Top Minds in Industrial Design Talk Smart Speakers I facilitated a group of the top industrial designers (Chadwick Harber, Nichole Rouillac, Grayson Byrd, Mika Becktor and Norio Fujikawa) to comment on the latest smart speaker designs. I chose smart speakers because the visual aesthetics are such an important part of the experience. These things are…

Superheroes are anthropomorphized brands. For good sake they have logos on their chests! The Batman symbol (and sometimes the Superman crest) is consistently on the 20 more recognized symbols in the world. Superheroes have messages, followers, fans and they make money. They are brands. And they have it right! They are tapping into the human…

Awhile ago, two products entered my life in grand style. The two products have changed my life; I use them both independently nearly every day. The two products both greatly improved the experiences of the activities they facilitate. But most important for this blog post, the two products were excellently packaged. The two products were…

Microsoft unveiled their new Xbox design at the 2010 E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the gaming convention. The new hardware is packed with a 250 GB drive, and Wifi (a long time coming.) But what I want to focus on is what is on the outside. The old design was done by the industrial design / branding firm Astro Studios;…

People have relationship with brands not only because of what they offer with their product or service, but also how being a part of that brand makes them feel. Brands that have strong personalities are the ones that capitalize on this. Whether this is the fun, playful, young-hearted Disney brand, or the macho, competitive, manly…

You may have seen my Twitter post about the creative of the video for the Tom Tom iPhone app and car kit. What I liked about it was the associations it was creating between the Tom Tom brand and descriptors like urban, sophisticated, simple, worry free, elegant and future thinking. But then I realized why…