Smart innovative product design comes in many a form. Sometimes it’s the huge industry changing breakthroughs such as the Apple iPad or 3D television for instance but quite often the best ideas are the most simple but crucially still paying attention to craft and detail. Those small pieces of technological advancement that just seem to slot into place oh so beautifully. One such product is Blink Steady, a new form of cycle light design.

‘Bike lights have a lot of problems. Because they’re usually detachable, they’re easily stolen. Because they’re easily stolen, they’ve been designed as low-cost, disposable plastic widgets. Most of all, they’re a pain to put on and remove.’

Aimed to be an ingenious solution to many of these problems Blink Steady is a precision engineered LED that packs a whole bunch of tech and ingenuity into its small aluminium body. For instance, photo sensors tell the light whether it’s day or night. No pushing buttons, no fumbling around for the light in the dark, it simply turns itself on and off. As soon as you start it starts and as soon as you stop riding it stops. The light is even smart enough to know if you’re waiting in traffic meaning it won’t shut off plunging the rider into darkness!

A CNC machined bracket is passed over the bikes seat-post with a small Torx screw holding the unit firmly in place adding to security and minimising the risk of theft.

Whilst still a concept at the moment get yourself over to Kickstarter and back the project if you fancy a set.

Smart, effortless and well considered with high aesthetic appeal. Surely values many a products design should conform to.

For any design project, from webdesign to new product development, submit a brief now!

Paper Boat Creative

A heavy emphasis is placed on reducing our carbon footprint these days especially when it comes to transportation. With the rising costs of fuel, leaving the car at home and either walking, taking public transport or cycling are the alternative options for many travelling to and from their place of work.

As a commuter, unfortunately part of the daily grind can mean carrying a laptop and or briefcase. Not the most practical of things to carry whilst cycling through rush hour traffic. Fortunately product designer Laurent Picard has created something which could ease the frustration.

In collaboration with French car maker Peugeot, the DL 122 urban bike includes a built-in carrier for laptops, briefcases and other such necessities. Fitted securely between the two sides of the bicycles frame your belongs are locked firmly in place and also help maintain the centre of gravity; meaning better balance and ensuring you aren’t thrown off course.

Interestingly part of the cycles components are constructed of wood whilst the aluminium frame offers lightness and contemporary looks complemented by a leather saddle and handlebar grips. All of which make the DL 122 as much about being eco-friendly as it is innovative.

Whilst the bike is still a prototype at present it represents a simple issue previously unanswered. Function and form in harmony? What do you think?

*Images courtesy of Laurent Picard and DesignBoom.

If you need a uniquely designed website, brief the Exchange now!

Paper Boat Creative

As long as companies continue to make products, then those products will need to be packaged. And since packages need designers, we’re always busy! Here are a few tips that will help package designers stay ahead of the game in their unique line of work.  

1. Keep it Creative

Years of experience can sometimes cause seasoned designers to put creativity on the back burner. If you’ve found yourself using the same basic packaging templates over and over, then try thinking out of the box by finding inspiration in the foreign market. If you have been tasked with redesigning a set layout, then try including puzzles, mazes, riddles and other fun design elements that invite consumers to take a closer look. Some packaging designs even include collectibles matching symbols, paper dolls, or cards.

2. Be Spicy with Colors and Fonts

This may seem like a no brainer for an artistic job, but designers can fall into a font and color slump. Take a look at your past designs. Are you prone to only using sans serif fonts? Do you position format your type the exact same way across different brands? Do you tend to mix and match within the same color palette? Now sometimes the companies will select the color. In this case, don’t be afraid to make your design more dramatic by using black when it’s appropriate. Don’t become dull with your choice of fonts and colors, and always keep in mind the limits set on ink saturation.

3.Don’t Be Afraid of Imagery

Make good use of all the stock images out there, and try to include some high res imagery in your designs every now and then. Packages should highlight and complement the product, and the right design element can help you do that in a visually appealing way. Be sure to select colorful characters and backgrounds that represent the product’s purpose or origin.

4. Try to Keep it Green

This step isn’t implying that the best packages are green in color. The best packages do, however, keep the environment in mind. This area of the design usually falls into the realm of the printing materials that will be used to package the product. This should be decided early on in the project so that the package can be designed accordingly. In addition to renewable feedstock, biomaterials derived from corn and sugarcane can also be used. Modern technology can also keep products green-friendly. The green artist will stay on top of alternative materials that can be used for printing package designs.

5. Keep it Secure

The package should be aesthetically pleasing, but it should also be functional and secure. Some designs are so convoluted that product security gets left in the dust. If a flimsy design makes it look like someone has tampered with the product, then no matter how pretty it is, consumers will reject it. The package should be sealed and sensible. It may also be necessary to include instructions for how to open the package or break a seal.

Package designing is a necessary art form. When designers are creative, functional, and eco-friendly, their unique artistic work will shine.

We’ve some great package designers on the Exchange so if you want your new product to stand out, submit a brief now!

Kathleen

It is one of the industries where the lifestyle that each brand seems to offer is as, if not more, important than the taste. Which is why it seems strange that Heineken are re-branding themselves. They’re only retouching their corporate identity whilst leaving their beer brand well alone. Their new logo is now all in upper case with a red spark on the end. The capital letters hark back to their logo when they were first created which was also in caps, and will serve to distinguish it from the beer brand.  The star (or spark as they call it) show their spirit and energy.

Heineken is the largest beer brand in the world, but bigger isn’t always better. When you buy a beer from a corporation it’s sometimes all too obvious how it’s designed to sell, not entertain. For heart and soul sometimes you have take it back to the roots.

