Issue for thought: 'What makes a superior product innovation leader?'

What makes a leader?

Or at least a good follower? From what I know, design leaders need to listen to various aspects in product innovation. Math and Science is one; Arts & Humanitiesis the other and Conscience and Creativity being the most important. I think open mindedness and modesty are 2 prime areas for being a leader.

But I think the latter 2 areas are a little hard to achieve because ego is what a lot of people have....

Here, I am posting part of my written thoughts about the issue.

Part of my post: design education.But most part of my post: who/what will help me fill up my puzzle to become the 100% all rounded innovator? Education/work/life experience?

Quote myself:

'When we had the conversation, a few things come to my mind when we
talked about architecture and product design.
I also agree with the point about the core emphasis in science and
math. I never question about that, that was exactly why
I pounced on to your (-----) course the moment I saw it. This issue has been
a hot debating topic in the product innovation field. I like Don
Norman's arguement for a strong science and tech background. Without
that you cannot 100% control the whole innovation process of
everything. Through my experience, both academic and industry and self
realisation, I think the engineering aspect is vital. But I also think
that the humanities and arts must weigh the same. Otherwise we cannot
differentiate between a mechanical product designer/architectual
engineer from a product designer/architect. It is not easy to cramp
everything within 3-4 years of study. So when I picked my first
degree, I picked the one that teaches how to sharp and creative in
various material/appearance design/technology/applied engineering

There are world class designers/architects whose math / science may
not be to the depths of the engineer. But they are also able to
understand the concepts and workings of such math and science
backgrounds. I am the perfectionist type who would like to master this
engineering aspect which my academic course could not fit this in,
because they choose to focus on humanities and arts rather than to try
to teach all with no in depth specialisation in any. So I thought its
up to me to fill the 3rd aspect of the product innovation in ---- that
is the sciene and math aspect.

<snipped>

<snipped> I do not hold any postgraduate degrees but I was admitted
to a few very fine colleges (snipped) for product/industrial design based on product creativity,
ideas and sustainable design.I didn't attend because I had financial
difficulties even to attend 1 year of the courses before they could
offer full scholarship.  But I sat on committees for design innovation .... at (snipped) probably
because of me being the 'naughtiest' referee who refuse to get
squished out because I was poor & without a postgrad. The basis of
these courses, I feel, look at character and creativity & the sense of
thinking. But I sense your college seem to place math and science in
1st position before everything, if I am correct. I've seen Americans
from Stanford and MIT visiting  RCA (Royal College of Art, London) and
I know what I have and what they have. Usually MIT product designers
go to RCA for the art part....(snipped)

I was hoping to attend the missed function where all the profs are
there and it would be much easier to convey ideas and thoughts with
some visuals. Unfortunately it was over. The idea of product
innovation is very different between a hard core engineer and hard
core designer. But eitherway, the best of these cohorts produce the
top ideas and best designs. Dyson, an arts grad was one of them. There
are lots in Europe who are arts based. But I feel the wholerounder has
to take more 6 years academically + lifetime of keen interest in
making lives better to be a junior master in product innovation for
skills. Creativity being the most important in any science, art,
technological innovation. I wonder how your profs there think? It
would be interesting debate but right now, I want to sort my case out.
Sorry about the length of the post. I just did it at one go.

Cheers !
Karen'

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A few new mooncakes that I like

black sesame snow skin rum raisin lin yoong
has a very mellow sweet taste that is both cooling and refreshing.
Almost taste like ice-cream, the centre filling goes excellently
with the seasame seed 'cold skin'. One of the best for new
mooncakes.



'Salt' moon cakes (suyan yuebing) is the one on the top right hand corner,
which has a delicate sweet, salty and clean taste that is like no other.
You'll have to taste it to understand. It doesn't bear with the extra rich
taste like a lot of other traditional mooncakes. Yet it has a classic
taste and bite that will linger in your mouth even after a long while.



black diamond mooncake bamboo charcoal
has a single yolk in the centre with lotus paste and a little mix of nuts.
Covered in edible bamboo charcoal, the taste bears contemporary flavour that
is now considered as one of the most popular mooncakes in the market.




5 kernel moon cake (wuren yuebing)
is healthy as it is delicious. As the name implies, the mooncake consists of 5 differnt kinds of seeds
and nuts chopped into finer pieces. The mixture is then mixed with maltose to hold them up together in a paste.
This mixture can differ from dialect groups in the Chinese race. Some add in delicate pieces of jinhua huotui (ham)
and further sweeten with wintermelon. It is usually the best among the traditional mooncakes
and it is usually the most expensive too.

