautifully considered medical devices, consumer electronics, or juvenile products, but industrial design has evolved far far beyond the final object. Some professionals still don’t even consider soft goods a legitimate endeavor! If anyone would like to weigh in on this point of view, I’d love to have a spirited conversation about it.

I believe no matter what the capstone topic, there is potential for both success and failure. Many of the students uncovered opportunities involving retail, brand positioning, experience design, new business ventures, and more. The product is not always the solution, and this new generation of students understands that. Congratulations to all the new graduates! Check out the full set of photos on Flickr.

Tags: furniture, presentations, student work

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

As a consultant, our business lives and dies with each presentation. Each time we speak with a client, no matter how formal or informal, it is an opportunity to leave an impression that inspires them to ask us for help solving with their latest challenge. I also stress the importance of the public speaking to my students, and I often cite Steve Jobs as the best source of inspiration. Jobs is a great example for design students because he must always relate his message back to something tangible, whether it is one of Apple’s interfaces, products, or a retail experiences. The keynote of the original iPhone is my gold standard for tone, structure, and details of how a student should present their own work.

Recently, my design director lent me a copy of Carmine Gallo’s The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. This is the second book on presentations that I’ve read in as many years, the other being Jerry Weissman’s Presenting To Win. Where the latter is a better reference, Gallo’s book is filled with inspiring examples, most of which can be reviewed on YouTube. The two books share a lot of the same points on preparation and structure, but there are some nice additions that come out when specifically studying Jobs.

Plan Plan Plan

As with many books on presentation, Gallo recommends that planning for a presentation is best done on paper, not on powerpoint. Jobs is a relentless planner, not a natural. A good presentation answers the questions, “What’s the one thing that matters most?” and “Why should you care?” for it’s audience. I’ll continue to promote this point only until I stop hearing speeches that fail to answer these questions.

Be The Protagonist

Products are not just products, they are solutions to some problem. We designers know better, but too often we forget this when it matters most. Through the lens of storytelling, solutions are the protagonists that save the day. Paint a vivid picture of your audience’s pain point (the antagonist) early in your presentation, always before you present your solution. Finally, end your speeches as Aristotle would, with a call to action.

The Holy Shit Moment

Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Scientist John Media reports, “The brain doesn’t pay attention to boring things…it does pay attention to an emotionally-charged event.” Plan a holy shit moment by telling a personal story, revealing some unexpected information, or delivering a demonstration that will be a memorable experience for your audience. Make sure you build up to the moment properly and rehearse to make it come off effortlessly.

Tags: books, consulting, presentations, student work, video

Beyond MBTI: Two more preference tests

Right on the heels of my experiment tracking designers’ Myers-Briggs results, I stumbled onto this creativity test from the Art Institute of Vancouver through a discussion on LinkedIn. The test is based on Dr. Roger Sperry’s Nobel Prize-winning brain research from 1981. Not surprisingly, many of the industrial designers in the group are reporting a near 50/50 split between left and right brain thinking.

What I find more interesting are the subcategories that make up each side. On the right side are holistic, random, concrete, intuitive, nonverbal, and fantasy-oriented. The left side is made up of linear, sequential, symbolic, logical, verbal, and reality-based. Take the test and look for interesting highs and lows. For instance, I scored high on sequential but low on linear processing. It’s important for me to understand how this seemingly narrow difference in processing could affect my ability to learn a new skill or digest an important piece of information.

Finally, Brian Westbrook offered up another test called the HBDI. It tests the whole brain: left, right, front, and back. Ned Hermann, a manager at General Electric, developed the test in the 1970s. For more information, download this PDF profile.

Take the quiz, join the Industrial Design group on LinkedIn, and add your comment!

Tags: brain, linkedin, mbti, personality, preference test

Results: What Personality Types Are Designers?

