In classical Greece, Mnemosyne — usually translated as “Memory” — was considered to be the mother of History, Music, Astronomy, and all the other Muses. Memory is fundamental to learning and knowledge. Boosting your memory will help you both gather new information and track where you’ve been in your life, bringing your past with you into the future.
A personal goal for each of us should be to hold onto all the intangible treasures your academic pursuits and life experience bring you.
Recently we meet with a group of designers, Industrial Designers. Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product’s marketability and production. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design solutions for problems of form, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand development, and sales. Some products that have been strongly influenced by industrial design include the Fender Starburst Stratocaster-one of the most recognized guitars in the world, the Shell and BP logo; Braun and Apple are leaders in industrial design!
Memory and Design, while many consider the Design process to be creative; it actually begins with analytics. Designers use observation, research, sketching, comparative product research, model making, prototyping and testing. Product characteristics specified by the industrial designer may include the overall form of the object, the location of details with respect to one another, colors, texture, form, and aspects concerning the use of the product ergonomics. Additionally the industrial designer may specify aspects concerning the production process, choice of materials and the way the product is presented to the consumer at the point of sale. Like any business the cost is part of an Industrial Designers portfolio, how do I deliver this in the most useful form and the best price to cost ratio.
Every problem is an opportunity to improve.
Memory and Design, includes the IKEA effect – Increased feelings of pride and appreciation for an object because it has been self-made or self-assembled.
Should the IKEA effect be included as a value of a product, in a Point of Purchase display system?
Improvement like Industrial design begins with analytics. People involved in improvement use observation, research, sketching, comparative product research, model making, prototyping and testing.
Every problem is an opportunity to improve. Improvement aka, problems must be a nontroversy. We need to embrace issues and create an environment that is open.
Design firms, Sales Agencies and Marketing firm’s offices are often big open spaces, visually free flowing, interesting, and non-constraining: environmental clutter is distracting and stressful. Friendly spaces, Individual workspaces should put people at ease. Some prefer music. Some work well with clutter, like piles of books or papers, while others like things tidy and minimal. The goal is to meet everyone’s needs the best way possible.
This is the same mindset we need to design to embrace opportunities and deliver products and services at the highest level. As we attack and embrace opportunities maybe we should stop fixing this problem. Maybe we should design solutions, design solutions that eliminate the possibility of the situation repeating, leaves your customers astounded and your competition dumbfounded.
“The best version of the same old thing isn’t the best version of anything.” It is the voice of life that calls us to learn.
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