Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman Archives - Page 2 of 5

A Q&A with Color Expert Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. We ask designers about their work, their design journey, and what inspires them. In this issue we speak to Interwoven’s founder and principal designer, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, a design consultant and educator with expertise in wearable technology, functional apparel, and soft goods design. In addition to her work at Interwoven, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman is a co-founder of SEArch+, Space Exploration Architecture, a professor of industrial design at Pratt Institute, and worked for over 20 years as a corporate Design Director for premium athletic brands, including Champion, Fila, and Nike. She is the author of Smart Textiles for Designers: Inventing the Future of Fabrics and speaks internationally on design and innovation. She also recently launched a handmade ceramics company. She is passionate about color and it shows in everything she does. We asked her about her color design process, the cultural context of color, and how to be an advocate for color.

Portrait of industrial designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman — *Photo courtesy of Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman.*

Q: When do color considerations come into the design process for you?

A: I want to back up because I think it’s got to be said that I absolutely love color. It’s my favorite part of the design process. So when I think about integrating it into my process, it’s more like my process starts with color. Not only does it define the context but it also can set the mood, it can determine your very first impression of the product or environment or whatever it is you’re experiencing. Color is almost on a gut level. The first reaction that you have is going to be in response to the color, the texture, and the materials, they’re intertwined.

When I think about color, I start with a mood. I think, What is the mood that I want to feel when I’m looking at this product or this room or this environment? Once I have the mood, I start thinking about the colors that inspire that emotion, and then I start to analyze. If it’s a product for a client, I ask, Is this going to hit the right demographic? Is this going to communicate the right look and feel? But all of that stuff comes after the first initial emotional reaction to the color.

Q: What role does cultural context and user demographics play in your color palette development process?

A: Cultural context is core to the development of a product. It’s important because you want a product to be successful. When I was design director at Nike and I was developing the color story for a product, I would determine where and in what market that product was being sold. Even just in the United States there are micro markets. What should the palette be for a group of stores in the south of the United States? How is that different from the Pacific Northwest? How is that different from the New England region? Everybody has a different take on what feels culturally appropriate in that area, and you have to understand these nuances so that you can build a color palette that will answer to all of those different demographics. And this is not just in the United States, it’s global. In the Far East, there’s a different sort of flavor to color. It could be as fundamental as the quality of light. Depending on how close you are to the equator or how the Earth is rotating, the quality of light can really make a difference in the way that you perceive color. It can also be influenced by the vegetation in the area. Parks look different when you’re near the equator than they do when you’re in New England, so your idea of a green palette is different. All of these things play into determining the colors that people are going to be most receptive to.

Q: Could you walk us through your process for researching potential color directions for a project?

A: There’s research and there’s inspiration. I’m a big believer in using forecasting in my research. I don’t just randomly pick a gray, the classic black-gray-white pop-up color palette. I start by thinking about the colors that have been most popular in the past three to five years. Forecasts predict trending color for anywhere between one and three years out. Where do they see color going? What do I see when I look at retail product? Each one of those is an area of research. There’s the color forecast. There’s historical reference of color progression. And then there’s the context of what is happening currently in the market. I take all of those things into consideration, then I mix it with inspiration. The inspiration is: what do I personally love? What am I trending towards and in terms of the colors that I’m finding interesting? Then I meld those two together and plunk it into the cultural context of where I think the product is going to be.

Q: How do you balance insights from color forecasting with insights from landscape surveys, design constraints, and client preferences to determine a color direction for a product? How do you weigh the importance of each element of the decision?

A: The hardest thing for clients—when they’re thinking about color and don’t really have a lot of experience with color—is being comfortable with risk. Most people that are launching a product want it to be successful, so they tend to be conservative on the color front and they’ll want it in the most basic colors. That’s why there are so many products that are white or black or gray, because those are the most basic. I like to tell a story around color. I build evidence for a narrative of why these colors are good. That evidence can be successful products that have used color, and it may be a more risky approach than the client might have imagined. If I do a good enough job telling the story, they’ll take a chance. A really good example of that is the pop of yellow we used for HeroWear. I knew that they wanted a black and gray product and I thought, That’s not going to stand out in the marketplace. Then I thought about all the different pop colors that might be suitable. I realized that the best way to tell that story was around how that product is built for safety and how safety is associated with yellow. I started doing research into the particular type of yellow, hunting for a yellow that I thought would be brand appropriate for them: friendly and sunny but not necessarily danger-related. That’s how we developed that yellow color that we suggested for the HeroWear Apex Exosuit.

Q: What methods do you use to communicate color choices effectively with clients or stakeholders who don’t necessarily speak the language of color?

