Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56. This is a great loss to the entire world (especially of art and technology). Steve Jobs’s contribution has had an immeasurable impact in our lives and it will be felt for generations to come.

During his more than three decade-long career, Mr. Jobs transformed Silicon Valley as he helped turn the once sleepy expanse of fruit orchards into the technology industry’s innovation center. In addition to laying the groundwork for the high-tech industry alongside other pioneers like Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, Mr. Jobs proved the appeal of well-designed products over the sheer power of technology itself and shifted the way consumers interact with technology. He redefined the experience of personal computing and showed the world that when products are created with art and passion, it will change the way we interact with it forever.

“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.” said by Mr. Bill Gates.

In fact there are many instances where Steve tried to prove a point to his employees that had an immediate impact on how the rest of the lives would turn out. Here’s one such instance:

One day, he was so upset by his employees’ lack of creativity that he grabbed a chair and started hammering it against the wall and used so much force that he smashed a hole big enough to see into the next room. He dramatically made his point: there’s more beyond the four walls of a room and the “walls” of our minds.

Jobs shook up our reality in order for us to “Think Different,” as the Apple slogan goes.

As a tribute to his unprecedented contribution to the world of design and innovation, I have handpicked some of his most memorable quotes and shared them with you. It is guaranteed to change your lives as it did to many of his ardent followers and fans, those who loved him for his work and vision. Those who believed in him and those who love and embrace innovation.. which includes all of us :)

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Here are a few quotes that impacts deeply in our lives as designers and innovators:

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.”

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

and last but by no means least..

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Thanks for being insanely great,  Steve. We’ll miss you :’(

All thanks to AllaboutStevejobs.com for their wonderful collection of his photos. Make sure you visit the site and browse through the pictures. Here is an obituary from WSJ which touches deeply to those to admired Steve.

Related posts:

1. What does it take to become a great designer?
2. What makes a great product design? From thoughts to reality

Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along and changes everything. We have been very fortunate to live in this generation which has transformed the conventional design culture into a uber-geeky one. Companies are continually striving to create new products equipped with cutting edge technologies. Such nail biting competitions can only most often give way to innovation and progress.

Today, we are on the verge of a technological breakthrough where our handheld devices are becoming faster than our desktops and laptops. Components are shrinking at a considerable rate and providing opportunities to design engineers to come up with lighter and more powerful products. This an example of how design and engineering is mutually evolving at an alarming rate. What is new today will become obsolete tomorrow. Amidst all this changes, how do the product designers and engineers make sure the product meets the expectations of the consumers and also keep evolving from time to time creating not just a renewable environment but a sustainable one.

Design is not just about making things look pretty. It gives a product structure and function more than just form and style, but in a general sense however, it doesn’t matter whether it is a product, a building or even a web application, unless the underlying structure isn’t given enough attention (to the very last detail), the final product will ultimately be a failure regardless of how good it looks from the outside.

Product designing has been through a lot of transformations in the past couple of decades. When the consumers were getting bored of conventional aesthetics, they needed something that would brighten up their living spaces and eventually making their lives a lot more interesting. The advent of newer and more durable materials made it possible for design engineers to think beyond the box and create products that would not only function with a high degree of perfection but also create products that would make users fall in love with them.

Product design, itself, is often difficult to define to non-designers because the meaning accepted by the design community is not one made of words. Instead, the definition is created as a result of acquiring a critical framework for the analysis and creation of artifacts. It is critical to the product development process that the industrial design and engineering aspects of a product are considered simultaneously.

Wikipedia puts it this way, “Product designers conceptualize and evaluate ideas, making them tangible through products in a more systematic approach. Their role is to combine art, science and technology to create tangible three-dimensional goods. This evolving role has been facilitated by digital tools that allow designers to communicate, visualize and analyze ideas in a way that would have taken greater manpower in the past.”

In this article, we will learn what product design means, and how we can strive towards creating great products. We will also learn the principles of design, as practiced by the ‘Father of modern product design’ -Dieter Rams, and also how the world of product design is going to shape itself in the near future.

Note : This is a pretty detailed article. I urge you to read it completely so that you get a clear picture on how to approach product design in a more sophisticated way.

How to go about designing the right product?

Product design is not just about creating a great product. It also reflects the culture upheld by the brand. Innovation has a different impact when the product is something you can hold and love. A tangible product tells you much more about a brand than an advertisement. A product (or service) also gives you insights into how that business sees the world–your world–and the role that they would like to play in it. There are several methods employed in the product design process that enables the design engineers to come up good ideas and eventually a great product. Although most of these methods use the general aspects of ‘Creative problem solving and analysis‘, one such methodology commonly referred to as ‘Design Thinking‘ is a proven and repeatable problem-solving protocol that any business or profession can employ to achieve extraordinary results.

There are several steps involved in ‘design thinking’ process, starting from ideation to the evaluation of the final product. I would like to share some of my thoughts on what steps one must employ to create products that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functionally great.

1) Define the problem

2) Identify the need

3) Research the problem

4) Brainstorming possible solutions

5) Engineering analysis

6) Construct a prototype

7) Evaluate/Manufacture the final product

Now let us look at the above steps in detail. Please remember that steps are in order. We start by identifying the problem and end up evaluating the final product.

1) Define the problem

Sounds simple but doing it right is perhaps the most important of all the seven stages. Another way to say it is, ‘defining the right problem to solve’. Design thinking requires a team or business to always question in brief, the problem to be solved. To participate in defining the opportunity and to revise the opportunity before embarking on its creation and execution. Participation usually involves immersion and the intense cross examination of the filters that have been employed in defining a problem.

In design thinking observation takes center stage. Observation can discern what people really do as opposed to what you are told that they do. Getting out of the cubicle and involving oneself in the process, product, user experience and the operating theater is fundamental. No one’s life was ever changed by just a PowerPoint presentation.

Design thinking is a very powerful tool and when used effectively, can be the foundation for driving a brand or business forward.

2) Identify the need

After having formulated the problem in a way the entire team comprehends, we start out by identifying the need for our product. Instead of asking “what do we want to design?” we ask “why do we want to design that?” and “what problem and or need will our design ultimately be solving?”

Next, we may want to identify our target population, which is the group of people who will benefit from our product. Is the target population ultimately one individual, a group of individuals, a specific community, or a larger, identifiable population? Is the target population from a specific location (country, region, town), demographic (age or gender), or other identifying characteristics (health condition or employment)? How is our target population connected?

After we understand our need and our target population, we will identify our requirements and constraints. A requirement is a need or a necessity; it’s what a particular product or service should do. A constraint is a restriction on the degree of freedom you have in providing a solution to a need or problem. For example, a child may be required by its parents to receive good grades. At the same time, it may be constrained by other activities such as work, sports, sleep, spending time with friends, and so on. Although worthwhile, these time constraints may impinge on the amount of time it has to study. So, its challenge would be to find out how to meet the requirement of receiving good grades under the given time constraints.

Back to our product design — our final step today is to develop a project definition within each of our design teams. This includes relating the product design or need to some aspect of our personal lives. Ultimately, we want to design something that would help us if we were experiencing the same problem or need as our target population.

3) Research the problem

Similar to real-world engineers, we must develop a thorough knowledge base of the information related to our design to determine if a similar product already exists or if any regulatory and standards issues (such as intellectual property issues, safety or environmental issues) exist that must be considered in the design of the product. We do this by conducting a variety of information searches and compiling all the information in a useful way.

Sometimes it is hard to know what information we need to find before we have a product design. One way to identify what information we should be looking for is to break down our problem statement or “need” into an idea web. An idea web starts with the main need or problem in the middle of a piece of paper. Then the team draws branches from the main problem to represent different parts of the problem, such as audience, requirements, constraints, and questions. Each designer on the team may choose to or be assigned to focus on addressing one particular part of the problem or the team may work together to establish the knowledge base. Often, new questions arise, requiring the team to do additional background research in order to answer them.

A patent search is another way to find existing information about a related product. This type of search is often done by design engineers in the beginning stages of product design and is really helpful for avoiding designs that infringe on an idea that has legal protection. Many websites offer information on existing patents, including the US patent and Trademark Office.

Standards and codes developed by industry or federal, state or local governments are also important to know for product design. Standards are any agreed-upon common criteria, item or process that helps to ensure the safety and interchangeability of a product. For example, having standard bolt sizes helps designers communicate to manufacturers located elsewhere exactly which bolt to use in making a product. A code is a collection of standards that are mandatory for use in the development of a particular item. For example, building codes specify the height and area limitations for certain types of buildings in a city.

Reverse engineering an existing product is another way to learn about technologies that relate to the design of a new product. When possible, design engineers test competitor’s products to determine how to make their new design even better. They take products apart to figure out how they work, and then they often reassemble them to see how the parts interact. Reverse engineering requires careful observation, dis-assembly, documentation, analysis and reporting.

Lastly, user interviews can give us valuable insight into a product design. We have already identified our target population, and, when possible, interviewing members of that population about our product can be extremely helpful. After all, it is the customer who ultimately determines whether a product is a success or failure. It is important to communicate often with the user during the design process. It is useful to use props during the interviews to watch how a user interacts with a product. Sometimes how the user uses the product is more telling than what they say about it. Gathering initial data from the user helps the engineering team identify which aspects of the problem are the most important to address for its audience.

4) Brainstorming possible solutions

Brainstorming is a team creativity activity that helps generate a large number of potential solutions to a problem. By this point, you should have a good understanding of your design challenge. You and your team have worked to define the problem, identify the project’s constraints and requirements, and complete some background research.

When we are working to first come up with ideas, we want to keep open minds and encourage all ideas — even if they don’t seem realistic. We want to withhold criticism of our ideas and those from our team members. Also, when we brainstorm, we are striving for quantity of ideas, not quality. It also improves your chances that you will find your main prize!

Brainstorming is meant to encourage creative thinking; however, some basic ground rules make it more successful. Most importantly, when you are brainstorming, remember to withhold criticism of any ideas, including your own. Don’t worry about saying something that seems silly or unrealistic. Silly ideas can lead to excellent creative design solutions!

5) Engineering Analysis

Engineering analysis distinguishes true engineering design from “tinkering”. It can be described as the breaking down of an object, system, problem or issue into its basic elements to get at its essential features and their relationships to each other and to external elements. Often, a thorough and varied analysis of a design prior to implementation leads to increased safety and efficiency in using the product.

Engineering analysis helps us make decisions and guide the design process. A design project without analysis is like a softball team without a coach, a ship without a sail, or a class without a teacher. Basically, it is the breaking down of an object, system or problem, into its fundamental parts to understand their relationships to each other and to outside elements.

For example, let’s say you are a part of a team of engineers working to reduce the number of car accidents that occur during rush-hour traffic. You might start by generating a set of design alternatives to this problem: Expand the roads and highways? Build more bike routes? Design a new subway system? Let’s say your team determines the best alternative is the expansion of roads and highways. Now another design analysis is needed: How many new stoplights should be constructed? How many lanes do we need? How much money will it cost to maintain these new roads? Will many trees need to be cut down? If so, will this displace birds and other wildlife? Even in the case of building a new road, engineers must analyze the impacts of the new road on the city budget and the surrounding environment and impacted wildlife.

