Recently I have been working for my sister´s strategic design consultancy Kaltio for the first time, just to give some insight and create nice designs on her project. The phase I took part in was concept development, I sketched on platform concepts. I started thinking that how these platforms should be done and realized that if a concept is too well guided, the outcome might not begin to fly. One should always leave enough doors open for the concept development to take place. The best possible cannot really operate if the concept is too restricted. In strategic design one should take all possible time to explore the possibilities and look at the project from different perspectives.
Riikka had made really nice work on the concepts, so really my work just put the cherry on top. Hopefully the pieces will gain nice attention. they will come public in some time, so more images then.
Recently there has been very nice discussion and open source ideation for the Iron-Man concept I have been developing. Many comments have stated that a male design language could be led from powertools, the last barricade of "purely male" products. Therefore I decided to do some sketching on the issue and noticed, that there are some things that are attractive for the muscular sex. However, the other design language on weapon and armory industry is also quite attractive. See for yourself, Powertool iron ideation:
The need for a change and a path to express thoughts. That is basicly it. Up here, all things you do are like whispers in the dark, no possibility to make visible statements or show the innovative and aesthetic character of one´s products. Blogging on design gives one a chance to review design phenomena, discuss even the tough spots and just shout out loud! In my opinion, enough incentive there.
It has been nice to notice so many readers to visit and even link to this blog, so perhaps something has been done well enough. In the future I want to start researching the difference between ethnographic and geographic influence in design and the effect on design language. I am somehow quite certain that the design language comes from the very soul of the people and landscape you live in. However, these days the effect of magazines, "TV design" and web starts to flatten the design expressivity, and the trends soon follow each other. Therefore I assume living up here to be a gain instead of boundary. One has always the "real" people and the nature present, which are a great source of inspiration for me. Travelling then gives me an insight on other cultures and landscapes for design expression. It was funny to notice, how a visit to Singapore made me once again to see colours..
If only one had the chance to work from Lapland and have a nice variety of projects from different product fields. I must admit that Helsinki still beats Rovaniemi businesswise, but design... One should give another a chance ;)
I spoke recently with my friend Kim Haataja, and we looked at one of his projects. The new wrist computer concept is really nice and has many nice details in it! In my opinion, the design is better than some other, related projects I have seen. Since I know the project quite well, I must admit that this is somewhat the future of wrist computers.
Last week I learned that Sony Ericsson had taken in to usage the last nice feature I made to my bachelors thesis to Polar Electro, the combination of bluetooth and cellphone with a wrist computer, useful on extreme hobbies and extreme weather conditions. The concept was about Reading SMS and taking the information from a caller from the Mobile phone to one´s wrist computer. Also other features, as gps for performance monitoring, and gps with google earth have been now introduced by other companies. However, the experience to collaborate with Polar was really nice and truly gave answers to a hungry young designer.
BMW - the joy of driving (screenshot)
Lue ensin alempi teksti... (kiitos blogger!)
Olen pohdiskellut strategiseen tuotemuotoiluun keskittymistä, mutta mielestäni suomalaisten yritysten lyhytnäköisyys ei vielä saata muotoilua globaalisti luovalle tasolle, muuta kuin poikkeusten osalta. En vielä valitettavasti pysty kuvittelemaan, että suomalainen muotoilutoimisto voisi kannattavasti tarjota muuta kuin monipuolisesti raapaisten teollisen muotoilun palveluita, koska meillä ei ole hyvää historiaa muotoilulähtöisten tuotteiden suunnittelusta ja erikoistumisesta brandi ja käyttäjälähtöiseen konseptisuunnitteluun. Muotoilulähtöisillä tuotekokemuksilla tarkoitan nimenomaan hyvien strategisen suunnittelun prosessien seurauksena syntyneitä tuotekokonaisuuksia, en kuorten tekemistä valmiisiin tuotekonsepteihin. Asiakasyritysten luotto muotoiluun ei ole riittävän suuri, jotta osattaisiin/haluttaisiin käyttää strategista suunnittelua yrityksen tuoteportfolion hiomiseen. Tutkimus ja muu analysointi koetaan tarpeettomaksi ja kalliiksi.
Olisiko aika hajauttaa projekteja ja hakea mielipiteitä ja konsepteja useammasta lähteestä, jolloin saataisiin monipuolisempi kattaus jatkojalostukseen. Muotoilutoimistot erikoistuisivat eri tuotekehitysvaiheiden muotoiluun, jolloin erikoisosaaminen tukisi myös tuotteen kehittymistä. Brändi- ja käyttäjälähtöiseen konseptisuunnitteluun keskittyneet yritykset hoitaisivat alkuvaiheen tuotekonseptoinnin, jota sitten tuotteistamiseen erikoistuneet yksiköt jatkaisivat.
