DESIGNERS TO INSPIRE
PHILLIPPE STARCK
Philippe Starck’s TED talk was amazing. All three were amazing actually. I found his thinking about how far we are in our story very interesting. We really are only half way and there is so much more we can contribute to our “story.” Also how he is more interested in making an, “not an object for the object but for the result, for the profit for the human being, the person who will use it. It’s really inspirational as a student because though sometimes we think our projects are nothing crazy they are adding a piece to this story that wasn’t there before. Though it may be a small addition, if all the small additions in the past never happened we would never be as developed as we are today.
PRANAV MISTRY
Pranav Mistry is the perfect example of what Phillipe was talking about regarding how far we are in our story. He has thought way into the future with creating this sixth sense. At first the thought of everything being augmented reality scared me. He at one point says, “... help us to get rid of the digital divide, the gap between these two worlds, but will also help us, in some way, to stay human, to be more connected to our physical world.” I think this is very important with the interconnectivity of things. That even though it is using this high tech reality we are still connected to the human aspect of things. Your imigination is really the limit when it comes to the sixth sense which makes this so exciting.
ROSS LOVEGROVE
Ross lovegrove was also very inspirational. He unlike Pranav was focused less on the tech and more of the actual aesthetic beauty of products. Taking natural forms and putting that in a product. To make what we are taking from the earth into a product for everyday use. “a philosophical position as well as an aesthetic position.” Thinking about the actual design, the purpose of it, where it comes from and the natural feel of things, and the beauty of it. The art aspect. DNA is what he called it. I love TED talks in general but out of all three I found Pranavs the most interesting and exciting.
SCOTT WILSON MINIMAL DESIGN
Scott Wilson is an American Designer who is best known for his Kickstarter project, the TikTok+Lunatik. He is the owner and CEO of MINIMAl in chicago is responsible for some of the best product solutions. The crowdfunding and wearables movements with his 2010 TikTok+Lunatik Kickstarter project. He was the Winner of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design award in 2012 and also named as one of Fast company’s most influential Designers and their most Creative people in business. On top of that he has won more than 60 international design awards.
HARTMUT ESSLINGER FROG DESIGN
“....a desire for improving the everyday lives of people, a passion for innovative technology, and a willingness to work directly with a client’s top management and strategic focus on economic success.”
Hartmut Esslinger is the founder of Frog design. Coming from Beuren Germany with an education from Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd Esslinger first designed a radio clock. He received negative feedback on his design which led him to opening Frog. His fame came after he designed a “full plastics” color tv and a Hifi series “Wega system 3000.” He was then hired by sony whom he essentially created their entire brand image for. In 1982 Esslinger was contracted with apple to create a new design strategy to change their entire brand. Frog with himself included created the entire snow white design language. This was used for all apple products from 1984 to 1990. Esslinger left apple when Jobs left the company. Microsoft Windows, Motorola, Olympus, and general electric are a few of the other major clients Esslinger has had over time. As far as accomplishments go, Esslinger was on the cover of BuisnessWeek in 1990 as well as being awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts by the Parsons School of Design. Esslinger is still a professor for convergent industrial design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. Frogdesign is now a company of the Aricent Group.
Greg Verras Wa t ch D e s i g n e r o f S h i n o l a Greg Verras a CCS allum shared us his inspiring story of his time during CCS and afterwards which ultimately brought him to Shinola. Outside of classes at CCS Verras had a passion for designing skate boards. He collaberated with other CCS students to come up with designs for the boards and advertise them. The skate boards were quite succesful and Verras says he would like to start creating the boards again if he ever has time. Graduating from College for Creative Studies, Verras wasn’t exactly sure where he wanted to go. Being at a competive school he knew he had to make himself stand out wherever he applied. With no background in watches, Verras applied to Fossil. In order to stand out Verras designed a watch specifically for Fossil using bright colors and out of the ordinary images for inspiration. Creating this kind of possitive disruption landed Verras with the job. He ended up working in the Diesel watch department. Currently Verras is a designer at Shinola back in Detroit and is quite happy with his position.
