Monthly Archives: October 2008

It’s not often a product makes its way into presidential politics, unless it is a nuclear weapon or a handgun. Which is why we were so intrigued by this.

Filed in Industrial Design | Comments (0)

First it was public restrooms. Now your kitchen. This new side-by-side refrigerator by AEG-Electrolux conserves energy by going into sleep mode and but can be woken up with a wave, just like the paper towel dispenser at an airport bathroom

Filed in Gestural Interfaces, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Product Strategy, Products We Like | Comments (0)

This isn’t a review of the writing/drawing instrument, but rather The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance by Henry Petroski. I was really looking forward to reading this book, as I enjoyed Petroski’s other book The Evolution of Useful Things and it was at the top of Steven Levy’s 10 Great Tech Books list. [...]

Filed in Book Reviews | Comments (0)

I was supposed to go to Design Engaged last week, but unfortunately had to drop out, and thus missed Nicholas Nova‘s talk “inflated deflated futures”. But now, thanks to Slideshare, I’ve had a chance to view it. And it’s great.

Filed in Inspiration, Theory | Comments (0)

I came across this site after reading The Daily Heller this morning. I love this. It’s a side project done by Substance, out of Portland, OR.

Filed in Branding, Crowdsourcing, Product Design 2.0, Visual Design | Comments (0)

In design, mental models are the constructs that people make in their heads in order to understand how a product works. If they can’t create a mental model of the product, then likely they won’t be able to adequately use it well, if at all. Often, poor products can be traced back to the fact [...]

Filed in Inspiration | Comments (0)

Research firm In-Stat predicts that shipments of consumer electronics with WiFi will reach 1 billion by 2012.

Filed in Product Design 2.0, Technology | Comments (0)

I’m loving this Scan Toaster by Sung Bae Chang, one of the finalists in the The Electrolux Design Lab contest to be held on October 9th in Zurich, showcasing possible appliances of the future.

Filed in Products We Like | Comments (0)

One phrase you hear a lot of in product design is “adding value” or “value-add.” As in, “Being able to see their account balance is a value-add for customers.” What this usually means, however, is adding a new feature. “Being able to turn your washing machine on from this PDA would be a value add.” [...]

Filed in Product Strategy | Comments (0)

I made this is a little business card holder earlier this week. It is purposefully shorter than the length of the cards. I wanted to use the holder as an experiment. To design something with less material that enhances the card’s design as well as our brand. But will it work?

Filed in Branding, Kicker, Tinkering | Comments (0)