I didn't have a lot of time enjoying the Moon cake festival this year.
But it seems that I have a few very nice surprises for mooncakes that
cheer my days up. --- Karen Fu

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Mooncake Festival | CUMI & CIKI: Monkey Adventures, Travel and Food!

Mooncake Festival

August 9, 2010

The Mooncake festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th moon, of the Chinese Lunar Calendar every year, meaning, it is just around the corner.

When you wish upon a moon..

In my country, this is a big deal for the Chinese who look forward to eating these little delectable ‘parcels from the moon’. No that’s not even completely accurate. Most people in Malaysia, even the non-Chinese look forward to eating Mooncake and this is the time where beautifully packaged Mooncakes are exchanged as gifts and tokens of appreciation. Many Chinese restaurants now have the  ‘halal’ version of these sweet Chinese desserts and to tell you the truth they taste so good it is hard to tell which ones are halal and which ones are not these days. Not only that, the new buzz is for restaurants and mooncake makers to try and top each other in producing new contemporary flavours. From solid chocolate mooncakes to unusual yam or charcoal baked flavours, you name it, they’ve thought of it.. and now, it’s for sale!
Anyway, if you are wondering how it all started, the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is believed to have originated from the ancient ceremony of Sacrificing to the Moon Goddess for the year’s end harvest. This is when families return to celebrate and give thanks for the year’s bounty.

Why the moon?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for the Han people of China plus the other minority tribes. The custom of worshiping the moon can be traced back for yoinks. The Han would sacrifice to the Moon Goddess in thanksgiving for the year’s crops and harvest. Families would return from the fields to celebrate – this was normally a time of reunion and mooncakes would be baked and exchanged as gifts. It was a really cool tradition to give 13 mooncakes as a gift because this symbolized a full year. Why 13? well, the extra one represents the leap year (my ancestors were really smart people!)

How did the Mooncake Festival become so widely celebrated?

During the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by the Mongolians. Rebels plotted to overthrow the ruling government and they did this by baking tactical warfare instructions into the mooncakes. . As the Mid-Autumn Festival drew near, the rebels ordered cakes baked and distributed throughout the villages.
Needless to say, the tactics worked and on the night of the Festival, the rebels with the help of local villagers, successfully overthrew the government! After this, it was the reign of the Ming Dynasty as we know it. And that my friend, is the true meaning behind the Mooncake.
So the next time you indulge in a piece of mooncake, make sure you gaze up at the moon and contemplate just how pivotal this innocent-looking, sweet dessert was in carving the fate and history of the Chinese.

Mooncake is celebration but mooncake is also creation..

Red Yeast Sweet Potato
Red yeast filling with sweet potato skin and paste. Red yeast has an ability to lower cholesterol but don’t ask about the sugar!

Espresso Chestnut
An extremely creative coffee skin and paste with chestnut to add a nutty flavour to the mooncake.. talk about getting nuts over mooncake!

German Black Forest
Chocolate skin with blackcurrant and chocolate chip.. super sweet and chocolate-y this one!


Charcoal-Baked Yam
Delicious yam paste with tantalizing bamboo-charcoal skin.. one of my favourites!

Red Bean Green Tea
This is the classic mooncake with a read bean paste and green tea center.. only for green tea lovers.

The Mooncakes featured in this post are from the Equatorial Hotel Kuala Lumpur, and they include both classic as well as contemporary flavours. Contemporary flavours range from RM18-19 per piece whilst the Original range from RM14-20 the most expensive being the double yolk. All these mooncakes are all HALAL.

Finally..

this Mooncake Festival.. make sure you balance your Yin and Yang..

Bamboo Hazelnut a unique combination of bamboo-charcoal skin with hazelnut paste and chocolate goes hand in hand with.. Charcoal-Baked Yam a gorgeous yam paste with an amazing, aromatic bamboo-charcoal skin.
These two were by far, Cumi & Ciki’s favourites!


Our review on the Blogger’s Event at the Spanking new Golden Phoenix Chinese Restaurant at Equatorial Hotel, up next. The food was so good, it deserves a post all on its own.. stay tuned!

