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

Wooden block of matches? Oh yeah, now THAT’S design! The designer claims to evoke wonder and spirit…ok, I’ll give them that. If design is done well, it takes what you may have thought to be in a finished state of design and arouses your perception of user interface. The matchbook has definitely evolved through this design.

After seeing this, you can no longer view a lighter or matchbook the same way as before. You should feel enlightened for having witnessed the rebirth of a necessity we take for granted, the portable flame. I believe this to be a solid exercise of exceptional design. I want to see these guys take on the milk carton, or the house key. People who create products like this are the ones who change user interface as we know it.

Popcorn has had many products made for popping it, but not like this. Cuisinart’s EasyPop Popcorn Maker has a 100% see-through design, which makes for an entertaining encore to any movie. The see-through dome even looks like an upside-down popcorn bucket. With so many gadgets to store and so little counterpace, this is one appliance worth displaying on the counter when not in use. It is so cool to see the evolution of the popcorn popper design.

These ThumbTacks by StitchEasy are an ergonomic delight for iPod Touch owners looking to upgrade their device. The ergonomics of the common thumbtack have been applied to this plug-in accessory that adds the microphone feature. Using the shape of the thumbtack is like using the handle of a gallon milk jug, the cap of a 20-ounce beverage, or the ridges on the side of a quarter. By making the form familiar, users are not intimidated by unfamiliar shapes. Priced at about $13, they come in a variety of colors, just like office thumbtacks.

……or you can just call them BuckyBalls. This hilarious website infomercial offers “216 powerful, rare earth magnets” called BuckyBalls. Named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, in some weird way, these jars of magnets are able to be manipulated into an unlimited number of cool shapes. Take a look and see how the simplest of things can be stuffed in a jar and hyped up to be sold to the masses.

Justin Knecht joined the Centre for Design Innovation in Ireland after working for Crayola in the US. Justin has spoken at a number of conferences and company events including SEEdesign, HOW, Hallmark Cards, DMI, Thinking Creatively Conference, Oracle, the Macromedia User Conference and the Allaire Developers Conference.  Enjoy!

1. It’s been some time now since you made your way across the pond, relocating a great distance from your roots in the Keystone State. What is the difference, culturally, designing in Ireland compared to the United States? It’s a much less developed space. The professional design community itself would probably consider itself young by certain standards, which is interesting in a country that has so much history and heritage. The text from Dublin-based Design Factory’s 25-year retrospective spoke to the fact that Ireland‘s cultural identity is largely based upon language more than the visual arts.

For a long time the majority of design talent was leaving Ireland to work in other places, and gradually those people began returning and establishing the professional design community that exists here today.

On a practical note, working with small to medium sized enterprises, like we do at the Centre, is a great reality check. The case studies typically used about big brands just aren’t relevant. Smaller organizations want practical stories, practical tools and practical results.

2. Conferences, blogs and books are vital to the creativity of so many people working in the design genre. What do use as influence when looking for inspiration and motivation when you are designing? It all comes in one big stream through Google Reader these days. I can’t name a single source, though I’ve been inspired by watching various TED Talks. They are a regular 15-minute investment worth making.

3. Your personal blog, Vertical bones.com, is titled “a documented experiment in following your bliss.” Can you credit any one person with instilling that creative, innovative spirit that drives your sense of curiosity and adventure? Well, the quote is most closely attributed to Joseph Campbell. However, I was at a design conference in NYC and Bruce Mau was speaking amongst a group largely composed of corporate creatives. He was drinking water that was recycled sewage, which was a bit humbling following a P&G presentation about the millions spent on the development of a women’s disposable razor. He turned to the audience and said something like, “We have the talent and creativity to do anything. What are you going to do?” That stuck with me.

4. Who do you consider an inspiration to your style of design work, professionally? My life these days is much less about doing actual design practice and working more around the design process, and getting companies to use design effectively to bring products, services, brands and experiences to market. It’s design as a verb, not a noun.

So with that in mind, I’ve been influenced by the IDEO process, or the approach that Adaptive Path is teaching. No single approach is perfect, but I’m most interested in the practical “how”. I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with individuals from the Design Council, and have been influenced by their Designing Demand program and the methodology surrounding its implementation.

