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For me, one of the interesting things about design has always been how changing seemingly small items can have amazingly large results.

And I'm not talking about a 24% rise in sales because someone decided to make the logo bigger.

More about huge cost savings (and environmental savings) when there's a Designer clever enough to rethink a product's packaging.

Over at the GreenerComputing blog, Claudia Girrbach visited with several members of Cisco's supply chain team, who are working on an environmentally sound packaging program. In the pilot program alone, which only focuses on a few of their high volume products, promises to yield $24 million in annual savings.

She goes on to say, "...by focusing on packaging material content, volume and transport container efficiency, the company will save on materials and transportation costs as well."

When you're talking numbers like that, you can pretty much guarantee that your senior management might listen up, even if you're "just" a Designer working down in Creative.

In the article, Claudia outlines her three best practices for a product's packaging diet: Eliminate, Right Size, and Sustain.

Cisco was kind enough to provide a PDF outlining their process.

It makes me proud to own a Cisco phone, I tell you!


(Photo by Steve Keys)

  

Last month some interesting news rolled down the scientific pike: researchers from Columbia University and the City College of New York "say their calculation of the 'Quality-Adjusted Life Years' -- or 'Qalys' -- lost as a result of obesity is now equal to, if not greater than, those lost from smoking.

According to the Chicago-Sun Times: "The findings, reported in this week's American Journal of Preventive Medicine, were based on a national health survey of 3.5 million American adults. It suggests that, from 1993 to 2008, the proportion of smokers fell by 18.5 percent, while the proportion of obese people rose by 85 percent. Smoking caused more deaths, but obesity caused more illness."

It might seem weird to think that NYC would take the obesity epidemic head on (and yes, I think when you say an 85% increase you get to epidemic), but here you have it: the city has produced Active Design Guidelines, which "provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets and urban spaces, based on the latest academic research and best practices in the field."

So, can design save people?

Here's what their design department has to say about architecture and design's intimate connection with society:

"In the 19th and early 20th centuries, architects and urban reformers helped to defeat infectious diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis, by improving design of buildings, streets, neighborhoods, clean water systems and parks. In the 21st century, designers can again play a crucial role in combating the most rapidly growing public health epidemics of our time: obesity and its impact on related chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers."

It's an uphill battle for sure (pun intended), getting people to take the stairs instead of the elevator, it seems like we humans naturally take the path of least resistance.

But I say, if Designers and Marketers can get me to choose a $5 bar of soap over the $1.35 one, then this should be cake.

Okay, that pun was unintentional.


(Photo by laverrue)

I am not a designer.  (Shocking, I know.)

That doesn't mean I don't use design in my work.  Newsletter subheads will get a bolder font than the rest of the text.  Paragraphs are separated by a line of white space rather than indenting the first word.  Rows or columns in a spreadsheet are filled with different colors.  Very basic, very easy, yet I always want to take it that extra step, to make it stand out just a bit more.

Robin Willams' (the author, not the actor/comedian) The Non-Designer's Design Book provides a decent introduction to the design world for someone who, like me, has some idea of what good design is but doesn't know how to use that information.  Her book presents four design principles that everyone already uses subconsciously, giving them names and making them easier to understand and to identify. Contrast, making items or text that are different really stand out from one another on a page; Repetition, using a visual element over and over to create continuity; Alignment, connecting items and text visually on a page to create good flow; and Proximity, placing related items near each other on a page.  And rather than simply stating that these are the principles, Williams includes dozens of everyday examples to re-enforce their usage.

The second section of the book deals with typefaces -- the Oldstyles, the Moderns, the Scripts, the differences between Serif and Sans Serif and Slab Serif -- and how to use them effectively to make a newsletter or invitation more eye-catching.  Taking the image to the left as an example, those four typefaces look too much alike.  Combining them onto a single page makes them almost indistinguishable from one another.  Why not increase the size of one typeface to show how different it is?  Or change the weight (or boldness)?  Or how about a different color?  The eye will be drawn to it and then want to read what comes immediately after.

