Michael Roller

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.

Tags: furniture, interviews

Strategic Aesthetics Top Five Posts (out of 100)

I just finished my 100th post and wanted to revisit my most popular work. Before I get into that, I wanted to revisit my initial objective for writing this blog. On the About page, I said:

Design’s role within business is still relatively new and undefined. As a result, so much of what we do in the design world is intuitive, unexplained, or inconsistent…I created this blog to try to explain how I use design thinking to help people and businesses. This site will serve as a documentation of my thoughts on design and the products I’ve created as a result.

I think that statement still holds true, although there is more to it than that. If I were to rewrite it now, I would say:

Because so much of the design world is intuitive, unexplained, or inconsistent, this blog explains design to designers.

I hope to write more within this theme, and provide more insightful, inspiring ideas and executions to share with others. So without further ado, here are my top five posts to date:

5. The Strategic Aesthetic Top Ten

Here are my picks for the best businesses using strategic aesthetics. Within their categories, these brands use aesthetic design in a unique, differentiated way that helps their business. I plan to update this list when appropriate, so please weigh in with your opinions and feedback.

4. My Favorite Things

To understand my intuitive design sense, an important step was to identify my favorite pieces of design. I’ve tried to analyze these picks to understand my preferences on a deeper level but am still searching for the right way to organize them. Any ideas on how I should do it?

3. How to Win a Design Competition

This was my 100th post, so I was sure to make it a good one. I’ve had some good experiences and some good luck entering design competitions, so I created 5 rules as a guide for how to be successful.

2. Four Essential Members of a Great Design Team

Although not the most popular, I’m most pleased with the thought put into this post and the feedback I’ve received. I’d still like to validate this idea with some sort of segmentation of creative professionals. Anyone want to collaborate on that?

1. Orange & Kaleidoscope Create Solar Tent Concept

Leave it to designers to pick the post with the coolest pictures. My friends at Kaleidoscope and The Greener Grass collaborated with Orange to develop a solar tent for Glastonbury, so I showed my support by sharing some images of it. This is a good example of how design must be thoughtful and visually compelling to be truly successful work.

Thanks to all who’ve supported me through this first 100. I hope to surpass each of these posts as I continue to think, write, and design over the next year. What is your favorite post? What else should I write about?

Tags: kaleidoscope, philosophy, strategic aesthetics

How to Win a Design Competition

Whether you’re trying to win some money, gain exposure, or just build out your portfolio, design competitions are a great way for young designers to develop themselves. Over the past few years, I’ve entered many competitions for many reasons. I’ve even won a little bit. From my experience, here are the five keys to winning the next design competition you enter.

1. Enter for the Right Reason.

Why are you entering a design competition? Before anything else, make sure that you’re doing it for the right reason. Is it to get yourself more exposure or to make money? If you’re trying to get more exposure, consider the other options and compare the possible value of each. Starting a blog, becoming more active on twitter, or just promoting your own concept product to sites like Yanko Design could be more beneficial. Think hard about entering the competition just to make money. What if you don’t win? Go for freelance work instead.

The best reason to enter a design competition is to build out your portfolio, keep your skills sharp, and experiment outside of whatever professional work you do. The chances of winning can be pretty slim, so the exposure and prizes that come with success should be seen as a bonus, not the goal. Design competitions are about some form of self-improvement.

2. Pick the Right Project.

You’re about to invest a bunch of your personal time into this competition. How do you pick the right one? Again, the answer to this question should be form of self-improvement. There are a ton of opportunities, so make sure you pick a project that will make you a better designer even if you don’t win. When I was a student I entered one of Design Engine’s Photoreal Competitions. It was a great way to do a great rendering for a product I’d already designed. In the end, I was able to use it in my portfolio. Later, I entered Scion’s Floorplan Competition to experiment with environmental design. I didn’t win either of them, but entering both competitions helped me improve my skills.

3. Be Passionate.

Why would you enter a competition if you weren’t interested in the project? Building off key #2, you’re about to spend a bunch of your own time towards this. Designers live off passion and die by apathy, so don’t waste your time on something if you aren’t really excited about it. Plus, who do you think has the best work, the best chance of winning, the best exposure, the most success? Once you’re passionate, everything else falls into place for a designer.

