The Office of Erik Dahl

Vote For Your Favorite Pale Ale

Awesome concept, but failure on execution and experience.

I bought a beer sampler today from Southern Tier Brewing Company. I’ve had their IPA before and enjoyed it, so I thought I would try the sampler. When I opened the box I found a flyer asking me to vote for my “Favorite Pale Ale.” My first thought was “oh, cool” but I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. I didn’t know if they were competing against other breweries (and were pandering for votes) or if it was an internal initiative to connect with their customers.

The url on the flyer pointed me to the Southern Tier Brewing Company website, so I figured it was an internal initiative, which got me excited. I think its great when companies reach out to their consumers for their opinion even if its just for a taste test. I looked up the website to see what was going on. Long story short: great idea with poor execution.

Let’s take a deeper look. Continue reading…

Please “Actuate Signal”

C’mon, really? Who wrote this? Who thought most people think about the sensor for traffic lights as “actuating signals?” Really?! This sign is at the exit of my office building, the Smith Bros. Hardware building in Columbus, OH. The sign is meant to tell drivers where to stop so the sensor is activated and the traffic light changes.

It blows me away every time I see it. It’s a constant reminder that bad design decisions are made all the time with everyday objects like this sign.

I originally thought this was a custom sign (made to look standard/official), but after a little search I found the Standard Sign Design Manual from the Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Traffic Engineering. The image below is from the black and white regulatory series. Evidently, it is an Ohio specific sign type.

Continue reading…

Signage Obscura & Root Problems

Sometimes design solutions don’t address the root problem and subsequently cause problems of their own.

I had to use the toilet at the dentist office before my appointment the other day, and came across this obscured sign.

“Please do not flush paper towels”

The sign itself isn’t novel. It’s not like my dentist is the only one encountering this problem. What’s interesting here is the design problem. Not with the sign itself, and ultimately not with the obscuring of the sign. The question is why is the sign necessary in the first place, and secondarily why did the sign get obscured.

Continue reading…

Subtle Branding

We got a few strings of LED Icicle Lights this year from Target to put up on the house, mostly to satisfy Cooper’s holiday spirit.

I noticed the other day that the LED lights display a signature light pattern that looks suspiciously close to the Target logo. I can’t believe that the similarity is simply an accident or coincidence.

What do you think?

Is This Your Luggage?

What a great project! Is this your luggage?

Hit the link and check it out.

From the author:

I COLLECT LOST LUGGAGE, PHOTOGRAPH IT, AND THEN TRY TO FIND THE OWNERS. IT’S A LITTLE ODD BUT NOT AS ODD AS STAMP COLLECTING, JUST A LITTLE HARDER TO FIND STORAGE SPACE. when A BAG GETS LOST THE AIRPORT OR AIRLINE WILL STORE IT FOR A WHILE AND TRY TO FIND THE OWNER. if they can’t identify the OWNER OF THE case THEY SEND IT TO BE AUCTIONED OFF WITH THE PROFIT GOING TO CHARITY. I GO TO THESE AUCTIONS AND BUY THE CASES SO I CAN PHOTOGRAPH THEM FOR MY WEIRD VOYEURISTIC PASSION. The reason for the web site? i would really like to try to find the people who own my suitcases, so if you HAVE ANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE LOST A CASE PLEASE GET THEM TO HAVE A LOOK.

Lessons in Graphic Design Theory

These look great. 50 Totally Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory, by Danny Outlaw

[ via: swissmiss ]

Pecha Kucha Night Presentation

I recently had the honor of presenting at Pittsburgh AIGA’s 2nd Pecha Kucha Night.

What’s Pecha Kucha? Basically, each presenter is given 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. The presentation is set to automatic, so the slides keep moving forward whether you are ready or not. That’s 6:40 to present an interesting idea and tell a compelling story.

It was great fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I presented an update to a side-project I have been working on just for the fun of it: my side view mirror project. Basically, I’ve been taking photographs of drivers through their side view mirrors during my daily commutes.

Check out the video below to experience it for yourself.

Continue reading…

U.S. Design Policy’s Necessity video

Dori Tunstall, organizer of the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative, kicks off the viral video campaign by creating and uploading her video to the U.S. Design Policy Facebook and Youtube Groups.

Between now and April 15th, create and share your own U.S. Design Policy’s Necessity videos. You’ll have the opportunity to star in the Initiative’s Design CEO’s Design Policy Support video, which will be led by IDSA.