Kuitenkin maailmalta löytyy hurjasti yrityksiä, jotka osaavat käyttää muotoilupalveluita ilman, että itse tuotteen täytyy olla valmis kauppoihin, Etsitään tulevaisuutta ja suuntaa yritykselle. Heitän täten ilmaan ajatuksen; suomalainen muotoilu ei nouse lyhytnäköisyydestä, vaan globaaleja menestystuotteita saadaan aikaan ainoastaan tekemällä alkuvaiheen muotoilu oikeilla prosesseilla ja erikoistuneita osaajia käyttäen.
saa kommentoida!
teollinen muotoilija on yrityksessä luova voimavara ja auttaa yrityksen tuotteiden terävöittämisessä. Tutkimuksen kautta muotoilija etsii tuotemahdollisuuksia ja ongelmia, tutkii tuotteiden käytettävyyttä, hyväksyntää ja paikallistaa täten aukkopaikkoja tuoteavaruudessa. Omat nettisivuni olenkin ajatellut suunnata nimenomaisesti alkuvaiheen muotoiluun ja sen problematiikkaan ja täten erikoistua nimenomaisesti alkuvaiheen tuoteohjaukseen, koska siellä voidaan tehdä minun mielestäni kaikkein suurimmat virheet, mutta toisaalta saavuttaa eniten.
Voimakas erikoisosaaminen tuotemahdollisuuksien määrittämisessä kuuluu mielestäni teollisen muotoilijan erikoisosaamisalueisiin. Se vaatii perehtymistä, eikä aukea pelkästään hyvällä ajattelulla. Vaaditaan vakiintuneita prosesseja, sekä käytäntöjä + palveluita, jotta myös palvelun laatu pysyy hyvänä. Konseptisuunnitteluosaaminen ei mielestäni riitä, vaan vaaditaan myös tietoa ja osaamista tuotemääritysvaiheessa, ja nämä kaksi yhdistämällä puhutaan jo hyvästä kokonaispaketista. Kun palettiin lisätään vielä brandikytkennät, niin kokonaisuus alkaa olla valmis. (jatkuu..)
I recently took a course on New Product development. There we had to do the basic assignments, such as brand segmentation and analyze "our new product" with tools like quality function deployment and KANO model. Thank to the team members for a nice teamwork!
Our team created a portable cooker and I had the privilege to design the thing. I created just a concept sketch around the features and other details, leaving the styling for a later time. However, the side product, an illustration assistant was the hand-stick... a hand that one could perform all hazardous things with.. :D (the hand originally from Mikael´s illustration)
Recently I have been looking at the development of traditional "industrial design" and I find myself often amazed about the variety people can find in their specialization. Others seek to concentrate on services, others on interaction, even they are formally trained as industrial designers. Others, however wish to concentrate on traditional branches, such as furniture and product design. Even at the university of Lapland, one can have different masters programs, to truly differentiate himself on certain branch. Industrial design seems to almost explode.
Is an industrial designer the next to god? Seems that nothing is enough and designers seek for new ways of working and soon, I would say, start to play with molecule biology, just to create new ingenious materials... Creativity is taking over everywhere. Should they remain in the pit and create products, or should creativity boost the economies with even stronger touch on all fields?
interesting discussion takes place in core77.boards
I got a nice tip from a visiting lecturer, Simo Rontti, concerning strategic design related books. Blue Ocean Strategy is about systematicly finding spaces in the strategical map, to create products and services that make competition irrelevant. A good example could be igglo that changed the way of seeing real estate business. Another one that hits my mind, was Samsung, creating the Ultra Edition.. finding a 6.9mm space in the mobile phone business is not easy.
However, some info on BOS. Some in finnish, too
I got carried away with some of the nicest touchscreen user interfaces.. One of the nicest performances I saw over the net, couple guys had different ways of giving orders to the screens with different touch combinations, a kind of a Human-Machine language..
Since touch is surely soon a part of mobile gadgets (Nokia aeon, iphone) , I started to ideate a finger operated touch screen user interface for digital cameras. In my opinion, a truly well sighted development, who hits first?
Finally I have finished my new website layout, even though I still have to translate the pages in english. Somehow this html starts to come to me, and I begin to understand the rules behind.. Selftaught design is this way somehow. However the bright and light composition is something I like at the moment.
Check them Out
I have a long time wanted to do this post on Singapore. Before I ever went there, I had the image of a city with strict rules and order. I had thought the city was full of huge buildings, and the traffic would be overwhelming. However, I was wrong.
Singapore offers a nice, warm (hot!) and clean place to live and even the nightlife is lively with many huge nichtclubs and smaller pubs to spend an evening. Restaurants can be found on any cuisine available, even though my favorites were the local, chinese and indian. Everything (not alcohol) is considerably cheap, compared to Finland. For Shopping, Singapore offers huge amount of different boutiques and shops.
For a young designer like me the city has quite many possibilities. I would think that a student exchange, if possible, would be nice thing to consider. Also the amount of internships available will for sure be growing, since the design boom that is taking place there. Design is very valued and appraised. Things Like the red dot design museum really put Sg to the design map. During my visit the office had numerous interviews for magazines and National TV. Also some v.i.p´s visited the office. Places besides DW , interships can be found in numerous companies, HP and Philips design, to mention a few.
All in all, the reason to really consider Singapore for the exchange/internship, is the climate. My eyes still sometimes dwell to the the beaches of Malaysia, which are actually just a bus ride away. In addition, cheap living expenses, good service and also very international population make Singapore a place worth checking out.
illustration by Mikael
a sketch I made on the concept
industrial design