Good Books on Design Sketching (Updated October 2011)


Good sketching skills are important in any design process, and something truly needed in the design industry today. While working in the design industry, I have seen many young designers give up on sketching because they think they cannot do it.

The truth is sketching is an activity that requires constant practice to perfect. Therefore the will to practice is essential in helping you succeed, hopefully to the point where sketching becomes second nature to you. Or at the very least, you would get to the point where it would be easy to visualize a design in your mind.

One good way to improve your drawing is to use good sketches and sketch techniques to inspire and motivate you. So here are some design sketch references and sources that I have found both helpful and meaningful.

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SOPA and PIPA from the Eyes of Design


As the wave of SOPA and PIPA protests die down, it’s time to take stock of the implications such legislatures can have on the design community.

Please do take my thoughts with a pinch of salt as I do not live in the US, and very likely not have the same cultural background or government system. But I do think that such a Bill could find traction in many other countries should it be passed. So indirectly, I could be affected.

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Design Thinking in Manufacturing, A Workshop Series


I’m really excited to finally be able to announce an exciting project that we have been passionately working on since August last year (2011)! Design Sojourn was commissioned by Design Singapore, the national agency leading the initiative to establish Singapore as a global city for design in Asia, to develop a curriculum for an intensive 9-day design thinking workshop (starting from 6 February 2012) for their Design Thinking and Innovation Academy.

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8 New Year Resolutions All Designers Should Have


2012_happy_new_year-widew

We are two weeks deep into the New Year and I am sure all of you have already hit the ground running. If you are anything like me, then you probably either forgotten to make a New Year’s resolution or could not think of one. Therefore I’ve decided to save everyone the trouble and compiled a quick list of 8 New Year resolutions I think designers should have.

Just pick one after the jump and enjoy!

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Frog Design’s Tech Trends of 2012


January is often abuzz with 3 things: New Year resolutions, trends and forecasts for the year, and CES.

I’ll leave CES to the CES PR engines, because as designers, if you just focus on CES you will be a year too late.

So if you want to consider something more interesting and forward looking, check out this compilation of technology trends for 2012 from the global team at Frog Design. It looks like a number of interesting predictions from some familiar names.

Check it out after the jump.

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We Will Have to Deal with Defining Design, yet Again!



Click for a larger image.

IA Collaborative, has tried to do the impossible, and that is to define the meaning of Design. Or rather, they have taken the effort to gather the different definitions of design from our favorite industry luminaries and arranged them in a rather symbolic (and cool) infographic.

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Look to the Past for Metaphors to Design for Simplicity



Is this a Blackjack table? Image from TiPb.

Cliff Kuang, in his Fast Co Design article on The 6 Pillars of Steve Jobs’ Design Philosophy, talks about Jobs “finding simplicity for the future in metaphors from the past”.

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Implementing Design Thinking 2: Have the Guts to Say it Sucks


I’ve found that one of the big reasons why Design Thinking fails in organizations, is that no one has the guts to stand up and say that an idea/concept/proposition sucks.

This point is an extension of our last article where we encouraged you to focus on the outcome rather than the process. In this article we encourage you to make sure that there is a good filtering system in place and a team of highly engaged people.

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