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Survival Tales

Spotting (and avoiding) companies that greenwash

Designing for brands that practice greenwashing is a threat to a designer’s career. So here is how to single them out (and, ultimately, avoid working with hem)

Sebastian Herkner - How to stick to your principles _ from zero to hero - cover

Design Mindset

Sticking to your principles, from zero to hero

Building a studio to pursue an unorthodox design approach may be difficult to start with but it pays off: German industrial designer Sebastian Herkner explains why, and how he coped when no-one noticed him

Production Tales

The challenges of designing a product and a business model for sustainability

The key to sustainability, says industrial designer Stefan Diez, is to innovate production and business models together with a product’s design. Here’s how he is trying to do it with Magis

Words that matter

Preventive Innovation

Preventive Innovation is not about rejecting what’s new but about envisioning risks and integrating ethical awareness in all those involved in innovation

Learning to see - Giulio Iacchetti - DWPremium - Cover

Design Mindset

Learning to observe well-designed objects (and how to find them)

Observing “resolved” objects can teach a lot to industrial designers. Yet finding them is a skill in itself and so is the capacity to truly look into their essence. Italian designer and art director Giulio Iacchetti explains how he does it

The Business of Design

Lumio’s founder Max Gunawan on how to build a brand: one product at the time

When you start a company from a product you designed, figuring out why it resonates with people (and not just with designers) will give you the essence of the brand you need to build

Words that matter

Art Director VS Design Curator

Design curators have a key role in deciding which projects a brand should take into production. Flos’ design curators Calvi Brambilla explain how that process works and what they look for in designers when they evaluate product proposals

Luca Nichetto on how to make your clients happy - DWProfessional

Survival Tales

How to make your clients happy: the strategy of an experienced and successful designer

Making a company happy (rather than merely satisfied) means a lot to a product designer: it translates in recurring assignments and more responsibility on a strategic level. But understanding the dynamics of this happiness is not easy. Here is Luca Nichetto’s recipe

Odo Fioravanti - an industrial designer unexpected view on plastic - DWPremium

Materials

An industrial designer’s unexpected view on plastics

Plastic is a controversial topic and much of this controversy stems from lack of knowledge and misunderstandings. Here is what you should consider when handling this material, industrially

Michael Graves - The ingredients of best-selling design products

Blast from the Past

“If you make them smile you got them”: the ingredients of best-sellers

According to legendary architect Michael Graves (1934-2015) there is a recipe to create design best-sellers: and its ingredients are timeless because they have nothing to do with style but with a certain understanding of human nature

Unwanted Furniture _ DWProfessional - cover

Design Mindset

(Un)wanted furniture: sharing design strategies to promote durability

Making objects last is fundamental to a circular economy and designers can do a lot to support the diffusion of a repair mindset, especially if they tap into the makers’ open-source culture. Here is how a fablab approached the challenge

Production Tales

A brief history on how to design a revolutionary sofa

Based on a metal framework, suspended straps and a tailored set of cushions, the Za:Za sofa by Zaven for Zanotta is a lesson on designing a breakthrough product (and on the power of well presented disruptive ideas)