Apparels - combination of complexity

I was again going through the products map and stumbled upon apparels design. How could strategic design processes give value for an apparels company? Started to figure out the design processes used and realized that the design is quite often purely focusing on the usability/usable details and not so much perhaps on design language itself, at least on heavy duty backpacks etc.

How could a design language become the driving force for apparels design? Of course, in heavy duty goods, the design language seconds the usability and durability, but perhaps one could go through this sort of language that actually supports the features. Using certain forms on openings and vents and also using som semanthic forms to guide the user through the inevitable complexity. Some sort of layered design language could perhaps be the best option. Topped with some great concepts, a good product for a design company to offer!



However, I made some sketches, too.. just fast with ballpoint and markers..

Tool no.1 - Design sketching vol 2..

since blogger accepting only mini posts...

More info about sketching techniques can be found in many places: car body design, car design news and also by looking at what others have made for example at coroflot, even though it tends to be mostly of 3D and photography. Don't forget the Design Sketching -book where techniques are well explained.

My own sketching skills are built up a bit by bit. I use mostly pen, but sometimes I change for my tiny wacom and try to create nice renderings. With wacom, one can quite easily and fast create nice pictures. However, the speed still is far from the one reached with traditional media, if no special diamonds are needed.

pencil and markers - a fast sketch

Ideation sketching

Tool no.1 - Design sketching

If one is into (strategic) conceptual design, the tool that you use the most is a pen. Accompanied with some markers, the pen and a sharpener, you make a terrific team together. As an industrial designer is a professional in visually explaining the creativity and it´s outcomes, The designs need to have a fast and reliable means to be presented in the team and to the clients. Therefore one has to know how to master the basic sketching techniques. It is not quite enough just to be able to draw beautiful pictures but there has to be rules in making the sketch so that everyone understands the meaning of the sketch, without the designer explaining what is going on. The works should present themselves.

In my educational oven at the university of Lapland, sketching was not appraised enough and the workshops did not require sketching. Everyone was going for the 3D and no sketches required for the completion of courses. I assume that it is one thing that separates us from the top schools. During Last spring, when I was applying to DesignworksUSA, I realized that the sketches are the essence of design profession, at least in consultancy world. Also car design includes heavy sketching and rendering. Somehow I think that during my studies, the sketching was just something expected, not looked after. If there had been more workshops on basic sketching and rendering, perhaps it would have been easier to get internships etc.

However, there seems to be a gap also in the presentation of sketches and the real world. No one shows the crappy doodles even though they are the ones mostly done and looked into when working. I didn´t want to show my first sketches because they were not flashy or beautiful enough. However, the sketches are there to tell something, so show them!

On the elven cars design language again

I made just a sketch on the elven design language. Perhaps it could have been even more exaggerated.. Really into looking at this kind of surface complexity management now. Making mixture of different surface speaking the same language.

Design process and the relation to marketing

Design processes are important as tools for making design systematic and easier to follow by clients and manage by participants in process. The process descriptions (processes?) are, however, on certain level the same and in this sense perhaps useless in marketing purposes.

I have heard that usually a process should be available to be seen by prospecting client, but I still assume other things, like consultancy reputation and previous clientelé (project outcomes) actually do the trick in consultancy selection. Therefore one could think that "the same - process" could work.. Processes as spines are also important for the actual designing and scheduling, but in some discussions I have learned that the actual process can actually dramaticly differ from the one presented in marketing material. What is the reason? Another tricky thing is actually the support from government that is in some cases given to creating the "tools", but later resulting in not using them.

I have created this kind of a design process draft that would present questions to be answered, instead of going into scheduling the design process. It then should be set with the client regarding to the need of different process particles. If the time spent on a certain section is the same, things that you do are the same and the tools used are the same, but only processes are different, is the process genuine then??

simple, non organized draft

Of course I relize that creating procedures is important for quality and maintaining the workflow is important for efficiency, but some differentiating and new leads perhaps needed? This is also a thing that could need some research done. And yes, my website needs one, too.

The Elven Car Technology

Again doing some studies on cars, just a styling exercise, some photoshop on freehand ballpoint sketch. However, here I was looking at an opening top side of the car.. mechanism perhaps rooting to the saab aero-x.

By the way.. the Saab site is perhaps one of the nicest sites on product exhibiting digitally.

One can also notice the Elven's nice rear light/wind spoilers.. Snow is something not so nice on rear window.

Nature makes designs that actually work!

