A couple weeks ago, I attended the opening of the “$H!T HAPPENS in Berlin”exhibit in the Toronto showroom of Relative Space & Floorworks. The exhibit explores the aesthetic and technical innovations of creatives in Berlin, showcasing both emerging and established designers. “$H!T HAPPENS” was curated by celebrated architect Juergen Mayer H., who put the exhibit together using the unique curatorial strategy of ‘Chain Curating.’ Says Juergen of the process,

“There are three concepts that are intertwined: the first is to show designers from Berlin because it’s a happening place. The second idea is to have a chain curating concept where we invite four or five voices that we think are relevant, and then they bring in their network. Everyone feels responsible and part of creating the show. The people involved come from different disciplines—graphic design, product design and conceptual fashion. What was important to us is that the designers have an agenda that twists conventions, and that is also why we called the show “$H!T HAPPENS,” which means allowing errors and trials and experimentation as part of a creative discourse or discovery. Therefore, by having accidents or problematic moments in your design process, you might discover something completely new.”

Coming off an extraordinary reception in New York City’s NOHO Design District, the exhibit will be up in Toronto through July 8 2011 at Relative Space, 365 Dupont Street.  Be sure to check it out if you’re in the city.

www.berlinhappens.com

However, we are now experiencing another evolution in Industrial Design as it appears to be reaching the end of an evolutionary plateau, with emerging industrial economies such as China and India set to take over  the way things get made (for better or worse).  It is important to note that Industrial manufacturing will continue to exist, yet it must evolve to keep up with emerging needs of society and the new rules of global responsibility.  In a similar way that Industrial processes in Europe became focussed on premium quality rather than mass-quantity, North American manufacturing will need to re-examine and re-evaluate where their strengths are and what long term potential exists based on examining holistic risks and opportunities.

Since the 1950′s manufacturing expertise in North America has been systematically reduced to ever more efficient assembly lines with ever increasing regulations and manufacturing processes with more emphasis devoted to marketing and advertising.  As a result of this, manufacturers have become increasingly more clever at reducing the number, complexity and cost of manufacturing.  However as we look forward to the next phase of evolution in our emerging world economy, the core Industrial Design skills and manufacturing expertise appears to be set for going open and experiential.

It is this technical know-how that is gradually being re-distributed throughout the Internet and it is allowing new micro-assembly methods for independents, proving a way to bypass traditional investment heavy processes and procedures.  This is proving to be most beneficial for the emerging economies and independents start-ups.  Fisker Automotive and Tesla Automotive are both companies who are touting their independent green credentials, and yet they using the same supplier base from larger OEMs to create their more sharply defined and powerful Premium Electric or Plug-in Hybrids vehciles. Most important to note however, is that these are still early days for these type of innovators.

Already there are other new (smaller scale) business models which are begining to pop up.  As with many innovations, it is not always the originator of an idea who benefits from an idea or technology first.  Sometimes the groundwork that has been laid down by previous business experiments and prototype models leads innovators to other business models with separate and an un-intended technologies and they are able to realize a novel new approach for use in a new type of product.  An interesting example at this end of the spectrum is BPG Motors; an small start-up company born from a highschool science project in which the technology of Segway’s personal transporter was reformatted to fit into a motorcycle style package.  After only a few short years, the company is now experimenting with a fold-up scooter prototype, the UNO III, which can transform itself to save space to be taken indoors and up an elevator.  None of this would have been possible if not for the accessibility of open-source know-how and shared technologies (such as the out-sourced rapid prototyping of aluminum parts).

Are brand names, badges or marques of a manufacturer more important than what the physical product is?  These are questions that I often think about.  I think automotive manufacturers also need to address these kinds question before taking their brands into the realm of experience design.  If a manufacturer of a brand cannot impart a more compelling story beyond what the end customer picks up from their  dealership, then perhaps it is time for an investigation  around what kinds of experiences, journeys and alternative narratives can be provided to consumers.

