Industrial Design Sandbox

Gaining New Clients: Role playing with Raymond Loewy and Walter D. Teague

2012-01-27T09:57:00.000-08:00

TheSuccessful Design Business Practices of Walter Dorwin Teague

Part 2 of 5

Walter Dorwin Teague in his office-photo WDTA archives

Gaining New Clients: Role Playing with Raymond Loewy and Walter D. Teague

How did the earlyindustrial designers sell themselves to new clients? Raymond Loewy and Walter D. Teague answeredthis question during a conference in 1946 entitled “Industrial Design: A NewProfession” held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. They demonstrated this by having a mock discussionbetween designer and client, with Teague acting as the potential client. Whatis interesting about this discussion is that much of the conversation soundsthe same as our discussions with clients today with some notable exceptions. Here is an excerpt:

Raymond Loewy: …Mr. Teague, let us try to discuss it together. Would you like to take the part of theclient?

Walter Dorwin Teague: All right, fine. Well, Mr. Loewy, I know that you are a designer of verysubstantial and eminent reputation, with a great many successes to your credit,but you have never served a business exactly like mine. I am perhaps thelargest widget manufacturer in America.

Raymond Loewy: What type of product did you say?

WDT: Widgets.

RL: Oh Yes.

WDT: “You probably don’t realize it, but the business ofmaking widgets is very different from any other business. I know that you have designed trains andautomobiles and household appliances and business machines, and many otherproducts, but widgets quite in a class by themselves. I am just wondering what gives you anyassurance that you could do for us what my own staff of engineers has not beenable to do.”

RL: “…We have studied the record of your company for thepast few years. We know that you aredoing very well; we know the reputation of your firm; we know that the productsyou are manufacturing are excellent, priced correctly and for the most partstyled right. However, we feel that theinfluence of an outsider with an open mind, with no inhibitions about yourproduct – working in cooperation with your own staff – could bring some freshand unusual answers to your problems.

“We can’t promise to do so; but we feel reasonablyconfident that if we have the cooperation of you design department, of yourengineering department, and if we have an opportunity to study themanufacturing facilities you have, the kind of equipment you use, we can do ajob for you.

“We would like to study the widget market, however,before we go ahead and make any proposition to you. We would like to know what is being done inthe field by competitors, and in what price range, and which are the widgetsthat sell best, and we would try to isolate the reason why they sell best;whether it is price, appearance, function, quality, or a combination of thesefactors. Then we can talk to youintelligently about doing design work for you organization.”

WDT: “Well, of course, Mr. Loewy, that goes much furtherthan I had in mind. I had assumed thatyou would simply make me some sketches of what you thought my product ought tolook like. After all, that is all we hadin mind in connection with your-

RL: “Well, I regret to say that we don’t work thatway. The leading designers, those whohave established reputations and have reputations to maintain—such as Mr.Teague, a namesake of yours, of Mr. Dreyfuss or Mr. Arens—don’t work thatway. They don’t like to start doing anyfancy designing or blue-sky designing with knowing all the factors of theproblem involved. We couldn’t do that,then. We wouldn’t be interested, and I don’t think you would.

WDT: Well, do you think that you could come into abusiness like ours and in a short time acquire enough information about it tobe able to make wise decisions in the various fields in which, as you haveoutlined it, you would like to operate?

Raymond Loewy

RL: Yes. That is the reason we are here to discuss itwith you. We have done work in fieldsvery close to widgets. The products may not be exactly widgets; but they are inthe same price range, they sell through the same kind of retail outlet, and theservicing problem of these units is quite similar to yours. We feel confident we can do a job. I wouldlike to have a look at your facilities, at your plant, and see what kind ofequipment you have. We would also liketo talk to your sales manager, if that can be arranged, in order to have someidea about your retail outlets.

WDT: Then we would more or less have to take you into thefamily and into our confidence in a matter of our business methods andprocedures and so on?

RL: Yes—completely. That is the only way we could possibly work. You may not have heard about the reputationof our firm as far as ethics is concerned. You may be sure that any new development that happens when we work withyou, or any new idea you may have, will be kept completely confidential.

WDT: “the question of personalities immediately intrudesitself. Do you feel that you could getalong with our technical staff? Afterall, our engineers are very experienced in their work, and they are a littlesensitive about people intruding from the outside. I just wonder whether we wouldn’t have aconflict on our hands when your people come into our organization. … Whatguarantee we would have of success? After all, this is going to be a veryexpensive thing for us. What assurancedo we have that we will get the right returns?”…( (Minutes of 1946 MOMA Conf.)

It is evident fromthis conversation that Teague and Loewy agreed on their business strategy as consultingindustrial designers and communicate many of the concerns that they haveexperienced when approaching new clients. Teague shows an understanding and an empathy for his potential clientsfears. Here are some of the fears thathe mentions:

· That the designer is not experienced with theirparticular product market.

· Fear of loss of security of intellectual propertyand confidentiality.

· Compatibility with in-house staff. Staff will feel intruded by consultant andnot cooperate.

· Fear of long term commitment in a relationship witha design firm.

· Fear of not getting return on their investment.

Teague and Loewyknew how to respond these fears with assurance, however they stood firm whenpushed to the edges of their professional ethics. One thing that stands out in this conversationis that Loewy and Teague refused to take on any short term projects. They would not “simply make some sketches” ordo “blue-sky designing.” They required acontract of at least one year long, in order to do their best at understandingtheir client, its market and their customers.

“After all, we are subject to the wishes of ourclients. This discussion has to do withthe client-designer relationship. Mostof us may have the status of call girls, but we are not streetwalkers: we waitfor the clients to come to us.” – Walter D. Teague (Minutes of 1946 MOMA Conf.)

Coming up next in part 3: How did Teague manage his office and treat his staff? What was it like to work at WDTA during itsheyday?

Follow the progress of the Teague documentary on Facebook and this blog.

Works Cited

Minutes ofthe Conference on Industrial Design, A New Profession. Proc. of Conference on Industrial Design, A New Profession,Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. 1946. MOMA archive 45.1 S624 1946

Photo of Teague at his office from the WDTAarchives.

Photo of Loewy from http://tipografos.net/design/loewy.html

The Successful Design Business Practices of Walter Dorwin Teague

2012-01-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Part1 of 5

Walter Dorwin Teague on Madison Avenue (Teague archives)

Walter Dorwin Teague (1883 - 1960) isconsidered one of the founding fathers of industrial design as well as one ofthe most prolific American industrial designers in history. Among his contemporaries, Henry Dreyfuss,Norman Bel Geddes, and Raymond Loewy, he stands out as a professional leaderand influential businessman. His clientswere the largest and most prominent corporations in the United States.

From the start ofhis industrial design business in 1928 the office grew from a staff of two tofifty-five by 1938, which included architects, engineers, accountants, modelmakers, and industrial designers. (Teague, W. D. Jr. 52) At this time his client list included: Ford,Texaco, US Steel, DuPont, National Cash Register, Eastman-Kodak, Steinway andSons, A.B. Dick, Consolidated Edison, and New Haven Railroad among others. Teague maintained long relationships withthese clients, some spanning over 20 years, designing iconic products,buildings and exhibits for over 3 generations. Says partner Stowe Myers: “Bythis time [1940], Walter Dorwin Teague’s prestige at the top of his professionwas well established.” (Myers) He later expandedhis firm to offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, and today his prestigiousdesign firm continues to thrive 84 years later.

Industrial designprincipals and consultants today can learn from how Teague ran his designbusiness, how he dealt with clients, how he approached projects, and how hetreated his staff. This article intends to reveal these century old lessons fromthe grandfather and “the Dean” of industrial design.

A Packard Ad designed and illustrated by Teague in 1915 (Hornung)

Learningfrom the Business of Advertising

Before transforminginto an industrial designer, Teague had been doing advertising artillustrations for over 20 years. He tooknight classes at the Art Students League in New York City, and was an extremelytalented illustrator. He worked with theadvertising agency Calkins-Holden as an illustrator and typographer. This is where he learned how to do businesswith prominent clients. Earnest Calkinswas an advocate of using form, visualization, design and art to modernadvertising, and wrote what is considered the first textbook of the field, Modern Advertising. Ralph Holden wasexperienced at bringing in new clients, forming relationships and holding ontothem.

Calkins and Holdenbecame very successful with a number of high-profile clients including:Pierce-Arrow, H.J. Heinz, Ingersoll Watch, Thomas A. Edison Industries,Beech-Nut, and E. R. Squibb. Teaguelearned how to nurture relationships with prominent clients through RalphHolden and how to demonstrate the value of their work through sales figuresbefore and after an ad was published. Here Teague learned to have the experience and social tact for dealingwith the clients that he was targeting.

“The value of thisassociation was only equaled by the experience of observing at first hand themethods of Earnest Elmo Calkins and Ralph Holden, whose high ethical andprofessional standards have never been surpassed, he thinks, in hisexperience.” (WDTA)

Teague’s value proposition to his clients was simple and effective. That industrial design will improve theirproducts appearance, function, sales, and potentially reduce manufacturingcosts and strengthen the company’s brand. Being a student of the advertising firm, he would produce case-studiesof before-and-after sales figures, with which he could justify the cost of hisservices and clearly present the potential value.

Coming up next: How did the early industrial designers sell themselves to new clients?

Works Cited

Myers,Stowe. "Living Legend of Industrial Design: Stowe Myers." LivingLegends Meeting, Association of Professional Design Firms. Whitehall Hotel,Chicago. 5 June 1987. Speech, Audio Recording.

Teague, W.Dorwin Jr. Industrial Designer: the Artist as Engineer. Lancaster, PA: Armstrong World Industries, 1998. Print.

WDTA. Walter D.Teague Biographical Notes. NewYork. 1951. Print,Teague Archives.

Hornung, Clarence P., Advertising Designs of Walter Dorwin Teague. Art Direction Book Co. 1991.

Western Industrial Design Students Win Multiple Design Awards

2012-01-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Students from Western Washington University’s Industrial Design program captured multiple awards in two recent design contests.

"Dip," by Western Washington University Industrial design student Larisa Schulze of Gig Harbor, recently won a Silver Award at the annual Shaggies design competition.