6) Construct a Prototype

Prototyping is underutilized in product development. And you don’t need specialized knowledge to develop them. Fearing failure stifles creativity and progress. If you’re not failing, you’re not going to innovate. Do your product or service a favour: embrace failure and blueprint a plan that affords you the opportunity to do it early and often. Prototyping can help you do just that.

A prototype is a working model of a product that is used for testing before it is manufactured. Prototypes help designers learn about the manufacturing process of a product, how people will use the product, and how the product could fail or break. Getting the idea out of the designer’s head and into a demonstrable format is an effective process for eliminating initial shortcomings and misplaced design assumptions.

Iteration is when design engineers try again and re-design, re-build and re-test. Designers often iterate many times before determining the final solution to a problem. Once a successful prototype has been developed, the engineering team can use it as a mock-up for full-scale manufacturing.

Including quick prototyping in the design process will not only help communicate your ideas but allow you to harness one of the virtues of creating something truly innovative: failure.

7) Evaluate the final product

Creating a final product is the culmination of the product design process. Although you will be manufacturing a final product, you won’t be doing so on a large industrial scale. Instead, to create your final creation, you will work with more advanced materials than what you used to make your prototype.

Prototypes are used to explore design alternatives, test theories, confirm performance, and ensure a product is safe and user-friendly. A successful prototype is used as the basis for creating a final product. The goal is to extract the most successful features of the prototypes and integrate them to create a final product.

Before constructing the final product, it is important to have a detailed engineering drawing in hand. An engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing used to fully and clearly define requirements for manufacture of the product. These drawings usually provide information on materials and dimensions, as well as multiple drawing views of the product.

What you want to do is select the most successful attributes of your final prototype and incorporate them into your final product. For example, maybe you designed a promising hinging mechanism for your prototype that could work even better with sturdier materials—say pieces of sheet metal and screws. Now, you can apply advanced techniques to achieve a step of improvement in the final model, by understanding the shortcomings in the prototypes.

Being design-driven helps achieve perfection

In this article, Robert Brunner explains how a company must use the aspects of design pervasively. Instead of making design just one of the several steps in the process, encourage every person in the project to understand and embrace the principles of design in their contribution. Let design take the center stage instead of just a cameo appearance. Look at the entire system as a whole instead of just isolating the design concept.

The problem is that, most companies look at design as a single step in the process to deliver a product. The better ones also view it as a corporate identity or brand function to control their outward image. But typical management thinking isolates these functions to ensure consistency and rule-keeping. “Design it please, then get the hell out of the way so that we can do our job.”

The relatively few companies in the world that are really design-driven know how to use design as the motivational factor to achieve great results. Design is, in fact, everybody’s job. Rather than making design a single step in the process where requirements flow in and ideas flow out, they see design as a constant topic of discussion across all disciplines and steps in the process. It is not a vertical stripe in the horizontal process flow, but a horizontal one that extends from inception through customer service and end of life. Apple has shown us that true consumer experience starts right from the box. So that is why even the packages in which the iDevices are shipped are so creatively designed to let users enjoy the experience even before they lay their eyes on the product.

So if you really want design to be in the driver’s seat, better start giving everyone the keys.

Follow the principles of good design

Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colors and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?

As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the ‘Ten commandments’.)

1) Good design is innovative.

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

2) Good design makes a product useful.

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

3) Good design is aesthetic.

The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

4) Good design helps us to understand a product.

It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

5) Good design is unobtrusive.

Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

6) Good design is honest.

It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

7) Good design is long-lasting.

It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

8) Good design is thorough, down to the last detail.

Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

9) Good design is environment-friendly.

Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

10) Good design is as little design as possible.

Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

A step towards sustainable design:

We are getting better at understanding what needs to happen to develop great products. The product/service development tool kit has expanded greatly in the 20 years. There is design research to ascertain the needs of the user. There is design narrative to give meaning to products and product interactions. There is design strategy to consider the things we make in broader context. Designers are striving to answer larger questions and calling on a broader set of specialties. We’re doing more and more to understand design problems and search for opportunities. We must be careful to balance this new understanding with a vocabulary that allows for us to express it.

We need to take more responsibility for the uncertain state of the world around us; to consider how we can continue to live on a planet with finite resources if we simply throw everything away. We must live in a way which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The need of the hour is not just to create renewable products but sustainable ones.

Sources and references:

1) Teach Engineering – Creative Engineering Design

2) Industrial Design – Wikipedia

3) 4 fields of Industrial design

4) 30 most important books for product designers

Related posts:

1. The art of Design/Creative thinking : 10 ways to foster Innovation
2. Steve Jobs : A visionary, an innovator, a designer and a great human being. We’ll miss you!
3. What does it take to become a great designer?

A sunflower, symmetry of a microbe, fur of a zebra, flocks of birds, ocean waves. These and thousands of other images are the kaleidoscope of patterns and forms that nature presents to us over a lifetime. Nature has provided artists with inspiration since the beginning of time.

An appreciation of patterns in nature involves both art and science. Some of us enjoy the art and leave the science alone. And a few of us cannot take that hike into the woods or along the beach without absorbing the beauty of the moment and then searching for a new understanding about why things happen as they do. And the rest of us just admire nature and are just baffled beyond explanation to say anything.

The unfathomable degree of complexity :

Taking inspiration from Mother Nature isn’t a bad idea. After all, nature has managed to create a complex self-sustaining system of life supporting millions of species over billions of years. There is a lot we can learn about design from natural systems, and many designers, engineers and thinkers over the last century have found inspiration in nature. From buildings and bridges to machines and medicine, examining the intricacies of the natural system in which we exist has aided in the development of improving almost every aspect of human life. Our relationship with nature’s patterns yields both an infinitely rich display of beautiful things and a manifestation of the underlying order in our world. Enough material for many lifetimes of contemplation and study.

Virus, mold and bacterial aggregate colonies spontaneously assume Fractal Shapes

When observed deeply, it becomes quite apparent that the Nature’s design follows certain mathematical aspects. To try and understand how Nature extrapolates its design, mathematics is and has been a great tool which designers and mathematicians like Fibonacci have used since times immemorial. Artists and architects have also used since ancient times many geometrical and mathematical properties : we could take some examples simply by observing the refined use of the proportions by architects from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome or other Renaissance artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci or Raphael.

Now, these patterns that we see in Nature are not a direct influence of how our human race has evolved since the beginning of time but rather have manifested itself in a enigmatic manner which the human being will probably never be able to comprehend (or might take a few more thousands of years)

The natural world abounds in eye-catching patterns. Consider the synchronized movements of a school of fish gliding through deep ocean waters; or the coordinated turns and swoops of a flock of starlings whirling among tall trees before coming to rest on a telephone wire. How do all the individuals in the school or the flock avoid collisions with their neighbors? How do they orchestrate their graceful movements?

Think of the striking regularity of alternating light and dark stripes on a zebra’s coat, or the scintillating pattern on a sunflower. On a still smaller scale, magnified several hundred times, similar patterns emerge on the surface of a pollen grain.

The living world is filled with striped and mottled patterns of contrasting colors; with sculptural equivalents of those patterns realized as surface crests and troughs; with patterns of organization and behavior even among individual organisms. People have long been tempted to find some obscure “intelligence” behind all these biological patterns.

For some people who come to appreciate this point, it then becomes tempting to attribute such complex patterns and processes to innate behaviors, instincts, or genetic information encoded deep within the chromosomes of the organism. But such “simple explanations” are not likely and, in the best of cases, they merely sweep the question under the carpet. What then is the origin of all this stunning complexity?

Wing of a dragonfly, detail

The very fabric of Nature has always allured me and kept me swimming in the sea of astonishment. I often wondered how such patterns arose, but never found an explanation. Looking back, I think part of the difficulty was that people didn’t have the tools needed to explore the question. But today, we have highly sophisticated tools and devices which help us understand (to a certain extent) and appreciate the beauty and intricacy of nature.

In the past several decades, however, a rich convergence of insight has come from a wide range of scientific disciplines, including biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Out of that mix the field of complex systems emerged. I consider myself extremely lucky to be living in this generation to be given a chance to witness such a magnificent advancement in science and research. To understand them, the dynamic and often remarkably complex interactions among the subunits must be taken into account. One has to see rather than just look to notice the amount of attention that has been given to the smallest of details.

Chaotic fractal formation due to electrical discharge

Now you may start to ponder on how this pattern exists in all life forms and who initiated such a brilliant design. As far as I can understand, Randomness does not exist in nature. What we assume is random seems to be a cleverly choreographed play that takes a lot of time to understand. Although, I cannot fully explain how these patterns have manifested in nature, I can help you appreciate the beauty in these patterns and motivate you to look deeper into the realms of nature and get inspired from it.

Getting inspired from Nature:

Observation of nature can give many insights in the form of practical wisdom and understanding patterns of events and forms in order to embody them in design. From a careful observation of the functioning of biological ecosystems we can learn wisdom for an alternative way of how to inculcate the patterns in our design. Asking questions such as: “what are their characteristics, what are the forms and structures, relationships?”, allows design to be based on patterns in nature.

The opalescent feathers of a hummingbird, the bold texture of a zebra’s stripes or the fine intricacies of a fern all provide ideas for the looking designer. A stained glass artisan would certainly be inspired by the beautiful colors of the feathers, as would a fashion and textile designer towards the zebra and fern textures. Everyone may get something different from each of these patters, but the fact remains that these creations are all around us if we take the time to notice them. And if we let our imagination wander they will indeed inspire us.

This is not a simple task, as it must be remembered that there is no clear line to be drawn between nature and human centered design. One has to start developing an empathy with natural processes, rather than an arrogant conviction that one understands the whole of an objectified nature. It is about an attempt to observe without judgment and to feel with all of the senses.

In contemplation of patterns, we find more refined, profound, or subtle insights into good procedures. One of the ways in which we can learn from nature is through the understanding of patterns and forms.

Understanding Fractals:

The geometry of Fractals brings us a new appreciation for the natural world and the patterns we observe in it. The nautilus is one of the most famous examples of a fractal in nature. The perfect pattern is called a Fibonacci spiral. Approximate fractals are easily found in nature. These objects display self-similar structure over an extended, but finite, scale range.

Examples include clouds, river networks, fault lines, mountain ranges, craters, snow flakes, crystals, lightning, cauliflower or broccoli, and systems of blood vessels and pulmonary vessels, and ocean waves. Coastlines may be loosely considered fractal in nature.

“Fractals are not just artificial constructs, they shape us and the world we live in.’ (Gleick, 1987).

An understanding of the form of a fractal structure has many implications for design. It is worth asking what happens if you take these forms and push them, using them as an analogy for design, as opposed to drawing straight lines. The edge of a fractal allows a dense packing of space and a large surface area between systems.

