Originally published on 20 April, 2006. Edit 1: Updated 25 Aug 2007 Edit 2: Updated 16 Nov 2008. This has to be one of the "classics" here at Design Sojourn, and a post that got me noticed in the blogosphere! Here it is updated again for 2008!
Heard in a fictional design studio near you.
Me: Yo man, how is it going? Designer: Great! I'm just sketching/developing/refining this concept. Me: Cool, so how do they look? Designer: Here they are
This is interesting. In the many portfolios I have seen, rarely have I seen a portfolio that clearly indicates if it was group work or a project done with a team. If fact, it happens so infrequently that I sit up and take
We designers have got it tough. We seem to get blamed for almost everything these days. From seemingly lack of sustainable efforts to poor packaging or just lousy product experiences, we seem to cop it all. However the reality is we cannot and should
Image: Thumbs Down by CraigPJ
About time I got to this one and I though it makes a great post to face the year end with!
I have always felt and encouraged designers to update their trusty (probably rusty) portfolios at least every 6 months. While many designers feel that they should only update their portfolios when they are looking for new work or job hunting, I find there
Our budding young Industrial Designer David is back this week with a new question on his education and training in Industrial Design. He asks:
If I were to take up a course such as Engineering/Industrial Design double degree or take something up like Product Design
This week's question is from David, and avid 11 grader looking to get into a career in design. Wow they start young these days don't they? He writes:
One of the issues industrial designers, often working in a high level strategic roles, face is the dreaded "Design Creep" or some call "Specification Creep". Year after year it's the same old unproductive story, and I hazard a guess probably for you as well.
You can look at this in another way, as one of my designer friends calls it "Don't Bull Sh*t yourself", if a work is bad it is bad. That leads to and another oldie but goodie or as what most call it "You Cant
My former lecturer in design used to say that designers need to get into a state of readiness before they can become productive in design work or concept sketching. Some designers require more time, some require less. Some require going through fifty sketches,
This week's welcomed question comes from none other that Drew Kora:
"I mean to ask can a designer work from home AND BE PRODUCTIVE? And how might it affect the rest of the team?"It is quite a difficult question as there are a lot of
Without sounding like a broken record or stating the obvious, if there is one and only one design tip you will ever need as a professional designer, it has to be don't forget to SAVE your work! Save it frequently and save it regularly. Don't
The latest August issue of Icon Magazine has a super-human collection of 50 manifestos of the word's leading designers on their view of design in the future and today. It's a great read on insights in the mind of some of our greatest design
Sketch by Michael Bretherton The concept development phase can be one of the best or most frustrating times a designer can experience during the design process. Furthermore managing the concept development work from both from an Art directors or designer's view point can also be
Often I get questions from designers by email on how to solve various problems they may have in their design careers. Most of the time my advice is returned via email. This time however one of my readers, Bill, has asked a great question that
Marc Rapp advertising guru and blogger at Uniquely the Epitome, has created a meme that actually benefits not only the people that he tagged but other designers as well. He has created "It's the Law" meme that focuses on design rules or laws that
While doing some research on design basics, I stumbled over this great site that lists a great collection of visual principles. It was created by Francisco Chinchilla as part of his research in "Theories, Methods and Principles that Assist and Support Form Generation on
A few years ago I attended a design seminar of which one of the speakers was an Innovation Manager from Philips. She spoke about the innovation process and design's role at Philips. She first described her role in the organisation and her
In recent times I have found that I have become an extremely productive and prolific designer. Not only with my daily design work but in my other personal day-to-day activities as well. In fact, the busier I am at any one time, the better I