What Can We All Learn from Successful Designers?

It is obvious that as part of your Design and Technology course you will be looking and taking inspiration from past designers. However often you can be daunted by the abilities of Hadid or Dyson and believe that from your Design and technology studies you may and could be the next famous engineer or designer. Well over at Yanko design they have recently been interviewing famous and some less famous (outside of design circles) about what makes them tick and what is most important in their inspiration and success.

Here are some of the highlights : –

• Have you heard of Hideshi Hamaguchi? Well you should have done – he is the inventor of the USB stick!!! He has over 120 innovations linked with his design career and yet he says he cannot draw? Yes this is always one of those amazing things that every Design and Technology teacher should be saying to you – ‘we can teach you to draw, but we cannot teach you to be creative.’ Here is his quote on the subject : –

“Despite the fact that Hideshi has more than 120 innovations to his credit, it comes as a big surprise to me that he cannot draw! I had 2 Nikon cameras and an iPhone with me, and Hideshi, without naming them (confidentiality clause) told me that I was using 5 of his innovations at that very moment! According to him, if you don’t have the talent for drawing but are good at strategic thinking, then you can still become a great product designer.”

• Have you heard of Robert Brunner? Well you should have done – he has been the Design Director at Apple and responsible for the designs of the original MacBook!!! His simple advice – is to believe that you will be successful and with this confidence you will be – can it be that easy – this is what Robert Brunner says on the subject :-

“If you are going to be an entrepreneur and you have this energy of always being worried or overtly conservative, remember it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You will embody it and people will see that in you. Never question if you will be successful.”

• Finally have you heard of Karim Rashid? Well you should have done – as when you go over to the website you will see some of his 300 products that he has designed!!! Well you may have heard your teachers tell this one – focus, hard work and stick with one idea until it works! This is what Karim Rashid says on the subject :-

“Diligence or hard work or to be focused is when you are working on a project, and you push the boundaries. Many a times students have an idea and they only just do till the beginning of an idea. They don’t really push it to its limits and they don’t take it as far as they can. When you start on a project you must jump in the deep end, dive in the deep end.”

Head over to the Yanko website and check out the rest of these interviews there are some great ideas and great advice included in all the interviews.