EXPERIENCES WORTH SHARING Recordings from Design Seminar Corey Norman
“YOU ARE ALL THE EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE: A WAY OF THINKING AND EXPRESSING ITSELF VISUALLY.” - Tad Toulis
Introduction to Design Seminar Design Seminar is a course centered around design conversation. Department chair Vincenzo Iavicoli prepared an amazing line up of professinoals to visit us and share a bit of their amazing lives and their creative journeys. As a graduating senior, I wish I had this type of course from the first day of classes. The experiences that were shared,
inspired us to challenge the norms, think outside the box, and create our own path to success. Design Seminar is a course that encourages conversation about design and it’s history as well as challenge students to think critically, think about more than aesthetics and most of all, THINK DIFFERENTLY.
“The details are not the details. They make the design. “ Charles Eames
Designers past and present The first request of us in class was to do research on our favorite designers current and past.I did some research and tried to understand these designers thought processes, design language and overall philosophy of design. Upon researching Mike and Maaike, I realized that they have designed a lot of products that I have enjoyed either physically or visually in my life. The Xbox360, the incase EO collection, and the juxtaposed book shelves just to name a few. I enjoy their creativity and simplicity of design. I also think that this is a group that I would enjoy working with. It doesn’t seem like they have a specific design language but, they definitely have a good sense for good design. But I will criticize their website. I truly dislike navigating it, and the font choices and layout is questionable. Outside of that they’re cool. Meyerhoffer and Starck are on similar accords to me. They both have an interesting background and have worked with numerous companies. I will admit that MeyerHoffer has a greater design sense than Starck.
But the thing that has always captured me about Starck is his confidence and overall fearless attitude when it comes to creating. His inspiration knows no bounds and he chooses to design with the least amount of boundaries as he can control. And lastly Tim Brown. He inspires me in one simple way. He pushes design thinking. I think that it is one of if not the most important aspect of design. I am always pushing myself to create the next useful thing, but I have come to the conclusion that a good next step, would be to challenge my own thought process and to really explore critical thought in terms of design. These three designers urge me to push the limits, design with passion and thought and to define my own career path. As a graduating senior I have been stuck on determining what it is I want to pursue, but at the end of the day, I think that these guys have shown me that hard work, experience and introspective exploration, I will find my true calling in this industry.
“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.” Paul Rand
Presentations and Conversation
Internship Presentations Paul Karas Kohler
Mike Moceri Manulith
Greg Verras Shinola
Paul Hatch Teams Design
Tad Toulis Sonos
T. Meyerhoffer Meyerhoffer
Co-founded the world’s first 3D printing retail and service bureau hybrid in April 2013
Currently a Designer at Shinola. Got his start making custom skateboards in the Detroit community.
The founder and president of TEAMS Design USA, a global product design consultancy.
Tad Toulis is a creative consultant with over 15 years of experience in consulting and corporate practice.
A creator who believes in connecting people on a deeper level through form and innovation.
Matteo Iavicoli Electrolux Jessica Choi SundBergFerar Drew Young Mitsubishi
Mike Moceri Manulith
“Don’t limit yourself, you can do anything you want.�
MIke Moceri is a genious! At the young age of 23 he has a thriving business that is at the forefront of the 3D printing uproar. Not only did our class get the opportunity talk to the guy, but we also visited his shared space in TechTown. Mike has an enterpreneur spirit that shaped his path. Mike not only built his own Makerbot, but made it more effecient using printed parts. He worked with the DIY 3D printing community in Chicago before co-finding the first 3D printing retail service company. Now he lives in Detroit where he is CEO of his own 3D printing company, Manulith. The path that he has taken in his life is an inspiration for someone like me. I have so many ideas and ambitions that a conventional method of success is very unlikely. I am very grateful to Vincenzo that he set up this meeting and will apply many of the lessons that I have learned through other design thinking individuals.
