USF Professional Practice

Fuse Project

bgregori707 — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:07:52 +0000

I really enjoyed our trip to Fuse Project. It was cool to see a company that wasn’t just made up of designers. I think it would be really cool to work in this environment, especially when they all work together and not separated. They had also worked on some very cool and sleek products. The week before we visited MOTO, which were made up of mostly engineers, and then this past week we got to visit Fuse Project. So it was cool to listen to both sides of the production process.

MOTO

ckmondoy — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:29:05 +0000

I thought MOTO was totally awesome. This is probably because I enjoy being around people who are really smart. Coincidentally some of my best friends are well in their way becoming engineers, so I’m usually very comfortable around people who love hardware, even though 90% of the time I’m not sure what they’re talking about. Overall it was enlivening for me to see people who are really enthusiastic about what they do and who think very carefully about design. So much of graphic design is about setting up a kind of “user experience” — the way someone holds a book, or sees a poster, or enters a website are all things that we have to constantly consider. MOTO does a very similar thing, except they carry their practice out through the careful development of hardware. In this age where people are latched to media and demanding a captivating “user experience” it’s really important to think about what technology can do for aesthetics.

MOTO

lnbohdanowicz — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:35:11 +0000

Moto was intimidating…in a good way.

Once again, I don’t have a lot of experience in this studio’s specialty and in this case it’s interaction design. It was insane to hear about the processes that are involved with creating products that actually work. Morgan was telling us about the design of a button on a device, and he was like radiating intelligence–engineering is intense. Overall, he had an excellent message about making design based around the user and the user’s preferences. Ultimately, the success of a product is also based on consumption, so it has to be designed to appeal to the user. This studio inspired me to get into this kind of consulting work, however, most likely on the marketing side and NOT the engineering side!

Fuse

mineshzim — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:54:14 +0000

Fuseproject was the one of the best field trips I went on this semester. It is good to see a Brand design firm that is focused more on branding. The one project that I liked the most is the One Laptop Per Child aimed at bringing education and technology to the world’s poorest children. Their work environment is unique in that they all work together on a large table. This way all the employees can communicate and get to know each other on a far more personal level than working at ones own desk. I am really interested in Branding and Identity, and I think Fuseproject would be an ideal experience for me in terms of working environment and overall Brand awareness. I think I will learn a lot from just being there as well, because there is much more involved by working there apart from just design.

CCA

ncnakai — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:46:08 +0000

I always love going to CCA because I feel like I am suddenly transported into a world of unimagined creativity and endless possibility. It was such a treat to visit the graduate design student’s workspace and to hear about their experience in the program. I was surprised by the amount of collaboration and development that happens on a group level throughout the program. I appreciated the fact that the students worked so closely with one another and were able to feed off each other’s creative influences. I think it was really powerful when one of the girls said how important it was to base your school decision on the type of people in the program since you would be so closely tied to them in the future. My favorite pieces were the Portrero Hill project and the Bean installation (the bean plant I took away is happily growing on my window sill). Overall, this field trip truly inspired me to consider my educational opportunities for the future.

Fuse Project

ncnakai — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:44:32 +0000

What an interesting company! I was fascinated by their ability to design projects from the ground up and follow through with the design aspect. Their work environment was interesting, as well. I’ve never seen a design company that places their staff at one huge table. When you think about it though, it’s a great way to encourage communication and collaboration.

As for their actual work, I was a bit turned off by their aesthetic. Projects like the Herman Miller lamp and “ear candy” bluetooth device were a little too modern for me, but I appreciate their sustainable mindset. I did like the PACT underwear campaign and really enjoyed their packaging concept. Overall, I thought it was a good experience as it opened my eyes to a different kind of design firm out there.

CCA

lnbohdanowicz — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:22:30 +0000

It was a fresh change to visit an educational studio rather than a professional one this time around. I found it truly inspiring to spend time in their workspace and to hear about why exactly they chose to go to grad school. I found it a relief to hear that it is recommended to take a few years off to work before pursuing graduate school; I personally know that I would like to do so in the future, yet I want time to explore my options and nail down exactly what it is I want to do. I found it interesting that most of the work they mentioned was installation art with accompanying interactive elements, an area which I have little experience in. Overall it was a great visit, it’s always fun to visit an environment that you can essentially feel the creativity flowing. I wonder if I might one day attend a school like CCA.

fuse

rcmingoa — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:03:29 +0000

This last trip was great! I really liked how sleek and cutting edge fuse’s design works are. Everyone also seemed so friendly at the workplace, with its already seemingly relaxed work environment. I think that this was a great way to end our field trips, as they focused on the field of brand design. It’s interesting how they pretty much design everything from the ground up, including the marketing/ advertisements/ packaging/ etc. lastly, I think it would be an excellent experience to be a part of this company.

fuse project

biancadaad — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:46:16 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place or heard of a place like fuse project. they do everything! the company feels so cutting edge and “san francisco”— I really felt inspired by their approach to design. Doing good for the world, having a holistic approach to design work, creating a community, re-defining in a sense what design really is and what it can do.

I think it was a great place to end our field trips in that sense, because it was the most open and diverse of all the places we have visited. I feel like we’ve been exposed to so many methods of how design is manifested outside of our little education bubble (in the real world!). It feels both comforting and terrifying.

moto// fuse project questions

biancadaad — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:39:37 +0000

MOTO was a really interesting experience. The main person we spoke with (Morgan) was extremely articulate and tried throughout his presentation to relate how Moto and graphic design are related, which in some ways was challenging. However, I found it inspiring because his main point was that design as a concept is user based and driven. He discussed the myriad of ways that design is driven by that user-product interaction and how to predict/work with those ramifications. I found it interesting that they haven’t hired more in-house graphic designers to make their company more holistic. It seems like they could easily add that to their repertoire.

As for Fuse project,

-how do they see themselves in comparison to moto?

-are there any companies that have the same attitude as fuse?