Frog Design: Design Coversations, not Products

I'm a big Frog Design fan. I read about anything these thought leaders have to say. I don't always agree, but in this case I couldn't agree more. So how do you apply this idea to a culture entrenched in products? You know, products with three sides...Front, Back and Inside.

Frog's marketing chief Tim Leberecht says..."When you start with the idea of making a thing, you're artificially limiting what you can deliver. The reason that many of these exemplar's forward-thinking product design succeed is explicitly because they don't design products. Products are realized only as necessary artifacts to address customer needs. What Flickr, Kodak, Apple, and Target all realize is that the experience is the product we deliver, and the only thing that our customers care about."

Read the entire article here.

Steve Jobs on Paul Rand

Paul Rand and Steve Jobs worked together in 1993 on the NEXT logo for Jobs new company. This is an interview with Steve Jobs about the process and about working with Paul Rand.

( via swissmiss )

Product Designer Dieter Rams: A Flickr Pool

Unbelievable. A Dieter Rams Flickr group! If you're a regular reader of BarryBlog, you have heard of him when I pointed out similarities between his and Apple's Jonathan Ive's work in my Seperated At Birth post.

Weird thing is the "Less But Better" quote is one I've been using for the last year and a half. Okay, did I get this from him, or did I come up with it on my own? Who knows. Dieter's a household name, not I.

Takagi Masakatsu: Sound of Light

I thank Tina at swissmiss for introducing me to this great video from Takagi Masakatsu called Sound of Light. She credits Christina for the same. I recommend checking out swissmiss. Tina was one of the original inspirations for my own blog back in 2006, and her's is still one of my favorites. She got me hooked on recording the things I find of interest, in the interest you too may find it, well, interesting. I think this video is.

bt (Brian Transeau): A Designer's Soundtrack.

Chicago native Brian Transeau goes by the name "bt." He's an incredible talent. I've developed a mix of his songs for you in the event you need some background music today. Just click the button below. It will launch a new web page with a standalone player you can have open in the background while you work. I tried to design an entire player interface into this post, but no matter what I did, I kept messing up the html embed code. I figure this pop up player is a great plan B.


If you're interested in learning more about Brian, hit his music website or Facebook profile. With a bit of curiosity and some research you'll discover the unfortunate fact that allegedly Brian's ex-wife ran off with his daughter and they were on the run for an extended period over the holidays until they were eventually located by authorities and his daughter subsequently returned. If any of this is true, I am sad. If it's not true, and has been fabricated as suggested by many posts online, I am also sad. The whole situation, true or not, was not a fun thing for anyone associated with this talented individual. But his music really is the opposite of this ugliness. It is very upbeat, intelligent, energetic and hopeful. I originally heard of his music and for some unknown reason thought he might be a brother in Christ. I am now not sure, but in any event he has been in my prayers, and I am appreciate of his talents and gifts. Hope you will enjoy his stuff, and then go out and buy some of his music.

If you're interested in a real informative how-to on his latest project, This Binary Universe, check out the video below. It is really very incredible to hear how it all came about, his personal thoughts, and some serious behind the scenes goodness- including how he captured some of the beats for the project in a Starbucks using an inconspicous M-Audio micro track recorder. He says his whole travel studio now consists of his 15 inch titanium Macbook pro and his 0-2. Amazing.

Seperated At Birth? Dieter Rams and Apple’s Ive

Nearly every designer knows the name Jonathan Ives of Apple, Inc. But how many know the name Dieter Rams? Thanks to Onur at the great blog tuning slide, I’ve been newly introduced to this great talent.

I’d always heard that Jonathan Ives and his design tendency at Apple to "eliminate the unnecessary" was in some ways influenced by the design created in the mid-1960's at the German manufacturer BRAUN, but never new the face behind it all–Dieter Rams. It's really remarkable to see the similarities between Dieter’s work back then and the iconic Apple approach now. See here and here for two great examples.

