Breaking In

Check out some great work from Chris Zarlenga.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

Everyone comes in knowing how to draw, so it’s not about just knowing how to draw. The biggest thing is seeing different ideas and a graphic breakup of your concepts. The beginning ideation sketches are the number one thing that the majority of the industry is looking for because the industry is a little bit stagnant on the design side. Everyone’s looking for the next great designer, for the new great wave of thinking, for possibilities of rearranging the components to make the design more fresh.

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2013 Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis Concept

Chris Zarlenga graduated from College for Creative Studies, after which he went to design for General Motors and Ford, where he was a project lead. In 2001, he left to join Hyundai in Irvine, California where he was responsible for the success of vehicle interiors such as 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2011 Hyundai Elantra Limited, 2004 Hyundai HDC8 Concept and 2013 Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis Concept, amongst others.  Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Whipsaw.

What kinds of industrial design portfolios get your attention? What brings a potential candidate in for an interview?

Portfolios that grab my attention are visually captivating, communicative, different, and holistic in skill representation. I look for a vision, attitude, or approach that reveals the designer’s personality. Good problem-solving abilities must always be demonstrated—the fluffy portfolios without it are rejected. A good portfolio is clear and concise with a natural flow to it like a good essay. We look for good skills too such as sketching, CAD, model making and storyboards because candidates will be producing these kinds of deliverables for our clients if they are hired. It helps if some of the work in the portfolio was produced while at an internship in a consultancy so they’re not completely green. We look for evidence of passion in a portfolio. Passion is a powerful internal force that spawns creativity, feeds ambition, and makes one naturally curious about learning.

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Pro is Dropcam’s high end Wi-Fi video camera for monitoring one’s home. Live video streams directly to the cloud and then to any computer or smartphone so you can keep an eye on your kids, pets, or valuable property. It can be pointed anywhere at any subject with its unique three-axis tilt/swivel/camera rotation feature. Pro features improved resolution, easier setup, and better night vision compared to the first generation camera, also designed by Whipsaw. Pro has been singled out as one of the best smart home products of our times, noted for its ease of use, functionality and attractive design. Dropcam was purchased by Google in May, 2014 for 555 million dollars, proving once again the power of good design.

Dan Harden is President/CEO and Co-Founder of Whipsaw. He is also the Principal Designer, and directs the strategic and conceptual direction of most accounts. Dan is a passionate and consumate designer, with a keen eye, a unique perspective, and a strong drive to innovate. Throughout his prolific 32 year career, Dan has designed hundreds of highly successful products for clients such as Acer, AT&T, Braun, Cisco, Disney, Eton, GE, Google, Intel, Leapfrog, Livescribe, Logitech, Motorola, Optovue, Topcon, and Sony. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Donald Strum.

What kinds of product design portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

For a portfolio to capture our attention there has to be something engaging, something beautifully functional popping off the page. My tendency is formal beauty. Exemplary functionality and exquisite proportions garner my attention first, whether it is entry or senior level. We carry a high aesthetic acumen here, fused with intuitive functionality. Next, I peruse for well-rounded skill sets. For the manner in which we work, we are not looking for a designer to come into our office and revolutionize the way we are going to design. Evolution perhaps, but we have an established, tried-and-true methodology. Plus, it happens to say “Michael Graves” on the door, so one can generally figure that there is a design vocabulary at work here. We are looking for designers to come and learn the intrinsic way we design, first and foremost.

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Alessi Whistling Bird Tea Kettle

Donald Strum is the Principal in charge of product, furniture, and graphic design at Michael Graves Design Group with over 29 years of experience. He has played a key role in the development and the success of the renowned product design practice. His first project for the firm was the now ubiquitous “Whistling Bird Teakettle” for the Italian manufacturer, Alessi. Working closely with Mr. Strum, as well as Michael Graves himself, the product design group handles a wide variety of design commissions for various clients such a Stryker, JCPenney, CF Stinson, Slice, Sky Design Glass, Drive Medical, Crypton Fabrics, Delta Industries, Ilex Lighting, PTG, Target Stores, David Edward, Dansk, and Duravit among many others. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Gary Natsume.

Interviewed while Mr. Natsume was the Director of Design and Research at ECCO Design in New York City.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

The design industry has changed; there are a lot of traditional design schools whose focus is solely on form development; however the industry is looking for something beyond that. Basic skills of model-making, form development, and problem solving are essential––but the students need to come in with something more than that, with skills like ethnographic research or background studies. They need to talk to consumers and understand the problem, frame the issues and identify the design challenge by themselves. That whole skill set is something that is more important than the actual implementation of design.

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Magic Leap, in which Google invested $542 million, intends to make a device that overlays digital animation on a user’s field of vision.

Gary Natsume is currently the Vice President of Industrial Design and UI at Magic Leap. Prior to joining Magic Leap in 2013, he was the Vice President and Director of Design and Research at ECCO Design in New York City. While at ECCO Design, he has developed a strong interest in products focusing on the family, the cohesion of brand promise and mass production implementation with overseas manufacturing, and a multi-disciplined design strategy involving user behavior studies, technological trend analysis and ethnographic research. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Design Partners.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

We get relatively few and maybe that’s partially because our main office is in Dublin, Ireland. What gets our attention is somebody who has a clear proposition from the beginning, and a clear point of view. Somebody who’s confident, somebody who knows what they’re about. Somebody who makes a sustained effort to connect with us.

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Design Partners New Irish Studio from Design Partners on Vimeo.

Brian Stephens is the founding designer and CEO of Design Partners, a product design and strategic consultancy with studios in Ireland, San Francisco and Eindhoven. Design Partners work with global brands and innovative start-ups in lifestyle, consumer electronics, and healthcare industries.

Prior to the foundation of Design Partners in 1984, Brian studied design at Birmingham Polytechnic before working for Ogle Design in the UK and GK Design in Tokyo where he specialised in transportation and capital goods. Continue reading →