Interaction Design Studio Profile: Ideo, Inc.
In a society that has slowly shifted toward constant innovation, product performance has become an expectation. Consumer demand can be largely based on a product’s design, practicality, and efficiency. To plan the implementation of innovation, many firms will turn to an interaction design studio to aid in their objective. Ideo, Inc. (known as Ideo) is widely known as a jack-of-all trades within the industry of change and design management. Between the company’s extensive service offerings and extremely knowledgeable staff, Ideo has been in BusinessWeek’s 25 most innovative companies.
Ideo was founded in 1991, and was formed through the merger of three smaller design firms. Continually growing with their diverse portfolio of services, Ideo began making a name for itself through the design and development of many familiar and well-known products, including Apple, Inc’s first Mouse for the Macintosh Computer. Design expert Tim Brown leads current executive management as the firm’s CEO. Additionally, Tim Brown has gained substantial recognition for his two books published on design thinking, as well as the numerous blogs, seminars and lectures he conducts. Mr. Brown has been responsible for leading the company to large gains and significant profitability.
Ideo is such a unique company because they really vary on what kinds of design consulting they offer. Their services include but are not limited to product design, interactive products and interfaces as well as corporate structure and strategic planning frameworks (which falls under management consulting). For the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on their contracted project for PNC Bank. This project was created in partnership with Ideo to implement the popular “Virtual Wallet” Banking Experience. PNC Bank wanted to expand and grow with a specific focus on “Generation Y”. With technology constantly evolving and younger Americans growing up with these products, online banking has been identified as a cultural norm. Ideo performed extensive market research to help identify the current and potentially future trends of the target market. With social networking and constant “connectivity” becoming more and more acceptable, Ideo knew that Generation-Y would have a need for “integration through embedded technology”. This kind of technology provides seamless and constant access to relevant financial information. Additional features include a mobile phone application (to allow anytime access), as well as a budgeting feature that allows an accountholder to place a certain amount of money in a restricted sub-account that will help those not good at budgeting become more fiscally responsible.
By helping PNC create a visually pleasing, market-specific online interface, Ideo was able to expand traditional banking into the competitive interactive market. Ideo changes the general perception of “design”. The company believes that every project they work on requires extensive numerical, statistical, and verified data that will help structure the product. Each project needs a focus and design objectives that will help the design team create an effective platform. All of Ideo’s design concepts are rigorously tested and challenged, which is another reason why the company is one of the industry’s leaders.
Works Cited
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/design-strategy.html
http://www.hoovers.com
http://www.ideo.com/
http://www.ideo.com/work/item/virtual-wallet-interactive-banking-experience/
http://www.ted.com/speakers/tim_brown.html
Thursday, May 13, 2010
102b paper
Funny Garbage Design Studio
Upon receiving the requirements for this assignment, I researched all four firms to see what company would be the most interesting to write about. After reading about all of the firms’ growth and success, Funny Garbage stuck out the most. Their website was bright and not overwhelming, with informal and almost “warm” friendly blurbs about their processes and their values. The pictures for the employees are light, casual, and modern. Established over 15 years ago, Funny Garbage has created a very positive reputation surrounding their product and service offerings.
The company has four main sectors that they are involved in: Entertainment, Websites, Applications, and Digital Business. All of these divisions are different, however fundamentally are very similar. Funny Garbage is a multiple-award winning firm, and it is because of their strategic approach at creating a project. Unlike traditional web design firms, Funny Garbage focuses on market demand as well as the psychology of perception and aesthetics. Their management style is also quite unique, because their design team is able to create and implement concepts without being stifled. This combination of an expert team and a new approach to design concepts has produced groundbreaking platforms. The company’s about us states it best:
‘Although Funny Garbage is best known in the industry for its award-winning graphic design, we have a world-class technology department that has been instrumental in establishing the company’s reputation. Design and technology are inseparable processes at Funny Garbage. We design for functionality, economy and scalability first, and then make a site look compelling and feel engaging.”