Larisa Schulze of Gig Harbor won a Silver Award at the Shaggies, a biennial design competition open to designers all across the Western United States and Canada. She was recognized for the design of her wood laminated reading bench, “Dip,” designed for children.

Samuel Martin of Seattle won a Bronze Award at the Shaggies for "Enfold," a design of eyeglass frames constructed of laser-cut tensile steel, rolled and press-broken to shape, and then powder coated to finish. The frames may be fit with any standard polycarbonate reading or corrective lens.

Recent Industrial Design graduate Thomas Kloucek won a Bronze Award in the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" category for his “Bloom” handbag, a collapsible handbag made from used window shades.

Photos of the award-winning Shaggies projects are available at: http://theshaggies.com/behold

Kristen-Lehua Barcheski of Wailuku, Hawaii won the 2011 Student Design Scholarship for Rotationally Molded Products for the design of "Saddle Stand,” an equestrian product that serves both storage and educational needs. The scholarship included $3,000 and a paid trip to Chicago, Ill., to attend the Association of Rotational Molders 2011 Meeting.

At that competition, Bellingham’s Noah Jack also won second place for "BikeTank," a water tank that mounts to the back of any standard bicycle, designed to make water transport easier for people in the developing world.

Video: Awards Presentation IDSA Educator of the Year 2011

2012-01-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Western ID Prof. Del King Wins IDSA Educator of the Year Award

2012-01-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

Prof. Del King reviewing a prototype with students Jay Ostby and Adam Weisgerber.

I am very excited to announce that WWU Industrial Design professor, Del King, was awarded the IDSA educator of the year at the IDSA international conference in New Orleans. This is a very prestigious honor that is only awarded once a year. Here's the language that the IDSA wrote:

Del King, L/IDSA | Western Washington University

2011 IDSA Education Award Winner

"Dell King enjoyed a distinguished career in professional design practice. He managed the medical products division at Hewlett Packard. He served as Fluke’s corporate design manager. And he was president and CEO of Walter Dorwin Teague Associates. Not bad for the guy who has taught the senior ID studio at Western Washington University for almost three decades.

"Each of the dozens and dozens of students who have studied with him has a “Dell Story.” Among the words Western grads have used to describe him: Critical. Meticulous. Intense. Demanding. Relentless. Scary.

"Dell is also the professor who visits ill students in the hospital and arranges for them to graduate on time despite missing numerous classes. He’s the one who attends weddings and tells his current class of former students’ post-graduation adventures. And he’s the one who would advise a new grad on salary negotiation for her first design job. Dell didn’t launch the program at Western, but with the way he worries about his students and takes such pride in them, it’s no exaggeration to call him the father of it.

Back in the early eighties, Western’s young ID program experienced some serious growing pains. Dell stepped in to help out. In 1984, he began driving 180 miles round trip twice a week from his home near Seattle to Western’s Bellingham campus.

His first contribution was to take full responsibility for the senior studio. In doing so, he launched a unique tradition where the program would confer only 12 degrees each year.

To stabilize and build out the Western program, Dell worked to arrange a senior show at a professional venue in Seattle; he created a senior ID library; he pursued collaborations with local industry and he took part in the Sophomore Portfolio Review that is used to select the 12 juniors who’ll be challenged to earn a Western degree.

Dell has long been a famous advocate of process and professionalism. Each year, he guides his students through a rigorous discovery of theory, fundamental skills and hands-on design application.

The level of talent Dell has graduated is inspiring. During his tenure, Western has sent designers to work for Fluke, Teague, Boeing, Siemens, Artefact, Intel, General Electric, Pensar and Carbon, to name a few. As his students make their way through the world, they almost always return to Bellingham to conduct industry sponsored projects.

Those “Dell Stories” that Western alums all cherish often have a Dell quote at the heart of them:

“Design the solution.”

“Make everything you do, no matter what it is, the best work you’ve ever done.”

“My only interest here is to make every one of you a winner. If you fail, I fail.”

With so many successful designers crediting Dell for molding them, the last thing anyone would call him is a failure. For his singular contributions to one school—and by extension the entire design profession—we are very pleased to honor Dell King as IDSA’s Educator of the Year."

Industrial Design in 1940: Walter Dorwin Teague's Design Firm Film

2011-10-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

I just finished editing this video showing the designers and architects of Walter Dorwin Teague's New York office in 1940. Shot by C. Stowe Myers and provided by his son Charlie Myers.

I think that it's interesting seeing the air brushed renderings, scale truck models, drafting tables, cigarettes, alcohol and wild parties. Sorry about the video quality, it wasn't transferred well, I hope to get a better digitization of the film soon.

If you'd like to follow the progress of the Walter Dorwin Teague documentary, check back at this blog or Like the Facebook Page.

The Design and Construction of the Kodak Pavilion, 1939 New York World's Fair.

2011-08-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

These are recently discovered and digitized photographs of the design and construction of the Kodak Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. All photos by Stowe Myers, who played a key role in the design of this exhibition. Provided by Charlie Myers.

Airbrushed presentation renderings.

Scale model of pavilion, done in 1938.

Detail of scale model.

Construction begins in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NYC.

If you'd like to follow the progress of the Walter Dorwin Teague documentary, check back at this blog or Like the Facebook Page.

Teague Documentary Progress Update

2011-07-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

275 Madison Avenue, location of Teague's office for a time in the 20's. Photo by J. Morris

To continue my progress of the Teague documentary production process...

Thursday, June 30th was a visit to the Brooklyn Museum, which has an impressive collection of Teague designed objects. Then Friday I was shooting locations around the city, such the former office locations on Madison Ave, the Art Students League where he went to school, and his old home in Forest Hills. I also photographed some key influential art deco architecture that was built in the 1930’s, including an incredible tour of Donald Deskey's Radio City Music Hall.

The Art Students League 2011. The same building the Teague attended 1902-1906. photo by J. Morris

The former Teague family home in Forest Hills, New York. photo by J. Morris

The Sparks - Sparton Table Radio- 1936 - designed by Teague. photographed in the Brooklyn Museum.

Later this month I will be visiting architect and grandson, Harry Teague in Aspen, CO. We will also visit Charlie Myers, son of Stowe Myers, former partner who working alongside Teague for many years. Charlie has been instrumental in digitizing his father's photographs and film from 1934 to 1952. He has graciously shared his treasure with me, and there are some incredible photographs, including the construction of the 1939 World's Fair, and wild office parties!

I will also shoot an restored 1930's era Texaco service station in La Grande, Oregon as well as a Marmon 16 automobile at the Cussler Museum in Denver. Combining business with pleasure, we also plan to visit Bryce Canyon, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon and other amazing national parks along the way.

And this September at the IDSA National Conference in New Orleans, LA I will be presenting a paper entitled: "The Consummate Professional: Walter Dorwin Teague" which will focus on the successful business practices of Teague from the 30's, 40's and 50's, and what design professionals can learn from his strategies today.

For updates you check my blog at: http://idsandbox.blogspot.com/

And follow updates on the Teague Documentary Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Walter-Dorwin-Teague-Documentary/123489287729989

At present all of this research is currently being funded out of our WWU industrial design program funds and my own pocket. If you or your company would like to make a tax-deductable gift you will be acknowledged in the film as important supporters in the credits. Click here to the Western Foundation Online Pledge Form for an easy way to donate. Indicate "Industrial Design-Teague Doc" in the gift designation box. Here's some ways that you or your company will be acknowledged for your support:

Teague Documentary Gift levels

$10 or more access to special project updates and news, plus a thank you listing on the film website

$25 or more special project updates, plus a thank you listing in the end credits, plus a high-quality digital download of the complete documentary

$50 or more all of the above, plus a signed first edition DVD of the complete documentary

$100 or more all of the above, plus a pass to the premiere private showing, plus a special thank you listing in the end credits.

$250 or more all of the above, 2 passes to the premiere private showing, plus a full color movie poster

$500 or more all of the above, plus a listing at the beginning of the film as a "this film is made possible by:", and 4 total premiere passes.

$1000 or more all of the above, Associate Producer credit in the film, 8 total premiere passes, and part of the WWU Presidents club.

Pioneering Industrial Designer Stamps Dedication

2011-06-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Stamp display at the Cooper Hewitt

Today the US Postal Service dedicated the new collection of stamps honoring twelve of the great industrial designers of America. There were many families of descendants of these designers present. Ralph Caplan gave a short talk about the designers and their influence. But, an unexpected surprise for me was meeting John Teague, Sally Zildjian Teague and their children! There was even a young Walter Teague, who is Walter Dorwin Teague's great-grandson.

I've been in New York this week doing research and interviews on Teague for the documentary. I've interviewed grandson, Walter Dorwin Teague III, a social worker in Maryland and learned some interesting stories about the family. I spent some time at the MOMA library in Queens, and discovered the minutes to a conference entitled "Industrial Design: A New Profession" from 1946. Present at that event were Teague, Raymond Loewy, and Laslo Moholy-Nagy, among many others. In it, there is a great discussion between Loewy and Teague, where they act out a typical scenario of talking with a new client, and proposing design services to them. It's actually not much different than what is done today, in terms of the value proposition that a designer gives a client.

On Tuesday I spent most of the day at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum library. There I found a beautiful little booklet about the Marmon 16 automobile. It seems that it was a sort of sales brochure, however is was small two hardcover books in a silver painted box. I also had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Moggridge, Director of the Cooper-Hewitt and a founder of IDEO, and discussing Teague and the legacy of the early designers.

Today was the dedication of the stamps and I was able to get an interview with John Teague and talk about his grandfather and the family. I then rushed down to 43rd St to interview author and historian, Russell Flinchum. Russell has been studying design history much longer than I have, and he had conversations with Dorwin, who had worked alongside his father for many years.

Next there will be a visit to the Brooklyn museum, which has an impressive collection of Teague designed objects. Then I'll be shooting locations around the city, such the office locations, where he went to school, their old home and so forth. I'll put up some photos later.

Meanwhile, I've set up a Teague Documentary Facebook page for the project, if you are interested in hearing the progress of the documentary production, then just "like" the page and you will get the updates as they happen as well as some images.

