Dedicated to inspiring designers, inventors & the creative spirit in all of us.

I do wonder if wonder washing machines are worth the trouble of washing multiple, small loads of clothes. Yeah, the stats look good: 90% less water, 5 lb loads of laundry cleaned in minutes, and even less detergent used with each load. But the first questions to come to mind are, “how much really is 5 lbs of laundry?” and ” can the manual labor of filling with water, hand cranking and flushing water be easier?” (yes, that is a stack of washcloths beside the dryer, puffed up to all of 4 inches tall).

Yeah, saving electricity is great, using less detergent is great, and who would not want to clean their clothes in minutes?  Then, when I assess the idea of nearly water-less clothes washing, my mind goes into overdrive. Where else could I save time and money?  I could knit my own socks. Or better yet, cut and dehydrate my own dried fruit for trail mix. If I could only roll my own oats, and tap the maple tree in my backyard to make breakfast each morning. Hym. Maybe not.  Crafty versus convenience, and my money is on the lazier side opting for convenience.

Not to say this design will not someday be made into a bigger, better model, which would be both more marketable and appealing to critics like me.  Who knows, people once shrugged the prospects of the first cellular telephone, weighing in at a hefty 2 pounds, with a talk time of a half hour and costing $3995.  And who doesn’t own a cell phone nowadays?

Balloon jack? Oh yeah, that’s right. Forced air from the exhaust to puff up a pouch of air for lifting your vehicle – how ingenious! This inventive idea of capturing forced air for reuse can be applied to so many other designs.

Designer Eric Karjaluoto of smashLAB, who is behind some innovative sites like MakeFive and Design Can Change took a few moments to give us his thoughts on design.

1. What was your first impressionable moment that involved design? There are a number of them. I remember getting excited about the look of metallic ink in an Omni magazine I had when in the fourth grade. Around the same time I remember trying to create a library-like cataloguing system for my books. I also remember designing my own take on Mad magazines around the same age.

In some way, I’ve been fascinated by making, crafting and distributing things my whole life. Somehow, it’s still something that I find captivating.

2. I doubt you answered your high school counselor’s age old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up,” with “creative director at SmashLAB.” So what path led you to where you are today? I always wanted to be a designer, but at the time I used the term “Commercial Artist.” When I was growing up, it wasn’t a highly recognized profession-I certainly didn’t know anyone who was a designer.

That being said, I loved drawing and making things. As a result, I studied painting for four years at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver and then painted and exhibited for a few years.

In 2000, I decided that I wasn’t really happy with the reach of painting. As a result, I teamed with my business partner, Eric Shelkie, and we decided to start a company. We had little applied experience, and as a result, learned everything the hard way. (But we kept going nevertheless.)

3. Name one person who influenced how you see things with a “designer’s eye.” I don’t know if I can limit that to one. How about two?

My parents aren’t designers but they exhibit characteristics that I believe inform my approach to design. My dad is really inventive. I remember him planning the houses we lived in, and doing funny things like converting a snowmobile into a dune-buggy. I think my interest in tinkering comes from there.

My mom has a very ordered approach to things. For her, everything has its place and she doesn’t like clutter. I think this is a very “Finnish” thing. It’s certainly something that comes through in my work and life. I find that my most effective designs are a result of removing everything that I can.

4. MakeFive is a great way to compile user-generated lists on anything from what you remember, what you love, and what you listen to. Give me a quick, personal MakeFive of the best design blogs you love to frequent?

1. SwissMiss
2. Speak Up
3. Design Observer
4. Hacker News
5. TechCrunch

The last two aren’t design blogs, but they inform my work nevertheless.

I think I learn more about Design from Hacker News than I do from more traditional design blogs.

5. Name a needless product that you believe should be removed from every store shelf. CDs. There’s hardly any requirement for physical media any longer. Nevertheless, we’re very slow to release our grip on these “things.”

6. What do you think was the best idea of 2008? I know this is likely a rather banal response, but I think the iPhone App Store is brilliant. It gives developers an immediate method of revenue for their ideas and keeps their software from being pirated. Meanwhile, the low price-point is nice for consumers. It’s a lovely model.

7. You recently wrote about masterpiece mentality vs. agile development. This is a great lesson when trying to design in general. When generating lots of ideas, what are some tips on brainstorming you would like to share that work well for you?

