Tom Dair

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

Tom Dair — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:10:53 -0400

Tom Dair with Richard Whitehall from Smart Design at the White House.

What Should I Tell Michelle Obama About Design?

Tom Dair — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:36:36 -0400

A Design Parable: The Toaster and the Toast

Tom Dair — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:02:04 -0400

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 the size of the toaster slots and how wide or narrow to make them for the variety of items that someone might want to toast.

Redesigning Rock-Paper-Scissors

Tom Dair — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:21:20 -0400

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 aspects of the job that are less glamorous--managing budgets, no time for lunch, collaborating with prickly creative types, and battling the never-ending office mess.

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

Tom Dair — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:24:29 -0400

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 instructions? What about their bathroom? Did you happen to use that, too? How'd that go? Did you figure it out or did you have to ask for instructions?

Creative Collisions: How to Spark a New Idea

Tom Dair — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:23:33 -0400

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 opinions of the work to surface, and also saves the teacher from having to say something constructive and relevant about every student's project within a few hours' time frame... a challenge in itself.

Form Follows Function, Right? Not So Fast.

Tom Dair — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:03:33 -0400

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 but certainly not the last. Form follows function is one of the first rules or "laws" of design that all design and architect students learn and they pretty much carry it with them through their professional careers. It's difficult to argue that this is not a true statement.

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

Linda Tischler — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:03:34 -0400

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 vehicles, and the new line of OXO office products are just a few.