Greg Verras Shinola Greg has a very interesting story and journey. Not only was he creating his own product but he was successful with it. Greg embodied much of what I desire here in Detroit. I would like to create my own products and brands in the city I grew up in as well as working in the industry. I think his custom skate board business could have trully been something great if the resources for capital were as big then as they are now, with the rapid development of crowdfunding. Ultimately Greg transitioned from Fossil to Shinola and is enjoying the switch. Shinola has a great community, is back by a great brand (and money) and is getting in to some amazing things.
If I were to critique Greg’s work I would say he needs to show more process. We only caught a few projects of his during his presentation, but I didnt get a good idea of how he gets to his design concepts. He has pretty good sketching ability and I can see how his engineering background makes a great foundation for his career path. Reflection What I took away from Greg’s conversation was that we make our own path in this field. Not only can we create our own brand, we can find where that passion can be applied along the way. It was a great presentation nonetheless.
“Don’t look too long at my bad sketches!”
Paul Hatch Teams Design Paul Hatch is the co-founder of TEAMS design and the design director of Design House Inc. While he was here he gave a presentation on visual perception. I think that he had a very compelling perspective on what details can communicate. As a designer we are always more in tuned with the design package, not the details and how they can tell a story and create as Paul calls, direction. Things such as what stimulates the visual components of the brain and what as humans create emotional connections or associations are essential to the design experience. These are things we discussed with Paul. He is by far one of the smartest thinkers and seeks more information to help him design better products. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk and am happy to have spoke with him afterwards. He has plenty of information to share. Great influence on the students here and I would like to have more conversations with him. Great person.
“I am to design objects that connect intuitively with a user on a deeper level through form and innovation.�
Thomas Meyerhoffer Meyerhoffer Thomas Meyer Hoffer Is a designer and innovator who has designed some really cool things. During his presentation he described many of his projects and collaborations. I found it pretty awesome that he worked with Coke to redeine the coke glass. He created an experience that fit the brand in a simplistic manner, which for me is very much appreciated.
“Design is a noun and a verb, its about thinking and doing!.� -Tad Toulis
Tad Toulis Sonos Tad Toulis has had an awesome journey in his career. He has worked for IDEO, Motorola, Teague, Lunar, Samsung and now Sonos. What I think sets Tad apart from any other designer is his incredible thought process. I think it is the sole driving force in his success. His unyielding ability to learn and adapt himself to his environment, as well as direct others to do the same. It isn’t hard to believe that part of his role at sonos is to change the existing creative culture with in the design department. By far Tad was the most influential person to speak to us. (for me) He totally challenges my approach to design.
- Six notes of advice from Tad Toulis. Be generous with your ideas. Share them. Be willing to walk away from a design to be able to see it freshly. Learn what you value and keep at it. Do it for the journey not the recognition. People matter - Treat them well. Never work for someone who is jealous of your work.
The next generation of great designers are our peers!
Paul Karas Kohler
Matteo Iavicoli Electrolux
Jessica Choi Sundbergferar
Drew Young Mitsubishi
Paul’s experience at Kohler was fascinting for sure! The concept that he created was phenomenal and by far one of the more thought through and flushed out concepts I have seen during internships. The fact that he engineered it as well was even more impressive. I understand even more how important prototyping is to the design process.
Matteo had a similar experience as I. Not only was he successful in his position as an intern, he was given more responsibilty and work. I think he is flourishing as a designer early in the game and has a great sense of design and graphics. I’d be interested in seeing the type of work he would produce in an environment he enjoys more.
The consultancy career path is the one that interests me the most. I feel like Jessica was able to recieve a few different directions of experience and learned alot fromthe consultancy. Especially about what she doesnt like about design. When Jessica disclosed to us that she will have her name on a patent was such a cool thing.
Drew isnt really an intern. While at Mitsubishi, he pretty much runs the design department and makes many of the creative decisions. I think his exploration was awesome and the improvements that he made with the Auto Show display was awesome. Ultimately I feel like Drew will have a bright future at Mitsubishi. I cannot see them letting him go.