Pallet Ottoman by BCK Design

I’d like to build one of these ottomans for our family room. I think it would be perfect. Original design by BCK Design.

Made from 3 recycled pallets, this ottoman/chair is a cross between post-consumerism green furniture and a tribute to ready-made. Showing that re-using without extended means of transformation can turn the right thing into a creative object. This is where design as an added value takes a stronger meaning.

Wheel you pass me the salt?

Iris Zohar designs a salt and pepper shakers on wheels. My son would seriously love these, but they might be a bit dangerous and require a little more sweeping up after each meal. Fun.

Please remove our free publicity – MIT Press

UPDATE (03-24-09):

MIT has backed off their hard line and are allowing me to excerpt a subset of the lessons. I need to rework my article and republish the revision sometime in the near future.

———————

Today I received a letter (email) from Pamela Quick, MIT Press Permissions Coordinator regarding a few posts (now removed) referencing 101 THINGS I LEARNED IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL by Frederick. I thought it was a great book and had written a few posts excerpting some of the principles and describing how the architectural principles applied to interaction design and design research. Everything I had written had been in praise of the book, and the posts had actually driven several people to buy the book via Amazon.

Keep reading to see the letter for yourself. What would you have done? Continue reading…

LEGO is mapping experiences

Bruce Temkin from the Customer Experience Matters weblog digs up an interesting example of customer journey mapping from Lego. Its a nice example that emphasizes the need to design for the whole experience. The emphasis here is on the “make or break” moments as well as the places/moments where additional data/information may be necessary. There are alot of things that could be done to build on this, but its a nice start.

[ via: Customer Experience Matters ]

The Elements of Islay Bottles

I came across a post in my feedreader today from one of the non-english design blogs that I follow, Below the Clouds. I don’t read Swedish, but I was immediately struck by the beauty of the bottle design. At first I didn’t realize that these were whiskey bottles. The bottles are reminiscent of medical or scientific/laboratory bottles and the labels remind me of my high school chemistry class. The Lp1, Ar1, and Cl1 are great nods to the periodic table of elements.

I would consider buying these based solely on the packaging design. Brilliant.

Continue reading…

Microsoft, Glimpse into the future

Microsoft, Future Vision Montage:

Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future (2019).  Even though the ideas aren’t jaw-dropping innovative or orthogonal to current trends, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors. I think the most interesting aspects of the video are not the technology or the concepts, but how can be used to make connections or change our behavior.

You can explore more of their ideas at the Microsoft Office Labs.

Industry trends in prototyping

Dave Cronin of Cooper Design has a great white paper about current trends in prototyping. He covers the reasons to create prototypes along with discussing popular approaches, paper prototypes (and crude physical models), and clickable prototypes. Its a good article and you should check it out here.

Dieter Rams Designs Revisited

There’s been a lot of talk recently about Dieter Rams and his designs as well as his design legacy and impact.

Dieter Rams’ 10 Design Commandments

1. Good Design is innovative
It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product. The possibilities in this respect are by no means exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.

2. Good Design makes a product useful
A product is bought in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose – in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimise the utility of a product.

Continue reading…

The Eras of Corporate Research

Interesting little video about corporate research initiatives from the head of Nokia Research.

See video below. Continue reading…

Physical spaces and human behavior

I’m currently working on a paper/presentation that will be presented as part of a 1/2 day session I am helping run in March. The topics I’ll be covering is how physical spaces and environments impact human behavior and role appropriation. I’ll also be discussing the role of boundaries in creating and defining spaces as well as their impacts on human behavior.

I have my own ideas on how to put I’ll this together, but I’m interested if anyone out there has any ideas of their own that they would like to share. My ears are open.

Ideas? Anyone?

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design

Whitney Hess has a good article going of 10 basic misconceptions people make about “user experience design,” which is a big part of what I do everyday at MAYA Design.

The 10 items are below, but read to full article for all the details.

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design:

1. …user interface design
2. …a step in the process
3. …about technology
4. …just about usability
5. …just about the user
6. …expensive
7. …easy
8. …the role of one person or department
9. …a single discipline
10. …a choice

read more…

[From 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design]

Objectified, a new documentary

A peek at the upcoming design documentary “Objectified”, by Gary Hustwit, the director of “Helvetica”. The trailer features the voices of Jonathan Ive, Andrew Blauvelt, Marc Newson, and Karim Rashid. The song is “I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool” by El Ten Eleven.

Objectified premieres at film festivals and events worldwide starting this March, more info here: http://www.objectifiedfilm.com