Examples of products that reflect the article - 5 Key Design Trends

A local design firm Honest Brothers really utilize cooltual (Abbreviation of Cool Cultural Keywords: sensorial, local, tribal) in their self design. They try to portray a personalized, handmade feel to their brand. A self promo that they did last year was get old cans and stuff them with t-shirts that they imprinted by hand on their silk screening machine and send them out. Honest Brothers’ business cards are simple and professional, but they use a label on paper that gives off the impression that they put more time into them - that they are more original. On the bio page for Honest brothers they show a picture of them dressed as mechanics to go along with there brand: concept mechanics. Using this technique they portray a hardworking, localized, and individual firm. http://www.honestbros.com/

Frigidaire washer and driers are a perfect example of design playing a key role in the branding. They are responsibiz (Abbreviation of Responsible business Keywords: holistic, sustainable, ethical) along with being functional, stylish and innovative. They use less than half the about of water as a traditional machine while cleaning your cloths more efficiently. The dryer has a moister sensor to stop drying when the cloths are dry - not when the timer goes off. This pair: cleans cloths better, faster, saves energy and money, and looks sleek and modern. By honing in on these principles they have created a product made for this recession and what people are looking for in a product.

A relaxed and simple design is IDEO’s Design for a “non cyclists” Shimano bike. The idea behind this bike is pure riding. It is designed to be sleek, have less visual mechanical components, enhance the riding experience and comfort, have ease of maintenance and an easy purchasing experience.

Bold. Not just the design, but the vision. While the industry fixated on serious riders, shimano utterly embraced a huge untapped market: everyone else. They created a fun holistic experience to get regular people back on bikes. and took the whole industry along for the ride.

This quote from Glen Walter uses the much sought after brand strategy - a holistic image. This design also is very rationaissance (Abbreviation of Rationalism Renaissance Keywords: stylish, functional, iconic). It focuses on functionality and the main importance to everyday users. The success of this trek coaster is proven in the sales during the first year, the bike sold out in in less then a year. Visit Ideo’s site - they have a great case study on their design. http://www.ideo.com/work/featured/shimano/.

Read David Reprot “5 key design trends.” http://www.davidreport.com/File/update/353/

A great blog I just found that has cutting edge, out of the box innovative designs: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ Check them out for some really interesting inspiration.