Here is a beautiful short clip on the Fibonacci series and how we can relate it to Nature’s wonderful designs:

Understanding Patterns:

The word pattern can be a slippery one. It has a multiplicity of meanings, from a shape, to blueprint, to structure, thread of development or repetition, or a concept. This implies that there are simple patterns which are repeated in nature to more complex ones that manifest itself in the largest to the smallest organisms. Many different structures develop from these patterns due to different evolutions and conditions in place, however there is a deep underlying similarity between the forms produced .

This can be seen as analogous to the creation of fractals in chaos theory, where a simple equation is applied over and over and produces different, but self-similar patterns each time. A complex pattern is built up of the interaction of simple parts.

“Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again and again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.” (Alexander, 1977)

Observation and the Process of Design:

A creative process of design should involve an increasing depth of experience and perception. Patterns in nature should not be seen as a static blueprint for design. We should understand what to look at, then how to look and how to go about making changes. Careful observation and making small changes which allow regeneration to occur allows us to learn to follow a process of design and not a set of rules.

The Fibonacci pattern on the Sunflower

Design springs from observation without judgment. Action is prefaced by wide-eyed observation and an attempt to understand the processes at work in shaping our work. We need to open all our senses to a wide array of imagination to be able to create designs that resonate with nature. Design should be a fluid process, as it is impossible to take all variables into account in one go.

Here are a few brilliant examples of patterns in nature : (click for a larger view)

1) Nautilus Sea Shell

2) Pattern on the Zebra’s skin

3) Fractal pattern on a Broccoli

4) Giant Lobelia

Photograph by George F. Mobley

5) Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Photograph by Paul Nicklen

6) Dallol Volcano, Ethiopia

Photograph by Carsten Peter

7) Arizona Canyon Mud

Photograph by Bill Hatcher

8) Swirling Aurora

Photograph by Paul Nicklen

9) Aurora Borealis, Churchill, Canada

Photograph by Norbert Rosing

10) Salt Piles on Shoreline, Senegal

Photograph by Robert Haas

11) Lichens

Photograph by Stephen Sharnoff

12) Curled Millipede

Photograph by George Grall

13) Basket Sea Star, Cuba

Photograph by Brian J. Skerry

14) Dendrite Snowflake

Photograph by Kenneth Libbrecht

15) Star trails radiate in the sky above trees in the Salmon River wilderness of Idaho

Photograph by Michael Nichols

16) Puffer Fish Eye

17) Bright feathers

18) Scales on a Boa snake

19) Cactus flower

20) Leaf

Sources and References:

1) A Pattern language of Sustainability

2) Bio-mimicry : Getting inspired by nature

3) Techniques for creating designs inspired by Nature

4) Visual Math Natural Fractals

5) Fresh Vista & National Geographic

Related posts:

1. 50 most brilliant typography designs for inspiration
2. 50 awesome design blogs for daily inspiration
3. How to seek inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it is also in the eye of a honeybee, the eggs of a lobster and the surface of petrified wood. Nature looks fundamentally different depending on scale. This diversity is especially striking in the world of Biology, where matter assembles itself in constantly renewing configurations, offering our eyes — aided by scientific instruments — limitless perspectives.

Thus, we can find beauty in places we did not suspect — inside a flower from a roadside weed, in the anatomical details of a flea or under a mushroom growing on a dead tree. Some people explore microscopic worlds for scientific reasons; others do it sheer adventure. By doing so, one gets to see things that a lot of people can’t really see.

Every year scientists and hobbyists alike submit their microscopy art to the Olympus Bioscapes International Digital Imaging Competition. These are images whose purpose is to capture the combined essence of Science and Art.

Here are some of my favorite shots from that competition(2010). Enjoy and embrace the eclectic beauty of nature and the science it withholds in its every seemingly insignificant speck of life.

1) Specimen: Frontal section of Harvestman/Daddy longlegs eyes (a spider)

2) Solitary Coral

3) Red Alga

4) Eye of a common blue damselfly

5) Adhesive pad of the first leg of a beetle

6) Weevil

7) Cyanobacteria on rice plant roots

8) Mouse Retina

9) Arabidopsis thaliana Seeding

10) Ctenoid scale of a sole

11) Wing scales of Sunset moth

12) Yellow Dung Fly

13) Azalea lace bug

14) Black Fly

15) Head and thorax of an Argentine ant

16) Diatom

Here are a few amazing shots from the previous year winners:

1) 2009 – Water Flea

2) 2008 – “Fairy Fly” Wasp

3) 2007 – Mitosis Spindle

4) 2006 – Zinnia Flower Primordium

Head over the Competition website to explore more such nature’s beauty or perhaps you can even try and enter the competition if you admire nature and love photography.

[via Scientific American]

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Designing is the most prestigious job in the entire world. It not only allows you to create stuff that will be used by million other people everyday but will also create a benchmark for the future products that will be inspired from today’s. However, the life of a designer is not as glamorous as many people think it is. It needs more than just skills to produce a work of art that will stand the test of times and influence everything on this planet.

Like our society, design is riddled with myths. Not all are harmful. Indeed, there is often a symbiotic relationship. Myths are also useful as a learning device in which the unintelligible is reduced to the intelligible, randomness to pattern. However, if we are striving, as designers, to gain understanding, then an awareness of the role of myth in design is essential. Myth in design is important because, in casting ideas into tangible forms, it affects the way we think and behave; it not only reflects our past and present, it can also determine our future.

It’s time to take a step back and reassess some of the myths and misconceptions circulating in the world of design. With our sword of truth and shield of keen analysis, we’ll begin to break the cycle of bad advice and free our minds from outmoded dogma.

We live today in a society that is riddled with myths, that we both use and are used by. Design both uses and is heavily influenced by myth, which has often underestimated effect on the way we think. Far from being a neutral, inoffensive artistic activity, design, by its very nature, has much more enduring effects than the ephemeral products of the media because it can cast ideas about who we are and how we should behave into permanent and tangible forms.

Here are a few myths in today’s world that I feel must be debunked.

Myth #1 : Creativity comes from birth

Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, including knowledge and technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Intrinsic motivation — people who are turned on by their work often work creatively — is especially critical. I believe most people aren’t anywhere near to realising their creative potential, in part because they’re labouring in environments that impede intrinsic motivation.

Design is an attribute which doesn’t come just out of thin air and it is not a skill acquired from birth. It is a trait developed through constant dedication to who you are and what you do and from extreme hard work put in understanding and learning the principles of design and applying it effectively. Not every “designer” is able to produce outstanding designs just because he has a degree in applied or natural arts. Designing often requires the “designer” to consider the aesthetic, functional, and many other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modelling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.

Myth #2 : You are a designer only if you have completed a design course

This is certainly NOT true. In fact, if you look at the design community today, most of the designers are actually self taught and have not attended any sort of course remotely related to design and their talents/skills are beyond mundane imagination. A few of them actually do not belong to the domain of design(including myself). I know a few people who have majors in psychology and are extremely talented designers. If you have the passion for what you do and what you love, you can achieve anything. Having a passion to become a great designer and produce impressive artworks is really helpful as it keeps you motivated and inspires you to work harder and better and eventually producing great results.

“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do.” – Steve Jobs

So, if your goals are set straight and if your ship is pointed in the right direction, you will succeed no matter what. It might take time and a lot of sacrifices, but you will get there, eventually. Every one is creative, you just need to unravel your depths of creativity by constantly thinking, being curios and conceptualising ideas.

Myth #3 : Once you finish your design course, you have successfully mastered the principles of design

Many of us think design is a fairly easy endeavour. Just because you have ‘successfully’ completed a course on design at your university doesn’t mean you have the necessary skills to tackle the real world where design is the forefront of every innovation. It needs more than just a couple of university degrees to actually understand the design problems in the real world today. You need to nurture your creativity and talent through experiences, downfalls and experiments. You need to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them.

Some people assume whoever is working as a designer or has received a design education is naturally a design thinker. That’s not true. It is like saying anyone who is a graduate from a business school with an MBA is naturally a strategic thinker. Just because you are a MBA degree holder, doesn’t necessarily mean you will become a successful CEO of a company. Being a scion demands more than just academic expertise. It needs you to understand your customers and resonate with your clients.

So what makes a good designer? What makes a strategic thinker? Design is not just the domain of designers. Design (beyond form and function) encompasses a broader set of influences and is (should be) part of any complex decision making process. Designing for Social Change; Designing for Business Transformation; Design for New Organization Structure; Design for Social Participation; and Design for Strategic Agility etc. Most of these are beyond the training of designers and many great traditional industrial design companies. Designing is no more about just designing a cute logo or poster or chair.

Myth #4 : If you know Photoshop, you are a designer

Many people just follow tutorials blindly on the Internet, do some stuff on Photoshop and finally decide for themselves that they are full fledged designers. NO!… Just because you know how to do some tricks in Photoshop, Illustrator or any other software, doesn’t mean you are a designer. Designing needs much more than just knowing how to use these tools. It requires you to understand the purpose behind designing something. Having the right tools for a job is important, but using a tool without the skill, knowledge and experience to back it up only leads to inferior work.

In the world of design, sketching is nearly as important as your final product. It clearly delineates how your design took its birth.

“Who needs pen and paper! Let me directly jump into Photoshop and start designing!”.

Those are the words of an irresponsible designer. Sketching is very important because this where ideas take birth and evolve. Sketching can take different forms from doodling to brain storming. In a broader sense it comprises  everything that doesn’t involve the use of a machine/tool to aid you completely while you sit there and click your mouse buttons.

Myth #5 : Code contributes the least to a good design

A good (web)design product is a result of an amazing design work and also a flawless coding in the backend. Also, I think there are many coders out there who probably feel that design always gets the majority of the attention.This is definitely a bad thought. Design and Code are like Yin and Yang. There is absolutely no harmony if both of them do not co-exist. They equally contribute to a great design and are responsible for the design to serve its purpose. However, many designers think that coding is a ‘developer’s’ job and is totally not related to designer’s job. In realilty, there is no clear distinction between a designer and a coder. If you want to be a good designer, you pretty much have to learn coding, as it just makes you more valuable and independent.

The other side of the story is, many people think that designers can’t ‘do’ technical stuff, that developers build ugly sites, or that print designers can’t ‘do’ web design. This may have been true during the earlier years but most ceratinly not today. We are now in an evolving industry where each side has grown together in perfect harmony. Successful projects are usually built by designers and developers that co-exist, knowing more – not less – about each other’s disciplines.”

Myth #6 : A designer’s job is very easy

Well, unfortunately it’s NOT. It’s not a game, and it’s definitely not a joke. Designers work long hours, under extremely tight deadlines, for demanding clients. We are expected to do design work, customer service, accounting, and sales. To be honest,  we are the ultimate multi-taskers, working on several projects at once , and we are expected to constantly come up with fresh creative ideas. Any designer who owns their own firm has all of the responsibilities of any other company owner. Just because the end product might be clever or beautiful, that doesn’t mean that a lot of hard work, sweat, and tears weren’t sacrificed for that end result. If you love design, you should do it.