One project that stood out to me was their collaboration with Japanese Company Dentsu. The website Willing-to-try.com was created in 1999, and has won numerous awards (Flash Film Festival 2000 Award, ID Magazine Interactive Media Design Awards 2000, and New Media Invision 1999 Award (Best of Show). The website looks simplistic, with the flat linear drawings. At first glance, I didn’t notice anything particularly innovative. However after playing around on the site for almost half an hour, I was intrigued by the ease of use and the sophisticated interactive system the website has.
Dentsu wanted to create a program that would be captivating, simplistic, and educationally stimulating. Funny Garbage provided all of the research and concepts surrounding the project, presenting a new way to incorporate active learning into everyday life. The platform of the website involves user interaction; the visitor chooses certain words that most associates with the simple abstract shapes shown on the screen. These words then change the image to produce a different abstract scenario. The concept behind this simple website truly is innovative and groundbreaking, especially because this came out in 1999! The Internet has evolved and morphed so drastically over the past ten years, that a website like Willing-to-try.com is well beyond the technology at the time. Funny Garbage has continued to create groundbreaking media and graphic design, and has continued to use a very methodical and logical approach towards their concepts. This unique business model has and will continue to ensure success for Funny Garbage in the years to come.
Works Cited
www.funnygarbage.com
www.willing-to-try.com
www.hoovers.com
Upon receiving the requirements for this assignment, I researched all four firms to see what company would be the most interesting to write about. After reading about all of the firms’ growth and success, Funny Garbage stuck out the most. Their website was bright and not overwhelming, with informal and almost “warm” friendly blurbs about their processes and their values. The pictures for the employees are light, casual, and modern. Established over 15 years ago, Funny Garbage has created a very positive reputation surrounding their product and service offerings.
The company has four main sectors that they are involved in: Entertainment, Websites, Applications, and Digital Business. All of these divisions are different, however fundamentally are very similar. Funny Garbage is a multiple-award winning firm, and it is because of their strategic approach at creating a project. Unlike traditional web design firms, Funny Garbage focuses on market demand as well as the psychology of perception and aesthetics. Their management style is also quite unique, because their design team is able to create and implement concepts without being stifled. This combination of an expert team and a new approach to design concepts has produced groundbreaking platforms. The company’s about us states it best:
‘Although Funny Garbage is best known in the industry for its award-winning graphic design, we have a world-class technology department that has been instrumental in establishing the company’s reputation. Design and technology are inseparable processes at Funny Garbage. We design for functionality, economy and scalability first, and then make a site look compelling and feel engaging.”
One project that stood out to me was their collaboration with Japanese Company Dentsu. The website Willing-to-try.com was created in 1999, and has won numerous awards (Flash Film Festival 2000 Award, ID Magazine Interactive Media Design Awards 2000, and New Media Invision 1999 Award (Best of Show). The website looks simplistic, with the flat linear drawings. At first glance, I didn’t notice anything particularly innovative. However after playing around on the site for almost half an hour, I was intrigued by the ease of use and the sophisticated interactive system the website has.
Dentsu wanted to create a program that would be captivating, simplistic, and educationally stimulating. Funny Garbage provided all of the research and concepts surrounding the project, presenting a new way to incorporate active learning into everyday life. The platform of the website involves user interaction; the visitor chooses certain words that most associates with the simple abstract shapes shown on the screen. These words then change the image to produce a different abstract scenario. The concept behind this simple website truly is innovative and groundbreaking, especially because this came out in 1999! The Internet has evolved and morphed so drastically over the past ten years, that a website like Willing-to-try.com is well beyond the technology at the time. Funny Garbage has continued to create groundbreaking media and graphic design, and has continued to use a very methodical and logical approach towards their concepts. This unique business model has and will continue to ensure success for Funny Garbage in the years to come.
Works Cited
www.funnygarbage.com
www.willing-to-try.com
www.hoovers.com
cool animation
our aspirations for our next animation:
http://koikoikoi.com/2010/02/davidopes-mesmerizing-animations/
"What does the client do (and can they say it concisely)?
What doesn't the client do, or do well (especially in respect to competitors)?