I’ve been influenced by a great many people in my career as well. While I’ve never worked for a well known design company, I have worked with some incredible talents and have followed the work of many designers through the years. So I guess it should come as no big surprise that Jonathan Ives has been influenced by others as well. In discovering the similarity in design approach between Dieter and Ives, I find it quite exciting to look back nearly fifty years to shed some light on what was being considered back then in terms of design. In my research I found a quote from Dieter describing what was different back then. It really hit home for me. He stated...

At Braun they were always willing to take a risk - nobody could tell you if a product would become successful. We as designers cannot work in a vacuum. The entrepreneur has to want it; the people at the top of the company have to want it…What’s missing today is that these kind of entrepreneurs are no longer there. Today there is only Apple and to a lesser extent Sony, but not to the same degree as was the case with Olivetti and BRAUN, or Peter Behrens at AEG, or Herman Miller and Charles Eames, Florence Knoll with Saarinen and so on. These kinds of connections are missing today

Apparently I’m a bit late in the game here, and a lot of blogs have already discussed this very comparison between BRAUN and Apple design before. If you find this as interesting as I do, here are a couple more resources.

designboom’s take on the subject
37signals take
DesignMuseum article
The complete tuning slide post
Erik Spiekermann on the BRAUN Apple
37signals post on Ives

One more thing... Here's another forward thinking quote from the 1960’s by Dieter Rams...

Good design is innovative. Good design makes a product useful. Good design is aesthetic. Good design helps us to understand a product. Good design is unobtrusive. Good design is honest. Good design is durable. Good design is consequent to the last detail. Good design is concerned with the environment. Good design is as little design as possible. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Who was forward thinking enough over 40 years ago to suggest a concern for the environment? Wow.

Röyksopp's Eple: Trippy Video

Eple—from the Norwegian word for apple, is the third single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's first album "Melody A.M.." Apple, Inc. used it as the intro for the Mac OS X v10.3 Setup Assistant. The video is mezmerizing.

( via pompomist )

Apple iPhone Innovation: The Naysayers

"It’s easy to look at the iPhone and then reverse-engineer the arguments that would have killed it off at most any other company:

Consumers will reject a keyboard they can't feel

No one will spend that much for a phone

People won't want to get a new number online

You can't suceed working with just one carrier"

- Adam Hanft

( via FC ExpertBlogger )

Apple Branding: Going Beyond Expectation

Apple, Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs has written an open letter, which in my estimation is one of the boldest, brilliant and most decent things I have ever heard a company do on behalf of a loyal customer base, as well as to attract new ones. This letter has to do with the new iPhone, which as of today has dropped $200 in price.

The letter is directed to anyone who bought a celebrated iPhone, but I suspect the effect it will have will be much broader. No money in the world could buy the kind of good will this act will.

Click here to read the letter.

P.S. I'm drooling over the new iPod Touch.

BarryBlog MacOSX Tips-N-Tricks

So here's something I've been really digging of late and something I bet you may not be aware of. It has to do with that awesome Finder Sidebar, you know, that thing that you can drag apps, files, folders, even entire volumes into? It's available in every Open and Save dialog throughout Mac OS X, which is very cool. Well cooler yet, I discovered a way, with just 2 clicks, to add anything I want to it on the fly. Kind of like filling the Finder Sidebar up with little stickie notes.

All you have to do is locate that file, app icon, or volume, click it, then hit Command-T. That's it. It automatically shows up in the Finder Sidebar list. Anything that's important to you, for whatever reason, can be immediately placed with this simple move. I use it for that web clipping of a post I'll want to blog about later, or for articles, photos or folders I am constantly calling on that day for my project at hand. It's fairly limitless to the reasons you might ustilize Command-T in this fashion. And like has always been the case, anything in the Finder Sidebar can be removed by dragging it out of the window, and poosh! It's gone.

( via tuaw )

Why Not? Apple iPhone Take Note

This idea is smart. It is also funny how he edited the video to have some awkward expressions and delayed comments. The guy's voice reminds me of Demetri Martin.

iPhone Copy and Paste from lonelysandwich and Vimeo.

