America is a big place with a diverse population and there is no single design style, unlike smaller homogeneous societies like Denmark. We create all kinds of things here and like an American western you see the good, the bad, and the ugly. Even with our cacophony of styles and expressions, there is something discernible and special about American design. It comes from who we are and how we are raised, and not from a rich history of art and design like Europe. Most Americans are taught from a young age to “be individual, think different, take a risk, make a statement, and just go for it”. Combine those ego-building values with a profession like design, and it’s no surprise that American design at its best is courageous, dramatic, and spectacular. Art imitates life, and so too with American design – it imitates the American way. It’s original, inventive, confident, and colorful.

The emotional and experiential tendencies of the American people can be a huge benefit when creating and thinking outside the box, but Americans also tend to like exaggerations and superlatives of all sorts, which are sometimes antithetical to design. Quiet or subtle design is hard to sell here, but no wonder considering our competitive consumer economy where items must scream for attention. Americans like choices so the Wal-Marts, Amazons, strip malls, and SkyMalls thrive, and if your choice provides instant gratification, the more the merrier – go to Costco for bulk consumption and pick up a foot long sandwich along the way. Design can also get super-sized, witness how an original notion about freedom inflated to become a three-ton Hummer or a loud over-chromed Harley Davidson chopper. Our TV and films are often over the top too, jam-packed with contrived plots and ridiculous characters. Excess and excellence are rarely symbiotic but with so much going on in the US both creatively and materially, by chance good design is bound to happen.

Another personality factor that affects design in America is our nationwide Attention Deficit Disorder problem. We flit from style to style, fad to fad, and often don’t take the time to do things right. “Out with the old, in with the new”, says each new corporate management team. Companies like P&G, Ford, and Microsoft constantly produce so called “revolutionary” products, and some become successful, many don’t, and rarely are they revolutionary. Although this impatient experimentation makes development riskier and harder to establish a consistent brand, it does produce a wider portfolio thus increasing the odds for a product hit to elevate the company, and maybe even change society in the process. Change is part of a healthy design process, and like it or not American A.D.D. seems to support good design.

In spite of the emotional, materialistic and changeful nature of the USA, it is still the world’s biggest economy and design is one of its strongest economic drivers. The design of a product or brand is where you find the elements of demand, in the form of utility, performance, quality, ease of use, appearance and emotional appeal. Approximately half of our Fortune 500 companies utilize some form of design and half of these rely on design to maintain or increase consumer demand. Traditionally it’s been our products and artifacts that have driven profits but now our business models, inventive services and big data systems are also pulling weight. Furthermore quality is becoming cool again. Back when “Made in the USA” meant something, this nation fueled its economy by building quality products. American quality is still a value here, especially since many companies like GM had to learn that lesson the hard way. Quality and Design are interlaced, and young American companies like Facebook, Tesla and Google get this. A few older companies like Boeing, 3M, Deere and J&J never forgot it.

America still leads in two ways. One is in creative capital, and the other is technology. America is still mighty in its creative output, probably because thinking creatively has traditionally been a distinct American cultural value, although sadly that is waning of recent. Our schools just don’t get it, but somehow in spite of our poor educational system we still manage to invent the future. We have always been passionate about technology, and have the highest annual patent count to prove it. We’re often the first nation to introduce some new technology, packaged in its newly designed form factor but unfortunately we lag behind in maintaining our lead. We invent all this great stuff and then sit back and hope the marketing and sales guys keep it going. Innovation requires investment, refinement, and continuous development. Other nations eventually take over the markets we create, such as communication, automotive, computing, consumer electronics, etc. and we are left standing there saying “what happened”?

We have been saying that “now is the American design moment” for the last 20 years. America has produced some amazing design in the last several years, but so has the rest of the world. The design world is flat too, as almost anyone with a great idea can be seen and heard like never before. I am however so happy to see that Design is finally becoming part of our national dialect now, as it should have been a long time ago. Let’s hope it sticks, after all this is the USA.

