Hasta La Ideas

This video can be tough to get through because it sounds like it was recorded in a bus depot, but it’s interesting in that HP executive Randall Martin breaks down their design process. Unsurprisingly they’ve gone with the focus-group-based design approach rather than Apple’s Henry-Ford-faster-horse methodology, but it’s a step in the right direction, and I’m still tickled when I hear PC manufacturers say the words “industrial design” with something like respect in their tone.

The object in question is HP’s new Touchsmart desktop, which seeks to get around the arm fatigue problem by providing a variable-position surface. In the demo they finally get around to showing the physical object around 4:40:

via venture beat

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We’ve highlighted the Damsels of Design before, that group of nine female designers hired by Harley Earl, GM’s Design Veep, starting in the ’40s and running into the ’50s. But there’s a new article up–commissioned by a Michigan-based Chevrolet dealership, of all things–providing more information on the women, all of whom were trained in ID and seven of whom were Pratt graduates. As the article reveals, Earl gave them free reign to engage in actual design, not just the frilly chick stuff your average 1950s male would consign them to:

The women started by designing color, texture and trim of interior fabrics shaping seats, door handles, armrests and steering wheels but soon were given the opportunity to take on more ambitious projects. Some of these more complicated design features included such items as a removable cosmetic case, a dictating machine that swung out from the glove compartment, plush floor carpeting, a removable transistor radio, custom leather straps in the trunk to keep groceries secure and a pre-cell era telephone.

Some of the more bold suggestions the team came up included a series of four slip covers to match the colors of the seasons, a three piece set of fiberglass luggage to complement the cars upholstery, toys magnetized to the back of the front seat to keep the kids entertained and a compartment for picnic supplies including a thermos to correspond to the cars color scheme.

Unsurprisingly, chauvinism won out in the end: Earl’s successor axed all of them, citing some rather misogynistic principles. A shame, but at least from 1943 to 1959, nine women got to design some truly innovative concepts that would have improved the automobile, had the powers that be taken a better look.

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In our final Glif guys interview installment, Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt relate what they would have done differently had they to do it all over again. They also tease what’s on the horizon for them, discuss the difference between working for yourself versus working for others, and provide some advice for design students. See Part 1: Getting it Started, Part 2: Manufacturing and Part 3: Package Design and Fulfillment and learn about the original Kickstarter project that set it off!

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In Part 3 of our Glif guys interview, designers Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt discuss the unsexy but very necessary part of a project, the one easiest to overlook in the excitement of production: Taking care of the packaging. They also touch on the challenges of fulfillment, of actually getting the product into the consumers’ hands.

See Part 1: Getting it Started, Part 2: Manufacturing and Part 4: Lessons Learned and What’s Next or find out about the original Kickstarter project that set it off!

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Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt, designers of the Glif, were the first product designers to bring Kickstarter into the public consciousness. In the days before anyone realized Kickstarter could have a profound effect on the field of industrial design, the roughly $137,000 that Provost and Gerhardt received to advance the Glif shattered their expectations of doing a quiet little $10,000 project.

The two designers, who now operate under the name Studio Neat, took the time to sit down with Core77 for an in-depth interview on what this project has been like for them, from start to finish.

Provost and Gerhardt were refreshingly open about discussing the money, the manufacturing process, mistakes they made and things they learned along the way. The interview, which we’ve broken into four parts, should be of interest to anyone starting out in ID or thinking about Kickstarting a product design project.

Here in Part 1 they discuss the project’s inception and how they got started.

Don’t miss the rest of the series: Part 2: Manufacturing, Part 3: Package Design and Fulfillment and Part 4: Lessons Learned and What’s Next or find out about the original Kickstarter project that set it off!

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