Industrial Design has often been criticized as one of the most destructive professions due to the resulting industrial waste,  shortened mid-cycle enhancements and associated pollutants with the entire socio-economic, industrial and commercial program.  There are several leading minds in  transportation design and automotive design experts who acknowledge that the only way to improve current and emerging issues related to transportation and mobility is in collaboration with non-automotive sectors.  More importantly there is now an industry awareness and emphasis on designing experiential brands, that take consumers beyond the realm of “yes or no type offerings” or other stand alone products, and instead focuses on delivering a participative experience.  This is the next evolution for Industrial Design as it requires a breadth of knowledge of both product, process and positioning.

So what does all this mean to brand-name manufacturers?    Manufactures can do much more for consumers, and  there are real needs that can be addressed right now beyond simply offering more products.  The short answers could be in developing alternatives to car ownership, and alleviating time wasted for commuters stuck in traffic.  There are many forms this could this take, most obviously transit buses and ride/share programs.  But how could an automotive brand use experiential marketing to provide a premium service?  Would there be anything from a brand to add to the experience beyond simply being an “outstanding, compelling or gotta-have-product”?   Imagine an autonomous limo that picks you and and delivers you your destination, that is piloted by Google, co-branded by Apple and offers passengers an engaging experiences designed by Universal Studios.  Or how about stopping off at Starbucks to recharge your electric hybrid while you enjoy your favorite cup of coffee?

The path forward is not yet clear, and there is still much deliberation about what vehicle architectures, electric infrastructure and vehicle servicing that will be needed in the future.  However, industry already knows about the more immediate and frustrating issues of traffic, pollution and insurance premiums.  If foresight indications are correct, then the R&D groups of large OEM’s need to begin re-evaluating what mobility means, and what role their brands will play in a service oriented economy.   Creative technology environments are generally reserved for work in manufacturing R&D silos, however I know from experience that they can be quite flexible in accommodating new types of design and engineering (see my earlier post here).  In order for OEM brands to gain access to the next evolution economy, the Researching-of and Designing-exercises for consumer experience based offerings, must be opened up beyond the silo of transportation designers.  What is needed now, is a new platform to engage policy makers, urban planners and non-automotive businesses with those in the Automotive Corporate world.

Idea Couture has its roots in digital innovation. Frog, Adaptive Path, my good friends at Normative Design, and many other leading innovation firms also have amazingly strong foundations in the digital world. Three years ago, I left the interactive industry to pursue innovation consulting, and while I expected a painful transition, what I found was that infusing big problems with the sensibilities of the interactive space, no problem is insurmountable. Now, all of these firms call upon that experience to tackle problems much larger than designing websites.

I believe that interactive people are the world’s best innovators.

While today, the process of innovation is often labeled “design thinking”, people from the interactive space don’t really need to call it anything other than their job. The process of innovation has been intuitively embedded in user experience since people first started thinking about how websites work. What’s even more incredible is that the interactive space has only reached one billionth of its potential. While we draw on foundations of industrial design and architecture, we’re blazing trails in other unexplored territory.

Digital people are inventors

In a typical design process, defining constraints of a project is one of the very earliest steps. In the interactive realm, a constraint is treated like an opportunity to push the boundaries of a medium. As a result, people are more than willing to hack the rules or create new rules to make the optimal solution work. Their analytical yet lateral ability to solve problems is second to none. Interactive people are inventors.

Interactive people understand systems

Anyone who grew up in a web firm lived the life of the ugly stepchild. If you were building websites in the early 2000′s, you knew that your entire existence hinged on an appreciation of multiple service and experience paths. You were building within a larger organizational system and context – you were one piece of a puzzle. Interactive people are systems designers.

Empathy is at the core of innovation

A web design process is inherently user centred. It requires an in depth understanding of a person’s goals, and your job is to help them achieve those goals. That being said, interactive people understand that an end user’s experience is a reflection of both what you design and their own environment on the other side of the screen. We deal with issues of accessibility, issues of screen size, mobile considerations, situated experience, and more. Interactive people understand user centred design.