A: I spend a lot of time building the palette. I’m constantly looking at color and really thinking about how to develop it. Then the narrative is important, but showing examples of how the color could be used on particular products is critical for people to understand how a color palette could be applied. So there’s the development of the color palette, then there’s the narrative around the importance of that color palette, but the most important thing is the practical application; how that color palette can be applied to that particular product. And ‘product’ might be more than just the physical product. It could also be the branding and the marketing. Showing applications becomes a concrete way for the client to understand how we would want to use the color.

If I just showed a color palette, which is boxes of color with descriptions underneath, it’s really hard to understand what that means. Most people are literal, they see a box of color and they imagine the product painted that color. I need to show them a vision of just a hit of pink on the lining in this particular piece, so it will be a surprise when the client goes to put it on or take it off. It builds on the narrative but also shows the context of how the color would be applied. That’s critical for the client to understand not only how the color palette was made and why it’s important, but also how we are going to use it. That gives them the comfort level to maybe take a color risk that they wouldn’t necessarily have considered otherwise.

For example, when we were asked to come up with a number of color combinations for a cooler product, I thought about a dark combination, a light combination, and a neutral combination. A combination for a person who drives a big pickup truck, a combination for someone who’s going to the beach in the Hamptons…colorways that would be appropriate for all of these different user contexts. When we showed them to the client, they responded quite well to three or four of the different colorways. I think that’s the most important thing, to show how the color would be used.

Q: What considerations do you take into account when designing for accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring that color choices are inclusive for all users?

A: That’s really a great question. Color is understood on a spectrum, and everybody understands color in a different way. When we talk about inclusivity, we have to think about people who are hyper color sensitive—and I would say that I fall into that category—as well as those who are less color sensitive, as well as those who are color blind, and can’t see much in terms of the contrast between red and green. That’s an especially difficult color combination for people who are color blind, and there are a surprising number of people who are color blind. For most people who aren’t in the creative profession, it’s not something that affects them except when they have to go pick out their clothing in the morning. But there are a surprising number of designers who are color blind. One of the things I try to do is have a sense of contrast. When somebody is less color sensitive, they really rely on the contrast between the colors as much as they do the color shift.

The question is, how can you create products that speak with elegance and feeling and still have enough contrast so that people of all different abilities can process the surface and texture and composition of that product?

Q: To what extent is your hyper sensitivity to color ingrained as opposed to something developed over time as a designer?

A: I think I was born this way. I can share an anecdote. When I was maybe six, my mom was putting new wallpaper up in one of the rooms of her house, and she needed to match a paint color to the wallpaper color. She called me over to help! Rebeccah! It is something that people can develop but I definitely feel like it’s also something that has to be inherent to some degree. It’s physical. It’s about the way the cones in your eyes are built. I know that I am in the very small percentage of people who process color in high detail. Another anecdote: Pantone can come to your office and test the color sensitivity of all the designers. When I was design director at Champion, we had the entire design staff tested for color so that we would know who could approve the lab dips. I only got one wrong and that’s because I did the entire test that was supposed to be done in 20 minutes in 5, because I was too busy and I didn’t have time.

I think that applying color to a product is risky, and if you aren’t confident in your ability to choose colors that speak to multiple people and address a cultural context in the right way, it’s harder for you to be an advocate for that risk. In general, people think color is risky. The number one thing I hear from people is, I’m so afraid to use a color. Part of that comes from confidence. Yes, I think I was born with the ability to process color at a high level, but also, I think I learned how to apply color with confidence. That is something you can learn whether you feel like you’re good at color or not. You can learn to feel good about using color. You can learn to be confident in your color choices.

It can be hard for people to overcome fears around color, and that can create a bias against specific colors. There are some particular colors that I really don’t like very much, but then I always seem to find a way to use them. Invariably I can find a context in which I actually would kind of like that color. I don’t really like blue cheese…but there have been times when blue cheese tasted pretty good.

Q: How do you think about balancing time-tested or trusted colors with new, trending colors?

A: Think of it like a layer cake. Your foundation always has to be in these classic colors. No one feels at risk with black, white, gray, and navy. And maybe, if you’re talking about clothing, some sort of neutral color. Think of that as the base of the layer cake. Then the next step up is the colors that you would pair with those colors (other than each other and navy or white). What would be something else that you could pair with one of those colors? That would make the palette feel still accessible but not too risky. And then, what are the right pops of color that you want to add to that palette? The pops don’t have to necessarily be literally bright colors but they could be, or they could be interesting or unusual in some other way. The pop color is not a color that’s going to last for 10 years in the marketplace, but maybe it’s a color that will last a year or a year and a half in the marketplace. You layer these on top.

