Tag: insight

Today, consumer enthusiasm for packaging-free and refillable options continues to grow. Yet, despite the reassuring signs that the current pandemic has not hindered consumers’ appetite for sustainable practices, the wide adoption of refills and dispensing models continues to present significant challenges.

When was the last time you pulled when it said ‘push’?

Every day, we are surrounded by products and services that somehow, don’t work as we expect them to. Whether it is an ‘impossible-to-follow’ set of instructions or the ‘push’ sign on a handle that clearly invites you to pull, people are constantly forced to develop workarounds to compensate for poor design.

Design can be a powerful driver for change – it can inspire new behaviours and drive us to think and act more responsibly. But to innovate ourselves to a better future, a puritanical focus on reducing impact will not do.

In this article, Marko Plevnik, Principal – Industrial Design at PDD, reflects on the importance of character in good design and the need to create meaningful experiences that are emotionally rewarding and encourage people to do the right thing. 

‘What is Design for China?’ is a series of three blogs where we will be taking a look at design targeted at the mainland Chinese market. In our first instalment in the series we focus on how some Western brands are creating designs specifically for this increasingly discerning market.

“There are a thousand no’s from every yes” said Apple. Design is a special language to interpret the future. Eventually, it can make our everyday life easier. One of the links sent by Josh, Consultant – Industrial Design, introduces a mind-blowing project designed by Cheng Guo who made a set of hands-free tools designed to be operated by the mouth of the user. Enjoy and have a good weekend!

In an internet minute, more than 1.3 million YouTube clips are downloaded and 204 million emails are sent. Take a look at the amazing infographic Oliver shared in the list below. However on a sad note, Billy, our lovely Marketing Intern is leaving to continue his last year at university. We all wish him the best of luck!

For your delectation this week – a smorgasbord of links from urban prototyping to a psychological test that will make you go “doh!” And, if you are still hungry for more you can always check out the US TV interview with Design Consultant Roger, on his encounter with a shark. Enjoy!

We often hear and talk about the need for retail spaces to be designed to create the best shopping experience for consumers, but what about designing retail spaces for the store employees? Having briefly had a taste of what it is like to work in a high street fashion retailer, I have to admit I was struck by the poor back-store layout and how it affects the employees’ work.

Having recently been to see the Light show at the Hayward Gallery, London, I am reminded of a trend I am seeing more and more of these days – reflected light. Like the artists in the show, lighting designers have recently been playing with light as the critical source material and focus of an object.

Snow, rain, wind and clouds; welcome to spring in the UK. Before you all rush off to enjoy your weekend in front of the fire, drinking something hot and reading poetry, please enjoy the following links sent around the studio this week.

Another sad day for the studio today as we say goodbye to our Creative Lead, Shun Ishikawa. We wish him the very best as he moves back to Tokyo – we are going to miss him and his lack of Cake Club contributions :). To console us, let’s take a look at this week’s links sent around the studio…

There is a phrase “it looks so good you could eat it”, but are there times where this idea goes a step too far? Or are there lessons to be learnt when it comes to product design? In this post I take a look at the force that is food.

Our Principal of Design Insight, Maeve Keane, was approached by Second Sight magazine to write about the key trends that she thinks we’ll be seeing in 2013. Here’s what she wrote.

The weathered old man approached me in one of the impossibly difficult to find grocery shops in Havana. Though he spoke no English, he communicated through body language and fierce pointing that he had a small, hungry baby at home and that I should buy him the outrageously priced powdered milk.

On returning from my local corner shop with a bottle of milk, I laid out the tools required to formulate the perfect cup of tea: kettle-on, sugar-out, mug selected , tea bag dumped. Tea making has become so habitual, it’s something that’s assumed to be done with ease by all.

Because of what I do, I spend a lot of time thinking about cultural differences. Whilst travelling recently, a simple procedure at an airport challenged my perceptions of how “culturally-sensitive” I really am, and got me thinking about the interconnectedness of modesty, security, and human rights.

Both work and personal life regularly take me to Copenhagen’s principal airport, Kastrup. Unlike many airports, Kastrup is one of the few that I actually look forward to passing through, to the extent that on a number of occasions, I have actually tried my best to arrive early, just to spend more time there.