DESIGN RESEARCH METHODS 1 & 2:

Design Research has become a required skill for a working designer however few designers were trained in these skills when they studied design. This course will introduce participants to the emerging field of Design Research and tools that can be used to inform design as well as to ideas about how and when to deploy them effectively so you can be a more successful designer. The course will introduce you to terms used in design research and the value of an evidence-based design approach. These tools can help you to target your design solutions more successfully and discover differentiation to provide greater value to your clients and increase your billable time as an important component of your design process.

For more information: Design Research Methods 1  &  Design Research Methods 2

The Spark Awards is an annual international multi-disciplinary design competition that fields entries across Industrial, Product, Architecture, Interior, and Graphic Design. I took part in this years judging panel and we looked at a variety of entries across all design disciplines -many well designed objects as well as ideas. I really appreciate good design and the spark awards really highlight some of the standouts. I was also struck by a great observation that my colleague industrial designer Rob Curedale made: “We don’t need more stuff in the world, we need solutions that make a qualitative difference” – I couldn’t agree more. Below are some of my personal favorites. -Bryant.

Our project for Shepard’s Studio and Office is featured in Interior Design Magazine’s August Issue…

We are co-hosting a 4th of July design mixer for the LinkedIn Industrial Design Group with Curedale Inc. If you are in Los Angeles come and join designers from the fields of industrial design, architecture, automotive, product, and graphic design at our studio on Saturday between 1-6pm. Thanks to generous support from our friends at Evil Monito Magazine.

WHEN:
From 1.00pm July 4th 2009

WHERE:
YEH STUDIO – LOS ANGELES
1064 Myra Avenue
Los Angeles California 90029
tel / fax : 800.282.7194

RSVP:
Rob Curedale
rob@curedale.com

event blog

Sponsors:

Senior Principal: Raymond Yeh, Managing Principal: Bryant Yeh
Design Team: Ha-Vi Tran, Casey Benito, Kelly Anderson, Tharathorn Suksuri

Structural Engineer: Gordon L. Polon
Contractor: James Harrison – Art of Building

Lighting: W.A.C. Lighting
Carpentry & select Wood Furniture Pieces:  Levi Brewster
Custom Furniture, Specialized Furniture Fabrication & Custom Metal Fabrication:  Barnacle Brothers, Alessandro Thompson

Photos (c) Yeh Studio, Stephen Schauer, Joshua White

Our work is almost complete on an interior warehouse renovation for Sony’s Gran Turismo Explore Studio. The space functions as a design studio and designers administrative office as well as a showcase and event space for Sony Polyphony Digital’s Gran Tursimo unit. Open studio space features a custom kitchen and conference room and space for some fast cars.

Fabrication for our custom designed workspace furniture is almost complete and ready for site installation. We’ve been working on producing a complete line of creative workspace furniture for office and studio furnishing applications. Our line will be a suite of modular pieces that will work in a variety of creative workspace and studio settings: Video / Audio production, Media production and general office applications. Here’s a preview:

We hosted the MIT Alumni Club of Southern California‘s architecture alumni event: Greening Tech Campus, Greening the World – A lecture and presentation given by Professor Leon Glicksman. Professor Glicksman has worked on research and consulting related to energy-efficient building components and design, indoor air flow and indoor air quality. His presentation summarizes his work as the chair of an MIT effort to develop energy-efficient, sustainable building technologies and compatible designs.

Located in a period 1930′s building in Echo Park Los Angeles the OBEY Building houses artist and graphic designer Shepard Fairey‘s studio, design agency and art gallery.

Our goal was to create cohesive functional spaces with common design elements for each of the different parts of Shepard’s studio, gallery and design offices. One of the challenges was to integrate and organize the various public and private functions from production, design, and administrative areas together as a functional whole. The original existing two level building was an amalgamation of old renovations from the 1930s thru to the 70s and had no floor to floor connection so a stairwell was an integral part of our scheme -we created a birch paneled stair well that connects the upper level administrative area to the lower gallery, conference, and print shipping areas.

The interior finishes and custom designed furniture for each of the areas were designed to complement Shepard and Amanda’s design aesthetic but not be a distraction. The main open design studio was created by structurally re-configuring and exposing the timber roof beams to make a larger space. Plywood and weathered steel modular desk and storage units allow the design studio and production areas to be flexible and functional. A custom layout and table integrates a light box and art material storage and large plywood tables in the conference rooms double as layout tables for print and artwork. The gallery space functions as a series of display rooms connected by a hallway and terminating at a reception bar and gallery retail counter and display at each end.

We took care to maintain and integrate many of the old existing interior details with the new spaces that were created. 60’s ceiling molding and arches were contrasted with plywood floors, weathered steel and birch wall surfaces. An existing old chandelier was re-purposed to light the main internal stairwell. Many of the materials that we chose were also for their environmental qualities; sustainably harvested plywood with low VOC finish stains and second generation steel elements were used throughout the spaces.

Working with Shepard and his team was for one fun. He and Amanda are amazing people that are committed to bettering our lives through art and of course Shepard’s iconic design sensibilities. Shepard and Amanda genuinely understand and appreciate the value of design and working with them allowed us to take inventive leaps that conventional clients would not really be open to and really made the process personally satisfying.

Yeh Studio