Studioclues

Being in China for about week now I have found that good signage and clear communication in graphic design becomes even more important if the actual copy is unreadable.  The accompanying graphic with the copy becomes the sole form of communication to the user in this instance. As businesses become more global and their marks are being spread further into other cultures and cities, it is apparent that their mark must  represent their product or service in a non discriminatory way. I have found that in many instances signage has had the Chinese copy along with the English version nearby or as a footnote. A challenge sometimes for Chinese graphic designers but also a testament of their inclusion of global cultures.

Some examples from my trip to Shanghai last weekend.

Again it has, or might be happening. Apple might be beating the market with less and more. There has been so much talk about how the iPad does not have a USB port, or that it does not have Flash support, and how it might not be ergonomic. These are all true things. But they are things that you can quantify and things that you can point at. What Apple chooses to do is remove these things that you want to quantify and replace them with the intangible. The things that I so try to define and quantify in my job role every day. It is a hard to fit an accurate description of a seamless design so visually stunning and interface so seamless, in an Excell cell.

Design Sojourn has a nice article expanding on this idea.

http://www.designsojourn.com/apple-executives-have-balls-of-steel/

I just scored a refurbished 21ux Cintiq for $1349. Yes $1349.  The new Cintiq just came out a few week ago with double the sensitivity of the previous one and I assumed the price of the previous one would go down.  I was right. I scored a refurb at$1349 and it came with a one year warranty. What a great deal.Typing on it right now.

Using a Cintiq home and at work causes you to depend on it at as  your friend. Many times you hunch over it with your pen as others use a mouse all day. There comes a problem for me when I click over to word processing and web surfing tasks that I more familiar navigating with a mouse. The issue now come down to where you feel more comfortable using the pan or the mouse and sometimes whether how long you will be doing this such task.

These are some sketches  I did to start brainstorming the problem. More to come. I gotta solve this issue.

I  will be  regretfully missing the IDSA northeast conference this year as I will be on a plane to China on the final day of the conference. That said, I want to tell you how important I think the conferences that a trade organizes, are important to attend.

I went to the Northeast conference last year in Boston and had a great experience overall. Not only were there great speakers such as Martin Keen , founder of Keen shoes and designer at heart, but their were tons of opportunities to talk with students and professionals who are in the same field as YOU. Yes, you. There are more of you and maybe they have something to share. It’s a small world as they say and I bumped into a few local Baltimore IDer’s who I had been brief encounters with in the past, and made a tighter connection with. We also had the opportunity to stay at one the Mass- Art students houses to cut down on costs, which was a great experience in itself. How better to get to know a group of students than crashing on their couch and eating the last of their cereal?

So with all that said, lastly there is also the the act of team building which always happens when you are cooped up in a van for five hours with a bunch of people in which you did not know their taste in music before hand. I found out that some of my team were really bad drivers actually and shouldn’t be on the road. It was a fun road trip and unforgettable team building experience.

Maybe next year I will have the opportunity to try travel again with the team, see some great design studios, and maybe see some great speakers.

I wanna make a shout out to Dave Miller over at davemillerdesign.com. Dave is a Senior Industrial Designer at Black and Decker with me, and works on global power tools. Dave is a very talented designer and has some great work now up on his site, and I urge you to check it out.  His coroflot portfolio has also been recently been jumping up the rankings also at Coroflot. Dave loves cars just like Taylor Langhals and you might find a few of them in his portfolio.

Here are some fun sketches of an aiming device I did  this evening. A dual turret (for accuracy) aiming  device to spot objects and enemies from far away with laser accuracy.

Browsing through Target today I stumbled onto the Dyson air multiplier. There is something to be said about a design that is a such a far cry from the form factor that we are accustomed to. The absence of the blades is such an odd concept for us to take hold to. Without the restrictions of blades, what other forms can this technology me molded in to. Can we even image what forms this will dictate.

Some doodles from this evening…

When it comes to mind mapping and brainstorming it is important to get your ideas down on paper or on file, in an organized and logical manner. Many times you are with a group of people in which you have  a recorder that will jot these ideas down on a whiteboard or giant post-it. When I am working on a project by myself I have to rely on myself to go through this process diligently.  This information might have to later be later shared with a colleague or client.   The site https://bubbl.us/beta/ provides a very clean and streamlined interface for you to map your thoughts very fast. When it comes to usability and adopt-ability, interface is key.

https://bubbl.us/beta/ via  http://lifehacker.com

Just finished sketching these identification and entry instruments. Just having fun. I get kinda sick of carrying around my keys and license and credit card, why can’t we just have one device to get us around and through doors!! Here they are!!