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Tom Dair

Tom Dair, white house

What I Didn’t Get to Say to Michelle Obama (But Maybe My Message Still Got Through)

The National Design Award honoree took your statements about design and the U.S. all the way to the White House. Did he get his moment with Michelle?READ»

michelle-obama-white-house-portrait5

What Should I Tell Michelle Obama About Design?

The First Lady will host the National Design Award honorees at a White House reception this Friday.READ»

Toast and Toaster

A Design Parable: The Toaster and the Toast

A few years ago, we were working on the design for new toaster. The client was looking for something that would make a statement on the countertop landscape. Aesthetics were important, but we also spent considerable time discussing ...READ»

Lightning Tree Car

Redesigning Rock-Paper-Scissors

For me, managing Smart Design's San Francisco office is a fantastic job: working on exciting projects, meeting with industry leaders, collaborating with creative types, and traveling the globe. But let's face it; there are also ...READ»

Oven

The Oven's Sick Joke: Bad Design = Burnt Pizza

Did you ever stay with a friend or relative and, while there, need to use their microwave or oven? How did it go? Was it easy, confusing, frustrating, enraging? Did you figure it out for yourself or did you have to ask for ...READ»

Flicker Razor

Creative Collisions: How to Spark a New Idea

A few years back, I was invited by a design professor to be a guest critic for a student presentation. It's fairly common for design educators to bring in professionals from the outside. It allows for different points of view and ...READ»

Box Design

Form Follows Function, Right? Not So Fast.

In my first week of studying industrial design in college one of my professors turned to the class, and while holding and pointing to a hammer, he said "form follows function." That was the first time I heard the phrase ...READ»

Tom Dair

Welcoming Guest Blogger Tom Dair: To Design Smart, Keep It Simple

Smart Design is, well, one of the smartest design shops we know. You may not know the firm by name, but you certainly know its products: OXO Good Grips kitchen tools, Hewlett Packard Photo Printers, Ford's "Smart Gauge" for hybrid ...READ»

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