P A U L H AT C H DESIGN NAKED
Pa u l Ha tch g ave a p h e n o me n a l s p e e ch o n th e b a re b o n e s o f D esign. This s p e e ch s h o u ld b e h e a rd fo r eve r y in c o min g Fre s h ma n , as least I fo u n d th a t I wo u ld ’ve love d to h e a r th is my firs t s e me s te r here. Pa u l Ha tch is fro m T E AM S d e s ig n . Orig in a lly Te a ms if fro m G ermany, foun d e d in 19 5 6 . Orig in a lly th ey we re s t a rte d a s d o in g d e s igns for entire p ro d u c t lin e s . It’s mo re d e e p e r th a n ju s t s t y lin g , its t he entire ex p e rie n c e th ey a re d e s ig n in g fo r wh ich s e ts th e m a p a rt from many othe r firms . Pa u l d id a n a ma zin g jo b ex p la in in g th e s u rfa c in g o f p ro d u c ts. H atch E x p la in e d th e me a n in g o f h av in g a “ fa c e” o n a p ro d u c t th at the user i nt e ra c ts with a n d why ex a c tly it’s th e fa c e . He a ls o s p o ke about how h o rizo n t a l lin e s ma ke u s fe e l c o mfo rt a n d t a ll ve rtic a l lines m ake u s fe e l like th a t p ro d u c t o r b u ild in g is to u g h a n d tru s t worthy. La s tly, W h e n t a lk in g a b o u t s o me th in g a s s imp le a s a to o th brush Paul gave th e b e s t ex a mp le o f h ow we s h a p e s o me th in g like a tooth brush to b e a e s th e tic a lly p le a s in g .
"We want to look banana, but be potato."
BACKGROUND M ike was alway s i nte r e s te d i n Cr eating s om eth i ng . W he n fi r s t s e e i ng A v ideo of a 3D pr i nti ng m a c hi ne c r e a te s om ething out o f no thi ng i s whe n M i k e knew thats what he wa nte d to do wi th hi s life. He wanted to be a pa r t o f thi s ne w technology. So with little bac k g r o und k no wl e dg e o f 3D pr inting M ike fo und a c o m pa ny tha t m anufactur ed 3D pr i nti ng m a c hi ne pa r ts and began buildi ng hi s fi r s t m a c hi ne .
MIKE MOCERI FO U N D E R : Ma nulith + M aker oS C O -FOUNDER: 3dpx FR O M: Detr oit - Chicago E D U C ATIO N: Depaul Chicago Entr epr eneur s hip + Inter activ e m edia
His wor ks pace w a s n’ t m uc h, a v e r y tiny dor m r oom dur i ng hi s s o pho m o r e y ear at depaul, but he m a de i t wo r k . He s tar ted build i ng hi s r e puta ti o n in the 3D pr intin g c o m m uni ty by m aking ads and do i ng pr i nti ng ex hbits at confer e nc e s a nd g a l l e r i e s . M ike would dr aw pe o pl e i n by s canning the cus to m e r a nd pr i nti ng them , them s elv e s o ut whi l e a t the ex hibit. M ak i ng 3D pr i nti ng m or e per s onable a nd fun. M ike cur r ently li v e s ba c k i n M i c hi g a n and is wor king in Te c hto wn a t his com pany M a nul i th.
M i k e ’s g o g e tte r a t t i t u d e i s v e r y i ns pi r i ng an d u p l i fti ng . M i k e m a de a v a l i d p o i n t tha t we ha v e a l l th e re s o u rc e s we ne e d to g o o ut a n d l e a r n a bo ut s o m e t h i n g we a the r i t i s to m a k e i t o r j us t g e t s o m e g e n e ra l r e s e a r c h, we s ho u l d n ’ t ha v e a ny e x c us e s a s t o why we c a n’ t do so me t h i n g . M i k e i s c ur r e ntl y w o rk i n g o n a n A pp to m a k e 3D p ri n t i n g mo re a v a i l a bl e to the pu b l i c .
The Sweedish designer decided to pursue a career in design when he applied to Art Center College of D e s i g n i n L a To u r - d e - P e i l z . While at Art Center he was offered the chance to study abroad for two semesters at the Art Center campus in Pasadena.
COMPARED TO USER C O N T E X T C H A R T: Reduce
Relate
SURF BOARDS Tho m a s i s a l s o r e g a r de d a s o ne o f t h e mo re p ro g re s s i v e s ur fbo a r d s ha pe r s i n the wo r l d a n d i s t h e f o u n d e r o f h i s o wn s ur f br a nd. H i s futur i s ti c s urf b o a rd d e s i g n s a re u s e d by de v o te e s a nd pr o fe s s i o na l s ur f e rs a l i k e , t h e w o rl d o v e r.