TV Design
TV’s have always dominated the main hall and every year there are incremental advancements that entice users to keep upgrading their TV. This year Ultra Hi Def (called 4K for pixel count), and OLED were hot. Both of these technologies are stunning and allow for super thin dimensions, which opens up opportunities for designers. TV thickness has decreased so much that the Z dimension leaves little room for design expression, and the display borders are so small that they too are limiting…however when the thickness and border widths are constrained form-wise it allows for expression using materials such as metals and glass. We did see lots of design in the stands and supports, the most radical being the Samsung frame. They surrounded the TV with a huge speaker frame spaced well away from the display.

Connectedness
Finally we seem to be getting somewhere with connected home technology. Our gadgets are talking to one another. The ability to share content and a unified interaction model between one’s phone, tablet and TV were demonstrated by all the big makers including Samsung, Panasonic and Sony. The UI’s still need help because they all still look too much like computers but the experiences are beginning to feel a bit more seamless and integrated. There were a lot of “streaming boxes” too that connected these devices. This trend also applied to cars.

Brand Grouping
CES can be divided into a few camps: The giant rich companies like Sony, Samsung, and LG that have their own big design teams; the mid-size companies like Belkin, Eton, and Monster, that are doing a good job with design by hiring design consultants or a small staff; and the recent startups like Fitbit and Dropcam with hopeful futures. There is another category of midsize companies like Coby that make so many mediocre looking products that are banged out in China by the millions. We were surprised to see that Polaroid has become one of these companies. They had hundreds of knock-off products, some licensed, and few were interesting. They displayed sepia posters with profound quotes about innovation by their brilliant founder Edwin Land that directly contradicted their cheap products sitting in the foreground.

Plagiarism
It’s one thing to be influenced by a successful product like the iPhone, but to copy is a whole different type of offense. Polaroid practically Xeroxed the Nikon 1 camera, LG did a Nike FuelBand copy, and we saw several lesser-known audio brands that copied the Jambox.

Products that look like iPhones
Simplified geometric forms with authentic materials are good, but unless a products purpose and environment call for it, it will appear forced. Panasonic showed a line of home appliances including a toaster, coffee maker and blender that from a side view were no different than an iPad…?

Color!
Colors that used to just be for accessories are finding their way into product SKUs.This is reflective of a bigger trend in lifestyle and fashion influences on the world of CE.

Headphones
Headphones ran amuck at CES, spread equally across the good, bad, and ugly. Turtle Beach needed the most design help; Parrot by Philippe Stark was interesting but weird; Beats is the standard, and we thought Sennheiser sounded the best but it could use more contemporary design. A new company called Marley had Rasta-influenced headphone design and a Rasta brand language, using natural materials like wood, leather and canvas.

Convertible Notebook PC’s
PC’s have been having an identity crisis but there appears to be some traction in convertibles, or notebooks that morph into pads. We’ve worked on these for companies like Intel and we’re excited about the category because it’s a new transformable form factor that gives users (and designers) more freedom.

Big Screen phones
Every new Android smart phone has a big screen – way bigger than the iPhone, and many are very nice, dare I say catching up with Apple. Apple, please make a bigger display, my typing fingers and hungry eyes will thank you.

Fitness and wellness products
We think this is a cool, new and rapidly evolving sector, with products that monitor workouts, calories, distance, heart rate and more. There were stationary bicycles that interact with TV apps, group calisthenics apps and even fitness technology products aimed at the pet market (Tagg). iHealth had an iPhone accessory/ blood glucose monitor device that works with a proprietary app to manage Diabetes.

2D approach to 3D
Complex form and IMD used to be king, but the new trend features a bold graphical statement on a simple product. 3D Textures, bold patterns, oversized vent or perforation, etc. are used to this effect.