A few things seem to work really well for us. One is to really investigate the challenge from many points and then to establish a clear set of objectives. From there, we really like working in twos. Doing so allows for good ideation and banter. More people than that seems to get hard to manage, given varying personality types and such.

8. Any advice for a designer who wants to share content online in a more interesting format than just blogging? Recently we launched a simple little site called http://undrln.com/. It’s a nice, simple way for designers to quickly survey what’s going on in our industry, or to share links they find compelling.

9. What should the ideal designer do every single day, with the intention of becoming a better designer through habit? I can only speak for myself here. The only way I learn is by “doing.”

Not talking, not farting around on the web, and not thinking about doing; just doing. This means more projects, more iteration, more analysis, and more asking people to poke holes in my ideas. I think it’s all about being interested enough to just keep working hard.

10. What area or problem is most in need of some new ideas in 2009? Most of us are part of a system that doesn’t satisfy us and at the same time is destroying the planet. As such, we desperately need to find a way to change our ideas about what it means to be human – particularly given that we live on a planet that can’t support our current appetite.

When I suggest this, I don’t propose buying things that are labeled “green friendly;” instead, I mean that we need to shift our values and rethink what’s really important in our lives.

If I see one more alphabet themed cut-out design I am going to scream! For too long now I have seen knock-off versions of a decent design idea on everything from coasters, to scarves to “limited” prints to new inventions. Every time I see another variation of this cluster-font design, it reminds me of how saturated the market can be with lazy design and a lack of creativity. It’s like picking up the children’s classic, Three Little Pigs, in a bookstore and seeing a total knock-off beside it with three mice and a cat rather than pigs and a wolf, then seeing a version with three cats and a dog beside that one. Enough is enough!

1. What was your first impressionable moment that involved design? I remember early on, seeing a hand rendered poster that my grandmother made for a jazz festival. She did calligraphy out of a home studio and I remember saying to myself, “wow that was all made by hand.” I have many family members who are artistic. My uncle paints, my grandmother does calligraphy, and my brother is just so talented too. So I was influenced early on, which left an impression on me.

2. What is it exactly that you are designing? I design for American Greetings, expanding lines of licensed products and creating graphics for cards, stickers, gift bags, and all kinds of other goodies.

3. What does graphic design have you spending your time doing? Graphic design is a demanding job. I find that my workday is comprised of instant deadlines. So it’s pretty much a quick turnaround for me; work is handed to me, I focus on getting that project completed, submit it and receive new work. A lot of drawing, a lot of attention to detail and an all around fast-paced work environment.

4. Paper and pencil, ink and sketch pad, scanner and computer? I prefer to hand render a set of drawings, scan them, then use programs to clean up what I am working on. Hand drawing is more comfortable to get started, but for presentation I definitely get onto my computer.

5. Name one person who influenced how you see things with a “designer’s eye.” Family has always seemed to inspire me to create, but my high school art teacher really gave me the push I needed. I was encouraged to scan some of my artwork and clean it up to color it in Photoshop by my art teacher. That led me down the path of what I now know to be graphic design.

6. Who/what makes you smile or relax at the end of a full day of designing. I am engaged, so after a long day’s work of designing, I look forward to coming home to my fiancé.

7. Reveal your sources of influence that you cannot design without? I have a couple of references, books on design, but blogs and design sites are full of fresh designs. FFFFOUND is a great site that was introduced to me by my brother, another artist in my family. It is a wealth of cool things.

8. The worst package design created that you believe should be removed from every store shelf? The first thing to come to mind is a horrible package design for a knock-off Godzilla toy at a major toy store. The Godzilla in the graphics are different than that of the toy itself. The toy was zip-tied to where it blocks a large portion of the graphics, leaving a large void beside the toy. Bad layout, bad packaging, overall bad design.

9. How often do you spend time drawing in a personal sketchbook, free of client work? Not enough! I always bring a sketchbook, I always acquire a pocket full of pens, but it is difficult to find the time to focus. But when I do, I update my sketchblog for friends and family to view. Now that it is the holidays, I have found myself doing personal work, though it is for gift giving.