What differentiates the client from their competitors?
You need a client to sell you on their product, but you also need to identify their shortcomings, which are key for seeing how to position a client. For example, finding out that your client has higher prices and more fragile products, but better warranties and customer service, might lead to different design decisions. Looking at what they don't do also focuses the brainstorming work later on."
What doesn't the client do, or do well (especially in respect to competitors)?
What differentiates the client from their competitors?
You need a client to sell you on their product, but you also need to identify their shortcomings, which are key for seeing how to position a client. For example, finding out that your client has higher prices and more fragile products, but better warranties and customer service, might lead to different design decisions. Looking at what they don't do also focuses the brainstorming work later on."
Shin Paper
Instead of forcing myself not to write about the most obvious and popular choice of typefaces, I realized I was too conscious of it as an option. I decided to figure out my own opinion on the love/hate relationship of the most avant-garde font: Helvetica. Introduced now 53 years ago by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger, the letters have affected font lovers everywhere and the consensus seems: you either love it or you hate it.
In New York, Helvetica first erupted on the scene in the subways, where it was imperative for fast motion signs to be easily readable. The hooks and curves that caused the eye more work in serif fonts simply were impractical. From there, Standard typeface was used for a while in the subway stations. It was subtle differences in letters such as the J, C, 2, and 3 that caused designers to feel Helvetica was the subways best visual choice. For the next 20 years its popularity quickly rose as typography became a vital partner to visual information. “Fonts are image, and image is modern America.” [Yaffa]
In the busy, bustling large city residents, face pace is inevitable; legibility almost as important as the gaps between the train and platform. In the stressful atmosphere, the newly designed typeface possessed efficiency and was almost soothingly simple. “You are going to get to your destination on time; your plane will not crash; your money is safe in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been filled in; everything is going to be OK.” [http://www.nikibrown.com/designoblog/2009/01/23/do-you-hate-helvetica/#ixzz0nmheiQ7s]
According to a New York Times article, the new font depicts modern art with its impulse toward innovation, simplicity and abstraction. “Its versatility is showcased in shots of storefronts, street signs, public transportation systems, government forms, advertisements and newspaper vending boxes.” Is it used too often though? Many would argue yes. Massimo Vignelli has said: it is a face that truly tells you how to set it if you will listen. “Some praise it as a conceptual breakthrough; others blast it as a lowest-common-denominator typeface whose use both reflects and perpetuates conformity.”
Many Helvetiva “haters” are developed solely through the overuse and misuse of the actually very smart typeface. It is aesthetically relaxing.
It is aesthetically relaxing. When we read text, our minds should not have to think of anything but the ideas on the page, or sign, or poster, or T-shirt. We shouldn’t waste processing time, and that ultimately is what successful design is about. It is beauty is simplicity – appreciating how the design of each typed letter is actually affecting your perspective of an idea. Some blogs truly had some picky opponents. “I find the wavy character of the descending stroke on the capital “R” and the entire shape of the lowercase “e” to be infuriating in a completely irrational way.” So many graphic designers rage at the monotonous "corporate chic" of this ruling type. Thought even as “vehicle for social conformity through consumerism, shifting product with a great big steam-roller of neutrality.” Is Helvetica really just an annoying trend? As designers, should we disregard the font as overused and cliché?
Personally, I think the font is for the most part very rational, almost too much what you would expect, much like other forms of the most current contemporary art ideas. It seems as though those who appreciate Readymade, Conceptual, and Neo Pop art are most likely Helvetica fans. It is the crisp, simple, easy to interpret visually yet impossible to dissect its meaning. All these characteristics are seen in modernism, and has about as much as a hate club as a fan club.
With Helvetica, however, it is difficult to find a font as lasting. It has made such progress and created such ease, almost unable to be perfected. Could it be the “perfect” font (If perfect meant the same as irreplaceable)? Can one really argue where Helvetica should and should not be used?
