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.