Sage with Design

  Apple Vision Pro digital iPad drawing in Procreate in 2023. Persistence is a skill and a choice. Anyone can get better at drawing so long as you persist and think critically. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's easy. Pinning up bad drawings in front of classmates and teachers never feels good, even when you distance yourself from your ego. I was terrible at drawing for a long time, particularly before getting into design college. I even worried that I wouldn't be good enough at drawing to be a good designer. It wasn't until my second year in school where I felt like I was improving. Of course, I'm still not where I want to be. Leaning on digital media makes it easier, but I feel it's cheating compared to pen and paper. I do throw lines instead of relying on line assist which helps to keep me thinking about where each line is going, as if I were drawing on paper. More than anything, the more frequently I draw, the more improvement there is. Persistence beats mo...

Image credit: drobotdean on Freepik No matter how well you oil and heat your pan, the first pancake is never as good as the second or third one.  That doesn't prevent you from making pancakes, you expect the first one to be a dud.  The role of first pancake is to show you what to do next.  Do you adjust the heat? Add more oil? Use the same amount of batter? Flip it sooner? There are people who can make a perfect first pancake, but how common is this? Like the designer who sketches a beautiful concept without needing revisions. The actor who gives the performance of a lifetime in a single take. The orator who can move a crowd with impromptu words.  No doubt, it wasn't their first time ever drawing, performing or speaking. It's rare to get it right the first time. There's always experience behind the ones who do.  Try, then make it better.

  Dieter Rams' 10 Principles of Good Design are a good place to start in a broad sense. “Everything interacts with, and is dependent on, other things. We must think more thoroughly about what we are doing, how we are doing it and why we are doing it.” -Dieter Rams in Rams , 2018 Rams' influence is remarkable and his principles are considered design dogma. Anyone who went to a product design school has studied them already, but it never hurts to brush up on fundamentals. Good design… is innovative. Staying close to innovative technology is often thought of first. But innovation happens when someone introduces a new method or idea. The technology needed to make an  electric car was available for 100 years before they were presented in innovative ways by Toyota and Tesla. makes a product useful. Perhaps the greatest differentiator between art and design. Art has potential to be useful, for design it is mandatory.  is aesthetic. How something looks can change how we feel ...

Image credit: Freepik 2018 was without a doubt the year of the electric scooter. Bird started this trend. It was a unicorn among unicorns, being the first company to reach a $1 billion evaluation in a year. It took off because they're a sustainable and cheap way for people to get around town faster. They're as convenient and fun as they are annoying and dangerous. Some people even destroy them .  I used e-scooters a few times when I was running late for class in college. It seemed a little dangerous but that's part of the fun. That following year on campus, I saw someone run into an automatic car barrier gate on an e-scooter and was flown from it. Aside from scraping up his hands and arm, he was fine. So was the scooter. There are a lot of horror stories and lawsuits over them.  Despite all this, the e-scooter industry keeps growing. Maybe there are opportunities to make them safer with low-profile helmets, haptic feedback in the handles or something else to keep riders sa...

Image credit: zinkevych on Freepik If you can't tell whether to push or pull to open a door, it's called a Norman Door. Norman Door = Bad Design The term was coined by a renowned designer, Don Norman, who wrote a linchpin book in the design world, "The Design of Every Day Things." Vertical handles on either side of a door are the common culprit. They may look aesthetically good but they're confusing to use correctly the first time. "The design of a door should indicate how to work it without any need for signs, certainly without any need for trial and error." -Don Norman Unintuitive design isn't limited to doors.  USBs never go in the correct way on the first attempt. My iPad Pro doesn't power off by holding down the power button. I need to hold the power button and a volume button. A row of identical light switches is impossible to figure out until you try each one.  There are a plethora of examples out there. I'm sure you have one in mind. ...

  Image credit: Freepik I don't know a world without personal computers.  I was born in 1995, right at the cusp between Gen Y and Gen Z. The same year Microsoft changed how people interact with software with the Windows 95 operating system. It was only a few years prior to the iMac G3, which revolutionized the way we interact with computers.  Technology has evolved rapidly since then. Different generations grow up with different types of exposure to tech which influences their expectations of electronics.  Generational changes are not easy to argue because there are so many exceptions. Even finding consistent timespans of each generation is difficult. These differences really are a reflection of technological advancements, cultural values, world events and life experiences. This is only a glimpse of info through a product design lens. Gen X (The Forgotten Generation, 1965-1979) may have the best perspective on life before and after the internet. They had to adapt to...

