(Journalist) Design is not just
about how things look,
it's about how they act,
how you experience them
and whether you
love them enough
to keep using them.
And that's
increasingly true
when it comes to tech.
Astro Studios
in San Francisco,
has brought great design
to lots
of consumer products.
Its biggest hit though
is the gadget
that arguably
launched the wearables
category,
the Nike FuelBand.
(Brett Lovelady) Design is, you know
-- we're the translators,
you know, we really are
the people that take the conversation,
and turn it
into tangible vision
and then that tangible
vision,
commercialise it.
So as we sat there (check)
on the fuel band,
we'd spent a lot
of time with Nike,
exploring how do you
motivate people to be active.
We used
a lot of design skills,
models, prototyping,
illustrations,
story-boarding.
Early on, for example,
we might do something
that's more experimental.
This happens to be a
hard 3D printed product.
We went and looked at this
and say ok,
how am I going to interact
with this differently,
than with, say, something that is more,
you know, sleek and small.
What's the tradeoff?
In this case, we made room to put
in the hard pieces
with the soft pieces
that are more plieable.
Then they started to take
on more form, over time
to eventually start to look and feel
like the real thing.
We designed the clock
for example, you know,
like how many different kinds of
communication go into it.
You might mark it like a Fuel aesthetic,
(check)
for example, like little fuel gauge.
And there was a whole bunch of things
we wanted this product to do.
Through dialogue and experimentation
and prototyping,
We whittled it down to being
just a few things really well.
Over all, I think the Fuel Band
captured one of things
that's great about
successful products.
It's a blend of
technology information,
fashion and personality. ////
Out of that,
a lot of people
came in and said,
Hey you know what;
the differentiator
is design,
the perspective on who it
is we're designing for.
As design
gets more important,
it has to be part
of any new company
from the ground up.
In Silicon Valley,
that means
a venture capital fund
where the tech
isn't everything.
Designer Fund is
dedicated to helping
businesses
grow with design
at their core.
One of the growing trends
that we observed
is the number of billion
dollar companies,
co-foundered by designers
within the last 10 years,
including AirBNB,
Interests, Instagram,
Square, Kick Starter.
I think there's something
really special
when,
design including
technology in business
all come together.
Every little touch point
is an opportunity
to delight someone,
to bring joy
into their lives,
to enrich the families
of friends.
So companies
that understand how to do that,
will continue
to really innovate
and grow in ways that
we haven't seen other
companies before.
I've always believed
that design should be
leading the conversation.
When you've got a lot
of the same wires
and bits and plastics
and whatever the physical
and tangible materials are,
design is what's going
to put them
into a unique context
that will either be
perfect
for a certain user,
demographic, use
or brand.
Wearables are probably
the current best example
of how physical design,
combined with a great
experience,
can inspire loyalty
and even love.
And the companies,
who get that balance
right, are the ones,
who are going to win. (
Music in background)
Watches and wearables
are moving
to that same space
of shoes and purses
and hats.
Not a lot of people
have integrated
that with technology,
so I think we're
a going to learn a lot
in the next few years,
as to what really sticks
and what the churn
of replacement
might be in this space.