Mt. Baker Plywood Furniture Design Competition winners

2011-06-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

Winner’s Announcement: Furniture Design for the Community

Western Washington University

Industrial Design

June 14th, 2011

Four judges have reviewed and selected their favorites among 24 designs. In addition to our panel of judges, students voted on their peer’s designs to decide a “students choice” award. The project was part of the sophomore course, Sophomore ID studio 2 (Etec 216), led by Associate Professor Jason Morris.

The objective was to design and construct a unique furniture solution for another person or organization for their current needs. The furniture will be then given to that person or organization as a gift.

Mount Baker Products has generously donated all of the high quality FSC hardwood plywood for the project and has also donated $6000 for scholarships for the winners.

Here are the winners:

Honorable Mention:

Sean Braaten, Everett, WA. for "Gather" a transition play station for the release of pent-up anger, designed for Rebound of Whatcom. $500 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

Student Choice Award to:

Kevin Courtney of Seattle for "Stack" magnetic modular blocks for individuals with visual impairment and special needs. Designed for the Max Higbee Center. $500 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

3^rd Spencer Denton of Jacksonville, OR, for "ArtFull" a flat floding print stand for artists and galleries, designed for the Allied Arts Gallery. $800 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

tied for 2^nd

Jessie Wixom. Bow, WA. for "Leve" a step-up platform for book check-out designed for the Bellingham Public Library Children's Room. $1100 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

Louis Dawson, from Carbondale, Colorado, for "Loop" a durable storage rack for kayak bailing pumps, built for the Community Boating Center of Bellingham. $1100 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

1^st Larisa Schulze, from Gig Harbor, WA. for "Dip" a children's reading bench and book storage designed for reading teacher, Cheryl Perrella. $2000 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

Judges:

Entries were judged on concept, creativity, functionality, structure, craftsmanship and form. They were judged by Lisa Van Doren, Mechille Kiss, Keagan McCurdy, and Michael Flaherty. Lisa is an owner of Ideal, a design shop on 1227 Cornwall Ave. in Bellingham. Mechille and Keagan are industrial designers at Tabar, Inc. Michael is a professional woodworker at Flaherty Woodworking.

Support:

The scholarships and all of the wood were generously provided by Mount Baker Products. Thanks to Tim Shannon for being our supporter and advocate of the industrial design program at Western.

The Mt. Baker Plywood Furniture project involved the local community through designing for various organizations and donating the furniture to them upon completion. Design students were required to conceive, design, build, and finish a piece of furniture that responds to the needs of their client.

Glue Gun design concepts by Western ID sophomores

2011-06-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some glue gun design concepts done by my students in the sophomore industrial design studio course at Western Washington. They had just completed their introduction to the elements of form theory of Rowena Reed Kostellow. The improvement of their designs is significant. These are all physical models, not CAD.

A glue gun inspired by crayons by Carson Massie

by Kevin Courtney

by Sean Braaten

by Sean Missal

by Van Vu

Tape Dispenser Designs - Western ID sophomore students

2011-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

by Jeffrey Grothe

by Daniel Galan

by Hunter Frerich

These are designs done by my students as they attempt to redesign the tape dispenser. Sophomore ID studio 2, 2011.

Western Washington ID Students Judged Best in Northwest

2011-04-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Sarah Blott - IDSA Student Merit Award winner and Northwest Best in Show

Sarah's chaise lounge design.

Students from Western Washington University’s Industrial Design program were recently honored with the Industrial Designers Society of America Student Merit Awards in Seattle. They presented their portfolios and were interviewed by a panel of professional designers in Seattle. Award winners were announced at the Northwest Chapter of the IDSA at the University of Washington’s School of Art. The Northwest Chapter of the IDSA includes professional industrial designers and student designers from Western, the University of Washington and the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Western students and their awards include:

Senior Student Merit Winner: Sarah Blott, Seattle

Senior Student Best in Show: Sarah Blott, Seattle

Junior Student Merit Winner: Anna Perrella, Bellevue

Junior Student Best in Show: Ryan Hume, Bainbridge Island

Blott will represent the WWU Industrial Design program at the IDSA Western District Conference in San Jose, Calif., on May 7.

Social Impact IDSA conference - Some photos of San Jose...

2011-04-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

San Jose State's Campus

The MLK Jr Library AKA San Jose Public Library

Inside the library

San Jose State's Campus

The Student Union building

The Barrett Ballroom

Inside the Student Union

Join the dialogue in San Jose May 6 - 7 at the 2011 IDSA Western Conference: SOCIAL IMPACT!

Regular registration ends THIS FRIDAY April 22 at midnight EST. Don't pay late fees! REGISTER TODAY.

Road Invaders

2011-04-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

This is how I imagine my commute every day.

I have more bicycle graphic designs on Zazzle.

Leonard R. Bacich is honored with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award

2011-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Lenny was my former professor of three dimensional design at Pratt Institute. He passed away last year, and has been recently recognized with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award. Now that I am teaching the elements of form to my students at Western, I think of Lenny often and can still hear his words echoing in my mind.

"LOOK at it. What do you see?"
"Precarious balance is like Martha Graham, the dancer, think of a dancers' pose when creating your forms."

He encouraged me to go into teaching and is part of the reason why I am a design professor.

Wire/Curve study by Thomas Kloucek, Western Washington

Here's more about Prof. Bacich from the RRK fund:

"For almost a quarter of a century, Lenny Bacich epitomized the rigor and magic of great teaching. He said: "The WHAT and HOW issues of three-dimensional design are explainable and teachable. The WHY is the challenge of teaching the course." Lenny taught courses about abstraction and simultaneously planted physical understanding in his students' minds, eyes and fingers.

Lenny initiated Pratt's exchange program with Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany, in 2004, offering students from the disciplines of communications design, fine arts, industrial design, and digital arts the chance to study there. In 2006, DesignIntelligence named Lenny one of the "most admired industrial design educators in the country."

Lenny graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School. As a student of Rowena Reed Kostellow's at Pratt, he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial design degree in 1963 and a master's degree in 1971. He first taught at Rowena's alma mater, Kansas City Art Institute, and then worked as director of education at Knoll throughout the 1980s. Bruce Hannah recruited him to the Pratt industrial design faculty to teach the Foundation course. Lenny followed his mentor Bill Fogler as coordinator of the 3-D program.

Lenny was born on February 4, 1942, and coincidentally died on February 3, 2010, one year before the awards ceremony.

Past recipients of the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award are Gina Caspi, Ivan Rigby, Eva Zeisel, Gerald Gulotta, William Fogler, Eugene Grossman, Ralph Appelbaum, James Fulton, Louis Nelson, Judy Collins, Bruce Hannah, Ted Muehling, Lucia N. DeRespinis, and Tom Patti.

These teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, and designers embody the mission of the fund: to encourage and guide a systematic educational approach to all forms of visual expression inspired by Rowena's teaching.

Every year the trophy is made from one of the best examples of Pratt student 3-D design exercises. Adjunct Professor Kathryn Filla, Department of Industrial Design, worked with her students to transform their sketches into a limited edition trophy."

Hoima Bicycle showing in Sidney, BC

2011-04-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hoima Bicycle will be showing soon:

Star Cinema

Sidney, BC, Canada
June 1st and/or 2nd, 2011
(check their site for final schedule)

It will be shown together with other bicycle movies such as Breaking Away, Chasing Legends, or Veer (To be determined). Admission will be a donation with proceeds to Bicycles For Humanity

Thanks to John Robertson of Saanichton, BC for setting this up!

Star Cinema, 9842 3rd Street. Sidney, BC. V8L 3A7. Office: 250-655-3384. Info Line: 250-655.

Here's a trailer:

David Kaisel, Design Research for Global Health - To Present at the IDSA Social Impact Conference

2011-03-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

David Kaisel has worked for 25 years integrating design, business strategy, user research and global health. Pursuing design as a tool to help people lead healthier lives, his design career progressed from office seating in Italy to client management in Silicon Valley to designing morgues, emergency housing and malaria treatment programs in Angola, Colombia and Brazil. Four years coordinating projects for Doctors Without Borders confirmed his interest in design for global health. Exploring how design impacts sustained adoption of health interventions, he advises clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH on user research design and product innovation for household water treatment and community sanitation. As a research director at the Institute for the Future, he developed strategic forecasts of trends in the global health economy for Fortune 100 clients. His past work includes research on biomass stove test protocols and standards for the Shell Foundation, developing a commercialization strategy for a novel point-of-care immunoassay funded by the Acumen Fund and facilitating revision of the American Heart Association’s mission statement. His undergraduate design degree is from San Jose State University, and he holds an MBA from the University of Washington and a master’s in public health from University of California Berkeley.

Join us for the IDSA Social Impact conference 2011. San Jose, Ca. May 6th and 7th. See all of the details here: http://www.idsa.org/2011WesternDistrictConference

Dawn Danby to Present at the IDSA Western District Conference

2011-03-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Dawn Danby wants the things designers make to benefit both people and the world. Her goals goals are simply to develop environmentally sustainable systems and products that change the way individuals experience the things around them. Dawn is a cross-disciplinary designer, strategist, art director, project manager, producer and artist. She currently manages Autodesk's Sustainable Design Program, integrating sustainable thinking into the digital tools used by 9 million designers and engineers worldwide. Dawn has collaborated with international artist Noel Harding on Windsor, Ontario's Green Corridor initiative, designed a $3.5 million tree-covered, wind-powered pedestrian bridge on the US-Canada border and developed closed-loop manufacturing strategies for a leading outdoor footwear manufacturer. Dawn is a co-author of WorldChanging: A User's Guide to the 21st Century and has spoken at TEDGlobal 2005: Ideas big enough to change the world (Oxford UK),ICFF (NYC), Subtle Technologies (Toronto), and Doors of Perception (Delhi).

SOCIAL IMPACT, the 2011 IDSA Western Conference.

May 6th and 7th, 2011.

Join us for this exciting design dialogue at San Jose State University in the heart of Silicon Valley.

To help with your planning, key deadlines for registration are below.

Early Registration discounts END THIS FRIDAY March 18. Register today and attend for less!

Early: NOW - March 18

Reg.: March 19 - April 22

Late: April 23 - May 5

On-Site: May 6 - 7

Advertise, Exhibit, Sponsor ... and Get Noticed!

Interested in advertising, exhibiting or sponsorship at SOCIAL IMPACT? Some prime opportunities to connect with the community and promote your products and services are still available!