Reasure
Attract
Invite
While at Art Center he met Vincenzo his professor and mentor at the time. To u c h
California grew on Thomas and he returned shortly after his internship in Germany for Porsche AG.
Once he left Apple, he started his own studio. The studio has been running for a strong 15 years and is continuing to grow and design beautiful products.
Smith V3
Apple eMate
in the meantime of him being at IDEO, Jonathen Ives becamethe head of Apple industrial design group. Ives recruited Meyerhoffer to be Senior Industrial Designer where he worked on the Apple eMate.
PROJECTS Chumby WiFi
IDEO is where Meyerhoffer began working in San Fransico. At this new experience while working a l o n g s i d e b y Ti m b r o w n h e m e t h i s l o n g t i m e f r i e n d C h r i s S t r i n g e r.
M2 Armchair Heritage glass
“MEYERHOFFER'S APPROACH TO SURFBOARD DESIGN IS TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES AND THE BOARDS ARE FOR SURFERS WHO DO THE SAME.”
THOMAS MEYERHOFFER
BACKGROUND
Emily Pilloton
“... the work means something, and every day we feel that something positive is happening, whether or not we can put our finger on it. �
Convinced of the power of design to change the world, at age 26 Pilloton founded Project H to help develop effective design solutions for people who need it most. Emily Pilloton wrote Design Revolution, a book about 100-plus objects and systems designed to make people's lives better. In 2010, her design nonprofit began an immersive residency in Bertie County, North Carolina, the poorest and most rural county in the state. One of her main influencers was Dr. Chip Zullinger also known as Dr. Z. Dr. Z was brought in as the new superintendent to fix the broken school system in Bertie county. Her non-profit design firm partnered with Bertie to repair the school district. In 2009 her and Matthew Miller spent half of their time in San Fran and Bertie county. Over the year they fell in love with Bertie County and the opportunity to bring design to Bertie to create some creative capital. Applying design within education became the goal. Pilloton has made many steps to reaching towards that goal. She has brought back shop class by creating studio H. Over two semesters students are going out, doing research and coming up with concepts, and protoyping. After the summer, they’re offered a summer job. During the Job they build these projects for the community. For the community, the youth is the biggest asset to building a new future.
Project H design 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Design through action Design with not for Design systems, not stuff Document, share, and measure Start locally, and scale globally Build
THOMAS HEATHERWICK B U I L D I N G T H E S E E D C AT H E D R A L
Thomas Heatherwick is the founder of Heatherwick Studio, an architecture and design firm that, among other projects, designed the astonishing "Seed Cathedral" for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. Heatherwick specializes in finding the balance between architecture, design, and sculpture. In his Ted Talk, Building the seed Cathedral, he shows four main projects he has worked on. The Paddington in London, the biomass power station, the U.K. Pavilion, and lastly apartment buildings in Malaysia. With each of these designs Heatherwick homas has created, the structures have movement and strength balanced with beauty and function.
“...But the key part is trying to give back an extraordinary piece of landscape, rather than engulf it�
Thoughtful and innovative design such as these engages, inspires, and connects people. Heatherwick is refreshing and very thought provoking.
THIS BEATJAZZ ONYX ASHANTI
“...'Perfection' is merely a significant point on an evolving process trajectory. This years 'perfect' is next years problem to solve.” Beatjazz is “beats” and “jazz”, or more specifically. Beats are electronically derived rhythm and jazz as improvisational sonic investigation create an improvisational sonic construct for investigating rhythm, harmony and melody interactively. This is expressed as sound and performance but also as projected visualization, light color sequencing, robotic parameter feedback and CAD design-multiple dimensions of a singular expression. A hyper expression. “.....much of the idea of the concept is to design a tangible "mind" to music interface for musicians by making it work well for me and my music first then sharing it as each phase (hardware, software, gestural methodology) becomes more "stable"...”
