Whipsaw Whipsaw

New Whipsaw Products at CES

Whipsaw — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:10:23 +0000

Many new Whipsaw-designed products were introduced at the recent 2012 Consumer Electronic Show. Here are a few highlights:

Eton introduced Rukus, a solar-powered Bluetooth stereo. Rukus pulls off the novel feat of playing music without connecting a cable or inserting an iPod, and it’s powered by the sun. We made it bold and iconic to express great sound, which it produces in volume. Beatweek Magazine gave it Best of Show 2012 CES. Digital Trends stated: “The design is fun and user-friendly; there’s no set-up to gather solar power since the panel is right on top, and an intuitive handle makes it easy to transport anywhere”.

Eton also introduced a new field radio line called FRX. A few years ago we designed the FR line, which was a big hit, so our challenge was to one-up something that was already great. The FRX line is even better. It features a more agro appearance, a stronger crank turbine, better reception and a more robust X-frame chassis. FRX is destined to become the new gold standard of radio product design.

Responding to the continuing popularity of the iPhone, Eton featured the new Mobius rechargeable battery case with solar panel, the first of its kind. One hour of solar charging provides 25 minutes of talk time or 145 minutes of music.

Dropcam, a new client in 2011, announced our Dropcam HD, the world’s smallest wi-fi video monitoring camera. Video is viewable from your phone or the web, keeping you on top of what’s going on at home, great for checking in on the kids or pets, or to make sure your home is safe when you are away. We designed it to be infinitely adjustable in every axis, so you can aim it anywhere, whether it’s sitting on a table, wall-mounted, or stuck to a window looking outside. The press loves it: “Dropcam HD is the height of elegance” said John Biggs, Techcrunch; “This product really got my attention”, James Floyd Kelly, Wired.com; “I think it’s a breakthrough in this category, ingeniously designed”, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities Pioneer Press; “Not only have they come up with a stylish, unobtrusive and minimalist design, the setup process has also been simplified” said Ganesh T S at Anandtech.com.

Phone Halo introduced the Cobra Tag, a security device that works in conjunction with your smart phone to prevent you from losing your stuff. Attach Cobra Tag to your keys, purse or backpack and if any of these objects are separated from you your phone will alert you immediately and give its GPS location. Cobra Tag won a CES 2012 Design Innovations Award.

TP Link, our Chinese networking client, introduced our ADSL2 modem router, the ultra-powerful N750 dual band router, and the NAS network-attached storage device. These products are already on track to set sales records.

Whipsaw Website Wins Best in Class in Interactive Media Awards

Whipsaw — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:08:36 +0000

Whipsaw website wins Best in Class in Interactive Media Awards. Congratulations to Method. The IMA recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement.
Created by the Interactive Media Council, a nonprofit organization of leading web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other web-related professionals, the competition is designed to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.

We are happy that the Whipsaw website not only meets this standard of excellence but is rewarded Best in Class.

Welcome to Our New Website

Dan Harden — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:12:35 +0000

This website heralds a new era for our company which we are proud to share with you. Complete with a shortened domain name (whipsaw.com), and a new corporate identity, this site finally represents who we are. It showcases our many achievements over the last decade and it clearly communicates our capabilities, culture and values. The site and identity were created in partnership with Method, San Francisco.

First about our logo. Our original logo personified the passion and ambition of a young company with aggressive goals; it served us well and was truly the masthead for our success thus far. In recent years, we have evolved into a more established company and we decided it was time for a new masthead. The new logo is concise and clear, yet bold and iconic. These attributes are evidenced in the many successful products we have brought to market, and in our daily outlook toward the work we do. Robert Murdock, Principal of Design at Method, stated “We wanted the core of the logo to represent the timeless and sophisticated work that Whipsaw produces.”

Similar to the logo, we have completely changed our website. During the last 12 years we have amassed a large portfolio with lots of interesting projects, strong client relationships and many accolades. You will find an intuitive and organized navigation model enabling you to peruse all this content with ease. The site has many other nice capabilities including faceted project browsing, instant cross referencing, filters, project pdf downloads, custom views and search functions. It also highlights extraordinary business results and testimonials from our esteemed clients. Whipsaw.com gives us more exposure via social networking sites and this new blog format, which will enable open and regular communications with peers and colleagues.

We have designed the site to function as a museum environment, where open, light-filled spaces enhance the viewing experience of the artwork on display. We believe this website allows one to fully experience our work while also providing a pleasant atmosphere.

