Designer: David M. Kelly

Founder and executive vice president of IDEO company.

Mr david kelly is a legend in the field of industrial design. The Stanford University professor became famous by setting up IDEO design innovation company in Palo Alto 20 years ago. In the past, IDEO Company provided Oral B children's toothbrushes such as Palm V, tumbling helmet and Squish Grip.

IDEO product development company is the most famous design company in the world. Its greatest creation lies in the process of creation. For David Kelly, the founder of IDEO, and his colleagues, work is entertainment, collective discussion is science, and the most important rule is to break the rules.

Walking into the office of IDEO product development company, the first thing that catches your eye is a dazzling array of new product design drawings. Detailed design on the computer screen; In fact, in every media: cardboard, foam, wood blocks, plastic, you can vividly see the design prototype.

David M. Kelley, the 45-year-old founder of IDEO, is admiring all this thoughtfully. It is chaotic and full of creative things. Kelly compared IDEO to a "living and workplace laboratory". He said: "IDEO is always in an' experimental state'. Whether in our projects, in our workspace or even in our corporate culture, we are always trying new ideas. "

It is said that IDEO is the most influential design company in the world. The company has offices in San Francisco, London and Tokyo, with only 250 employees. They develop an average of 90 new products every year, some of which have become an indispensable part of our lives: such as Levolor blinds, Crest tooth cleaning, AT & amp； T company's telephone number, etc. Other products are symbols of the digital age: advanced notebook computers, virtual headdresses and ATMs. However, the company believes that creation itself is the process of creation. To understand the working principle of IDEO, we must first understand its true face.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, the center of Silicon Valley, the company has seven low-rise buildings. Employees (***40 people) are under great pressure and time is tight. However, as an outsider, it is difficult for you to feel this feeling. Kelly believes that employees can't be creative without certain freedom and fun. In IDEO, there is neither "boss" nor "title". All the work is done by temporary project teams (ranging from weeks to months). Here, there is no fixed job; Designers are free to go to Chicago or Tokyo as long as they can find a local colleague who is willing to exchange with them.

"The biggest lesson from big companies is that following the rules can only stifle creativity." Kelly said.

This spirit can be seen everywhere in IDEO's office. The company's tiny and intelligent inventions all reveal this spirit. Take bicycles as an example. Almost everyone in IDEO goes to work by bike, so parking bicycles has become a long-standing problem. How to solve this problem? Now, IDEO is covered with various hooks and pulleys, and employees can push bicycles into the office, hang them on the ceiling, and put them down at any time when necessary. This is purely an empty frame!

There is also the noise problem. The company has more than 20 music lovers who like to enjoy music while working, while other designers simply can't stand this kind of "noise". Therefore, IDEO provides a special space for young people. This special space looks like a spaceship with wings in the middle, which divides a big office into two small rooms.

Of course, all these pleasures and freedoms are provided for something tangible: brand-new ideas needed to make new products. Kelly said that IDEO's main "innovation engine" is its unique way of collective discussion-the only thing that the company is subject to strict discipline.

Collective discussion is held in the collective discussion room. There are three such conference rooms in Palo Alto, with roughly the same appearance. Participants can write anywhere, such as using the clipboard on the wall, using manuscript paper on the conference table ... Multimedia tools-TV, video recorder, computer projector-provide convenience for in-depth discussion or perceptual understanding. In order to keep the inherent spirit of IDEO, five principles of IDEO collective discussion are hung on the wall: 1, and go straight to the point; 2. Encourage whimsy; 3. Don't jump to conclusions; 4. learn from each other's strengths; 5. One topic at a time.

When a new project starts or encounters difficulties, the project manager will convene a collective discussion meeting. Usually there are 8 participants from different departments: Industrial Design Department, Engineering Department and Human Resource Analysis Department. The company sends invitations by email, and participation is purely voluntary. However, everyone attaches great importance to collective discussion.

