Michael Roller

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

UC Chair Studio 2010

I made a quick visit to University of Cincinnati recently to see the fourth-year industrial design studio’s chair projects. As always, there was a broad range of solutions as the maturing students strive to refine their own points of view on design through this project. The deceptively simple chair allows for myriad possibilities when it comes to aesthetics and materials.

Many students outsourced the production of their chairs this year, possibly mirroring a general shift in design away from artifacts and towards ideas. While a very different experience than building the chair on their own, my take on this outsourcing is that the students learn a valuable skill in managing someone else to execute their vision. Ideally, UC will require some projects to be built by hand and some to be outsourced, since both are great experiences for a student to have. Check out a few of the projects here or visit my Flickr page to see a larger set.

Tags: design making, furniture, student work

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

2010 DAAP Student Merit Finalists

This week, the top industrial design students from UC’s DAAP program presented their work as a part of the IDSA student merit awards. A group of professionals judged the work and selected Tracy Subisak to represent UC at the upcoming district conference in Grand Rapids. Having worked with all of these students, I’m sure it was a difficult decision, even just to narrow it down to this group of seven. This is an extremely talented group of soon-to-be graduates, and I wish them luck as they prepare for their capstone presentations at DAAPworks this June.

Tracy Subisak

Cody Stonerock

Sylvia Spencer

Jeff Engelhardt

Kristen Beck

Dave Heyne

Sam Amis

Tags: daap, presentations, student work, transportation

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

The Best (and Easiest) Advice on Sketching

I’m preparing to give my Design Communication students their first sketching assignment. With that, I’ve been trying to give them the best advice possible for how to improve their skills. I asked my friends on Twitter, and got a ton of responses (thanks!). It occurred to me that there are a lot of small pointers and advice that people have to share, so the most actionable advice will be memorable and easily digestible. Here it is:

1. Always Warm Up.

2. Always Pin Up.
   

3. Always Cheat.

Always warm up. Have you ever played a sport or a musical instrument? If so, this advice instantly makes sense. Whether you’re running a 5K or playing the clarinet, you’ve got to loosen up to perform your best. When you warm up and “stretch,” you prepare both your muscles and your mind. I prefer a warm up I learned from Scott Robertson, which has me drawing at least a page each of straight lines, ellipses, and circles before I dive into something (yes, I still do this at work). Warm ups succeed because they completely separate designing from drawing. The repetition is therapeutic and allows the mind to begin thinking about ideas before having to commit them to paper.

Always pin up. Technology has allowed some people to work almost exclusively on the computer. While this affords many benefits (control-z, less paper), it challenges designers to consciously hang up and share their work. There’s something magical about hanging your work up on a wall. Unlike viewing it on your desk, perspective errors become clear, the use of contrast makes sense, and your best designs often jump out at you. When the entire studio hangs work on the walls, they share their successes and failures, improving together.

Always cheat. Cheating can mean emulating someone else’s style, tracing an underlay to understand perspective, or copying a product detail to better sketch it from memory. Don’t confuse copying a sketch with copying a design; learning through replication is different from plagiarism. Many designers avoid these things in favor of developing unique habits, but in reality they’re slowing their pace of improvement and missing out on opportunities. “Don’t think tracing is cheating; it’s a skill, says designer Sam Amis. “I was always afraid to, until I realized I was being stupid not to.”

These are my three easy rules for improving your sketching skills, but there are many more. A few others are: stay positive, sketch everyday, and choose one: ideate, communicate, impress. What is your best piece of advice?

Tags: demos, process, sketching, student work

Don’t Design A Logo: Five Self-Promotion Rules Industrial Designers Should Break

This article was originally written for and published at Product Design Hub. If you’ve already read it, thanks! If you haven’t, check out the conversation going on at Product Design Hub’s site.

So you just graduated this past spring, and now you’re looking for a job as an industrial designer. Times are tough, but you’re pretty confident in your work. You wish you had some connections, but the couple internships under your belt will only get you so far. First things first, you’ve got to build up your network. So you designed a “sweet” logo, started a new blog and twitter account, and bought a great new pair of glasses to interview in. You’re all set, right? Think again. Most of your peers are doing the same things, and your best chance to make a good impression is to stand out from the crowd. Here are five popular methods of self-promotion that I challenge young designers to reconsider.

Don’t Design A Logo

…Especially one that uses your initials. I’m not sure why we do this, but industrial designers feel a strong need to brand themselves with a logo, and they typically involve our initials in some sort of ligature. Because the majority of us aren’t good graphic designers, these logos typically fail to make the impression we’re hoping for on our websites and portfolio covers.

Instead, borrow a page from the 2D design playbook: type your name in a simple, classic font and let your work speaking for itself (like here, here, or here). Now that you’ve saved yourself a few hours or more, why not do something more productive for your portfolio? Enter a design competition, back sketch one of your old projects to make it more current, or learn a new piece of software. Whatever you do, make sure you’re investing your time towards something that helps you be a better industrial designer.