5. In your article, creating the right space to foster a spirit of innovation, featured on Centre for Design Innovation blog you share a case study that says there is “an exponential drop of frequency of communication between engineers as the distance between them increases.” How can we bridge this divide so that international offices can work seamlessly without having the tolls of location and distance hinder creativity? I certainly don’t have a solution. My comments were mainly about the importance of space, of a place where innovation can take place and collaboration is facilitated. I’ve often quoted a Steelcase statement that a place can “enable or constrain what takes place in it.”

I also feel strongly that an innovative environment is made up of three components: (Right) People, (Right) Process & (Right) Place. When I was managing a design studio, those were the three strategic themes I always concentrated on.

6. What advice would you give to companies looking to be more innovative? Understand your users. Innovation starts and ends with people. People will reveal the insights you need to create unique solutions, and they will evaluate how well those solutions meet their needs.

7. Is Ireland a good place for innovation? Yes. The same qualities that made Ireland so successful over the last decade will help Ireland innovate themselves out of the current downturn. The workforce is highly-educated, well networked and incredibly resourceful.

8. Is there anything you miss as a consumer, or designer, living in Ireland that you were used to having at your disposal in the States? Tastykake

9. What should any designer do every day, in order to become a better designer through habit? Have a genuine interest in people.

Oobject has compiled a top 10 list of folding bicycles, complete with odd, ugly and functional designs for your viewing pleasure. In some of these concept designs, the designer has forgotten to consider the ”form follows function” theory. Creating a folding bicycle is no small feat, so there is not much room for criticism. I will say, however; I personally would prefer not to look like a bear on a bicycle when riding; the size of the wheel seems to be of great importance for ease of pedaling, and the suitcase-style contraptions seem very 1960’s. It was amusing to peruse this roster of fantasy bicycles, though.

This sketchbook offers a compromise for all of the blight-ridden commercial building owners and street vandals who claim to have no other place for displaying artwork. Full-page spreads of New York City’s grimy cityscapes, abandoned vehicles and vacant storefronts make this sketchbook a means for cathartic artistic behavior without having to incur property damage or create an everlasting eyesore for commuters and city residents.

There are few things as rewarding as building something yourself and then using it. Well, maybe cooking something great and then eating it. Anyway, this snap-together camera is a nice way for young children or curious adults to see how a camera goes together. Just like the G.I. Joe vehicles and model cars I would get as a youngster, users assemble the pieces of this camera, then it’s ready for point and shoot. What a great way to invigorate your comprehension of how simple mechanics work!  I would recommend sharing this do-it-yourself with any curious minded person.

John Caswell Design offers a few not-so-conventional designs, including a chair named “zippy.” Assembled unlike any other chair, zippy is held together with zip ties. Other designs include two-legged chairs, a mirror comb set, and rubber infused wood table named “grippy.” Be sure to take a look; seeing this designer’s imagination in motion will definitely stir your imagination!

There is a lot of hype about the sleek new design of the iPod Shuffle. People are eating up the re-design, paying much respect to the size with little regard to the true benefits that have been incorporated with the new speaking feature.

The iPod Shuffle is being drooled over for all of the wrong reasons. The ADA-friendly music device has bridged the gap between the visually impaired and the audio aficionado. Never mind how the speaking feature can be used for the blind, say design blog authors, look how small it is!

Bloggers and gadget geeks are abuzz because the Shuffle tells you what you’re listening to in a cool robot voice. But, have you heard that if you use a PC to load music, you get the lesser of cool robot voices (think Marge Simpson’s sisters) telling you what track and artist you are listening to? No, but you have heard many times over about how it is the size of a house key.

There is no doubt that a bunch of people are going to race out and buy this device blindly, paying no mind to the new features other than they are new, it’s Apple. There are people who will have to have this, using it as nothing more than an accessory or as a status symbol for coolness.

This design’s best achievement, making music more accessible to the blind or visually impaired, is what should be hyped by the press. The fact that the display-less mp3 player can be controlled using a toggle on the wire of the ear buds is where it’s at.

News for all of you Apple-loving design bloggers: the smaller a gadget gets does not gauge how cool it is. Look a little deeper, think a little harder. A lot of what is designed goes further than just size.