Competition lies in fringe features and style
As performance expectations and specs are becoming more flat, the focus is less on the product itself and rather how it helps enable self-expression and personal style.

Cool bits of technology waiting for designers
We found sparkles of new raw technology yet to be turned into real products for consumption. Tops were flexible display tech by Samsung (designers have been drawing flex display products for decades).

Eton FRX series Spark! (Top award)
Dropcam video monitor Gold
Eton Rukus Gold
Eton Turbodyne Silver
Livescribe Echo Pen Silver
Apnicure Winx Bronze
TP Link router line Bronze
Infinite Z zSpace Bronze
Zero Technologies computer Bronze

The Spark Design Awards are a series of competitions that encourage and honor designs that make the world a better place. The jurors, chaired by Hari Nair, Global Design Director for Whirlpool Corporation, chose 55 winners, including 8 Spark! Awards, 11 Golds, 15 Silvers and 22 Bronzes. Thirteen countries were represented.

Whipsaw won more Spark awards than any other company. “The winners were uniformly excellent, but the jurors clearly favored one firm’s work – Whipsaw, who garnered an extraordinary nine Spark Awards. Hats off and bravo to Whipsaw for that accomplishment”, remarked Peter Kuchnicki, Spark Founder & Director.

“Spark is aptly named since good design can start a fire in the market and the mind. The Spark program finds these special traits that make a design combustible and puts them on a pedestal.” said Dan Harden, President, Whipsaw.

See more about the Spark Awards here: Spark Awards Galleries

For most of history an experience always preceded and dictated a given design. There was a problem or need that surfaced during some kind of an experience, and people either lived with it or attempted to fix it with a design solution in order to improve the experience. Farming tools, armor, furniture, cooking utensils and birth control were all born from a frustrating experience that unless fixed with a design solution resulted in starvation, getting stabbed, sitting on the floor, eating raw meat with your hands, or having too many babies.

A century ago this process started to change when we discovered that design could profoundly shape experiences. Soon design began to assert itself into every experience – for better or for worse, mainly because it proved to be a good economic stimulant and an effective way to build companies. Today evidence of design asserting or even over-asserting itself on experiences is everywhere. For example, many skiers are so obsessed with their ski brand, graphics, ski shape, ski clothes and carbon fiber bindings that they seem to forget why they like to ski in the first place. The actual experience of skiing – the intense physical rush, the pinprick snowflakes on one’s cheeks, and the sheer beauty of the landscape get lost in contrivances, brand obsession and equipment lust. SUV’s that were originally intended to explore the outdoors have been lowered and pimped out so much they’ve become less functional at their task than a Honda Civic. Kid’s birthday parties don’t measure up unless they include a snappy E-vite, online gift registration, a custom cake, and a blowup jumpy structure. All too often we see experiences like these sidetracked by dubious “solutions” to a problem.

Designers have customarily followed a doctrine of form follows function, where everything fits tidily into a packaged solution, sometimes without regard to what’s around it or its ability to enhance a human experience. The intentions may be good and a design may look great but if design gets in the way of, or if users don’t gain benefit from the design adding value to an experience, is it good design? Of course there is a place for design for design’s sake, where the object just “is”. Experiments that push the boundaries of style and innovation are good but for real world design we just have to be careful with creating too much of what I might call “exteriority” or superficiality of form and purpose, in place of “interiority” or depth of experience.

Recently we’re getting back to letting experience guide us as designers, much like a long time ago. We’re aspiring to and practicing Form follows Function follows Experience. We’re diving deeper into user psychology and getting smarter about what people really need and want while making sure that design fits within a broader social and environmental context. Now the experience itself is frequently the primary inspiration for innovation. A good example of this in action is mountain biking. Mountain bike frames are purpose built for riding performance. They are extremely high tech, strong and efficient, and use as little material as possible to reduce weight. Each of these factors contributes to making the riding experience better, and each of these factors are what makes the frames beautiful works of art. The balance and priorities are right.

