Green Room

Yeah that was me...

Yeah that was me in the quote... very exciting!!

So mom and dad were very proud and thank you to everyone who emailed.  It was wonderfully interesting to talk to William Hamilton and super fun to be part of "all the news that is fit to print"

My quote is itty bitty and more than halfway thru, but if you are interested...you can read the ICFF article here.

Download new_york_times.pdf

North South at ICFF

The North South project was a great success and all credit is due to Patty Johnson and her partners (Mabeo Furniture, Jocelyn Dow, USAID and others......  Coverage on the show and the project is in today's New York Times.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times (bottom)

Peter Mabeo, a manufacturer in Botswana, and Patty Johnson, a Canadian designer, showed their Simple bench and Maun Windsor chair for the North South Project.

Meant to be thrown.....

I pulled this illustration from www.gapingvoid.com, a site that I enjoy often.  Something about this concept really hit home with me.  How many times does a great idea melt away becuase we tried to make it polished and perfect when really we just should have hurled it out there.......  Great snowball fights are not about the perfection of the snowball.....it's about "making contact"!! Wham!

Gapingvoid: How to be Creative

I read gapingvoid.com almost everyday. Hugh Macleod laces his creative and marketing advice with some wonderfully dark humour.  Here is a link to his guide on How to be Creative.  Hope you enjoy it and maybe it will help.

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html

Metropolis Next Generation Contest Prep Session

Last year I was a juror on the Next Generation design competition for Metropolis Magazine. Based on the experience of reviewing the numerous submissions I wanted to invite any Toronto designers who are interested or entering the contest to an "openhouse".  The competition involves many different facets (being a new start-up, responsible practices as well as aesthetics). Patty Johnson and Scot Laughton have both agreed to attend the open house with myself to offer advice, guidance and a soundingboard for prospective entrants.  All feedback will be given within the strictest confidence and with the aim to help entrants have the best possible chance at winning the $10,000 start-up prize! 

Thursday December 1st 3pm-7pm at the Butler's Pantry  813 Queen Street West

Note: We will be wrapping up at 7pm, so we would reccomend you come as early as possible to ensure that there is time to properly discuss your exciting new idea!

Each Detail, One by One

On my list of design revolutions, the "escape tab" that allows someone who was clever enough to trap themselves in the trunk of the car to correct their problem, well, I'm not sure I even had that on the list at all!  But I saw this on Boing Boing today and it was posted by Mark Frauenfelder. Mark wrote a fun review of this design detail which you can read at http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/03/adorable_symbol_on_g.html

For me, what I like is the idea that before a design project begins, writing down all the details, all the functions, each individual part of the product and then one by one pointedly ask..."Has this detail been done to the best level possible?"

The glow in the dark "escape tab" is probably not the reason that anyone is going to rush out and buy a Ford Focus. However, if the Ford design team stopped and considered all the details of their design in the manner that they considered and invested thought in the glow in the dark escape tab...they would end up with a pretty great car I am sure. 

OffCut Design Competition

Image: Souvenir designed by Patty Johnson

OFF/CUT is an exciting new design project we wanted everyone to know about. OFF/CUT will
help to promote Canadian design to an international audience at the ICFF in NYC and at the Design fair in MILAN!  All designs in the OFF/CUT collection are to be constructed out of a 2" x 9" x 20" piece of Canadian wood!

OFF/CUT is inviting Canadian designers to submit new designs to be considered for inclusion in the OFF/CUT exhibits in both NYC and Milan. The deadline for submissions is November 25th...that is soon!! So start thinkin.....

For more information, and to receieve the details of the submision guidelines, please contact offcut@gmail.com.  Or, you can download the submission guidelines here.Download designer_brief_oct.pdf

Design Amongst Friends

Okay getting beyond how fabulous it would be to have drinks with "Bucky" and the gang. I love this George Nelson quote (found on boingboing.com ).  How many ball clocks have never been designed because in today's atmosphere people worry about "who owns what idea"?  Thinking we should host an annual "Ball Clock" dinner party. Everyone will drink and draw and let the IP fall where it may.....

