The Baroque - a chair design

Today I finally decided to publish one of my chair designs, since I feel that it should not just sit around in my drawers and rot in the middle of dust and pencil leftovers.

I made this design as a study of environmental friendly furniture. I wanted to creat an alternative to all of these plastic white outdoors chairs, since I think they are filling the earth with wrong values. 

The Baroque is made of wood composites and therefore can be 100% recycled. Other very good point about the design is the cost that makes the chair very affordable. Estimated materials cost for the composite is around 3€ and the chair is fully mass manufacturable.

But see for yourself:

Any comments and improvements more than welcome. Thanks!

design! to make an impact..

Company design strategy is an important factor in a successful path to growth and renewal. I had a nice discussion with a friend of mine, Mikael Heikkilä on the fact that often companies have a successful technological advantage behind their corporate strategy, but many of the companies would gain even more from a strategic design development plan that would keep them ahead of competition. If thinking about a company that has got a very innovative patented technology as a key success factor, adding a design advancement would even further improve the product and the company´s situation.

I truly believe that in the current competitive global market one cannot put all the eggs in a single bucket. True innovation and advancement has to be incorporated in the company´s assets in all areas.

If thinking about a simple scenario:

1. Company A develops the lightest running shoes on the market.
2. Company B develops very light but very well designed running shoes to the market.

In the above mentioned case I would suppose that company B has got better chances to succeed, since they are directing their attention to many consumer battlefields.

I still keep wondering that so many companies rely solely on their great advantages on a single success factor. If the management would require further development through the value chain, take the battle to many fronts, we would be able to see much more success stories in the world of products. Also acting bravely and taking off the "this is how we have always created successful products" -glasses would really cherish the possibility for an impactful design. Breathing new life to the soul of the company would make the company stronger in the eyes of consumers.

excellent engineering + successful modern design = a product with only a little chance to go wrong

Back to the business - out of the business

It has been a while since I have been writing on my blog. One key contributor to the lack of late stories has been the fact that I have been intensively working for my lovely employer. I also spent 6 months in china, and most of the times an access to blogger would mean higher hacking capabilities which I don´t own.
However, the past year has been surely an educational one, teaching me a lot of modern business and strategy creation as a whole. I have learned to know that in addition of a good design, one truly needs good product management to be able to be competitive on global markets. Product creation is truly a team effort that needs all contributors to be a commercial and profitable success.
I have lately been following Apple with a sharp eye. It is just amazing that how they can manage a successful product after another. I have been wondering that is it only the magical way they can combine a modestly stylish design into a magnificient user experience, or could it also be so that they just happen to be just the right size, with a right amount of products done by right amount of people. Of course the management style of Apple is very much straightforward and relying on key people, like Steve Jobs, but still I think that they are doing many things right. I also think it comes down to the culture of the company and the greater vision of implementing only good products, no matter what the consequences are. but thumbs up!
As I have lately been doing a very little design work (read: non) I would say that I am a bit out of the business at the moment. Of course I interact with designers very frequently but still it is different to actually hold the pen.. However, the interest is still there and keeping a very intense relationship with all new things very much a daily exercise. As a product maker, one is however in the very center of it all ;)

iron-man concept...

Today I got back from Helsinki, had a nice few days enjoying the perfect weather and the company of some relatives and friends. Since I noticed that there had been over 2000 views on the iron-man project, I decided to put up another fast sketch to celebrate!

researching the architecture of a powertool -inspired steam iron

interview with a..

Today´s post is about job interviews. Tomorrow I will be taking part in one and have now been looking for different tips to get ready for an interview. here is something I found:

1. be on the spot well in advance. Even I wouldn´t easily hire someone that comes late to the interview.
2. Be yourself. The company wants to hear about you. An interview is about finding out your character.
3. Dress up nicely. Hmm.. well, I wouldn´t kick out a perfect candidate just because of the clothes.
4. Prepare yourself for the interview, get your diplomas and references ready, look at some internet sites for "normal" questions that tend to come in every interview. make up some questions of your own to ask from the interviewer.
5. Be honest. no one wants to hire a liar.
6. be a good guy! positive people are more supposedly getting hired.

But however, interview is about you interacting with the company for the first time, so make the best of it! even if the job slips through your fingers, don´t be depressed, others will come for sure! The experience from the interview will be in your pocket, nevertheless.

would you hire this guy? a superb image manipulation by kim :D

design sketching again..

Meaningless doodling and rendering without purpose is good for exercise and self development. Yesterday I tried to be hard-working again and made some sketches on the iron-man project and just a design language exploration sketch for a motorcycle. see for yourself, and please, comment!

strategic design and concept development

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.

Iron-man going to powertools..

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:

Why did I choose to blog on design?

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 ;)

Kim & Co.. Nice Concept!!

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.

design sketching afternoon...

Today I had no lectures or anything, so I decided to sketch a bit and look at some new techniques for sketching. I made a sketch on the Mercedes SL and also some on the iron-man project. This new way of taking scanned images further is quite nice!

Nice website BMW!!

Ok, I have wanted to become a race car driver, or at least drive a wrc for once in my life time. However, I stumbled upon this website over the net.. I really like the graphics of the actual scene. however, some more kick on the 1-series, please! see the action here.

BMW - the joy of driving (screenshot)

teollinen muotoilija - yrityksen moniosaaja? (finnish post osa 2)

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 - yrityksen moniosaaja? (finnish post)

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..)

Portable cooking and "the hand stick" (:D)

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)

a photoshop sketch