**NOTE - We are not selling the cookies or the molds seen in this video. The contents of the video is purely concept and a way to showcase our design capabilities.
fresh off the 5 axis
Best thing I’ve received on Valentines ever!!
Tiger Balm Progress
New Logo-mark + Packaging concepts. Next up, having the balm machined out of aluminum.
TIGER BALMs ARE NOSTALGIC
Tiger Balm was the cure for everything as a kid.
You're sick ? Apply Tiger Balm.
You're sore? Apply Tiger Balm.
You have a migraine? Apply Tiger Balm.
So we wanted to refresh a product we've used all our lives. Here's our first take at a new look and feel for Tiger Balm. Enjoy the process. More to come.
Red Blue Lighting
More Inhaler Designs
Since the initial post. We've been busy. Anh's been working on his own version. I've knocked out two. I'll share some renderings here. Check out the other designs here. The community has developed some really amazing results. They range from highly functional to insanely beautiful objects. This is the spirit of design is the combination of extreme artistry and geeky scientist.
WHAT I'VE LEARN FROM KANYE ON GOOD DESIGN
IT'S SUBJECTIVE.
If you haven't noticed by now design is a subjective trade. Similar to our taste in music. You and I are unique because we're individually influenced, and we classify good design differently. So how can we identify if our design is good? Cause what's good to you, may not be as seductive to me. Kanye West said a line that resonates here. "For me, first of all, dopeness is what I like the most." Kanye's dopeness is loaded with personal introspection. Again, it's subjective. If I may dissect, he's tying all of his personal experiences, idea of taste, visual appeal and constructive criticism to articulate something intuitively dope to him. Keyword, himself. Simply saying dope may be misleading to the untrained eye. Because what's dope to him, may not be dope to you. If we formulate dopeness, it means 3 things: aesthetics, crafted intention, and unwavering confidence. Good design is the sum of all three.
Aesthetic
Own a look like Picasso owns Cubism and stick to it. Be consistent in applying the look. If you're working with a family of things, define a common style to tie them all together. It's best practice to choose a look that fits your project, and retain it all the way through. I'm not asking you to stick to one style for the rest of your career. Just stick to one style for the rest of your project. Visually it'll be perceived as aesthetic confidence. You'll thank me later. In the industry we call this Design Language. In the long term try other design languages. The best designers adapt different styles over time.
Crafted Intention
Good design is not just good looking objects. Having a beautiful object but a weak idea, is like building a skyline with shit foundation. It's a tall tale with a weak plot. Eventually it folds into itself. You'll be surprise how far a strong and deliberate idea goes. Seth Godin said it best "No one is asking you to be that person who invent something that never exist before." I believe the best designers identify a problem space, finds the solutions that already exist, and bring them together. For example camera phones. At some point in history it became cumbersome to lug around a film camera, and rolls, and rolls of film. At a one-point someone saw the opportunity to combine the camera with a memory card, and inspired a shift in camera technology. Cameras became smaller, thinner, and lighter. Small enough that at another point it became cumbersome to lug around a digital camera and a cell phone. Someone saw the opportunity to combine the digital camera and cellphone, and inspired a shift in smartphone technology. We're not asking you to design something that never exist before. Truthfully we are curators of the present, we identify the problems we live with today, we orchestrate and combine solutions that already exist, therefore we design for the future. This is how you build strong ideas. Qualify it with real world science, the more realistic the science the stronger the idea.
Unwavering Confidence
Lastly be your number one fan. Like Kanye, loves Kanye. Be proud of what you produce, and don't produce anything you're not proud of. Unfortunately there is lots of vanity in being a designer. Yes, be humble but also be bad-ass. You have a to command a level of respect for your designs. Companies hire you for your subjective opinions. Have confident in your work, because If you're unsure so will your cleint and audience.
AXIS, Now in Portfolio
Many of you have asked us to load the AXIS online. Axis is a gaming controller we designed for the "CTRL+S" workshop. What started as a quick 2 hour CAD exercise. Mainly for talking points about our model making process. Turned into a fun little portfolio project. We're super stoked about this, because we've been MIA from blogging for awhile. Sorry.
We're going to refine the model making presentation used @ CCA Saturday, and will upload it here in the next day.