Contact Beth Harrington, director of global sales for more information.

Mike and Maaike to speak at the IDSA Western District Conference

2011-03-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

We are excited to have Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers presenting at the IDSA Western District Conference, San Jose, CA. And check out the latest Metropolis magazine (March 2011), it features Mike and Maaike as some of the great new design talent in America.

"Mike & Maaike is a progressive industrial design studio led by Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers. Formed as a design laboratory, the San Francisco studio works both independently and with clients to create new opportunities through products, technology, furniture, environments, packaging and transportation. Maaike Evers is Dutch, Mike Simonian, Californian. These distinct backgrounds inform a diverse body of work marked by experimentation, substance and strong conceptual narratives.
Recent collaborations include: Google, Belkin, Steelcase, Xbox, Blankblank, Council, Coalesse, Incase, Dupont, Fritz Hansen, Ironkey, and the City of San Francisco." - from their website.

Mike and Maaike's atnmbl

"ATNMBL is a concept vehicle for 2040 that represents the end of driving and an alternative approach to car design. ATNMBL is short for Autonomobile, a title that merges Autonomy with the Automobile. Upon entering ATNMBL, you are presented with a simple question: “Where can I take you?” There is no steering wheel, brake pedal or driver’s seat. ATNMBL drives for you. Electric powered plus solar assist, with wrap-around seating for seven, ATNMBL offers living and/or working comfort, views, conversations, entertainment, and social connectedness."

Kevin Starr to present at the IDSA Western District Conference

2011-03-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

Kevin Starr is the managing director of the Mulago Foundation. He directs the Foundation and the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program. Kevin had a perfectly good career in medicine when he stumbled into philanthropy in 1994. His friend and mentor Rainer Arnhold died suddenly when they were working together in Bolivia, and the Arnhold family asked Starr to help carry on Rainer's work through the Mulago Foundation.

Kevin spent the next decade working with projects from Afghanistan to Zambia, trying to figure out what makes for real impact at big scale. At the request of the board, he established the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program in 2003 to apply Mulago's principles and tools to help social entrepreneurs turn good ideas into lasting change at scale. Kevin went through medical school and residency at University California San Francisco and has lived in San Francisco ever since. He teaches and mentors fellows in other programs for social entrepreneurs and still practices medicine part time.

Is Social Design Good Business?

Socially responsible design can make positive changes within a community by addressing economic, humanitarian, political and environmental issues. It can also be personally rewarding to a designer. But, can socially responsible design be financially sustainable?

At the 2011 IDSA Western Conference we offer success stories from designers and organizations that are not only able to do good but also do well financially. This dialogue helps answer questions like: How can you target nonprofits as potential clients? How can your social design work be billable, not just pro-bono? How can you apply social design to your career? What opportunities are there for designers to get involved in projects in their local communities? How can design thinking tackle the social problems of our world, locally and abroad?

Become part of the dialogue. Get insipred by timely and informative sessions, benefit from exceptional networking opportunities and enjoy great nights out at the 2011 IDSA Western Conference
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, May 6-8, 2011

Heather Fleming of Catapult Design and Ryan Duke of Project H to present at the IDSA Western Conference

2011-03-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

The IDSA Western District Conference has 2 new amazing additions to the line up: Ryan Duke of Project H and Heather Fleming of Catapult Design!

Ryan Duke leads the San Francisco team of Project H Design working on socially-oriented design initiatives providing creative capital to those with limited access. As a project leader, he has led hundreds of volunteers, organized in small groups based on skill and commitment, through numerous projects that work to create impact in local communities. Launching the first city-based group, Ryan has helped Project H define processes and establish strategies for effective project implementation as Project H develops within the evolving world of social design.

Heather Fleming, Founder | Chief Executive Officer, Catapult Design

Heather is a designer, an engineer, and an entrepreneur motivated by social inequality. In 2005, she helped found and then led a volunteer group of engineers and designers focused on humanitarian design projects via Engineers Without Borders (EWB). In 2008 Heather was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow, a program aimed at high-potential young leaders with new approaches for transformational impact. In 2010 she was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for her work with Catapult Design. She previously worked in the Silicon Valley product development consulting world and has six years experience working with multi-disciplinary teams to design, develop, and deliver product solutions for a diverse range of companies. Heather is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University teaching “Design for Sustainability” in the Mechanical Engineering department. Heather has a BS in Product Design from Stanford University.

The theme of the conference is "Is Social Design Good Business?"

It will address questions such as:

How can you target non-profit organizations as potential clients?

How can social design work be billable, not just pro-bono?

Is there fortune at the bottom of the pyramid? Or is it a money pit?

How can I apply social design to my career?

What opportunities are there for designers to get involved in projects within their local communities?

This is the question that we will address at the IDSA Western District Conference in San Jose, CA, May 6th and 7th.

Registration is open. Register early and take advantage of early bird rates!

Design Concepts for the Specialized Shiv TT bicycle

2011-02-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

These are student design concept renderings for color and graphics for the Specialized Shiv time trial bicycle 2011. This is for my sophomore ID software skills course at Western Washington University, where we learn Illustrator, Photoshop, Rhinoceros, and Bunkspeed Shot. I had them pick one of the pro teams that Specialized sponsors and use their colors and graphics. These were done in Adobe Illustrator only, as they were learning how to use the pen tool and other features for ID rendering.

All designs are copyright to their respective designers.

Designmatters and IDEO to present at the IDSA Western District Conference

2011-02-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

Mariana Amatullo, Art Center's Designmatters

Patrice Martin, IDEO

I'm excited to announce that we will have Mariana Amatullo, Vice President and Director of the Designmatters Department at Art Center presenting at the IDSA Western District Conference. Also joining us will be Patrice Martin, Co-Leader of IDEO's social innovation domain. The conference "Social Impact!" is addressing the question "How can Social Design be Financially Sustainable?"

"Mariana Amatullo founded the college-wide initiative Designmatters at Art Center College of Design, based in Pasadena, California in 2001 with a task force of faculty, chairs, staff and students. In her capacity as the lead of the program, she develops strategic educational partnerships and oversees a portfolio of research collaborations, communication campaigns, exhibitions and publications that enhance Art Center’s commitment to be at the forefront of international design education and contribute solutions to humanitarian issues of critical urgency. Through her leadership, Art Center is the first design institution to be formally affiliated with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO); and a civil society organization member with the Organization of American States (OAS/OEA). The award-winning and tangible outcomes of the student projects that are developed under the mantle of Designmatters have established the program as an exemplary effort within the landscape of social impact design--uniting educational objectives with highly effective advocacy and action-oriented outcomes." (From the Art Center website)

"Patrice Martin, co-leads IDEO’s social innovation domain, where she specializes in using design to improve the lives of people in low-income communities. She works with clients in both the public and private sectors to address large-scale social change through solutions.

Patrice’s experience at IDEO has ranged from seeding innovation in clean water in the developing world to envisioning new approaches to affordable housing and rethinking blood donation in the United States. She has led projects and project teams in the fields of health care, financial services, hospitality, workplace, and education for clients such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mayo Clinic, Nike Foundation, Acumen Fund, American Refugee Committee, and Marriott International.

Patrice’s role has shifted and grown since joining IDEO in 2004. Her experience began in human factors and brand strategy and led to an exploration of spatial experiences, designing for community, and systems design. She now focuses on the impact of design in social innovation.

Before joining IDEO, Patrice worked with design-strategy consultancy SonicRim, where she led contextual research to understand the social, emotional, and cognitive issues that inform new product and service innovation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Michigan." -From the IDEO website

The IDSA Western District Conference will be held May 6th and 7th, 2011 in San Jose, CA. Register early and take advantage of early bird rates!

Is Social Design Good Business?

2011-02-04T15:45:00.000-08:00

Socially responsible design can make positive changes within a community, and it can be personally rewarding to a designer. But, can doing socially responsible design be financially sustainable?

This conference will offer success stories from designers and organizations that are able to do good and do well.

It will address questions such as:

How can you target non-profit organizations as potential clients?

How can social design work be billable, not just pro-bono?

Is there fortune at the bottom of the pyramid? Or is it a money pit?

How can I apply social design to my career?

What opportunities are there for designers to get involved in projects within their local communities?

This is the question that we will address at the IDSA Western District Conference in San Jose, CA, May 6th and 7th. Speakers are being selected now, so if you have suggestions, now's the time to let me know!

Registration is open. Register early and take advantage of early bird rates!

IDSA Western District Conference in San Jose

2011-01-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

Being the new IDSA Western District VP I get the opportunity to plan the next District Conference! While things are still in the early planning stages, I can tell you a few things that we do know:

Location: San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Date: May 6th and 7th, 2011

Here's some more information about the location from the IDSA website:

Why San Jose?

It's the hub of Silicon Valley! San Jose with its large successful design and business communities acts as the capitol of this high technology center. Poised at the center of today's tech world, this area runs our fast-changing technology industry and offers the perfect set of ingredients for a top-notch IDSA District Conference with exceptional opportunities for networking and career advancement.

Whether you're a student, a young professional just starting out, a seasoned professional working in a consultancy or a corporate design department, San Jose has someone you'll want to meet!

It's a hotbed of hot prospects:
Internet giants: Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Ebay
Top design firms: IDEO, Smart Design, MetaDesign, New Deal Design, Lunar, Design Partners, ASTRO, One & Company, Whipsaw and Frog Design
Tops names in tech: Apple, Cisco, ScanDisk, Sony, Philips, Hitachi and Palm
Software superstars: Microsoft, Symantec, Intel and Oracle

What's not to love?
Learn from a hand-picked group of top speakers and leaders in the design profession.
Engage with design and business leaders.
Expand your professional network.
Set up a few interviews.
Pursue opportunities and ideas to help you steer your career wherever you want it to go!
And at the end of each day...Go exploring!

Registration is open. Register early and take advantage of early bird rates!

TRON: Legacy Starring Daniel Simon, Designer

2010-11-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

When Disney wanted to get people excited about the upcoming sequel to TRON, TRON: Legacy, they created this exhibit at ComicCon 2009 to reveal the design of the lightcycle. See video below. showcasing drawings by designer Daniel Simon and a full size model of the machine.

This gives a great perspective of the exhibit.

