DNF Round up #1

Hi Friends! Welcome to the 52 people who signed up last week. I’m excited to share this week’s “Designing Near Future” Newsletter with you.

This is a roundup of all the design resources I shared with you in the last 5 newsletters. You will find below:

⭐ 5 Shifts

⚡ 5 Tips

💊 15 Resources

If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter. Here is a link to join 850+ Designers keeping ahead of the curve.

⭐ Shifts

1. What's Behind Gen Z's Slow Consumption Movement?

2. How our memories are becoming 3D

3. How AI is changing the business of influence

4. Why is Everyone Suddenly Going Outdoors?

5. Is ‘Productivity’ the New Buzz Word?

⚡ Tips

1. Story Telling Tip to push your design concepts

Steve jobs said that the most powerful person in the world is a storyteller. Here is a story telling tip that I heard from a film director years ago that I apply to my design ideas.

Give each design concept a distinct role. A unique fictional character.

eg. Concept 1 is a villain, the anti thesis to pop culture. Concept 2 is the funny side character, friendly, always makes you smile.. and so on. I have done this many times while intentionally trying to differentiate early concepts. It works every freaking time!

It’s a great way to tell distinct, motive driven stories through your design work.

2. A strong design language story framework for your product

Most designers struggle with communicating a comprehensive story around why their concepts look a certain way. Here is a tip that I learned from Sung Jang and Martin Thaler:

“Make one thing more important than everything else.”

Choose a design element, a quality, a detail, a function, a material or a feature as the core narrative of a product. Eg. Macbook’s simplicity, Playstation 5’s sculpted form, Nothing Phone’s transparent materiality, Cyber truck’s rawness.

Whenever anyone describes the product’s appearance, the primary design component should come up first.

3. A 3-Step system to evaluate your Visual Design language choices.

The 12ft, 3ft, 1ft Read system

To truly evaluate the visual design choices in a product, it needs to pass 3 tests. What does the object look like from 12ft apart, 3ft apart and 1ft apart. This system is also great to put in a client deck to showcase your design choices in a methodical way. Here is the system in action -

12ft Read - Does the object have a strong recognizable silhouette? Does it have a strong brand color? Or is it meant to blend in? Does it entice you to come closer? Write that down.

3ft Read - Now you are looking at the object up close. Does it feel structurally sound? Or does it look delicate? Is it friendly to touch or hold? What do the details signify? Write that down.

1ft Read - Now you are holding the object in your hand. How do you describe the details? Is the object manufactured to the highest quality? What do the textures, labels, split lines signify? Write that down.

4. How to brainstorm unconventional ideas through opposite thinking

"R for Reverse/O for Opposite" is an idea generation principle suggesting that every great idea has another great idea on its opposite spectrum. It's featured in the SCAMPER brainstorming method.

The saying goes - “The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.”

When stuck, reverse your current ideas. For instance, the reverse of 'going to the restaurant' is 'food delivery'. A 'curated game' reverses to 'choose your own adventure game'. Similarly, 'minimal' becomes 'maximal', 'retro' flips to 'futuristic', 'harmonious' to 'contrasting', and so on.

5. How to Keep Designs Relevant During Downtime

Products perform when not in use.

The idea is to not only design your products for when they are in use, but to give equal care to them for when they are not in use.

Here is a 3 point checklist to consider -

1) Is the design easy to store?
Things like stacking, transforming, portability, etc. are key here. Think about how the product looks, feels and performs when storing or transporting it. Does it have affordances for carrying it? Does it save space?

2) Is the design easy to clean?
Over time, all things require maintenance. Think about what involvement it needs from the user to clean it. Many products with fabrics, glue, etc. aren’t easily cleanable. Your material choices and form choices can help.

3) Is the design beautiful when not in use?
Most products are made beautiful for when they are in use but little aesthetical qualities are considered when not in use. Most power tools are a victim of this. So are vacuum cleaners. Consider how your products blend in or stand out when not in use.