We would like to mention the wonderful experience that we had working with Method. This was something of a magical pairing between two design firms. Beyond speaking a common language of design, Whipsaw and Method had a working dynamic that was extremely collaborative and quite frankly, amazing. A sincere thanks to the Method team – Paul Miller, Creative Director, Mark Roudebush, Lead UX Designer, Katie Beneike, Program Manager, Tomi Lahdesmaki, Graphic Designer, and a big thanks also to our own Graphic Designer, Ting Yen.
We hope you enjoy the site – it was created for you!

Whipsaw Wins 3 Red Dot Awards

Whipsaw — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:38:40 +0000

We are proud to announce the winning of three Red Dot design awards, given to our Livescribe Echo Pen, the Eton Turbodyne series and the Cisco Umi Telepresence System. Red Dot is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious design competitions from Germany. An international jury examined each product and judged it on its level of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, longevity, appearance and ecological compatibility. We are honored to be recognized for these designs and most grateful to these three special clients that entrusted us to innovate their products, which led to these winnings. See Red Dot for more info.

Doing More With Less: Using the Down Economy as a Design Brief

Dan Harden — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:47 +0000

No doubt, a bad economy sucks. A bad economy is tough on a company’s bottom line and even tougher on those individuals that have to struggle to make ends meet. But when it comes to the design profession, I would argue otherwise. Not because the industry is immune from a bad economy–far from it–but because negative economic conditions are often a catalyst for change. It also forces designers to create with more care.

To change, companies need to take a deeper look at their customers needs, empower their people to act, and to think in new ways. They need to invent, develop, and improve their offering in order to survive. This type of change benefits the profession of design, and it benefits the end product itself. Having suffered layoffs, lower sales, and plummeting stock value, some companies reach a point of desperation. Management is awake, listening, and willing to try something new. They’re in a teachable moment, so if there was ever a time to push for more innovation, cultural relevance, sustainability, and meaning, this is it. A designer’s shot of innovation is just what many companies need now more than ever before. When corporations need CPR, revival comes in the form of Creativity, Passion and Reason.

Contrary to logic, a good economy compromises quality more than a bad one. In good times corporations seek to supply rising demand as fast as possible for non-discriminating consumers that have more disposable income. Flush with R&D budgets, companies fund programs that keep the current best sellers buoyed by tweaking the brand message with advertising, and designing new products as fast as they can.

Three years ago when the economy was good, one consumer electronic client in a rush to market said to us sensitive designer types “I don’t care about meeting the needs of the left-handed blind ethnic woman, just hurry up and get it done!” That same week another client asked us to design, engineer and tool a product from scratch in time for the Consumer Electronic Show–which was one month away. This mad rush to fill the market with product can compromise creativity and shortcut development, which ultimately affects quality. It also encourages a “wisdom-of-the-crowd” mentality, where everyone wants to get in on the design act, including the CEO’s spouse. Conversely, a bad economy forces us all to take a breath and think harder about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. There is more at stake because your solution absolutely must provide results.

Corporate survival in a bad economy includes cost-cutting on all fronts, including product cost. During development, designers view product cost reduction as if it’s the plague. When a procurement specialist or cost engineer enters the room, designers get out their crosses and garlic. They see cost-cutting as a limitation on product features, performance, part count and material selection. This is partly true, but when designing inexpensive products for a very discriminating budget-minded consumer who now demands good design too, design reduction has even more relevance. The same or more needs to be done with less. Simple solutions are good, and usually cheap.

It’s harder to design simple inexpensive products than complex expensive ones. One needs to focus more on the essential user needs and less on the endless feature possibilities or extraneous embellishments. It requires more purity, so that no matter how much they take away from it, it’s more likely to survive intact through its development. Simple inexpensive products are also better for the environment. They consume less material, have fewer parts, and use less energy to manufacture and ship.

Mies van der Rohe’s mantra, less is more, has become something of a cliché in design circles, but learning to do more with less is a design philosophy that is newly-relevant, creatively-rich, and economically-viable. Constraints stretch flabby design muscles; the results are often surprisingly buff.

The Great Disappearing Act of Good Design

Dan Harden — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

When a product is so completely and rightly designed, it has aesthetic and functional elements that are clearly stated and obvious. The product itself communicates without words its utilitarian value, ease of use, and beauty, and you perceive the quality-contributing elements instantly. Think about your own special products that you love. It may be your Levis, your iPhone, your Porsche, your Aeron chair, whatever. All elements seem to dance together, right? Purpose, form, details and color are naturally wound together so tightly you can’t really separate them. There is unity and wholeness, and it is so evident that this thing will totally satisfy a physical and/or emotional need.