As design and experience merge again, each one becomes more dynamic and rich through their dependencies on one another. Work, play and general life all gain from their fusion. Within this balance of the two, perhaps design’s most important role is to allow experiences to unfold in the most natural way possible. When design assumes the “best supporting actor” role to experience, where it enables, enhances, supports and communicates an experience, it is usually the best design. Experience that assumes the best actor role, where it is bettered or enabled by design, is usually the best experience. Together, design and experience really do become entwined and collectively perceived as encounters between objects and emotions.

Read “The Great Disappearing Act of Good Design” blog by Dan for continuing thought thread on this topic.

The exhibition showcases eighty projects from well-known studios and companies who present seminal social, ecological, and cultural innovations. Grouped into six everyday life thematic areas (Mobility, Digital Convergence, Life and Fun, Life and Work, Health, and Survival), MADE 4 YOU explores questions such as: How smart are the technologies of tomorrow? What will we continue to enjoy? What can make work and everyday life easier? How can we create health-care systems for all? What guarantees our existence and survival?

The four Whipsaw projects fit the M4Y exhibition theme perfectly since each focus on fun, work, health or survival, and each are good examples of seminal innovation. The works were also originated by asking deep questions – the essential fire starter of all innovation.

Founded over 50 years ago in London, D&AD exists to promote excellence in design and advertising, and their awards and Annuals set the absolute reference standard for creative excellence. “We are thrilled to receive this honor from D&AD, and happy to see our Livescribe Echo, a truly great learning and productivity tool, in the limelight” said Dan Harden, President Whipsaw.

See www.dandad.org for more info.

The first time I met Steve was at the Stanford Design Conference during the summer of 1981 when I was a design intern working at Hewlett Packard. Steve was only 26 at the time. He was the successful wunderkind of the Silicon Valley and it was exciting to have him speak at a design conference. Apple had just gone public so he was in the news a lot and everyone was curious about him. He utterly bewitched the audience with his charisma. At the conference lunch break he dashed outside, took his shoes off, and sat on the grass with a small group of us lucky young designers. He began to prophesize about technology, culture and design. It was more like a lesson, not a conversation. It was both fascinating and entertaining to see how he delivered his message with such enthusiasm and believability. What I appreciated most is that he was crazy about design, especially how design could compliment technology. I related wholeheartedly to this belief and ended up pursuing this interest in my own career.

My second experience with Steve Jobs came years later when I worked with him in 1989 & 90. Up until then I had been designing computers and electronics for Olivetti, AT&T and Polaroid while at Henry Dreyfuss Associates. During this time I observed the ascent of Apple, and I remember being especially moved by the Apple IIC, designed by frogdesign. It was light and friendly, had a very cool form factor, and it spoke volumes of where Apple was going. I was inspired by this and many other frog creations, so I joined frogdesign in 1989 (just after Steve was kicked out of Apple and started NeXT). One of my first assignments was to work on the NeXT account.

I’ll never forget re-meeting Steve just prior to a big group meeting at the NeXT headquarters in Redwood City. I said “it’s great to meet you again”. He peered over his glasses at me for a few seconds and just barked “ditto”. The following group meeting was bizarre. Steve controlled it completely and berated his staff whenever he perceived the slightest mediocrity or indecisiveness from anyone. I wasn’t sure if his anger was real or if by design, for affect. I had never seen this behavior before in the workplace, but as a designer intent on creating quality products I sort of respected it, for he could move mountains with it. He was a dream client.

Hartmut Esslinger and I presented concepts to Steve and his staff on Friday afternoons. I had butterflies before each meeting because Steve was always accusatorial, acerbic, tempestuous, and picky. I figured I would be targeted sooner or later. He had an uncanny ability to see right through a concept, whether it was in the form of a vision statement, sketch or model. If there was any weakness or omission at all he would find it and demand improvements. One day I entered a big meeting and the first thing Steve blurted out was “who designed that new AT&T digital answering machine?” I said “I did” and winced inside, getting ready for a grilling. He smiled and said “It’s Great”. From then on I was OK.

