I recently drove by a local lumber yard while on a weekend motorcycle outing and witnessed one of the saddest architectural statements I have seen in years. Stuck to the front of a warehouse style metal structure was a ridiculously stylized southern colonial facade. It looked as though two buildings were unceremoniously sawed in half and fused together with no respect paid to either party. There was clearly no attempt to blend or transition the ...

Color coding has long been used by designers to enhance both the usability and appearance of a product. Traffic lights, fire extinguishers, jumper cables, electrical resistors, and of course computers all use color coding. One of my favorite examples of color coding is the now classic calculator designed in the 1970’s by Dieter Rams for Braun. The subtle colors used for grouping like functions are beautiful and provide wonderful utility. Only Rams would think of ...

A boss once told me that launching a business is a lot like Indy car racing – with no sleep of course. Aside from a roar at the start, there are also a lot of crashes and mechanicals – (see where I’m going with this). The thing is, when there’s a big cloud of smoke ahead, you have to have the resolve to trust your team, your dashboard and your telemetry, grip tight, and drive ...