This one shows the drawings and lightcycle in more clarity.

I find it interesting that the concept designer is given such prominence, even over big name actors, directors or other factors. But I'm not surprised. I've been a big fan of the original TRON, which was released in 1982 when I was eleven. I was/am a computer geek, designer, video game fanatic, and sci-fi follower.

Even then, I felt that the real star of the movie was the world that was created by legendary designer and concept artists, Syd Mead and Peter Lloyd. (To give credit, a whole team of computer programmers realized each image frame by frame using 1981 computing power.)

LightCycles - 1982 designed by Syd Mead

The designs were fascinating and unlike anything we had ever seen before. The recognizers, tanks, solar sailor, and of course the lightcycles are now iconic designs that only exist in the movie. I understand that they were restricted to using only primitive shapes and boolean combinations of those shapes due to the lack of computing power and surface modelling capabilities at the time.

CLU's tank - 1982

A return to this glowing world is what I'm most interested in seeing, Daniel Simon's revision of a fantastic environment nearly 30 years later. Much sexier, curvaceous, glossy, transparent and complex.

Daniel Simon's updated lightcycle design for TRON: Legacy

I believe, and as I'm sure many industrial designers like myself do, that Daniel should stand alongside Jeff Bridges, as the stars of the show. Because, although Jeff acts as Flynn, the creator of the TRON world, Daniel truly is the creator.

Teague Documentary: Progress Update

2010-09-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Kodak Brownie Junior - Photo by J.A. Morris

This summer has been busy with new progress on the Teague documentary and biography. Here's a quick summary:

New Alliances

Thanks to Vicki Matranga, I connected with Charlie Myers, son of C. Stowe Myers, partner at the Teague New York office. Charlie has compiled films, audio interviews, and photographs and is offering them for us to use in the doc. I just received a DVD of digitized 8mm film of the Teague office from 1939 to 1943. It has great scenes of employee designers working, drawing, rendering, making models, smoking pipes and having parties. Awesome stuff, thanks Charlie!

Gifford Jackson was a designer at the Teague office from 1954 to 64 and I was recently introduced to him through Budd Steinhilber. He was personal friends with the Teague family. He lives in New Zealand and has offered to write stories about his experiences there.

New Interviews

At the IDSA International Conference in Portland, I was able to interview Ron Kemnitzer, Budd Steinhilber, and Craig Vogel about Teague. Ron is the chair of the industrial design program at Virginia Tech, and former IDSA president. Budd worked at the Loewy office in the 40's and told a great story about his meeting Walter D. Teague at an office party. Craig is an ID professor at University of Cincinnati and he drew insightful comparisons between Teague and his colleagues, Loewy, Dreyfuss and Bel Geddes. Thanks to them for their time and contributions!

Next week I have the honor of interviewing Bob Blaich, former Teague designer and current Teague board member. Thanks to Sarah Matheney for arranging his visit and giving us the Teague conference room to shoot.

Kodak Flash Bantam - Photo by J.A. Morris

New Teague designed objects shot!

Thanks to design students Beth Blair and Carson Leh, they let me borrow their Kodak Brownie cameras, Baby Brownie, Brownie Hawkeye, Flash Bantam, and six-20 Brownie Junior. Which I shot on a turntable with a Canon 5D mkII.

New Turntable

Jim Sheppard, Vince Hill, technicians at WWU, and workstudy electrical engineering students worked on and built an electric variable speed turntable for filming products as they slowly rotate. Thanks guys, I can't wait to try it out!

Boeing 377, Tillamook Air Museum, Photo by J.A. Morris

The Search for a Boeing Stratocruiser

I went to the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon to see a Boeing 377 guppy, which was a Stratocruiser but converted into a cargo plane, and consequently looks horrible. I shot what remained of the original aircraft, which was its flight deck, wings and engines. Thanks goes to curator, Christian Gurling, for the access! Although he reports that there are no more Stratocruisers left in one piece. Has anybody seen one? I hear that there might be some in an aircraft junkyard in Arizona somewhere?

Press

At least three articles came out recently announcing my development of the Teague biography. The Bellingham Herald, The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, and the UnBeige design blog. Thanks for the coverage!

The Digitization of Archives

Thanks to Sarah Matheny of TEAGUE, the design office is having all of their archival photos and slides digitized. This saves hours and hours of individually scanning each one. Alleluia!

Fund Raising

I will be putting research on hold while I work on fund raising this fall. This will involve grant writing and sending out donor letters and setting up a project on Kickstarter.com. Stay tuned for more details.

Thanks,

J. A. Morris

DIY versus Arts and Crafts: an opinion about the IDSA 2010 Conference

2010-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

A tapestry by William Morris in 1879.

The theme of this year’s IDSA International Conference in Portland, OR was D.I.Y. Some of the presenters were incredibly talented and interesting; others were a bit smug and self-important. While listening to the creator of Etsy.com gloat about how “revolutionary” they were by selling handcrafted items on their website, I was reminded of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement of 100 years ago. This Etsy-DIY can be described as people with internet access and spare time making expensive crafty non-essential items for other rich people with internet access. That’s all it is. This has very limited impact on only the richest 1% of the world. In fact it is more elitist and limited than what a professional industrial designer can do who is designing a $20 mobile phone for Nokia, which today allows communication for millions of poor Africans and Indians. So, why is mass production inherently bad?

William Morris tried to encourage the handmade crafts in response to impersonal mass production. This is very much the same motivation of today’s DIY movement. However, the artisans at the time were far more skilled and the quality of their work was significantly higher. Craftspeople worked within an apprenticeship system and devoted their lives to their work. They were professionals and they were seeing their livelihood threatened by factories and machines. So they were far more motivated and had more at stake than today’s amateur part-time makers.

Here's what Walter D. Teague said about William Morris in his book Design This Day in 1940:

"William Morris was prolonging an Indian Summer of medieval craftsmanship... In singlehanded revolt against the whole tide of machine production Morris revived a dozen handicrafts and aroused a small army of willing workers at looms and potters wheels, printing presses and forges."

"...Morris' campaign had a brief prosperity. It could not succeed because it was a mere eddy in an irresistible current, a last revolt against destiny."

"For the spirit of craftsmanship is independent of its tools. It can work with steel presses and milling machines as well as with hand planes and chisels, if its aims are honest and its intelligence adequate." -WDT.

Professional industrial designers are craftspeople. Anyone who has done it knows the pain, the pride, and loving care and attention that we pay to our designs. We draw, redraw, sculpt, form, carve, feel and re-form all by hand. Just because our handiwork is reproduced a million times by steel presses and injection molding machines doesn't diminish it's origins.

Are we giving DIY more credit and influence than it actually has? It is leaving out the poor skilled craftsperson, who really could live off of a few dollars a day. To the typically Etsy seller, it’s only extra soy latte money. What about craftspeople in Bolivia, Kenya, or Indonesia? What if they had internet access, Paypal accounts and a reliable shipping infrastructure? A few dollars a day would change their lives.

Another presenter at the conference who deserves admiration and respect is trumpet maker David Monette. He is, according to the best musicians in the world, the best trumpet designer/craftsman in the world. They are custom made, the highest quality in craft and materials and extremely expensive. He has a select few clients and serves them well. But he’s not claiming to be anything more than that.

Also impressive was Jay Rogers of Local Motors, which is taking on a risky venture to create a locally manufactured/open sourced/crowd sourced (in certain ways) automobile. And it looks amazing. Go Jay!

http://www.local-motors.com/

Michael Czysz was so talented (architect to Lenny Kravitz / designer / world class motorcycle racer), the whole room of designers was envious, so naturally, we had to hate him. But everyone stumbled over each other to get close to that sweet electric motorcycle. http://www.motoczysz.com

Boeing Stratocruiser old footage

2010-08-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Teague and his team designed the interior of this elegant aircraft, the Boeing Stratocruiser. Here's some great old new reel footage...

Teague documentary synopsis

2010-07-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Teague: will be a sixty-minute documentary about the life and work of the founding father of American industrial design, Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960)

Walter Dorwin Teague is considered one of the founding fathers of industrial design as well as one of the most prolific American designers in history. His most notable design work includes the beloved Kodak cameras, the distinctive Marmon 16 automobile, Texaco’s art deco gas stations, the luxurious Boeing Stratocruiser aircraft interior, classic Steinway pianos, elegant Corning glassware, and the futuristic 1939 World's Fair in New York.

Although his amazing career is known among designers, very little is known about who he was and how he became “the Dean of Design.” How did a poor pastor’s son from a rural Quaker town in Indiana transform into a celebrity designer in New York? How did he go from checking hats at the Manhattan YMCA to being a successful advertising illustrator? What led him to create a new modern profession, merging art and industry?

This documentary will tell the story of his life, his rise to prominence from humble origins, his mid-life transformation, and the stories behind some of his greatest designs. It will be a tribute to the incredible career of an ambitious, risk-taking, hard-working man who helped shape a modern America.

This story will be told chronologically through the decoding of a mysterious drawing that Teague did in 1926. Visual evidence will include photographs, drawings, animation, dynamic shots of products and spaces, and interviews with family, colleagues, and prominent designers.

For more information on how you can help, contact me. jason.morris(at)wwu.edu

SixthSense for Truck Drivers by Mike Oldani

2010-07-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

This is an industrial design concept using Pranav Mistry's SixthSense technology. It is designed specifically for truck drivers by Mike Oldani. It is mounted on the side of the seats head rest and can be flipped around to project into the sleeper cab. Western Washington University Industrial Design Program, 2010. This is one of 13 projects done in the Junior ID studio.

Walter D. Teague Criticizes Detroit (1960)

2010-07-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

1959 Cadillac Tailfin - photo by Christer Johansson

I've been digging through the archives at the Teague Design office in Seattle, hoping to find the story of his life for a biography and documentary. Once in awhile I find some gems that are worth sharing. This quote is from Teague's "The Responsibilities of the Industrial Designer," An Address by WDT to the Detroit Chapter, Industrial Designers Institute. Published in Road & Track, January 1960.

In regards to american car styling of the late 1950's when the tail fins grew to extreme heights:

"[I am] definitely and unreservedly hostile to recent trends in American automobile design... I agree heartily with millions of others that our characteristic car design has in recent years become lousy, ugly, vulgar, ostentatious, impractical, and excessively costly..."