Onyx Ashanti is a musical genius. His method is new and though it is unfamiliar doesn't mean it's bad. What you should absolutely appreciate as a designer is the amount of hard work and effort it took for Onyx to invent this system and learn how to use it so fluidly. The process includes: 1. Live looping, 2. Jazz improvisation 3. "Gestural" sound design. Accelerometers on each hand read hand position. The color of the lights indicates which sound I am playing The mouthpiece consists of ... a button, two guitar picks and lots of hot glue. The heads-up display is a smartphone that displays system parameters. To atomize music culture so that ALL past, present and future genres can be studied and abstracted, live
THE POWER OF
T I M E s t e f a n
s a g m e i s t e r
Sagmeister is a graphic designer who has taught many people the power of sabbaticals. For those of you who don’t know what a sabbatical is, it’s essentially a period of time you take off in order to work on something for yourself for work, study or travel every several years. Sagmeister decided to take his first sabbatical in Bali. Coming from New York City, Sagmeister had no preconceptions. During his time there he found him self learning the refined culture and self-determined work each day. Doing this, he believes a person will richen their lives by preparing them to appreciate retirement to the fullest once the time comes. As a student, I think we should take time to step back like Sagmeister and realize that what we are working on isn’t just another project but a calling. Though we obviously can not take off a year, perhaps even just a week or a weekend to take the steps towards people or things we are unfamiliar with just as he did in Bali. We need to open ourselves to new things and become more active with enviornments around us.
M e m o r a b l e
q u o t e s
“If you want to communicate something, you'd better make sure that your design piece is well-dressed and that its teeth are fixed. At the same time, I still believe that if it is only stylistically great and it has nothing to say, it still is not going to make a lasting impression on anybody.
"Obsessions make my life worse and my work better." “Any excuse to get away from the computer screen is welcome.”
How beauty feels R i c h a r d
S e y m o u r
Designer Richard Seymour works on products with soul. His design consultancy Seymourpowell is one of the best in the world. Seymours clients include Ford, Virgin Galactic, Tefal, Casio, Nokia, Guinness, Samsung and Unilever. Seymour is also consultant global creative director of design to Unilever’s Dove, Axe/Lynx and Vaseline brands. Seymour doesn’t believe in using words like “form” or “funciton” as a designer. He purues the emotional funcitionality of things. Products that we have an emotional bond to before we even think about it. True Beauty is felt before it is thought. Our culture makes it easy to associate the ideas of value and beauty together because of a price, explanation, or current trend but just because something is exspensive doesn’t make is beautiful. What makes something beautiful is that emotional bond. If we take away all of these ideas society gives us about beauty, we begin to see beauty all around us even in unfamiliar places. The designs that do this so well are the ones that highlight this emotional bond to make our lives richer.
Where good ideas come from S t e v e n
J o h n s o n
Johnson is a one of the generation's more intriguing thinkers. Johnson has many pieces of work that seemlessly connect many ideas. His speaches are captivating and eye opening. In his work, Where Good Ideas Come From he tells stories of how ideas are made and how great thinkers collaberate. Johnson discusses how spaces that encourage collaberation are where good ideas are innovated. Johnson believes that a “Liquid Network” is where good ideas are created. In a liquid enviornment you have many different ideas and interest bouncing off of each other. On the other hand, many ideas have incubation periods. Ideas linger in the back of peoples minds. Simply because some ideas aren’t fully thought out yet. Typically, like Dawrin, many of these great ideas happen as they fade into clarity after a long period of time. Great ideas come from the power of open innovative systems. Not from a single “eureka!” moment but from connecting your hunch to the other half of the idea to create a solution. Good ideas aren’t created out of isolation but are an answer to an observed need.
“That is how innovation happens. Chance favors the connected mind.” S t e v e n
J o h n s o n
TADTOULIS
“I like design. I hate design. I love design.”
B i o g r a ph y Tad Toulis is a creative consultant with over 15 years of experience in consulting and corporate practice. Tad was the Creative Director of TEAGUE’s Seattle-based Design Studio from 2007-2012. At TEAGUE, Tad was responsible for restructuring the studio offering and re-positioning TEAGUE’s practice to better support the needs and challenges of the Design Studio’s present and future clients. Prior to joining Teague, Tad worked at LUNAR Design, Motorola’s Advanced Concepts Group and Samsung’s LA LAB. He was also a founding member of designRAW, a San Francisco-based design collective. Tad is a frequent speaker and lecturer at universities, conferences and design symposiums. His work has received numerous awards of distinction and has appeared in publications across the globe.
K e y
L e a r n i n g s
1. Never work for someone who disrescpects you 2. Adjust to your enviornment, grow from it 3. Don’t do something you don’t love. If you don’t love it, don’t do it. 4. Be the Change you want to s ee