ID [PNW]

Adobe Illustrator is now the most requested software for industrial design positions, dethroning Photoshop. Solidworks is third on the list and clearly the most requested 3D application in ID job postings in IDSA's Design Perspectives monthly newsletter. Nine issues of the newsletter were studied from March 2007 to October 2008 and the number of specific mentions of software were counted. Only industrial design postings were counted, not graphic design, engineering, or educational positions. (See graph at left.) Adobe Illustrator has proved to be a very versatile rendering tool for design and has especially improved in usefulness since version CS2. Color shape areas remain as editable vectors and filters and effects such as blur, feather, drop shadow, bevel, emboss and others can be used to great effect. (the snowboard boot shown here was done with Illustrator by Western sophomore ID student James Lin) Adobe Photoshop is still holding a strong second place, since it gives incre...

ReMade is an annual project conducted by the Junior Industrial Design class of Western Washington University . The challenge was to study and address some of the issues associated with sustainable design and entrepreneurship. All the products presented were created by utilizing one or multiple materials of consumer or manufacturing waste. Life cycle analysis and recyclability were also considered and incorporated into the designs. It is a material driven design project encouraging sustainable thinking and design for production. 13 students found materials, designed, and manufactured products. Many students set up their own Etsy stores . All 13 products are also available for sale at the Western Washington Bookstore and we are all excited to have our official opening at IDEAL tonight, Friday November 6th from 6-10 as part of Bellingham's Downtown Art Walk .

Color as form emphasis Color can be used to emphasize the physical form, and to enhance the surface variation or three-dimensionality. This application is not dependent upon culture, but rather is based on how our minds process visual information. Our eyes equate value variation with surface variation. When this variation is pronounced through color its three-dimensional form is enhanced. comparing similar forms with high and low value colors. Photo by Jason Morris Considering the range of value possible on a form’s surface, more contrast can occur with light (high value) colors, especially white. However, a dark color such as an 80% gray has only a small range of value to exhibit until it’s fully black. So the perceived value change is small. The example below shows how the value change in the white bumper exhibits its curvature. However the dark blue bumpers curvature is hard to see, since its value remains mostly constant and is confused by reflections. ...

2. Color as user interface Color can give cues as to how to operate a machine or an appliance. Even without understanding of the function of a form, a contrasting colored feature indicates how and what to do. A green button usually indicates “go” or “start,” a red button may indicate, “stop” or on a trigger may mean, “fire.” Our traffic lights use green, yellow and red to direct drivers with its color cues. The white stripes of a crosswalk on the street direct the pedestrians where to safely cross and warn drivers. The controls of an X-Box game controller are colored differently. Gray is used for the controls that are ordinary and commonly used and colors are used for the special functions. With a series of controls, only the most important and critical ones are usually colored. This application should be used carefully and with consideration. Liberal use of color on many buttons or controls dilutes the power and influence of the colors. Contrasting colors ...

Encouraging the meaningful use of color in industrial design (part 1. The following discussion on paper was presented and published for the IDSA National Conference 2006 in Austin, TX. I thought that I'd post it here for more to read. Please feel free to add comments and contribute to the discussion) Color may be the most influential factor in the decision to buy, or not to buy. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, he suggests that when presented with a choice, the subconscious mind makes a decision within just a few seconds. Even before one rationalizes and investigates the choices, through rapid cognition the mind has already been made up. In relation to industrial design, that critical decision is the purchasing decision. Within those first few seconds the majority of the information that is available is visual information and one of the most dominant aspects of that visual information is color. So, considering this, the application o...

Here's a short video showing the process of designing some flatware. Done by the ID class of 05 at Western.

Here's a slick video made by the senior ID students at WWU back in 2004. It's for their senior project: Transparent/Opaque.

I’m proud to announce that Kate Richard, one of our Junior ID students, is one of the five finalists in the Dell ReGeneration international design competition! This was my class project for the Junior ID studio last winter, and each student spent 10 weeks conceptualizing and developing their own interpretation of the future of green computing. With her design entitled “Sense” she’s won $10,000 with a chance to win an additional $15,000 if hers is voted first. See the link below. http://www.regeneration.org/2008/04/22/remarkable-designs-breathtaking-drawings-help-us-pick-our-winners/ "The “ Regeneration: International Green Computing Design Competition ,” which recently completed its first round of judging, was conceived as a means for Dell to facilitate a broad public dialogue around design opportunities and trade-offs regarding environmentally-responsible design (including the entire lifecycle of computing technologies & products). The team set rigorous r...

I think that it's interesting how a third of the presentations and sessions at the IDSA conferences are about sustainability/environmental design. And they all admonish the designers, saying "shame on you for designing so much stuff that's going to be landfill." And we keep inviting these presenters and environmental activists year after year for more condemnation and scolding. It's as if we're coming back to church after a year of sinful product design, pleading, "please forgive us, O Earth, for designing a co-molded vinyl non-recyclable out-gassing product this year! Next year, I promise to do better." In fact that's my idea for next years IDSA conference, to have an environmental confession booth for fallen designers. We can confess all our wrong doings to William McDonough behind the veil, and light a candle at a Victor Papanek shrine. Do the environmentalists leave the IDSA conference thinking that they've done their dut...