It all seems pretty simple after reading Williams' book.  Not that I'm going to drop everything to create a 20-page, 4-color catalog any time soon.  But at least I can make my newsletters a cut above the rest.

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Sometimes working in certain fields, and becoming semi-obsessive with those fields, can irritate family and friends whenever you're visiting with them.

Personally, I love a good narrative and am a writer, so I can get a little wacky when watching a movie over at someone's house and the story goes off course. For example, I was enjoying Fight Club until I realized the protagonist (Ed Norton) could actually see his split personality (Brad Pitt) - which is just about as laughable a plot point as I can imagine. So I spent the rest of the movie saying, "You gotta be kidding. You've got to be kidding!"

I know the same goes for Font Purists. Love this quote from a New York Times article about them:

"I think sometimes that being overly type-sensitive is like an allergy," said Michael Bierut, a partner in the Pentagram design group in New York. "My font nerdiness makes me have bad reactions to things that spoil otherwise pleasant moments."

I actually loved it when someone pointed out that even though the images of Pilgrims are always showing them wearing buckles at Thanksgiving, buckles didn't come into fashion until later in the 17th century.

Aren't you glad you're not spending the holidays with me?

Regardless, you should read the Font Purists article, then give your relatives a break this holiday.

I'll see you in the New Year!

(Photo by adactio) 

I'm smart enough to trust the talented people I know and further, trust their taste and perspective.  Often a great new site or a talented designer is driven into my inbox or posted to my Wall by an equally talented designer friend of mine and I'm always grateful for the guidance of my web Sherpas.  

So when half a dozen people independently sent me links to the same mindblowing Papervision3D site, needless to say it captured my attention.  

As it turned out, as these things often do in a parochial town like Philadelphia, I knew by extension a few of the guys that contributed to the site and a year or so later I spoke with one of the site's visionary architects to discuss his work with Papervision3D and the bumps and bruises he experienced along the way. 

He's delivered a great presentation here where he illuminates the 5 things he wished he knew before he got started so that the talented developers and designers in the Aquent network can learn from his discoveries and breakthroughs to deliver their own amazing experiences.

Here it is.  5 Things on Papervision3D (to know BEFORE you start)...

https://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=gvh9cb

You know, the Internet is a curse and a blessing for those of us who used to get distracted while looking up words in the dictionary. ("Hey, did you know 'gruntle' means 'to put in a good humor'?")

I end up researching for both my work and home life and it seems I always end up at pages like this one: The MIT Inventor of the Week.

Why, exactly, would I be reading (and yes, fascinated) by inventor Buckminster Fuller? Or Forrest E. Mars, the man who invented M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers and Mars bars (which, if you can believe it, is how I ended up at that site in the first place.)

Got me.

But heck, if I'm ever on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and Buckminster Fuller comes up, that kid is going to be sorry.

(Photo by s o d a p o p)

What do Method, Johnson & Johnson, Scientific American, X Prize, New Belgium Brewing Company, and Clorox have in common?

If you guessed they'll all be gathering at Opportunity Green Business Conference at UCLA, then give yourself ten (green) points. The conference promises to "bring together the brightest innovators leading the growth of the new green economy" and to allow you to "Get the inside view on the hottest topics, trends and technologies at the premier green business event focused on creating new opportunities through sustainability."

Speakers include Adam Lowry, Co-founder, Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, Director of Sustainability Initiatives at Art Center College of Design, and Chris Hacker, Chief Design Officer at Johnson and Johnson (formerly of Aveda).

Being green doesn't come cheap this time, however... the cost for the full conference is
$995.00 ($495 for full-time students.)

If you go, let me know what you liked!

Criticism isn't always easy to hear and respond to positively.

When it comes to someone critiquing your design masterpiece, it's especially hard to take, in light of all the hours (days, weeks) you put into the project.

So how is a Designer supposed to deal with the emotional roller coaster that criticism produces?

I just finished reading an article at Smashingmagazine.com that I think answers it best: in order to respond to criticism effectively, it's important to know where the opportunity lies.

Isn't that the answer to everything?


(photo by Kiwi Mikex)