Image credit: Freepik There's no other option. Maybe you keep ideas to yourself because you don't want to appear naïve.  You can't afford to keep creative ideas to yourself. We all have creative ideas and we all have potential to create meaning. A complicated LEGO build always begins with a single block. Find your block, go all in and find others like you. All four of a horses feet make the same sound. Powerful change is only possible when we work together and put all our abilities to use.

Image credit: rawpixel.com on Freepik It's easy to get stuck in the analysis-paralysis cycle. We want to make sure a design is perfect before shipping it, but no product has ever been perfect. Even revolutionary universal designs have pain points.  Wheelchairs come close to perfection, but it can be difficult for anyone to propel themselves in a wheelchair.  Accessible restrooms can be poorly maintained or break down. Premium hearing aids still screech feedback or run out of battery at inopportune times. The best way to learn what works and what doesn't is to ship your design and to get feedback again and again. Start small, put yourself out there and learn to fail. "Perfect is the enemy of good," because good is the ally of progress.

Image credit: jannoon028 on Freepik "Step, Jump, Leap" can be a useful way to develop new and innovative ideas. It's a flexible innovation management framework that uses a 3-step iteration process. It follows the idea that the best way to come up with a great idea is to start small and to build on larger and more ambitious jumps and leaps to discovery. Step: Take a small step away from an existing solution on the market or an idea concept. This creates iterations that develop through small deviations. Materials and form should be similar to the original idea. Jump: Think outside the box, but core elements of an existing idea remain intact. Appeal to the same or a similar market without deviating from the problem you're trying to solve. Form is different, function is similar. Leap: Brainstorm radical ideas that could appeal to indirect markets and may not resemble the original idea. Your ultimate solution may not be a leap, but you may generate inspirational forms a...

Image credit: Freepik 2 days ago, Meta announced their new AI-integrated smart glasses.   They might be the most promising affordable smart glasses to hit the wearable technology market, with potential to democratize access to this technology and bring it to the mainstream. The value in smart glasses technology has always been the ability to have hands-free access to the internet. So the user can update their knowledge in real-time based on what is in front of them. The challenges continue to vary from designing the tech to be low-profile, stylish, cost-effective, creating clear use cases and also privacy concerns.  The change we're seeing today proves that people are becoming more comfortable with everything being recorded and that people are interested in the convenience wearable technology offers. For people who want to translate audio or visuals in other languages instantaneously. Or for getting help with fixing an appliance. Or for creating a more unique and immersive exp...

Image credit; Freepik John Sylvan, inventor of the K-Cup, doesn't own a Keurig. John makes drip brew coffee. "Before I go to bed, I put the coffee and water in, and when I wake up there's a pot of coffee," he said pointedly.   Originally, his idea was aimed at office workers that normally go to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. He wanted to design a faster, cheaper and "no fuss" solution that would lower waste from disposable coffee cups. He's upset that his design is, at best, carbon neutral in relation to the world prior to disposable coffee pods. Over 25% of American homes and 40% of US workplaces have a pod coffee machine in them. Billions of coffee pods are dumped into landfills every year which take 500 years to decompose. Recyclable pods don't help because people don't recycle enough.   Reusable pods are a good idea but it begs the question — why not buy a drip brew coffee maker for single cups? Drip brew coffee is the better option for environ...

Image credit: Freepik Service models are taking over many industries. You could buy Photoshop just 6 years ago. Today, it's exclusively a subscription. DVDs can still be bought, but you likely buy movies through a streaming service. Although, you don't really buy these movies, you're purchasing a "Limited License" through Amazon and all of the others. What you buy is the ability to watch your movie on-demand. If Amazon were to go under, or lose the streaming rights to what you've "purchased," you would lose access. SaaS is growing due to reduced costs, increased profit and increased efficiency for companies. But the drawback is that people don't really own the products they are paying for.  However, there is an opportunity in this trend to implement more sustainable practices.  Subscription models can support the idea of the Circular Economy, where companies rely on people to come back to their product or service. One example includes  refill sta...

Image credit: tonodiaz on Freepik I believe that the deepest pain you feel should be understood as a cry for humanity and universal love.  Charles Bradley, one of the greatest soul singers of all time, embodied this idea .  At 14, Charles felt unloved by his mother and ran away from home. He lived in the subway tunnels of New York and in the winter, he would ride the trains to stay warm. At 16, he found work as a cook and began singing in small clubs.  Despite his powerful and energetic stage presence that clearly pulled from James Brown, he couldn't make it mainstream until he was 62. That's when he released his first album and found both critical and commercial success. He reconnected with his mother and took care of her until she passed.  And all the way up until Charles passed away in 2017, he believed that if he put enough effort into his music, he could love people into loving.  It's innately human to want to create. For me, creating is where I find purpos...