So you have this layer of the foundation colors, then you have a mid layer that’s going to be core colors that you can see lasting in a product for three to five years, and then you have the pops that will last one to two years. Then you think about how you are going to mix them in a way that will create a sense of comfort. Let’s say the navy gives the comfort of having something neutral, and you add an interesting secondary color that is still understandable while making that navy look a little fresher. Then you add the pop of something really unusual so that you can stand out in the marketplace.

I use this approach regardless of the product category. Most of the products that I’ve designed in my career are consumer products, so I tend to think of the end consumer using it, and then some of the products that we design are B2B. But even if they’re B2B and they’re wearables, then a person is eventually wearing it, so still it’s ending up with the consumer. Across product categories it’s a way to keep freshness in the product without it feeling like just another basic thing. You want the product to be able to stand out but you also want to give people this comfort level so that they don’t feel like they’re going to stand out. Not everybody, of course, because there are bold types and crazy influencers on Instagram that like to be photographed with their orange hair and their green sunglasses. But the majority of consumers don’t want to stand out to the point where people are staring at them. What they want is for people to almost do a double take and say, That looks kind of nice. Wow. You’ve got something new on. So the idea is to create interest that creates newness without alienating people.

Q: What advice do you have for designers looking to improve their color skills?

A: The advice that I would give people who are trying to figure out how they can expand their use of color is for them to just start. They should make notations to themselves about the things that they’re attracted to. I personally love to look at fine art because fine artists never think about color any other way than in abstraction. It’s another element to create their composition, whether it’s a sculpture or a painting. It’s there for a purpose, not to create a product. I look at the pieces of fine art that really speak to me and I think about the super unusual color combinations they feature and how I react to them. I take a thousand million photographs that have to do with color and how it’s used. I suggest that people look at a lot of things and take a lot of pictures to look back on what really spoke to them. Then, once they have a series of photos, they can see, Look, I went to the Whitney and I photographed 20 things. Of those 20 things, nine had this pink in them. Then they can start looking around, seeing where else they observe that pink.Or green, or blue, or whatever it is. Once you have an observation like this about yourself, you’ll start to wonder if you can use that color that is interesting to you in some way, and then you can start building a color palette around it.

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Appeal vs. Responsibility

The article “Appeal vs. Responsibility”, written by Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, was published in the Spring 2024 Issue of Innovation Magazine.

In today’s design landscape, creators have moved beyond crafting products to shaping immersive product experiences. In this expanded field, narratives unfold through each curve and contour, blending aesthetics and emotions, and transforming designs into compelling and immersive stories designed to entice consumers. Welcome to the world of seductive design. This article will discuss appeal vs. responsibility in the work of the designer.

Seduction Redefined: A Deeper Dive

As important as functionality is, consumers today expect products to deliver more than function alone. They want products that they can connect to emotionally and that bring them joy. This is the definition of emotional design. We see designers trying to meet this demand across product categories. Take, for example, outdoor and sports products that exude a sense of speed and power, highlighting the sensations your body will experience during product use. The sleek design of a high-performance bicycle features an aerodynamic frame and vibrant colors not only to convey speed and power but also to emphasize the exhilarating feeling cyclists can expect when riding the bike.

Storytelling is a key component in creating a connection between a consumer and the product. The story connects the physical object to the consumer’s emotions. These emotional responses can be powerful, creating a bond between the consumer and the product as well as, crucially, cultivating brand loyalty. Packaging, in particular, has evolved to become part of the product experience, as demonstrated by the plethora of unboxing videos on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Both technology and the beauty businesses use packaging to define their brands. It is not just a container but an integral part of the overall seductive experience. Think of the similarities between your iPhone and a bottle of perfume; both promise the consumer an experience and are purchased as a part of a lifestyle the consumer desires as much as they are purchased for function. Consider the iPhone’s sleek, minimalist packaging, which resonates with the product’s promise of sophistication and innovation. Similarly, a bottle of perfume, adorned with carefully chosen materials and design elements, becomes a tangible embodiment of the sensorial journey it offers. Both purchases transcend functionality, entangling the consumer’s lifestyle aspirations with the allure of a unique experience.

The Role of Emotional Design

As consumer expectations evolve, emotional design emerges as the driving force behind product desirability, transcending the fulfillment of needs to nurture a profound connection. This shift toward emotional resonance elevates the functionality of products and establishes a deeper bond, transforming them into vessels that embody and reflect the users’ aspirations and sentiments.

Users perceive more aesthetically pleasing designs as easier to use and more effective. Beauty and usability are intertwined. Clean lines, intuitive interfaces, and straightforward user journeys contribute to the overall appeal of a product. The aesthetics of a product influence consumers’ expectations, fostering the perception that it will be easy to use and that it is superior to its competitors.