Don’t Write A Blog

Last time I checked, designers spend most of their time drawing and visualizing ideas, not writing about them. There are plenty of good reasons to start writing about design, but before you do, ask yourself why it matters to you. Blogging is popular and easy, but unless you’re a writer (and most designers aren’t), you can probably find some better way to promote yourself or refine your point of view.

Spencer Nugent, co-founder of IDsketching.com, offers this advice. “Think of something unique you can bring to the table. One of our most unique and popular posts was on microwaving prismacolor pencils to keep them from breaking. That post alone brought over 10,000 new visitors to the site. Stick to your guns and be prepared to defend your point of view. You’re putting yourself out there for EVERYONE to see. Not everyone will agree with you, so you have to be prepared to stick to what you believe in.”

If you do decide to write a blog, “post about topics, not yourself,” says Nugent. “We try to post things that people will find interesting. Sometimes we post about ourselves, but we try not to. Again, pick a theme, or concept for your blog and stick to it. Your blog is a design project too!”

Don’t Follow Me on Twitter

Twitter has exploded over the last year, so it isn’t a surprise that you’re on it, searching for the best designers to follow. Don’t rely on Twitter to make meaningful connections, because you’ll just be one in a hundred people following me. I’m not even that popular. Follow someone more popular and you could be one in a thousand. When you have this many followers, receiving messages could be more of a nuisance that anything else, and that’s not the impression you’re after.

Instead, consider commenting on my blog. More specifically, ask me a thoughtful question. It shows that you take the time to read the content and engage in a conversation that isn’t ruled by abbreviations and a specific number of characters. Even better, get me to follow you or do some fantastic design work deserving of a blog post! Remember, social media tools help you network with people, they won’t do it for you.

Stop Wearing Pumas

I can spot a young industrial designer from 100 yards away. Here’s the look, top to bottom: Eccentric eyewear (optional), simple graphic tee, bold watch and/or belt, relatively dark denim, and Pumas in a bold colorway. Don’t get my wrong, Puma makes some great products and I’m really just picking on them as an example. There are a few other designer stereotypes, one of which probably comes to mind for you. I don’t like the way designers so quickly adopt their own stereotype. We tell our clients to differentiate themselves, but we can barely do it ourselves!

We lose credibility when we can’t walk the talk. What we wear says a lot about who we are. Let’s be designers, but be ourselves too. If you don’t care about fashion then your work can speak for you. If you’re one of those people, you should at least consider buying a pair of tailored, non-pleated pants.

Stop Saving The World

…Unless you actually are. Designers have identified that their skills can help people beyond the mass markets of the first world, but we’re far from making a big impact on our own. The truth is, some designers like talking about making a difference more than they like actually doing it. Raising awareness is only a small first step towards fixing one of the world’s many problems. If you really want to make a difference, think about volunteering at a soup kitchen…or moving to India.

Ramsey Ford is an industrial designer who recently took on this challenge by moving to India and starting the non-profit Design Impact. “Last year, I attended the ‘Design for a Better World’ conference at RISD. What struck me most about the conference was that the common thread was not design, but entrepreneurship. The mantra for the weekend seemed to be, ’shut up and do it’.” Ramsey plans to make a real difference by gaining empathy for India’s true design needs. Admittedly, this is pretty bold, but what have you done lately to design a better future

I hope this article challenges you to reconsider some of the more popular methods for creating a personal brand. Before you pour hours of work into any project, think about your key strengths and what makes you stand out. Choose projects that will help show those off. After that, if doing some of these things still makes sense, then go for it. But seriously, don’t design a logo, especially one with your initials.

Tags: interviews, student work

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.

Tags: concepts, furniture, student work

UC Industrial Design Group Projects

This summer, DAAP’s fourth year industrial design students undertook a group project to create a family of products. The products ranged from soft goods to housewares, with the overarching emphasis on creating actionable brand principles that translate into engaging executions. Overall, the quarter was a success, with students presenting these final boards. In addition, I’ve stressed the importance of the verbal presentation (to upper level students especially), and they all delivered enjoyable and informative speeches.

Launch by Michael Kandel, Sylvia Spencer, and Tracy Subisak

Nomad by Ed Mangum, Nick Rudemiller, and Max Schlacter

Cargo by Alicia Abend, Megan Meyer, and Jessica Wilson

S2 by Carly Hagins, Andrew McCarthy, and Sayaka Tsuda

Chimera by Cassie Cropper, Keith Messer, and Justin Wagoner

Gem by Amanda Deininger and Amanda Starnes

Drop by Steve Nelson, Aaron Ricica, and Michael Snively

Dirty Dishes by Chad Hodge, Jacob Nitz, and David Saldoff

Tags: student work, teams