A designer’s job is filled with challenges, risks and failures. Success without taking risks is impossible. Mistakes are a part and parcel in the process of achieving extraordinary results. A good designer is not taken apart by such mistakes, rather he learns from it. Gain wisdom from your own mistakes and use this to accelerate self-improvement. Learning from mistakes along with risk taking are very essential to be a success designer. The important thing is to view mistakes as a useful stepping stone to a higher reality and better outlook on life.

Myth #7 : Design is transparent

The word ‘transparent’ takes a different meaning in this context compared to the quote,  ” Good design is obvious, great design is transparent.”

“Design is only prevalent in good websites, posters, typography work and other digital art forms.” This is one of biggest misconceptions in the community today. To be honest, Design is everywhere. It is at the heart of every structure, every product, every thing that has a shape and which works. Design plays a very vital role in everything we use and perceive, and is prevalent in the very fabric of our lives. Design is that which lays the foundation for making an object or an artwork. Design in something which sends out a similar message to a wide range of audience because it was intended to serve just the purpose for which it was created.

Design is at the core of every commercial activity and perhaps at the core of every innovation. Every endeavour that connects the customer to the company and every process inside an organisation is heavily influenced by design. Design is demonstrating how beautiful something can be. Design is a way of changing life and influencing the future.

Myth #8 : Every client is EVIL and knows nothing

This is one of the biggest and most widely perpetuated myth I have come across. There are inumerable articles that explain why your client sucks when it comes to design. Well, most of the times, it may be true but you have to consider the fact that your client’s goals and objectives are a bit different from yours. If you ask a designer what makes a good design, they’ll rattle off a list of impressive sounding terms: good contrast, effective use of type, good use of white space, logical hierarchy and so on. However, if you ask a client, they’ll tell you one thing – it needs to increase sales.

For some designers, that is a hard pill to swallow. You may think your design totally kicks ass but if the market says otherwise, you failed. By failed, I don’t mean artistically, I mean failed in not meeting the goals of the client. You client doesn’t care about your design theories – this is a business, and businesses must make money or die. Make your clients money and they will take you very seriously. This is certainly true in the corporate world we live in today and there is nothing wrong in it. This is how one needs to look into if he/she has to improve the company. As a designer, we have different stand points of view but instead of throwing bashful comments on your clients and hating them internally, it is best to educate them about the current trends/standards and let them know that you are an expert at what you do and he is an expert at his job.

If things go out of control and if your client ticks your ‘Patience Radar’, then you start to think about your role! Until then, learn and let learn :)

Myth #9 : Your design is always right

One of the biggest weaknesses of many designers is their ego. Most of the times, we are filled with so much self esteem that we think we are always right. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that could make our career take a disastrous U-turn. One of the traits of a being a good designer is to be open to any sort of criticism (good and bad). Unless you value your peer’s opinions, you will never improve and most certainly, never succeed.

“Have no fear of perfection, you will never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

Many young designers are impervious to criticism egos. You cannot blame them because you couldn’t succeed as a designer without it. The problem is that with a lack of experience and real-world knowledge, that ego needs to be kept in check to really succeed and to avoid all these other myths. I think it’s the toughest part to overcome; to know your actual worth, stick up for it, and not let an inflated self-idealized persona take over. You just can’t be successful as a designer if you don’t take the time to listen to your clients. They know what they want and they are paying the bill, so most of the time, that makes them right!

So, strive for improvement rather than perfection.

Myth #10 : You can ‘teach” design to anyone

What gets me is when someone think that design is so “easy” that they actually ask me to teach them how to design. There is nothing wrong in asking someone to teach design but one must also look into the fact that it is not as easy as teaching a kid learn how to ride a bicycle or perhaps water the garden. Many of my friends ask me to teach them Photoshop so that they can learn everything there is to know about design and start designing posters, websites and other stuff. It takes many years to understand and embrace the beauty in design and to become a good designer. However, I feel it is possible through very, very hard work to learn how to design, but the results vary by individual.

Myth #11 : It takes only a few minutes to design a logo and couple more to establish the brand

Not only do clients not understand the time it takes to do any type of design work, but friends and family have a hard time with this as well. People will look at a logo and say, THIS is what you’ve been working on for the last three weeks?!?! Nobody realizes that it took 200 designs to get to the final product.

So many students live with the belief that they will start their own multi-million dollar company the day after they graduate. I’ve seen many graduates gathering their friends and designing business cards so they can all partner up and rake in the money. Now, I’m not saying that it hasn’t been done, or that it’s impossible. But, I am saying that it is highly unlikely that you will go straight from the classroom to owner of your own company with no prior experience. And, it’s not smart to assume so.

You do learn a lot in school. But, you don’t learn half of the things that you’ll need to know to run a company. Those are things that you learn on the job. You’re not going to learn how to deal with clients, how to handle contracts, estimates, and billing, or how to hire illustrators and printers at school. You’re not going have a network of reliable people right out of school. You’re not going to know how to run a meeting, how to set up a conference call, or how to keep track of hundreds of open jobs. It is important that you build a foundation for yourself with professional experience before you venture off on your own.

If you’re hoping to start your own design business someday, try to find a job in a smaller company where you can have your hands in many departments. You’ll learn a lot that way. If you have the patience, work for a few different companies so that you can see that there are different ways to run a successful firm. Start building your freelance clientele, make sure you have some savings, figure out your taxes, get your insurance and a retirement plan in order, and THEN take the leap and start your own company. The road will be much easier this way, and much more likely to end in success.

Myth #12 : Design is about making a website look good

Many people regard web design as decoration; the art of making a website look good. However, design is more about how something works than how it looks. Design is about both form and function. In contrast with art, good design is not only visually and emotionally appealing but is made for use. The goal of design is to efficiently solve problems. Design is based on the understanding of how users see the world, how they think and behave. And the toolset of the designer is broader than just colors and font-styles, as it also includes user-research, prototyping, usability testing, and more.

Myth #13 : A good design is a result of 10% YOU and 90% computer

Sometimes, we all forget that a true design process starts in our brains and we then transform it onto a paper. All of us have been “blessed” with a few awesome digital imaging tools in the computer that we have forgotten about drawing, with our hand. If you ask any good designer, he will most certainly justify that sketching alone gives birth to a great design. Once you have the sketch ready, you can use Photoshop or any other similar tools to enhance your idea and bring it to life.

I can’t believe how many people have told me they want to do something themselves so they’re planning on buying and learning Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop or whatever. Somehow they think that because we work on computers, the computer does all the work. The knowledge we gained during all those years we spent learning about typography, design, usability, HTML, CSS, marketing, etc. are supposed to be magically included in a program’s feature set. This is certainly not true. Computers are mere tools to help you fasten up your process and hold least contribution in the development of your product/design. Unless you put a lot of effort and use your head, you will end up nowhere even if you own a supercomputer!

Myth #14 : You’re A Designer?… Will You Help Me Fix My computer?

One of the most annoying facts about being a designer geek is that people start to assume you know everything if you know how to use Photoshop. Not everyone will get exactly what your job is. You are a designer, you probably work with Photoshop or some other graphic editing program, and you create digital, artisitc graphics, but that does not mean you know everything else. Just because you are a designer, people might overestimate your abilities with other things like web development or a different field of graphic design. You, as the designer might also overestimate your abilities with other fields of similar fields, but remember all the work you’ve put into becoming a designer, and know that for all the other fields, it takes just as much!

Myth #15 : Flash is EVIL

This comes from Flash overuse during the days of slow bandwidth. Flash is also used for annoying adverts, so when people picture Flash they see ads. But what they don’t see is that with the help of Flash you can deliver rich content to pretty much everyone, offering great perks over HTML. And without Flash, there’d be no YouTube – so how can Flash be evil?

In the earlier years of the internet, many web designers preferred overusing Flash animations, ignoring users with slow internet connections or without Flash player. These early implementations often neglected basic usability principles, too, therefore the whole technology was criticized for being unusable and inaccessible. Flash technology has improved a lot since: it is now SEO friendly, has rich accessibility features and even supports the use of the browser’s back button. Most users have no problems with Flash itself, suffice to mention the popularity of online video sharing sites.
However, there are still a lot of poorly designed Flash sites and the technology has several limitations, so you should always consider whether it’s the optimal choice for your design.

Myth # 16 : Freelancing is as easy as a walk in the park

Freelancing is one of the most courageous thing a designer can do in his/her profession. This is because, most of the times, freelancing doesn’t guarantee expected results and you must work extremely hard promoting yourself and your portfolio to make sure your works are recognized and you get design contracts. This is a calculated risk many designers take. However, if you are a budding designer and have graduated fresh out of school and still searching for a job, freelancing is probably a wiser option as it lets you experience the real world for the time being.

Also, if you are planning to freelance, you must have enough money bundled up to able to sustain your requirements and needs for the next 6 months or so. It is not easy to get clients when you are starting up because there are some many talented web designers out there why should someone new instead hire you instead? This is not to scare you or anything but just to give you an idea on how to get ready if you plan to become a freelancer.

But there is definitely a bright side to this. Being a freelancer has its own advantages, like :

• You can be your own boss. Nobody will nag or breath down on your neck for finishing projects (But you have to responsible be yourself)

• You have no serious schedules, no proper deadlines. You can take a slow and steady path in your creative process.

• You get to do creative work constantly, like logo design, print work and many more and no one questions you.

• You can deny a project or website if you do not like it, whereas if you are working in a firm you are required to do any project you are given

Myth # 17 : Using Comic Sans makes you a horrible designer

Comic Sans is unique: used the world over, it’s a typeface that doesn’t really want to be type. It looks homely and handwritten, something perfect for things we deem to be fun and liberating. Great for the awnings of toyshops, less good on news websites or on gravestones and the sides of ambulances.
But why, more than any other font, has Comic Sans inspired so much revulsion?

Partly because its ubiquity has led to such misuse (or at least to uses far beyond its original intentions). And partly because it is so irritably simple, so apparently written by a small child. Helvetica is everywhere and simple too, but it usually has the air of modern Swiss sophistication about it, or at least corporate authority. Comic Sans just smirks at you, and begs to be printed in multiple colours. Perhaps the most comic thing about Comic Sans is that it was never designed as a font for common use. It was intended merely as a perfect solution to a small corporate problem.

So, there is nothing wrong in using Comic Sans in the right places for the right occasions but if you use them inappropriately, you will find yourself banging your head against the walls. So, be wise with your typography. The fact is, being a designer, you wont be using Comic Sans anywhere. Will you? :)

So, what do you think?

Do you think you have the same thoughts too? Does any other myths strike your mind that needs immediate attention. Please share them with us. Let us help build a better community of designers.

Sources and useful articles on design:

1) UX Myths

2) Net Mag – Exploding the myths of Web Design

3) Creative Opera – 8 Design myths

Related posts:

1. Must read articles on Design, Creativity and Web Design
2. 10 Most influential designs that changed the Modern World
3. 25 Must Read articles on Design, Typography and Web Development – 2

Everything you encounter in your life, from your toothbrush, to your computer; the water bottle you drink out of and the pen you write with, have been designed. Design is essential for so many reasons in the products we buy and how we use them, going well beyond mere aesthetics.