Digital people communicate

Since the beginning of my web career, I’ve understood design thinking tools. Prototyping, wireframing and storyboarding are all essential processes in the digital space. Apply those same skills to a service design problem, or to a product design problem, and suddenly abstract concepts make complete sense to your clients. Interactive people apply the design thinking toolkit every day.

Digital people understand performance

One of the largest barriers to innovation is the burden of proof. Since the very beginning of the digital era, people have been measuring websites to communicate the success of innovation, and drawing relevant parallels where no previous parallels existed. Digital people balance business and user objectives.

Interactive designs are always iterative

The day after you build something, you switch to optimization mode. There’s an inherent appreciation in digital that solutions can be elegant, but can always be improved. The idea of constant improvements and iterative design are fundamental to digital processes. They’re also core to the beliefs of innovators.

The medium is in its infancy

Ask an industrial designer to talk about the web, and they’ll base most of their thinking in what’s current. Talk to an interactive designer about the web, and they talk about visions for the future. Every day, some new considerations enters our design lexicon. And every day, some new startup is experimenting with these tools to push the boundaries of what is possible. Digital people are adaptable and flexible.

Innovation in product is innovation in digital

To solve product and service design problems, we need to migrate towards platform thinking. A product is no longer just an object – it’s a hub of connected information and interactions. Yes, strong industrial design can create an object of desire, but without inherently and intuitively applying digital sensibilities to that product, it will arguably be less competitive. Industries like music and publishing are transforming before our very eyes, and who are the best people to lead us into this unexplored territory?

Any of these qualities on their own are factors we look for when hiring innovation consultants. But what’s incredible about interactive people is that, more often than not, they have all of these qualities. And I know this is just a starting point in a long list of skills. I’m not trying to discount the capabilities of industrial designers, researchers, or architects who have found their way into the innovation space, but I do truly believe that the inherent understanding of all the qualities outlined above put former interactive practitioners in a unique position to solve big, important problems.

So did I miss any?

There are 365 days in the year and our travel luggage spends most of that time buried away in the closet.  When luggage is not being used, it takes away valuable space, and adds to the frustration of clutter creating awkward surfaces that are difficult integrate with other items.

After 100 years in the travel luggage and all the changes that the industry has been through, it is ultimately the consumers who have changed most. With a decrease in leisure travel, and an expansion of alternative means to carrying luggage from the onset as a result of increased air travel restrictions, luggage manufactures have witnessed a near perfect storm.  Retailers in particular have felt the pinch of the great recession and some brands are facing severe economic uncertainties. Research indicates that changes in air travel behavior are here to stay, and while some luggage manufacturers are forecasting expansion into overseas market development in the hopes of luring customers similar to those found in North America, the luggage manufacturers will need to take a more serious look at where they are heading toward and what they are planning to do about their business in terms of strategy and innovation.

What hope is there for the North American luggage industry to survive into the next decade?  What else can this industry do with their manufacturing expertise and brand equity?  How can they to tap some new value streams for consumers? What are some other ways to reframe the context of luggage and how it gets used?  What are some alternative functions or features that could be used in the home and the urban environment?

The following explorations pertain to ideas and opinions expressed over innovation for travel luggage industry.  The directions, departures and themes illustrated here are meant to serve as a starting point around a discussion of innovation, and do necessarily reflect the actual brand names that have been referenced.

One direction could see the extension of luggage docking familiar to travellers brought into the home environment.  This habit formed “Loading and Unloading Zone” serves as a system that can be installed by the DIY homeowner.  Key features would be stowed away storage bins, vanity mirror/wall organizer and an innovative dust trap/deodorizer for the front hallway.

A step down from the built environment could be realized as a mobile cart with integrated lighting and storage systems.  The carry-on luggage would be stationed as temporary shelving unit capable of offering up usable space in a chaotic environment.  Ambient lighting on both floor and ceiling with combined use of mirror would open up even the narrowest of passageways.

Another extension of mobility, this idea focuses on individual docking of carry-on luggage and the interplay of visibility and usable space.  Additional features would include ambient ceiling light, air-scrubbing plants (such as Bamboo Palms) and aromatic fragrances through co-branded vendors.