Apple Evolution: 1976 - 2007

Evolution from Apple's first step to today. Check it out here.

( via boredomisyourfault )

Apple's Highly Anticipated iRack

On the heels of the highly anticipated Apple iPhone launch, Apple does it once again...BarryBlog readers...I bring you the remarkable...iRack.



( via James H )

IDEAS: Innovation. Creativity. CExO. Change

Profile of Jonathan Ive
“We try to solve very complicated problems without letting people know how complicated the problem was. That’s the appropriate thing…The way the parts [of the iPod shuffle] fit together is extraordinarily tight. I don’t think there’s ever been a product produced in such volume at that price, which has been given so much time and care. I’m really excited by that, and even if you can’t articulate its value, at some level I hope that integrity is obvious.

Gore-Tex is "fostering ongoing, consistent, breakthrough creativity"
“Bill Gore threw out the rules. He created a place with hardly any hierarchy and few ranks and titles. He insisted on direct, one-on-one communication; anyone in the company could speak to anyone else. In essence, he organized the company as though it were a bunch of small task forces. To promote this idea, he limited the size of teams — keeping even the manufacturing facilities to 150 to 200 people at most…[One employee says,] ‘Your team is your boss, because you don’t want to let them down. Everyone’s your boss, and no one’s your boss.’”

Coming soon: Chief Experience Officers
Adaptive Path interview with Lou Carbone: “When you look at the organizations of the past, [they were like] bus drivers driving buses along the prescribed route, [with a] certain number of stops to make and doing the same routine over and over again. And the customer really came along for the ride. Today, [when it comes to] doing business, the model is considerably more like taxis. We’re not even sure what the customer needs until the customer communicates [it to us] and we can anticipate what they want. Then what we end up doing is snapping together a set of capabilities to deliver the experience that they want. And that’s very, very different.”

Why is change so hard? Change or Die.
“Of course, radical change often isn’t possible in business situations. Still, it’s always important to identify, achieve, and celebrate some quick, positive results for the vital emotional lifts that they provide. Harvard’s Kotter believes in the importance of ‘short-term wins’ for companies, meaning ‘victories that nourish faith in the change effort, emotionally reward the hard workers, keep the critics at bay, and build momentum. Without sufficient wins that are visible, timely, unambiguous, and meaningful to others, change efforts invariably run into serious problems.’”

MORE of the same...

( via the geniuses 37 signals, and their Signal vs. Noise Blog )

Apple OSX Pro. Mega Tips and Inspiration.

Apple Inc. has a Pro website which you probably knew existed, but you've also never visited. I've discovered a treasure trove of resources there, including a huge archive of tips, profiles of inspiring people way smarter than the rest of us, and way more. Do yourself a favor and check the Apple Pro website. You can thank me later.

Apple's Steve Jobs: DRM, Music and options

This letter from Apple Incorporated's President and CEO Steve Jobs isn't what I would have imagined. I see this as a significant document, when you consider this exact moment in history, as well as the source.

iPhone Demo: The Nickel Tour

Granted the story of the newly announced and mega anticipated Apple iPhone has been the number one news story on nearly every blog (Including here and here) and network news channels for the last couple weeks, it dawned on me that not everyone has the time or interest to sit through a half hour replay of the Macworld conference keynote by Steve Jobs. So for those of you who are interested in a nickel tour, I have embedded a video for you. It's just a few minutes long and gives you a rather good idea of why everyone is drooling. Gizmodo and NYT's Pogue got to play with it live. (More drooling).

( via nonstopmac )

The Apple Recipe: Worth a Listen

I found this NPR OnTHEMEDIA coverage of Apple, Inc.'s "Recipe" for success interesting. You might too. (Especially if you are not behind a corporate internet proxy).

Ubiquitous iPhone post for Posterity

Should I ever be blessed with children, some day they can look back on when the ole' man posted on a "new iPhone." Man is dad old. On a more serious note, here's the iPhone rumor-mill in chronological order starting back in mid December 1999.