One article expressed the anger typeface designers felt when noticing a typographical inaccuracy in the background of a movie set years before the birth of Helvetica. Hollywood features that spend millions on period production design and it is unbelievable that such high educated candidates are hired whom overlook such an important factor (especially if their only job is background DESIGN). Among a probably very small segment of the audience, that is an outrage.
MUJI, AGFA, SAAB, IBM, Oral B, BMW, Staples, Kawasaki and Panasonic are just some companies proudly advocating the typeface. The film Helvetica showed how many were arguing how content should speak for itself rather than the message being driven by and imposed through the design. Helvetica does exactly this with its minimalism. Because of its controversy and misjudgments, designers who choose Helvetica today do so for very different reasons than its more practical reasons in the ‘60s. Is it the same stream of consciousness, however, while choosing it as a paper topic?
In New York, Helvetica first erupted on the scene in the subways, where it was imperative for fast motion signs to be easily readable. The hooks and curves that caused the eye more work in serif fonts simply were impractical. From there, Standard typeface was used for a while in the subway stations. It was subtle differences in letters such as the J, C, 2, and 3 that caused designers to feel Helvetica was the subways best visual choice. For the next 20 years its popularity quickly rose as typography became a vital partner to visual information. “Fonts are image, and image is modern America.” [Yaffa]
In the busy, bustling large city residents, face pace is inevitable; legibility almost as important as the gaps between the train and platform. In the stressful atmosphere, the newly designed typeface possessed efficiency and was almost soothingly simple. “You are going to get to your destination on time; your plane will not crash; your money is safe in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been filled in; everything is going to be OK.” [http://www.nikibrown.com/designoblog/2009/01/23/do-you-hate-helvetica/#ixzz0nmheiQ7s]
According to a New York Times article, the new font depicts modern art with its impulse toward innovation, simplicity and abstraction. “Its versatility is showcased in shots of storefronts, street signs, public transportation systems, government forms, advertisements and newspaper vending boxes.” Is it used too often though? Many would argue yes. Massimo Vignelli has said: it is a face that truly tells you how to set it if you will listen. “Some praise it as a conceptual breakthrough; others blast it as a lowest-common-denominator typeface whose use both reflects and perpetuates conformity.”
Many Helvetiva “haters” are developed solely through the overuse and misuse of the actually very smart typeface. It is aesthetically relaxing.
It is aesthetically relaxing. When we read text, our minds should not have to think of anything but the ideas on the page, or sign, or poster, or T-shirt. We shouldn’t waste processing time, and that ultimately is what successful design is about. It is beauty is simplicity – appreciating how the design of each typed letter is actually affecting your perspective of an idea. Some blogs truly had some picky opponents. “I find the wavy character of the descending stroke on the capital “R” and the entire shape of the lowercase “e” to be infuriating in a completely irrational way.” So many graphic designers rage at the monotonous "corporate chic" of this ruling type. Thought even as “vehicle for social conformity through consumerism, shifting product with a great big steam-roller of neutrality.” Is Helvetica really just an annoying trend? As designers, should we disregard the font as overused and cliché?
Personally, I think the font is for the most part very rational, almost too much what you would expect, much like other forms of the most current contemporary art ideas. It seems as though those who appreciate Readymade, Conceptual, and Neo Pop art are most likely Helvetica fans. It is the crisp, simple, easy to interpret visually yet impossible to dissect its meaning. All these characteristics are seen in modernism, and has about as much as a hate club as a fan club.
With Helvetica, however, it is difficult to find a font as lasting. It has made such progress and created such ease, almost unable to be perfected. Could it be the “perfect” font (If perfect meant the same as irreplaceable)? Can one really argue where Helvetica should and should not be used?
One article expressed the anger typeface designers felt when noticing a typographical inaccuracy in the background of a movie set years before the birth of Helvetica. Hollywood features that spend millions on period production design and it is unbelievable that such high educated candidates are hired whom overlook such an important factor (especially if their only job is background DESIGN). Among a probably very small segment of the audience, that is an outrage.