WE'LL BE AT " CTRL+S "
If you have no plans for Saturday September 24, 2016. Between 1-5 PM come join the conversation at CCA in Timken Hall. I will be talking industrial design with Jason Mayden, Ti Chang, and Matt Swinton. Following the panel discussion there will be 4, 20 minute design workshops. I hope you can make it.
Gordon Murray The Mclaren F1 Designer
For this month's tech-talk we invite designer Gordan Murray to come talk cars, design, and career atPlayground. Gordan designs formula one cars for a living. He's a true mechanical thinker. I'd say he's more engineer minded than industrial design, but he does an amazing job at mixing science with art in creating innovative solutions. Gordon is famous for the iconic McLaren F1. A car that revolutionized many standards in modern cars today. The F1 introduced new techs such as: carbon fiber construction, automated rear spoiler, and ground control. Innovative for its time, but are things we take for-granted today. Currently Gordon continues to design. He's developed a lighter, more stronger chassis technology called iStream. Check it out here.
To me It's fascinating to hear other designers share their process. A common philosophy I hear often is: Fail. Fail a lot. Fail often. But learn from your failures and adjust as you move forward. I've taken a photo of my notebook as Gordon spoke. I'm honored to meet him and happy he signed and complimented my poor sketches.
#WatchingTimeWithCS
Last Friday we posted an open invitation to the design community. Challenging anyone to take part in #WatchingTimeWithCS.
The whole thing started with the KAJ Alessi watch by Karim Rashid and a little dog. It then turned into a community fueled initiative that is loved and liked by KARIM himself. We're overwhelmed with everyone's enthusiasm and design submissions. As more people continue to submit designs today. We want to share all the great work done over the weekend, and that KARIM LOVES ALL THE DOPE DESIGNS.
Monkey Watch, Monkey Do by Thom Doyle
Whale of a Time by Dayne Tanner
Time is Relative by Sean Missal
TickingTimeBomb quinlan draper
Time Flies by Elliot Raderman
Time is Irrelephant by Sean Miller
Kill Time by Frankie Vazquez
Koality Time by Mike Bolster
Juice Time by Tim Seward
Kitty Kaj by Matt Gill
Late for an important date White Rabbit by Maxence Derreumaux
Lunchtime by Kevin Hoffman
Slithery Seconds by Scotty Shu
Peaclock by Linda Jiang
Penguin by Bernice Rivera
Subtime by Nhan Thanh Mai
Soon to be Fossil by Mardis Bagley
Time Is Money by Connor Pelletier
TimeTraveler by Ed Cox Linda Jiang
KingKong by Andrew Edge
ADD TO THE KAJ COLLECTION
Last week we designed the WATCHDOG as an ironic tribute to the KAJ watch that was destroyed by our favorite dog MANDU. What remained is the watchface, so we designed this holder for it. Check out the project here.
Today, we ask all you amazing designers out there to design a version of your own. One of our buddies did the "Whale,of a time." We want to see what you come up with.
Download the watch CAD here. Comment or email us your designs as they come here.
One more thing. Here are a design criteria.
1. HAVE A FUCKING CLEVER NAME!!! that's all. HAVE FUN. LOVE CS BROS.
Lioness Launch Party
We'd like to congratulate the Lioness team on this huge milestone. It's been an on going pleasure working and learning from you all about vibrators, it's mechanism, and the science behind orgasms. We're excited for your Indiegogo launch and its forward momentum.
Last nights launch party was a blast. Thanks for having us. Here are some pics.
Tackling Cinema 4D
We've always been an advocate for not falling into complacency. One way to avoid that is to continue to learn new things. Well, we're about to take on the bold task of learning Cinema 4d. Its capabilities are super attractive for both graphic and industrial design work we do. It'll be a long journey but we're excited none the less.
Starting with what we know best. Building a highly detailed pair of headphones, so when we start to animate its construction, every detail matters. We're done building the headphones. Next up is throwing it into Cinema.
ASTRO Brings home GOLD
Some of you may know us personally, others may vicariously live through the fun/boring things we do. Both Anh and I have design jobs by day and batman by night. Congrats to my partner and brother on working on the Nike Fuel Band at his awesome day job with ASTRO STUDIOS (www.astrostudios.com)- Such a successful awesome products this is only the beginning we've got a long design career ahead of us- the goal is pointed towards the clouds. We'll write a detailed posting about this later tonight.