“You know a design is good when you want to lick it”

As quoted by Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc., is one way to describe ‘Design’. But a truly iconic design must do more than make you salivate. It must have a social impact too. A great design must not only be pleasing to the eyes and evoke a sense of emotion, but must also serve its purpose. A great design is a marriage between form and function.

In this article, we shall explore to the depths of what made the world which we live in today, so profoundly influenced by some of the greatest designs of the last several decades.

From revolutionizing the market and boosting sales to completely influencing the products we see today, each one of these products were designed with a specific purpose in mind : to change the face of the future. If you’re a designer looking for inspiration, let these ten ultra-disruptive and highly iconic designs fuel your ambition and pave way for success in your future design endeavours.

I do not intend to list them in any particular order because each one of them have been influential in their own domain of innovation and engineering. So, let us start off…

1) Graphical User Interface (GUI)

GUI, also known as Graphical User Interface, is not as complex as one might expect. In reality, we come into contact with a GUI every day we are on our computers! You are using a GUI right now to read this page. It is the digital platform that enables us to interact with the huge amounts of data and information that is available on the web or on a machine.

A user interface is a way to have a person communicate with a computer. In the very earliest computers, user interfaces were usually a bunch of switches that a user would change to change what the computer was to do. This method was slow and the users had to know the code that the computer would understand. Only a small number of people used this method and as computers improved, better ways to talk to computers were invented.

Eventually a Command Line Interface (CLI) was developed that would allow a user to type in commands that the computer would interpret. A user had a keyboard and a display to see the results. This proved to be a much better way for people to communicate with computers and is still a favorite method for some people to use computers. As computers became more powerful and better able to display graphics, and new ways to communicate with computers became the next potential breakthrough. This is when the Graphical User Interfaces were developed.

Microsoft Surface Computing platform

Apple’s achievement in recognizing the potential of the GUI and putting it into a mass-market machine cannot be denied. But Apple did not invent the system, as many still believe. The honor for producing the first working GUI goes to Doug Englebart – at the time an employee of Stanford Research Institute, while working at the Palo Alto Research Center, XEROX. Sadly, if XEROX had somehow managed to foresee the potential advantages of the GUI, they could have ruled the entire computer Industry as we know it today.

After the arrival of GUI, contemporary computers and their boring text screen was replaced by graphically rich interface. By GUI or graphical user interface we understand how fun it becomes to do work in a more enhanced visibly improved environment.

Today, we see a whole new plateau of GUIs; ranging from superfluous mobile interfaces to high definition 3D imaging to super realistic holographic screens. Much has evolved since the first GUI was developed at XEROX but one thing remains the same, it will forever be the way we interact with computers regardless of what platform we transform ourselves into.

2) Apple iPod

The iPod line came from Apple’s “digital hub” category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players “big and clunky or small and useless” with user interfaces that were “unbelievably awful,” so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple’s hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive. The product was developed in less than one year and unveiled on 23 October 2001.

Apple did not develop the iPod software entirely in-house, instead using PortalPlayer’s reference platform based on two ARM cores. Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs. As development progressed, Apple continued to refine the software’s look and feel. Starting with the iPod Mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans—a font similar to Apple’s corporate font, Myriad. iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal meant to evoke a combination lock. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod Classic and third-generation iPod Nano by changing the font to Helvetica.

Steve Jobs is widely held to be the design maestro at Apple. But Jonathan Ive, the company’s senior vice-president for industrial design, also requires nothing less than perfection from his team. Ive, 42, has overseen such iconic products as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and, most recently, the iPad. In so doing, he and his team have produced a range of products that have been central to the company’s revitalization. For his part, Ive says he prioritizes “better” over “new” and favors user-friendly design that is simple to use and understand, a philosophy that many have copied, few have repeated.

No other product has had the incredible, loyal devotion that the iPod inspires. It revolutionized and popularized music players with its stylish design and is still considered the industry leader. Even if you devoutly believe other music players have better features now, you have to acknowledge that iPod is still the king.

3) The Guggenheim Museum

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial and located in Bilbao, Spain. The museum features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists.

One of the most admired works of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a “signal moment in the architectural culture” because it represents “one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something.” The museum was the building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World Architecture Survey among architecture experts.

The curves on the building were designed to appear random. The architect has been quoted as saying that “the randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light”. The museum’s design and construction serve as an object lesson in Gehry’s style and method. Like many of Gehry’s other works, it has a structure that consists of radically sculpted, organic contours. Sited as it is in a port town, it is intended to resemble a ship. Its brilliantly reflective titanium panels resemble fish scales, echoing the other organic life (and, in particular, fish-like) forms that recur commonly in Gehry’s designs, as well as the river Nervión upon which the museum sits. Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) and visualizations were used heavily in the structure’s design.

His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions and many customers seek Gehry’s services as a badge of distinction. His works were by far the most often cited as being among the most important works of contemporary architecture in the 2010 World Architecture Survey, which led Vanity Fair to label him as “the most important architect of our age”.

4) Motorola StarTAC

The Motorola StarTAC is a clamshell mobile phone manufactured by Motorola. It was released on 3 January 1996. This was the first ever clamshell mobile phone and very small relative to the competition. The StarTAC was the must-have-gadget of its day and one of the first phones to feature a vibrating call alert. Back in the day, if you were lucky enough to own a StarTAC, you were the top cat in town.

In 2005, PC World put StarTAC at #6 in The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years. The StarTAC was one of the first phones that was popular; 60 million StarTACs were sold.

5) Apple iMac

The thought of an Apple computer being meaningful was laughable before the iMac. Apple had fallen on hard times, and some predicted its death. Now some of those same pundits say the iMac saved it. Whatever you think, the iMac set Apple on the road to dominating through style and functionality rather than sheer features and power.

The iMac made an instant impression when Apple first unveiled it in May 1998. But it didn’t start to really shake things up unitl it began to ship—which happened 10 years ago on August 15, 1998. Arguably the most influential desktop computer of the last decade, the original iMac’s specifications seem quaint by today’s standards. For $1,299, you came home with a 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32MB of RAM, a 4GB hard drive, a 15-inch built-in monitor, and stereo speakers—all in an amazingly stylish case.

The Bondi blue wonder heralded the return of Steve Jobs as a visionary leader for Apple, and it halted Apple’s mid-1990s financial freefall. Initially marketed as an easy-to-use gateway to the Internet, the iMac transcended that simple role and redefined the desktop PC market—not to mention consumer industrial design—forever.

6) Tupperware

In 1946, America was booming, fresh off World War II and heading into the baby boom. At the same time, Earl Tupper invented the Tupperware, an airtight plastic container for storing food. He was born on a farm in Berlin. He unveiled his eponymous line of plastic food storage in New Hampshire, USA. Tupperware has grown with the times: From happy 1950s days to women entering the work force en masse.

Today the company has sales of more than $1.1 billion worldwide. In the early 1940s, Tupper — like most American manufacturers — devoted his plastics company to the war effort. But after the war, with the economy booming, he found new uses for plastic, especially as more consumers bought homes and refrigerators. The first products, the Wonderlier Bowl and the Bell Tumbler, offered homemakers lightweight and unbreakable food storage options. In 1947, Tupper introduced the legendary airtight seals, which he patterned after the inverted rim on a can of paint. Though the products didn’t sell well at retail, Tupper soon discovered the untapped gold mine in home parties, launching the first party in 1948.

The company quickly gained ground as homemakers around the country hosted parties. The products were then removed from retailers altogether and for years Tupperware was sold only through direct sales. The products changed to meet consumers’ evolving lifestyles, from the Tortilla Keeper of the 1960s — meeting consumers’ ethnic food demands — to the MicroSteamer of the 1980s, in response to both the prevalence of the microwave and dual-income families with no time to cook.

Tupperware is still introducing new products to meet changing demands and has returned to traditional retail environments.

7) The Ballpoint Pen

Necessity is the mother of invention, no doubt. Ladislao Biro, an Hungarian, was a sculptor, a painter and a journalist. But he was also a printer’s proof reader, and the need to incessantly refill his fountain pen from a bottle of ink was driving him crazy.

In the early 1930s he and his brother Georg, a chemist, started experimenting with a pen that would not need to be refilled and would not smudge the pages. The concept would revolve around a ball that was used on the tip of the pen. As the object moved along the paper the ball would rotate and bring ink from the cartridge. In 1943 the two brothers moved to Argentina, and there they found someone willing to finance their invention. They started selling ballpoint pens in Argentina under the name of Birome, and soon they opened a factory in England to provide pens to the Royal Air Force.

The pen used to be publicized as the only pen that could write under the water. In the first promotional event 5000 customers (who apparently longed to write under water) gathered in a square to watch the demonstration. After a couple of years BIC Corporation bought the company, and the rest is history.

8) Model 302 Telephone

Upon its release, Western Electric’s Model 302 telephone was a technological marvel. The telephone featured a built-in mechanical ringer and accurate turn-dial calling interface – two features that were considered innovations at the time. Released in 1937 and manufactured for over three decades, the Model 302 was the world’s first mass-market telephone and a huge success for AT&T.

The clean, functional design of this rotary telephone quickly became iconic.  Nearly every phone that followed, from wall-mounted versions for kitchens to the bedroom-specific Princess model, took design cues from the 302. As the cheap, stylish objects made their way into every room of the house, they drove massive investment in the telecommunications infrastructure: Transcontinental calling became possible in 1951, and overseas calls began in 1956 (actually after the introduction of the 500 model from Western Electric)

Despite its ancient design and analog calling system, the Model 302 remains an attractive piece of technology. Amazingly, it’s also one that is just as supported today as it was upon its release; plug the Model 302 into a standard phone outlet and you’ll find it’s just as capable of making calls as any other telephone. The Model 302 is perhaps the most ultimate executive phone ever built.

9) Helvetica

The original Helvetica was designed in Switzerland in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas type foundry. Helvetica has played a crucial role in providing shape and tone to the modern visual landscape. It was created specifically to be neutral, to not give any impression or have any meaning in itself. This neutrality was paramount, and based on the idea that type itself should give no meaning.

Helvetica’s rise in popularity came during the war period. Helvetica was designed in post-war Europe, and many companies were looking for a change. It was the opposite of all the kitschy, fancy, decorative typography that covered corporate materials and advertisements. Helvetica’s sleek lines and modern sensibilities were just what companies were looking for to remake their identities and set themselves apart from the past.

Perhaps the most relevant benchmark of typographic success is sheer perseverance. The rising popularity of Helvetica is a clear example of that. Even today, we fall in love with the type just when we see it. But, there have been a widespread criticism about the true nature of the font and the epitomicity is bestows. Some remark it has no character and like a beautiful person, it lacks personality. Many complain about its bloodless neutrality.

