design profile: moving from Otter to Penguin

We've relaunched the packaging on our baby + kids products from an Otter to an adorable little Penguin. Check out some notes from Josh, head of form + function here at method, who talks through why we went from Otter to Penguin. 

Q: Why the change? 

A: Leaky Otters! We found that people were unable to resist taking the Otter's pants off (no joke!) to get a big whiff of the what the product smelled like. This more often than not loosened the cap underneath the Otter which in turn sometimes created a big mess either on a shelf in the store or all over your bathroom floor at home. 

Q: How was the Penguin born? 

A: We looked at all sorts of other animals that we knew from around Northern California (our very own backyard) including Sea Lions, Whales, Crabs, Starfish and Giant Squid, before settling on the Penguin for the next generation of the methodkids bottle. Designer Jeannie Choe worked to get the Penguin bottle to look as cute as the Otter and I think we succeeded. The Cap on the top means it's super easy to smell and no more leaky bottles!  

Thanks Josh! Check out some intial design work of both the little Penguin as well as another product design that didn't make the final cut (not this time at least). 

 

An American in Paris (times four)

It’s been a whirlwind few days here in Paris, where 4 of us from the creative team have been continuing the search for inspiration we started in London a week ago. Fortunately inspiration abounds here in Paris, and we’ve found it in every café, store, and gallery we’ve visited.

We timed our Parisian visit to coincide with the Maison et Objet, one of the world’s largest design and trend shows. From drinking glasses to furniture, wallpaper to candles, toilets to toothbrushes, it’s all at Maison et Objet. We spent Friday at the show, walking until we couldn’t walk any more, snapping pictures, sketching ideas for new packaging, and picking out which trends we thought would stick in 2009 and beyond. An exhausting day, but for anyone interested in design it’s the place to be for one weekend every January!

In the time since the show, we’ve been no less active in our pursuit of inspiration. We’ve visited churches, cafes, galleries, chocolate shops (my favorite part), fashion showrooms, restaurants and spent plenty of time studying maps, all the while keeping track of the amazing things we’ve seen. Paris is, of course, a mecca for fashion and design, and we’ve been understanding this more and more with all that we’ve done here. Now our memory cards are full of pictures, our sketchbooks full of ideas, and our bellies full of chocolate, and it’s time to head back to San Francisco.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing our observations and ideas with the larger team at method, and will begin to turn some of these ideas into reality. Unfortunately there’s no textbook that can tell us how to turn an experience like this into an award winning package, but that’s part of the challenge of being a designer. We’ll be incorporating bits and pieces of what we saw and learned into all that we do for the next few months. And although we probably won’t be releasing any Eifel Tower shaped bottles in the near future, you can be sure that the influence will still be there.

 

 

 

Minding the Gap

Hello from London! A few of us from the method San Francisco office have spent the last 4 days wandering the mean streets of London on a quest for inspiration. Gordie, Sally, Nate, Eric and I, Danny, have been keeping mighty busy over here, but have been having a blast nevertheless.

Our first objective here was to visit our UK office, which was a great opportunity for a method family mini-reunion. We talked business a bit, reviewing how wonderfully they've grown in the two years since method launched here and making sure we're all on the same page with our 2009 plans before taking turns hula-hooping. Although the office here is much smaller than our home base in San Francisco, it makes up for it in charm and quirk, and it's so exciting to see the method spirit alive and well half way across the world. It's nice to have such a welcoming home away from home.

While we had the whole gang together we spent yesterday morning walking the method mile (or High Street in Kensington, if you'll be in London any time soon), visiting a few method retailers and taking note of how the product looked on shelf. We may speak the same language (more or less), but the UK and the US are very different markets with very different needs. Talking to our UK workmates while walking the aisles gave us a better sense of how to design specifically for the UK market, so hopefully our future designs will be even better!

We also spent some time visiting with our friends at Innocent Drinks, our favorite smoothie makers and a fellow Challenger Brand, and EatBigFish, the guys who wrote the book on Challenger Brands (literally). They're both doing amazing things, as usual, and it's great to know that we've got allies in the effort to make business a force for good.

