Michael Roller

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

Failsafe: Latest Article for Product Design Hub

My latest article for Product Design Hub is called Failsafe, inspired by a student who took big risks and eventually failed to finish his chair prototype on time. Through his story, my advice to design students is to take these big risks, albeit with some proper planning in advance, so that they will learn from failure, overcome their fear of it, and understand what it sometimes takes to be successful.

Why are some designers afraid of failure? The truth is that designers are more comfortable with failure than most, but the fear is so deeply ingrained in our society that we must work hard to avoid it. Over at The 99 percent, research analyst Michael Schwalbe says it best: “Ultimately, it’s the ones who barrel through the discomfort, are resilient in the face of failure, and master the last 30% of taking risk who reach the highest levels of performance.”

So as not to steal their thunder, I’ll let you read the rest of the article over at their site. If you enjoy it, I hope you’ll comment and share your thoughts with them. Thanks again to Product Design Hub team for publishing my work and to Max Schlachter for sharing his story.

Tags: design making, failure, furniture, risk taking, student work

Five Questions for Jed Farlow

Born and raised in Boston, Jed Farlow studied human factors and ergonomics at Cornell University and then industrial design at University of Cincinnati. He currently works at DEKA Research & Development, creating smooth and understandable user experiences for life-saving medical and infrastructure (power, water) systems.

How do you define of good design?

Good design fulfills a stated need or solves a problem, efficiently and elegantly.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

The concept generation space between research and refinement, generating solutions to specific parts of the problem. At the moment, this involves a lot of back and forth with engineers about feasibility.

What challenges you most as a designer?

I’m having a major debate with myself about the sometimes subtle differences between design, art, and junk. A lot of what gets praised by the ID world at large seems off-base to me, and I’m trying to decide what’s reasonable to do about it.

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

Basically, success is how well-suited one of my products is to its users. We test this. Early involvement in projects is a big deal; the earlier I or my team get asked to provide research or input, the more successful we’re likely to be. I’m waiting for a few major projects to get released, so my definition is likely to get updated as I see how they are received and used (or not!) by their markets.

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

The amount of subtlety and diplomacy it takes to protect design intent and user experience through the development process.

Thanks, Jed!

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews

Five Questions for Colin Roberts

Colin Roberts is a Designer 1 at Fiskars Brands with a Bachelors in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. He enjoys sneakers, reading on his back porch and drinking in daylight.

How do you define good design?

Good design is creating objects appropriate to their context that resonate with someone to the point of making life more enjoyable. Good design isn’t about a physical ethos or style.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

I don’t think I have a favorite part. It’s the process itself that I love, from exploration, to visualization and final development. When I’m getting too much of one and not enough of others I can get cranky.

What challenges you most as a designer?

I think our world is rich with ideas and lacking in executional ability. With all the good ideas floating around it can be challenging for a young designer to avoid being used simply for execution. Maybe even more so within a larger corporation.

How do you define success?

There are so many variables to successful products, even award winners can be failures in the market place. I think I’ll define success when I can look across my company’s product line and see a spread that’s given us the opportunity for success in the market place.

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

I’ve been surprised by the lack of formality in the design process. It seems that with so much time in school, in books I’ve read, and on designer blogs devoted to exploring and perfecting processes, more emphasis would be given towards implementing those processes.

Thanks, Colin!

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews

The Best Cappuccino

Nearly every designer I’ve heard speak talks about the importance of exploration and experimentation. For better or worse, we often can’t do that to the extent that our jobs will allow us. For me, fine art is one outlet for experimentation. It also keeps my compositional skills sharp. My work, a collection of both familiar and fresh pieces, is on display at Brutopia this month. They have great cappuccino, you should go have one!

I recently discovered the digital macro feature on my Canon Powershot SD790 IS. I’ve nicknamed it the industrial design setting since it is perfect for shooting the tight details of your favorite products. If you have a Canon, you should check for it!

Tags: art, experimentation

Five Questions for Michael Seum

Michael Seum is a Chicago native currently working from Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Industrial Design program. Seum’s work as a Principal Designer for Global Consumer Design, Whirlpool Europe fuels his interest for highly complex design problems. In his current role in the platform studio, he is integrating design led innovations and demonstrating the role design can play in the early phases of planning and product development. Michael’s work is diverse in nature as he fluidly moves between setting a vision, leading complex, multi-functional teams to working the intimate details of a product. Michael’s past design experiences include the design of award winning products for Sterling, Kohler, Procter & Gamble, and KitchenAid.

How do you define good design?

It’s really not up to me to define good design as the designer. Although I have my opinions, I leave the final judgment to the person who purchases the product at the end of it’s creation.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

The parts I am most passionate about are the collaboration aspects. There are some really smart and talented people out there and my favorite projects always found a way to pull seemingly different minds behind a single objective. I also like the espresso breaks.

What challenges you most as a designer?

A pencil, seriously. I am not the best with a straight line or creating wicked sketches to say the least. I prefer clay, paper, glue, duct tape and interns.

How do you define success?

Currently, I am working from our Italian design studio so my measure of success is very much influenced by my recent transition from working in the states to now working in Europe. Success (for me) is earning the respect and trust of my colleagues outside of design.

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

I am sometimes surprised at how geeky designers can be. Recently, I’ve seen one designer who wears silver shoes.

Thanks, Michael!

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews