Read more about the highlights from CES 2012 by downloading our recap below.

This past Friday we celebrated one of our intern’s, Jae Won Chang, last day in the studio. Jae has been a part of our team for almost a year and initially came to Beyond Design from the Art Institute of Chicago to further his knowledge and skills in SolidWorks, DFM (Design for Manufacturing), and ideation. He worked on a number of projects over the year and was able to learn a lot about our design process and how products are developed and manufactured.

“I learned about various levels of sketching for different stages, and it was new to me to sketch with a Cintiq. Learning about manufacturability and feasibility also gave me a greater knowledge about general practicality in design as well.”

Jae brought a lot of positive energy to our team and showed excitement and motivation with each project he was involved with. He will be missed!

“Everyone at Beyond was so helpful and willing to teach me. Working in such a creative environment with talented designers was a precious experience, and I am truly honored to be a part of the team.”

“As part of what the museum bills as the first large-scale solo exhibition of the artist’s work to be held in the Chinese world, Ai Weiwei’s most recent work, Forever Bicycles, installs 1,200 bicycles–some hanging from the ceiling, some standing upright on the floor–one behind the other.”
—Fast Company

We thought this exhibition was pretty amazing. One can only imagine how long it took to set up. You can read the full story on Fast Company’s website, here.

Photo from fastcodesign.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY!! We hope it’s your best year yet!

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously but we will walk away from generic products,” ” says Shellhammer, 35, who greenlights every single Fab.com deal. “Everything on our site has a story, whether it’s about function, form, material or the history of the designers themselves. If it’s just boring beige pillows, we’ll walk away.
—Forbes.com

On Thursday of this week, the BuzzBrush® is being featured on the site. Be sure to check it out here!

We hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!

Everywhere you look you are surrounded by products that are designed by someone, or, most likely, a group of people. At Beyond Design, we spend our days designing products and services that fulfill users needs and wants—things that will make for a better user experience.

We came across a short documentary on Fast Company’s website that highlights the fundamentals of product design from PBS’s Off Book web series. Three people are featured in the film: Harvey Moscot of Moscot Eyewear, Yves Behar of fuseproject, and Peter Schmitt of MIT’s Personal Robotics Group.

“Behar dismantles the modern myth of product design as ‘making things look pretty,’ and explains that its ‘essential element is to have people in mind’. One key point that almost slips by unnoticed, though, is that of manufacturing feasibility. Behar briefly but notably touches on this: it’s one thing to mock up an amazing design in CAD or Photoshop, but if it can’t be manufactured with current technology at a realistic price, it’s not really product design–it’s wishful thinking.” —Watch A 5 Minute Primer On The Fundamentals Of Product Design

“That’s what makes successful product design so fascinating and so rare: how a good or even great idea must harmonize with unforgiving physical and economic constraints.”

You can read the full article here and watch the video below.

The Trane ComfortLink™ II Thermostat is the most advanced home comfort device on the market. Designed for today’s busy homeowners, the exclusive, 7-inch interactive, high-definition color touch screen serves as an easy-to-use central planning center. The intuitive interface allows users to see different room temperatures from one single control and the system allows users remote access via a computer, Smartphone, or tablet. It was designed in collaboration with Trane Air Solutions. You can read more about the product design here.

The BuzzBrush® is a unique 2-in-1 computer cleaning product designed to remove lint and dirt from your keyboard and fingerprints from your LCD touch screen tablet or monitor device. Unlike compressed air, the BuzzBrush® incorporates a spiral brush engineered to reach in-between the keys of a keyboard to remove harmful bacteria potentially found in lint and dust particles. The BuzzBrush® is a reusable product that, with proper care, will last an indefinite period of time. You can read more about the product design here.

Our team is thrilled to have received this award for two of our product designs!

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

You can learn more about the award here, as well as view additional details on the product design here. Check out a video on the product below.

One of our interns, Andrew Anspaugh, from The Ohio State University finished his 6-month long internship last week. When he first joined our team in June, he was very eager to learn all he could about the design process, as well as develop his skill sets to become a well‐rounded industrial designer.

“I love to sketch, but I realize how important all of the aspects of the design process are to create new and exciting products. Thus I would like to encounter all aspects of the design process at the professional level.”

Andrew always had a positive attitude and is a great designer. “I really enjoyed working on every project, each presented different tasks. Not to mention, I was able to work with different designers, thus learning various techniques. I picked up new skill sets in all programs, but most of all I became united with a great group of designers. Everyone helped me to become a better person as a designer.”

Thanks, Andrew—you will be missed!

Photo from Gadget Review

Google has been experimenting with driverless cars for a number of years, and, after applying for a patent in May of this year, they received word that their patent for driverless car technology was approved. The patent includes a plan for mixed-mode autonomous driving – a driving method in which the car takes full control after passing a reference indicator, while a human is still in the driver’s seat.

The self-driving car was talked about at a TED conference back in March by Sebastian Thrun. The car involves two sets of sensors: one which identifies a “landing strip” where the vehicle stops, the other which receives data about precisely where it is and where it should go. The driverless car could get directions or driving instructions from a URL, QR code or radio link.

“The search firm suggests the technology could be used to offer tours of tourist locations or to send faulty models to repair shops.Google has funded a lot of this work at universities. Not surprisingly, if they think it is going to be big they want to patent it.” (from BBC News)

For more on this patent, visit BBC News. You can also view the TED talk from earlier this year below.

Rachel Sandoval, from The Ohio State University, had her last day in our studio this past Friday. She has been interning with us since September and will be returning to school next semester. Rachel came to Beyond Design wanting to learn the differences between how a consultancy is managed versus a corporation. She worked on a number of projects while on our team and showed enthusiasm and motivation with each project she was involved with.

“Working on certain projects at Beyond, I had the opportunity to see what design elements drive cost and how those factors contribute to the overall product line strategy.”

Rachel continuously demonstrated her skills while working with us and was a tremendous support to our team. We will miss her! Thanks for all your help, Rachel!

Nearly everyone knows about the success Scott Wilson found through Kickstarter for his TikTok and LunaTik wristbands—which turn an iPod Nano into a stylish watch. He is back again with his idea for a touch pen that is inspired by the way we work across analog and digital worlds. Tablets and iPad’s are becoming more and more popular, and people are continuously switching between paper and tablets every day. Wilson used the same design philosophy as he did with the TikTok and LunaTik wristbands to create a touch pen that seamlessly transfers from paper to touch screen. We think it’s a pretty great idea.

Wilson and his team are launching the pen on Kickstarter today with the hope of raising $75K in two months. Check out the video below or visit Kickstarter.com for more details on the LunaTik Touch Pen.

Consumer products need a jolt of energy and boldness, which is why it’s the perfect time for Pantone to name Tangerine Tango—a spirited reddish orange hue—the 2012 color of the year.

Over the past several years, orange has grown in popularity and acceptance among designers and consumers alike. The annual forecast for the next year’s dominant color takes into consideration both what Pantone thinks consumers want and need. The color provides a fresh accent for consumer products, fashion, and home interiors.

“There’s the element of encouragement with orange, it’s building on the ideas of courage and action, that we want to move on to better things. I think it would be a disservice to go with a relaxed, soothing color now,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, the research division of Pantone Inc., which creates color standards for the fashion, beauty and home industries.

We think it’s a great color choice! You can read more about the color in the Washington Post here.

We often check out Kickstarter’s website to see all of the exciting new ideas out there, and recently we came across the LandingZone™—a docking station for the MacBook Air. The elegant design serves as a dock for your 11” or 13” MacBook Air and includes 4 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a DisplayPort, a Kensington lock port, and power supply.

The product is designed by a start-up called infiniWing—“a company dedicated to the development and delivery of innovative add-on solutions to enhance and upgrade productivity, usability and security for notebook and mobile device users.” Kitae Kwon, the mastermind behind the product, wanted a docking station “that’s just as beautiful and functional” as the MacBook Air.

From what we see, he just might have accomplished that. The company had a pledged goal of $50,000 and just recently met that goal, and still has 24 days remaining. To support the LandingZone™, visit Kickstarter.com. You can learn more about the product here, or by watching the video below. Great product design!

This past weekend a few designers from our team gave an introductory presentation to the EDI (Engineering Design and Innovation) students at Northwestern University about Industrial Design and, more specifically, about our proprietary 4XD process at Beyond Design.

TJ Kim, the former Director of NPD at Beyond, was a graduate of the program and eventually became a part-time faculty member for the EDI program. Our team was asked by Dan Brown and Kim Hoffman, faculty members at Northwestern, to present our process and capabilities in order to expose the students to the professional side of human centered design. Many of the students have a background in mechanical engineering, but few of the students had been directly involved with the design process prior to entering graduate school.

As a result of the meeting, our team is organizing a weekend workshop with the EDI students to further their exposure to the design process and its various stages (sketching, CAD, prototyping, etc). It was a great session for our team and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Northwestern and their EDI program.

Bryson Stewart joined our team today as a Mechanical Engineer. Bryson attended the University of Maryland and has spent his time since graduation working at a research and development facility in the Maryland area. He specializes in parametric modeling for product development and systems integration, and has extensive knowledge of design for manufacturing.

“I like the idea of working on a variety of different projects with each having their own unique challenges and goals. It’s great to have the opportunity to take a sketch or a mental image of a part or assembly and translate it into a physical object I can hold in my hand and use. Plus I love being around other creative people.”

We are excited to have him as part of our team!

To learn more about the BuzzDrive™, click here.

The companies who have joined the fight include, but are not limited to, Apple, Nike, Beats by Dre, Dell, Starbucks, and American Express. You can see all of the companies involved here.

For more information about the Global Fund and (RED)™, visit JOINRED.com.

Considering how often we come into contact with keyboards, it’s not a surprise that the keys and spaces in between are a convenient haven for bacteria and other microbes. The BuzzBrush® was derived from the need to not only clean the top surface of your keyboard, but also reach in between and under the keys to remove lint and dust. The statistics are surprising, including that keyboards are 5x dirtier than a toilet seat—150x over the acceptable limit for bacteria levels. The chart below (from Design Taxi) explains it all.

Don’t forget to wash your hands…and go pick up a BuzzBrush®!

Toyota recently launched a concept car called the “Fun-Vii”, which stands for Vehicle Interactive Internet. The idea behind the Fun-Vii is to treat cars like a Smartphone with the touch screen display and customizable skins. It gives the user the chance to change the color and design of the body.

While I personally doubt this will be the future of what cars will look like, it’s definitely an interesting approach.

Toyota says this is only something that “might be in the works”, however, the concept shows how one idea has the opportunity to shape the technology of cars in the future.

You can view a video shot by the Associated Press below and read more about the Fun-Vii here.

Submitted By: Jung Chei

You can watch a more detailed video on the software below.

Submitted By: Stéphane Londiche, Intern at Beyond Design from February 2011 to September 2011

We hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

“This year, the show was still focused on the home: ‘Emotive Design’ is what was noted to be the macro-trend amongst the new product designs. How do we create emotional interaction with objects that surround us? How do we make them more human? The designers were aiming to instill more meaning to our world.”
— CBi China Bridge

One noted trend is that emotional design is being executed through the creation of product personality (as seen in the photo below).

We especially like the small plastic figurines that act as a noodle cup-lover’s best friend. They hang over the edge of your noodle cup to effectively keep the lid closed while the noodles cook inside.

The report also talks about how various shapes and colors attract our attention, and how color adds “fun and lightness to our world”.

Just as we create trend reports for key tradeshows in the United States, we enjoy reading about other international tradeshows that we are unable to attend in order to stay in touch with the latest design trends and incorporate some of the newest trends into our product and service designs. You can read the full article here.

If you’d like to check out trend reports on tradeshows within the United States (ie. The International Housewares Show, CES, The Hardware Show, etc.) that our team put together, fill out our contact form and send us a message with the ones you’d like to see and we’ll be sure to send those your way!

He worked closely with our engineering team on a number of projects while at Beyond Design and brought a lot of positive energy to the team. He will be missed!

Thanks to Tony Ruth for sending one our way!

(More photos to come)

Happy Birthday to Beyond Design! Today marks the start of the 18th year that Beyond Design has been in business. The company was formed in 1994 by Michael Prince, the President of the company. In the beginning, it was Prince and one intern. Today, our multi-faceted team includes specialists in research, design strategy, industrial design, interaction design, engineering, and branding. Our proprietary 4XD process takes concepts from research through development and into manufacturing. Our expertise in design research and strategy helps us create compelling products that connect with end-users for marketplace success.

In 2006, we moved into our current studio located in the Ravenswood Corridor, a previous industrial area in the northern part of the city. Prince located a former lighting parts warehouse and a vacant lot next door that was sculpted into a garden to accompany the studio. His idea behind creating the garden was to create a “Zen-like” atmosphere away from the noise of the metropolis. The building was completely renovated to represent our work style and core values. The open, team-oriented work environment fosters creativity and allows our designers a wealth of artistic space to brainstorm and collaborate.

Thanks to all those who have supported us over the years! Here’s to many more!

To view our award-winning designs, click here.

We are excited to have Chris Kulujian join our team at Beyond Design! He has been an Industrial Design Consultant in Chicago for 11 years, with experience in a variety of industries, including: electronics, fitness, housewares, contract furniture, and commercial and industrial equipment. He has taken products from sketch to production for a number of different clients.

“As a consultant, I like the diversity of work and unique challenges that each client presents.”

During his undergrad years at the University of Cincinnati, he worked at Hasbro Toy Group (Cincinnati), Rubbermaid Commercial Products (Virginia), Denby Exhibits (NJ), and Karrot Design (Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China). He brings with him a wealth of experience and a great passion for design.

I saw this video and found it fascinating that Honda has come so far in developing this robot that replicates human motion. Honda has always been known as a mobility company—first developing motorcycles and then automobiles. Not many people know that Honda also has a research department that has been focused on developing this robot, known as ASIMO, for many, many years.

As it says on Honda’s website, “That passion for the advancement of mobility has led us to the creation of ASIMO, one of the world’s most sophisticated humanoid robots. Building ASIMO was an incredible challenge for Honda engineers. It is the result of years of research in many scientific fields.”

I see this development as the next frontier. Technology has encroached nearly all of our lives in such a massive way. We have busier lives and I suppose the logical thing is to design a device which utilizes our developments in technology to do the mundane jobs we would prefer not to do or don’t have time to do—such as laundry, vacuuming, cleaning, etc. It’s only natural that we as humans would be scared or apprehensive to share our homes with a robot. This might be partly due to the fact that most movies portray robots as the ‘bad guys’ and that fear has been instilled into us. (Perhaps too many people have been watching Terminator movies!)

The video below gives a very small insight into how to overcome that instinct of fear. It discusses our obsession with robots and what lies behind that with opinions from science-fiction screenwriters, professors, philosophers, engineers, and other thinkers. I think it’s interesting that a company like Honda can bankroll such an intensive and costly project for so many years before they would see any return. This ASIMO project has spurned several offshoot projects, such as devices that would help people who find it difficult to walk.

As Honda’s website says, “Honda engineers created ASIMO for the sole purpose of helping people. ASIMO has the unique ability to walk forward, backward, side step and even climb stairs with human-like agility. With the capability to navigate and operate in our world, ASIMO will be able to perform tasks to assist people, especially those lacking full mobility. ASIMO will serve as another set of eyes, ears, hands and legs for all kinds of people in need, and will provide them with a new sense of independence and mobility in their everyday lives.”

Ultimately, it is the design with a myriad of sciences woven together and the humans pushing boundaries that intrigues me most about this project. You can read more about the project here, as well as see a more detailed video below.

Written By: Mickey McCann, Industrial Designer

For more detail on our manufacturing capabilities, click here.

Our design of the Rubbermaid Paint Buddy was a 2005 IDEA Bronze Award winner and noted as one of the “50 Coolest Products of the 21st Century” by Businessweek. A few years ago, ProMo Costumes, a custom costume company based in Ohio, brought the product to life for Rubbermaid. It’s one of many ways a company can promote their products, creating awareness and excitement for the product and design. Check out the comparison below!

For more on this design, click here.

Adobe Systems announced that it will stop developing its Flash Player for mobile browsers. Good news for us, as we will now have improved browsing experiences on our iPhone’s and iPad’s!

Adobe says they will focus on the HTML5 web standard, which is universally supported on major mobile devices.

“This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. [...] Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores.” —Danny Winokur, Adobe’s Vice President and General Manager of Interactive Development (from the Huffington Post)

Apple has never been a fan of Flash, and has never integrated the platform in its products. In 2010, Steve Jobs wrote that “Flash was created during the PC era—for PCs and mice.”

With this news, it means that web developers will most likely have to move to HTML5 to produce their web content—if they haven’t already. What’s unclear is what this means for Flash’s long term success. Only time will tell, but, for now, we’re just glad to see Flash eliminated from mobile devices. For more on this story, click here.

We are always keeping an eye on the future of materials and how they can improve or influence our industrial design. In this interesting development, BASF has been working with Smart Car to develop polymer wheel rims for their smart forvision concept vehicle. They are using a composite plastic called Ultramid® Structure which has reinforcing glass fibers to make it more robust. This video shows some great views of a complex injection molding machine in action, and can give you an idea as what sort of thought needs to go into part design for production as well as what material to specify to manufacturers and why. To learn about smart forvision’s thermoplastic polymer wheel in more detail, click here.

To learn more about our engineering services, click here.

A few members of our team spent this past Sunday at the Kenmore Live Studio in downtown Chicago helping with the Student & Professional Portfolio Review hosted by IDSA. At Beyond Design, we understand the value of a great portfolio and are always willing to provide our recommendations to students on how they can improve their design portfolio.

For an industrial designer, a design portfolio is an essential aspect in getting a job. The main purpose of any portfolio is to visually and effectively communicate your design work. It is important to show the entire process from beginning to end, including the research and strategy behind each project. The key is to tell a story with each piece you present.

We encourage students to attend events such as this—it’s a great way to meet professionals and get a comprehensive review of your portfolio and discover ways to make it better!

Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies

A few members of our team attended Institute of Design’s (IIT) annual Design Research Conference in Chicago last week. The conference started with a half day workshop followed by two days of presentations. Speakers from various disciplines of design (industrial, digital interaction, commerce, service, regulatory, etc.) demonstrated the applications and benefits of new research methodologies in the design process. The conference also witnessed applications of design research in varying degrees of scope and depth.

“Along with speaking with friends and colleagues at the conference, the presentations were also very motivating. I enjoyed the seamless blend between the professional and academic fields throughout the presentations. On one side you see new theorems with academic nature being presented, while on the other you see the implementation of similar theorems by professionals.” —Nikhil Mathew, Design Strategist at Beyond Design

The use of new technology platforms for crowd sourcing and data analysis was a key topic for the first day of the conference. Michael Winnick and Martha Cotton shared DSCOUT, an online data collection and analysis tool developed by Gravity Tank. Peter Mortensen and Joyce Chen from Jump Associates presented the importance of using distinct research methods for each unique user classification. John Tolva, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Chicago, presented how the creation of an open source platform allowed developers to create valuable apps based on huge amounts of previously unused data from the city.

25 Presentations, 2 Days

“Almost every presentation brought new perspectives and something distinct to offer the audience. It was interesting to see how design as a field is constantly diversifying, along with design research proving its relevance through effective applications in those diversified fields. I was particularly intrigued in seeing how traditional design research and analysis is merging with the field of statistics and analytics.” —Nikhil Mathew

The second day of the conference focused on the relevance of combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to find both find insights and validate for generalization. Ken Kellogg and Gina Villavicencio shared how Marriott e-commerce values a balance of qualitative and quantitative research methods in their new product development. Arjun Chakravarti, from Stuart School of Business, shared his thoughts on the relevance of combining design research with behavioral economics in order to define elements of design for pricing and value proposition. NBBJ and Kaiser Permanente shared their work about how design research is used in developing strategic directions to better the environmental experience of large healthcare spaces.

Speakers, from left: Bruce Nussbaum (Professor of Innovation and Design, Parsons The New School for Design), Ilya Prokopoff (IDEO), Barbara Denton (Kaiser Permanente), and Jacob Simons (NBBJ)

“With the field of design constantly expanding, exposure to these venues helps design professionals to constantly update themselves and stay away from redundancy. It is beneficial for professionals who are trying to see credibility in design research, as well as to those who are trying to integrate and develop this into the product development process. Almost all the topics presented can be taken into the field of product development and be used for creating valuable product and service solutions.” —Patrick Nally, Industrial Designer at Beyond Design

Break Time!

For more on the conference, you can view a PDF we put together here.

Submitted By: Jae Chang, Intern at Beyond Design

“I hope my viewers will see the video in terms of the narrative and the medium. Because it was all done on one piece of paper, the sheet of paper evolves along with its characters. The two different stories represent, to me, the good and the bad, and how things can change so suddenly. While I was creating my piece, I struggled with the fact that five hours of work could amount to ten seconds of video. I think that some of that harshness is translated, perhaps subconsciously at first. The way I had invested myself into my art with no reward, in a way, made me feel like the story needed a happy ending.”

The video was inspired by some books Lizzi was reading at the time, including Thoreau’s Walden, Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the Great Gatsby. She was also influenced by the videos of William Kentridge. Check out her work below.

Yesterday, a few members of our team facilitated a Branding session at DePaul University for a class of MBA students. The goal behind the exercise was to strategically arrive at new market/product opportunities for existing brands. The students began the exercise by analyzing a chosen brand to determine its strengths and weaknesses, its distribution channels and marketing efforts, core competencies, and any other brand equity that could be leveraged. The students were asked to think about new market opportunities for the brand and a new avenue of revenue that that the company could pursue. Image boards were developed to create a visual representation of the intangibles of the brand—what they feel the brand means to consumers.

There were 26 students who were divided into five teams. The brands they chose were Harley-Davidson, Reynolds Wrap®, North Face®, Lemonheads, and Courvoisier. A brainstorming session was held and some creative ideas were later presented. The group that chose Reynolds Wrap® chose to take what the brand already markets (paper and foil for baking, cooking, and grilling), and expand it into serving and storage, while the group that chose Harley-Davidson chose to develop an energy drink that represents the excitement of riding a Harley.

The overall session was a great learning experience for the students, and an exciting opportunity for our designers to share their experiences at Beyond Design. It challenged each individual to consider what makes a great brand and the strategic business decision making that goes into launching a new product or service in an already established company.

The secret behind this deblur technology is having the right algorithm to fix the photo—which is a work in progress for the team behind it all. The early demo definitely leaves audiences in awe, but there is still quite a bit of development left before this feature is incorporated into Photoshop.

The image below shows a before and after of the deblur feature being applied.

“Currently, the most practical use case for the deblur technology we have seen from this prototype is for image forensics – when an investigator needs to deblur an image enough to read some text like a phone number or license plate – but isn’t trying to perfect an image.” —Photoshop.com Blog

For example, you can see how well the prototype deblurs the text in the image below.

The new feature looks amazing—we hope to see more of it in the future! You can check out the demonstration below.

The BuzzBrush® is currently being exhibited at the Mega Show 2011 in Hong Kong. The show is the most important sourcing trade exhibition for the gift, housewares, premiums and toy industries in Asia-Pacific, and has taken place every October since 1992 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Dard Design, a U.S. based designer and supplier of promotional items (including the BuzzBrush®), is showcasing the unique 2-in-1 keyboard and LCD screen cleaner at their booth.

“Quality-led and commercially-orientated ranges and products from over 33 countries are represented at Mega Show: Part 1, with the diverse and directional merchandise grouped into six distinct sectors, each in a specific hall location to allow an efficient use of your time and easy navigation of the show. Over 52,000 trade visitors from over 135 countries attend the show regularly, now established as the most important fixture on the Southern China sourcing circuit every October. All major international import and export houses, wholesalers, distributors, agents, mail order companies and retailers attend the show every year.”
—Mega Show’s Website

The BuzzBrush® is recognized globally as an exclusive computer cleaning accessory that can be customized to the user’s liking. The BuzzDrive™ is also being featured at the show as a newly released sister product of the BuzzBrush®. You can learn more about the entire product line here.

We recently came across Lytro’s revolutionary light-field camera and it looks amazing. The camera completely redefines the traditional interaction between photographer and their equipment by allowing the user to select the focus of the image after the photo has been taken. The photos are sort of living in that they let you refocus them infinitely.

The industrial design is extremely simple, sleek, and projects intuitiveness. The concept of shoot now, focus later is ground-breaking. It will be released in 2012 and we can’t wait to try it out in person. You can read more about the camera here and check out the video below.

“You don’t need to be a physicist, a PhD student, a geek, or even a member of the Insane Clown Posse to appreciate the awesome capabilities of superconductors and magnets as demonstrated in this video by Tel-Aviv University.”

Sean Kim, Manager of Industrial Design at Beyond Design, recently shared a concept he created that was inspired by the Oster® Iced Tea Maker that he helped design for Jarden (click here for more details on that project). He believes that spending time creating your own design concepts takes you one step closer to being a great designer because you are able to take risks, learn, and improve your design skills.

Sean’s concept was based around green design and is something he sees as a design of the future. The idea behind this coffee/ tea maker is that that it doesn’t use power from an electrical outlet, and also visually looks different than any other on the market. He spent two days on this project from quick concept generation to the final concept rendering. The product is a single serve coffee maker that utilizes solar power for brewing coffee or tea. With current technology, we all know that it’s very difficult and time-consuming to heat up water by only using solar energy, but who knows where technology will take us in the near future. The idea is that he thought outside of the box and created a project that allowed him to utilize his design skills, and, at the same time, improve them.

Submitted By: Sean Kim, Manager of Industrial Design

We recently read an article in Product Design and Development magazine, one of many different trade magazines we read to stay up to date on the latest trends in design and manufacturing, about the A5 Amphibious Aircraft designed by ICON Aircraft. The aircraft is a very modern and elegant design that communicates beauty, performance, safety, and adventure. One of the most exciting aspects of the aircraft is that the A5 not only flies the skies, but also cruises on water. The goal of ICON Aircraft, a premium designer of amphibious sport aircraft, is to bring energy and excitement back to aviation and set a new standard for light sport aircraft.

“Aviation is the most amazing recreational activity one can pursue, so why is it that the look and feel of the industry doesn’t reflect that?” asks Steen Strand, COO of ICON Aircraft. “All the other recreational categories, such as motorcycles, boats and jet skis, or snowmobiles, are really exciting and have really cool products and brands; and for a variety of reasons, aviation hasn’t kept pace with them, so we thought it was time to bring that energy and excitement back to aviation.”

The A5 reveals how industrial design and engineering innovation can challenge a static market. “The success of ICON is achieved through bridging amazing airplane engineers with world class industrial designers from the transportation industry,” explains Strand. “From an aesthetic point of view, we initially leveraged Nissan’s advanced design studio in San Diego. On the technical side, we kept the engineering in-house with a team led by Matthew Gionta from Scale Composites.”

The cockpit looks much like that of an automobile and not an aircraft. The idea was to make the user feel familiar with it from the start, rather than intimidated. This plane is ideal for anyone already in, or looking to get into, recreational flying. The company leveraged exceptional industrial design and engineering to deliver an inspirational product to consumers. You can read more about the ICON A5 here.

Most recently, we saw Monster Cable’s new beats by Dr. Dre headphones with their limited edition colors—and they look pretty sweet. They are said to reproduce the intricacies produced in the studio better than any other headphone on the market. We also like how they fold up nicely and take up less room.

“People aren’t hearing all the music. Artists and producers work hard in the studio perfecting their sound. But people can’t really hear it with normal headphones. Most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, and the dynamics. Bottom line, the music doesn’t move you.

With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do.” —Dr. Dre

With the increased trend towards larger-sized headphones, it definitely creates an opportunity for design firms to introduce color, lifestyle, and fashion into a product such as this. In the case with beats by Dre, we also think the branding is pretty great with the simple logo and placement on the headphone.

Very cool product that we hope to check out soon! You can read more about the product here.

Last Friday, around fifty students from the IDSA chapter of Iowa State University visited our studio for a tour of our building and to check out what we do here at Beyond Design. Michael Prince gave a presentation to the students that highlighted our work and proprietary 4XD process. It’s important for students to understand what goes into the design of a product or service beyond just the aesthetic work—specifically the research and strategy behind each project. Both of these areas, design research and strategy, are fundamental aspects of our development process at Beyond Design.

The students had several questions for us that ranged from how our office works (the number of employees, interns, hiring process, etc.) to questions about our research and design process. They showed a lot of enthusiasm toward the field of industrial design and spent time speaking with our designers and checking out some projects we are working on. We always encourage students to visit our studio and see what product development in the real-world is all about. Thanks to all those who visited! We hope you enjoyed your weekend in Chicago!

Photo from Core77

Design trends are constantly changing. Most recently there has been a trend in the workplace, beginning with workers at Google and Facebook, of standing while working. Whether the motivation stems from medical reports claiming that sitting all day leads to major health risks or because workers who stand feel more focused, energized, and productive, standing desks are on the rise.

Most people interested in testing the standing desk are finding it difficult to find a model that isn’t too complicated, cumbersome, or expensive. Some have even resorted to creating clever (and not so clever) desks of their own.

Photo from dvice.com

The Giraffe Desk

“Earlier this year, realizing that he needed a standing desk in his home office, David designed and had built an acrylic desk-top unit that solved his problem and saved the built-in decor of his office. Upon seeing the unit David’s son’s convinced him to market it and Jared, the younger, named it a giraffe since they spend their lives on their feet. The product is human scaled, ecologically friendly and a healthy life style choice.”
—www.shopgiraffe.com

Photo from shopgiraffe.com

If these standing desks are here to stay, hopefully we’ll be seeing better models soon. It definitely creates a design opportunity for all furniture designers following the newest trends. Until then, we’ll continue using our sitting desks here at Beyond Design! You can check out more stories on this trend from Core77 and The Wall Street Journal.

Written By: Caitlin Bragg, Administrative Assistant

Chuck Salter, a Senior Writer at Fast Company, moderated the event and opened with a quote from Daniel Burnham which reads, “Make no little plans.” This quote rang throughout the entire event as a range of Chicago’s innovators spoke about the importance of focusing on your mission and always thinking about the next big thing.

From left: Chuck Salter (Fast Company), Robin Willner (IBM), Paul Kahan (One Off Hospitality Group), Alison Weber (Levy Restaurants), and Jeff Semenchuk (Hyatt Hotels)

Paul Kahan, Executive Chef & Partner of One Off Hospitality Group (Owner of Blackbird, The Publican, Avec, and Big Star), spoke about the differences between working for a large corporation as opposed to a small partnership. In a partnership, there is less fear in trying to break the mold of the “sea of sameness” due to the fact you don’t have a large group of people that you need to convince to buy-in to the idea. As far as what has made his company so successful, he says, “Our success comes from creating polarizing spaces.”

Listening to Doug Ulman, President and CEO of LIVESTRONG, speak about his foundation reiterated the significance of social media and the end-consumer in helping to shape today’s businesses. The name, LIVESTRONG, was created through a series of focus groups made up of cancer survivors. In addition, he said that the number one way people contact the foundation is through Facebook, and the second way is through Twitter. Over the past few years, he said that social media has completely changed the way the business is operated.

Homaro Cantu, Executive Chef at Moto Restaurant, also used social media to further his business. He showed an image of him stretching noodles and said, “In China, you have to apprentice for two to three years to learn how to do this. But we managed to do it by watching YouTube videos.” This shows the prominence of social media in today’s world and how it is helping to create, and expand, a growing number of businesses.

From left: Emily Biuso (Fast Company), Nimesh Jhaveri (Walgreens), Carol Ross Barney (Ross Barney Architects), and Homaro Cantu (Moto Restaurant)

Overall, the speakers all led with the same philosophy—it is essential to have a strong vision to lead your innovation, and it’s also important to be tenacious in order to have your voice heard. Change is an essential part of growing as a company, but you have to know who you are and what made you successful (or unsuccessful) in the past in order to build on it and inspire creativity and innovation.

It was a great event and we look forward to attending again next year!

The Roku Lt has built-in wireless, streams video at 720p and has access to Roku’s 300+ channel catalog. Roku provides featured channels such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, and Disney. In addition, they are expanding by adding a new channel—HBO Go. If the LT does not provide enough options, Roku released the Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD, and the Roku 2 XS a few months ago. These options provide motion-based gaming in addition to the video-streaming and 300+ channel catalog. Seems like something that might be worth a try if I keep losing my Apple remote! You can check out more about the Roku here.

Written By: Andrew Anspaugh, Industrial Design Intern at Beyond Design

Thanks for all your help, Stéphane! You will be missed!

Whether through internships or a presentation such as this one, educating students is something we value greatly. It is essential that they understand the product development process and what industrial design is all about. Thanks to all those who visited!

Since the passing of Steve Jobs on Wednesday, people all over the world have reacted in their own ways to his death. From paying tribute at Apple stores worldwide, to posting blogs and photos online and speaking out about how he has forever changed their lives.

One of our favorite photos that has been developed since his death is an image that incorporates Jobs’ silhouette into the bite of Apple’s logo—symbolizing both his departure and lingering presence at the core of the company.

It was created by 19-year-old Hong Kong design student Jonathan Mak. “I just wanted it to be a very quiet commemoration. It’s just this quiet realization that Apple is now missing a piece. It’s just kind of implying his absence,” Mak said. (Quote found on Design Taxi)

Photo by Jonathan Mak, design student in Hong Kong.

The photo is simple, yet it says so much.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” —Steve Jobs

Photo from Fox News

Photo from The Wall Street Journal

Tokyo fans hold a candlelight vigil with iPhones and iPads to pay tribute outside of an Apple store.

Photo from The Wall Street Journal

As designers, we can’t help but love anything and everything Apple. A few of us in the studio are especially excited to check out the new iPhone 4S that was just released yesterday. While the design doesn’t look much different than the current model, we read some reviews and there seem to be several changes that can be found under the hood—including its new dual-core A5 processor. The camera on the iPhone 4 is amazing, but from what we’ve heard, the 4S camera improvements might just put the old camera to shame (another reason we can’t wait to check it out). The one thing we’re really interested in testing on the new phone is Siri—a voice command and dictation app that Apple has deeply integrated it into the fabric of the new phone.

“Siri is unique in the fact that you can ask it familiar, natural language questions like “show me movie theaters in the area” and it will return a real, readable answer and a list sorted by proximity. You can also say things like “wake me up at 6AM,” and it will set your alarm. But basic tasks like that are only half the story.” —The Washington Post

And, we can’t forget to mention that the iPhone 4S is now available to Sprint customers…finally! This provides a much larger market for Apple’s newest product. Check out a full review of the iPhone 4S here.

Photo from Engadget

The Mutewatch is a silent alarm in the shape of a vibrating wristband. This device with its disguised touch screen brings structure and time back to its user. It serves as a quiet reminder that helps you to follow your own agenda without disturbing people in your surroundings. It seems like it would be extremely simple and intuitive, with both a timer and alarm built into the design.

The Mutewatch also features a built-in motion sensor that registers your movement and automatically adjusts the strength of the vibrations. It is meant to be worn under the wrist, which may take some getting used to, but overall seems like a nice product with a modern look. However, the $260.00 price tag may be a little high for a watch that offers so little.

Engadget reviewed it and it looks very tempting! Take a look at the review here.

Submitted By: Sean Kim, Manager of Industrial Design

The artists included Mimi Clayton Photography, Laura Matzen, Diane Ponder, StudioChris, Mark Yee, and The Convergence Project, Inc. While not an “official” artist at the artwalk, Zoe Prince, Michael Prince’s 11-year-old daughter, also featured some of her artwork. The artists presented everything from paintings and photography to jewelry and clothing. It was a great event that brought a large number of people to the Ravenswood Corridor.

“It is our mission to generate community investment in the artistic, industrial and historic importance of Ravenswood and to raise awareness for the unique hub of creative practices that exists here.”
—Ravenswood Artwalk (RAW)

Check out some photos from the event below!

Tom Kuczmarki

Tom Kuczmarski, the founder of the Chicago Innovation Awards, started the competition ten years ago as a way to recognize innovation in and around the city. Today, it has become a great way to connect and identify with other entrepreneurs and business professionals in the city. He wrote the book titled Managing New Products: The Power of Innovation, which was given to each nominee at the event.


“I identified with each one of the presenters and found that we use the majority, if not all, of the practices they talked about in Beyond Design’s company practices. Mohan Sawhney, a Marketing Professor at Kellogg, spoke about an ideal business process that directly aligns with our proprietary 4XD process that we have been using for years. It validated that what we do as a business is in line with how other professionals feel a company should be run.”
—Michael Prince

Additional product development insight was discussed by several of the past CIA winners who presented their products and innovation success stories. The event was extremely inspiring and educational, and reconfirmed that companies view innovation as a critical part to success.

“One of my favorite quotes from the event was from Lisa Spahn of The Disney Institute. She said, ‘Give customers their wants before their needs in order to exceed their expectations.’ It meant so much because, as a product development firm, this is something that can be factored into each project we undertake.”
—Michael Prince

We are honored to be a CIA nominee!

Trevis Kurz, one of our industrial designers, attended the IDSA International Conference in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago. Trevis was the 2011 IDSA Mideast District Merit Award winner and was able to accept his award at the conference. The focus of this year’s event was “Community: You. Me. We.” and it had an excellent lineup of speakers. Kickstarter and Quirky were a big part of the event—both companies representing a true example of what it’s like to have designers and end-users working together.

One of Trevis’s favorite presenters was Margaret Gould Stewart, Director of User Experience at YouTube. “She was a very compelling speaker who shared personal experiences and spoke about the collaboration between designers and the end-user.”

He especially liked a video she shared about the joy of open-ended creation. Very cool!





Trevis was able to check out the new Wacom Inkling, as well as other new programs like 3DVia and Photofly. When not at the conference, he enjoyed touring New Orleans and learning all about the city. He especially loved all of the live music on the streets and in bars—not something you see every day in Chicago! Check out some photos from his trip below…enjoy!

Trevis accepting his Merit Award

Showcase of IDEA Winners

Live bad at a local bar

The Red Marks all of the Homes Destroyed by Katrina

Make it Right Foundation Poster

Breakdancing on Bourbon Street

Cathedral

Cafe Du Monde: Coffee and Beignets

Mardi Gras Signs

Voodoo

Bourbon Street

Photo from Engadget

Nikon finally introduced its first mirrorless single-lens reflex (SLR) camera this week! The release shows how the company is trying to catch up in this market after seeing what rivals such as Sony and Olympus have achieved. While Sony, Panasonic, and Olympus have already released their versions, Nikon was one step ahead of their other main rival, Canon, in releasing the small, interchangeable-lens cameras.

Mirrorless cameras have a lot of the same features as the bulkier cameras, except that they come in convenient smaller units, which travelers and light packers prefer. They are especially popular in Japan where consumers prefer easily portable products. Our photographers here at Beyond Design are excited to try this new camera out! You can check out more about this story on engadget.com.

Submitted By: Jung Chei, Industrial Designer

You can read more about the story here.

The 10th Annual Chicago Innovation Awards drew 410 nominations this year — 100 more than last year’s competition. We are honored to be among the 75 companies nominated for a 2011 Chicago Innovation Award for our design of the Aero Pakmat®.

“A judging committee narrowed the list to 75 companies that best represented the results of a sustained commitment to innovation.” —Tom Kuczmarski, founder and co-chair of the Chicago Innovation Awards (Taken from Chicago Sun-Times article: 75 finalists honored at Innovation Awards).

Learn more about the design of the Pakmat® here, and check out the Chicago Innovation Awards website and vote for Beyond Design!

Chicago based architect, Jeanne Gang, was one of the 50 with her design of the Aqua building in downtown Chicago. Amazing design in which she used the sun’s angles to carve the shape of the building. Another Chicago designer, Scott Wilson, was also noted for his iPod Nano wristband and the influence it has had on entrepreneurism.

If it were up to us, the list would have been much longer, as this one is very limited considering how broad the area of design really is. Check out the complete list of the top 50, here.

Photo from fastcodesign.com

One great thing about being a designer at Beyond is having access to the latest technology, my favorite being the Wacom Cintiq. It makes sketching and rendering much easier and more efficient. Earlier this week, Wacom announced their new Cintiq 24HD, their largest combination monitor/tablet yet. As the name implies, it boasts a 24-inch screen with HD definition, providing a killer 1920×1200 display.

The most exciting thing about the Cintiq 24HD is an innovative design feature which assists to address an ergonomic issue: How can we adjust this massive tablet into multiple working positions that we favor? The solution includes a well-designed base and adjustable supporting arms that move and lock the tablet into a variety of positions. In a demo video, the Cintiq screen can be adjusted to extend over the table edge and get closer to the user. The user can sit back and sketch in a more comfortable position. According to the demo video, the model works pretty well.

You can learn more about the product details here, as well as watch the video demonstrating the product below. I can’t wait to check it out!

Written By: Hao Hua, Industrial Designer

We now have a Twitter account…please follow us!

@beyonddesigninc

Khodi Feiz is a good friend of Michael Prince, Beyond Design’s President, and owns a design studio in the Netherlands called Feiz Design. Feiz’s studio handles all areas of design from brand building products to furniture. Most recently, they collaborated with Samsung to develop the HMX P-100 shoot and share camcorder. It is a pocket size video camera that is perfect for those who love sharing videos with friends and family and wish to upload them instantly to the web.

Check out an article and some great photos of the design on designboom. Very cool product that fits well with the social networking of today.

Rachel Sandoval recently joined our team from The Ohio State University as an intern for the fall semester. She is currently a senior in their Industrial Design program.

“I chose to study industrial design because I love how much of an impact a single line in a sketch can have in someone’s daily life.”

Asked why she chose an internship at a design consultancy, she responded, “I really wanted to have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of well established clients and gain a better understanding of the role of a design consultant in today’s market. I knew Beyond Design could help me do that.”

We are excited to have her on our team and look forward to helping her gain a better understanding of the product development process.

Some favorites…

An Alternative to the DVD Player

Cheating the Carpool Lane

An Interesting Way to Fill a Large Bucket with a Small Sink

No More Falling Beers

To view more consumer “work arounds”, check out the article here. Please don’t try these at home!

The relevance and impact of research methodologies in our design process at Beyond Design is increasing exponentially. We are constantly searching for new insights that can bring in new experiences to existing paradigms. The annual Design Research Conference held by The Institute of Design is a great platform for designers, researchers and business partners to share and learn front-end applications of design research. This year’s conference starts on October 24th and is held at the Spertus Institute. Having attended some of the conferences in the past, this is a great opportunity for project partners to remain updated and increase their brand visibility.

Design Research Conference | Institute of Design
Dates: Oct 24-26, 2011

For further details, click here.

Written By: Nikhil Mathew, Design Strategist

Photos from Mashable.com

We get a number of resumes and portfolios submitted every day for both internships and full-time positions, and there are always a select few that really stand out. Over the years, we’ve found that the way you present your work is just as important as what you present.

We found an article on Mashable titled 10 Ways to Make Your Design Portfolio More Appealing to Employers. Dan Dao, a Reporter at Fueled, shares tips from three employers on ways to maximize the appeal of your portfolio.

According to the article, the top ten ways are:

1. Choose the Right Hosting
2. Simple, but Professional Presentation
3. Make it User-Friendly
4. Know Your Audience
5. Have a Varied Portfolio
6. Be Organized
7. Be Accessible
8. Keep it Current
9. Credibility
10. Share Your Portfolio

Check out the full article here. Great tips, and all extremely important!

He took his 11 year old daughter, Zoe, on the trip as well so that she could experience China and learn about life in another country. They visited Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. It was an unforgettable learning experience for the both of them. Below are a few photos from the trip…enjoy!

At Beyond Design, we constantly stay on top of the latest technology in the design world. One of the coolest new products I’ve seen lately is the Inkling by Wacom. The Inkling bridges the gap between traditional, freehand sketching and digital development by capturing a digital likeness of a pen-on-paper sketch. It would be ideal for brainstorming sessions, in which you can provide a rough sketch and later refine it on your Cintiq.

According to Wacom’s website, you can store hundreds of sketches on the receiver before transferring them to your computer. The program allows you to export your sketches with layers to Adobe Photoshop® and Illustrator®, as well as Sketchbook Pro®. It’s an extremely innovative product that shows just how much technology is advancing. The Inkling seems as though it will be a great product for the front-end of any design process.

You can check out the product in full detail here, and a video demonstrating the product below.

Written By: Jeff Mathison, Manager of NPD and UX

The accelerated program was successful and led to some thought-provoking conversations among the design team. Our team helped Aldis develop concepts and continually gave him new ideas and feedback on his steering wheel concepts.

In the end, three concepts were developed and intended for different types of users—the Deal Maker, the Street Racer, and the Caretaker. Each persona communicates visual cues to better comprehend the user needs, applications and environment. The wheel is custom designed with performance and luxury features that incorporate new interactive features to create a more enjoyable user experience.



The Deal Maker
One of the best things about the Deal Maker’s steering wheel is that the interface incorporates a calendar that helps him or her remember important meeting times and personal events.

The Street Racer
The Street Racer’s steering wheel includes a display that shows all status checks and technical aspects of his vehicle. His voice command is detected by the W22 and responds with an elaborate display of specifications for his car.

The Caretaker
A busy mom or dad on-the-go can always use something that helps simplify their life. The Caretaker’s steering wheel connects with a camera installed in the backseat so that he or she can see what the children may need without having to turn around.

With customizable steering wheels, you really do have everything you need in one place. You can take a look at each concept in more detail in the attached PDF.

At Beyond Design, branding encompasses all aspects of a product, service or business. Through proper branding, including the logo design, identity design, and packaging, we are able to create a personality that identifies a client’s product, service or company and how it relates to their customers, staff, partners, investors, etc.

Currently, we are working with a client on restructuring their corporate image. We have spent a lot of time learning and understanding their company history, values, products and/or services and target audience to ensure the proper message and image is conveyed in our final design solution.

I found an article that explains in more detail what each of these three areas incorporates—branding, logo design, and identity design. It was particularly interesting because throughout our branding process, we incorporate the majority of the elements outlined in this article.

“The fundamental idea and core concept behind having a ‘corporate image’ is that everything a company does, everything it owns and everything it produces should reflect the values and aims of the business as a whole.”

You can check out the full article here.

Written By: Mickey McCann, Industrial Designer

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Mr. Jobs said in his resignation letter. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard that Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple. However, his expertise, charisma, and product vision will remain at the forefront of the company. As he mentioned in his resignation letter: “I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.” Steve Jobs is not leaving Apple; he is only stepping away as CEO. His new job will give him more flexibility and the ability to focus on his health. Jobs will be succeeded by Tim Cook, who has served as Apple’s chief operating officer since 1998.

“This definitely marks the end of an era,” said Michael Gartengerg, an analyst for Gartner, but he added that “there’s much more to Apple than Steve Jobs.”

For more on Jobs, check out this article on Fast Company: What Makes Steve Jobs So Great?

Johnny Lee Demos Wii Remote Hacks

“Building sophisticated educational tools out of cheap parts; Johnny Lee demos his cool Wii Remote hacks, which turn the $40 video game controller into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer.”

This video was filmed in 2008, but still holds true to many concerns of today, showing how the diffusion of innovation can take a number of years to implement. The idea of cheap education aids will benefit many underprivileged children all over the world. If they could essentially buy an interactive whiteboard for less than $300 with the use of the Wii remote, then students in third world countries may be able to greatly improve their computer skills and get a head start learning the technology of today.

Free-Moving Kinect Used To Map Room And Objects In Detailed 3D

“We’ve seen hacks for the Kinect from the very start, and even some that suggested one like this might be possible: a Kinect being moved around like a camera, recording the depth of everything it sees and building up a full-3D map of the room and every object in it. They call it KinectFusion, and it’s really quite fascinating to watch.”

This video is an example of the next leap in technology because it is actually fusing real life with 3D interaction. Children can finally write on the walls like they have always wanted. I think that this will be the next step in the video game industry because not only can you enjoy 3D gaming, but you can interact with the game like it was in your own home. This 3D environment is also a huge step for the animation industry because they would no longer have to model every bit of real life, making the interactions between characters and their surroundings more believable.

“Among the applications for this suggested by the Microsoft Research team: “extending multi-touch interactions to arbitrary surfaces; advanced features for augmented reality; real-time physics simulations of the dynamic model; novel methods for segmentation and tracking of scanned objects” — and I’m sure you can think of a few yourself. Turning the Kinect into a user-controlled tool instead of a passive user-monitoring tool opens up a huge amount of possibilities, as other hacks have demonstrated as well.”

People are constantly finding new ways of using “old” technology and it’s always interesting to see what the next big thing will be.

Written By: Sean Baptista, Mechanical Engineer

“Onlookers often think that such marketplace and marketing successes are products of one-off “aha” moments of inspiration or unique research methods. But there are actual strategies that designers and businesses can follow to create such disruptive technologies, objects, and experiences.”

1. Support What is Likely to Fail.
“By this I don’t mean prioritize experiments and concepts that look like they might not sell; I mean consider technology and designs that might not seem to work for their intended purposes.”

He notes that Dyson takes prototypes that aren’t working and finds new uses for them, which is how they developed the Air Multiplier.




2. Do the Painfully Obvious.
“Often when innovation is the goal, there’s pressure to create an original product with an unusual name. But sometimes following a completely obvious path is an effective, albeit counterintuitive, way to achieve a design that is easy to use and ultimately popular.”

He references Facebook’s design approach and how the use of the “Like” button and “Photos” have less than clever names and are more direct.

3. Stay True to Your Design Principles.
“For decades, this philosophy has been pervasive at IBM. When Elliot Noyes was hired by Thomas Watson, Jr. in 1956, he brought a holistic approach to designing everything from products and exhibits to architecture and graphics. He believed that nothing exists in isolation: “Everything goes with everything,” he taught.”


This approach seems simple enough, and is something not only our designers and engineers can follow, but also our marketing and sales team. You can read the full article, IBM VP: My Three Essentials for Creating Innovative New Products, here.

I always show the site to interns coming through at Beyond and personally find myself referencing the site almost weekly. It is extremely important to keep yourself fresh and engaged as a designer and to surround yourself with work (products, art, architecture, etc.) to ensure that you are constantly thinking and growing.

If interested, you can purchase a hard copy of Simkom’s quarterly magazine for around 12 euro (well worth it). Besides the amazing work shown, the graphics and layout are really dirty and just plain cool. You can check out the site here.




Written By: Patrick Nally, Industrial Designer

There are more and more options to us; Stereolithography (SLA) which uses a UV laser on a vertically-moving platform in a vat of liquid photopolymer resin; Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) which lays down a filament of hot plastic onto a vertically-moving platform to build up a form; Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which uses a laser to fuse a layer of plastic, metal, ceramic or glass powder on a moving platform; or even an inkjet-like process called PolyJet by Objet, which is basically an inkjet print onto a layer of clay-like powder on a vertically-moving platform. Many of these prints require post-print cures in chemicals or ovens, as well as clean-up (removing support structure and sanding, polishing, or painting), but the end process is a 3D part we can put in our hands to evaluate.

There is now a growing pool of resources for Makers to tap into, much of the time also being able to share designs with a larger community of Makers, and also to sell to them. The idea of little or no setup cost, and people paying for what they want, has opened up these processes to many artists as well. Below I outline some of the resources available.


Shapeways
I first heard of Shapeways.com referred to in a video of Scott Summit, Co-Founder of Bespoke Innovations, which is a company utilizing 3D printers to create customized “Fairings” which are applied to an existing prosthetic leg. He speaks of how this technology is becoming available to more people for further applications.

Shapeways is a web site that supports a growing community of Makers, Hobbyists and Artists who create, share, and sell their designs. They are tapped into the community of Makers and other Maker sites—Maker Fairs are popping up around the country (Detroit was the most recent) and you will find them there with examples of the kind of processes they are capable of. A few examples, of which, you can see below.

Ponoko
The next logical step is to bring these sites together with 3D software manufacturers and the makers of the 3D printers and cutters to make this type of creating even more attainable. Ponoko is part of a partnership with these sites, Autodesk and 3D Systems. They have created free 3D software to help people make new designs, which is called Autodesk 123D





Below are some of the Laser cut products available through the members of Ponoko—the first one is of a small video game console—an example of the coming together of these Maker sites into an actual product. This is a good avenue for a reasonably techie Maker to create their own prototype to aid in funding further development (with private investors, or even sites like Kickstarter). Having a prototype always helps when marketing your idea.

Makerbot and Thingiverse
The extreme tinkerer is not content with just using 3D printers, they feel the need to make their own—that’s where Makerbot.com comes in. You can buy some or all of your very own 3D printer, assembled or in parts so you can create your very own material on your desktop. A fully assembled Makerbot will run you $2,500 or you can build your own for $1,300, this is the FDM type of 3D printing mentioned above. Then you can share their creations with the world on Thingiverse.com, the place to share digital designs that can be made into real, physical objects.

Jony Ive is a senior vice president and head of the industrial design team at Apple. Ive has designed everything from iMacs to iPods to iPhones since 1997.

Jim Wicks was chief designer for the Motorola RAZR, one of the most popular and iconic cell phones of all time. The RAZR was arguable the first “it” phone, the iPhone before the iPhone.

James Dyson is perhaps best known for his hyper-modern bag-less vacuum cleaners. But he’s also the inventor of the no-blade Air Multiplier fan and the AirBlade hand dryer.

Ken’ichiro Ashida was one of the lead designers on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, two of the top-selling game consoles of all time. He also invented the Wii wheel and Wii zapper, two popular peripherals.

Matias Duarte is the head of User Experience on Google’s Android team.

“I loved my time at the office and am grateful for all of the opportunities I had outside of the office as well, specifically attending Neocon!”


Thanks for all your hard work, Alisa!

“The maker subculture is a contemporary subculture, representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker subculture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of CNC tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and traditional arts and crafts.” – Wikipedia

I’ve been interested in this DIY movement for a while – what is interesting to me is that it encourages people of all levels of ability to try and make their own things. Many times our work leads us to prototyping products that will one day be mass-produced; this prototyping process is similar in a lot of ways to what hobbyist Makers do – create a functioning, unique one-off product. Our tools are increasingly being made available to the masses through social-network oriented sites like Sparkfun or Shapeways. Sometime these creations lead to mass production success through funding sites like Kickstarter.

The social part of this movement is not only in the websites which provide these services, but also in the Hackerspaces makers meet at to create and share resources, expertise and information. There are two listed in the Chicago area, Pumping Station: One and Workshop 88. Below I talk about how these organizations and providers are trying to bring down the mental and financial hurdles of creating new products to the individual and making the process exciting to more people.

Make my Own Electronics?
Since I was a kid, I was interested in electronics—I’d buy the Radio Shack instruction books and try to figure out its resistors, capacitors, and LED’s. In college, I tried my hand at soldering electrical components and solar cells for our university solar car team, and also took an Electrical Engineering class. With all of this, it still doesn’t seem all that approachable. At Beyond Design, we partner with firms who specialize in creating custom circuit boards, and design the components so that they fit our specific application with mass production in mind. What if I want to try my hand at putting together my own multi-meter or Simon Says game? Impossible? Nope. There are now sites, product kits, and communities of Makers with expertise in all things electrical which I can tap into. A few that I especially like are talked about in more detail below.

Sparkfun Electronics is a website dedicated to creating components and kits as well as a support community to help Makers customize electronics of all sorts for their DIY projects. Recently, they developed a line of pre-soldered circuit boards called ProtoSnap – these boards let you skip to the part where you program a chip with your computer to have some sort of output – even most common outputs are attached.

Don’t want this or that attached part, just snap it off! They also have a version for their LillyPad line of electronics which are intended for use in textile applications (conductive buttons on your sleeve or an LED flashing hat for example).

Another group called bildr is trying to make the circuits more understandable. Their sites combine simplified explanations of DIY projects along with nicely designed diagrams to help you visualize the circuits.

Recognizing an opportunity to tap into this culture, Microsoft has even developed its own DIY system called .net gadgeteer which uses their .NET Micro Framework. They call this the FEZ Spider Starter Kit, and one project showcased by their site is the mini-arcade shown below.

This shows an integration of DIY electronics with DIY laser-cutting. Check out more about physical prototype techniques in an upcoming post, 3D printing and Laser Cutting for the Masses.



*Note: Photos are from SmarkFun Electronics, bildr, and Designboom.

You can browse the entire site here.

Our BuzzDrive™ design incorporates a micro-fiber pad on the base to easily clean fingerprints from your LCD monitor, Smartphone, or other touch-screen device.

To read the full article from inspirationfeed.com click here.

Over the years, we have had numerous students join our internship program in order to learn more about our product development process and gain “real-world” experience. In the summer of 2009, David Breur joined our team from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He had a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design Engineering and planned to go back to school in Sweden to earn his Masters Degree. While his original plan was to stay in the Chicago until March of 2010, he extended his stay so that he could spend more time developing his skills and learning all he could about product design and engineering.

As part of his school requirement, he was asked to write a brief article about his early experience at Beyond Design. In part of his article, David writes, “Beyond Design, Inc. works according to a step-by-step process that enables designers and engineers to create innovative industrial design solutions and business opportunities for the customers. The process involves understanding the problem, gaining insight to user desires, and developing a strategy that adheres to the clients marketing objectives. This combined with the need to get to market fast and design around parameters that include aggressive cost targets and manufacturing capabilities makes this experience valuable to me.”

To read more about what projects David worked on while at our studio, as well as his experiences both inside and outside of work in Chicago, check out his full article.

As defined by the creators of the cards, they are “A taxonomy of design representations to support communication and understanding during new product development.” The cards provide a name, example, and description for the key design representations used by industrial/product designers during new product development (NPD).

Sketches/drawings are shown on the front side of the sheet.

Models/prototypes are shown on the reverse.

You can download a PDF of the cards here.


For a quick read on our take on the IDSA Midwest Conference, check out idsa.org.

Their concept was centered on a new design for traffic communication. They spent a lot of time studying and observing pedestrians throughout the city of Chicago by visiting the busiest intersections and observing how they interacted with the traffic communication. Their findings were then brought back to our studio to begin defining what they envisioned their end solution to be. Several members of our team participated in a brainstorming session to help Joakim and Samantha gain a better understanding of what direction they should go with the project.

“While at Beyond Design, I learned a lot about the design process and the importance of trusting it from the beginning, even when you aren’t sure of the end result.”
– Samantha Pukala, 2011

They presented their final concept to our team on the last day of their internship. They focused on ways to make traffic communication a safer and more enjoyable experience for everyone by incorporating elements you would find in nature.

“Our internship at Beyond Design far exceeded our expectations. Everyone had a very open and friendly attitude and showed interest in our project from the beginning. We were encouraged to use various methods and ways to reach our end result. We also really enjoyed using Beyond’s state-of-the-art equipment that aided in our design. ”
– Joakim Borg and Samantha Pukala, 2011

We recently saw the Ray Charles animatronic doll that our team designed in 2002, in collaboration with Design Integrity and Cosmodog in Chicago, in a small shop in Arlington Heights. The doll sings and sways along to two of Ray Charles’ classic hits; “America the Beautiful” and “What I’d Say”. What makes the design special is that the prototype, complete with movement, had to be presented to Walgreen’s management and Ray Charles himself in just thirty days. The product was then taken to stores in less than seven months.

“From the hand-sculpted head and hands to the proportionate body to Ray Charles’s signature moves, such as swaying side to side and lifting his hand at the end of the song, this animatronic doll captures the essence of the performer in terms of both aesthetics and movement using animatronics and integrated sound chips.” –Appliance Design Magazine

You can check out a video of the Ray Charles doll below.

“As designers we pretty much want to put graphics on EVERYTHING. We’ve done t-shirts, posters, skateboards, and anything flat and easy to print on. But now we want to explore beyond flatland and into the round, bulbous world of inflatable characters as custom, collectible art. What we’ve created is a blank, inflatable canvas with a big silly head to paint on and feet to stand on. They’re a bit over two feet tall, with stubby legs and they’re made of an ink-receptive PVC vinyl.”

You can choose from three different options, including a blank white Blimpus that allows you to customize it with markers, tape, screen printing, etc., a solid color Blimpus with sticker kits, and a designer edition Blimpus that Ruth and Serafin designed. For now, the designer edition Blimpus includes a Cyclops, Yeti, Owl, or Ninja.

The 3D canvas is easily deflated and stands 26 inches tall. Seems like the perfect gift for character lovers, DIYers, and even children. You can check out more about the project at Kickstarter.com.

Last week a few members of our team spent some time at the ASI Show at the McCormick Center in Chicago, to get the word out about The BuzzBrush® and its sister products, the BuzzDrive™, the BuzzWrite™, and the BuzzSpray™. The ASI Show is the place to be to meet top suppliers and distributors in the advertising specialty industry. It was an action-packed two-day event that drew a large crowd of eager consumers.

The feedback from those in attendance about the BuzzBrush® was extremely positive and everyone loved it. Distributors were especially excited about its multi-functionality. Many said that this was by far the most interesting new product they had seen at the ASI Show in a long time. We gave away over 2,000 free samples to interested attendees.

If you’d like to learn more about the product, or pick up one for yourself, you can check out www.buzzbrush.com. They’re also being sold in select Bed, Bath, & Beyond stores nationwide!

One of the more thought provoking designs we’ve seen in a while is the 4th Amendment Wear that just yesterday received a Core77 Design Award for the category “Design for a Social Impact”. With all of the uproar over the latest enhanced TSA security measures that involve full-body scanners, this clothing line is done brilliantly and gets the message across without having to say a word. It uses TSA’s very own technology to broadcast the 4th Amendment, which is meant to prevent unwarranted search and seizure, and does so with metallic ink.

The line was first introduced in late 2010 by two designers based in Colorado, Matthew Ryan and Tim Geoghegan. As one of the judges from the awards stated, “This is an extraordinary intervention in a difficult and sensitive arena of citizen rights and human dignity. It powerfully combines visual and product design in an area where few designers dare to venture: the hardcore politics of homeland security. The gravity of what is at stake is expressed with a lightness of touch, and indeed of humor, that suggests profound understanding and sophistication.”

Very interesting idea and great execution.

You can read more about this design here.

At Beyond Design, our designers and engineers work closely every day in order to create a product that is both functional and meaningful to the user. This article was written from the viewpoint of Michael Prince, the President of Beyond Design, on what it takes to make this relationship successful in order to create the ideal solution for our clients.




INDUSTRIAL DESIGN MEETS ENGINEERING

Industrial designers and engineers have two very different functions, but both understand the vital role that each plays in the product development process.

Years before industrial designers started using CAD, the tools of the trade were pencils and markers. While these tools were useful, they limited the scope of industrial designers’ involvement such that their main focus and niche became primarily product styling. Engineers always viewed industrial designers as “sketch artists” and failed to realize the innovation and vision they bring to the development process. Over the past two decades the introduction of CAD has significantly helped bridge the gap between industrial design and engineering. CAD programs like SolidWorks and ProEngineer enable designers to create compelling forms and precisely deliver the data necessary for engineering and manufacturing.

While industrial designers and engineers share the same passion for product development, their approach to solving the problem is often very different. Engineers and industrial designers have been at odds for a long time and it is only recently that each started to acknowledge the benefits they can achieve by working together. In addition, marketing teams have taken notice of this collaboration and new methods for product development.

Engineers tend to be more analytical and approach problems in a methodical manner that is based on mathematical principles. The engineer’s role is to analyze the product efficiency, structural integrity, and performance. It is their responsibility to develop the internal mechanisms and ensure product details are suitable for manufacturing.
On the other hand, industrial designers tend to be more visual and abstract, concentrating on user features, ergonomics, and aesthetics. An industrial designer’s role is to study human behavior and the interaction between man and machine — to enhance the user experience. Designers are inquisitive, bring creativity and inspiration to a product, and present quick visual ideas during the development process.

Since the development of CAD, industrial designers are able to capture their design intent along with information necessary for engineering and manufacturing. Without sacrificing creativity, industrial designers also consider materials and piece part strategies in their design process. Industrial designers are now able to control details including parting lines, draft, wall thickness, and assembly techniques that were once strictly the responsibility of engineers. This has not only helped to speed up the development process, but also enables the industrial designers to communicate more efficiently with the engineers and ensure design details are not overlooked or misinterpreted. Unlike the computers used back in the mid 1970’s, designers are no longer restricted by the limitations of computer software. On the contrary, these tools have become easier to operate and are now an extension of the designers’ ability to capture their vision.

While industrial designers are using the same tools as the engineers, this does not make them an engineer nor does it replace the need for one. Industrial designers still lack the training of physics, chemistry, mechanics and mathematics that lie behind solid engineering principles. Designers do, however, have an obligation to understand materials and processes so that engineers can effectively implement their vision. Likewise, engineers don’t always take into consideration the importance of form, human interaction, and ergonomics that industrial designers are naturally drawn to. This is where the two must come together to create solutions that are compelling, intuitive, reliable, ecologically smart, and designed for cost efficient manufacturing.

The way we develop products today is very different from just a decade ago. Time-to-market is defined in days rather than months and responsibilities between industrial designers and engineers have evolved to a point where everyone is working faster and everything must come together just at the right moment. Over the past decade industrial designers have been able to position themselves in critical product development roles that enable them to provide the necessary vision and guidelines inherent to projects. Industrial designers know when to challenge engineering in order to realize their vision, but they also understand the need to compromise in order to keep the project on-track and on budget.

The relationship between an industrial designer and engineer can be looked at as a relay race—you have two runners that train and support each other with the goal of winning the race. At some point the two must be perfectly in sync in order to hand off the “baton” seamlessly and without error. While one runner takes over, the other runner continues to support their teammate until the finish line is reached—just as industrial designers and engineers constantly support one another and push the limits of ergonomics, performance and aesthetics to create a final product that is both functional and meaningful to the user.

As new technologies emerge, industrial designers and engineers will continue to share their ideas more efficiently and new product opportunities will flourish. The main focus will not only be on features, but also on ways to reduce the carbon footprint and create smarter products for the consumer.

This Friday will mark the end of the first annual Core77 Design Awards. Over the past week, a number of great projects have received recognition in a broad range of categories, from interactive and web-based programs, to service design, product design, and transportation, among others. Yesterday, the award was given for the best designs in the product/equipment category.



The professional winner is Dr. Vikram Dinubhai Panchal from the The National Institute of Design (NID) in India. He design is a “Load Carrier for Labor” that is a transformable, ergonomic device designed to improve the working conditions of laborers and workers at construction sites, factories, ports, railway stations, etc. His objective is to prevent various occupational hazards and improve the quality of life for workers everywhere.

As one of the judges said, “It’s refreshing to see design working towards supporting a higher standard of living for those who critically need it. Designed to be made by local craftsman throughout India, the system bypasses commercialization by setting-up an open-source blueprint for change.”

A couple of the other projects we really like are the Nokero N200 designed by Nokero International Ltd., The Alex Bottle by Anvil Studios, and, of course, Scott Wilson’s TikTok+LunaTik watch kits.

The Nokero N200 is the world’s only bulb-shaped solar light with a single solar panel, recyclable Ni-MH battery powering four wide-angle LEDs. The low and high settings provide 2.5 to 6 hours of light on one day’s charge. The lights replace dangerous kerosene and provide a clean, safe light for impoverished families throughout the world. According to the designer, more than 60,000 bulbs have already made an impact in 99 countries and have been shown to pay for themselves in as little as 8 to 10 weeks. It’s a great idea that saves money, lives, and makes the worlds a cleaner, safer place.

The Alex Bottle is an eco-friendly stainless steel water bottle that provides a convenient alternative to disposable plastic bottles. It seems everyone is developing new water bottles, but this one stood out because of its unique mid-body split known as ‘Clean Seam Technology’. This makes it extremely easy to clean and provides a compact size to add more space when storing or traveling. Not to mention, we think the design is aesthetically pleasing as well.

Scott Wilson’s TikTok+LunaTik have made an international sensation through the use of the Kickstarter campaign that brought in an amazing $900,000 to help support the project. As Scott Wilson states, “TikTok+LunaTik simply transform the iPod nano into the world’s coolest multi-touch watches. Obsessively designed and crafted from premium materials, TikTok+LunaTik complement the impeccable quality of Apple products.”

You can check out all of the award winners at the Core77 Design Awards.

“Encompassing everything from furniture and electric kitchen appliances to corporate office buildings and passenger trains, the work of these designers defined the look of modern America, and in doing, revolutionized the way we live and work,” said Dean Granholm, Postal Service VP of delivery and post office operations.

Industrial design emerged as a profession in the United States in the 1920s, but flourished during the Great Depression. Faced with decreasing sales, manufacturers turned to industrial designers to give their products a modern look that would appeal to consumers. The designs evoked a sense of speed and efficiency and projected an image of progress and affluence.The groundbreaking work of industrial designers continued to transform the look of homes and offices across the country and today it remains an integral component of manufacturing and business.

Featured on each stamp is the designer’s name, a photograph of the product they created, as well as a description of what the product is. We really like the simple design and the use of color. You can purchase these stamps from USPS.

An Israeli man, Yoav Medan, chose to embed a QR code in the tombstone for his mother’s grave in the city of Haifa. Scanning the QR code leads visitors to a tribute website that Medan has setup and plans to evolve with stories and photos from his mother’s life. The QR code itself is a laser engraving, filled with a black paste, and sits behind a piece of glass on the tombstone.

“I was most concerned about 20 or 40 years from now, how will she be remembered. … I wanted to put what’s in our memory into a place that doesn’t forget,” Medan told Mashable.

It’s definitely a unique idea that can potentially tell a great story about the life of someone who has passed—as long as the site it leads to is done right. Let’s just hope the use of QR codes doesn’t become obsolete anytime soon.

To read the full story, visit Mashable.

The rapid advancement of technology has had a huge impact on how generations grow up today. Young children are now playing with Xbox’s rather than out in the backyard, and using iPad’s and Smartphones instead of a notepad, coloring book, or a reading book.

eBooks and interactive book apps tend to immerse the reader in a way that paper books can’t. William Joyce, a well-known illustrator and animator due to his work for Pixar, DreamWorks, Disney, and the New Yorker, has created an app that blurs the line between a children’s story eBook and an animated movie. Joyce, along with his team at Moonbot Studios, created “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.”

The coolest thing about this app is that each page of the book has a hidden feature embedded it that you have to find on your own. It allows the kids to become more engaged in the reading, and provides an interactive learning experience. You can read all about this new children’s book at FastCompany and view a sneak peek of the book below.

In both of these cases, the Nano is up to you to purchase. We all agree that we could definitely get some use out of both of these wristbands.

As one of the judges of the competition said, “This year was incredibly hard to judge, the bar is continually moved higher.” – Prof. Dr. Florian Hufnagel

Our team is honored to have received this coveted award for two of our product designs. You can check out a detailed description of our designs at the red dot online exhibition, Aero Pakmat® or railtones®. For a full list of winners, please visit red dot online.