Two key questions about the significance of emotional design arise. The first is methodological: How does one effectively infuse products with emotional resonance? The second question is ethical: Given the potential extremes of emotional design, what is the designer’s responsibility to balance allure with transparent and conscientious design and manufacturing practices?

Engaging More Than the Eyes

How do designers go beyond surface-level aesthetics to create meaningful and captivating interactions? Designers can appeal to multiple senses to create an immersive and engaging experience. This might include tactile elements, sound design, or even scent. Material, color, and form are part of the overall product narrative and can be used to create an immersive and emotionally resonant experience.

Designing with an empathetic approach can also increase the emotional resonance of products. Products for new parents can connect emotionally to their ethos on child rearing. Lea Stewart, senior manager of design at Newell Brands, uses these emotional drivers to differentiate between brands like Graco and Baby Jogger, which she oversees. Stewart notes that “a product like a stroller can convey that you are the type of parent who believes the best thing for a child is for the adult to keep their adult life and bring the child along. That way, they get to experience more and see good modeling. The aesthetics then cater to that by appealing more to an adult sensibility: looking easy to take on the go and not impeding life. On the other hand, a different parent may believe that the family should center on the child and togetherness, so you, therefore, embed that in the product aesthetics to evoke security, comfort, and parent/child connection. This is all subconscious to the user when they purchase the product, which is the seduction.”

Another path to creating a connection is to infuse products with nature-inspired elements that evoke emotional connections. For instance, a packaging designer for a skincare brand might incorporate botanical illustrations, earthy textures, or eco-friendly materials to align the product with natural goodness and trigger a sense of tranquility and well-being in the consumer.

Customization is one tried-and-true way to connect the consumer to a product. Products that allow consumers to personalize or customize elements based on their preferences, experiences, or memories create an emotional bond. A furniture designer, for example, may offer customizable fabrics, colors, or engraved details, enabling customers to imbue the product with personal meaning and emotional significance.

Inclusivity is a particularly powerful catalyst in emotional design, transcending visual appeal to provide aesthetics and thoughtful, universal functionality. By embracing diverse perspectives and considering the needs of a broad audience, designers not only create universally appealing product experiences but also weave a narrative of allure that resonates on a profound and inclusive level, captivating users from all walks of life.

If you’re interested in going deeper, consider Don Norman’s Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things and Designing Design by Kenya Hara. Norman explores the emotional impact of design on user experiences, delving into how aesthetics, usability, and emotional connections shape our perceptions of products, a perspective directly relevant to the nuanced realm of seductive design. Hara’s book is relevant to the broader topic of design, including elements of seductive design. While the book is more philosophical, exploring the mindset and principles of design, it provides valuable insights
into the foundational aspects of creating compelling and aesthetically pleasing designs.

The Ethics of Seduction

While strategies for creating seductive products abound, the ethical question of the designer’s responsibility hovers over all of them. Given the impact of technology and evolving consumer expectations on the field of industrial design, it is only natural to question how the use of multiple senses
in crafting seductive product experiences might lead to unwanted outcomes—think doom scrolling on any social media platform.

As designers, we need to examine the potential unintended consequences of crafting seductive product experiences. It raises a fundamental question: In whose best interest is it really to design an experience that immerses the consumer to an extreme, and possibly addictive, extent? Awareness of potential pitfalls is essential to creating products that enhance well-being and, at the very least, do no harm.

The shadow of ethical concern looms large over the art of crafting seductive products. The relentless pursuit of engagement and immersion may inadvertently lead to the exploitation of human vulnerabilities and the perpetuation of unhealthy behaviors. As designers, we must navigate the delicate balance between captivating our audience and respecting their autonomy and well-being. In an era dominated by evolving consumer expectations and technological advancements, the use of multiple senses to create captivating experiences raises profound questions about responsibility and accountability. This calls for a nuanced approach that acknowledges the power dynamics inherent in design and prioritizes the ethical imperative of fostering positive and empowering experiences.

We must confront the potential ramifications of immersing users in seductive experiences by considering the fine line between engagement and exploitation. Only by conscientiously weighing the ethical implications of our design decisions can we ensure that seductive products enrich the lives of users without compromising their dignity or agency. It is incumbent upon designers to adopt a proactive stance, diligently examining the unintended consequences of their creations and prioritizing the well-being and autonomy of users above all else. This heightened awareness of ethical considerations underscores the imperative to design products that not only captivate but also uplift and enrich the lives of individuals in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Advocate and Enabler

In the dynamic field of design, the shift from crafting products to shaping immersive experiences marks a transformative moment wherein aesthetics and emotions are consciously intertwined. As we navigate this seductive landscape, emotional design emerges as the linchpin, propelling product desirability beyond functional utility. The narrative unfolds through sleek packaging and glossy campaigns, transforming purchases into sensorial journeys that resonate with consumers’ aspirations.