10. What should the ideal designer do every single day, with the intention of becoming a better designer through habit? One bit of advice, which I do myself, is to learn something new every day. I dedicate my first hour of the day to learning a new program, skill, or something that complements my stronger skills. It is better to know how to do many things, rather than specialize in being the guy who does that one thing really well. So reach out, learn something new every day.

This article on depression and design is such an inspiration to anyone who believes that from dire times comes great designs. The article refers to a past, not so long ago, when material shortages, cost constraints and a desire for new design encouraged a whole new generation of designers. If you seek the perfect opportunity for a chance to springboard your latest greatest idea into the marketplace, your time is now. Allow your passion for your unique idea to go forward by affording more time and effort than ever, both at the drawing board and in the garage. Take this opportunity to move forward with that recurring desire to create the ideal product that you always wish you had invented, but never brought to fruition. The opportunity is here, the market is ready, so what better time than now?

Simple design always wins. By creating a finger hole in the plug, this design makes it easy to pull the cord out. Though it is not to US standards, which would be to my liking, this inventive design is still genius! I fumble, like any other person who owns a product that plugs into an outlet, trying to get a good grasp of the plug, but usually revert to tugging on the cord to release it. The inner hole even illuminates to remind users that they are consuming energy. What an easy way to help you ask yourself, “Should I unplug this cord since it is not in use, and is so easy to pull out?”

“Dr. R. Keith Sawyer, a professor of psychology and education at Washington University in St. Louis, is one of the country’s leading scientific experts on creativity. His research has been featured on CNN, Fox News, TIME Magazine, and other media.”

1. What are some of the main barriers to innovation in the work place?
There are many different ways that an organization might block innovation. One common one is the quite sensible desire to increase efficiency, productivity, and quality. Yet if that is the sole goal, then the potential problem is that the organization can become overly risk-averse, and unwilling to tolerate the failures and dead-ends that always occur in innovative organizations. Balancing these two necessary goals is difficult; every innovative organization does it a bit differently. The last four chapters of my book GROUP GENIUS discuss this and other blocks, and give examples of how the most innovative organizations have overcome them.

2. Name one person who influenced how you see things?
The biggest influence on my thought is the famous French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Back in the late 1800s, he was one of the first scholars to study groups, and the relation between individuals and groups. I think he was the first to argue that unexpected novelty could emerge from groups; he called it “collective ideation.” He influenced my writings on emergence, creativity, and collaboration.

3. Your book “Group Genius – The Power of Collaboration” – What made you decide write it?
This is my tenth book, but the first nine were all scholarly, academic books. I realized that my studies of collaborative creativity had important messages for everyone, not just for other scientists. So I wrote GROUP GENIUS to spread the lessons of this research to as many folks as possible.

4. You believe that creativity is always collaborative. Explain to me the importance of brainstorming, and how to engage in a healthy brainstorming session with peers and professionals.
In most companies, brainstorming is not very effective—because it’s not done right. In GROUP GENIUS I summarize decades of research showing that brainstorming fails more often than not. But the research has a silver lining: it shows what you need to do to get it right. First of all, if a company has an organizational culture that is not innovative, then holding a one-hour brainstorming meeting will end up being a waste of time. Second, the face-to-face brainstorming session has to be combined with solitary creative thought, both before and after the session. Third, there are well-known blocks to creativity that have the potential to occur in any brainstorming session, and you need a facilitator who is trained to watch for those blocks. For example, brainstorming groups often get stuck in one train of thought, with lots of suggestions in the same narrow area—and a facilitator can help the group make sure to cover a wider range.

5. What is one easy thing businesses and organizations can do to become more innovative and creative?
The researchers who study innovation are pretty much in consensus about what organizations have to do to become more innovative. And I think it’s safe to say that none of it is that easy…otherwise, you’d see a lot more innovative organizations. One of the easiest of the many recommendations in GROUP GENIUS is to become a more open, outwardly-focused organization. Encourage your people to constantly stay in touch with customers, key business partners, and even with competitors. More than half of the successful new products originate outside of the organization.

6. Any advice you would give an individual with an entrepreneurial idea or invention?
Don’t get too possessive and secretive; the worst thing you can do is to hole yourself up and stop communicating with the world. Every idea can become stronger, and the way to make it stronger is to combine it with other ideas, to test it out with a wide range of potential customers. Your idea is almost certainly not completely unique; others have had similar ideas, and the Internet makes it easy to search for those precursors. Learn from them.

