“Styling and the Experimental Car”

Sponsored by Ford Motor Company in 1964, this consummate design process piece manages to be both expressive and promotional whilst educating its audience about sophisticated ideas such as product design, branding and styling.

I particularly like the segments that focus on the value of design and how the separate disciplines work together — something that still needs defining fifty years later! These design fields are also positioned as something that the audience may not be aware of but consciously or subconsciously respond to, and that these instincts have existed as cultural phenomenon since the ‘dawn of time.’

The film goes on to leverage the company’s design prowess further by saying that it is this attention to detail, embodied in a culture of innovation that makes their products the obvious choice in an evolving consumer marketplace that demands quality, style and [aspirational] luxury.

Enjoy…

Imagery

The artful nature of the imagery I created for Preact is often best appreciated when it’s extracted, isolated and set apart from its context.

Luxurious Minimalism

I’ve been obsessing (a little) over the architectural interiors of Joseph Dirand. His attention to the details of space, light, form, materials, objects in the pursuit of what’s been called luxurious minimalism is a source of inspiration for me.

But the way in which Dirand refers to his work, claiming that he is not interested in style or design as a passing, temporal pursuit but instead is merely seeking to honor the traditions of the great minimalists (Rams, Le Corbusier) seems like an unnecessary denial of a natural ability as an accomplished stylist. Being a spiritual crusader in pursuit of aesthetic purity and a hip, style arbiter du moment do not need to be mutually exclusive.

The work I have been doing lately is spare, formal and restrained, and attempts to solve complex UI/UX problems within a business application that uses science to predict customer behavior (the perfect place to apply minimalism in it’s most luxurious form?). And within that framework of restraint, that essential need for ease of use and the expression of complex data points, there are abundant opportunities to add style, elegance and aesthetic purity.

(Initial screens for the Preact product redesign.)

(Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” – final scenes in an interior that juxtaposes classical and modern elements–cited as an inspiration for Dirand.)

TART 2014

The artist Duncan Campbell has just been shortlisted for the Turner prize. Anne gave him his first US show at TART in 2005.

Duncan Campbell’s film “Falls Burns Malone Fiddles” draws out the processes whereby people do nothing and something happens. It is a sort of aesthetization of everyday existence visible in the hairstyles, the fashions and aspirations of the moment…

Update: Campbell won the 2014 Turner Prize!

As TART was conceived to exist for no more than 3-4 years (our first show was in 2004 our last, 2008), the website I designed has become the space’s primary archive.

Truth Through Dare

A few weeks ago I invited my friend Steve to come and chat with the team at StudyBlue. Steve is a UX guru who really knows how to surface inherent process and organizational challenges facing start-ups.

Daring to examine the way we design and create products–essentially exposing ourselves to the group–is liberating and the sign of a team and organization that wants to know what it feels like to be healthy.

The ability to act on the revelations these sessions always make known, to embrace the necessary, often difficult changes is the sign of a functional organization that wants to succeed.

The work continues.

Studyblue – Class Stats

The new Class Stats feature–aimed at high schools–for the StudyBlue web app starts gaining some traction.

Teachers want better ways to understand and motivate study behavior that’s directly connected to improved outcomes. With Class Stats they can seamlessly integrate StudyBlue into their routine without having to change curriculum, learn new technology or secure district funds.

-Becky Splitt, StudyBlue CEO

Prototype Design

Launch Version

Neil Mackintosh

Experience design