Add:

HOTEL EQUATORIAL KUALA LUMPUR

Jalan Sultan Ismail

50250 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 2161 7777

Fax: +60 3 2161 9020

Check out their mooncake homepage here

 Google Maps to Equatorial Hotel

Posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 under All Posts, Chinese cuisine, Culture, Desserts, Food Type, Misc. Subscribe to this comment feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

via cumidanciki.com

Moon cake hybrids always fascinate me. The entire making process involves not only the style and image of the packagings and the entire look of the mooncakes; but also the baking skills that are involved. Many other nationalities have been trying to emulate the mooncake making process and come up with variants in different ingredients like ice cream, cookies, wine, fruit, cream, nuts, egg yolk, etc.
However the classic ones are still the traditional ones. But once in a while, we need some special varieties. So enjoy the selection above. I'm having mine for brunch. Of course with some tea/fruit juice.

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Creative Mooncakes

The commonest mooncakes that we see during the Mid-Autumn Festival are typically round or square in shape, with either a baked brown crust or snow-skin exterior. Then in 1994, Raffles Hotel created the innovative and highly sought after champagne truffle mooncakes. That spawned a new line of exciting modern mooncakes!
Since then, mooncakes never really did quite stay the same. Merchants strive to outdo each other in concocting the most unusual and delicious mooncake recipes. Here are some of the more unique and innovative modern mooncakes.

Photo by Scuzzi
Well-known for their attention to aesthetics, the Japanese have created some very beautiful mooncakes. These mooncakes from Japanese confectionery, minamoto kitchoan, are handmade with red or white bean paste. Aren’t these the sweetest?
Photo by bossacafez
Not to be outdone, local baker, bossacafez, has come out with a line of very colorful mooncakes made using unique recipes. I especially like the candy-colored ones on the left that are made with aerated mineral water. The green ones are pandan custard lotus snow-skin mooncakes.
Photo by bossacafez
More sweetness! Milky white snow-skin mooncakes filled with a mixture of cherries, desiccated and moist flaky coconut. Pretty!
What’s more, she has even made colorful apple-shaped mooncakes, complete with green leaves!
Photo by chockylit
Mooncake cupcakes! East meets west! The fusion of these two types of pastries is concocted by yet another talented baker, chockylit.
Photo by chockylit
Her mooncake cupcakes have date-pineapple cream cheese frosting and a red bean paste filling.
Photo by Triple-Y
Okay, I know these aren’t exactly real mooncakes… But look! How cute!
Photo by Triple-Y
I am a total sucker for all things miniature, and these wee little mooncakes are just too darn cute!
Photo by Triple-Y
Even babies love ‘em!
Photo by pastababe
Remember these adorable piggy-shaped mooncake biscuits? In Chinese, they are known as “猪仔饼”. I ate a lot of this when I was young. They tend to come in little colorful cages and hence they are also called “猪笼饼”. Eating this just brings back fond memories!
More creative mooncakes to follow tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Also in this series

Raffles Hotel: Snow-skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache

Mooncakes with a Difference! (Part 2)

via sparklette.net

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Smart Finger – Measurement Device by Choi Hyong-Suk, Jung Ji-hye & Yoo-Jin Park » Yanko Design

My Fingers Are So Smart, They Measure!

Go back into the history of measurements and we know that in the ancient times, body parts used to be the standard for measurements; hence ‘a foot’. The need for uniformity paved way for the metric and imperial systems that are now commonly used. However our basic instincts still make us want to use ‘a span’, ‘two finger spaces’ or ‘an arm’s length’; old habits die hard I guess! To resolve this and bridge the gap between digital accuracy and human approximations is the Smart Finger. It is a device that caps your thumb and forefinger (or any 2 fingers) and uses the signals relayed between the two finger points to calculate the measurement.

• The Smart Finger is made from silicon to offer a comfortable fit to any finger size.
• It can help measure length, breadth, and volume in a very intuitive way through simple button operations.
• The distance (measurement) is calculated on the basis of the time taken by the signal to beam from one finger tip to the other and back.
• The measured distance is displayed through LED.
• The device sports 2 buttons that help display the measurements in different units, record and store the measurement, calculate volume and area plus view the information in text format (details on how to operate are explained in the images).

Designers: Choi Hyong-Suk, Jung Ji-hye & Yoo-Jin Park

via yankodesign.com

Very good article on measurement that I cannot miss. Its one of the most natural and probably one of the most accurate ways of measuring.