Just went through the Bleu nature website and remembered this nice piece we made with Mikael on our annual adventure trip through Lapland wilderness. Actually it was only the hole of a woodpecker, but in this case acted really nicely as the platform for cooking rod...

picture by Mikael

somewhere...

webfindings

funky piece of "a could be lightning" on the second image! actually it is a artificial bonzai... Semanthic reminded me however, a table lamp.

Atelier A+D - Modern Architecture and Design: Ciao Milano!

..and also a nice blog about architecture. Wall mounts definitely worth looking into!

droog makes people drool with these hits!

The gender of products

I have lately been doing concept creation on a steam iron and also discussed it also over the net at core 77. One important thing that came up, was the gender of the product. How does it show? Since I had taken my group of interest these young guys moving out of their home for the first time and buying their first iron, what would be the design language and feature combination they liked the most.

where does the fine line between a female product and male design go? My answer was on this one to go with the usability, add some nice features and create some "gadget-feel" to the iron, make it perhaps more interesting to the technology-oriented guy to operate. Also the styling should go with the flow of normal male products, from razors to premium cars and in this case take some from powertools. Perhaps these metal finishes and some rugged details could do the trick. If you wish to see more of the on-going design process, click here.



However, I think that creating a clearly gender oriented product is hard and supposedly in most cases the product would be accepted by both genders. The design acceptance is, after all, related to time and the overall aesthetic family that is depicted from many front end product families.

design research and research of designers

I ran into this discussion group on the net at core77 discussion board and started to think about it. They talked about design research and how it should be used. One of the posts was concerned about the misuse of design research and one sentence stated that design research is in its infancy.

In my opinion, strategic design would not be even closely as effective, if it didn´t include research. As a strategic concept is a place holder and is quite often formed by researching the overall development, placing the dots where the development is taking you. This is of course the result of research, to be able to depict the development, and also gain the knowledge over the entire field you are working on.

Somehow it is sad that people do the same research phases all over again, like ethnographic research and market analysis, even if they are working on the same task as some worked just a month earlier. Some sort of updateable database should be created that every designer had the chance to go deep to the subject and this way find better solutions by having better tools at hand. The competition seems to be in front of efficient development here.

Other thing that competition is killing, is the possibility to do positive cultural exchange. Designers mostly learn by the side of other designer and should try to travel and work in different work environments for creativity boost and getting the best out of others. Hereby I state that creative designers should go and make a "work exchange", get an insight from the newcomer and by them selves learn something at the new office. If only there wasn´t competition.

the process of strategic automotive design

Recently I have also been struggling with the development of my sketching and visualization technique. I am planning to finish the design concept by september, because it is to be shown "partially or in whole" at habitare 07. Perhaps this one is not clearly a strategic design process due to the heavy concentration on the exterior design, but some of the details are quite well thought out and concentrate on the semanthics of a racing car on a traditional coupe.



Today I also got to know that I have the possibility to take part in this years Michelin challenge design "Strategic concepting it is, then..."

Finnish design and global competition

My first article going down, or under. I recognize strategic design as one whole composition mixing in touches from different ways of implementing design, a mixture from various techniques taking place in the very beginning of design process.

I see that strategic conceptual design in finland is highly undervalued in small and mid-sized companies and therefore should get more visibility in order to raise the global recognition of finnish design as a whole. Creating processes to manage the "fuzzy front end" and create means to rise the importance of specialized designers concentrating on product compositions that do not exist is vital if finnish design wishes to rise itself to the required competitiveness on global design markets. Perhaps creating new institutions to support new ways to define products or to apply new means for the usage of design with public support would be the answer.

However, the system that does not support new designer´s breakthrough and will not enhance competition on design consultancy market, will not have a chance to exist in the pressure coming from the developing countries,not to mention the push from existing international competition. In my opinion the finnish design association, together with finnish government should support young ambitious designers with more possibilities to bring up the talent and will to succeed globally. Also the importancy of strategic approach and also concentration on certain design proficiency should be highly appreciated and enhanced, in order to create new possibilities to strenghten the design field in Finland.

All in all, some heavy words.. but as a final hit think about it, should finnish design remain in the era of pressure and dull daily struggle with production requirements, or should one start truly creating and leave the world AS WE KNOW behind and seek for new starts?

first encounter

Ok, time to start. This blog will hopefully grow and find some people that will share with me the future of design and we can start building it up together. Following posts will present some interesting things I find from the digital or real world, present some of my ideas and hopefully find an audience to discuss them with.

I am truly open minded and wish that all designers and researchers could be looking towards the same goal, achieving better future via better interactions and more profoundly created products.

The Lappish nature is present and hopefully gives the thoughts some edge and diversity. Enjoy!