Tag Archives: product design

Many industries have relied on forms constructed of rigid angular geometries for ages. From bicycles to bridges, designers and architects know the value of the inherent strength and economy of resources that characterize this method. In recent years, designers in many other categories have adopted Angular Frameworks in fresh and...

We humans like to make our mark on the world: building structures, manufacturing products, creating systems both physical and virtual. When not a purely artistic endeavor, these works of ours usually bear the signs of a rational thought process, as opposed to the more organic evolutionary structures preferred by nature...

Iconic designs can embed themselves as powerful symbols in our minds, having the mental stickiness to persist for decades in our collective memory. An icon can be created via any type of design element: pattern (like Burberry tartan), color (Kodak Yellow or John Deere Green), or brand mark (the Google...

Up until recently, adorning entire surfaces with subtle repeating textures was only found in specific textile-based industries, such as handbags, footwear, and other fashion accessories. Seeing the luxurious visual properties inherent in a material like diamond-quilted black patent leather (as on the classic Chanel handbag), designers in other industries took...

This emerging trend is easy to describe: 1: visualize  form, 2: make with wire. Some of Alexander Calder’s earliest works in the mid-20th century were wire sculptures, where a single piece of wire was bent using only hands and pliers into thousands of different forms, from portraits to animals (eventually...

The use of Arcs and Ellipses to define physical shapes is a Declining Trend. For some perspective on this form/graphic design element’s origin: designers in the mid to late 1990s were extremely fond of putting arcs and ellipses on anything that wasn’t nailed down. The advent of 3D CAD modeling...

When it comes to accommodating the dynamics of the human form, it is critical that the tools and structures around us have a resilient capacity to flex, yield, and flow. This has long been the domain of specialized materials: from spongy cushions and fabrics that afford sitting, to rubber grips...

There are only so many ways to turn a corner. Although furniture makers have long used intricately-routed edges as decorative motifs, for decades product design was married to the all-mighty Radius. If a designer needed to transition from one surface to another, the only real decision was what size that...

The role of design in the global consumer economy has led to a surge in industry-wide sustainability awareness. Despite lagging other parts of the developed world, the last decade in the US has seen a spotlight put on the quantity of products we produce, the impact involved in their production...

Throughout our collective history, across all cultures, and in all types of products, the inspiration provided by the natural world around us has found its way into our artifacts. The pendulum always swings from strictly literal motifs to more abstract inspirations: even some of our first recorded artworks like the...