Aero Pakmat® red dot winner 2011

railtones® red dot winner 2011

How has the discipline of industrial design impacted the way you lead your life? First declared in 2007 on The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design’s (Icsid) 50th anniversary, World Industrial Design Day is celebrated each year on June 29th, and was established to promote awareness of the profession of industrial design.

Founded in 1957, Icsid is a non-profit organization that serves as a unified voice of over 50 nations through which members can express their views and be heard on an international platform. Since its inception, Icsid has continued to develop its wide-reaching network of students and professionals devoted to the recognition, success and growth of the industrial design community.

To celebrate World Industrial Design Day 2011, design students from Icsid member schools were asked to create a poster that illustrates how industrial design improves the lives of individuals and communities around the world. The theme was “Industrial Design: How does it improve your life?” Two graphic design students from Chile were this year’s winners.

It’s always interesting to get outside perspectives and see how others view the ways in which industrial design improves their social, economic, cultural, and ecological ways of life. It helps us as designers have a newfound pride in our profession.

The winning poster, as well as the finalists, are shown below.

“What is meant in this poster is the dynamic that is in industrial design, that they are so varied, finding many forms of expression, giving way to new ways and using different media of expression. The visual weight in the first instance comes from the top right and it is this point where these clips focus ideas, which are gradually taking different paths, and even scattered but not misleading. This allows a variety of options to act, that would come to be the opportunities offered by the industrial design through its breadth, covering many people who want to make changes in this area.”

“This communicates that the difficulty of living without design is demonstrated by a dark space in time, and living with design by our side is revealed with the fulfillment, tranquility and satisfaction of our society, which is perceived by the colorful growth outside the obscurity.”

“My aim and theme of this poster is to encourage the awareness of simple and everyday objects, such as a ball point pen. People don’t always notice these basic, yet life changing designs that are used all around the globe. The imagery also reflects the continuous design process and the aim towards improvement and clever, practical design solutions.”

“R. Buckminster Fuller is one of my most inspirational designers, and the reason that I decided to use him in my poster’s concept, is that he fits perfectly in line with my views on how industrial design improves my life. It Sheds Light on all aspects of life; techniques and technologies produced through and because of industrial design has brought to “light” many important issues, at the same time paving the way for new possibilities.”



“This communicates the origin of the general design. It’s a vital part of the design, the observation of our environment and the analysis of the key concepts, in order that these form the base that they will allow us to transform our ideas of a sketch into a material product.”

The BuzzBrush® is a unique 2-in-1 computer cleaning product that incorporates a cone-shaped brush designed to easily reach in-between the keys of a computer keyboard to remove lint, dust and food particles. The micro-fiber pad located on the base easily cleans fingerprints from your LCD monitor, Smartphone, tablet, or other touch-screen device. You can even customize the label, making it perfect for tradeshows or give-away’s at company events.

Check out the video below for a more detailed explanation of what its purpose is.

Next time you’re at Bed Bath & Beyond, make sure to pick up one (or more) for everyone you know! It is currently being sold in the following stores:

AZ – Chandler, Phoenix
CA – Chula Vista, Fremont, Tustin, West Los Angeles, Oceanside, Palm Desert, Pasadena, Pleasant Hill, Blossom Hill, Valencia
CO – Denver 68, Westminster
FL – Aventura, Dadeland, Naples
GA – Atlanta
IA – Clive
IL – Lincoln Park, Downers Grove, Orland Park, Schaumburg
KS – Overland Park
KY – Lexington
MA – Framingham
MD – Rockville
MI – Roseville 166
MN – Bloomington
MO – Mid-Rivers
NJ – Woodbridge, Port Jersey Processing Center, Route 46
NY – Elmsford, Port Chester, Staten Island, Yonkers
TX – Addison, Dallas
VA – Pentagon City, Franconia, Vienna
WI – Blue Mound Road


We appreciate your support! You can check out more on the BuzzBrush® and its sister products here.

Get a good buzz going!

In recent weeks, you may have noticed a “+1” symbol next to every search result and ad throughout the Google search engine. Nearly a year after Facebook “like” buttons spread in popularity, Google announced its own “+1” button. It allows you to select the search results and ads that you like best, which then shares your liking on Google’s social network (yes, another social networking site).

At its core, Google+ is a social network. The first thing users are introduced to is the Stream, which is much like the Facebook News Feed and allows users to share photos, videos, links or their location with their connections. The site also incorporates face-to-face chat, which might be one reason Facebook chose to announce their own video chat partnership with Skype just this week. However, unlike Facebook, the focus of this social project is not on sharing with a mass group of friends, but rather on targeted sharing with your various social groups.

The key to the “+1” feature is that once you add people to your Google network, you can see the people in that network who have liked a particular listing, and the number of other users outside of your network that have liked the same listing. This way, you can get a sense of how popular the page might be with “+1” users.

“The primary benefit is that search gets better. It gets better in the user interface immediately, and we’ll look at it as a potential signal to improve search quality as well. I find social search extremely useful, especially with the recent updates. This change continues the evolution of social search, and it’s a natural progression to improve the search experience,” said Matt Cutts, a Google engineer who is most known for leading Google’s search spam fighting team but who also helped launch Google Social Search in 2009.

With so many similarities to Facebook, the most differential aspect we see in the “+1” world is in its search results functionality. The more people click the “+1” button by a search result on Google, the more traffic that site will continue to get. People tend to gravitate toward what others approve of and this can be seen as a great opportunity for companies to attract people to their website.

Facebook seems to have dominated the social networking world, but we’ll see how Google+ jumps into this market and draws in users in other ways that Facebook and Twitter cannot.

The TDK Life on Record 2011 Audio Line combines the TDK Sound Cube, TDK Two Speaker Boombox, TDK Three Speaker Boombox and TDKs USB Belt Drive Turntable to create a rich and highly visual connection between the listener and their music. This new line of premium audio equipment from TDK and Ziba Design reinvented the boombox with a clean and striking design.








Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Gold
The 787 Dreamliner by The Boeing Design Team and TEAGUE Design, features an expansive inner architecture as well as dynamic LED lighting that replicates day-to-night light patterns, substantially bigger windows, and larger stow bins. It has been one of the most successful commercial airplane launches in the history of aviation with more than 800 orders valued at $164 billion. The increased space makes for a more comfortable flight and is much more appealing to passengers.












PUMA Clever Little Bag: Gold
PUMA’s Clever Little Bag is a sustainable solution in packaging design. A cardboard sheet folds into a box structure, which holds the shoes and fits into a cloth bag. It uses 65% less paper and requires 60% less fuel to ship.















The Pure Water Bottle: Silver
The Pure Water Bottle filters and sterilizes water from any source (no matter how disgusting the water looks) within two minutes. Designed by Timothy Whitehead of Loughborough University (United Kingdom), he used a combination of a 4 micron-sized water filter and a wind-up ultra violet light system to clean the water of 99.9% of its impurities.










The HOC Power Tool for Victim Extrication: Silver
The HOC Power Tool for Victim Extrication is ergonomically designed to give rescuers the leverage they need to cut victims out of wrecks in order to save a life.












The Leverage Freedom Chair: Bronze
The Leverage Freedom chair, from MIT Mobility Lab and Continuum, is designed to give wheelchair users the same access to the woods, trails and difficult terrain that mountain bike riders have. It provides the leverage to go up steep slopes and places the typical wheelchair can’t.












Blink EV Chargers: Bronze
With electric vehicles gaining mainstream attention, frog design partnered with ECOtality to create a family of fast charging stations. Known collectively as Blink, this family of electric vehicle chargers can be easily integrated into different environments—and charge a car in about 90 minutes. The three products consist of a wall-mounted unit for overnight charging in private garages or carports, a pedestal unit for retail locations and a DC Fast Charging unit for gas stations and in between major commute corridors throughout the country.




To view all of the winners and finalists, visit the IDEA 2011 Gallery.

The PakMat® is a comfortable, eco-friendly, and compact product ideal for outdoor enthusiasts, as well as for emergency use during disaster relief efforts. There is no need to carry a separate pump or rely on an electrical power source—the PakMat® uses a handheld pump with human energy to inflate the bed. Lightweight and environmentally conscious materials were selected for the air mattress. It is the first air pump that is specifically designed to act as a clean storage unit for the airbed it is designed to inflate. You can learn more about the Pakmat® and its development here. For the full list of winners, please visit Green Good Design 2011.

Design personas are an imperative part of our strategic development process. They help us to better understand users with varying lifestyle traits and the emotional and physical aspects which define them.

We think this article, Six Ways to Screw Up a Design Persona by Michael Roller has a great perspective. You can check it out here.

In Chicago, these codes have been spotted at CTA L stations, on business windows, buses, taxis, and in TV ads. The codes grant access to websites, videos, Facebook accounts, coupons, and a number of other sites. While we commonly use our QR code on marketing pieces, it’s interesting to see other ways businesses and individuals use them.

Recently, one of the more unique ways we’ve seen a QR code used was on a series of wine bottles, called Hedera.

“We decided to use the QR code as a main image of modern vision and then blend it with classic artistic calligraphy for the Hedera brand.”

The bottle is pretty catchy…

Here are some other interesting ways of using the QR code. We like how Disney made it their own with the artwork.









Being that this one says nothing about who or what it’s for, it definitely evokes a lot of curiosity.





It seems that there are endless possibilities on the ways you can use this marketing tool.

We are excited to have Trevis Kurz back in our studio as a Junior Designer! Trevis joined our team as an intern in the summer of 2010 and chose to extend his internship through the fall/winter of last year. He spent the Spring semester interning at P&G.

Trevis attended Ohio State University and received the 2011 IDSA Mideast District Merit Award. He also took first place in the 2010 International Housewares Association’s (IHA) Student Design Competition for his design of the Sanas Smoke Alarm. Trevis is a talented industrial designer who brings with him a passion for design and problem solving.

Monday night we attended Swagapalooza, an event that consists of a room full of bloggers, tweeters, and digital influencers who gather to judge five-minute presentations from creators of new and unique products. Alex Krupp, the founder of the event, described it as, “a book tour for physical products.”

The event took place at The Double Door on Milwaukee Avenue, a venue typically known for their live music, and the turnout was great. We saw a lot of great products, and even got to take home a bag full of FREE goodies—also known as the “Swag Bag”! A live twitter feed was shown on a large flat-screen in front of the presenters, and people were tweeting through every second of the show. It proved to be very entertaining.


Among the presenters was Seth Frey and Michael Prince who introduced the BuzzBrush®, a 2-in-1 keyboard and LCD screen cleaning accessory. The product was designed by our team at Beyond, from research and conceptualization through to manufacturing. It’s intended for both the promotional and retail market and can be found next month in Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

A few of the tweets streaming live during the presentation included:

“This product @buzzbrush is an AWESOME idea for career fairs and conference swag!!! “

“@BuzzBrush catch line = “get a good buzz going” clever. clever.”

“Yesssss to @BuzzBrush! I need a couple of ‘em cuz my keyboard is harboring all types of crumbs!”

“The germaphobe in me already is in love w/ @buzzbrush!”


Overall, it went over really well with the audience and with the product’s full customizability, people loved the idea even more.

You can learn more about the development of the BuzzBrush® here and can view the video below.

Another cool product that’s perfect for those who tend to lose important items was a system called FoundIt™ which connects the founder and the owner instantly if something is lost. It would work great for items that are hard to replace, like cell phones, laptops, keys, or your camera. The only catch is that you have to hope that whoever finds your lost item is kind enough to return it. Check it out here.

Hooray Puree (hooray-puree.com) presented their nutritional and organic shelf-stable (non-refrigerated) vegetable purees for retail, restaurants, schools, hospitals & military. The vegetables offered include broccoli, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, and butternut squash. They talked about sneaking the purees into baby food, as well as spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, and smoothies. They also mentioned adding the spinach puree to brownies—not sure what we think of that one!

