Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

YD Talks: Define the problem first, not the brief

Posted: 09 Feb 2018 03:59 PM PST

There are a lot of ways to approach this post, but I guess the best way is to paraphrase a mentor of mine. Clients lack the power to communicate effectively. That’s why they rely on designers to do it for them. Clients often come to designers with a solution ready in their mind, hoping the designer will help them just with the execution, but oftentimes a well-defined problem is a solution in itself. One often forgets that design thinking is the truly valuable service we provide, and not just designing itself… and that starts with discovering the purpose of the project through proper questioning. There’s a lot to gain from asking “Why do you need me”, rather than “What do you need from me”. A Why-based question leads to a bilateral conversation, whereas a What-based question makes it sound like you’re looking for simple, direct orders from your client. No points for guessing which approach forms a better dynamic between designer and client, and earns you more respect as a design professional…!

Chris Do’s video above talks about focusing on the problem before focusing on the solution. Asking the right questions doesn’t just help you build a more detailed idea of what needs to be done, it also helps build credibility and appear invested, involved. “Your value is determined by the quality of questions you ask”, says Do, and that stands true across pretty much every design discipline.

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Chris Do is an Emmy award-winning director, designer, strategist and educator. He’s the Chief Strategist and CEO of Blind, executive producer of The Skool, and the Founder of The Futur — an online education platform that teaches the business of design to creative thinkers. Follow them on YouTube and Instagram.

What if your glasses could read to you?

Posted: 09 Feb 2018 02:00 PM PST

I firmly believe that the spectacle holds great opportunity for wearable tech, because even if there’s just a fraction of people wearing them, these people are ALWAYS wearing them. You could forget your watch, or your fitbit, but you never forget your glasses. Taking the function of glasses, and elevating them, the Oton is a pretty damn amazing wearable.

Designed to help you see, but even better than regular glasses, the Otonmake use of AI and Machine Learning to recognize images (text in particular), and play/read them out to the wearer. Imagine not being able to read the fine print, or even more useful, not being able to read a foreign language, the Oton turn image-text into speech, pretty much giving people superpowers, if you think about it! The future of wearables looks inclusive and empowering for sure!

Designer: Keisuke Shimakage