Throughout it all, we've been focusing on our main objective: recharging our creative batteries and finding inspiration that we can bring back to our work in San Francisco. In addition to all the meetings and tours, we've been shopping like mad to keep up on the latest design trends, visiting museums and galleries, admiring the architecture (both old and new), riding the tube all over the city, and, of course, sharing our observations over a pint or two at the end of the night. We've taken thousands of pictures, plenty of sketches and notes, and have each been keeping a little diary of what we saw and loved. (I included a picture of Tuesday's entry of my diary)

After a wonderful 4 days in London, we're now off for a quick trip to Paris where we'll visit one of the world's largest design and trend shows, Maison et Objet, and continue the quest for inspiration. Stay tuned for more! 

Go ahead... ask us anything

Ever wonder what the heck the difference is in all the different plastic ratings (you know, those numbers in the triangle usually found on the bottom of plastic containers)? Or ever want to ask how lil bowl blu got it's sleek design? Well, send us all your questions you ever wanted to ask of our resident greenskeepers (consider them our resident "green" walking encyclopedias) and of our design team (you know, the people who make our stuff easy on the eyes). Be sure to post them below in our comments section and be on the lookout in the future as we pick certain questions to feature back on the blog. Ready... set... ask!

More colorful inspirations from Japan

Quick stop for a drink and some snacks turns into an incredible discovery in merchandising during a creative trek to Japan. Clean, faced-out... it even looked like it was polished before it was put into it's little protective bed. After we photographed them, posed with them, figured out how much they were and talked about how to get our handwash bottles into little nurturing nests....  we ate them.

- method creative team

Airomatherapy: creative inspirations from Japan

We spotted this menu in a window in Japan. We were drawn to the incredible scents (bayberry, anyone?) and the colors in what looked like the window of a nail salon. Further sleuthing revealed this to be an airbar, where you can order up some fresh air, infuse with the scent of your choice and then sit back and breathe deeply. Great way to get a fresh air fix in the middle of the city.

- method creative team

giant PET bottles

A newspaper in Sao Paolo reported city police finding a giant plastic bottle floating down the Tiete River (one of the most sickenly polluted waterways in the world, linked to industrialization of the city and the creation of the Guarapiranga - an artificial lake). Turns out the bottle was a test for Sao Paulo artist Eduardo Srur’s PET installation, in which he will put 30 gigantic 40-foot-long inflatable plastic PET bottles along the river’s banks for a month to make a point about the need for recycling and the importance of cleaning up the water. Point made!
Check out Eduardo's work:
http://www.eduardosrur.com.br/

taking green to a new height

Proving that money is not the only kind of green valued by bankers, Bank of America is building a state of the art tower in New York that is said to be the country’s greenest high-rise building. Reminiscent of one of those kryptonite crystals in the old superman movies, it’s estimated that this building, due for completion in 2008, will use 50% less energy and 50% less potable water than similar sized buildings and will create net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

Among the features of this 54 story, 2.1 million square foot tower:

• An air filtration system that will remove 95% of particulates, ozone and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Air vented back into the city will be cleaner than that taken in, effectively making the tower into something akin to a gigantic air filter
• On site 5.1 megawatt, clean natural gas burning power plant to supply 70% of the building’s power

• Water efficient systems such as waterless urinals (we're scratching our heads on this one) and low-flow fixtures that will save an estimated 10.3 million gallons of water annually
• 100% rainwater re-usage

This will be among the first high-rise buildings to strive for U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) “Platinum” designation. To get an idea of how rigorous a platinum designation is, of the approximately 550 buildings which have been LEEDS certified since 2000, only 20 have achieved platinum certification nationwide.

Hoorah for clean banking and design.

Click here for more information on the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park

cool carpeting

Aside from the potentially messy, albeit potentially fun, option of laying grass down, there are some great green ways to carpet your home or office. Each year, it’s estimated that 800 million square yards of carpeting are sent to the landfill. That’s enough to carpet the island of Molokai and then throw it all away.

Enter Interface Carpeting… at method we chose Interface not only because of its great styles, but also because they are a pioneer of corporate sustainability.

By choosing Interface, they claim to ‘retire’ more than 250,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.  This equates to 58,000 cars taken off the road a year and 28 million gallons of gas not consumed (source).

Among the other ways Interface operates to reduce its environmental footprint are projects in renewable energy, carbon sequestration, energy efficiency and reforestation.

These days, I walk a little prouder knowing with each footstep I take on our office carpets, it’s one less footprint on the environment.

Looking for more info on green carpeting?

(photo courtesy of Sharon Risedorph and Garcia + Francica Architecture/Design)