Having plans to study design at bachelor or postgraduate level, but feeling uncertain of finding the right school to pursue your design interests … … Well, if your answer is yes, I hope this article will be a good guide in helping you to shortlist a few design programs you wish to pursue. Finding a suitable school to do design is very important in building up your design credibility. So below are a few steps you need to think about as you shortlist your school options: (more…)

why? because it’s one of the most profound questions in our lives, asking for a reason to the circumstances of a specific event. we have been using it ever since we learned to speak the word, driving our parents mad looking for answers to life, the universe and the kind of weird magic which makes the refrigerator light switch on…

it’s certainly not the best question in the world, but an important one nonetheless. it opens doors to new possibilities, shines light on situations unknown and creates room for creativity.

now i could go on explaining everything there is to know to the question ‘why?’, but that will most likely make you fall asleep faster than you can say our wonderful word of the day: ‘pnuemonoultramicroscopicsylicavolcaniconiosis’ [which is the name of a lung disease caused by microscopic silica dust inhaled into the lungs, which has absolutely nothing to do with this months column in any way possible, but i needed a long word, so there you have it].

instead of doing some boring monologue i am going to tell you about one of my newly acquired skills; the talent of having an answer to any question dealing with ‘why’. and not only that, the answer will also entertain and satisfy you. don’t believe me? i’ll prove it! just click the link below to find out how…

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Okay, two down, two to go. Last month I discussed the combinations low design & low marketing and high design and low marketing. With this column we are not going to waste some time on introduction. We are going to start right off. The third combination to be discussed is when there is a situation with low design and high marketing. In this case the design department has not been able to add an innovative twist to the product. On the other side, marketeers have been working hard to create some substantial competitive difference. When we try to reflect this to a car metaphor I suggest that we would end up with a Hummer. The Hummer is well known and well driver over the last couple of years, but I have never heard somebody talk about the comfort or the smooth steering abilities of the car. And now I even forget to mention that you will need more than 15 litres of benzene to drive only 10km’s. Although this car is quite different from its competitors we won’t define it as innovative in this case because the innovations don’t contribute the essence the car is bought for. The innovations of the Hummer go back to the days these cars were only driven by the US-army.

From the day Hummer decided to go out and sell these vehicles on the ‘human market’ it was instantly positioned very well. The Hummer-marketeers immediately felt which persons were most sensitive for this car. Within a couple of months the Hummer changed from ex-army vehicle to a status product to be owned by the rich and famous of this world. And to end as ever with the case to girl comparison, I would like to nominate Paris Hilton for this low design high marketing category. Although La Hilton definitely ain’t the hottest girl you’ve ever seen, most man wouldn’t mind to make some private video tapes with this future inmate. (more…)

Your design portfolio is ready, your personal resume is done, and you are all dressed up. You are now just minutes away from that important interview that will land you your future job. Do you know what to expect from the interviewers? Are your prepared enough for what is to come?

The interview is a discovery process, for the employer as well as the candidate. It is not only a time for the employer to understand more about the design applicant, but it’s also a good personal time for the designer to understand more about the employer and the position he is applying for. So here are some tips for you that I hope will prepare you for your design job interview: (more…)

my remote is fragile, my table is fragile, my old-school nintendo entertainment system is fragile, my precious ming dynasty vase is fragile, hell, even windows is fragile [no pun intended...ok, intended].

what i am trying to say here is this: there are a lot of products out there which are just too damn fragile! [in case you hadn’t noticed.]

i want a remote that survives the first 300 impacts, my table should be strong enough to support my pet rhinoceros, my nintendo should withstand the death rays from my homemade duckhunt gun, i would like my ming vase to survive the first few bowling rounds and as for windows, it shouldn’t be alive in the first place!

but i do not possess the power to change those things. all i can do is write this down for you to read, hoping it will make a change. so read on for my bigger-than-life view on the world of product durability, product suicide and more exiting information…
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After having delivered my first five marketing columns on this design blog, I’m trying to put some knowledge to the test. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been questioning some designers and marketeers about the overall feelings they’ve got about each other professions. How much do they both think themselves contribute to the final product and how much they think the others contribute to the final product. Although there hasn’t been any statistical test or proof, with this column I’m going to try to put some lines between marketing and design.

