Ticket Gate by Makoto UMEBARA
Muji Labs has launched a wonderful project in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. They are not only trying to raise the chins of Japanese,
It's not easy describing the value of design. Even looking to describe the value of design being optimistic. I often get by by reducing the discussion to 2 scenarios; what happens when design is used and when design is not. So it did
In the last few months most of you would have read the endless press about Apple’s multiple lawsuits filed against their competitors claiming that they are stealing their intellectual property. Not only that, countless of
When I talk to clients about budgets required to bring good design to the table, I get a lot of interesting looks and comments from them that imply one thing: they feel that design is a risky part of their business. You see, what business people
One of the most important and significant things that I have learnt in the last few years working with businesses is that people don’t buy your products just because they look good. People buy your products because it benefits them; or it has something
I'm sure you many of you have experienced this before. Here you are, a designer in the zone waxing lyrical about your design to your client or perhaps a group of engineers. You are feeling good about things and pretty sure that your design is
The UK Design Council has produced a nice little video interview with the likes of IDEO's Paul Bennett and Professor Roberto Verganti (of Design Driven Innovation fame) sharing their thoughts on what is design and what design can do for businesses. <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/12819375?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="521" height="293"
I'm a big fan of Dieter Rams, so much so that I have even dedicated an entire article here at Design Sojourn to his design philosophy. Therefore, I was quite excited to watch this
Bradley Derry (at Fuel Your Product Design) ran a really nice interview with Chris Bangle on what makes a good design leader. It is really good to hear from Chris, a friend of Design Sojourn, who has been somewhat quiet of late. <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/24080982?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="520"
I'm pretty conscious about my work rhythm these days. There is a lot to do in running a business and I welcome any way to do it more efficiently. Therefore, I found Y-Combinator advisor Paul Graham's blog post about a Manager's schedule vs.
One of the problems of Design Thinking is that it has inherited some of the bad habits of the Business mindset. In particular the need for repeatability and for research data to help justify any design decision the organization makes. Frog Design's Ben McAllister
Some time ago (July 14, 2009 to be exact) I wrote an article encouraging designers to walk the entrepreneurial path on their own by bringing some of their own creations to the market. My article "Sometimes Designers need to Walk the Path on
Michael Bierut, of Pentagram fame, has shared on his Design Observer blog 7 things designers can learn stand up comics. I've extracted and summarized it here for our discussion and reflection. I’ve added my summaries below, but the 7 points are by Michael.
John Cho Moore grew tired of the limitations of the industrial design process and is now trying to capture the essence of design with his beautifully handmade bamboo and canvas bags. Follow John through his unique manufacturing process that challenges convention thinking
You might have heard that the Google Chromebook will be launched on June 15 this year. I'm rather excited but also pretty disappointed. If you watch the video above you can see the huge potential of an
Dutch design studio, GRO, has shared what they call "seven unique studies around the concept of time". I'm continued to be amazed at the amount of design and creative work
The ever-witty Mike Monteiro, famous for his potty mouth, shared at a recent San Francisco Creative Mornings talk, the ups and downs of running a design business. For example, dealing with problems such as getting clients to pay up, getting comfortable with
In dreaded job interviews or in portfolio documents, many designers under sell themselves. It's a tough world and if we want the job or the project, we will need to go for it, hustle, if you like. Strangely, many creative people are too polite
Sometime in 2006, I decided that if I were going to be designing commercially successful products and strategies, I would need to know what it is really like to run a business, a business that would
Awesome things happen! This is why designers need to run their own personal projects, where they are their own clients.