"In my opinion, Detroit got into trouble because it got out of step with the rest of American industry and the taste of the American public."

Walter Dorwin Teague, 1960

More to come...

SixthSense for Museum visitors by Ian Mayhew

2010-06-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is a design for museum visitors using Pranav Mistry's concept of augmented reality technology. Designed by Ian Mayhew of Western Washington University Industrial Design.

Mt. Baker Plywood Furniture Design Competition

2010-06-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Winner’s Announcement

Pay It Forward Furniture Design

Western Washington University

June 7th, 2010

Four judges have reviewed and selected their favorites among 22 designs. In addition to our panel of judges, students voted on their peer’s designs to decide a “students choice” award.

The objective is to design and construct a unique furniture solution for storage. The storage is to be designed specifically for another person or organization for their current needs. The furniture will be then given to that person or organization as a gift.

Mount Baker Products has generously donated all of the high quality FSC hardwood plywood for the project and has also donated $6000 for scholarships for the winners.

Here are the winners:

1^st Noah Jack, of Corvalis, OR. for Pitter Patter, an umbrella drying stand for the Whatcom Children's Museum. $2000 scholarship from Mount Baker Products.

2^nd Ryan Hume of Bainbridge Island, WA. for Puzzle Protector, a case for the construction and safe storage of jigsaw puzzles. Designed for his 7 year old nephew. $1500 scholarship.

3^rd Miguel Herrera of Oroville, WA. for Oruga, netbook storage and charging station for Issaquah middle school. $1000 scholarship.

Honorable Mention:

Will Wheaton of Moses Lake, WA for Dragonfly Kitchen shelf for Stepping Stones Clean and Sober Living. $500 scholarship.

Honorable Mention:

Samuel Martin of Seattle for Kindertrein, a children's playpen and room divider for a Child's Life Learning Center. $500 scholarship.

Student Choice Award to:

Bryce Moulton for Capsa, an enclosed bookcase for the Outback Gardens at WWU. $500 scholarship.

Judges:

Entries were judged on concept, creativity, functionality, structure, craftsmanship and form. They were judged by Lisa Van Doren, Mechille Kiss, Jerimiah Welch, and Rachel Bjarnason. Lisa is an owner of Ideal, a design shop on 1227 Cornwall Ave. in Bellingham. Mechille and Rachel are industrial designers at Tabar, Inc. Jerimiah is an industrial designer and owner of Rainshine Design, LLC.

Support:

The scholarships and all of the wood were generously provided by Mount Baker Products. Thanks to Tim Shannon for being our supporter and advocate of the industrial design program at Western.

The Mt. Baker Plywood Furniture project involved the local community through designing for various organizations and donating the furniture to them upon completion. Design students were required to conceive, design, build, and finish a piece of storage furniture that responds to the needs of their client.

Other example projects include:

A coffee and tea shelving unit for the staff of The Sean Humphrey House (assisted living for those with HIV/AIDS) by Delaney Cunningham.

A portable equestrian saddle and riding gear stand for the Northwest Therapeutic Riding Center by Kristen Barcheski.

A study desk for the Whatcom County Pregnancy Center by Martin Eizik.

A lockable oar rack for the Bellingham Bay Community Boating Center by Tyler Warren.

A costume storage rack for the Bellingham Art Academy for Youth by Justin Riehl.

A modular storage system for wheelchairs by Ryan Smalley.

A play structure and storage unit for Kid's World Cay Care by Anna Perrella.

A standing activity table design by Eric Forster for his brother Nathan who has cerebral palsy.

A first aid storage cabinet designed by Roderick Bentson for his grandfather.

Form Function design documentary

2010-05-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here's the final edit of Form Function...

Form Function, by Jason Morris and Western Industrial Design students. This purely visual short film shows an industrial design creative process that starts with abstract sculpture and ends with a functional object. Music by Moby.

Creative solutions are rarely found by using conventional problem solving methods. Students must be encouraged to try alternative processes for attacking a problem. Professional industrial design projects begin with a design brief, but because of preconceived notions the brief itself inhibits the designer’s creativity. This creative process removes hindrances to creativity by restating the design problem in abstract, non-objective language.

This process begins with abstract form creation without knowledge of the design’s purpose. The form creation is done with guidelines made by the instructor, who creates the rules to correspond with the design’s objectives. Only after these abstract sculptures are complete is the design’s purpose revealed. A selected form study is then evaluated for ideas and inspiration, which is refined applying the realities of the design functions. This process has consistently resulted in highly creative and beautiful designs that delight and surprise the students.

This short film shows selected work from the industrial design students at Western Washington University from January to March 2009.

Theatrical Premiere, Doctober Documentary Film Festival, Pickford Cinema. Friday, Oct 2 - Sunday, Oct 4, 2009.

Official Selection, 10th annual Northwest Projections Film Festival 2010.

Jon Takao: Industrial Designer at Specialized Bicycle on May 27th

2010-05-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jon Takao was recently hired as an industrial designer for Specialized Bicycle and is a recent graduate of Western Washington University's Industrial Design Program, class of 09. He will be speaking on Thursday, May 27th, at 5:30pm in room 347 of the Ross Engineering Building. He will be telling the story of how he ended up getting his dream job within a year of graduation. (When most of us have to do some crappy point-of-purchase displays before moving on to something better....ahem.) And his impressions of the cycling industry. See you there.

SixthSense for Autism by Tim Byrne

2010-05-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Another design concept for SixthSense designed for those with autism. Tim is responding to the concerns of his brother, and sees an opportunity for this technology to meet those concerns.

WWU ID Senior Exhibition June 3rd

2010-05-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Senior Industrial Design proudly presents,

Vessels
A Libatious Design Exhibition

Presented June 3rd at 6PM by Western Washington University at Mithun Architects, 1201 Alaskan Way, #200, Seattle, Wa.

SixthSense for Driving by Kyle Thomas

2010-05-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here's Kyle's SixthSense concept for driving, focusing on amateur car racing, yet useful for everyday driving.

SixthSense for the Memory Impaired

2010-05-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is a design concept by Cecilia Forsgren, our exchange student from Sweden.

SixthSense project videos - part 1

2010-05-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Industrial Design for Pranav Mistry's SixthSense

2010-04-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was excited to learn about Pranav Mistry's invention, SixthSense, which is a gestural computer interface that turns the relationship between the computer and the user inside out. Instead of people staring into a glowing screen, the computer is required to look outward at our physical world. By cleverly combining a digital camera , a mini-projector, and a smart phone, Pranav has introduced a new future of information accessibility and of human/computer relations. See his presentation on TED.com if you haven't already.

However, this is still a prototype, albeit a brilliantly engineered one, it is clunky, awkward and heavy. Seeing this opportunity, I challenged my Junior (3rd year) industrial design students at Western Washington University to design the SixthSense for ergonomics, ease of use, and aesthetics. They were to focus on a specific user scenario and they had to use currently available components, which were fixed in size. (No imaginary miniature electronic components were allowed) They then had to design the details of the housing and parts.

Here are some of the final results. There's much more behind these images and they have each been designed in detail inside and out. So if you'd like to see more, you can contact the individual students or see their portfolios on Coroflot.com.

SixthSense for Researchers by Paul Summerson. A shoulder mounted device on a sash that assists in library research.

SixthSense for Foreign Travel by Ben Peterson. A minimal device that could be hidden in a jacket with only the camera and projector lens visible.

SixthSense for the Active Mom by Ryan Maloney. An elegant sash form that has a tinted transparent cover over the projector and camera lenses.

SixthSense for Museum Visitors by Ian Mayhew. This device would be lent out by the museum to patrons and could be used to augment their experience and education.

SixthSense for Truck Drivers by Mike Oldani. This form is mounted into the headrest of the vehicles seat. It is removable and reversible to serve as a connection to family and friends, and driving assistant and for entertainment.

SixthSense for Construction Workers by Billy Losleben. This device is clipped onto a work belt, has a durable aluminum housing and could be used to display plans, systems, schedules, and measurements.

SixthSense for Outdoor Adventure Sports by Heather Harris. This is a helmet mounted device that is integrated, aerodynamic, and shock-proof.

SixthSense for the Classroom by Tom Kloucek. This is is desk mounted and is used as a learning device, teaching tool and can connect students to the teacher and each other.

SixthSense for Autism by Timothy Byrne. This device is designed to assist the austistic with social cues, memory aides, and social networking.

SixthSense for the Memory Impaired by Cecilia Forsgren. This is a minimal, sash mounted device designed especially for a young person who suffers from brain damage and needs assistance in various ways.

SixthSense for Gaming by James Lin. How could the SixthSense create a new category of gaming? This device is wall or table mounted and interacts with physical objects to enable new types of games.

SixthSense for Search and Rescue by Dieter Amick. The stress of search and rescue could be reduced with this technology by incorporating infrared sensors, sensitive directional audio microphones, communication, navigation and medical guidance.

SixthSense for Driving by Kyle Thomas. Designed to better connect the driver with the car and the road, through performance measures, navigation, communication, and visual cues.

Accepted! Two short films accepted to Northwest Projections Film Fest

2010-03-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

I just got notice that both of my short films have been selected for the Northwest Projections Film Festival! One is Form Function, the one about my design students projects transformed from sculpture.

The second is called The Tree Was Here, and that was my documentary project from last fall, about tree ring science. It features the work of Chris Robertson of Western Washington University's Environmental Studies Dendrochronology lab. That was done with my class partner, Ryan Christoffersen. They will show at the Pickford Cinema in Bellingham, April 16th-18th.

Hoima Bicycle Documentary out on DVD

2010-03-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

My documentary about design for the other 90%, Hoima Bicycle, was just released on DVD on Amazon.com. It shows the process of designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima.

The intent was that it could be used in the classroom as a point of discussion about designing for social impact. The project had it's successes and it's shortcomings, but many lessons can be drawn from it. Especially a look at the culture of modern day East Africa for those who might want to do work there.It's only 30 minutes long and I'll be posting a list of discussion questions here and on the WWU ID site.

I'll be presenting on the project at the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) annual conference "Open" in San Francisco on March 26th, 2010.