About a week ago, I challenged the idea that ISFJ was the ideal Myers-Briggs personality type for designers and asked designers to take the test and submit their results. 64 designers recorded their profiles, and here are the results of the poll:

While there wasn’t one personality that was most popular, results showed a strong level of Intuition and Judging among the group. I don’t believe that having strong Sensing and Perceiving traits necessarily rules out one’s ability to be a talented designer. However, someone with these traits should be aware of these as key differences when working with other designers around them.

About half of the designers surveyed were either INTJ, ENFJ, or ENFP. I’ll follow up with additional thoughts on what these profiles mean and what design careers best map to the most popular personality types. Visit the poll if you’d like to take the quiz and record your profile. If the results change significantly, I’ll update and report the changes. Finally, there are some great conversations both on this site and on the Core77 discussion boards.

Are you surprised that designers weren’t more biased towards Introversion or Feeling traits? Do we need more Perceiving in the design world? What do you make of these results?

Tags: design thinking, mbti, personality, survey

Which personality types make the best designer?

Do designers share personality traits that make them successful? Even more specifically, can personality types indicate a likelihood that one will be a better manager, researcher, or stylist?

If you’re not familiar with it, the Jung Myers-Briggs Type Indicator documents 16 personality types based on four categories: Extroversion vs. Introversion, Intuiting vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving. The test asks a series of simple questions and then assigns a four letter type along with the strength of each of those preferences. For example, I’m an INTJ. That means I tend to work well alone, focus on the future, seek logical explanations, and structure the world around me. The test has it’s critics, but for the sake of exploring my initial questions it serves as a good starting point. In addition to providing a personality type and description, many profilers provide advice for the ideal careers that match each type’s strengths. Here’s where it gets interesting.The ISFJ is listed as an ideal personality type for a career “designer.” This means that the ideal designer is:

1. Introverted – likes to work alone, seeks to understand the world, prefers depth over breadth
2. Sensing – trusts facts and data, accepts the world as it is, prefers practicality
3. Feeling – seeks harmony, considers the feelings of others
4. Judging – gains control through planning, focuses on results

While many of those traits work well in the design world, I can just as easily see opportunities where the opposite personality traits might be preferred. The definition of “designer” on this site is ambiguous, so let’s see if their recommendations hold true or if we can create some better ones.

What is your personality type? How well do your personality traits fit your current position? Click here to take the test and leave a comment with your result. Will we discover that certain traits are define certain types of designers?

Tags: definitions, survey

Five Questions for Mark Gallagher

Over the past few months, many industrial designers have responded to my interview requests. I’m excited now to get a perspective outside of ID. Mark Gallagher started brand expression consultancy Blackcoffee in 1994. Using his background in communications and design, he helps brands tell strong stories, and he writes some good ones of his own on the Blackcoffee blog.

How do you define good design?

“Good” is defined by context. Good design considers the values of its audience within the context of how the brand will provide value to a given market. The more value it delivers, the better the design. The irony is that what is considered good design today may very well be considered bad design tomorrow, and by the same individuals.

Changes in consumer values change the context in how value and costs are perceived. New vs. Vintage, Handmade vs. Machine made, Natural vs. Synthetic, Sustainable vs. Disposable, Classic vs. Modern… A change in context changes everything.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

I enjoy being challenged and I enjoy collaborating with people who have different expertise and perspective than my own. Fortunately, I get to work cross-functionally with a highly diverse group of very smart and talented individuals. Each of them brings tremendous value to the brand and to me personally. Together we develop systems that allow the brand to grow and evolve over time without the appearance of change.

What challenges you most as a designer?

What works for you today can work against you tomorrow. The biggest challenge is creating brand systems that are rigid enough to maintain brand consistency, yet flexible enough to maintain relevance within an ever-changing world.

In the context of your job, how do you define success?

Award shows don’t define success—the market does. My job requires that I work towards a definition of success that is predefined by the brand team. Everything is then measured against that definition. Because each member of the team defines success the same way, we work individually and collectively towards the same ends. This encourages everyone to leave their egos at the door and allows the team to maintain momentum throughout the process.