Yet there’s the dichotomy: When a product does all the above things well, instead of it having abundant presence like one would expect, it actually sort of disappears when you use it. Your old Levi’s don’t pull or make funny noises when you walk; your Porsche just goes where and when you want it to; your iPhone fetches information instantly and seamlessly; and your Aeron welcomes your bottom and lets you work all day without fidgeting. The product just gets out of the way! It recedes, it steps back, and it lets you go about your business of having fun, working or living. The product becomes a subconsciously satisfying experience, not a heavy conscious thing that demands attention because it’s pretty or different, like a fancy cappuccino maker. Interestingly, once your task is done and you walk away from that ideal car or chair, the object identity re-emerges, and its remaining gift is what you see and what it may provide again.
I’m sort of fascinated with this dichotomous phenomenon and it remains a focus in how I design. Yubo, Adiri, and Pano were born from this state of mind. This phenomenon is not new. In 300 BC Lao Tzu maybe observed this too when he wrote the Tao Te Ching. Tao is defined as an eternal cosmic unity, the source from which all created things emanate, and Te is the personal qualities of the individual and all entities in the universe. Put together, Tao Te Ching means integrity, or the wholeness of a given entity, object, or experience. That’s an ancient and great definition of design!

Discovering the essence of a product’s Te, and creating a natural barrier-free expression for its purpose, is the art of design. If a designer stays focused on the product experience, internalizing how the user feels during its use, the designed object will indeed begin to lighten up, transcend and deliver value. Lao Tzu said it this way: “Clay is molded to make a pot, but it is in the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the clay pot lies. Cut out doors and windows to make a room, but it is in the spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the room lies. Therefore, benefit may be derived from something, but it is in nothing that we find usefulness.” Of course, you can design a beautiful clay pot, but the essence is the ceremony, the wispy steam, the gurgling pour, and ultimately the flavor it delivers.

What I Learned From a Restroom Tête-à-Tête with George Nelson

Dan Harden — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:21 +0000

New York City, summer 1980. I was a baby of 20 years working as an intern for the iconoclastic design master George Nelson–one of the most accomplished voices on design and architecture of the 20th century. He was a towering design hero to me, having defined much of what I knew as “modern” in design. I arrived eager to learn, but George spent most of his time in a closed office, thinking (or so I presumed). I wanted to chat but he was intimidating and unreachable, not even granting eye contact as he shuffled about the office.

I noticed that every afternoon at 4 o’clock sharp George would disappear for thirty minutes. One day I followed him. He was in the restroom down the hall–one of those turn-of-the-century huge pink marble rooms, shared by other offices on that floor. George was standing at an open window twenty-two floors above Gramercy Park, smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee. I remember his knobby profile, so distinctly silhouetted by swirling Marlboro smoke and a stunning New York skyline. His Mr. Coffee machine, which he retrieved from a hiding place, sat precariously on the sink edge. His wife never let him smoke or drink coffee, but in here he was a free man I guess. This was hardly a place to get to know one of my heroes, but it turned out to be a perfect setting for an afternoon design lecture.

I carefully engaged him, sensing that all I had to do was ask a few big naïve questions and his engine would start. I started with “So, Mr. Nelson, what is like being a designer”? Thoughtfully, softly, and cadenced as if reading, he began a protestation about everything–especially clients, society, and people, and how they don’t understand design. He ranted on, reminding me that “man ruins nature when he thinks too much”. Pointing at the cityscape, he proclaimed “junk is the crowning achievement of our civilization–just look at how it shines”…and here I thought as a design student that our crowning achievement was beauty. He was the most eloquent grumbler I had ever met.

Our 4 o’clock restroom lectures became a daily ritual for months after that. Topics cycled through beauty, art, philosophy, and science–but always reverted back to the hardcore sting of ugly realities: He wanted me to remember that.

George shocked me into a new awareness–he made me think, made me see, and made me mad. This is a great mix for a designer in today’s world, because lots of maddening things need fixing that require seeing and thinking to do so. Some are big and most are small, and we designers are phenomenal at fixing small maddening problems. They’re everywhere–in the home, office, schoolyard, and in every industry you can think of, and when fixed, they fuel desire, need, and capitalism. If you’re lucky, your solution won’t add to the junk–but don’t count on it. The trick is seeing through the haze–the massive cacophony of sight, sound and experience that is our contemporary world–to create something meaningful and lasting with your junk.

Junk that really connects with individual users. Now that would have made George Nelson smile.