Inspiring Industrial Design for Pranav Mistry's SixthSense

2010-03-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

You are invited to the design presentation of the Junior Industrial Design Studio project:

Inspiring Industrial Design for

Pranav Mistry’s SixthSense Technology

Wednesday, March 17th
10:30am – 12:30pm

Academic West Building room 203

Western Washington University

Bellingham, WA, USA

the technology:

“'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. “

the project:

In its current state, the SixthSense device is a brilliantly engineered prototype. However, industrial design can improve its ergonomics, its appearance and its ability to serve people in various situations. This group of 13 design students each tackled a specific user and application and redesigned it to meet their needs.

I've been shooting video of the design process and the results, and will post the edited video online.

Hoima Bicycle (part 3 of 4)

2010-02-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

Here's is Part 3 of 4 of Hoima Bicycle. An experience in designing a bicycle with Ugandan bicycle couriers. This part shows the reaction of the first prototype.

Hoima Bicycle (part 2 of 4)

2010-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Here's the next segment of Hoima Bicycle. An imperfect example of design for social impact.

Hoima Bicycle: Now on Youtube

2010-02-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

I've posted the complete documentary, Hoima Bicycle, on Youtube.

This documentary shows the process of designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima. In Uganda many residents use cheap, clunky bicycles for their primary means of transportation. Through a unique collaboration between an American designer and Ugandan couriers, a new bicycle design was conceived and a prototype was made. The designer then traveled to Uganda to meet the couriers and to have the bike tested and critiqued. Would they like it? Or is it back to the drawing board? How can you use your talents and skills to help the poor of the world?

This is part 1 of 4.

If you would like a DVD of the complete documentary (30 minutes) it will soon be available on Amazon.com. I'll be posting discussion questions so that it could be used in design education. Although this project had many mistakes and some successes, I learned a great deal from the experience.

Teague Documentary in Development

2010-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

A Biographical Documentary about Walter Dorwin Teague begins Development.

Walter Dorwin Teague (1883 - 1960) is considered one of the founding fathers of industrial design as well as one of the most prolific American industrial designers in history. He established his design office in the late 1920’s, which continues today as one of the important design institutions in the world. His most notable design work includes all of Kodak camera’s from 1927 to 1957, Texaco’s art deco gas stations in the1940’s, the Boeing Stratocruiser and the 707 aircraft. His legacy led to the design all subsequent Boeing aircraft including today’s 787 Dreamliner. He directed the design and architecture of the 1939 World Exposition. He was also an architect whose work includes the Texaco exhibition hall at the 1935 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, Texas, the Ford pavilion for the California Pacific International Exposition (1935) in Balboa Park in San Diego, and the 1961 Civil War Centennial Dome in Richmond, Virginia. In 1940 he completed his seminal work about the origins and philosophy of industrial design in the book, Design This Day.

His Story

Teague’s life is a daring story of the American dream, inspirational, ambitious and motivating. His grew up in a tiny farm town in Indiana, the son of pastor, with an incredible talent for drawing. At 19 he struck out on his own, with $70 in his pocket, to find his dream in New York City. He studied at art at night and, to earn a living, drew newspaper ads by day. His career as an illustrator developed, creating advertisements for various clients. In New York he met his wife and had their first child. He continued this illustration career until he reached 43 years old, he then visited Paris in 1925 to see the Paris International Exposition and the vanguard of art, design and architecture. What he experienced there was so profound, so earth-shaking, that he decided to completely change his work, his career, and start his own industrial design firm. Thus began the career of one that would help shape a new America and define a modern profession.

No documentary film has ever been produced about Walter Dorwin Teague. So, I am preparing to create a feature-length biographical documentary about his life and his work. Every designer that I have proposed the idea to, including the President of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Prof. Eric Anderson, all enthusiastically stated that it was needed and long overdue. Some of those who worked with and knew Mr. Teague are still living today, but are in the waning years of their lives. If these stories are not documented, they may be lost forever.

I have received the approval and encouragement from Walter D. Teague’s grandson, Harry Teague and his brothers. I also have the support of the Teague design firm through President and CEO John Barratt and former CEO Del King. Through this collaboration, the documentary will exhibit archives, drawings, photos, film and video never before seen by the public.

Value

This project is valuable in its historical documentation of an influential and remarkable person in the design profession. It could be used in industrial design and architectural curriculum around the world and exhibit the life and work of an important figure in American history.

We need your help!

If you would like to support this project, I could use your help in a number of ways:

1. Teague Designs: Do you own a Teague designed object? I would love to borrow it to photograph or you could photograph it yourself. It must be a high quality studio photo, preferably over 2000 pixels wide, and of multiple views (front and side for example). I will give you photo credit in the movie if it’s used. Send to: Jason.morris(at)wwu.edu

2. Teague Architecture: Do you have an Art Deco style Texaco station in your town? Most have been sold to other businesses. I’m looking for high quality photos and addresses of those locations. You will receive photo credits in the movie if used.

3. Teague Stories: Do you have a story to tell about Teague his life or his designs? I would like the opportunity to interview you. I hope to set up a space at the next IDSA International Conference in Portland, OR, August 2010 so that I can interview people while the design community is together. Or other arrangements can be made.

4. Donations: Making movies do cost money, and although this will be a relatively low-budget independent production, I still need to raise about $60,000 to really do it well. This would cover a small crew, travel, post-production, and distribution. If you or your company would like to make a tax-deductable gift you will be acknowledged in the film as important supporters. Click here to the Western Foundation Online Pledge Form for an easy way to donate. Indicate Industrial Design Teague Documentary in the gift designation box.

All donors and contributors will be listed by name in the end credits of the movie and receive a monthly update on the production status and an invitation to a private premiere screening.

Check for further updates at www.wwu.edu/id/teague

Track Bike Frame Rendering: Teaching Adobe Illustrator for ID

2010-01-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching Adobe Illustrator to the Western Industrial Design sophomore students for six years now. It's a powerful tool for doing design renderings. Here's a few examples from last fall of some track bicycle frames. The original line art is from the Teschner bicycle company. I challenge the students to design the graphics, add reflections and shading, and play with different materials. That way, they aren't spending time on the frame shape and can concentrate on the color and rendering. The main Illustrator tools being used here are: the pen tool, adjusting the transparency and blending modes, stylize feather, blur, clipping masks, and lots of gradient manipulation. These are all sophomores (2nd year students).

by Nolan Leh

by Elijah Hooper

by Ryan Hume

by Anna Perrela

by Paul Linden

Form Function: 3 project trailer now online

2010-01-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

This a sample of 3 projects from Form Function, by Jason Morris and Western Industrial Design students; Erin Yoakum, Justin Lund and Phelan Miller. This purely visual short film shows an industrial design creative process that starts with abstract sculpture and ends with a functional object. Music by Moby.

It premiered at The Doctober Documentary Film Festival 2009, Pickford Cinema, Bellingham, WA, US.

Creative solutions are rarely found by using conventional methods. This short film shows a design process that begins with abstract form creation without knowledge of the designs purpose. The form creation is done with guidelines made by the instructor, who creates the rules to correspond with the designs objectives. Only after these abstract sculptures are complete is the designs purpose revealed. A selected form study is then evaluated for ideas and inspiration, which is refined applying the realities of the design functions. This film shows the sculpture spinning slowly and transforming from form to functional design. This process originated with Rowena Reed Kostellow's form theory taught at Pratt Institute in the 1940's. It may even have precedent from the Bauhaus. In the full film, twelve selected projects are exhibited from the industrial design students at Western Washington University from January to March 2009.

Design for Social Purpose: an Alternative way to Give a Damn

2010-01-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Above: mud thatched home for a family of seven in Uganda. Below: designer bedroom for one child in Paris. (lower photo from Dwell)

How can an industrial designer make an impact on the poor of the world? We might have some creative skills, we can visually communicate, and we can find unconventional ways of solving problems. And one way is to immerse oneself into a different socio-economic culture, experience the problems to be addressed and work on designing a solution. This is one obvious way, and it can be an incredible experience and make a real difference. However, we can’t all do it, and sometimes flying to Africa and trying to make some helpful gadget has limited long-term sustainable impact.

Perhaps, instead of airfare half-way around the world, that money could go to supporting an orphan’s care? Or building a well for a village, or a family’s medical care, or a child’s education? These are very immediate needs for most of the people of the world. So, how can we make a big impact, using our gifts and skills, but without forking over money to the airlines and spewing even more CO2 into the air?

How much do we charge for our services? $75, $125, $250 per hour? Yet 75% of the world’s population earns less than $1500 per year (yes, that’s per year, not per hour). That means that designers can earn that entire salary in about 15 hours! Now, how much of your salary do you give to the poor? The US national average for charitable contributions is embarrassingly low, something like 2%. What if we used our earning power to support the charities and organizations that are dedicated to helping the poor of the world? What if we were to give 10% of our earnings to them? Or what if a design firm contributed the earnings of one project per year to an organization like World Vision or Childcare Worldwide or Living Water or Doctors Without Borders? (Yes, it’s hard to believe, but the world needs trained medical nurses and doctors more than it needs designers) That is a very real and direct way that every designer can use their talents and earning-power to help the world’s poor. We can design (for wealthy paying clients) and give a damn, by passing along some of that wealth to those who need it more.

Graphic Design to support the Ugandan Boda-boda

2009-12-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

I thought of a small way that I can use my design work to help the men in Uganda that I worked with on the Hoima Bicycle Project. I’ve been creating some bicycle and skateboard graphics and selling the designs on things like shirts, mugs, stickers, hats, cards and buttons. I earn a commission on each sale and will donate 50% of it directly to these hard working “boda-boda” and their families. While it’s not much, consider that their average income is about $10 per week.

Check out the designs using the links below:

Treadwater graphics Zazzle store (with all of the stuff):

http://www.zazzle.com/treadwater

Treadwater graphics blog (with images of most of the designs)

http://treadwatergraphics.blogspot.com/

Pranav Mistry: Sixth Sense Tech

2009-12-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this presentation by Pranav Mistry on some digital interface concepts that could change our future relationship with computers, devices and the digital world. If you take away the filleted boxes with screens and buttons, what does that mean for industrial designers?