4. Make sure you can do it quickly.

A lot of students ask me how I manage personal projects and design competitions in my free time. You might disagree with this point, but my experience tells me the competition you’re most likely to finish is the one you can complete effectively and efficiently. Read the brief carefully and decide if your skill sets are a good match to complete this project in a timely manner. Once you have the passion required (key #3), finish the project before it fizzles out.

One of my favorite competitions was the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition. Young designers are invited to create martini glasses inspired by the well-known gin. The brief is easy to follow and I was able to create a finished concept over a weekend. As a result, I entered three years in a row (eventually winning finalist & second prize honors) because I was excited about the opportunity and able to complete the project quickly. Follow this rule, your family and friends will thank you for it.

5. Find a partner in crime.

If there’s one final thing that will help you, it’s a close friend that shares the same excitement for entering design competitions. You might encounter a lot of naysayers in your quest for design honors, so friends act as as support network to help you maintain your energy for a project and help you refine your work by giving you an outside opinion. Think of them as your design competition creative director. They should give you helpful feedback to make your project the best it can be. Your friend can carry you when your passion wanes, and if you enter together, the projects can come together quicker than if you entered alone.

Two of my partners are Brandon Lynne and Finn McKenty. Brandon and I worked together in school at UC and we’ve used these competitions as a way of staying in touch and working together. Finn and I collaborate on projects at Kaleidoscope, where he has a design background but now focuses on business strategy. With both partners, our points of view overlap enough that we are efficient but different enough that when we work together we do better work than any of us could do on our own.

Even if you follow these five steps perfectly, I can’t guarantee you’ll win every competition you enter. However, putting yourself in the position to win is all you can do. The rest is a bit of luck, in the hands of the judges and their personal biases. Remember that the value to you shouldn’t come with winning, it should come with entering. If you want more information, check out Coroflot’s article on the subject. Have you had success entering design competitions? What other tips do you have to share?

Tags: concepts, experimentation, philosophy, teams

Mahan Gallery

In Columbus, every first Saturday night is a Gallery Hop, when the galleries stay open late alongside the bars and it’s a big arty party on High Street. As a result, Columbus has created a great local arts scene. One of my favorite galleries is Mahan Gallery. The gallery’s mission is to make fine art accessible to the beginning or seasoned collector. From my perspective, they create this experience by exhibiting top-notch art in a polished but unpretentious way.

Go check out there current show Keep Calm. According to their site, Keep Calm is an exploration of memory and a metaphorical embrace of innocence.

Tags: art

Design Droplets Interviews Ralf Beuker

Like I’ve discussed before, I very much appreciate insight on design from non-designers. Ralf Beuker is one of those people, a Professor for Design Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, Germany. Check out his interview with Design Droplets. Here are a few quotes to stimulate your interest.

My first job after graduating was as a university teaching assistant for the Chair of Management of Innovation and Technology. We acted as a bridge between design, business administration and information science. The idea was to connect all three in a better way – because design, business and information sciences needed the tools, the means and understanding of how to bring ideas to market. So I’ve been working with this overlap in thinking from the beginning of my career.

If you have the management of the design function you are in the operational area. When it comes to Design Management, then you’re on the corporate end. With the CEO you don’t discuss the tiny things of why a nob or a display is placed here or there. With the CEO of a company you discuss why Apple is such a fantastic company and how you think, for example, this furniture manufacturer can become the Apple in their industry. You are designing management and giving him recommendations about which triggers or levers to pull in order to allow the company to become more competitive.

Designers really need to learn, that usually, they do not have a choice about how they enter an organisation…After the basic business needs are satisfied like where do I get my money from (financing), how do I manage the money, how do I get my stuff produced(the value chain thinking), I’m not saying that this is the right view – I’m simply giving you a picture of what the management view might be, one tiny element is design. If designers have at least thought about the business persons situation and view, it makes it easier for you to understand why, as a designer, you sometimes don’t get to the high stakes table (the board room).

Ralf offers up a reading list and also has some good visuals over at his Flickr site. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Tags: definitions, design thinking, interviews

Paintings at Terra Gallery

It’s time for another shameless promotion slightly outside of the Strategic Aesthetics theme. I used to live in Columbus and barely missed the monthly Gallery Hop in the Short North. I have a ton of respect for the local arts scene up there, so I’m proud to announce I’ll be a part of it for the first time. This month, four of my paintings are on display at Terra Gallery in Columbus. Pictured above are (clockwise) Green Study #1, Fraser Island Highway, Black Horizon, and Fishing for Seaworms.

Tags: art