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Innovation Using Design Process - IDEO shopping cart

Sino-Singapore Tianjin Project

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><body xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

via tianjineco-city.com

Read this indirectly from Prof Heng's article in the Straits Times on 'Soft Power'.

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Clever User Interface Sony Alpha NEX-5

via http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev5K9BLUrlM&NR=1">youtube.com

I was introduced to this digital camera just today & I loved it very much mainly for its fine fit in users' hands. Also liked how my hands could fiddle around the gadget & changing parameters on the camera with great ease. The LCD lens allow you to shoot and view comfortably at difficult angles. What attracted me most is its compact size that shows little compromise to professional photography. I also tried shooting a simple video and the quality was truly amazing -- at HD level. Sony hasn't been a household name for solid top class photography. But with this product in place, it seems like another worthwhile contender in the market that has solid substance apart from a solid style!

It is exactly the kind of gadget that people would love -- taking great pics without the hassle and bulk!

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Evolutionary Furniture Will Tag Along Wherever You Go - Simple and Neat.

No exaggeration to the fact that Darwin’s ‘theory of evolution’ had entirely changed the evolutionary perception of human beings long back. However, the theory was so appropriate that people didn’t refrain from applying it in their day-to-day life. Taking a cue from Darwin’s revolutionary theories and slated to be exhibited at the Dutch Design Week 08, NOCC has come up with ‘Help Me Darwin’, which is a furniture set that you may effortlessly carry with you wherever you go. Moreover, you may yourself arrange the innovative but simple unit within no time. The portable furniture unit, including a bed/folding screen, 2 stools and a table, smartly wraps in a side bag that unfolds into the bed’s mattress.
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Design Status:

Help Me Darwin, is a concept furniture unit to be exhibited at Designhuis for ‘European Talent’ during the Dutch Design Week that will continue from October 18 to November 30th.

Usability:

The innovative furniture kit can be helpful in emergencies and rehabilitation camps, where rescue teams just have handful of time for rescue and rehabilitation of victims. Not a bad option for good times, a picnic or trekking, either.

Via: Designboom

Designer:

NOCC is a combined design venture of Juan Pablo Naranjo and Jean-Christophe Orthlieb.341863

via thedesignblog.org

Very simple and effective folding for portable & recyclable furniture: Interesting presentation of user-product interaction and usage, despite this being an old and familiar project usually run in 1st year design courses.

Scubster, muscle-powered submarine, sous-marin à propulsion musculaire, sous-marin personnel, sous-marin de loisirs, sous-marin jaune, submarino, u-boot

via scubster.org

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Interesting Packaging / mooncakes Design for (Mid Autumn Festival 2010

Interesting packaging made of wood and done in the form of a Chinese lantern. Simple and considerate thought for the environment where the packaging is a durable and functionable lantern after the mooncakes are taken out. The price is much less than what I was thinking. Around the price of S$60 including 3/4 mooncakes.

Haagen Das' innovative use of ice-cream and chocolate turns these mooncakes into another dimension.

Delightful colours makes these 'mini cakes' looks absolutely tantalising - Japanese style.

Regent Hotel's mooncake packaging design for their own mooncakes. The flower shaped plastic piece is used as a decoration that perks up the entire plain coloured packaging. It doesn't waste resources and both packaging and the plastic piece could be shifted and use in other packaging uses, should the need arises.

                                                                   
Authentic piece ....

Confectionaries to go with the mid authum festivities. Showing above are French pastries, cakes, tarts...etc

These are not a chest of drawers, the furniture style. These are chest of drawers made of card and plastic 'jade' for mooncakes..

All the above ar behind this entrance with the Chinese character 'Autumn'. (Qiu) Enjoy !

Land Use Design - World Population in a 1000 Singapores...

The line in the Straits Times a couple of days ago caught my eye: 'By 2050, 70% of the world's population will be living in cities in the developing world'. This caught my attention as I was travelling on the train home. Honestly I have been dreading the idea of increasing the poputlation to 5.5 million in the near future. Surely, this piece of news citing Singapore's land use to house some 6+ billion people on just 0.5 % of our planet's land must be scary, if not petrifying.

