Food for thought

My approach to design

This short presentation tells the story of my approach to design.
I truly believe in the value of untangeling the fuzzy-front end. Through this process you can envision what the product could and should be. It leads to a better understanding of the product that you are about to design and the people you are designing it for.

Keywords: approach, design, thinking

Permalink | Comments (2)

Business Generation Model

introducing the Business Model Canvas

Because of my interest in service design and the desire to get a better understanding of business models in general I decided to read Business Model Generation.

Business Model Generation offers you powerful, simple, tested tools for understanding, designing, reworking and implementing business models.
It provides you with the big picture by identifying the nine most important building blocks of a business model, visually layed-out in the Business Model Canvas. Furthermore the book talks about different business model patterns, techniques to help you design business models, re-interpreting strategy through the business model lens and a generic process to help you design innovative business modes.

It might all sound grey and dull, but trust me it's not! It is a visual feast for the eye, easy to understand and inspiring.

As a designer this approach helps me to consider all aspects that could influence a design/service, positive and negative.
And it generates a more holistic approach that (hopefully) leads to added value for companies, costumers and society.

Overall a great book...


You can download a preview at www.businessmodelgeneration.com

Keywords: books, business, designthinking

Permalink | Comments (0)

Service Design Netwerk

a Dutch foundation for Service design

As we all know innovative concepts are no longer just about a product, a device or a website. It is the combination of all different elements that are responsible for the overall experience.
Service design focuses on understanding and designing this overall experience.
Or as one of the leading firms Engine states:
"...we believe that the services people use everyday define their relationships with organizations and with other people; and ultimately shape quality of life. It's well worth designing them well."

This relatively new design field is becoming more and more established and is now also slowly but surely blossoming in the Netherlands. The Service Design Netwerk (SDN) is hosting multiple events to share thoughts and ideas among like-minded and people interested. The SDN is a foundation which provides an independent platform for anyone who interested in the most up to date knowledge about service design.

The great and intriguing thing about service design is that it uses many different different disciplines (anthropology, design, business analysis) and uses design tools, techniques and thinking to create 'Human centered' services that matter. Something a lot of companies could benefit from.

For more information about the network, or upcoming events please visit servicedesignnetwerk.nl (in Dutch)

Or, if you're not based in the Netherlands, you can also have a look at www.service-design-network.org

Permalink | Comments (0)

Cloud Creative Network

joining forces

I am a proud partner of CLOUD!
Cloud is a creative network of supertallented professionals that share their expertise and experience from various industries (product design to strategic business management) to develop valuable, context-relevant creative concepts.

Cloud = positive, flexible, organic and full of energy.
You can recognize cloud members and projects by a fun little Cloud logo =]

Cloud (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
A cloud is a visible mass of droplets, in other words, little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae.

www.cloudcreative.net

Permalink | Comments (0)

Lucky lucky girl?

ADCN nomination

The ADCN Lamps are the most renowned awards for advertising and design in the Netherlands dedicated to recognize creativity and originality.
Oilily's Lucky Girl (produced by Colorful Licences) is nominated for one of these prestigious awards.
Lucky girl is designed by the BrandNew / Pilots collaboration team and we sure hope Lucky girl gets lucky!

The award ceremony will take place on the 23rd of April in the Amsterdam City Theatre.

Keywords: adcn, award

Permalink | Comments (0)

Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

and a personal addition

It is always great fun and inspiring to read Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. Even though he started writing it in 1998 it still represents Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how his studio approaches every project.

I thought about the long list of statements and decided to add one for myself:

44. Feed your intuition. Intuition is a funny thing you can expand/grow it by opening up for the new and unknown. Learn, share and explore and you will collect the sparks that will release themselves in most unexpected ways at unexpected times.

Like to read the other 43 statements? click here

Keywords: bruce, manifesto, mau

Permalink | Comments (0)

Glimmer

Books worth reading

Glimmer is a book by journalist Warren Berger, in collaboration with Bruce Mau, looking at the way designers think and how it can improve our lives. Drawing largely on the work of Bruce Mau the book presents ten groundbreaking principles of design in action – principles that address business, social, and personal challenges, and are designed to improve the way we think, work, and live.

You might remember Bruce Mau of his great book and exhibition Massive Change in 2004.
Today he is one of the leading figures in design and design thinking.

"... Mau is at the forefront of a loose movement embracing a new way of thinking about design. It includes individual designers and larger companies like IDEO, as well as several prominent design schools, where new theories about "design thinking" are being developed: what it is, how it works, what it can accomplish. But this "glimmer movement" (the "glimmer" being when a life-changing idea crystallises in the mind) also includes people from outside the design profession - basement tinkerers, technologists, do-it-yourselfers, "crafties", social activists, environmentalists, video-gamers and business entrepreneurs. What links them is their belief that everything today is ripe for reinvention and "smart recombination". And what makes them all designers is that they don't just think this, they act on it..."

You can read the full article on Wired.co.uk

I say 'YES IS MORE'!

Keywords: books, designthinking, research

Permalink | Comments (1)

Back from inspiring Chile

Ready for new career opportunities

After 5 weeks of inpsiring Chile I am back home in freezing Amsterdam. It has been a wonderful inspiring trip and I have (re)discovered a lot of new sides of myself (who would have thought I had some hiking skills or archeological interests!). You can check out some of my adventures on http://www.caroel.nl (in Dutch).

But enough personal talk it is time to get back to business...
Time to update some of my work, add blog content, attend design meetings, meet you and get things rolling!

Best wishes for 2010!
Kind regards,

Caroline

Permalink | Comments (0)

Story of stuff

and related videos

For those of you haven't already seen this, The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.
No real solutions, but a great overview of a product cyclus and the problem we encounter.



Keywords: video

Permalink | Comments (0)

Design for Usabilty

Symposium and workshop

As part of the World Usability Day the TU Delft, TU Eindhoven and University of Twente organized the Symposium Design for Usabilty.
An event with lectures, exhibitions and workshops. It triggered my curiousity and I decided to attend the lectures and one of the 7 workshops.

It turned out out to be an inspiring day with lectures by;
- Prof. dr. Gerrit van der Veer; President of ACM SIGChi
- Océ-Technologies specialists Abbie Vanhoutte MSc and Robert Eijlander MSc
- Cees van Dok MSc; creative director at Frog design Amsterdam
- Jasper van Kuijk MSc;TU Delft researcher

In the afternoon I joined the workshop; Advanced user research and evaluation hosted by Roel Kahmann from P5 Consultants.

For more information please visit the Design for Usability website which also has a link to the lectures on video.

Keywords: symposium, usability, workshop

Permalink | Comments (0)