Image credit: Freepik Minimalism is a design philosophy to strip away the excess and leave only what is essential. It ties in with designers' and engineers' general goal to simplify solutions as much as possible.  However, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Complexity can be necessary or even wanted. Many machines in a nuclear power plant are complex and there's no real way to simplify their interfaces further without compromising safety or functionality. They're simplified as much as possible in order to improve how efficient they perform and how easy they are to use by employees. Image credit: fanjianhua on Freepik Creativity and self-expression are important. If you're a kid, you might not want minimalist wooden blocks to play with, you want the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Millennium Falcon set.  Or, chances are the shirts you pick out are probably not all the same plain black or white t's.  Despite many exceptions, there's good reason why Louis Sulli...

  Image credit:  Viktor Ritsvall on Unsplash Some people buy luxury products because they're well-made and offer a high-quality experience. But others buy them because they want to signal their wealth and status. Louis Vuitton / Supreme's $6,000 hoodie doesn't keep you warmer or fit better than one you could find in Macy's. It's expensive because the brands are expensive. It's meant to show to the people around you that you can afford to wear your money. The same goes for most supercars, private jets and yachts.  To be clear, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with owning luxury products. Buying a nicer house or car or phone isn't an inherently bad thing. If designer jeans are in your price range and you like the look and feel of them, you should get them.  High-quality items serve the purpose of offering a high-quality experience. If you've ever dined at a steakhouse in front of a $75 steak, you know how good that feels. That feeling ...

Image credit: ASphotofamily on Freepik Grocery stores commonly keep cheaper products on the bottom shelf. As you move up the shelves, prices generally increase.  Product placement strategies for stores have been used to influence customer buying decisions since the existence of stores. Current logistics make sense from a store's perspective because every inch of shelf space has a dollar value. From their perspective, it's logical to reserve the bottom shelf for storing items with limited demands, bulk items, oversized items and store brands. Eye level products are convenient to reach. This is no coincidence, they're more likely to be bought impulsively. Items at eye level are what your store wants you to buy. Some people can find the best deals shopping the bottom shelf, but "finding the best deals" implies that you have options. For many people, the bottom shelf is the only option. If you have shopped with your head down, because "down" is where you co...

Image credit: Chad Stembridge on Unsplash People who don't study product design may know of a handful of designers. Jonathan Ive, James Dyson, Ray Eames and maybe Dieter Rams would sound familiar to some outside of the product design circle. But no designer has had a more profound impact on the products we use every day than Henry Dreyfuss.  Dreyfuss's portfolio is vast and he was one of the first to focus on Human Factors engineering. He was the Industrial Design Society of America's (IDSA) first president in 1965. Notable designs from Henry include: Hoover Model 150 upright vacuum cleaner (1936) New York Central Railroad's streamlined Mercury train (1936) Bell Laboratories 300 tabletop telephone (1937) New York Central Hudson locomotive for the 20th Century Limited (1938) Westclox Big Ben alarm clock (1939) Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter (1939) Western Electric Model 500 telephone (1949) John Deere tractor (1950s) Steamships - SS Independence and SS Constitution (195...

Before the invention of the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure monitor), there was no way to measure blood pressure without making an incision. The first blood pressure reading Reverend Stephen Hales was the first person to measure blood pressure. In the early 1700s he made a small cut on a restrained horse and inserted a brass pipe (cannula) attached to a 9 foot tall glass tube (manometer) standing upright. Hales untied the ligature of the artery and slowly blood rose in the glass tube, slightly rising and falling at each pulse. This was a major moment for Hales to develop the fundamentals of comparative physiology, despite being inaccurate and an experiment of nightmares.  Image credit: American Heart Association The first non-invasive sphygmomanometer It wasn't for another 100 years, 1828, until Jean Leonard Marie Poiseuille would invent the first non-invasive sphygmomanometer . Poiseuille's device used a metal band to compress the arm and a mercury column to measure the press...

Back to the Future II (1989). Image credit: Universal Studios. Still waiting on that hoverboard… Self-lacing shoes from Back to the Future II (1989) are a great example of a diegetic prototype (fictional technology). They didn't exist yet, the self-lacing feature was accomplished by a person beneath the floor pulling the laces tight. But the movie did something important: it made people want self-lacing shoes. For decades people asked for them. And decades passed before a working prototype could be developed and then several more years passed for technology to advance enough to make these shoes sellable.  Artificial Intelligence, AR/VR/XR, and robotics are all areas that are rapidly developing. They are also areas that are being inspired by movies.  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Image credit: Warner Bros. Studio. Ai may be the most obvious example. Hal, from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), comes to mind when AI is mentioned. So does The Terminator (1984) and Blade Runner (198...