Crazy stuff went down during today’s live Q&A…
- Sneak peeks of the new site redesign.
- Shots of the Tape Stamp prototype in action.
- Ben impressively balancing a Space Bar prototype on his head.
… plus, all of the questions you’ve been dying to hear answered.
If you missed it, don’t despair! No secrets in this house.
For Splash Stacks we decided to go with 4 images to help inspire the logo creation process. The images below represent some basic design elements we are currently investigating. Each one tells its own story.
Image 1 is about gesture
Image 2 color juxtaposition
Image 3 simple geometry
Image 4 material layering
Remember try not to take these product images too literally when designing your logos. Instead, use them as loose starting points or abstract references for your creative process.
Good luck!
Questions? Concerns? Just wanna talk?
Lucky you! Tomorrow, Ben will be holding a live Q&A sesh. Deets below:
Chat w/ Ben
Tuesday, August 10
5-5:30pm EST
Live on uStream
We’ll post a link and embed the stream here when we go live.
Oh, and if you’re unable to attend our lil’ party, post your questions to the forum and we’ll try to get to them if time allows.
Also, mark your calendars: Quirky Town Meeting (Numero Tres) is August 26. We’ve got some big news to share — you’re not gonna want to miss this!
Tyrel Hatfield has made our week! Actually, he’s been helping to make our week for quite some time now with consistently high quality designs that push the creativity level of our logo phases to greater heights. You don’t even need to read his profile to know that he is sharing the benefits of his graphic design and advertising experience with the community.
On top of all that, Tyrel’s quirkiest hidden talent, which garnered him the win for yesterday’s Twitter contest, made us all do double-takes in the office. It’s only fitting that Tyrel is a double-winner this week. Whistle while you work, baby!
Hiya Quirks! Whew, what a week it’s been. TGIF! By the chance that you don’t already have thrilling plans for the weekend, why not take a hobby cue from the Quirky staff?
Who knew that patient and smiley Shirley had an artistic streak? She often makes mobiles for new mom friends and dipped into paper basket-weaving for a short time this spring.
Working for a social product development sure is inspiring, but it’s not enough to make Garret follow through with his shoemaking obsession. Instead, he spends his free time scouring shoe design books and sites.
Our favorite Brit, Gaz, was a gentle musician last year… a cellist, to be exact. In the past few months, he’s picked up a more aggressive hobby — knocking down walls in his Jersey City house.
And if you still find yourself bored with some time on your hands, look toward Nikki‘s favorite things to do outside of the office: eating ice cream or frozen yogurt every single day and enjoying a mixture of two cereals most days a week (but never the same cereals on consecutive days… she keeps at least eight boxes in her apartment at all times). Or, there’s always building up a hotel key card collection from around the world… Nikki loves decorating her walls with ‘em.
Yep, there’s a reason this bunch works here. Have a quirky weekend, everyone!
In an effort to make the Click n Cook the best essential utensil money can buy, our designers recently set about redesigning the base of the product to make it more compact and space-saving. Behold the results!
Some of our team members are now in China finalizing the production schedule for this and other Quirky products. A design timeline will be posted soon!
UPDATE: 08/06
Some Quirks expressed concerns about the ability to clean the Click n Cook base. Don’t worry — our designers thought of everything! Just pop off the top of the base and remove the inner slot structure (internally dubbed the “Sydney Opera House” — QDS’s design inspiration!) to quickly and easily clean the product. Photos below:
To give you a peek into the design process, check out these dimension drawings, too!
With summer slipping away, the time has come for a new wave of interns. Today, we’re pumped to welcome Eugene to our design team. With a fashion designer mom and a computer tech dad, Eugene was destined for industrial design greatness. And he snowboards! We can’t wait to see what his creative mind brings to Quirky.
Name: Eugene Dennison Kim
Hometown: I was born in LA, raised in Seoul, now in New York.
School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Design Inspiration: Marc Newson, Naoto Fukasawa, Olafur Eliasson
Fave product you own: MacBook Pro, Android Incredible
What makes you quirky? I am more energetic and productive during winter. I hibernate during summer.
We are hiring someone to head up the finance and operations department. You will be directing Nikki and I, and oh what a handful we are. Actually, I’m kidding. We are not a handful. We are very independent and know exactly where we need support. We like to have a good time, but we work really hard.
You won’t have to think up creative motivational techniques. We are incredibly motivated to make this company work. We’re passionate about Quirky.
You won’t need to create team-building exercises or improve communications. Ropes course? Gag. We already like each other and work together well.
You won’t have to create a training program for us. But if you have a good book recommendation, that’s cool. Generally you can just throw is in and ask us to come back with results. We may ask some questions.
You won’t have to do fancy shmancy evaluations and issue gold stars. Just give us a quick thumbs up or thumbs down when we request it. We like immediate feedback, mostly we just want to know if we need to adjust or fix something.
You won’t have to come up with projects to keep us busy. We know what needs to be done, and when we see a gap we naturally jump in to fill it. We work hard and are fast.
So, with so little time needed to manage us, what will you do with your free time? Oh, lots. You’ll roll up your sleeves and get deeply involved. We already have a to-do list for you.
Want to be our CFO / COO? Learn more here and apply today: http://www.quirky.com/about/#careers
P.S. We are still looking for an Inventory Manager / Analyst, a Global Logistics / Sales Support person and a great intern for our department. All these positions are on the careers page.
Did y’all hear that? The Quirky Waffler is coming to breakfast nooks everywhere, at a pre-sale price of $68 (MSRP: $70) and a pre-sales threshold of 1220. Breakfast will never be the same!
Waffler’s specially designed waffle mold plates allow you to create cup-shaped “waffle shots”, opening a whole new world of waffle possibilities. Serve your waffles with heaping servings of fruit, mounds of whip cream, or a sea of syrup.
Waffler features:
- Two interchangable waffle plate sets: traditional Belgian style and Quirky’s special waffle shot design.
- Each mold plate includes a canal to prevent spillover and keep your Waffler clean.
- Compact unit can stand up vertically to be stored away in a cabinet when not in use.
- The power cord located in the rear of the unit can be wrapped and stored in the Waffler’s base.
- Adjustable timer with four presets for perfectly cooked waffles. When the bell dings, they’re done!
Waffler measures approximately 12” x 9” x 4”. Belgian waffles are 4” x 3”, while waffle shots measure 3” across by 2” high.
Evaluation for product 0054 just launched. You may have noticed some sweet changes to the page format…
And it doesn’t stop there. Ben went into more detail on the new submission/evaluation format a few weeks ago, but I wanted to lay out how exactly these changes will affect our/your weekly schedule.
MONDAY 11am(ish) EST idea submission ends, community evaluation launches
TUESDAY all day community evaluation
WEDNESDAY 12noon EST community evaluation ends, staff evaluation launches
THURSDAY all day staff evaluation, deep dive on top ideas
FRIDAY 3pm(ish) EST model shop meeting to determine the week’s winner, announcement of Quirky’s next product
THE WEEKEND tweak ideas for resubmission, treat symptoms of Quirky withdrawal, etc.
Put simply, you guys will get two days to vote, rate, and comment on the ideas up for eval. Then, our staff will spend time doing a deep dive on the top-voted ideas to identify design potential, market potential, and viability. Each submission will get a score, and those scores will go public once the round ends.
We good? Good. Now back to voting!
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