Tue, May 8 2012
Watch how Quirky’s designers and engineers face the challenge of turning the ubiquitous milk crate into an innovative system with equal consideration for the object’s function as well as its aesthetics.
Watch how Quirky’s designers and engineers face the challenge of turning the ubiquitous milk crate into an innovative system with equal consideration for the object’s function as well as its aesthetics.
We’re thrilled to introduce Sally Rumble, a product design veteran, as QDS’ Senior Industrial Designer.
Sally brings more than a decade of industrial design experience with world-class brands to Quirky’s design team. What drew her to Quirky was the notion of abandoning the ‘ivory tower’ where old design business models lie and jumping into the trenches to collaborate with the people.
Most recently, Sally was the Vice President of Product Design at BUILT NY, a Manhattan-based company that designs fashionable and functional totes, bags, and cases. She spent four years at Smart Design as an Industrial Designer, where she designed products for companies like OXO International, Hewlett Packard, Lego, Schick, Bic, and Tiffany’s.
Incredibly adaptable, Sally has lived in almost every neighborhood in NYC and prefers to watch the art unfold on the streets rather than pay to see it. When she’s not at work, she can be found wandering the streets of her beloved Brooklyn, singing in a gospel choir or in a local bar attempting to solve the worlds problems with friends. She holds a Bachelors of Industrial Design from the University of Canberra in Australia, and her latest focus is on collaborative consumption, design for social impact, and DIY lighting design.
When we picked the winner for Product 65, the Ultimate Bathroom Cleaning Tool, we envisioned that the direction would be along the lines of a powered hand held/palm device with a spinning brush. We went headlong into sketch development and basic form prototyping.
As we proceeded to further explore this direction and the wealth of community comments, the direction changed. It quickly became apparent, as several people had mentioned in the comments, that people really do not want to get down on their hands and knees to clean at close quarters. We were finding that the palm and ‘short stick’ mock-ups we had made were not ergonomic, and even if they were powered scrubbing tools, we really weren’t taking the chore out of cleaning the bathroom.
Getting from A to B in the creative process is always a rocky road; directions are explored, evaluated, rejected. As we worked our way through the design of this product, we read and re-read the community comments and suggestions, and ultimately it is your input that guided us through the process. We did the hard thing and changed direction entirely.
We will be picking the following entries as ID winners as well as the original submission. While we did explore the original pick, these are the submissions that ultimately informed the final direction:
Michael Mattox
‘Original Idea- The Ultimate Cleaning Tool’
http://www.quirky.com/ideations/43650
Megamug
‘Long brush with two handles’
http://www.quirky.com/ideations/43316
MichelleB
‘You Have GOT To DO Better Than This…’
http://www.quirky.com/ideations/43801
MichelleB’s list of essential features really helped us take a fresh look and facilitate the switch in direction. We will be launching the Color, Materials and Finishes Phase later today, so you will get a sneak peak at the new direction. We are pretty excited about how this has evolved, and we can’t wait to get this launched! Stay tuned!
Being the attentive Quirks you are, you may have noticed that we have awarded another winner, Jim Young, for the Stack Pack Industrial Design project, resulting in a grand total of three winners. As we always say over at the QH, we are committed to giving influence to any submissions that lend inspiration throughout the design process. At the start of this ID phase, we saw ourselves headed in a direction largely influenced by a combination of Gine Benadum and Xiaomeng Ren’s submissions.We liked the idea of the shelves being contained as its own product like in Gina Benadum’s submission, and we also liked the versatility that Xiaomeng’s offered by allowing users to pack any number of sweaters between each shelf.
Several mock-ups later, we realized that it was still a little difficult to access the sweater desired, especially if it was on the bottom. We headed back to the ID phase for some inspiration, and we were drawn to Jim Young’s design. We loved the simplicity of his form, and the way it supports the sweaters just enough to allow users to lift up the shelves, and access sweaters on the bottom of the pile. Our final product is shaping up to be a design that celebrates aspects from all three design submissions. The Stack Pack offers versatility, adjustability, simplicity, and solidity, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of all three of our ID winners. Thanks guys!
We have decided to shake up the Industrial Design phase for Product 70 (Brian Wethington’s Torch Light). Here’s how it’s gonna go down:
The project will be divided into 2 phases. The first round will be open for only community members to submit designs. From this round, the top third concepts will be picked. These chosen concepts will inform the second ID round, which will include submissions from both the community and QDS.
By breaking up the ID project and extending the time for creative brainstorming, we hope to come up with some great features to help this product stand out.
Questions? You know where to find us.
So you may have noticed a little something different when Industrial Design for Product 63, the “perfect scoop” dip bowl, launched last night.
Unlike other rounds, we didn’t start off this project with a handful of sketches. We’re offering a completely blank slate. Rather than inspire, we want to BE inspired by all of you out there in the community. So come on — “wow” us!
Our design process is a constantly evolving and iterative experience. This is just one way we’re shaking it up.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
If you are looking to sharpen your industrial design skills, you DO NOT want miss this opportunity.
The program features a bunch of great courses, plus you get to hear Ben talk about Quirky. What’s not to love??
There are 5 stops on the tour (click the link below for details), but Ben will be only be speaking at the NYC stop on October 7th.
Be one of the first 100 to sign up and you get in FREE, get a FREE t-shirt and, get an opportunity to win a FREE iPad. Who knows, maybe Ben will feel generous and throw in a Cloak to the lucky winner…
“Less and More” is a traveling retrospective exhibition about designer Dieter Rams. It just ended last March at the Design Museum in London. Too late to see it there, but here’s a cool video I recently found showing off some of his work.
What makes a great ID submission? It all starts with a great idea. Every week we get to choose one idea to turn into a product, but that doesn’t mean the ideation part stops there. The great thing about industrial design is spinning one idea into 20 offshoots. Sure some might be crazy, but the crazy ones lead to the ideas for great ones. I love submitting some crazier ideas (Ball O’ Tools anyone?) to see where they lead the conversations in the Project Comments.
The other part of a great ID submission is the visual. Of course the visual is not 100% necessary, but as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the business of ID, that saying can’t be more true. And you don’t have to be a modern day Da Vinci to submit a drawing, just make sure you clearly communicate your idea. That really is the essence of a great ID submission: clearly communicating a great idea.
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