Michael Roller

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.

Tags: design making, kaleidoscope, strategic aesthetics, swiffer

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

Orange & Kaleidoscope Create Solar Tent Concept

Every year, UK communications company Orange creates solar concept tents for Glastonbury. This year, they asked my friends at Kaleidoscope to help them dream up their latest concept. According to their press release, “Orange know the importance of keeping in contact with friends while onsite and undertook this concept project to look at how the festival goers communication and power supply needs might be met in the future.” The tent features photovoltaic fabric, glo-cation technology, a wireless hub, and groundsheet heat.

Tags: concepts, kaleidoscope

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!

Tags: design tools, furniture, kaleidoscope, philosophy, presentations, strategic aesthetics, trends

Febreze Sport

I’m really happy to have been involved with Febreze Sport. From start to finish, it was honestly a great experience working with everyone involved. If you’ve worked in the competitive world of consulting, you know how hard it can be to get agencies to play nicely together. From the Kaleidoscope website:

We are excited to see that Febreze Sport, the latest addition to Procter & Gamble’s mega-brand, is now live on the web. Aside from a full lineup of odor elimination products, they’ve created partnerships with key players in the athletic world (such as Map My Run) that will make Sport a part of any athlete’s gear. Kaleidoscope was fortunate enough to play a large role in the design and strategy development, and we’ll have a full case study up soon. In the meantime, take a look at the products on the Febreze site, and keep an eye out for it at selected retailers.

Tags: febreze, kaleidoscope, p&g, strategic aesthetics

New Febreze Bottle

My friends at Kaleidoscope recently published a new case study for their website. A couple years ago, we began development on a new bottle and spray head for Procter & Gamble’s Febreze Fabric Refresher. For more information, read the full report.

What I specifically like about this bottle is how much restraint was used in its execution. I’ve never seen a symmetrical spray bottle at mass retail, and this really stands out as a result. Historically, it has been a very useful but very ugly household object. With this offering, Febreze elevates the spray bottle into new territory. I’m also told the spray head scores well on ergonomics, making it great in terms of both look and feel.

Tags: febreze, kaleidoscope, p&g