MUJI, AGFA, SAAB, IBM, Oral B, BMW, Staples, Kawasaki and Panasonic are just some companies proudly advocating the typeface. The film Helvetica showed how many were arguing how content should speak for itself rather than the message being driven by and imposed through the design. Helvetica does exactly this with its minimalism. Because of its controversy and misjudgments, designers who choose Helvetica today do so for very different reasons than its more practical reasons in the ‘60s. Is it the same stream of consciousness, however, while choosing it as a paper topic?
I have many friends that are either chef's themselves or work in the restaurant business and one thing i have noticed most is that they all seem to have many useful tools for the kitchen that each of them think are the best. After reviewing the core77 website, I noticed a travel bag that three Carnegie Mellon ID students had created to allow chef's to pack pretty much all their kitchen tools in and go anywhere with. The bag has many different compartments and facilitates different sized and sharp tool. It also is very simple and makes organization very easy. I believe this would help many chef's with the problem of moving their cooking tools from one place to another and i believe it has a very pleasant look to it. It does not bulge or look awkward at all.
Teen Engineering has created a new product called the OP-1 Synthesizer and Controller. This product serves as multipurpose musical device. It can be used as a controller when you connect it to your computer. It can be used synthesizer on its own and finally it could be used as a recorder, f.m. player, and possibly a mp3 player. It also picks up different motions and vibrations, which could effect each sound created. Not only is this product very useful, but it is esthetically pleasing. The product is sleek and thin, with a white glossy finish. It also has nicely sized buttons with the same finish and for some with a color designated to an action. Over all I found this item to be extremely useful to anyone beginning their music career. I also think this product is pleasing because of its looks and size of it, it is very similar to the look of apple products, which we all have noticed has become a big trend today.
As a New Yorker, I have seen the city change over the years. Some areas for the better and some for the worse, but one thing is for sure, it keeps changing. After reading the article entitled The Lower East Side, Before It Boomed from the new york times, I have come to notice that I am not the only one that has seen the life and culture of New York City change over the years. Over time the lower east side of Manhattan has become a spot for young active life, but at one time it was a place for artists, visionaries, druggies, gangs, and the homeless. A man named Clayton Patterson has documented these changes for more than 30 years and now is releasing art galleries, books, videos, and soon a movie about the lower east side and its changes over the years. From now until November 8Th, Patterson has an exhibition entitled “Clayton Patterson: L.E.S. Captured.” He also has a book called “Captured: A Film/Video History of the Lower East Side” and a new book soon to release entitled "Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side.” Patterson believes that the culture and life of the Lower East Side has slowly vanished and it is because it has become a more expensive and developed area. With the lower class came culture, art, and things that many other people would never see in their lives.
fter skimming through the core77 website I came across a new interior airplane design from an inventor named Emil Jacob. He has created a design that gives each person a much more private and more comfortable flight, only carry on luggage, and increase passenger and luggage capacity. It has been a very long time since we have seen a change in passenger planes for a reasonable price. This design is created to help both the business and coach class have a pleasant trip. I believe after a lot of testing and redesigns, we may see this idea used in the future. Jacob has called this product the Flex-Seat and has already done extensive research intro its capabilities and saftey.
As a mac user I feel like I have the same computer as every other person at my school. Many of the dells and sonys sold today have an option to customize the look of the computer. Well now there is an option to do the same with your mac, but it is not brought to us by apple. A company called Engrave Your Tech has come up with a way to laser engrave different products including many apple products. I believe this is a nice aesthetic addition to the macbook and other products, it create somewhat of a individualism for everyone rather than having the same product as the person next to you.
As a graphic design student, I take my laptop with me everywhere. After using my laptop for awhile I decide it was getting too hot, so I went out and bought a laptop stand with fans built in. This is great for when I used my laptop at home, but doesn't help at all when I take it out of my home. The AviiQ portable aluminum stand is perfect for someone like me. It folds down to a small flat panel and when you want to use it, you simply fold it out and place your laptop on top of it.
http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2009/11/0aviiq.jpg
leeanas senior project
i did the flash animation for leeanas drawings viewable at:
www.leeanabenson.com
www.leeanabenson.com
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