The increasingly savvy incorporation of multiple senses in product design—the intersection of allure and functionality—beckons an ethical inquiry, prompting designers to balance the immersive experience with transparency and conscientious practices. Methodologies such as empathetic design, nature-inspired elements, and customization serve as tools for creating emotionally connected products. Inclusivity becomes the heartbeat, ensuring universal appeal, while heightened awareness becomes the compass, guiding designers to navigate the potential extremes of seductive experiences and prioritize the well-being of consumers. The world of design evolves, inviting creators to transcend boundaries and shape not just products but profound and inclusive narratives that captivate the diverse tapestry of human experience.

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Insights from the Women in Design Committee

The article “Insights from the Women in Design Committee”, written by Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, was published in the Winter 2023 Issue of Innovation Magazine.

The Women in Design Committee comprises a rich tapestry of individuals hailing from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our membership is a dynamic mix of practitioners and academics spanning young professionals and seasoned designers, including entrepreneurs and those employed by large corporations. We proudly represent gender and racial diversity.

We represent five distinct regions across the United States. Marcelle van Beusekom, IDSA, senior designer at Aruliden, represents the Western district. Elham Morshedzadeh, PhD, IDSA, assistant professor at the University of Houston, represents the Southern district. Annie Abell, IDSA, associate professor of practice at Ohio State, represents the Central district. Priyankaa Krishnan, IDSA, design and change manager at Meta represents the Midwest district. I, the founder and principal of the Interwoven Design Group and Professor at Pratt Institute, represent the Northeast district, and Lea Stewart, IDSA, senior manager at Newell Brands, leads the committee.

In this article, the six of us come together to engage in a conversation about our experiences. Our objective is to uncover shared experiences, explore our differences, and, ultimately, convey our collective wisdom, which we are excited to share with you. The following features excerpts from our conversation.

Breaking Barriers

Entering the field of industrial design can be a challenge, and landing that first job can be a pivotal moment in one’s design career. We all have experiences to share about that transition. My path is rather unconventional. I came from a highly successful corporate career in apparel design, having held design director positions at Nike, Fila, and Champion. However, transitioning to industrial design proved to be exceptionally challenging. After completing my MID, I faced difficulty finding a job. Ultimately, I charted my own course, combining my skills and reimagining myself as an expert in wearable technology and smart textiles. I leveraged my experience, merging it with product design to jumpstart my career as a design consultant.

Setting yourself apart is the key to standing out in a job search. Van Beusekom recalled a disheartening comment she received during an interview for her first internship: “They said, ‘Oh, they still have you design this device in your school?’ It was then that I realized not all schools support students in building a strong, distinctive portfolio. Fortunately, I learned this before graduating and spent a year studying abroad at a different school. This allowed me to create unique and relevant case studies, learn from others, and enhance my foundational skills. A stronger, more distinctive portfolio helped me secure my first full-time role.”

Many of us on the committee had to be creative in our entry into the profession. Morshedzadeh, for instance, did not secure her first job solely due to her design skills. She networked extensively during her undergraduate years, and once she landed the job, continually had to prove her value. “In my position, I had to work diligently to earn the respect of my co-workers, especially as a woman and an immigrant with a different appearance, perspective, and communication style,” she explained.

Abell reflected that “women can encounter various hidden and invisible barriers ingrained in society and workplace cultures.” However, one of the toughest challenges is recognizing that you can also be a barrier to yourself. Imposter syndrome is real. This same sentiment resonated with Krishnan, who faced significant pressure in an orthodox Indian family where the expectation was to become a doctor or engineer, or else face social ridicule. “I applied to over 700 jobs over three years, completing two degrees while struggling to secure employment until I finally received a life-changing offer from a renowned company,” she shared. Perseverance paid off, but the journey was long and arduous.

Navigating the Field

Historically, women have been underrepresented in industrial design, and navigating this landscape has required us to employ various strategies to overcome gender-related obstacles. Van Beusekom initially had a degree of naivety about this issue. Her graduating class was gender-diverse, and it was only after graduation that she realized the industry’s disparities. “I decided to turn the difference into my advantage, lean into my strengths and unique perspective, and have continued to build on those ever since,” she explained.

Abell emphasized the importance of finding your support system, explaining, “Having a support system is critical. Identifying allies in your workplace can be invaluable. Building positive relationships with peers or, even better, those with authority, can greatly assist you when facing various obstacles.”

Morshedzadeh found herself working harder, keeping a lower profile, and being less outspoken, both in her home country of Iran and when she immigrated to the U.S. She experienced discrimination as the norm. Krishnan also encountered discrimination, particularly when expressing her dream of working for IDEO while pursuing her master’s degree. Two male professors discouraged her, saying, “Women designers from the Midwest do not get jobs at IDEO and Silicon Valley.” However, she ultimately succeeded in landing a coveted job in Silicon Valley.

Krishnan’s advice to aspiring designers, especially young women entering the industry, is to “never let anyone discourage you from pursuing your dream. Keep pushing towards success.” Morshedzadeh stresses her advocacy for designers, especially her students, by helping them find their unique voice in design, igniting a deeper drive for their future, and empowering them.

Aspiring designers should be aware that there are various paths to success within the field of design and product development, spanning industrial design, user experience, product management, and more. Van Beusekom suggests, “My advice is to get started, whether at a consultancy or a company. Rather than trying to define success up front, I have often found it more valuable to try something new, learn from the people around me, and reflect on the role, team, or environment I enjoyed the most. Following your joy and keeping it at the forefront is the most motivational way to move forward.”

Balancing Act

We are all well aware that balancing a career, personal life, and family commitments can be particularly challenging for women in male-dominated design offices. In such settings, women often find themselves navigating a work culture that may not fully understand or appreciate their unique life commitments and responsibilities.

One significant challenge stems from the differing life commitments and home responsibilities between men and women, which often go unnoticed or unacknowledged. Women in these environments may fear that taking time off or requesting flexibility to fulfill their home responsibilities could make them appear less committed to the team. The pressure to conform to the perceived standard of putting work first can be overwhelming.

Conversely, some women may worry about putting too much into work at the expense of their personal lives. The fear of losing the balance between work and life is a genuine concern, as it can lead to burnout and negatively impact well-being. In this context, it’s important to acknowledge that working at a large company can have benefits, including established leave policies that provide a sense of security. However, smaller companies can also be suitable places for women to work, as they may provide more opportunities to create flexible schedules, customized flexibility plans that cater specifically to individual needs.

I have embraced a flexible working schedule for Interwoven Design that allows designers to pursue other interests. About five years ago, I established a four-day workweek. We are all in the office Monday through Thursday and off on Friday, which we call Flexible Fridays. People in the office have this time to pursue outside interests, teach classes, play and coach sports, and have room in their schedule for life. Our productivity has not decreased, and everyone is happier to be at work when they are in the office.
Abell has found balance in her life and success in her career as an academic. She explained, “Working in academia gives me a very flexible schedule, and I have the freedom to schedule or tend to life matters anytime I’m not in class or in a meeting.” She also maintains healthy boundaries with work, particularly email, by turning off notifications to avoid constant distractions.

Defining Success

Success in the field of design takes on various forms, and many of us grapple with defining what success means while striving to achieve a fulfilling work-life balance. Achieving equilibrium between your design career, personal life, and family commitments is a continuous journey that necessitates self-awareness and adaptability. It’s about feeling empowered to allocate your time and effort according to your priorities, rather than comparing yourself to others.

Stewart shared her evolving perspective on success throughout her journey. Initially, success was tied to personal growth through learning and project completion. As she progressed and assumed leadership roles, her definition of success transformed. She explained, “Early on, success meant acquiring skills and accomplishing design projects. Yet, as I became a mentor and manager, I found deeper fulfillment in fostering the growth and achievements of my team members. Witnessing their development and career progression became a significant measure of my success.” While project completion remains important, it’s now seen as a collective effort tied to team growth. Success has shifted from an individual pursuit to a shared journey. Today, her greatest satisfaction lies in empowering fellow designers, supporting their goals, and contributing to their success.

Van Beusekom’s view of success has also evolved over time. She initially measured success by the ability to bring exceptional products to the market and earn design awards. However, her perspective on success and successful design broadened as she gained a deeper understanding of what makes a product truly great, qualities such as desirability, attractiveness, delightfulness, meaningfulness, responsibility, impact, and differentiation. She continues to refine this perspective as she grows as a designer and creative leader.

In conclusion, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the dedicated members of the Women in Design Committee. Their unwavering commitment, honesty, and openness have been the driving force behind this insightful discussion. Our committee is a tapestry of diverse individuals, representing a broad spectrum of experiences, from different regions of the United States, backgrounds, and design roles. Through this article, we came together to share our personal journeys, challenges, and wisdom.

Our experiences have revealed the evolving definition of success, the significance of support networks, and the importance of flexibility in our professional and personal lives. We believe that our stories will inspire and empower others in the design community, particularly those facing similar challenges. I extend my warmest thanks to each member for their contributions, and we eagerly anticipate sharing more of our collective insights in the future. Together, we are forging a path toward a more inclusive and diverse design world.

Collaborative Design Tools

The Smart List is a monthly list of multi-media recommendations on everything design, curated by Interwoven Design. As a group of aesthetically obsessed designers, there are a lot of beautiful products, objects, and resources that we love and enjoy. These products improve the quality of our daily lives and we want to share them with you. This issue is a collection of collaborative design tools to help you find accessible ways to work and design with others virtually and in person.

Milanote / Miro

Milanote is a cloud-based collaboration software designed to help creative teams manage storyboarding, creative writing and briefs, mind-mapping, note-taking, and brainstorming. It can be used to create mood boards, mind maps, briefs and more, all in one place. It lets us create boards and share projects with team members to collect feedback and ensure privacy.

Via https://milanote.com/

Similarly, Miro is a digital collaboration platform designed to facilitate remote and distributed team communication and project management. As an online workspace for innovation, it allows you to add various content from texts to images, create maps and diagrams, and work with visual templates together with a team of any size to dream and design the future together.

via Miro

Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design

Generative design research is like throwing a design party where everyone, especially the people we’re designing for, gets an invite to the creative process. This book isn’t just a read for the academic design research folks; it’s also a hot topic for the business and design crowd. And here’s the kicker – it’s a total game-changer in the realm of collaborative design. It’s like the guidebook for bringing minds together to make sure we’re hitting the right notes in creating products, systems, services, and spaces that truly click with people. Plus, there’s no other book out there hitting this collaborative design groove right now.

via Amazon

Community-Led Co-design Kit

The Community-led Co-design Kit, an initiative by the Inclusive Design Research Centre in Toronto, Canada, represents a significant step in inclusive design methodologies. Supported by the Hewlett Foundation through the Flexible Learning Open Education project, this first iteration of the kit draws on insights from projects like Co-designing Inclusive Cities, Platform Co-op Development Kit, and Coding to Learn and Create. Rooted in the experiences of working directly with communities, the kit also takes inspiration from disability justice, anti-oppression movements, and decolonialist research and design approaches. Emphasizing community input, the creators acknowledge the valuable feedback received, with plans to incorporate it into future versions of the kit, reflecting a commitment to continuous improvement based on collaborative engagement.

via Co-design

Design-Kit by IDEO

In 2009, IDEO introduced the HCD Toolkit, a groundbreaking book shedding light on the transformative potential of human-centered design (HCD) in the social sector. This unique approach quickly gained traction, drawing in a diverse community of designers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators who eagerly snapped up over 150,000 copies. Fast forward to April 2015, and IDEO.org took things up a notch with the launch of the Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. This dynamic 192-page book not only packs in 57 design methods, key mindsets, worksheets, and real-world case studies but also reflects the collaborative ethos of design thinking. The collaborative spirit embedded in the toolkit’s development aligns seamlessly with the principles of collaborative design, emphasizing the collective effort to bring about positive change in the social sector.

via IDEO

Design Strategy: Your Secret Weapon

Why are so many designers talking about strategy? Design Strategy is a new buzzword. Everywhere I turn, it seems that people are talking about it and how it has helped them design incredible (and successful) products. But let’s back up for a minute. What exactly is design strategy, and why do we need it? These are the questions that designers Katie Lim, IDSA, senior industrial designer at frog, Emilie Williams, IDSA, co-founder and leader of creative direction at Hydrific by LIXIL, Daniela Macías, IDSA, global experience design manager at Colgate-Palmolive, Monica Welcker, founder of Weft Designs, and I discussed on a panel at last month’s International Design Conference in NYC.

Putting It in Context

As designers, our primary task is to create new products. To do this most effectively, we need to master many skills. Even before we can start to sketch, model, and prototype our designs, we need to understand the landscape in which the product lives. Design strategy always is—or should be—at the forefront of our creative process. Lim said, “It’s the who, where, when, how, and why to define the what. Simply put, design strategy is a thoughtful, responsible, and intentional first step that considers everything before, around, and after your design.” Design strategy serves as a road map to align user needs, business goals, the product, and its manufacturing feasibility with the company’s mission and vision. Welcker summed it up as “design strategy is the intersection between design thinking and business development.”

But design strategy can be more than just balancing business and user needs. Williams, who has a unique view being part of a startup within a large corporation, explained that “it’s important to define what we mean by ‘design strategy’ since it can mean something very different depending on the context, audience, or application—whether to a single product, an entire brand, a particular market, an innovation development, or even an internal company process.” She also said that developing and implementing a successful design strategy helps craft better products for people and the environment they exist within while also achieving those ever-critical business goals and providing consistent and engaging products and brands.

Macías, whose long career at Colgate-Palmolive has straddled working in two countries and multiple divisions, added that “creating a robust design strategy that aligns with the overall company’s strategy, enables designers to create a solid foundation for our design process. … It structures our creative thinking through frameworks, tools, methodologies, and design principles that help us, and the people we work with, make sense of the problem we are trying to solve together with a design solution.” She also said that with a design strategy, we can better plan, direct, negotiate, and coordinate our efforts. Ultimately, it helps us make informed decisions that lead to the sweet spot between desirability, feasibility, viability, and sustainability. Implementing a solid design strategy drives the design process to the finish line, resulting in a positive impact on the company’s goals through the transformative power of design.

Getting Started

What are the first steps? Where do you start? Lim said, “It’s important to identify and meet with all stakeholders around the product. Ask them how they define success. Everyone is looking at products through a different lens. This also teaches you how to speak their language and how to share your concepts so that when you present, you can first reiterate what they have said and highlight things that matter to them.” By bringing everyone into the conversation, you gain their trust. This is the secret to success and to becoming a thought leader from the start. She also said, “Design can often be the center of multiple teams within a company, so you need to know how to invest and manage those relationships.” Demonstrating that your design work addresses the goals of each stakeholder reduces resistance to new ideas. It helps keep minds open and discussions moving forward.

Starting to craft and implement a strategy can be a bit overwhelming. So what exactly does this all mean, and how do we implement a sound strategy to become thought leaders? “At the beginning of any project, it is our responsibility as creative leaders to understand, interpret and negotiate all of the inputs with our stakeholders so that we can synthesize, extract top priorities, realistically manage expectations, and find synergies,” explained Macías. Lim added, “Sometimes you have to lay out the pros and cons of prioritizing one side over the other, and you can use research and business goals to help make decisions.”

When launching a new design initiative, you should work to gain consensus on the project’s goals, including identifying the market opportunity, user needs, product engineering, manufacturing limitations, marketing, and, in a larger context, what will happen before the customer uses the product and what happens at the end of its life. All these things work together to create a full experience around the product you’re designing. Designers can use their inherent problem-solving skills to prioritize and emphasize how all these different elements come together. “It then becomes the designer’s responsibility to keep the user at the center of their design process and build the best possible product for both the user and the brand,” explained Welcker.

My experience is that a good strategy is a great place to start. I use it as a tool as I go through the design process. But you still need to use your strategy in the right way. One of the most important applications of strategy is to use it in your communications, both internally to the business team and externally to the user.

Other Useful Pointers

The panel discussed our tips and tricks for implementing our strategies. Macías said, “One of the most empowering tools that I have found to build belief behind our creative efforts is incorporating a robust design research plan into our design strategy as often as possible throughout the process.” She added that she has learned to speak many different business languages to build her case. Some of these languages include a solid timetable on a spreadsheet to guide the team, a beautiful deck for marketing, a rough prototype for packaging, and verbatim clips from user interviews for insights. Learning to speak these diverse business languages has been instrumental in advancing difficult projects throughout her career. Adding to this, Lim iterated that “we designers have a responsibility to stand for what is most accessible, inclusive, user-friendly, and sustainable.” Clear and relatable language—whether it’s pictures, words, or numbers—is critical to making your case through the lenses of all the stakeholders.

For those of you who are new to the idea of creating a design strategy, the panel had some thoughts on how you can start to develop and use this tool. First, we all agreed that there is nothing quite like learning by experience. Macías said, “Just practice, practice, practice!” Weckler advocated, “If you work for a brand with a go-to-market process, get involved! Ask if you can attend the various meetings, and be genuinely curious about what goes on in marketing and sales.” For some practical advice, Strategyzer and the Harvard Business School offer great free templates and frameworks. Macías said that even though these models may not be design-centric, she has found them helpful. IDEO also has some valuable free resources that can get you started. They can be downloaded directly from their website. IDEO also offers paid courses throughout the year on different topics. We all agreed that researching and learning about new tools and frameworks is something we like to do. We all are constantly reading, learning, and experimenting with new strategic plans.

Finally, we all agreed that design strategy leads to products that are better for people and the environment, meet the business goals, and produce engaging products and brands. A good design strategy allows all the voices at the table to be heard. Each of the stakeholders from design, product development, sales, marketing, and manufacturing are involved in the creation of a product. From identifying the needs to production and the product’s end of life and everything in between, every step has different immediate needs. A good strategy aligns all parties on a common goal. We believe that industrial designers will be instrumental in helping solve the world’s problems because that is our unique superpower: bringing creative solutions to life. And with a solid design strategy, we can get there.