7. You have written that, “in innovative organizations, people are always moving around, bumping unexpectedly into others, and stopping for a few minutes to chat. Offices that support these natural connections have chairs and tables in the hallways or near the stairways, to make such conversations easier.” What other architectural details can hinder creativity, and which ones propel it?
Any architecture that keeps people alone and makes it hard for them to work together can hinder creativity. A good example is all-too-familiar: a long hallway, with each person having their own office, and a conference room down at the end. Every office needs some space for solitary work, but in most buildings the space is almost completely skewed toward solo work, with almost no space for collaborative work.

8. You quoted someone who referred to a theory called “opportunistic innovation.” This theory means you wait for an opportunity with a big pay-off (and low investment), then set your goals and go for it. Inspire our innovative readers by promoting this idea of avoiding setting large goals but, rather, paying close attention to opportunities as they become available.
The main theme of my book is that successful innovation is almost always improvisational. My own research has focused on super-creative groups like jazz ensembles and improv theater groups. When you look at the history of innovation, you always see an improvisational process. Ideas end up being used for a different purpose, in a different project, or to satisfy different customers. An “opportunistic” attitude is one that acknowledges the unexpected improvisational turns of the innovation process. Some organizations (and leaders) are overly focused on the plan they’ve developed, and they end up not seeing the opportunities that emerge unexpectedly.

9. Do you think the Internet has helped us as a society become more innovative, or not?
Absolutely! This is the theme of Chapter 10 of GROUP GENIUS. My book is similar in some ways to a lot of recent books that rave about “Web 2.0″ or “collective intelligence.” The difference with my book is that I show that innovation has always worked this way; it’s always been an improvisational and collaborative process, and it occurs in what I call a “collaborative web.” One example of a collaborative web is the geographically dispersed community of Quakers, economics professors, and frat brothers who developed the Monopoly board game over a 30-year period. The main difference with the Internet is that these collaborative webs are more dense, and the innovation process is speeded up—it will never again take 30 years for an innovation to emerge.

Somebody explain this to me. Where is the reflection of the photographer in the first picture, why is that thing not sliding off the mountainside in the second picture, and who would ever want to sleep naked in a petri dish atop a mountain? (Besides the obvious question, who hikes in all white clothes to the top of the Alta Badia mountains in Italy?) It’s conceptual designs like this that would have my family thinking that, as an industrial designer, I wear turtlenecks, dress monochromatically and dream of designing lunar space stations for unicorns. Conceptual design must have some truth in it. What I want you, the reader, to learn from this is that your design must relate to the user, have some truth to it and allow viewers to not be distracted by obvious flaws in the use of the product.

Very well done! This illustration caught my eye because of the style, which is like that of any children’s poster that I remember from elementary school. Then the content popped out at me, almost instantly causing me to inspect its detail. 

I remember watching a TV program about how machines in the rainforests have influenced nature, specifically the call of different species of birds. The ring-tone of cell phones, the ratcheting sound of jackhammers and the diesel-driven engines of large machinery have all been mimicked by nature due to the introduction of commercial logging. How ironic it is that the machinery designed to tear down the forest is so much influenced by nature. The large, bug-eyed glass windows. The long-reaching extensions with hydraulic pinchers and cable driven armatures. The colors even imitate what may as well be the exoskeleton of a rare species of insect, with their striking bright hues and dull camouflage of their underbellies. I do wish this illustration would include machinery used to re-plant trees.

In a time when loggin’ is glorified on television, it is nice to see an illustration like this, which offers a bit of humor and a lot of truth to start a conversation about what we do to feed the monster of consumerism. The questions that could arise from a child seeing this in the classroom would intimidate even the best teacher. Maybe this illustration can challenge a few young minds to think about how to use more sustainable materials and perhaps be more conscious of how we consume and what we acquire. 

This poster is well designed in how it educates the viewer to the actual inhabitants of the rainforest. Yes, there are many species of plants and animals that we all know and love to learn about, but there is an ugly side to what inhabits our rainforests too. So, whether it is simple because of the visual appeal or its deeper content, take a good look at this advertisement, which is both a great illustration and a stimulus for thought.