Regardless of its future, Helvetica has left its marks on modernity. It has certainly changed the world, but probably in a very subtle way that most people wouldn’t realize or even care about. Helvetica might boss us around, but we continue to appreciate its no-nonsense efficiency and reserve. Like it or not, it’s clearly our type.

10) Atari 2600 Video Computer System

The Atari 2600, originally called the Atari VCS, is the godfather of modern videogame systems, and helped spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. Atari sold over thirty million of the consoles, and together with other companies sold hundreds of millions of games. Cartridges for the system were produced across three decades, and there are still new games being produced today.

What this innovative product did was to spawn a new hobby for young and old alike. This cartridge-based video game system could be hooked up to any standard television (either color or monochrome) and easy enough for kids to play and use.

So what is the legacy of the Atari 2600 VCS? I think that it turned on the American public of the late 70′s and early 80′s to a new hobby called ‘video games’ and indirectly to home computers. Atari changed the way people thought of their TV sets – television could be interactive, not just a passive entertainment device. The 2600 VCS provided a multiple-gaming platform that the gamer could just go out and purchase a new cartridge when they grew tied of the existing game — unlike most system that predate the VCS that were dedicated to a specific game and could not be changed. The 2600 provided a standardized platform where third party hardware and software could develop products. The VCS controllers are still an industry standard. And yes, the 2600 games were fun to play then and they’re still fun now – even after all these years!

Today, the 2600 still has a large number of fans who remember the countless games played over the years, and the years to come. There are even games  being produced today by hobbyists, often in cartridge format with a full color label and an accompanying manual. Finally, the recent trend in retro-gaming has introduced many more video game fans to the 2600, and it continues to live on 24 years after its release!

Your thoughts ?

Well, I suppose those were my picks of the 10 most influential designs. I would love to hear about your thoughts on this collection. I am pretty sure there are many other iconic designs that have completely revolutionized the world, so I would be more than grateful if you could shed some light on those via comments.

What has influenced you the most? Which design has been a undaunted source of inspiration to you and your work? Do you have any flagship designs in your mind that you will never forget, even in your lifetime? Please share it with us.

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Hello guys,

It has been a while since I caught up with you. You may have noticed the frequency of articles have declined for a while now. Nothing to worry as I am back on my feet and filled with ideas to share!

Also, this is quite a busy time for me now as I have to prepare for my examinations which are supposed to be held on February 2011. So, I will be briefly writing articles, perhaps once every week, but i assure they will be of high value. I usually am not a huge fan of writing articles which have already been dealt before. With the plethora of design blogs out there, chances are that the ideas for newer articles are running out but a thorough research into this matter will certainly prove me wrong.

Anyways, back to the main theme of this article. Well, as you may have noticed, I have been running this blog for over 6 months now and I am really grateful to the design community for helping me out throughout the journey so far in building this blog.  A BIG THANKS to all of you :) This has compelled me to transform the blog into something phenomenal.

“A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So, i felt the need to take this blog to a totally different level. After reading blogs like AIGA, Fast Company, Design Observer, Retinart and many other influential ones, I decided it is best if I start writing articles which directly influence the design community and help build a better designer out of every individual. Enough of List posts and roundups; animal photographs and funny pictures…. It is time we evolve into something which motivates us into solving real world design problems and not to create internet memes :)

As a result, I am working a new theme as we speak (the first step) and the design of the theme has been inspired by many simple, minimalistic yet profound design blogs out there. I am not a full bottle on WordPress development so I had to buy a theme and work on it. I hope you will forgive me for this minor glitch of not embracing the true profession of design (time is a heartless #%$&* so maybe in the future, I can learn and design a theme of my own)

I shall upload this theme in a day or two and start working on it side by side :) So, please forgive me if you find any bugs in the structure of the theme or the interface. I plan to relentlessly work on building a great blog and publish thought provoking articles. I need your support if we have to make this possible.

I received a few complaints about the slowness of this website due to a lot of (annoying?) elements which are a bit too distracting. I can understand this issue and therefore I am working on that as well. More emphasis on writing great content and less emphasis on making money is definitely my motto (at least from now on :) )

Enough said! It is time to get back to business. I thought it would be appropriate to let you guys know that I am still alive and kicking! I have so many ideas for articles lined for this blog (scribbled on my scratchpad). I am continually working on collecting relevant information and them and compiling to publish them at the right time.

In the mean time, feel free to provide me suggestions and share your thoughts about my future outlook for this blog. Your feedback is the driving factor for this blog’s success (in terms of value added) and popularity. So, do not hesitate to share any criticism (positive or negative) with me.

On a side note, I am highly active on Twitter and share some really cool links everyday. Go ahead and follow me if you still aren’t…

Live Long and Prosper \V/,
Richie

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Nowadays it is hard, and I am afraid that it is almost impossible to find any fields of activity having no connection with the Internet. But what was the initial purpose of the world wide network? It was very simple…to realize a very transparent and plain network and facilitate the exchange of pieces of information between scientists from CERN and others all over the world.

I am not a conservator but all people almost forget the initial purpose. Unfortunately all the web design blogs posted articles that sound like this “25 Impressive headers”, “40 amazing footers” saying it is really great to study these, but I found almost nothing about content or maybe few articles about typography.

Sure there is a controversial discussion about pros and cons and the importance of the content of a website…from this surely the users will win.

1. We are searching for information not for “amazing headers, footers, logos and so on”;

Pros content:

Most of the surfers of the WWW are searching in their free time for funny or impressive facts and maybe some information. It happens often to navigate without purpose, only to take a break after some hours of hard work. I was usually looking for new information and watching some videos of Britney Spears, Pink and Armin van Buuren, finding some news about the economic crisis (unfortunately for my country I got only bad news) and so on. Another use of the internet was to accomplish my tasks from school and job. Surely is not important for what reasons I use the Internet, what is important and what I really want to emphasize is that I need text information, and in this circumstances is highlighted the content.

Yes, I totally agree a picture is equivalent to 1000 words and I want to complete this statement with the statement that a video is equivalent to 10000 words. A picture or a video only attracts users while the content of a website maintains them being the ones who bring you traffic. Take my example, when I saw a picture of Britney Spears I immediately clicked on it. Then I went or was directed to the respective website, but as I saw the information was not relevant I left the website with a bad taste, not liking it. Once again the core of this is: you can keep your visitors only with good content.

Cons content:

It is really true that without a rich and informative content you are insignificant on Internet, but it is obvious that with a very unattractive design, even if you have posted the solution of eternal life, it is not read by users, so primordial is the design itself and the content is secondary; statistically the design is important 50, 01% and the content 49, 99%.

Much more, projects as You Tube bring a great disadvantage to content: a video has the enormous advantage that it combines images with the spoken word, the perfect situation for every user…let me please know, in a comment if there is something that can’t be found and well explained on You Tube.

As a writer it’s normal to be the biased of content, but the provocation of video streaming that combines video with the spoken word is very dangerous for writing, I have no weapon against it (or I didn’t still find one).

2. Image= information=written content?

I was never good at logic, but here is an interesting fact: an image could give you a lot of information; the written content is specially created to give you information. So can the content be replaced by images?

Pros content:

It is a sure thing that an image sometime gives more information than a 1000 words length text but it’s difficult to create hyperlinks for an image while a text can have multiple ones giving a lot of opportunities for users. Much more, if an image can replace a text why couldn’t the text replace the image?

Cons content:

An image gives information in a more easily way than a text, all people need all pieces of information about all in this world and in such an “all” – manner the tool which accomplish all these standards is the winner… the winner is IMAGE. We live in a world that is addicted to speed, isn’t it?

Personal opinion:

The arbitrage in this “fight” is the purpose of the website: a blog about science and technology surely needs more text than one that presents movies…I do not like to know the story of a movie before actually seeing the movie…so it is best to have posted more screenshots and maybe the trailer of the movie than the story of it. Judging in this way we have parity…we need the context to declare the winner.

3. Designing the content…

Pros content:

The content always occupied an important part of the layout and the aspect of it influences the big picture enough; it is normal to threat the content the same as the footer or header. Web designers always pay attention to the text…types used, alignment in horizontal and vertical space (kerning, tracking, and leading) and white space that is needed as the content itself. The length of the text is also a major step in the process of creating web pages, too much text is boring and makes your users leave, few text makes the surfers believe that here they won’t find the proper information they need.

Cons content:

Yes, we accept that the content is important and in the course of creation it should have a special treatment, but it isn’t the most important. It is known by the specialist that a website is made up from four major parts: logo, header, content, footer (we can mention here the navigational menu but it is seen as a part of header or footer sometimes…if you are unhappy with my classification then consider it as a separate part). Internet is full with a huge number of websites so the primary goal is to attract people and the segments that bring them to us is the cool design, and the design of a content is too typical to make something super interesting out of it, while a logo, a header or a footer due to the new improvements of CSS and HTML will have new and more attractive designs (in the last year the importance of footers increased considerably).

In conclusion, probably in unanimity we can state that the content of a website is the one which maintains the readers/users and the rest of the parts of the website attract them; much more there couldn’t be a fight for the most important place, it is only an interdependence between logo, header, footer and content.

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Being a designer totally kicks butt! You become so engrossed in this profession that you fail to notice the awesomeness in it; which (other) people think is totally insignificant. Well, it is time to educate them and let them know why we are the real deal.

To be honest, I think I’ve learned a lot in the process of living the life of a designer. I’m sure you understand when I say this. So, I decided to gather a few peculiar behaviors of today’s designer. This may sound funny to many, but i guarantee this is true to the last nerve :)

Before I became a designer (or so I think), i used to find these behaviors hysterical but now I realize the more time I spent being a designer, the clearer it became. Anyway, I just thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on this. It is a weekend post, so have a good laugh :)

You know you are a Web Designer when…..

1. You (kinda)worship Paul Rand, Dieter Rams or Milton Glaser.
2. You can give a big lecture on the differences between ART and DESIGN.
3. You see Apple products and you are like “OMG… IT’S SHINY!!!”
4. Your desk is (mostly) clean and you like to keep it as simple as possible.
5. Your blood pressure increases drastically when you see someone using the Comic Sans font.
6. You HATE Comic Sans (just to be really sure!)
7. You like Helvetica but you think it is absolutely unnecessary to use it everywhere.
8. Just by the mere sight of Drop Shadow, Lens Flare and Bevel effect, you get a nervous breakdown.
9. You take nearly 15 minutes to experiment and decide on the perfect color palette.
10. GIF Images and scrolling texts make you go absolutely mad.
11. You pay (very)close attention to the tiniest of details and don’t want to make even the simplest of mistakes.
12. You see a typeface in a Logo and you go, “What if…..”
13. You (at least)know what HTML/CSS stands for.
14. If you lay your eyes on a board sign, you immediately start to wonder, “Is that Helvetica or Arial?”
15. You get excited when a non-designer asks you to explain your works and eventually get bugged trying to make him understand.
16. You have subscribed to nearly 50 RSS feeds.
17. You get the heebie jeebies when you hear someone say IE.
18. You know all the shortcuts by heart and can work in Photoshop blindfolded.
19. Your Bookmark collection is begging for mercy.
20. You get seriously MAD when someone uses Typeface and Font interchangeably.