The Pong Deck (pongdeck.com) was presented by two guys who thought of the idea while at a bachelor party in Vegas. Their goal was to make beer pong better by incorporating cards that are broken into two categories—action cards and drinking cards. Best part is, the cards are waterproof (or so they say). Great gift for those who enjoy a game of beer pong with a twist.






The product branded “Fizzies®” may bring back some memories for the older generation. The effervescent drink tablet is being brought back from the 70′s and now provides a healthier, great-tasting and fun beverage packed with Vitamin C. We have yet to try it, but you can check out the product here.








The other featured products included Monk fruit, the book Read This before Our Next Meeting, AcquaFibra flavored water, and Red Frog Events.

Fruit Sweetness™, which is made from monk fruit (biovittoria.com), was presented as being 150 times sweeter than sugar, but is a natural, calorie-free sweetener. It is currently found in Kashi products worldwide.

Al Pittampalli introduced his book, Read This before Our Next Meeting, in which he proposed to start a revolution in the world of meetings. As he stated, “meetings are what prevent organizations from doing amazing work.”

AcquaFibra (acquafibra.com) is flavored water with fiber introduced. It is offered in four different flavors.

Red Frog Events (redfrogevents.com) seems like a great event for those who like to have a good time, while also getting some exercise. We might have to check out Beach Palooza that takes place in Chicago this year.

It was a fun and interesting night thanks to the Swagapalooza team and those that presented. We look forward to seeing which of these products make it big!

Stephane is from France and has been interning with us since February of this year. He is in the process of finishing his second Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Industrial Design at The University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard. His first Master’s Degree was in Human Factors Engineering from The University of Paris XI.

“The culture in the States is a lot different than in France, and I like observing these differences and trying to understand where they come from. Designing in Chicago has been a great opportunity for me and I’ve learned a great deal since moving here.”

Jae is currently studying at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and is in fourth year in the undergraduate Designed Objects program.

“A Bic pen and a paper is my playground; I might not end up making the best sandcastle in town, but I never fail to have fun. I am interested in everything from a chair to a jumbo jet, and inspired by environment, nature, and people’s spoiled behaviors (including mine).”

Alisa just finished her sophomore year at the University of Notre Dame, working towards a degree in Industrial Design.

“Design allows me to be creative while truly making a difference in peoples’ lives, and I love that!”

Andrew is an Industrial Design student at The Ohio State University and will be entering his senior year in the fall of 2011.

“I am pursuing a degree in industrial design because I am fascinated with products. I enjoy the challenges that arise in product design and collaborating with designers and engineers to create forward-thinking solutions. Not a day goes by without learning something new.”

Cindy is a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is working toward an MFA in Art and Technology. She will be working closely this summer with our animation team.

“I love creating and playing with things in 3D. That’s why I chose to study 3D in the Art & Technology department at SAIC. There are endless possibilities without restrictions in the real world. Want to make a porcupine school bus? No problem! Want to see an impossibly twisty, derelict tower perched at an angle on the edge of a cliff? Sure thing! There are numerous applications for 3D visualizations and animation – I just love doing this stuff.”

The Trane Hyperion™ Air Handler, which our team completed the industrial design work for, was awarded a Bronze EID Award in the Major Appliances & HVAC category in appliance DESIGN magazine.

“This air handler is constructed more like a refrigerator than a typical air handler, with insulation between double-walls of its Air-Tite II cabinet. This insulation prevents condensation that may cause damage to the air handler itself or a consumer’s home. In addition to eliminating sweating, the cabinet also eliminates the loose fibers from fiberglass insulation that may enter the airstream with other air handlers. The product is fully modular and is smaller, smarter and more flexible than other air handlers on the market—making a one-person installation possible.”

The Hyperion design features 4-way application flexibility with no conversion right out of the box, eliminating the need to reposition the coil or drain-pan. You can view photos and see more information on the design of the unit here.

“Discover thousands of innovative products and resources for corporate hospitality, healthcare, retail, government, institutional and residential interiors from more than 1,200 showrooms and exhibitors.”

Neocon, the continent’s largest exhibition of contract furnishings, made its way to Chicago yesterday, filling the halls of the Merchandise Mart with innovative designs and an upbeat atmosphere made possible by the thousands of people in attendance. We stopped by for a few hours to check out what cool new furnishings companies are being offered this year.

One of the more interesting chairs we saw was by a Japan-based company, Okamura. Their Luce design had a forward-leaning seat form with a smart relaxation seat mechanism that relaxes and absorbs most of the impact to your body when you sit down. After trying it out, it’s actually a really comfortable chair that is perfect for those that sit and stand often throughout the workday.

Okamura Luce Chair

Mannington Commercial, the only U.S. manufacturer to make both carpet and hard surface flooring for the contract market, showcased their carpet inspired by the matrix bar codes of Quick Response (QR) technology. It was developed in collaboration with Korean industrial design firm Ryan Harc and allows for revolutionary functionality on the floor.

Mannington Commercial QR Carpet

The S-Chair, a Cappellini chair from the Haworth Collection, looks like it can’t be that comfortable to sit in, but it has a very unique form. We couldn’t help but take notice.

S-Chair

Davis Industries Soft chair has a very modern design. Its molded foam seat rests in a base, which was displayed fully upholstered or in a hard plastic shell.

Soft Chair

The Diffrient World chair marks Humanscale’s first foray into all-mesh task seating. The major innovation is its mechanism-free recline action, which leverages two parts of the chair’s frame and provides automatic, balanced support throughout the full range of recline. It received a “best of the best” red dot award this year.

Diffrient World Chair by Humanscale

Humanscale’s Horizon LED task light was another cool product. Using a series of high-intensity LEDs surrounding several layers of polycarbonate and optical films, it provides excellent lighting for any environment. In addition, its built-in dimmer control provides both energy savings and adjustable levels of illumination.

Horizon LED task light by Humanscale

This table by Davis Industries had a small opening in the middle of the table with outlets inside. This is an ideal piece of furniture for those who need a convenient place to plug in laptops or other electronic devices.

Davis Industries, Inc. Table

These stools by Humanscale are extremely comfortable and versatile. They encourage you to sit in a saddle seating position, which automatically conditions you to adopt a healthy open seating posture. These are ideal for those in the healthcare industry.

Saddle/Pony Saddle Stools by Humanscale

By far the most unusual and eye-catching space we saw was Antron Carpet Fiber. They had cotton fibers hanging from everywhere, both inside and outside their space. You couldn’t help but check it out.

Antron Carpet Fiber Space

Overall, we saw a great variety of color—most notably greens, reds, and purples. We know there are so many more products to see, but with the limited time we had to walk the show, these are the key things that captured our attention.

Our team recently received a Gold Excellence in Design (EID) Award from appliance DESIGN magazine for our design of the Encompass Lighting Group railtones™. Railtones™ is the first wireless speaker system that is mounted to and powered by a low-voltage track lighting system. It is compatible with a portable MP3 player, smartphone, stereo or computer. The speakers have a three-zone capability where they can be controlled individually with the use of a remote control. The open architecture system allows for an infinite number of speakers within a certain range—depending on the number and material of walls in the space.

As noted in the June issue of appliance DESIGN, “The recipients of the 2011 Excellence in Design Awards demonstrate a greater focus on sustainability and communication with the user than ever before.

For this year’s 24th annual Excellence in Design competition, our judges spent a lot of time focusing on the design and functionality of each entry. There was some stiff competition, but the winning recipients this year demonstrated designs across all categories that focused on simplicity and strong functionality for the end-user, while optimizing and increasing product capabilities. Add to that a focus on energy savings, recyclability and sustainability, and we have a group of products this year that represents the best of what is available in the marketplace.

This year’s Gold recipients represent true innovation, and include: a speaker system that integrates into an existing light fixture without any wire installation; a dishwasher that capitalizes on capacity and minimizes noise; an oven that brings defrosting, steaming, baking, slow cooking and reheating to the residential kitchen; and a medical device that Maximizes energy savings while treating superficial vascular conditions with minimal lateral damage.”

All of the winners can be viewed in the June 2011 issue of appliance DESIGN magazine.

Animation is capable of showing exactly what a future product or service will look like and how it will function, much like a prototype will do (minus the physical aspect, of course). While we don’t think physical models will disappear, we do believe animation will continue to become a fundamental tool in product design.

Check out the full article here.

THE COMPOST WIZARD HYBRID
The Compost Wizard Hybrid by Good Ideas Inc., while not the most attractive product we saw, is a key example of the continued shift toward energy saving innovation. It proposes an extremely economical way to garden, and is constructed of 100% recycled plastic. The product combines a rain barrel and a compost barrel into one unit, cutting down on cost and providing nutrient rich fertilizer and rain water.

JASCO PRODUCTS COMPANY: LED LIGHTING
Jasco Products Company had a new section at the show dedicated entirely to energy-efficient home products. They showcased several new GE branded LED lights, home automation products, Nickelodeon™ branded Projectables™ night lights, and more. There seems to be an incredibly fast trend of companies moving away from incandescent lights and incorporating LED lights into their designs. Their GE LED Under Cabinet Fixture has a very sleek design and offers dramatically reduced energy consumption and a long-life. It can also be controlled with the use of a remote control that can be mounted for use as a wall switch from up to 50 feet away.

“Jasco’s new under cabinet fixtures pair energy-efficient lighting with modern designs to provide simple solutions perfect for today’s green living on a budget.”

GARDENA ELECTRIC LAWNMOWER
Gardena’s booth was a definite stand-out in the Lawn/Garden area of the show, with a number of innovative products that we’d love to own. The electric lawnmower was top of the list, mainly because of its ecological impact, but also because of the cool colors and aesthetics. The lawnmower is powered by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that can be recharged at any time, without memory effect. The lawnmower can also be used as a mulcher. In addition, the handle folds away for easy transport and space-saving storage.

WORX JAWSAW
The Worx JawSaw makes using a chainsaw look extremely easy and safe. It is powered by electricity and can be used to make cuts directly on the ground, without fear of kickback or damage to the chain. The WORX features an automatic oiler that provides constant lubrication to both the bar and chain. With the chain enclosed by the jaw guard, it really is safer than the normal chainsaw.

WAGAN TECH SOLAR-POWERED GENERATOR
There are a number of small portable solar chargers available which are designed to keep mobile gear such as MP3 players and mobile phones powered up when there’s no electrical outlet around. More recently, we’re seeing a growing number of larger and more powerful units designed for devices that require more power. This portable solar-powered generator from Wagan Tech provides 1,500 watts of power for seven to eight hours. It is the perfect accessory for campers, hunters, and RVers. It folds open to display five solar panels, and gives the option of adding two more.

INFUSION BRANDS DUAL SAW
Infusion Brands was there with their ultra-marketed portable Dual Saw. It was reintroduced this year with improved branding and a new smaller version and larger version. It is a great combination of precision engineering and advanced blade technology, not to mention we really like their new branding and design. The product uses a counter rotating blade technology to reduce kickback and enhance performance and can cut through just about anything. The blade sizes range from 3.125” to 6.38”. The smaller design is extremely ergonomic and has an oversized handle for increased control and balance, while the oversized blade on the large unit offers more cutting depth than the early unit that was introduced a couple of years ago.

HONEYWELL BLADE TIP WIND TURBINE
The Honeywell Blade Tip Wind Turbine, by WindTronics, was first revealed at the 2010 Hardware Show, but wasn’t released to market until just last month. It is one of the coolest products we saw at the show. It is a gearless wind turbine, six feet in diameter and 185 pounds, that is intended to be installed on rooftops or poles and generates power in gusts of wind as little as two miles per hour. It creates power from magnets in its blade tips and in the enclosure for the blades. The turbine is meant for homes and businesses, and offers a much more affordable and approachable option for green energy.

With over 2,300 vendors at the National Hardware Show, just about anything you could find at your local hardware store, and more, was on display. It was a high-energy event filled with innovative products, educational seminars and even a few special celebrity cameos.

“For retailers and distributors, the National Hardware Show represents a way to stay ahead of the competition and put the latest and most innovative products in front of their customers.”