Objectified / Form Function showing in Bellingham

2009-09-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

OBJECTIFIED
Showing at the Pickford Cinema, Bellingham, WA

Sponsored by WWU Industrial Design Program

and An Ideal Shop: Carefully Curated Goods

Objectified, by Gary Hustwit’s. Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability." -Objectified website

Preceding will be the theatrical premiere of Form Function, by Jason Morris and Western Industrial Design students. This purely visual short film shows an industrial design creative process that starts with abstract sculpture and ends with a functional object. Music by Moby.

Friday, Oct 2 - Sunday, Oct 4 @ 2:00 PM

We are very excited to have an industrial design focused screening here in Bellingham!

Hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Jason

Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle Design Critique

2009-08-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

It looks like Nissan will beat the major automakers to the market with an affordable fully electric car, the Leaf. You can read more technical specs at the Wired blog.

Design Critique

The challenge for designing a new car that has unique technology inside is whether to make it look different and unique or not. The GM Volt takes the approach to look like a modern muscle car with a large bonnet signifying a giant powerful motor within, even though it may not require such space. The Prius has a distinctive look that is now associated with being a "green" vehicle. Even the new Honda Insight looks like a Prius at a glance, although the original Insight was quite different and more aerodynamically efficient.

The Nissan Leaf resembles other new 4 door hatchbacks like the Honda Fit or Yaris, but with a few slower reverse curves as surface creases. The front hood slopes down to the bumper almost tangentially to the windshield. The allows for great visibility, but also implies that the power plant is tiny, which conveys "underpowered", which may or may not be the case. The small air vent in the front is appropriate in size since an electric motor doesn't need the amount of cooling of a combustion engine. The over sized headlights make the car look smaller because of their proportions and what we associate with typical headlight size. But why add the chrome extension behind the lamp area? It extends and complicates the headlight shape beyond what it functionally needs. The the wheel design is uninteresting, un-aerodynamic, and bland. Why can't they pick some sweet rims? The graphics on the side are fine for marketing photos, but they need to nix them for production. Where is the aerodynamics? A better shape would increase the speed and range. All of the those creases and edges don't help with that.

Full Electric Vehicles for the Future?

I think that hybrids are just a transitional stage toward full EV's like the Leaf and Tesla. Why even use a combustion engine except for long distance travel? Hundreds of parts to fabricate, lubricate, break and corrode. The next car I buy will have to be a full electric. The new Tesla is appealing. But meanwhile, my dream would be an electric AWD Subaru (because our family loves our ugly Forrester) What does it take for Detroit to wake up? Going bankrupt? ..Oh that's right, they have.

Cross-Disciplinary Education of Design and Engineering Students

2009-08-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

This September is the IDSA International Conference: Project Infusion in South Beach Miami, FL. I will be presenting a paper on design education: Swapping Students: The Cross Disciplinary Education of Design and Engineering Students.

Here's the summary:

The problem: Engineering students have difficulty thinking creatively and don't value the contribution of industrial design. Conversely, industrial design students lack understanding of materials, processes, and the importance of engineering. Animosity, misunderstanding, poor communication and disrespect. Is this how the relationship between industrial designers and engineers is fated to be?

A solution: As an attempt to remedy this, an industrial design professor and an engineering professor decided to switch students for one quarter each year, each teaching their contrasting discipline and perspective. The engineering students are exposed to creativity techniques, user empathy, and visual communication. Industrial design students are experimenting with injection molded polymers, carbon fiber composite lay-up, thermoforming and materials science. The two groups later are combined into design teams to work on an industry sponsored project together. This cross pollination has been beneficial to students in preparation to work in a competitive world market that is multi-disciplinary and desperate for innovation.

See you on the beach!

Children's Furniture Designs Awarded Scholarships

2009-07-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

"Six students from Western Washington University's Industrial Design program received recognition and $6,000 in scholarships for their children's furniture designs as a part of the annual Mount Baker Products Furniture Design Competition. Western students, children, parents and a panel of three community members selected the winning designs among 20 different student projects.

First prize and a $2,000 scholarship was awarded to William Losleben of Sultan for "Pupil," a penguin-inspired children's easel and desk; second prize and a $1,500 scholarship was awarded to Thomas Kloucek of Portland, Ore., for "Rocking Ship," a sideways rocking rocket ship with educational graphics; third prize and a $1,000 scholarship was awarded to Nolan Leh of Bellingham for "Cove Desk," an elegant minimum waste children's study desk that can be flattened for shipping; and fourth prize and a $500 scholarship was awarded to Heather Harris of Juneau, Alaska, for "Nigel," a plywood pelican with removable canvas bag hamper (pictures of individual projects avilable upon request).

The top four prize-winners were judged by Josh Thomson, owner of Josh Thomson Construction; Michael Flaherty, member of Artwood Gallery in Fairhaven and part-time faculty at Western Washington University; and Lisa Van Doren, owner of IDEAL: Carefully Curated Goods in downtown Bellingham.

Parents and their children awarded Kyle Thomas of Tacoma with the Parent and Child's Favorite Award and a $500 scholarship for his "Puzzlin' Giraffe," a rocking chair with interactive number and letter puzzle pieces. Western students awarded Paul Summerson of Sedro-Wooley with the Student Choice Award and a $500 scholarship for his "Turn Table," a round table with interactive functional gears.

Scholarship money and wood for the projects were provided by Mount Baker Products, Inc.

"The staff at Mount Baker Products immensely enjoys supporting this annual event. It has been a pleasure to witness the imagination, creativity, and enthusiasm that the Industrial Design students and their instructors bring to this contest," said Tim Shannon of Mount Baker Products. "We feel it has become a valuable educational experience for all involved."

(written by WWU office of communications)

Hoima Cargo Bicycle being made in Jinja, Uganda

2009-06-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Tristan Allen is working in Jinja, Uganda with the Bicycle Sponsorship Project Workshop (http://bspw.org) and has set up a small frame building shop to create a small production run of the Hoima Cargo Bicycle. Here are some pictures that he just sent. Read his blog for more details. And they could use some funding for this to work, so please consider contributing to the project.

Form Function video online

2009-06-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Form Function is a video that exhibits a design process from abstract form sculpture to finished design.

The students were to create abstract form sculptures without knowledge of their purpose. These were critiqued and revised further, focusing on the elements of form, proportions, contrast, gesture, and negative space. They were then given the form’s purpose, either to be an urban vehicle, furniture, space, or digital device. The forms were then revised to be functional and more appropriate for its purpose, without losing the dynamic essence of the original sculpture.

All of the design work is by the junior industrial design class of Western Washington University from January to April 2009. Sarah Blott, Beth Blair, Jon Holmdahl, Anders Mavis, Evan McCormack, Tucker Spofford, Phelan Miller, Jon Mitchell, Ryan Mahan, Justin Lund, Erin Yoakum, Antonio Mendez, and Yuzu Nelson.

Directed, edited, camera, and project design direction by Jason A. Morris.

Music is Live Forever by Moby, used with permission by MobyGratis.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXRvpkmdynA

Tooth Brush Design Concepts

2009-06-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

These toothbrush designs were done by sophomore industrial design students at Western Washington University. It was a 2 week project

under Profs Arunas Oslapas and Jason Morris. Designs by Justin Riehl, Jacob Mrozek, Dieter Amick, and Tim Byrne. 2009.

Western Senior Exhibition in Seattle

2009-06-03T14:26:00.001-07:00

Thirteen design perspectives on the ritual of tea.

Senior Industrial Design Exhibition

Western Washington University

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

A show exhibiting 13 original tea sets.

Please join us for an evening of tea, snacks and design.

Hosted by Mithun Architects

Pier 56

1201 Alaskan Way

Seattle, WA

Sir Ken Robinson on how our Educational System Kills Creativity

2009-05-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

To follow up on my previous post. Here's Sir Ken with more a more convincing arguement...

Are Standardized Tests Killing Creativity?

2009-05-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hey secondary education, stop with the incessant testing!

How many of you successful designers were scored high on your SAT, ACT, or whatever standardized tests?

We have to stop this insane notion that repeatedly testing our middle school and high schoolers is going to help them to be successful.

This emphasis on testing ties the hands of our secondary teachers.

It causes art, and shop and craft classes to be cut.

The only thing it teaches is short term memorization, linear thinking, test taking strategy, and that there is only one answer to a problem.

All of which is practically useless for design thinking and in real life.

Stop trying to quantify, and concentrate on quality education.

2009 IDSA Northwest Junior Show

2009-05-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

May 29th: 2009 IDSA Northwest Junior Show

"This year's Junior Show (formerly known as the Junior Banquet) will be hosted by BUiLT Design in Everett, WA on Friday evening, May 29. We welcome all friends and family to come visit the student galleries and see the culmination of all their hard work. We also welcome Teague Design Manager, Scott MacInnes who will be sharing his experiences as an Industrial Designer. Selected students from the University of Washington, Western Washington University and Emily Carr University of Art + Design will present their work while light food and beverages will be served.

Special thanks to BUiLT Design for hosting the Northwest Junior Show and to all of the students who helped bring this all together. Please check www.idsanw.org for further details." -IDSA Northwest

*Also, see the new video "form/function" of Western Junior ID projects. Showing the transformation from abstract sculpture into dynamic design.

Encouraging Masters of Industrial Design

2009-04-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Industrial design has become wider and deeper in scope. Strategy, environments, innovation, form, branding, emotional, design thinking, product, interaction, vehicle, soft goods, furniture, research, sustainable, it’s getting huge! And I think that it’s time to evolve.

We’re trying to cram so much into a 4 year degree, that it’s taking 5 years or more to do it. If our students are spending 5 plus years in school anyway, then why not just make it an even six?

Is an engineer expected to study mechanical, aerospace, electrical, fluid dynamics, civil, architectural, industrial production and manufacturing? No, the engineering community realized that these are all related but distinct focuses of engineering, so they created separate programs.

Since we think that we’re so special and are worth a lot of money and we want more respect, we should require professionals to have a masters degree. Raise the bar of entry. The base ID education with core courses in undergrad and then a specialization and focus in graduate school. That way we have specialized experts in their discipline.

Other professionals that we are working beside have graduate degrees, MBAs, PEs, even licensed social workers are required to have a masters degree. Why shouldn’t we?

More credibility, more expertise, more specialization, more authority, more earning potential. What do you think?