.Design Minutes

Rizki Tarisa | Industrial Designer www.designenvoyage.com www.twitter.com/rizkitarisa This is an experimental blog and an exercise platform for me to share some design trends, and design/technology related stuffs I stumbled upon in my design endeavor. I'm an Industrial Designer, I'm Passionate about design, human interaction and reaction. I enjoy creating objects, I appreciate aesthetics, I see beauty in functions, and I believe in the idea of "The right place, the right time, and the right people". I believe designers are essentially story tellers. To tell great stories, I listen to great stories first. I learn by listening and understanding by doing.

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 .Design Minutes 25 + Trendscan + Minimal Discrete Expressive

The trends in Industrial Design is often influenced by the movement and progression of Fashion Design. The attached styleboard shows three different categories of design (Fashion and Industrial); The first one is Minimalist and simple, mostly monotone, pure form and less detailed, do not really intend to call much attention, the second one is Discrete, which is a little bit richer than the minimalist, has that element of surprise, sometimes wants to be noticed, using accent colors to emphasize some details yet still maintaining the purity, and the last one is the Expressive, more glamorous, rich in details, more colorful and complexity in form. 

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.Design Minutes 24 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #7 Curve

Visually lightweight series #7 - The dished or a concaved arc reminds us of the natural curvy form of a feather or a leaf floating freely in midair. This element makes the object looks thin and lightweight. As opposed to a straight or rigid line, a curve or an arc creates a whole different impression by making the object appears to be more dynamic and fluid.

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.Design Minutes 23 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #6 Raised Based

Visually lightweight series #6 - The gap resulted from elevating the base off the ground emphasizes the sense of portability and lightness. It creates the impression that the object is intended to be a movable object as opposed to immobile , this is due to the fact that by elevating the base, it breaks the relation between the base and the ground and makes it more disintegrated (compared to having the base flaring out and blending in with the ground which results in a heavier look).

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.Design Minutes 22 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #5 Hollow

Visually lightweight series #5 - The logic of the hollow bodied element is to create gaps and empty spaces within the volume, this way the object will appear to be lightweight since the volume subtraction creates an impression of weight reduction too (which essentially means being lighter – lightweight).

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.Design Minutes 21 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #4 Fluid Aerodynamic

Visually lightweight series #4  - The aerodynamic curves and fluid lines resemble the movement and the flow of air, it provides the sense of speed and swiftness. Besides making the object appears to be lightweight, the virtue of having the aerodynamic elements also make the object looks more streamlined and sleek.

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.Design Minutes 20 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #3 Solid Construction

Visually lightweight series #3 - Being the basic element of every object, integrating the skeleton frame in the design makes the object looks a lot minimal. The combination of solid volume and skeleton frame portion highlights the contrast of the two, one being the heavy due to its solidity and the other one being the light due to the openings and gaps within.  

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.Design Minutes 19 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #2 Cantilever and Suspension

Visually lightweight series #2 - Creating the impression of lightweight is pretty much about creating gaps and air space within the volume. By having empty space within, it creates the impression that the object is floating in midair which relates to being lightweight (like a feather). Cantilever and suspension give the exact effect as it suspends part of the volume off the ground and creating that empty space.

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.Design Minutes 18 + Trendscan + Visually Lightweight #1 Subtraction and Missing Link

Visually lightweight series #1 - There are many ways to make an object look lightweight. We can play with the color combinations, materials, textures, and forms. One of the examples how an object could appear to be lightweight (visually) is by applying the subtraction or missing link elements. Cutting away some part of an object makes it look incomplete, which also gives the impression of weight reduction.

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.Design Minutes 17 + Trendscan + Form + Squaring The Circle

One of the most commonly used forms by designers to create a softer and friendlier geometry. It combines the softness of a circle and geometrical feel of a square. It makes the object appears to be more approachable while still looks controlled. It doesn’t look as loose and expressive as a perfect round while not being to rigor and rigid as a regular square form.

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.Design Minutes 16 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #6 The Orange Bit

The hot lava kontra the refreshing cold orange juice. Orange is an inciting and energetic color; just a hint of orange could already ignite the excitement. Orange is the color of the risk takers, the creative minds, and the adventurous souls; it combines the energetic sense of red and the cheerfulness of yellow. Orange on black is hot, it promotes sportsmanship, daring spirit, and self-confidence while orange on white is somewhat chiller. A tiny bit of orange on warmer white, beige, or tan often resonates flamboyancy and chicness.