Singapore, which has only a land size of  710 square kilometers, is aiming to house some 6 million inhabitants on land. As a citizen and resident of this tiny dot, I must admit it was an eye popper news. I have been squeezing through trains, and replaning my time around peak hours. But when I start to recall  spaces around places on this tiny dot,  this seemingly daunting aim appears to be achievable from mainly 3 aspects:

1. surprisingly, there is still good amount of green spaces that could be utilized.; 
2. the way these designs of flatted properties with underground system planning of spaces could effectively save a lot of land space for a growing population. 
3. there is very little crime, and people are generally at peace, making this concept of urban planning feasible.

We are currently undergoing the pace of change where lots of spaces are still undergoing constructional change, which is why the crowded packs. Complementing this undergoing this space change would be the enlarged network of the Mass Rapid Transit points, which will see extended links in the central parts of the country. Mass Rapid Transits' undergrounds are also built with retailing outlets apart from linking them directly to office, recreational and residential spaces. For a tiny dot to remain as a livable urban city, the living spaces must grow along the rising population (both expats and local).

Checking this illustration on Straits Times [Aug 2010]

The above illustration shows the size comparison with Texas, in the US and with China. If this were the way the land is used, theoretically it would take up very little piece of land, leaving a huge remainder of the earth's surface for other uses. Though theoretically ideal, there are a few worries off hand:

1. Would everyone agree with such land use? Different cultures of different peoples around the world would not agree to the kind of living depending on one's idea of what is comfortable and even 'prestigious' living. Some may consider this as a packed up living life style where you cannot enjoy the spaciousness of greens and enjoy the big airy skies around you. 
2. Social economically, and more importantly politically; this idea of land use may not be palatable to all. It would need the sacrifice of space where grandeur may have to be taken away in architectural designs of monumental buildings. This could impact social uproar when national identity and pride is taken away via a reduction of space for these historically important venues.
3. The price of land would peak unless we have an economics system where this cost could be cut from earnings from other areas. This could possibly be achievable if we would use other land spaces for other economic activity, provided if we could keep greed in....

Space is often seen as a sign of power. Else histrorically, countries and people wouldn't want to wage wars to conquer more space for increasing political and economic might. To take away living spaces has a lot of conflicts of interests that we have to overcome. Cutting population growth is often seen as a way to solve overcrowding and many other human problems. But is a large population the main cause for depletion of natural resources? I doubt it. It could often be touted that the vice of misusing technology and knowhow is the main cause for unsustainable living. I often think that this is the most fundamental reason for our impending demise.

Don't you think so?

Time for bed...as usual..

--- Karen Fu....


Reference:

1. Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore 
2. Straits Times article 17 August 2010 

Clever mechanisms that sparkle an issue 2

via google.com.sg

Here's another product that could question the use of design. 
Do we really need it? Would it cause an issue?
I often feel as an innovator, we need to address them seriously. 
There might be pending opponenets against the design, depending on the  market targetted.

2 quick points for now.

related link: Clever mechanisms that sparkle an issue 1

Clever mechanisms that sparkle an issue 1 - Simple smart tool that draws & measures straight lines - but some may see it otherwise.

Quote this post description right off from 'The Resident Architect'.
Find this an interesting product design. However, I am still wondering if we really need it to draw straight lines. Then again, I do find the mechanism to measure the exact length of the drawn lines very useful. This reminds me of certrain products that assume that physically able people do not have the natural ability to use them. From a design's viewpoint, this is really clever design that explots a simple mechanism. On the other hand, professional artists/designers/ engineers may find this cumbersome & for a few, this might well be seen as an insult to their natural ability... (just heard this remark off from someone verbally a second ago...)

related link: Clever mechanisms that sparkle an issue 2

Constrained Ball: Easy to Draw Straight Lines

 

Wanting to draw a straight line easily?  Here's a nice design by Korean product designer Giha Woo.  A pen attachment that can help you draw straight lines.

Called the "Constrained Ball", this attachment can be easily attached on any pen and can help you draw straight lines, horizontally or vertically.

It's a small attachment with a very simple design and an attractive look.

The constrained ball lets you draw straight lines vertically, horizontally and even diagonally with one sweeping motion with any pen.  It can also be used to measure a length of line which is clearly indicated on the tip.



Because of its adjustable rubber lining, any size of pen can easily be attached to this.



Seen above, the constrained ball product easily follows the line on the graph and indicates the length of the line already drawn.






You can use it to underline your notes neatly.



The constrained ball, a very useful product design that can be used by architects, designers, students, and just about anyone who needs to draw a straight line.

Who needs a ruler with a pen attachment like this.  It draws and it measures!