In this last example, here is an exploration around a stationary unit, meant to be compatible with other electronics and entertainment style furniture.  Featuring a duality of faces through the use of a swivel base, this unit allows the user to display or conceal the luggage depending on scenario of use.  Other conveniences such as magazine rack, shoe organizer and lower cupboard space invite the user to display this station which is made from the same materials and construction as the luggage itself.

]]> http://www.ideacouture.com/blog/2011/01/03/pack-the-bags-for-a-new-direction/feed/ 0 http://www.ideacouture.com/blog/2010/07/19/want-passion-from-automotive-products-look-to-hyundai/ http://www.ideacouture.com/blog/2010/07/19/want-passion-from-automotive-products-look-to-hyundai/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:07:35 +0000 Jesse Diephuis http://www.ideacouture.com/blog/?p=4552 Hyundai and Kia have made immense gains in the past decade by re-invigorating their brand with truly unique designs and exciting offerings with their products such as the sporty Rear-wheel drive Hyundai Genesis coupe and Sedan, and attractive yet affordable Front wheel drive Kia Forte, Soul and Sorento.

Consumers who were previously buying marks such as Honda, Nissan and Toyota now have now made a switch to the Korean automotive manufacturer who has become known for delivering truly innovate and compelling products that offer both fresh aesthetics and solid engineering.  Considering the Korean automakers initial foray into the automotive world 20 years ago, this is quite an accomplishment.  It is even more remarkable considering that Kia and Hyundai actually gained market share during the economic declines between 2008 and 2010.  One of the ways that they were able to accomplish this was from an investment that was made 10 years ago that went directly into innovation; research and design.  The South Korean government had acknowledged back in 2001, that from an industrial standpoint that they needed to invest in Design to drive future revenues.  They understood that becoming competitive only was not enough, and that in order to become leading in class with their products, they would need to recruit top talent in both engineering and design.  This has certainly worked to their advantage so far.

Traditionally a Design work within an OEM studio (original equipment manufacturer), will spend most of their time and energy on identifying target markets and selecting themes to develop further, and then translate a theme into physical properties such as clay models and digital models. Within this system of theme development, production programs can be started, postponed, shelved or eliminated all-together based on decisions from senior leadership.  The remaining amount of time is generally used to identify more closely with the potential consumers’ mental and aspirational mindsets.  Part of our design work is dedicated to selecting key words, phrases and  images that bolster the theme development for an existing brand.  Identifying future consumer’s unmet needs as market opportunities can be very challenging, because the process and tends to be disconnected from real-life consumer insights.  The reason for this is because most of the attention and still spent on the day-to-day business operations.   When we as designers try to create sketches for vehicles and conceive scenarios that are 10, 15 or even 20 years into the future for our companies, things can quickly go astray.  Sometimes this vision models can get weighed because of all the layers of bureaucracy and legacy costs that are associated within an organization, and other times it may be difficult or nearly impossible to move swiftly on opportunities when because you are working within a large and constrained system.  This is the primary reason that why consultancies can provide such valuable insight and fresh perspective, because they have more flexibility to showcase new ideas and explore unknown product/service/experience territories.  Some car companies have an ability to overlap this with their branding strategies, yet most do not.  The opportunities which may exist outside their specific product realm could be more about services or more about delivering an experience and  in this case, the innovation and branding strategies fall short in helping to identify a key innovation.  The territory of traditional automotive design thinking has always been about proportions, stance and quality of execution on a theme.  This is one of the reasons why I chose to join Idea Couture because I wanted to share this process on their projects and at the same time combine my experience and knowledge of foresight strategy to facilitate the innovation and business side.