When you are in trouble, you always hope that the company will fully support you. Kelly said. "As members of the collective discussion, people feel unprecedented pressure. When they send emails, they always hope that the best people can participate. "

These meetings led to a series of fruitful actions. In fact, the enthusiasm of the participants creates a sense of competition: how do we record all the ideas? Each group discussion room is equipped with cutting-edge equipment (a mixture of camera and copier), which can faithfully record every figure and stroke on the wall. After selecting the best idea, the project team quickly took action and put it into practice.

Speed is the key. Kelly encourages designers to model their ideas in the shortest possible time (simple materials such as foam or cardboard can be used). If the idea is really excellent, the designer can make models in the machining workshop. Computer-controlled machine tools can make models of materials such as plastic or metal in a few hours. Kelly believes that creativity lies in trying and learning from trying, not in careful planning.

There is a well-known slogan in IDEO, that is, "failure can make us succeed faster." No wonder the company's designers always fix the design drawings and models on metal bars with wheels. At the beginning of a new project, designers will wrap their things in extra-large plastic bags, push these metal rods, walk through the hall, cross the street, or catch up with colleagues.

Is this creative model effective in other places? Some world-class big companies think this will definitely work. In a highly confidential independent building in Palo Alto, IDEO and Samsung Computer Company jointly set up a laboratory. Here, the developers of the two companies jointly develop new products. In June+10, 5438, Steelcase invested in IDEO and appointed Kelley as executive vice president, in charge of technology development and innovation.

Kelly said: "Some companies come to us and say,' How can we be creative?' They want us to change their corporate culture so that their enterprises can be as innovative as ours. "

9-"Interview with the Founder of IDEO Company 2"

Designer: David M. Kelly

Founder and executive vice president of IDEO company.

Mr david kelly is a legend in the field of industrial design. The Stanford University professor became famous by setting up IDEO design innovation company in Palo Alto 20 years ago. In the past, IDEO Company provided Oral B children's toothbrushes such as Palm V, tumbling helmet and Squish Grip.

Q: What role does a designer play in today's society?

Kelly: The designer's job is to design the image for the products put on the market. The designer will say, "This is the style of the next car, don't you think?"

Q: What is the value of design?

Kelly: In the business world, design is regarded as a secret weapon to make products more attractive and attractive.

Q: Why do many companies invest in design?

Kelly: Now, companies will try to update their products in a conventional way. They can't rely on a mode of thinking for a long time, but need to constantly create new ideas.

Q: Is Apple's great success due to its design?

Kelly: Many people think that aesthetic theory is the driving force for Apple's success. In fact, aesthetics is only a part, and the success of products depends more on innovation. "Apple" not only contains aesthetic concepts, but also has innovative parts in raw materials and circuits. We strive to be perfect in every aspect of our products.

Q: Can you cite a successful design case of IDEO?

Kelly: Take PALM V for example, because its design, including appearance, function and pocket function, sells much better than other cheaper PALMs. People always want what others have. In order to pursue self-image and satisfy desires, many people will buy Palm V ... It seems that the appearance of the product is indeed an aspect of people's experience of the product.

Q: Can you give us some other successful designs?

Kelly: We designed a new generation of I-Zone camera by using the technology of artificial polarizer. Small photos taken with I-Zone camera have adhesive on the back, and children can paste the photos in books or photo albums. The second example is the disposable camera that is widely used now. The third example is the service provided by Kinko's. After the redesign, Kinko's is no longer simply regarded as a copy room. The designer designed it as an office for those who are willing to work from home. Customers can do many things in Kinko's, including sending faxes and emails. Kinko's is a place where people can sing. In fact, it is also a good case of successful design.

Q: What major setbacks have product design encountered?

Kelly: Like edsel's design. Edsel is not fashionable. If the emergence of Edsel can win the favor of consumers, the sales volume will definitely be good. Therefore, before making a huge investment in design, we must conduct a survey among consumers. Renault's new product Twingo looks funny, but consumers are satisfied. Then there's Volkswagen's Beetle. I wonder if they want to remind people of the Beatles. In short, this concept car is very popular with consumers. If people do enough market research before the launch of Edsel, they will find that consumers don't like their designs, which will save a lot of costs.