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.Design Minutes 15 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #5 The Pale Blue Dot

Not the solid deep sea blue, this is the pale blue, the United Nation blue, the color of the morning sky. This type of blue is often used in a combination with white. White on itself is a neutral and dull, but when the pale blue accent color is applied on it, it creates a more lively soul into it while still maintaining the tranquility and the subtleness. It’s an unsoiled and clean combination, very humble, honest and peaceful (Therefore it’s used as the color of the UN Flag). Commonly used on medical devices, not only because it’s the exact opposite of red (which is the color of the blood), but also due to its calming characteristic.

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.Design Minutes 14 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #4 Speck Of Green

When in doubt use green, the natural kind of green. It’s a safe color to be used almost everywhere. Green promotes the love of nature, perceived as a friendly and calming color. Using green as a color to compliment white or lighter colors creates the impression of balance and harmony. It makes the product looks earthier and more ecological; hence green is the color of sustainable and ecofriendly design (Go green!). It is also widely used on healthcare related and sporting products. Part of it is because green signifies rejuvenation and self-reliance. Using green on Black or darker colors give a slightly different image, it implies vitality and energy.

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.Design Minutes 13 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #3 - Cut Peel Reveal

Attractive, intuitive, and natural, this type of design element is often used to draw the attention towards a particular detail on a product, usually an opening area and/or control area. Combining this element with some a vibrant accent color, on the inner surface or the revealed area creates a more expressive feel and a distinctive look.

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.Design Minutes 12 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #2 - The Devil and The Cupid

Using red as the dominant color on a product immediately defines the characteristic of the product and somewhat makes it feels more predictable as opposed to using it just as an accent color which can create a more vibrant sense and offers that unique "element of surprise". Most of the time the usage of red as an accent color carries a message or meaning. For instance, a red ring element can be found on all Canon L series lenses, which is the professional line lenses from Canon, in this case the use of red accent color is to distinguish and emphasize the quality of one particular line to another. It is considered as unpredictable because red represents both the devils and the cupids, love and anger, blood and fire, and romance and malice. The impressions it creates all depends on the situation, and context is everything. The application of red on black makes the red vibrantly glows and resonate the spirit of adventure, endurance, advancement, and superiority. Red and black is also often associated to masculinity. In the contrary, red on white does not look so vibrant but rather more quiet and elegant, the combination of lighter color and red in some cases also creates the impression of femininity, luxury (especially when red is paired with chromatic elements), and gracefulness (when it's used to accentuate the fluid and elegant curves of the product). 

Weather it's red on black, red on white, or red on other colors, using this second most vibrant color (after yellow) as an element to compliment the dominant color always creates that nice and unique "cherry on top" feel.

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.Design Minutes 11 + Trendscan + Element of Surprise #1 - Yellow Bit

Using yellow as an accent element on monochromatic and neutral colors such as white, grey, and black helps to bring back the enthusiasm and the spirit of joy to the object due to the fact that yellow is the lightest hue of the spectrum, the most highly visible of all colors, and it resonates challenge and cheerfulness. Yellow is often applied on touch points and paired with black and chromatic colors to provide that "element of surprise". The combination of yellow and black commonly used in active gears and sport goods because this combination creates a vibrant contrast, combining 2 of the most extreme colors (black being the darkest, and yellow being the lightest) creates the energetic sense and activeness.

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.Design Minutes 10 + Trendscan + Ombre/Gradation

Most of the time found in some fashion and wearable products. Applying a combination of colors and a gradation element on a product gives a refreshing look and feel to it. The right choice of color and tone helps to determine and set the right mood and spirit intended for the product.

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.Design Minutes 9 + Trendscan + Frosted

Shrouding a solid or opaque element by frosted transparent part creates a unique gradation-like effect, which could almost be like an ombre effect by smudging and blurring out the outline of the element underneath it. Compared to a transparent clear part, frosted part may look more durable and resistant due to the fact that it could disguise some flaws, scratches, or any defects on its surface, similar to the usage of textured surface as opposed to high gloss.

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