Even as Apple is a shining example by making design a center piece of its business strategy, the creative record in regards to its software UX designs has been tainted before. But now Apple’s credibility as a design leader took a major blow by trying to steal the design of the Swiss Railway Clock, designed in 1944 by Swiss engineer Hans Hilfiker. So what about California’s “three strike law”?

Strike One: the copy of the UX developed by CREATIVE for the first generation iPods. After a lengthy legal battle, Apple agreed to pay US$ 100 Million to Creative (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/08/23Apple-Creative-Announce-Broad-Settlement-Ending-Legal-Disputes-Between-the-Companies.html).

Strike Two: the digital copy of BRAUN’s Calculator ET44 on the original iPhone was settled by changing the shape of the virtual buttons from circular to squares with rounded corners. Former BRAUN designer Dieter Rams took this with grace.

Strike Three: the digital copy of the Swiss Railway Clock in iOS6 and in the iPad’s clock application. Swiss newspapers and Agence France-Presse (AFP) report that Apple settled with the Swiss rail operator SBB for a License of US$ 21 Million (20 Million Swiss Francs) for Apple to continue using the SBB-owned clock design in the iPad’s clock application.

The most stunning fact to me is Apple’s obvious willingness to take stupid risks by copying – and trying to get away with it – well-known design icons. Not counting lawyer fees and internal turmoil, Apple could have created a lot of original UX designs for a fraction of the US$ 120 Million wasted over the last couple of years. However, the damage to its creative reputation and brand is even more severe.

Sources of images: techspot.com; macnn.com; telegraph.co.uk

After having been very critical of Google for a long-time, I am relenting and applaud Google for emphasizing the concept of robotic cars. About 20 years ago, I was working with a German Traffic Research Commission for mechatronics, telematics as well as the impact of alternative energy sources: the most advanced concept was a fuel-cell propelled car by Mercedes-Benz which also had implemented robotic and networked features. However, as the Daimler-Chrysler merger became a distraction, the project was put on hold. Today, it makes sense that progress in sustainable mobility is driven by a digital company such as Google. Here is a great article by John Markoff.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/science/10google.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Back from three weeks in China without any break.. First Cheers Publishing launched “a fine line” in Simple Chinese: many interviews and a launch party at the Tencent Research Center in Beijing. Then two days at SIVA/Fudan’s Expert Conference on Design with some very interesting presentations and discussions. I met Jeffrey Shaw – Dean of School of Creative Media, City University Hong Kong and a former collegue at ZKM/HfG Karlsruhe – after nearly 20 years: his presentation of a virtual cave museum was the absolute highlight.

In the meantime our studio team became nearly complete – we are still missing out on a Master Modelmaker. Next to Benjamin Cselley, Foreign Design Leader, Ye Cicy Chen, Chinese Design leader, Everina Lu joined us as Studio Assistant. Both Cicy and Everina are fluent in English – Cicy studied in the U.S. – and Beny and I are trying to learn: the first goal is to buy food. As the pictures show, the build-out of our studio and model shop makes great strides. In fact, we are the first operational design studio at the new CCIC building with Timothy Jacob Jensen and Mathis Heller following on our heels. Until Spring we expect also Alberto Villerreal, Marcus Aaron, Florin Baeriswyl and Dirk Wynants.

Week 2 started with our first entry exam, which provided big learnings on both sides: the young undergraduate designers have talent as expected, but the level of professional skills is not where it should be. Everybody is good on computers, but they all miss the basics such as drawing and sketching, geometric composition and model making – most portfolios look like illustrations without any realistic context, and there has been basically zero teaching about human-minded design processes, business value, price-performance ratio, technology or product lifecycle and supply chain management.

Aside of myriads smart phone bricks, design for “high-tech” or “industrial” is totally absent. It also will take some time and a lot of encouragement until the concept of “new ideas” is understood and accepted. The good news is that the graduates – some of them already have jobs and tasted reality – are very hungry, extremely diligent and eager to learn. And they all are extremely nice people with a great sense of humor.

Still: we have to start with basics – here is our updated curriculum:

DESIGN & CREATIVE PROCESS

:: Sketching & Visual Presentation on Paper.

:: Modelmaking by Hand and Machines (professional instruction incl. Safety & Posture)

:: Colors, Materials and Textures: representation study

:: Envision possible implementation in production.