I did a bit of search and ended up with these awesome stuff as well…..

1. You get totally pissed when you realize the free Photoshop brushes you downloaded are less than 1000px in size.
2. You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word ‘Final’ in any file name when saving.
3. You see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.
4. When you look at an Album art, all you see are Grunge Photoshop Brushes (you notice the album art a few minutes later)
5. You’ve actually paid $ for a font.
6. You have an amazingly huge Font collection and an amazingly high temper.
7. You giggle whenever you use the colors F0CCED, EFF0FF and 44DDDD.
8. You maintain a grid system for your refrigerator magnets.
9. You sit at work for eight hours straight just looking at your monitor, waiting for a spark of inspiration that doesn’t come.
10. The hottest dream you ever had was “Trace contour… Find Edges… Pinch… Extrude… Smudge Stick… Motion Blur…. Sprayed Strokes…”
11. You know Lorem Ipsum by heart.
12. Looking at a menu makes you go “hmmm, ITC Baskerville italic” rather than “mmmm, lunch!
13. “CTRL + Z is the first thing that comes to your mind when you drop something.
14. You refer to colleagues as Strict, Transitional, Loose and the Future Unemployed.

And finally,

15. You think this was a great idea for a blog post ;)

[source 1, 2]

So, you still think you are a Designer?

You are more than welcome to add your suggestions. This list is by no means, exhaustive. So, get your thinking caps on and shoot with everything you’ve got!

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A brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company and how it relates to key constituencies. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand. A brand evokes passion, perseverance, power and the desire to succeed.

Take a moment and ask yourself this question “Why does my competitor’s business get more attention than mine?” The answer just may have to do with the elements that go into how memorable the business is, and this is where Branding comes into picture.

But exactly what is a brand, anyway?

A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. Since then, it has continued to evolve to encompass identity – it affects the personality of a product, company or service.

Think of branding as predefining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. Good branding differentiates your products and services in a positive way that really sticks in the minds of potential customers.

How has Design influenced my life?

Ever since I became obsessed with Art and Design, I’ve garnered a lot of wisdom and conscience and this has helped me evolve into a better thinker and has totally transformed my observational skills. The power of Design, or should I say, the Influence of Design has had a phenomenal change on my work ethics and my everyday life. I experience these results quite frequently; when I speak with my friends, when I go out for a walk or even when I visit the mall.

Things are beginning to show a lot of new meanings and a whole new world has awakened within me. After all this time, the best way I can put it is, ‘Being a Designer totally kicks ass’. The moment I see something, I start to notice the “art” in it. This happens frequently when I visit the mall. Every time I see a hoarding or a sign or better yet, a logo, my “designer” mind in me starts its engines. ‘What typeface is that?’, ‘Will that look better in different color palettes?’, ‘I could do way better than that design!’ and so on. And when I start to think of it, i feel really proud that I can notice all these intricate details and the people around me are so damn clueless about it. Realizing this makes me feel I’m top of the creativity chain.

The very title of being addressed as a ‘Designer’ is quite an honor because the truth is, we designers make awesome stuff happen. It is that simple. Where would the world be without us? From the smallest details of the shape of a fountain pen nib to the design of the NASA Space Shuttle, our contribution is everywhere. We are the reason the world is such a beautiful and a simplified place to dwell in. Granted, the skeleton of innovation is mostly due to the scientists and innovators but c’mon let’s face it, without us, even their works will go to a bitter waste.

Well, coming back to the topic, How can you transform your skills into creating a Brand that symbolizes accomplishment and epitomises success. What are the things you need to keep in mind if you are planning to build a brand and decide to pursue your goals.

Whether you are an art student who is doing your course at a Design University or a visionary who has little or no educational background in the design industry, you can always grow from a little speck of talent to a household name. You may wonder how you are able to even think of achieving such a gigantic feat. Well, that’s what Branding is all about.

So, from my experiences and ideas, I’d like to share a few things which I feel would be the best steps to build a successful (Design) Brand on the web and maybe even take it to the next level.

This is a long article, so there are chances that I might wander a bit off track sometimes. But, I have broken down this article into succinct points so identify those areas where you occupy the back seat and try to understand them more than the others. I would love to hear your opinions about this (both positive and negative) :)

Times change and so must you

In the past, self-help management was about improving oneself and following the old school methods. If you wanted to be more level-headed you took a meditation class; if you wanted to be a better designer, you studied Paul Rand, David Carson and William Morris; if you were looking to advance your career, you’d get a Masters Degree. The advent of the World Wide Web and the rise of social media has changed all that.

The Internet has provided us unparalleled access to audiences. Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online communities have allowed no-names to become household names and people have taken notice. There are books, blogs, experts and companies to help you build your ‘personal brand’. They’ll tell you that all you need for personal branding is a business card, blog, profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and a personal style; and you are on your highway to success.

Let us indulge ourselves into understanding what makes a Brand and how can we take this “brand” and build a successful empire out of it.

1) Create an Identity

The first thing to do is create an identity for yourself. Choose a name that best reflects the designs you focus on. You can either follow the old school method of prefixing/suffixing the word ‘Design’, ‘Creativity’ or ‘Art’; for example, ‘The Design Observer‘, ‘Sick Designer‘, ‘Design you Trust‘ and ‘Creativenerds‘ or you can be unique and chose a special name that suits you best. Some of the best ones that I’ve seen are ‘Retinart‘, ‘Synaptic Stimuli’, to name a few. Or you can meddle with your maiden name and create a brand that will last forever, for example ‘Marcofolio‘, ‘Iamfinch‘, and so on.

Like any other successful piece of art, choosing a name is not so easy. It requires a lot of research, thinking, mind mapping and sometimes even sketching out a lot of ideas. To come up with a name that will stand the test of times and become memorable, I suggest you choose an area of design or art that you are very passionate about and start your ‘name finding’ journey with that. Usually, Latin and Greek equivalents are a great source of inspiration.

However, make sure you are careful enough NOT to pick a name which is:

• hard to remember

• might become out-dated as your business/brand grows

• conflicts the interests of others who are in the same field

Choose a name that’s unique, short, easy to say and easy to spell; however having the potential to be memorable and stand up among the crowd

Types of Brand names:

Brand names come in many styles. A few include:

• Acronym: A name made of initials such as UPS or IBM

• Descriptive: Names that describe a product benefit or function like Whole Foods or Airbus

• Alliteration and rhyme: Names that are fun to say and stick in the mind like Reese’s Pieces or Dunkin’ Donuts

• Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant vivid image like Amazon or Crest

• Neologisms: Completely made-up words like Wii or Kodak

• Foreign word: Adoption of a word from another language like Volvo or Samsung

• Founders’ names: Using the names of real people like Hewlett-Packard or Disney

• Geography: Many brands are named for regions and landmarks like Cisco and Fuji Film

• Personification: Many brands take their names from myth like Nike or from the minds of ad execs like Betty Crocker

The act of associating a product or service with a brand has become part of pop culture. Most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to designer jeans.

2) Design a Logo, choose the colours and invent a tag line

A successful brand is (almost) always identified by its Logo. Nothing reflects a company’s vision, personality and strategy more than its brand image. And nothing expresses an organisation’s brand image more quickly than its logo. Your logo, or brand identity, is the visual centrepiece of your organisation.

The world has evolved much since the advent of the World Wide Web and is today evolving at an exponential rate far beyond our pace of understanding. Changing markets, increasing competition and educated consumers have made building brand recognition, a challenging task.

Ask yourself the question, “How can my logo stand out?” The answer is quite simple: Simplicity. There is no greater visual relief than a simple, well designed logo that at first glance captures the name and feel of a company. These days our minds are in such overwhelm processing the demands of visual stimulation that we filter out anything too colourful, complicated and wordy. Today, as the information age moves forward, our attention span is going the opposite way. We want simple, positive communication we can relate to and remember easily.

Choosing the right Logo

A good logo needs to evoke a specific emotional response in the consumer for it to be remembered. As a matter of fact, Emotional connectivity and simplicity increase your brand’s chances for longevity which is a crucial factor in building a successful brand.

A few tips on creating a good logo. Your logo must:

• be simple, natural and friendly

• have a strong yet encompass balanced imagery with less or no other elements

• be distinctive and bold in design, making it easy to see at a glance

• have graphic elements that reflect your business/brand and your brand name

• communicates your business clearly

• look good in black and white, as well as in color.

Decide on what impression you want to make and what message you want to convey? : Professional integrity, warmth and friendliness, strength and stability or elegance and sophistication?

The right set of colours, fonts and imagery work together to convey this message instantly and concisely to those who need to hear it; the wrong choices can confuse the message and give your prospect the wrong impression.

Choosing the right Colours

Different colours convey different moods. Red symbolizes luck, energy, passion; Blue symbolizes corporate, professionalism, stability and conservativeness; Green symbolizes an organic self; brown signifies luxury, elegance and taste. So, make sure you choose the right colours which reflect your brand.

Choosing the right Typeface

Likewise, choosing the right typeface involves a lot of research and experimentation. Serifs signify professionalism. Sans Serifs symbolize friendliness, approachability, boldness and audacity. Ask yourself this question while choosing the typeface for your logo: “What impression do I get from this font? Does it reflect my brand and qualify as a yardstick to its success?” Also, don’t be afraid to pay for just the right font – fonts are relatively inexpensive and can make or break a design

Choosing the best tag line

A tag line is a three to seven word phrase that accompanies your logo. It expresses your company’s most important benefits and/or what you want your customers to remember about working with you.

Great tag lines appear to be effortlessly created because they just seem to flow. In fact, creating and refining one takes time, just like designing a great logo. The benefits of taking the time to craft a great tag line lie with the tag line’s stickiness. Great tag lines stick in your memory.

3) Set up your brand online

This is one of the most important things to do once you have chosen the right name for your brand. This is the world of cybersquatting and parked domains so it also wise that you do a thorough check on the availability of the domain names while you are busy researching for your brand name. Typically, a .com TLD works great but I’ve also seen some very popular websites which do not have the .com TLD.

Once you decide on a name (and sometimes even when you are looking at the final list of names), buy the URL immediately (you can do this on GoDaddy, NameCheap and other sites for $10 or less). If the URL is not available, use the Whois.net directory to identify the owner. See if they are using the URL for business purposes and contact the owner from a personal e-mail address (you don’t want to overpay especially for a niche name, and when they see a business address, their eyes may light up with dollar signs).

4) Utilize the Power of the Social Media

Obviously you must have noticed the remarkable influence the Social Networks has had on the users. It has completely transformed the way we learn and share things. It has created a new platform to grow and evolve as a designer and an entrepreneur. In a nut shell, it is the best thing that has ever happened after the birth of the Internet :)

Twitter and Facebook have been monumental in helping creative individuals build a brand online. I am an avid user of both and I can say, within 5 months, I was able to rocket my blog out of obscurity and into something everyone were eager to read. So, this is not just an advice, it is an order :) I’m sure you have a Facebook profile. So, just create a group/fan page and start sharing it with your friends. This will help you a lot in the promotions.