During this column I’m not going to say what is good or what is bad, I purely insist on trying to find some comparisons between the two professions. I do understand that there are some fundamental differences between both, because they originate from a different perspective, but they can’t deny they ain’t in the same game. It’s like comparing attackers to defenders when talking about footballers. But that’s where the best midfielders come from. And they form the solid basis of a successful team.

But before we start I would like to shortly specify marketing and design to overcome some definition myopia. Design is the art of innovating, shaping a product/service to new desirable standards. Marketing is the art of selling, building a desirable product/service’s image. I’m going to describe four scenarios with additional real life cases. The variables used in these scenarios are off course marketing and design. Which both could be high or low. These scenarios will be put in a matrix to clarify the whole story. Please remind that high and low are totally different of good and bad. (more…)

Lamborghini with Asus, Samsung with Bang & Olufsen, Nike with Apple… what do these companies have in common? Within the last few years, there are many product designs born by merging the strengths of two companies to build up a stronger brand and product identity that could well benefit both companies.

Studio469 takes a look into the reasons behind these succesful design collaborations.
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happiness. what is happiness? how does one obtain happiness? i just could not grasp the concept. more importantly, since i am a designer, how does the consumer get happy? i guess it’s time to get my board and plug that utp-cable in my left ear [the right is for 5.1 surround] and start surfing.

after riding these waves of html and other carriers for some time i came upon a great article about the pursuit of happiness. i am not talking about the movie, i am talking about the actual pursuit of happiness. and after reading that article, i wanted more coherent knowledge. so i read some more, a lot more. and after all those hours of my precious time, i found a satisfactory answer. and i will present it to you. and mix some design and creativity into it, as usual.

however, don’t think the image above is a dead giveaway. let me tell you beforehand: obtaining happiness, as a consumer, is not obtained by the sheer amount of money. though money does fit into the equation…

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As a man I like to see a lot of beautiful things… For example, beautiful girls, cars, computers (read macs), art, football, snowboardtricks, whatever more. But to keep it simple I’ll stick to girls today. We have all seen them, those centerfold girls, that look really amazing. Damn… they could really turn me on!

Okay keep this picture in mind. We are going to give it a little twist. We are about to add some sound to it. Let’s take the friendly/semi-crying: Oh.. my.. God.. (patented by Janice, ex-Friends actrice). (Translation for all female readers: the David Beckham syndrome.. still no bells ringing? Google for a video interview)
But we’re not done yet, because some die-hard-player could mention to simply ask the hot girl to shut up… and the problem is solved. Right?

However there is another ‘problem’. When we smoothly approach the hot girl, she slightly transforms into a smelly cat. Too bad, but I’ll have to pass this appetite through to the smell-less volunteers. (more…)

We are proud to present you to the third monthly column, the Creative Columns & Marketing Mondays have been around for a couple of months, so here’s what’s fresh: “The Design Discovery”. Every 2nd Thurday of the month we’ll publish an article on discovering your true design skills, the real design industry strategies and more design profession related secrets will be unveiled. Written by our Asian design counterpart of the Studio469 team, these articles are designed to equip you for the real-life design industry. So enjoy the first article which is about discovering your own design persona, regarding to your portfolio.

More often than not, fresh graduate designers have found themselves searching for a design job, unaware of what they are capable of. Hence, when it comes to interviews, they fall short of showing their unique design capabilities, which makes them stand out from the others. Also, in wanting to pursue a Masters program, they can be still uncertain of the course they want as they have yet to discover what they can do with their innate design qualities. My advice is, always shape your portfolio in such a way that it enhances your design strengths and shows your unique persona. Read the rest of the column to find out about some of the different styles of design portfolios defined, and identify your own design persona: (more…)