:: Typography & 2D-Layout (Paper/Digital Media)

:: Proportions, 3-Element Rule

:: Shapes, Geometric Bodies, Transitions of Shape-Elements & Compound Shapes.

:: Ergonomics (Human Factors): to fit the human body and its cognitive abilities.

:: Heuristics (Experience based Problem Solving & Workshop format (frogTHINK)

:: Design History: Arts & Crafts, Vienna Secession, Bauhaus, hfg ulm, Strategic Design

 Despite a creative focus, the professional design process is structured into three stages. It is important to focus during each phase on the goal of process-oriented observations, research and analysis. This avoids early decisions based on personal preference and mostly confused assumptions and not on thorough explorations of the best options.

DISCOVER: Analysis becomes Insights. Through deep research and strategic analysis, designers gain insight into a task, a potential client, their competitors, their customers, their brand DNA and enables designers to re-think and explore new opportunities. Key element of this phase is to observe people: what they do, how they behave and what the “pain-points” in daily personal or professional life are.

DESIGN: Insights become Ideas. In this Phase designers produce a range of concepts and design options to fully address the projects’s challenge. The concepts are tested, reviewed & refined into a focused direction. Modelmaking is an important element of this phase, and there also is a strong emphasis on social and ecological sustainability.

DEFINE: Ideas become Reality.In this Phase designers specify, document and deliver the project for presentation (in real life also for implementation). Here designers look at the specific potentials and weaknesses of an – imaginary during study – client and/or with the factory or programmers for perfect results.

PRESENTATION SKILLS    

For designers, creative work and presenting the work within a professional business environment are            equally important. The main challenge is to communicate a creative project to “rational” executives, managers and entrepreneurs in such ways, that they can connect from their point of view – and to do this throughout a project. The gain is building trust and mutual understanding, respecting each other’s priorities and also to provide a solid communication base for marketing, sales, advertising and promotion. A good presenter also is a great entertainer – e.g. Steve Jobs was in a class for himself.

STORYTELLING:

Each project has unique content, which needs to be transformed into a story. As the format of a “story” is universal in all cultures, it is a very effective and inspiring method. The structure of a “project story” normally has four elements:

:: problem, motivation and big goal

:: analysis and fields of focus

:: proposed solution(s) and what their effect will be

:: synthesis and “next steps”

 ORAL SPEECH & BODY LANGUAGE:

The most direct communication is when we talk to each other. Speaking in front of other professionals – best without a manuscript – has to be learned and exercised.

VISUAL TOOLS:

A picture says more then a thousand words. As designers are working very much in the visual domain, expectations are high. However, looking at the “natural” temptation to show too much, designers must constrain themselves to the essential. Ideally, a visual presentation doesn’t have more then 12 elements/slides/movies: less is more.

 CROSS-DISCIPLINARY STUDIES

Understanding and adapting to disciplines, which define the ecosystem for designers:

 PRACTICE                                   

Designers are extremely important: in the German Automotive Industry, design counts for about 0.8% of the product life cycle investment. However, about 78% of customers make their buying decisions based on design > the economic multiplier is 100-times. The ratio between designers and engineers is at least 1:15, which again requires professional competence. Therefore our students will focus on:

:: Finding an creating Added Value of Design for Companies and Institution.

:: Planning a successful professional career within industries and communities.

:: Salary and/or Income: understand compensation and integration into workforce.

Another surprise for us – even as we had been “warned” – was the strong influence of parents and especially mothers on young people’s career choices. Due to China’s One-Child-Policy and the fact that all higher education is a costly matter, the imaginative value of a “degree” is considered higher by most parents compared to a quality education, which will provide a good and sustainable career. To no surprise, designer’s pay in the industry is way under $1000/month – and all they are asked to create are mostly copies of Western or successful domestic products such as Haier. To our regret, some parents then even rejected to let their son or daughter put in another two years, especially as they believe that jobs are still won “by relationship” and not by competence. Here we have some heavy convincing to do and we will extend our online campaigns on RenRen and Weibu also to parents. Being in China, we are motivated by Lao Tzu’s advice:  