It was my participation in the foresight strategies and futures workshops that helped guide me to Idea Couture.   My prior experience working with the Advanced Design studio provided me access to an experimental team comprised of designers, engineers and manufacturing innovation experts.  Through foresight study, we reached a new level of understanding in regards to identifying unmet market needs, values shifts, societal changes, technology advancements, environmental concerns, economic forces and political pressures.  Each of these topics have an affect on the business planning and product development strategy, and it was in this field of study that I was able to capture a sense of innovation and an opportunity mapping that gave me an ability to correlate my ideas abou the future with Idris regarding transportation, personal mobility and fashion synergy.

In December of 2009 I traveled to Shanghai for a round interviews with potential employers.  I visited with brand name car studios, international consultancies and I was also able to meet with Idris after an exchange of information on Linked In.  We discussed some potential synergiesbetween his company and myself, even though at that time  I did not have a clear picture or prior knowledge of the backgrounds of his experienced professionals who worked with his team.  My only thought was that there would be a positive benefit for both of us by working together and that by bringing in my capabilities and combining it with their business thinking we could better deliver innovation for clients.

Working for Idea Couture has offered me a chance to build a framework of challenging old ideas.  Based on deep insights and a multi-disciplinary approach, I am fortunate again to be able to work with a group of such diverse and qualified business people, and experts to rely upon as we face the challenges of innovating new products and services at Idea Couture.   I can think of no better opportunity for using my experience and skills than with this team.  We will make a positive difference by way of delivering innovation to companies that rely on us to more effectively relate to the people that we all depend on the most, the consumer.

It requires that we put ourselves on the same streets of the people we would like to offer new services or products to.  We cannot simply sit behind a desk and target potential consumers with ideas which are created in a vacuum.

Corporations are more comfortable when they are able to absorb information that is presented in un-ambiguous volumes of information such as with infographics, data plots, matrix charts and/or clear examples that illustrate the archetypical consumers mated to a given technology.  See Ford’s Antonella, a Computer Generated personas used in development.

However here is where the problem arises, because most companies are too focused on their day-to-day production to really see any greater potential for other adjacent services, similar markets or entirely new opportunities thus limiting their capability to even begin thinking about taking a ‘calculated risk’.  Identifying and developing an entirely new product, experience or service requires a Re-Think, Re-imagining and Reset of business as usual.

Most companies already know who they want to target and what they are willing to spend, but what they don’t know and don’t have, are all the cultural points of reference, the interviews, the video-diaries,  the deep insights that come from knowing and understanding their ‘target market’ intimately.  Companies can literally get stuck when it comes to identifying new social classes that are yet to exist 10 years (even 15 years +) from now into the future.  Experimenting with branding techniques and products that aren’t really connected or based with anything that is current quickly loses relevance, authenticity and meaning.   Internal Design studies and Innovation work really start to break-down because no one actually knows who these future consumers really are.  Again, this is not an Engineering issue, it is an Anthropology study, also a Futurist’ scenario and a Qualitative research issue.

This is why a consultancy such as Idea Couture make sense for companies who wish to understand, utilize and implement foresight strategy that take responsibility for identifying, examining and creating innovative solutions for future target markets.

This issue is often referred to as a ‘wicked problem’, which is to say that the solutions are not obvious, nor are they transparent or easily recognizable upon initial inspection. The real answers are not known only until after someone has solved it.

Furthermore, if any attempt is made to solve a particular issue as an individual part of a wicked-problem, then it could potentially do more harm than good.  To ignore the over-lapping of adjoining issues for products and services is like to going into a field of land mines blind-folded.  You need innovation that that allow you to navigate the most effective  way through using the right tools and taking the right steps.

The opportunities to solve these issues cohesively, requires groups of different and complimentary minds (that do not have a conflict of interest in developing solutions) to work together as a team to create points of cultural reference, identify weak signals, map out scenarios and if need be engage even more raw ideas from un-biased participants.  This synergy-approach eludes most corporations primarily because each node of expertise comes from completely different and diverse set of backgrounds, which is normally not associated with human resources that are  available within an established organization.  What ultimately facilitates desired outcomes for Idea Couture clients is essentially our diversity and key competencies within our respective areas of expertise.