“… there was one night when the ball clock got developed, which was one of the really funny evenings. Isamu Noguchi came by, and Bucky Fuller came by. I’d been seeing a lot of Bucky those days, and here was Irving and here was I, and Isamu, who can’t keep his hands off anything, you know- it is a marvelous, itchy thing he’s got- he saw we were working on clocks and he started making doodles. Then Bucky sort of brushed Isamu aside. He said, “This is a good way to do a clock,” and he made some utterly absurd thing. Everybody was taking a crack at this,…pushing each other aside and making scribbles. At some point we left- we were suddenly all tired, and we’d had a little bit too much to drink- and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll (of drafting paper), and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll there was a ball clock. I don’t know to this day who cooked it up. I know it wasn’t me. It might have been Irving, but he didn’t think so…(we) both guessed that Isamu had probably done it because (he) has a genius for doing two stupid things and making something extraordinary…out of the combination….(or) it could have been an additive thing, but, anyway, we never knew.” (George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design; pp 111). Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder at Boing Boing for posting this originally.

Design vs Styling

We believe it is extremely fruitful to make the distinction between these two services.  Design and Styling are both valuable tools when faced with a need for new products.  We do not intend to place greater value on either of the disciplines. Each of these skills is capable of generating new products that are distinctive and offer unique choices for consumers and buyers. Many new products represent a combination of both design and styling.  A new application or category of product that was generated from an exercise of design skill may also reflect styling in the fashion and palette in which it is presented.

Styling is the application of trend or fashion to an object type that is already in existence. Shower curtains, duvet covers, and dinnerware patterns are all products that rely heavily on styling.  Consumers seek out fresh styles and reward retailers for providing them with products that are familiar in their utility, but offer them a "new" visual that they can use to keep their home looking dynamic and engaging. This consumer appetite encourages retailers to constantly revolve the styles of their staple items.  Seasonal color palettes and new fashions give the store an atmosphere of revelation that encourages their customers to come and see "what's new". 

Design is the creation of new objects and new solutions for existing or possibly new consumer needs. Design does not start with existing products, but instead starts with human needs and human behaviors, human interaction with their surroundings. A design project begins with a problem or process for which people need an object or tool to achieve what they want.  The essence of what they want is studied and explored and then articulated. The ideal achievement of the satisfaction of that want is also articulated.  What makes a "GOOD" paring knife? What do "good", "better", "fun" and "satisfying" mean?  This is not to limit design to the creation only of object "types" that have not previously existed.  It is certainly possible to design a new knife, or a new table or even a new duvet cover.

The distinction comes from the origin of the process. Is the genesis of the new object an existing product type that has been adapted  or altered to satisfy the public appetite for "new"? Alternatively, was there a study of human needs and appetites used to articulate a set of definitions for what is good, successful, and satisfying for the problems and processes that were at issue? Were those definitions the basis for the creation of a new solution that is a tangible and significant improvement for the customer?

Both Design and Styling are critical applications for the development of new products.  When a client is seeking to produce new objects that will generate new revenue, the distinction between the two exercises has a significant impact on the investment that is required as well as the investment that is justified.  In styling, it should be expected that the work will have a lifespan equal to the length of a fashion season in the industry.  When using design, the longevity of the results is equal to the length of the human need and desire that was the basis of the research.  Timeline to develop a design project is significantly longer than a styling project, but the rewards are also ones that a client can count on across many product seasons and (using styling) can maintain a reliable revenue stream for years.

Read an article in the NYT today about Kayne West (rapper/producer). This quote just kinda stuck with me....

"What's weird," Mr. West says, "is I keep working, but I keep finishing. Every day when I work at the studio, I finish the album. So if someone was like, 'You've got to turn it in today,' I would be confident turning it in today. But if they gave me another week, I would work for another week.

Sometimes a deadline is a lifeline....no? Not be too negative about what this guy is saying, but I have a ton of projects that will be puttered and putzed with until somebody takes them away from me....