The need is not always easy to find. It could be for a product not yet created or it could be for a feature on an existing product. Either way, it’s like answering a question.

Some products fail because they answer a question that isn’t being asked. Another reason products fail is because they answer the wrong question. And finally, sometimes products fail because they answer a trivial question.

(INSERT: noise of fortune cookie opening) The only way to create the perfect product (answer), is to find the perfect need (question).

Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.
-Charles Eames

I bet, you’ve heard many reasons why you shouldn’t blog, maybe even some of those reasons you made up yourself. Well, here’s a few reasons why you should.

1. Every designer should be a thought leader.
Your concepts are innovative and ground breaking. You have developed processes to execute new worlds of possibilities. Why aren’t you sharing them?

2. Blogging forces you to think things out.
Putting the pen to paper has always helped you clarify a design concept. That’s how we “work things out.” Picking a blog post topic, and stringing together a few sentences does the same thing.

3. It gives you a place to vent.
No, I don’t mean rant. Being an Industrial Designer doesn’t always mean you’ll be drawing hover boards, floating cars, and toasters that check your email. Writing a design article helps alleviate pent up design aggression, much like sketching on blue-sky-portfolio-projects.

4. It’ll keep you sharp.
Even without maintaining a blog, you should be reading and scouring the web, books, and magazines for the latest trends and tech. When you do have a blog, it encourages you to stay on the leading edge even more.

5. THE MOST IMPORTANT – A blog is the perfect place to start your Personal Brand (and I don’t mean a place to post your personal logo and portfolio). Personal Brand is so much more then a logo and few pretty pictures. Stay tuned for a whole blog post on this, but your brand is how others see/know you. Besides your portfolio and skill set, this is EVERYTHING. I’m not speaking to just students, either. I believe this is true for every Industrial Designer. Blogging, brings another level of depth to who you are and how you work.

What do you think? Is blogging for every Industrial Designer? If not, why?

Industrial designs are often thought of as being like a utility patent, which protects useful inventions. Indeed, in the United States, registered industrial designs are known as design patents and are registered within the patent registry.

In reality, industrial designs are more akin to a cross between copyrights and trademarks. A trademark protects words or images used to brand products or services, while copyright prevents the copying of artistic works.

So how does one go about obtaining an industrial design?

Thanks David for this great post.

Click here to read David’s full article on registering a creative industrial design.

FZD School of Design

image from fzdschool.com

With so much destruction in the world it’s great to celebrate the creatives, and the builders.

For today I thought I’d spotlight another great tool for Industrial Designers and their portfolios. Check it out, it’s a site called Behance.net. It’s free to sign up, although you do have to go through a short approval process. This place is great to network with other Industrial Designers, or just browse to find inspiring product and transportation eye-candy.

If you’re in the industrial design field and are familiar with this service, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.