However, striking this balance in the modern world, and more importantly the emerging world must take on a different meaning.  As the old notions of luxury are challenged, they must make way for a new set of user dynamics and offer solutions to the people who live in the growing Megacities (cities with populations over 10 million).

In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Mumbai, Tokyo, New York City, and Mexico City had populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, which is greater than the entire population of Canada.  (source: Wikipedia)  2015 and beyond will also  see cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, added to this list to name a few.

Transportation on the whole is beginning to splinter into many different value streams such as delivery-on-demand, hub-to-hub services and deliveries, international condo cruisers, executive coaches, virtual garages, post-materialistic neighborhood eco-cars, shared-public vehicles, super-budget-sub $3000, and also new derivatives of personal mobility leading to even more avenues.

As Mega-cities become the norm, consumer attitudes will shift further away from the traditional aspiration of commuter vehicle ownership.  The costs associated with owning, insuring, driving, navigating, re-fueling, re-charging and parking will begin to unravel the notion of investing in one single mode of transport.  In its place, we will see more services based types of transportation.  All it will take are a few entrepreneurs who can splice together on-demand services with real-time users who consumers who are looking for more than just a taxi.

We must search out new ways of mobility, in terms of prestige, convenience, adaptability, affordability, dependability, the “raison d’etre” …… and we must find them quickly.  For consumers, they must be offered some form of tangible incentive, be it joy from the sheer act of being mobile, entertainment, price or convenience.

In terms of Engineering and Design, there are studies currently taking place around the use of robotics in the transportation industry; GM EN-V is one example of a technology demonstrator, and is now on display now at the Shanghai World Expo. The EN-V operates on technology borrowed from Segway, and the entire vehicle is half the size of a Smart car, fully electronic, has a top speed of 25 mph, and is capable of making turns 360 degrees in-place.Another example is the T.25 concept from Gordon Murray (Designer of the famous supercar; McLaren F1), which demonstrates foresight for government regulations, and fuel economy mandates, which are expected by the year 2020.

Transportation technologies have the ability to facilitate change, but ultimately adoption of this will rely completely on the behavior of how humans move about.  Metropolitan cities are more fashion conscious, and urban dwellers are more interested spending money on others things rather than to automobiles.  These people have other desires for items; shoes, purses, headphones, jackets etc…  But human behavior is not an engineering subject and neither is fashion. Therefore, the future scenarios of personal mobility will be less about pure Engineering, more about Ethnography and Designing towards consumer tastes and their unique interests.

Soon, consumers will not care so much about who manufactured their product, but instead they will be more interested in what Designer, Stylist, Co-creator or Theme Artist customized their mobility.  As this scenario evolves it will begin to see an over-lapping of transport services that combines with fashion design, product design, and experience design.

The Clever Little Bag by Puma

Recently Puma announced the Clever Little Bag that will reduce their environmental footprint. As a shoelover, a shoebox is not only an environment problem but a space saving issue that involves all shoelovers who live in small condos. The Clever Little Bag not only solves the bigger problem at hand such as sustainability and carbon emission but it also reduces cluster in everyone’s home.

The R3 Green experiment by Petz Scholtus and Sergio Carratala

I stumbled upon this article on ReadyMade magazine and its about a Spanish couple in Barcelona who turned their own home into a green experiment. The couple used as many recycled materials as they could to create a carbon neutral home that follows the 3R principles: Reduce, Recycle, Respect. One of the coolest things in their apartment is the Wine Crate cabinets in the kitchen. You can follow the instruction and make one yourself with this check list.

Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burt
Obsessive Consumption started out as an art project by Kate Bingaman and it’s a project that I have been following for a few years. Kate, the artist, started out by creating a personal record of what she buys everyday and she draws out credit card statements for every single item she buys. The collection of drawings is getting bigger and bigger and she has finally started a blog to document this project. Why is this project green you ask? The drawings of what we consume serve as a reminder for all of us to think twice about how much we consume on this planet and by looking at the colourful drawings of these consumptions you are able to reflect on your own. When everyone is doing it- that’s a good starting point for reducing waste.

Happy Earth Day!