Q: Is it better for a company to hire many designers or just a few designers?

Kelly: It depends. If I want to design an airplane, I need more than three or four designers to cooperate with me. If you design a drinking paper cup, that designer is enough. The most important thing is whether the design team is creative. If there is one person in your design team who can be compared with Leonardo da Vinci or Edison, then this team is very strong. Otherwise, the design team must have a set of methods that can generate innovative thinking. The key to the problem is not the number of people, but whether people's ideas are always repeated. At school, I teach children visual thinking and exercise their fluency and flexibility. Fluency means that many kinds of ideas come to your mind; Flexibility means that every idea is different.

Q: What are the basic characteristics of a good design work?

Kelly: As I said just now, good product design must cater to people's psychology. Many companies, including IDEO, employ more social scientists than other talents. These social scientists can observe consumers' behaviors, listen to their opinions and understand their thoughts and feelings. If we can find ideas that cater to consumers, the company will last for a long time. There are various proverbs in the field of design, such as low-quality design, from which we can get a lot. If we want to gild everything, use the most advanced microprocessor and use a lot of raw materials and energy, it will be easier to make what people want, because it has given them everything. The difficulty lies in how to use less raw materials or materials, such as frisbee. It's really incredible that people will play for a whole hour because of a plastic board worth less than 1 dollar. It doesn't contain anything.

Q: Don't you have any personal friends to design for you?

Kelly: I have devoted my life to the field of design. I won't hire anyone to design my mobile phone or chair. But I hired an 83-year-old designer and spent several years designing a house for me. He can carefully measure the proportion of windows that suit me and the height of the ceiling relative to the width of the room. I always hire the best designers in the world, such as Italian designer Ettore Sottsass. He is my hero. He is both a humanist and a consumer-centered designer. When designing a room, he always takes into account the lifestyle and suggestions of the owner of the house, so that the appearance of the designed house will naturally be satisfactory.

Q: What places can be regarded as hot spots in product design?

Kelly: American design style is very popular, because generally speaking, we pursue the most interesting materials. Because we are product designers, the advantage of product design lies in information tools and technology. However, the upsurge of product design has also appeared in other parts of the world. For example, London, England has the best design school in the world. In my opinion, the Royal Academy of Art is in a leading position in the world. Munich, Germany is also a hot spot for design. Compared with European design style, our shortcoming is that we don't pay more attention to aesthetics as they do. Europeans have been studying painting since childhood, but being a designer in America is just like being a doctor or a lawyer, and it started late.

Q: What do you hope to get from this seminar?

Kelly: I'm looking for similarities between different disciplines. What I hope to do is to gather some generalists from different disciplines and find out the combination points. I'm interested in width and length. The same thing always happens after the meeting in the office, and the really important discussion often takes place outside the conference room of the seminar. Therefore, this creative discussion is part of all those small conversations.

10-IDEO's prospect of 20 10

Welcome to 20 10. This is the picture envisioned by IDEO, one of the top advanced design companies in the world. In the past 10 years, IDSA, an IDEO company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, won more awards than any other product design company in the annual Industrial Design Excellence Award sponsored by Businessweek.

The latest technology studied by IDEO company. The company has more than 300 employees in America, Europe and Asia, half of whom are engineers. David kelly, CEO of the company, is an engineering professor at Stanford University, the source of the Internet age.

Out of concern for the company's future, IDEO Company launched a six-month "20 10 Plan" to evaluate the current technical trends and look forward to the products after 10. Based on the bold assumption that the current technology will continue to develop, IDEO has designed products for work, entertainment, medical care and sports.

In the "20 10 project", IDEO company convened electromechanical engineers, industrial designers, interaction designers and even video producers. A core group made a three-dimensional model. Tom Ike is the leader of this plan; Martin born is in charge of industrial design; Thomas Enders is the chief technical expert; Danny Stebbing is engaged in designing user interfaces.