What has been the most unexpected part of being a professional designer?

The unexpected is the norm, and yet I’m still constantly surprised. I’ve seen great designers get stuck carrying out production work and below average designers lead major redesigns. The difference is often presentation, being able to talk about design though the vernacular of business.

Thanks, Mark!

Brand Expressionist® Mark Gallagher graduated from Pratt Institute receiving a BFA in communications with a minor in industrial design. In 1994 he co-founded the brand expression consultancy Blackcoffee®, which helps consumer-facing organizations to unlock trapped value by clarifying, simplifying and amplifying their brand stories. Clients include: Acura, Showtime, Cannondale, Puma, Hasbro, Timberland, MTV, Reebok, Rockport, Tonka, Sperry Top-Sider, Seven Cycles, New Balance and Zildjian. In addition to building brands, Mark is a nationally certified high-performance driving instructor and competes in the BMW Club Racing series.

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews

Five Questions for Demetrius Romanos

I’m particularly excited about this latest interview with Kaleidoscope’s Demetrius Romanos. With a background in both corporate and consultant design, he has a great sense of empathy for both the needs of clients and those of his internal team. Empathy can be crucial to the success of design, and it has helped Demetrius be successful as a designer, design director, and currently as VP of Design. And just so that I’m being completely transparent here, Demetrius is my boss.

How do you define of good design?

I suppose that every year the definition of “good design” changes for me to a degree based on what annoys me at the time. Right now, for example, I just wish I had a phone that I could hear, one that would not regularly fail in the most basic functions. At the end of the day, I’m still sadly too aesthetically driven. To me good design is the considered detail. The special last button on a Ben Sherman dress shirt. The tag on the inside of my Scotch & Soda jacket that says “you look really great today”. The little rubber ring on the handle of a Swiffer that keeps it from sliding down when you lean it against the wall. Anyone can make something look great at 10 paces, but when you consider all the little things, that to me is good design.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

My favorite part is getting to the root of what’s needed, then planning the strategy of what we’ll do and how we’ll do it. I love mashing design, fashion, architecture and looking to all sorts of areas for inspiration. Mostly I like to see people smile when they buy things and use things. Joy from joy.

What challenges you most as a designer?

At this point in my career, I would say relevance in the eyes of younger designers is the biggest challenge. While I might not be “on the board” anymore, I am so engrossed in consumerism and pop culture that I still want to not only share my own ideas and experiences, but to see them implemented. That’s my best way to contribute as a designer now.

In the context of your job, how do you define success?

I most define success by repeat business. I love to be trusted and relied upon. I want to be the go-to place for when you get a call like ‘I have this huge initiative to do and I only want to work with someone I trust and that’s you”. It is so affirming and hardly gets better than that.

What has been the most unexpected part of being a professional designer?

I suppose there are a few things. I guess what I think is cool to work on has changed over the years. Like packaging for example. You sort of have to suspend the moral part out of it, but it’s fun to work on. Being a consultant has changed me too I’d have to say. I get so much more of a thrill at building our business, strategically growing our offerings and client base and seeing our talented designers grow than any single artifact I’ve ever designed.

Thanks, Demetrius!

A University of Cincinnati grad, Demetrius Romanos is a driven design leader with 15 years experience as a design professional in both corporate and consulting environments. He has strategically focused his career for maximum engagement, beginning with working in the film and juvenile products industries, then as a key part of a high caliber corporate design team, and now as a leader building a world class product development team. As Vice President of Design for product development firm Kaleidoscope, Demetrius leads a team of multidisciplinary specialists in design, strategy and research for international clients including: Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool, International Trucks, Staples, Evenflo and J&J. Demetrius’s work was selected for the Cooper Hewitt’s Design Triennial in 2000. He is an avid traveler, shopper, pop culture junkie and artist, all of which round out his creative eccentricity.

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews