I quote Kermit and declare "It is not easy being green!" Maybe someday I'll be about to be more involved in sustainable initiatives, but for now I spend a lot of time learning.

Since relocating to Chicago, I have been acclimating myself to the green scene here. I love that there is available access to food from local farms at the Green City Market. There are also Green Drinks events that bring a wide variety of lectures to speak on green topics. I went to a social gathering held by the Chicago Clean Energy Alliance, and meet many professionals from the energy industries, and interviewed a representative from Zero Motorcycles.

This weekend, I will be going to the Chicago Green Fest! There will be a symposium on home composting, which is something I've been wanting to get back into.

Shame on me for not posting any news in over six months! Things got hectic and exciting at the end of 2009, when I accepted a position with Masco Product Design and moved to Chicago. Philadelphia is sorely missed, but the new adventure I've started in the midwest has been a great experience this far. I even survived the winter, which was actually not nearly as bad as I had expected.

I am designing with a small team of talented people, in a office downtown. The brands that we service are mostly kitchen and bath related, but I've also been able to work on hardware, home storage, hot tubs, and variety of other products.

Last month I traveled to Milan for the Saloni, because this year's focus was kitchen and bath products. I've added a selection from my thousands of photos to my flickr site, so feel free to browse and be inspired!

So, hello from Chicago lonely news blog! I promise to write again soon.

Exciting news here! I have accepted an offer with Masco Product Design, a consulting design office who services Masco Bath Company and its 50+ subsidiaries in downtown Chicago. Of course this means a relocation to a much more chilly city, but I believe I will really enjoy it. I'm of to pack - more soon from the mid west!

You are invited to the Opening Event for PhillyWorks, where there will be an installation of my lighting fixture design.

Opening Event: October 9, 2009 : 5:30 - 11:00 pm
The University of Pennsylvania School of Design: Meyerson Hall (34th & Walnut)
PhillyWorks Exhibit will be open Oct. 7 - 11th, 12 - 4 pm, in conjunction with Design Philadelphia.

I'm looking for new opportunities! Are you or someone you know in need of a passionate and experienced designer for freelance or full time work? Email me

Last week I visited a gallery exhibition for the International Design Clinic and had the opportunity to speak with architect Scott Gerald Shall about their projects.

The International Design Clinic is a registered not-for-profit that provides students, artists and designers the opportunity to use their unique creative talents to design and construct projects for communities in need throughout the world. Since its inception in 2006, the IDC has completed over a dozen projects on three continents.

This group joins with other organizations in traveling and assimilating into underprivileged cultures in order to understand their needs and to work toward developing a product that will help change lives in those communities. All of the products are sustainable, because they have to be created from scarcely available materials, or from waste. Of their many projects, take for example, the $2 water filter for Mumbai India, made from repurposed tarps and bags, that eliminate over 98% of contaminants from the water, greatly reducing the likelihood that this water would cause illness. The Street Urchin urban tent for Chicago’s homeless made from water bottles, is safer, drier, warmer and more portable than the cardboard tenements currently deployed using only discarded materials and simple methods of construction. In order to raise awareness for the mission of the International Design Clinic, they have recently launched an interactive series of exhibitions, with adjoining online gallery for their Projection Mail. The team created a series of cardboard boxes equipped with a $3 projection screen apparatus, a slide image from the group's trip to Mumbai, instructions for operation, and a gallery to record your creative way to project the images from each box. The projection box itself is reusable, and made from the most minimal of materials. To add to the fun, the project's website lets you suggestion a destination for a box to be sent - so far boxes have gone out to facebook and skid row.

Street Urchin

Mumbai water filter

Projection Mail info and flickr sets

The small New Product Development Team at Robern received two awards for the Uplift Cabinet and Lights. These awards for best in Production Innovation and for MEF (sustainable design and practices) were given out at Kohler Company's New Product Day in Sheboygan Wisconsin last month. I received a nice "trophy" made from Kohler's vitreous with my name and award information etched on the back. The stand for the award was painted by children in the local community.

I've been invited to have 5 minutes of fame as part of the MeSH 575 event on June 20th. This series of presentations seems to be similar to an IGNITE night - if you have ever been to one of those, you know it is always inspiring. If you are not familiar, this means I will be giving a fast paced, possibly humorous presentation about myself and my work. This is all happening as part of the Art All Night event in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, New Jersey.

There is a NEW section added to my portfolio site for photography. I have been shooting amateur photography for several years, but I have been more serious about it recently. This year I also started experimenting with a Diana camera in addition to my trusty digital.

I also have many photos from the Salone Internaztional del Mobile that took place last month in Milan. It was an amazing experience and the design was very inspiring. There was so much to see that I am still working through my overview report of the fair, but you can view some of my photos on the flickr account that I have dedicated to the Salone.

I was filmed back in November for a renovation show from the DIY Network. The premise of the show is that they help someone who is in the process of their own kitchen renovation, but has run into some impossible snags. I had completed all of the demo work on my Philly Row Home kitchen last spring and summer. After living with a vacant, shell of a kitchen for many months, myself and my very patient roommate, are so happy with the way the remodel turned out. They have some photos up on the web of the before and after (The first two images are my kitchen).

This episode of Kitchen Impossible entitled "Single Girl Double Duty", will air next Friday, March 6th at 10pm EST. There are also many other air times, so check the website if you want to know when else it will be on. I'm not sure how they will have edited the program, but if you tune in you may see me demonstrating how to hang dry wall, use a pneumatic nail gun, and how to make a wine rack. Oh geez...I'm terrified to see myself on TV!

Products are in the works. Ideas are copulating, multiplying, and practicing the survival of the fittest. By now, those baby thoughts from the previous year are full grown and about to graduate into the world as production products. BUT, I can’t share any of that with you until after they debut in the Spring.

In the mean time, I decided to get off the topic of product design and touch on other subjects that interest me. If you are looking for something to feed your mind, distract you, but not make you feel dumb or manipulated by targeted marketing, and that might actually stick with you for hours or days - than this list is for you….

THINGS THAT ARE GOOD:

Springwise – Some of these articles may make cause the blurting of “why didn’t I think of that” and others may provoke a “finally!!!” and even a “really?? I wonder who their users are??” Beware, you might not be able to stop reading and pondering your own future business venture. p.s. They even have a design & style section that is really decent.

Their sister site TrendWatching is equally awesome. Gut check your thoughts on global microtrends and find out why some of those daring business ventures on Springwise are really in tune with what people want!

Flickr – A big THANK YOU to flickr for giving me an outlet for my amateur photography. This site is perfect intersection of social networking, photo journalism, and superior scrapbooking.

Inspire Me Now – Having a bad day? Browse this for a few minutes. I promise everything will get better.

Vinyasa Yoga – Any yoga will probably improve your day, but vinyasa yoga is kind of like this: Add two cups of strength building with a dash of meditation and you might not even need to call your therapist in the morning! If you are an experienced yogi and vinyasa is old hat, I recently tried AcroYoga….if you can touch your toes, you can do it. I promise.

MakePhilly – Maybe I love this group, because I’m one geek among many. It is possibly because they have really interesting lectures. Where else could you learn about reconfiguring robot technology, see what is new in the world 8-bit music (yes I’m aware that is an oxymoron), and build a pin ball machine…all on a Sunday? Therefore I conclude that I definitely love MakePhilly, because there is always a chance to build something at the meetings, which means MakePhilly trumps Discovery Channel….sorry “How its Made” – its not you, its me. Can we still be friends?

RadioLab – I only recently learned about this scientific/psychological/anthropological public radio show while at a talk by Ira Glass. I believed that a suggestion from the brain behind This American Life is probably a good one, but seriously…I’m addicted now. Crack in podcast form.

Oh lonely blog, it has been so long since I've posted on you. As summer has been flying by I've been involved with many projects outside of designing Robern products.

I've been active with several non-profit organizations in Philadelphia. I've been creating flyers to help get the word out about Girls Rock Philly. You can see some of the flyer designs here.

I have also been helping out with the improvement of a plot of land in my neighborhood that was previously an eyesore. Along with a few neighbors, we are fast and steady on a path to officially deeming the land Triangle Park. Although we have put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning the land that used to be a gas station, we are still working with the Philadelphia government to help us make it officially a city park. I have also helped by creating the Friends of Triangle Park website. I was able to use Freewebs and make a clean and function site on our currently non-existent budget!

Other non-profits I have been involved with this summer with graphic design, promotion, fundraising, or other help are MakePhilly and KinoFilm Project.

Besides reaching out into the community, I've been putting in the hours with my own charitable cause I call "Remodeling my Kitchen!!" Wow, tearing out a kitchen in a Philadelphia Row Home is quite like being an archeologist. Check out my photo journal of the progress (especially the treasures I found hidden in the wall!)

My graphic work for the Non-Profit organization Girls Rock Philly has been getting some blog traffic. See more fliers on my graphics portfolio section.

I have just returned from the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Chicago. Although the show was highly attended, the evidence of new, innovative products was decreased as opposed to previous years; evidence of the housing crisis slowing product development.

Among the new hot products was Kohler's new Karbon Faucet, which had the biggest marketing push out of any product at the show. Kohler never ceases to amaze at the KBIS show with new product demos, famous chefs, TV personalities, and of course the MoMix dancers.

Some Trends I noticed at the show were repetitions of last year. Everyone who is anyone was showing sustainable products. Whether they were water saving, energy efficent, or made from recycled content, eco was everywhere....and it was pretty well done. On the other side of the spectrum, you had many luxury spa-focused products. So directly next to your water-saving toilet, you can install enormous shower heads and water tiles or a tub that fills high enough to dip your ears under for VibrAcoustic music.

Vibrant colors trends were seen again this year on washers, dryers, ovens, hoods, ranges, and other appliances. Dae Woo and Zephyr had a wonderful showing of appliances with metallic illustrative graphics screened on glass. I also picked up on the large number of companies showing ruby, or volcanic red colored countertops, cabinets and appliances.

I was like a mother hen in the Robern booth this year, since we released three new series of products that I worked on. The Candre Sconces, M Series Decorative, and M Series Full Length were looking very good in our hot new booth. I captured some pictures of the booth, and of the days before the show during the tedious set up.

If you missed the show you can watch some it live on the web. K+BB Magazine also caught live coverage. HGTV's camera crews were also scanning the show, so I am sure we will be seeing something on their website soon.

Of course there is always my flickr set from KBIS that can give you a small sample of images from the show.

I was given some notoriety this month in the Industrial Designer Society of America's Design Perspectives newsletter. Check it out here.

I have been taking an online Designboom course focusing on glass. Some of the information and imagery has been very inspriational. I will also be posting the designs I create for the homework assignments as the course progresses on my flickr site.

I just found out that the Robern M Series Reflexion Lights are featured in this month's Women's Day Kitchen & Bath issue. You probably can't see the text in my flickr pic of the magazine spread, but our Reflexion lights won their K&B award. SCHWEEEEEEET!!!

I just heard about the Idiotarod 2008 that took place in New York this past weekend. My good designer friend Tak was in the heat of the race, but managed to get a photoset so we could share the experience.

Shamless self promotion for Robern's Cold Storage Cabinet winning the Good Design Award. Check out all the other awesome bath fixtures that won.

Trends Trends and more Trends for '08

Forget the now seemingly pedestrian social networking to the max, aging graceful and hyper-eco trends of '07 - this year seems to be all about self. Everything is about you - to aid & protect you, to make you look great & to make others envious, to be customized by you and for you, and it will all happen with nothing that we would describe as effort - "product" development for recreation.

Hmm, now I have to decide what my buzz word for the year should be. Maybe "uber bling"??

leadesigns site goes live. Check back for updated content and blog entries.

Design Thinking and more from IDSA conference

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, has research interests that lie in the areas of global competitiveness, integrative thinking, business design and corporate citizenship. He gave a powerful presentation on Saturday morning at the IDSA conference entitled "Design Thinking: The Next Competitive Advantage". The theme of this year's conference was connections, and part of Roger's presentation focused on the "Ultimate Design Challenge;" the disconnect between analytical and design thinking.

Traditional business training teaches two types of declarative reasoning: deductive and inductive. Deductive being that "because of this, that is true." In comparison, inductive is "because of all of these things, that is true." Designers think differently in order to achieve innovation. This type of thought, adductive reasoning, says that "because of all this, these things might be true. This type of generative reasoning is what Roger believes that businesses must leverage off of in order to stay ahead of the competition.

"Both [types of thought have] their places, but as organizations grow, analytical thinking – which focuses on exploitation and refinement of the current state of knowledge – often crowds out design thinking – which pushes knowledge forward and creates new possibilities. To benefit from design thinking, a business needs to understand how analytical thinking and design thinking differ, why and how they come into conflict, and how to create an environment which encourages design thinking to flourish."

In the slide referencing "Designing in a Hostile Territory," Roger explains how designers can approach this ultimate challenge and work with business and marketing disciplines in order to achieve innovation. Analytical thinking is based on proof, but design thinking and innovation are based on what might be true in the future. The five tips on this slide deal with generating trust in ideas by empathizing with analytical thinkers, because proposals that are not fact based challenge their core way of thinking. For example, "Speaking the Language of Reliability" means that designers should not use self serving phrases such as "its cool," "wait till you see this," or "oh wow." Making sure to address analytical thinkers with phrases like "making budget," and "being sure" is a way to speak the language of reliability. Slightly humorous, but still a good point to remember when explaining ideas, and design value, that have a strong probability of success, but no proof.

The slide "Leveraging Design in Business" explains the counterpoints and gives tips on how to allow designers to create innovation, which involves taking risks. Another part of Roger's presentation, not represented in the slides attached, was based on how businesses that embrace design thinking will keep ahead of their competitors by processing knowledge through "a funnel of information." At the most open end of the funnel would be a general problem, or a "mystery", as he called it. This broad mystery is solved by a fact, such as things fall to the ground because of gravity. The fact is processed into usable data, and the data funnels down to a code. For example, the broad mystery of gravity translates into code, which is then used to land a plane on autopilot. The companies that will be ahead of the competition are the ones that can funnel "mysteries" into "code" fast enough that they have time and resources to look back up at the mysteries to solve a new aspect of the problem, with new codes. Companies that continue to reuse the same "code" in multiple applications, without looking back at the general problems, will eventually be surpassed by their competition. It seems like a simple concept, but since the time and resources to "look back at the mysteries" are hard to account for analytically, it often is left out of the development process.

This same type of thought resonated in several other presentations at the conference, including Stefano Marzano, CEO & Chief Creative Director of Philips Design. His speech stated similar points such as that companies should not focus on their competitors, but rather focus outside this ring. Being visionary means to look to the far future and be strategic, but not to presume to absolutely know up front what is it we will do, only to have buckets of thought that identify presumed needs (or mysteries to look up at). Both Stefano and Roger also point out that all disciplines in a company are best served if they are not treated as silos and should be integrated in order to break down walls between analytical and design thinking. The last point they made in solving this "ultimate challenge" is that both sides must empathize with the other and count on the analytical and design talent in their company for achieving success.


Unrelated to the above: Stefano from Phillips showed an interesting slide on Phillips approach to designing products for wellness. Stefano also spoke a little about the importance of partnering. Phillips has an entire business section know called Phillips Consulting with 12 international locations. They focus solely on partnering with companies like Nike, Apple, Norelco, Alessi, etc in order to leverage off of each company's core talent.


In the slew of eco-design presentations, there were many repetitive, but good points - most that we have heard before. Being optimistic in thinking design can make change was the overall point, everything else was examples on how to do so. Remembering emerging trends like product sharing, was brought up in by many speakers. Many also mentioned that not only products are now judged by the consumers for their environmental impact, but the company's eco ethics are also judged. Brands like Hummer, are on the out! Check it |http://http://www.fuh2.com|www.fuh2.com| Soon it will be standard for companies to give consumers more eco ethic information such as the product's history in its manufacturing, the assembly, waste, the company's facilities, shipping, labor, and what will happen when the product needs to be disposed of. A consumer's view of the brand will no longer be just from what they see on the shelves.

Lastly, I witnessed in San Francisco the company the is partially responsible for the stalker-like creepy images of the front of my house appearing on google. I saw a Teleatlas car equipped with about 12 cameras on the roof, "mapping" the landscape. Since this technology is obviously already here, I thought it be best to know more about it Other technologies mentioned repeatedly at the conference, such as RFID, seem to be what technology is heading towards: Connecting, in all senses of the word, without limits of time, space, or inconvenience.