Many NeXT employees seemed afraid of Steve but we designers soon liked him. He was passionate, analytical, creative, and critical – like us. He loved design so I think he cut us designers a little slack. He reviewed every tiny detail with us and there was never small talk. One thing was crystal clear when working with him: his irrefutable genius. Even though he flaunted it, we respected his bravado because he was usually right.

My third climactic encounter with Steve Jobs was six years later in 1996. I was still at frog consulting for Larry Ellison, CEO Oracle, on the then futuristic “Network Computer” or N/C. Larry preferred working secretly one on one, and wanted all meetings to be at his grand Japanese style house in Atherton, away from the prying eyes of his staff and the press. My final N/C presentation was to be at Larry’s house on March 19, and dinner was going to be served. I pulled into Larry’s long driveway after passing the security gate and noticed a silver Mercedes sedan with the license plate “PIXAR.” It was Steve Job’s car. Larry had invited his buddy Steve over for dinner and an N/C design show-and-tell. My pulse raced. Larry alone was difficult enough; now I had the two biggest and baddest titans of technology to present to.

After a quick meal I unveiled five computer models. Steve immediately challenged every assumption we had made about the future of computing. “The network can’t handle the speeds or data throughput and the designs are too big and clunky…but keep going because anything is better than Microsoft” he said. Larry and Steve discussed and argued about the future of computing, and coerced about their shared hatred of Bill Gates for another hour while I humbly inserted my design views when appropriate. It was one of those “pinch yourself is this meeting really happening?” moments. I wish I had recorded the conversation because almost everything Steve and Larry had predicted that night came true.

At one point in my presentation Larry dropped one of these very expensive models, shattering it dramatically into a dozen parts. I was stunned but neither Steve nor Larry said anything at all…they just kept talking about network computers and product strategy. I needed CPR. I nonchalantly and slowly picked up all the pieces without breaking eye contact. I always found their unfazed reaction rather curious. I guess they were just too big to worry about a broken model.

The evening concluded on a more personal note, with Larry urging Steve to rejoin Apple as CEO. He was persistent, exclaiming “That Amelio is an idiot…you must go back and run it!” Surprisingly Steve just listened and smiled. He was a different person than I had seen before – he was serene and it was nice to see that side of him. He was between his two Apple stints at that time focusing on NeXT and Pixar, and he must have been contemplating his next move. Nine months later NeXT was purchased by Apple and Pixar’s Toy Story became a huge box office hit – and of course he went back to Apple. When I left Larry’s house that night I recall saying to Andy Laursen of Oracle (the fourth person that was there that night), “Wow that was a pretty cool evening, wasn’t it?”

My fourth encounter with Steve Jobs was six years later in 2002 and it was very abrupt. He lived a few blocks away from me in Palo Alto and one morning I was walking past his house when a Mercedes SL came screaming up into his driveway, nearly hitting me. Out jumped Steve in a panic. He barely recognized me in my sweats and hat, and said “oh hi Dan sorry about that”, and then took off in a hurry. No “how have you been”, “long time no see” or “that was funny when we broke your model wasn’t it?” He was brief and aloof like always. He was on a mission.

Steve died on my Birthday, and again, like a comet entering my consciousness he came and left swiftly, only this time for good. I am going to miss those coincidental visits even though like a comet he always passed at a distance, never getting too close. I am fortunate to have known him and saddened by his early departure. He contributed so much to the fields of computing, communication, entertainment, and Design. Steve empowered all of us designers around the world by elevating design to its rightful place. He showed the world how to do it right; how essential it is to a company’s success; and how utterly wonderful good design is. Thank you Steve Jobs, we’ll miss you and we’ll be sure to carry the torch the best we can.

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.