Heavyset

Some thoughtful reading from this morning – time spent trying to wash from my mouth the bitter taste of ABC’s two-hour homage to Milton by way of Coppola-in-the-jungle¹…all to Aloe Blacc’s terrific Shine Through:

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ModCloth.com apparel

Inc. has a terrific writeup on a crowdsourcing initiative from apparel retailer ModCloth, which solicits customer input on inventory selections to maximize the efficiency of its wholesale buys. Like many small retailers, operating within tight cost restraints, ModCloth necessarily buys with tremendous caution. From the article:

Clothing manufacturers generally need large order commitments — typically anywhere from 120 to 500 pieces, says Koger — before committing to production. If a larger retailer hadn’t already plucked a certain sample out of the lineup, ModCloth often wouldn’t risk committing to the kind of large-scale purchase needed to push it into production.

I’ve often wondered why more retailers don’t take a similar approach to inventory control. Even more compelling is the idea of manufacturers embracing a similar model to test customer demand for products, given the costs associated with developing production lines. This might be most efficient for manufacturers with particularly short to-market times².

Of course, if you’re looking for pitfalls, Len Kendall has a great post detailing crowdsourcing learnings from the first 30 days of the3six5 project³.

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According to Packaging Digest, Bayer and Aleve aspirin brand packaging have undergone an extensive redesign process. You can read all about it here⁴, but the crux of the article is this: they’re doing away with the box.

This is good news, I think. Of course, once Bayer is finished with what appears to be significant back-patting, it bears a larger discussion: How many products really need to come in a box? Moreover, how many products need to come in a box within a box? It would be refreshing to see this conversation take root in many places, but nowhere more presciently than Cupertino.

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Among the many reasons for our continued use of boxes as packaging is that…well…things have always come in boxes. Boxes stack easily on shelves, are easy to count for inventory purposes, and mitigate damage from handling and transport. Of course, they’re not particularly efficient mechanisms for the delivery of products.

Equally inefficient, it turns out, are our traditional windmill blades. Given the burgeoning interest in wind farms and wind power, it seems odd that we would continue to employ devices rooted in centuries-old understanding of the physical world – which is why I found this particular video, courtesy of Nitmesh, so compelling:

This turbine design allows for 3-4x more energy to be harnessed from the same wind sources. Really interesting stuff. You can read more about it at Venturebeat.

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While we’re talking about rethinks, it’s worth looking at our educational institutions, no? Designer David Airey put out a call on his blog at the end of 2009, asking for direct feedback on necessary evolutions that need to be instituted within graphic design schools. The array of responses was both remarkable and telling. A few:

“First-year students should be put through a rigorous programme of calculus, economics, history, composition, and public speaking. The goal would be to produce first a thinker, a professional, a businessperson, and an educated individual. Only then will traditional design “training” begin. And yes, a lot of people would drop out. The phrase “in the real world” would be banned — this school would be very much a part of the professional world.” - Prescott Perez-Fox

“I’d make very clear that design is not art. So many designers end up where they are even though they always wanted to be artists. As such, they hate the business side, and try push clients to fulfill their own goals. Design and art should be separate, and that should be fundamental in any course.” – Kevin Cannon

To my eyes, these perspectives recognize an innate understanding of the designer (yes, even the graphic designer) as problem solver. This, of course, is not a new notion, but rather one espoused by some rather bright folks.

The rather bright folks over at PSFK and BusinessWeek are exploring this topic at present, as well.

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Choose Your Own Node

Finally, if you happen to be a child of the seventies or eightys, you will appreciate the efforts of the Samizdat Drafting Company to deconstruct and explore the narratives of Choose Your Own Adventure books. Hours of entertainment is promised to all.

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1. I am referring, of course, to last evening’s LOST season premiere [↩]
2. you can probably think of several [↩]
3. which is well-worth reading about in its own right [↩]
4. in obscene detail, for those who do not bore easily [↩]

Related posts:

1. Tangible Data, Blank Signage, Garlic Presses and Rare Books on Architecture
2. Record Packaging: Green, Gr$$n, and Off-Cuts
3. Settling on a Design
4. Weekend Reading: Christgau on the Decline, Spoon Holding Steady and Kismet on the Rise
5. Our Nation it is Crumbling, It is Lovely