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

This is the new home where our WeBees have settled down. It is both fun and very relaxing to watch them how they scout new sources of nectar and pollen and then fly out in a very systematic way. As we have a rather dry climate here in California, they also got a water source. We are also lucky that they are rather gentle – ironically they are of the German kind – and the astronaut-like protective gear is quite fashionable

Google—one of the digital economy keystones of Silicon Valley—makes about $40 Billion revenues and about $10 Billion profit (EBIT) annually, but for design they obviously don’t seem to spend a dime. All they ask their production partners in Taiwan and China obviously for, is to copy Apple. During my last trip to China I gave some lectures about Strategic Design at prestigious universities such as Peking University, CAFA and SIVA. The single most common question by students, teachers and visiting executives was, how China’s industry can overcome the ”plague” of copying, and the discussions showed a deep desire for originality, identity, pride and respect. Some executives complained that the problem partially is imported by foreign brand companies who either want to follow a leader or just don’t care. The consensus was, that especially China’s Consumer-Tech companies need to change by design.

Coming home, the same attitude should apply to America’s industry and especially to a Valley icon such as Google: the top management should be able to understand the power of strategic design—e.g. looking at Apple’s strategy and not just ripping off the designs—and then they should hire and build a World Class strategic design team, which in regards to the convoluted architecture of Android even may become vital for the company. Ironically, even spending tens of millions on original and innovative design still would cost as little as one promille of Google’s revenue. In addition it not only is short-sighted, unethical and stupid to copy, because the required “added value” for the customers turns in fact into a “subtracted value” and copying doesn’t build brand neither. In this context, Google’s mantra “don’t do evil” isn’t even cynical anymore. Moses already knew better.

My goal of ‘MADE4YOU’ is to demonstrate and communicate design as a strategic and holistic way of finding and creating sustainable and successful solutions and experiences, and to convey at the same time that design as a cross-disciplinary profession requires a new level of public and private commitment, from education to politics and the economy. We also want to encourage people—first and foremost creative talents—to become a part of this already global movement: Design for Change.

Visit at MAK Exhibition Hall in Vienna/austria June 6 – October 7

http://www.apa-fotoservice.at/galerie/3039/bild/32_1338960630#bild

The exhibition showcases more than 80 design examples from well-known studios and companies as well as from young design talents who present seminal social, ecological, and cultural innovations. Grouped into six everyday-life thematic areas—Mobility, Digital Convergence, Life and Fun, Life and Work, Health, and Survival— ’MADE4YOU’ explores questions such as: How will we move from place to place in the future? How smart are the technologies of tomorrow? What will we continue to enjoy? What can make work and everyday life easier for us? How can we create health-care systems for all? What guarantees our existence and survival? The first major design show at the MAK under its new direction interrogates new tendencies and strategic approaches that work for positive change in the face of the big challenges confronting us. Seeing the exhibition is like a visit to an “enterprise of the future,” divided into three zones: Lobby, Factory, and Laboratory.

Many people have asked me… Strategic Design is an universal approach beyond specialized disciplines, with the goal to create more humanistic and socially balanced solutions—e.g. products, software, content and experiences— which also are economically successful. In contrast to just “solving a problem” or “beautifying products”, strategic designers look at newest achievements in science and technology, requirements of sustainable and ecological resource management and they also must understand the needs and rules of the financial side of business. In regards to human culture, it is vital to understand and include naturalistic and philosophical anthropologists, and also to research and to convert cultural and historical semantics into modern-day statements. Most important: as nobody can be a master in all of these areas, strategic designers need to  understand the concept of teamwork, collaboration and smart integration.

Add On Technology, a company in Taiwan which masters high-end audio in very small volumes is launching MILO.CUBE, a cutting edge surround sound system for Apple’s iPods, iPads and iPhones,as well as for Android devices and via analog input for all music systems. Seven speakers systems—incl. a 40 Watt subwoofer—provide a powerful output of 160 Watt with a frequency range from 50Hz to 20KHz. Audio input is either by 30 pin Apple docking, by 48K USB—both for Apple and PC/MAC—or by an analog 3.5mm phone jack. The battery-powered option of MILO.CUBE has a “range” of 4 hours and the design comes in high-gloss white or black. Before I forget: I helped a bit on the design concept and am enjoying a pre-production prototype which really masters everything from Hip-Hop to Rock’n Roll all the way to Beethoven and Mozart.