And now, for our featured presentation...

Art Center has started a new monthly online newsletter, The Bulletin. One of the areas of interest is a blurb on a featured student the school has selected. For the premiere edition, I was chosen as the featured student, showcasing my ecoDeck sustainable skimboard concept.

Me, Expressed as Percentages

...And now, what you've all been waiting for:
the results of my Myers Briggs Personality Test!

Extroverted (E) 70.97% Introverted (I) 29.03%
Intuitive (N) 51.72% Sensing (S) 48.28%
Thinking (T) 64.71% Feeling (F) 35.29%
Judging (J) 69.7% Perceiving (P) 30.3%

ENTJ - "Field Marshall". The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population.

Take that, introverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving people!

Service-ism

In the last five years or so, the world of design has undergone significant changes. Beyond the general advancement of craft in respect to materials, 3D software tools, and resulting form languages, Design as a discipline has started down a new road. The foundation of this path in a new direction had begun to be laid by thought leaders for over a decade. IDEO co-founder David Kelley was an early proponent of design's potential to transcend the accepted borders of the field. The concept of "design thinking," the use of abductive thinking and application of established design processes to situations and challenges well outside the traditional scope of those tackled by design, began to make more frequent appearances at increasingly diverse venues.

As a new school of thought, "design thinking" has surfaced in numerous top-tier educational institutions such as Stanford's d.School and Carnegie Mellon's School of Design. Another example of this thought taking hold are the recent appearance of titles such as Roger Martin's The Design of Business, offering fairly comprehensive commentary on the subject. Add to this gaining momentum a distinctly more analytical understanding of what "design" really is (ie. Richard Buchanan's Four Orders of Design framework which I adapted and reworked for the purpose of this project, seen above) and it's clear to see the profession has emerged from the last decade with renewed confidence...and a fresh new toolbox bursting at its computer CNC'ed live hinges with diverse, often surprising competencies.

Art Center College of Design has carved out its own niche in the burgeoning design/business world. While I'd personally like to see still far greater emphasis on design thinking and strategy, a good handful of courses are currently offered that either directly integrate this type of learning into their curriculum, or at least indirectly offer the opportunity and framework to explore this realm of thinking on one's own. Approaching graduation and wanting to position myself for a career in strategic design, I've very consciously taken courses which fall into both the former and later categories. It was in one such studio last fall that I worked on a project that has become at least a semi-permanent part of the college's Colors Materials & Trends Exploration Laboratory (CMTEL) and was dubbed "SERVICE-ISM."

The name "Service-ism" describes the dynamic and rapidly evolving convergence of three macro-level trends: technological advancement, an evolving economic landscape, and shifting consumer values. Each macro-trend has several associated sub- or "meso"- level trends, which in turn are comprised of numerous micro-trends. By looking at the broader picture, it's easy to see that large-scale changes are simultaneously the cause and effect of their sub-trends. In precisely the same way, these meso-level changes both influence and are themselves the collective result of their often myriad micro-trend manifestations. If it all seems a little ambiguous, that's because it is.

Trends by their nature are often ill-defined and as living, evolving things have a certain degree of inherent fickleness. This tendency to live in a constant state of flux is based on the nature of complex trends, which while not fully interdependent, are constantly and continually reciprocating influence on one another. My interest in developing the "Service-ism" project was an attempt to understand and make visual sense of the complex relationship between some of the most impactful trends currently being experienced by the western world. My hope in sharing this work is that you will find these ideas as interesting as I have.

Freshness on the Scene

Let there be no ambiguity: Janelle Monae brings the freshness. She is without a doubt one of the most unique and talented artists to appear in recent memory. Her special blend of classic style, R'n'B appeal, and modern rock influence, all injected with a dose of hip-hop flavor makes for a tasty aural delight indeed. And Janelle, as a friend said, "please bring it, because the people need it." Enjoy!

First (real) Foray into Furniture

I have dabbled in furniture design on a few occasions in the past. Examples of earlier work can be seen in previous posts (Reveal Table, Hohlümmeln chair). Last Fall, however, I had the opportunity to undertake my first real project in this area. Bernhardt|design, the contemporary division of the well-known furniture giant, Bernhardt, sponsored a furniture studio at Art Center. As it was a group project, I had the pleasure of teaming up with two other students, Ini Archibong and Stephanie Stalker. As anyone knows, working in a team presents its own set of challenges beyond those directly associated with the design brief. "Team Number One" as our team was aptly referred to was no exception. There were times we were almost literally at each others' throats. Three strong personalities in one group will do that. However stressful and chaotic it could be at times, these were far outnumbered by the good times. We each found our niche roles within the team and pulled together like a family in the closing days of the project.

The design brief was to develop and fabricate a full-scale working prototype of a new task table. If you're not familiar with this term, a task table is the type of table that would be used in highly professional settings such as boardrooms, executive conference rooms, or up-scale offices. Requirements included a tilting top, legs that facilitate "coving" (nesting multiple tables) for storage, full electrical & Ethernet connectivity, and cord management. Incorporating all these functional requirements while developing a fresh, unique and attractive aesthetic was no small challenge...and we certainly faced our share of difficulties.

We were nearly 6 weeks into the 14 week project before we felt we finally truly understood what the client wanted...at which point we were basically back at the beginning. The up side was we now carried a month and a half's worth of experience, styling exercises and knowledge of what WOULDN'T work. The team leveraged our refined understanding of the clients needs and, with a strategic push in the right direction, developed our final concept for presentation to the client in the last days of 2009.

Their response? With a lovely North Carolina accent, "It's drop dead gorgeous!"

Our design, called the SERIF TABLE, addresses the changing relationship people have with work and the need for a table which feels equally well suited in both residential or commercial settings. At the time of post, the table is in pre-production, and while it will be available for purchase through the Bernhardt|design website as of January 2011, the table makes it's official debut the following May at ICFF 2011. It is also scheduled to be on display at NeoCon next year as well. I would love to share the design with you now, but the details of the design must remain a secret until it's official unveiling.