First, let’s agree, here and now, to no longer use the phrase, “think outside the box”. Henceforth condensed to “it”. “It” is a cliché, a tired trope, a worn-out platitude that should have never made it this far riding on the backs of cheap suits. It is a sad piece of strip mall management seminar…
In today’s sea of design, only a select few are truly capable of standing out as thought leaders and changing how we perceive the modern world around us. To further explore how today’s leading designers perceive design, New York City-based design firm Doberman interviewed 20 designers from leading companies around the world to share what…
SolidSmack is honored to feature this article by Jesse Newton, CEO of Simplify Work and Author of Simplify Work: Crushing Complexity to Liberate Innovation, Productivity, and Engagement. Learn more about Jesse’s approach to problem-solving at simplifywork.com. Organizations today are complicated messes. They are a scramble of matrixed structures, reporting lines, disparate systems and bureaucratic processes. Navigating…
Named by Business Week as one of “the world’s most influential designers,” Don Norman has spent a lifetime dedicated to better understanding how humans interact with the manufactured world around them. Suffice to say; he’s seen the gamut of good and bad design. Which is why his book, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate)…
Have you ever wondered why your best ideas come to at the times that they do? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tap into that ‘magic formula’ a bit more often? Well—you can…kind of. The key to understanding why we have great ideas when we do is to first understand where ideas come…
When it comes to designing that next great product – be it the latest device for a major client or your first side project – the ability to examine the design problem (or opportunity) from many different angles can be one of the most challenging hurdles to get past before your first concept even has wheels. Whether…
When it comes to starting a side project (or a “project” project), ironing out early ideas and evaluating them ahead of time – rather than just jumping in – can mean the difference between a hugely successful venture or a massive major headache further down the road. Unfortunately, moving productively through this brainstorming process and staying…
It’s been said (and proven) repeatedly that those with a background in design can offer the most useful feedback in ways outside of a traditional design studio – whether it’s in an executive business meeting setting or even a high school classroom. For most, this comes down to putting a tried and true user-centered, prototype-driven…
“It’s Time For Industrial Design To Grow Up” is the clickbait title of a Fast Co. article trying to define what it is industrial designers are really doing in their jobs. We all have to be placed in a box it seems and with technology rapidly advancing, perhaps our titles do as well. Every now and…
Explaining how design affects our daily lives is no easy task…especially when it involves trying to simplify it in terms that a young population can grasp. Between the complexities of city planning to the reasons why houses and products are built a specific way, there is a lot of info to sort of ‘sum up’…