Create a twitter account under your brand name (it is better if this account is different from your personal account, if you have any) and start following established design blogs who are already doing great on twitter and also follow those designers who are new to the field just like you are. This is the right time to build a great community and become a part of something great.

5) Start building your Portfolio

As a designer, you are entrusted by the laws of Creativity to show the world how awesome you are! Start showcasing your work online as this is the best way to get some exposure and if you are lucky, a design studio might be interested in hiring you :) There are many portfolio websites which allow you to showcase your works. A few of my favourites being Deviant Art, Behance, CarbonMade, Wix and so on.

Alternatively, once you’ve bought the domain and the webspace from a trustworthy webhost, the next immediate thing to do is to create a portfolio site and start uploading your works as and when you do it. You may use Flash, the WordPress framework or any other CMS favourable to you or even build the entire thing from scratch; it is left to you.

6) Start a Blog/Website

WordPress, blogger and typepad have free templates that you can use for your blog. With the recent developments in the open source community, there has been a drastic increase in the popularity of the Wordpres blogging platform and there are over thousands of themes available for free downloading, so choose the right one and start off sharing your ideas and thoughts. Choose the template that best matches your blog’s content, audience and mood.

Starting a successful design blog is like learning to walk: You will most likely fail a number of times, you’ll need a lot of patience, and you can’t do it on your own. –Preston Lee

Eventually, work on designing your theme and start using it on your blog. As a designer, you are pretty much expected to design a theme that best reflects your passion to learn and design. So, work on your blog’s redesign in your secret bunker and when the time is right, release it to the public. With the right amount of promotion, you can usher in a new era for your blog.

7) Pave way for Brand Awareness and Promote smartly

Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo and so on to certain associations in memory. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs to and what products and services are sold under the brand name.

It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products. ‘Brand love’, or love of a brand, is an emerging term encompassing the perceived value of the brand image. Brand love levels are measured through social media posts about a brand, or tweets of a brand on sites such as Twitter. Becoming a Facebook fan of a particular brand is also a measurement of the level of ‘brand love’.

8) Define ‘what makes you, YOU’

Some of the most profound questions in Science are also the most intangible. “Who are you? How do you discover you inner self? Why is there such a diversification in the class of people?”

A Picasso always looks like Picasso painted it. A Beethoven symphony always sounds like a Beethoven symphony. Part of being a master is learning how to sing nobody else’s voice but your own. Every artist is looking for their big, definitive moment, whether they’re a master or not. That’s the moment where they finally find their true voice, once and for all.

Recognizing your strengths is important, and you should wear them with pride. This doesn’t mean being conceited, but knowing that the things that make you exceptional also help you to meet challenges. There are always going to be some days when you just feel moody, tired, or depressed. This is when it’s most important to call on your strengths. It may sound a bit cheesy—but it’s vital to your happiness. This type of self-knowledge helps people to reach their full potential, meet their goals, and in short, to succeed.

To be able to discover yourself, you need a bit of luck too. Put your whole self into what you are doing and wish to do, and you will find your true inner voice. Hold back and you won’t. It’s that simple!

9) Believe in Change and embrace the future

In order to manoeuvre the new realities, not only do you have to be creative, but also change and evolve as the world does–not just within your particular profession ,but in everything. Your way of looking at the world will need to become ever more fertile and original. And this isn’t true just for artists, writers, techies, creative directors and CEOs; this is true for everybody.

Charles Darwin, the father of evolution once said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Pay close attention on the human mentalities that keep changing. Try to analyze what people are beginning to like and dislike, what standards are they adopting in their profession and life.

10) Apply the aspects of Design thinking in your works

Design thinking (or creative thinking) is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the “building up” of ideas.

Timothy Brown, founder of IDEO and a pioneer in developing conventional aspects of Design thinking explains in an article which he wrote for the Harvard Business Review: “Design Thinking is a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”

The very notion of Design goes beyond creating cool websites or designing extraordinary pieces of work using Photoshop. It is about how efficiently you can think to be able to embrace innovation and creativity in your work ethics.

You can read more about Innovation and Design thinking in one of my previous articles — Design Thinking : 10 Ways to foster Innovation

11) Measure your success periodically

How does one define or measure Success? Is it about getting the top rank in your class or is it being able to sell all your products at a lesser price?

Success can be something very simple like actually getting up out of bed in the morning, awakening to a new day, knowing that you are ready for a new phase in your life; or it can be something more intense and emotionally provoking such as: a dream finally being realised and the knowledge that you can be proud of these accomplishments.

Either way Success is gained from your belief in what you are doing, what you want to achieve and more importantly how you go about realizing that goal.

Never forget to evaluate your work. When you are in the process of designing something, take a moment and look at your work and ask this question to yourself: “What would I think if someone asked my sincere opinions about this design? What kind of suggestions would I offer them to improve this? Is there a possibility to use the elements in a more efficient manner? Can I make it work with less?” Once you are able to justify the above questions, you are on the right path of being responsible enough to tabulate your success.

Step out of your usual design routine and think differently and ask yourself, “What if I had taken this route to achieve this design?” Try to get out of the habit of solving design problems in the same way you usually do and force yourself to approach the design differently than you normally would.

Ultimately, no matter how success is measured or defined, it is what you believe it is that counts.

12) Build trust into your brand

Any brand, no matter how memorable, will fail to achieve its goals if it does not gain the public’s trust. If you’re anything like the rest of us, you tend to put your faith in brands that feel authentic and are relevant to your life. That is to say that you believe in brands that are speaking with you, not at you. Finally, the strongest brands get their fans to spread the word for them. All the fancy advertising and letter-pressed business cards in the world won’t do any good if your brand can’t perform the way it says it will. Especially in today’s hyper-connected world, any bad customer interaction will spread like wildfire.

The best example of a solid Design Brand that I can think of at the moment is the TUTS+ Network. They have relentlessly aimed at providing the best tutorials for the creative community and now it has become a household name. I don’t think there is any artist on the web today who isn’t aware of the TUTS+ Network. So, building trust into your brand is not only difficult, but it is highly important. Providing relevant content to the readers is one of the best ways to start building trust into your brand. Being relevant is not just about the stuff that interests you the most but it is about reaching deep down and speaking to that part of your audience’s hearts where their excitement is concentrated—the core, if you will, that represents something very significant to them.

Building trust with consumers is never easy. You can’t just put up a Facebook fan page or send out some coupons and hope that people are going to fall in love with your brand. You have to do the hard work of getting to know your customers and always stay focused on helping them to achieve their goals. But helping people in this way is a sure-fire secret to putting your brand on a path to success. People are most loyal to the brands that matter to their lives.

13) Growing a Brand, Growing a team….

The best thing that has ever happened to me ever since I joined the design world is: I made a lot of friends. It gives me such immense pleasure to know that I can rely on the suggestions and opinions of these creative individuals, most of them who live at the opposite ends of the world and I’ve never even seen them once, and yet I feel so proud to be part of such a creative network.

So, start building a community and participate in a constructive discussion among your fellow designers. Join a forum, teach beginners what you know and share your knowledge. Most of all do it with passion.

Your passion will drive the success of your online community. Your face will be the strand that connects others in relationship with each other. Your words will set the tone for discussion. It’s your community, make the very best of it. –Brandon Cox

Successful brands employ the best people in the industry. Start building a team of creative professionals. You don’t have to always have PhDs in your team to make it a success. Choosing the right people takes a lot effort. Passionate guys are the key to a formidable team so “hire” the team which meshes best with your personality, aesthetic preferences and goals and choose those who are ready to do anything for what they love to do.

14) Cultivate the habits of successful design driven companies

Brand is a perception in the mind of your customer that is relevant with who you are and what you do.
To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact.

These habits include:

1) Put DESIGN on the agenda of every meeting

2) Have a formal Design Board

3) Invite Top Designers to address your group

4) Openly use the emotional language of Design

5) Have great ART on your walls and Support it

6) Embrace Simplicity, Clarity, Grace and Beauty

15) Discover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

I believe one of the best ways to identify your strengths, weaknesses is to try out a lot of new techniques and new ideas while you are involved in the creative process. Don’t be break up with your design just because you don’t see any possible relevance in it and for the fear that you might end up with a bad result because it didn’t turn out the way you expected. The power of the human brain is such that it will contemplate new ideas when put in such unforeseen circumstances.

Experimenting allows you to see different ideas and concepts, your mind would not have envisioned. It allows you to transcend your mundane thinking into creating extraordinary works. This result in awakening your short comings, setbacks and helps you improve your works and any learn from mistakes which you can stop committing in the future.

Use your opportunities efficiently. I always say, “Don’t try be to and idealist or a realist, rather try to be an opportunist“. You never know what your future has in store for you so keep pushing your boundaries and as a result you will be able to evaluate your chances, competition and threats that might impede your process of brand development.

Success without taking risks is impossible. Mistakes are a part and parcel in the process of achieving extraordinary results. A good designer is not taken apart by such mistakes, rather he learns from it. Gain wisdom from your own mistakes and use this to accelerate self-improvement. Learning from mistakes along with risk taking are very essential to be a success designer. The important thing is to view mistakes as a useful stepping stone to a higher reality and better outlook on life.

16) Promise what you can deliver; Deliver what you can promise

Your brand image creates expectations. It defines who you are, how you operate, and how you’re different from your competitors. In essence, your brand image is a promise – a promise that must be kept. Your brand promise is irrelevant if your customers do not believe it. Therefore, your promise must be supported by reasons-to-believe. This will automatically add substance to the promise and define specific expectations for the customer.

For example, an automobile manufacturer promises potential customers that Car X is an “intelligent choice for urban drivers.” What makes it an intelligent choice? Why should the customer believe this promise?

So, give your customers the reason to believe in your brand and leave it to them to take it further.

Building a great design brand is not just about creating great products but it is about reaching deep down to the heart of your clients and leaving a unforgettable impression. If you are passionate about what you do, you will most certainly reach the apex of your success.

So, I hope you enjoyed reading the article as much as I did writing it. It is quite a comprehensive article so I don’t expect you to read it at one shot. Take your time, set your priorities, choose the area you feel you are weak in and you can focus more on that area. I would love to hear your opinions about this article. if you have any valuable points to add to this article, you are more than welcome to do so. So, Good Luck; Go out there and make ideas happen :)

Here are a couple of presentations which are worth watching.

What is Design

Sources and Further Inspiration:

1) Brand First, Branding Second

2) What’s in a Brand name?

3) 5 Steps to Brand Building

4) 7 myths of building online communities

5) The timeless brand identity

6) What is branding?

7) Wikipedia

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1. Must read articles on Design, Creativity and Web Design
2. 17 most common myths in the design world
3. What makes a great product design? From thoughts to reality