Mission Springs Brewery – Blonde Bombshell Ale

Nothing helps a plane fly like having a giant woman sit on top of it. This beer looks logical and delicious, so much so that it won an award. Just be careful with those propellers.

Blackbird – Odell Brewing Co.

This was a label designed by The Tenfold Collective for a competition that the Odell Brewing Co. ran to find a design for their new beer. Unfortunately it didn’t win but it’s too good to consign to dustbin. The absence of the beer from Odell’s website suggests that the beer wasn’t too good though.

Jan Fris Rest in Peace Memorial Brewing Project - Cabbage Creative

This is a very special beer, it is part of a project by the Cabbage Creative as a memorial of their friend Jan Fris. Each bottle is beautifully designed with a small story about Fran on the label. Not only is the presentation visually stunning but each beer’s flavour and taste is linked to one of Fris’s virtues. There can’t be many people who inspire such devotion nor many friends with the determination and foresight to see something like this through. Make sure to check out the labels in their full glory.

If you need something designed then why not submit a brief on the Creative Services Exchange.

The Eames husband-and-wife team were two of the most important American designers of the 20th century. They made innovative contributions to furniture, architecture, and industrial design, as well as photographic arts and toys.

Playful, investigative, imaginative, and insightful, they left a legacy of inspiring design that crosses over into other disciplines, including graphic and web design.

This week, I introduced my Graphic Design 1 students to Charles and Ray Eames by watching their film, Powers of Ten. It was fun to revisit the Eames and pay tribute to them. When I was studying graphic design at Mass. College of Art, our publications design teacher showed us this film. For me, it was a memorable lesson on the concepts of macro and micro.

As designers, we explore the world through a variety of lenses, always searching for a unique way to present information. If we zoom out of a scene to encompass a wider perspective, that macro view may provide essential context for understanding the content. If we zoom into a scene to get deeper into the details, that micro view could offer new information previously not considered or known.

Each unique view can be used in an endless number of ways: graphic elements, grids and other organizational tools, image backgrounds, etc. If you are designing a sports catalog, try zooming into the texture of the basketball and see what interesting options develop. If you are designing an annual report, a macro view of the company’s headquarters might provide an insightful context for why the company is so committed to its resident community. Applying macro and micro concepts can enhance your design with patterns, structures, layers, and metaphors, thereby enlivening the page and deepening the understanding of the material.

Further Info:

http://www.eamesoffice.com/
http://designmuseum.org/design/charles-ray-eames
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames
http://www.eamesgallery.com/
http://www.hermanmiller.com/Designers/Eames
http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/design_icons_charles_and_ray_eames

Many thanks to Anne for sharing this article with us.

Igor Marisko

David Enker

Dina Barbosa

Warren Prasek

James Owen

Glenn Tucker

Want to use one of these designers for your next project? Submit a brief

Product designer James Owen has been in the industry over 15 years and worked with some top clients. His work has been featured in many magazines and books, even winning numerous awards. We are delighted that James took this opportunity to speak with us

.

You have worked with many top brands , (Nike, Microsoft, Philips) but do you have a favourite project you have worked on?

There really is no “favorite” project for me. It’s always difficult to be objective about my own work, so I prefer to look forward to the next project, the next experience. What excites me about design is the act of creation and coming up with something new, different, or both. The process is what’s fun. There certainly is satisfaction when a design makes it to the retail shelf, but It’s about achieving and learning something new.

What is your favourite letter of the alphabet & why?
That’s a pretty original question! I would guess that the letter “Q” is my favorite closely followed by the letter “X” as runner up. The letter “Q” isn’t used very often in the English language (not much use for it really) therefore it tends to have more impact when it is used. Plus, it has that hard “K” sound which gives it importance and gets attention. “X” is just a great letter and speaks to mystery and experimentation. It’s always useful to indicate that something is high-tech, advanced, or special.

How did you first get interested in design, specifically product design ?
The usual path that any designer worth their weight takes to get involved with design: lots of drawing and playing with Legos as a kid. Building and re-building. drawing and re-drawing. That tends to hone the creative instinct and one has to be completely devoted to the process of creation to keep drawing, building, and refining an object again and again. That’s the only way that one can achieve any sort of proficiency and skill in design is to practice and hone one’s innate sense of what’s “right” on the page or in 3D space.

Do you have any ambitions as a designer? Or, Is there a project you wished you worked on?
I think you have to be innately ambitious as a designer or you’ll never really make it in this profession. And when I say “ambition” I mean a true hunger for the profession and the craft. If you come at it purely as a means to make a living you won’t really do well and you won’t be happy. It’s not a profession for the faint-of-heart or impassionate. You have to totally love it and devote yourself to it.
There are too many projects to list here that I wish I could’ve worked on or hopefully will work on! I learn new things whenever my company embarks on a product that we’ve never designed before. It’s challenging and exciting and we’ve been successful applying our methodology and philosophy to new challenges. I’ve been fortunate to work on everything from transportation to footwear to furniture. One of my business development goals is to add environmental and interior design projects for retail or commercial spaces. I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities in new categories to express my point of view and myself.

How much creative freedom are you given in a new project? Or do the companies have very strict brand guidelines?
That greatly depends on the client and project. It also depends o n your reputation and how you enter the consultant/client relationship. If you already have a well-established brand name you’re likely to have a greater amount of freedom and you’ll have a chance at the choice projects that many lesser known firms don’t get. However, if you can establish a good working relationship with a client and you’re willing to take chances then doors to better, more strategic projects tend to open up. Sometimes clients will come to us and say “What kind of product do you think we should be making?”. That’s the best of all possible opportunities because you can define the client’s brand and message, it’s persona really, when you have full control over their product or range of produ cts.