Ted Talks and my thoughts
Group One
Group Two
Philipe Starck Starck
Ross Lovegrove Shinola
Pranav Mistry Teams Design
T. Heatherwicker Heatherwick Studio
David Kelley IDEO
Onyx Ashanti BeatJazz
Emily Pilloton Meyerhoffer
Co-founded the world’s first 3D printing retail and service bureau hybrid in April 2013
Currently a Designer at Shinola. Got his start making custom skateboards in the Detroit community.
The founder and president of TEAMS Design USA, a global product design consultancy.
A creator who believes in connecting people on a deeper level through form and innovation.
A creator who believes in connecting people on a deeper level through form and innovation.
Tad Toulis is a creative consultant with over 15 years of experience in consulting and corporate practice.
A creator who believes in connecting people on a deeper level through form and innovation.
Ted Talks Group One
Philippe Starck
Ross Lovegrove
Pranav Mistry
As much as I Iove the way Philippe Starck approaches design, parts of his thought process are too much to process, or maybe it is the way he describes what he is thinking. His Ted Talk was thought provoking, in a sense that he wants designers to look farther than the horizon in which we see normally.
Ross Lovegrove is a designer with the absolute love of organic form. As a designer, i know its difficult to have control over how form is percieved, whether it’s masculine or feminine. I think people in general are comfortable with form and what something so simple can do to a design.
Pranav Mistry presents an extremely compelling inventions. One of the most creatively logical ideas that I have ever seen. I personally was blown away by some of the features of SixthSense technology that he was able to show off during his presentation. I questioned some of it at first, but after some time, and after Mistry presented and performed maneuvers straight from a science fiction movie, he had me convinced. He is right when he feels that advancements seen in his merging of the physical and digital world will be the future. My only question with it all is whether or not the real world will be accepting of something like this in the mainstream.
I did take away some insights in the way we should approach human centered design. As philippe has stated in a previous interview, “The designer today should not help to produce more-he has to help produce fewer and better things. There is a beauty, an aesthetic, a philosophy to the less.
His concept: D.N.A (design nature art), was brilliant. Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci. The way he speaks is so simple and direct. He is the epitome of nature based design thinking. There isnt much that needs to be said about this designer. He has influenced designers of all ages and to me he is one of those design stars that will be forever talked about as an influential figure.
Ted Talks Group Two
Thomas Heatherwick
David Kelley
Onyx Ashanti
Emily Pilloton
What I liked about this that the forest based tower doesn’t literally look like a tree, but he thought about giving more public space at the pedestrian level by “chipping” off the bottom and transferring that to the top. He created a more public space. The thing I took away from this is the true nature of architecture. In a way it is the art of critical thinking and problem-solving through design of public spaces. Brilliant!
He had a really good attitude towards the creative atmosphere. He explained everything in a comprehensible and amusing way. In my opinion as we grow in this field, we become more static as individuals mimicing things around us through formal education. I think that when people become confident in their own creative ability, it changes everything and Kelley knows how to talk about that.
I saw this a while back when Alex Hatch was going to CCS, and even then I thought it as awesome. “I can see this as a segue into a world where more and more people without formal musical training can partake in the music making experience” or“spectator music.” I think the Special part of this is clearly the performance value and the ability to put people who have no music background into the scene.
First off, I am happy that someone is actively working in such a poor county trying to help these students. We need positive, forward thinking individuals like her. Secondly, I think this is a brilliant idea and am interested to hear if it will be something implemented to other places. This is inspiring for someone like me who is in the education system trying to educate those in difficult situations.
Thank you! Corey Norman Final Remarks Well, I think this book speaks for itself. Not only did I learn a lot, I also got inspired. Thank you Vincenzo for this experience. I got to hear from some pretty cool people!