IDEO believes that people will design products according to the principle of "intimacy tendency", and people will customize various devices in an unprecedented way. Just as Americans change screensavers and Japanese young people change the color of their mobile phones, people will design their own appearance and texture.

IDEO's vision for the future depends on a wireless world. Europe and Asia are clearly moving towards such a wireless society. But the United States has fallen behind the times, and unless it acts quickly, it will be more complacent in the future.

Before Mars sent satellites into space, science fiction writer arthur clarke foresaw geosynchronous satellites. These products that haven't appeared yet can be said to be another glimpse of our future.

IDEO believes that technological breakthroughs in some key areas will enable a new generation of products to evolve rapidly. These key technologies are:

1. Flexible LCD screen

Imagine that you can pull out a large display screen from your mobile phone or scroll and free yourself from the shackles of your desktop computer. The mobile network conceived by Europeans rather than Americans has become a reality today.

2. Artificial intelligence

When you come back from vacation, hundreds of emails are waiting for you to deal with. Maybe only 1/4 is useful. We will be inundated with data in ten years. Artificial intelligence software will filter, classify and communicate data.

3. Holography

If the current holographic image size is enlarged by 10 times, the communication mode will be completely changed. Faster processing speed (of the central processing unit) will allow a large number of pixels to be transmitted, and then a moving real-time three-dimensional image will be generated.

4. Speech recognition

At the same time, the need to communicate with a large number of people makes the keyboard input mode obsolete, and also makes the speech recognition input mode become an absolute necessity from a gadget. When people communicate by voice again, the box-shaped screen will disappear, and the shape of this kind of thing will become varied.

Please imagine a completely wireless world: broadband is everywhere, the endless ocean of data surrounds us, all kinds of goods will be "alive" because of intelligence, and the network will become a "anytime, anywhere" service. Imagine again: new technology will gradually change the state of everyday objects-scroll computers will replace books and magazines, media panels will replace computers, holography will replace conference calls, and our health or jogging performance can be monitored through small patches.

Electronic handwriting

When you write with a pen, it will reflect your scribbled content on your multifunctional PDA or tubular scrolling display.

Instant recognition

By using browsing technology that can recognize fingerprints, "Personal Digital Assistant" will open your car door and home.

And the office door, it can access your own database, such as online medical records, to ensure the confidentiality of the information.

The meaning of sunglasses

In a completely wireless world, it is very precious to have your own private space. Wearing this pair of "sunglasses" can keep local quiet. When the phone rings, the "sunglasses" will flash.

Wearing sunglasses will only show information sensitive to your eyes. If the voltage is insufficient, the variable chroma crystal film will become dark.

"Digital Agent" automatic prompt

The work of digital assistants in the future is far more important than organizing our plans and arranging our daily work. In the endless ocean of numbers and information, "electronic agents" will use basic artificial intelligence to store and transmit information according to people's hobbies, interests and standards. It will interact with headphones and all devices at work and at home, connect these devices to the Internet and upgrade them quickly. When you think of the "high synchronization era IO" in the pocket book series, you bid farewell to paper money, keys, credit cards, remote controllers and TV remote controllers.

Although IDEO is the baby of tomorrow, the keyboard can choose voice recognition function, and the flexible LCD screen has also changed shape.

Change it from a square to a circle. Cheap processors that adapt to low voltage have done most of our work, and the Internet is wirelessly connected.

Web to handle heavy work like language translation.

Pipeline operation

The convenient LCD provides a large screen, and you can see any online information anytime and anywhere.

Dial the number on the tube, and the tube will display the received information and data.

Living room base

The workbench is completely open and the space becomes vivid. Computers and communication equipment are installed on furniture and walls. When the interactive screen is hung on the gorgeous roof, the desk is dispensable. It can be used to make documents or multimedia, combine paper or environmental art ... The exquisite chair eliminates noise and makes people extremely comfortable. Holographic conference calls put overseas colleagues and bosses in front of you.

Computer monitors and TV monitors are being replaced by thin LCD panels placed on tables or hung on walls. Our personal digital assistant has changed what you use at work and play, and also changed the needs of your team members or family members.