Hasta La Ideas

The design process is such a wacky, open-source process that it’s easy to get lost in the creativity and excitement of a new idea and forgo the basics. But—as we all know—they’re called basics for a reason. Recently, we’ve seen designers bring their design processes to a new environment in an attempt to bring their ideas to the top—the classroom… but not as students.

Professors are bringing their own projects-in-progress to the students in an attempt to educate on the importance of the design process. As we investigated with Kickstarter’s role in Bruce Tharp’s entrepreneurial industrial design course and his project, the “Cut Once” ruler, it’s obvious that professors are also picking up a thing or two when it comes to revisiting the basics of the design process.

Now, Karl Ulrich, Vice Dean of Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who has been teaching product design courses for 25 years, has a hands-on classroom experience has a massively open online course (MOOC) to thank for his newest design: Belle-V, the newest addition to the long line of ice cream scoop evolutions. Designed in collaboration with Lunar, Ulrich has developed a scoop that’s righty/lefty friendly—and easy on the eyes.

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