As designers/industrial designers/architects/visionary futurists we must be able to employ many tools, and with the passing of the hand-drawn ship curves we are now permanently entering the realm of an almost fully digital process.   With so many new softwares becoming available, the creative process itself has become fully encompassed with digital tools for every aspect of product design right down to sketch gestures that utilize soft A.I. that maps out your ‘intended’ brush strokes (iPhone apps).  Perhaps it is not an absolute necessity to know all digital modeling software programs but it goes without saying designers need to know softwares and know them intimately well.  However, as the next generation of designer/cad jockeys inherit an entirely new set of softwares the idea of what it means to be a ‘designer’ is being challenged.

At one point in the early 2000’s digital skills were a double edge sword, because once you excelled at a certain program you could be easily pigeonholed into being labeled a ‘digital wizard’.  Not to diminish the merits of CAD modelers and the technical people who support the design process, but creating math models in virtual space (at that time) did not constitute being a Designer.  I speak from first-hand experience on this, as my automotive career began using Alias AutoStudio.   My first appointment within at an OEM Design Studios in North America quickly made me realize that there was a negative aspect to be associated with a CAD programs.   The dreaded label of ‘surface-modeler’ or ‘CAD-jockey’ proved to be an obstacle but it no less to diminished the  aspiration of becoming an automotive designer.  As part of the creative design team, the words ‘cad-jockey’ or ‘cad-monkey’ were  a scarlet letters to carry around, while typically viewed as only a supporting role to other designers, the skills learned there proved to be invaluable.

Now a decade on, in 2010 there is a fast growing movement happening in the realm of CAD and nowhere is the phenomenon more visible than in Architecture.  ‘Algorithm architecture’ as it has been referred to, is challenging the old paradigms of designer to CAD person workflows.  In this instance, a clever group of CAD/code scripting folks have figured out a way to introduce code-bred designs that were generated from algorithms. Most of the aesthetically pleasing examples, still have a human mind over-seeing the entire process in order to weed out the unattractive compositions.  Final designs are selected based on both their aesthetic and functional merits, which is a result of continually re-running the programs.  This process will certainly evolve to another level once social networking has been factored into this process (such as Threadless, X-Prize and Local Motors Competitions).  CAD worker and Architect are becoming synonymous in the field of architecture and eventually this wil become the case for product development as well.

Currently a fashion statement for automotive, as emulated fractal architecture (Pandion Showcar from Bertone), there are  subtle signs that logaritm architecture will find its way (and purpose) into product development.  In the future this means that when we are given primary structure (which is initially designed around strength analysis software), the result of the skeletal load paths could then be paired with another program to accommodate aesthetic designs along the same lines and volumes.  Perhaps the entire process could even provide a feed-back loop which allows the object itself to change the overall design and engineering to suit preferences. Case and point; Emergent Architecture based out of Los Angeles, CA.

The net result of all these scripted-code-based designs on Product Development will be a steady and fundamental shift in the way the final output (the finished design) is conceived, created, and employed.  In some cases this process is completely blurring the lines between the Designer, Modeler, Script-coder, Art Director and Architect.  It is amazing to think that a 100 years ago, most buildings were constructed using carved wood logs, bricks and stone.  Now however, we are entering a permanent phase where mass-customized designs, and re-mixed designs are created using some form of Algorithms or Logarithms.  Visual Art meets C0-engineered/ Software Adaptive/Computer Aided Design.

If you consider that most digital files can be either downloaded (or re-produced by novice digital creator), the designs of the future  will be available across a variety of shared resources any where in the world.  You may begin to realize the impact that this may have when you start to think about the emerging markets.  In developing countries (who do not have legacy costs with conventional know-how) begin make their investments in newer technologies instead of the old ones, an accelerating shift will occur.  The capability of technically savvy entrepreneurs will be able to easily manipulate and re-produce high-end  designs or even be able to single out any desirable trait or elements which they deem desirable.  All it will take for a company to exceed in these markets is an initial investment in creative process with CAD software and access to rapid prototyping machines.