Tuesday 2 June 2009

Portable promotional retail display systems Designer



I need to work with investors that have an understanding of the modular display system market who are looking for new ideas and products.

I have been developing revolutionary new products for more than three years I have a wide range of designs to develop and need to work with like-minded people with vision.

I have been involved in the industry for thirty years and will bring the full weight of my vision and experience to this project. I know I can introduce new thinking to this market.

If there were any body with advice for me it would be much appreciated and will help me to make the right decision.

john

Friday 6 February 2009

Old School Display Systems


This is a rant about the portable display system world. The thing is..... some things in this industry make my blood boil and always will. The problem with the pop up trade is that there are to many car salesmen in the business followed by a bunch of double glazing bod's. What the hell do they know about anything......It does not take a genius to work out that the creative process is sacrificed for the sake of sales....
What happened to new design. Yes NEW DESIGN. How many people think you can just take an old established design and just sexify it.....come on it's not rocket science "the market gets what the market deserves " Bollocks to that. The redesigning of old product is just like chewing gum, your stomach thinks food is coming but all you get is gas!
If you are going to redesign a product....... please try to solve the the real problems that have always existed with these products from the very beginning. The banner stand has been high jacked by cheap imports, poor functionality and rubbish graphics. I would love to kick these problems into touch with our new design but this will take time and a leap of faith.

We close our eyes and imagine the best product humanly possible and then start to create it.
Every time we look at a design problem we know there is a solution.
We take design very serious in this digital age.

The choice is clear ..... or is it.

Monday 2 February 2009

Our New Product Design?


It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product. The possibilities in this respect are by no means exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.

We start by sketching pure free form shapes and brainstorm through each potential problem.

jdw design consultants. 2009

What is good design?


Although good design is almost impossible to define, common themes hold true across industry sectors and product types. A well-designed product tends to combine the following qualities:

* Useful
It works well and functions as promised. It does what it is expected to and satisfies a minimum or appropriate level of performance.

* Usable
It has appropriate ergonomics and user interface, considering how, where, how often and who will be using it.

* Desirable
It looks good! What looks good will be dependent upon the nature of the market, the lifestyle, culture, age, gender, education, occupation and place of use. What looks good is also dependent upon other competitive and complementary products. In general, it is important for the product aesthetics to be appropriate for the market, users and usage environment. A good test is if customers are prepared to pay a premium because they desire it.

* Producible
It must be capable of economical volume manufacture using appropriate production methods, considering the impact on the organisation of new components, assemblies and processes. Producible products combine optimisation of assembly and manufacture with modularity and platform strategies.

* Profitable
It must result in sufficient business rewards, measured in terms of market share, gross margin, break even, turnover or sales volume. Financial rewards may also be supplemented by other business benefits.

* Differentiated
The benefits of good design are seen in products which are clearly differentiated. Differentiation can be gained through satisfying core user benefits in new ways, by delivering excellence in one of the product's physical attributes or by providing leading support services around the physical goods.


Saturday 31 January 2009

History of Graphic Display Systems

Throughout history man has used graphic display systems to describe and outline all manner of scenarios and to relay messages. Graphic display systems date back to mans earliest drawings in caves with various tools used such as dyes, charcoal and engraving onto stone or woods. They depicted important daily rituals like hunting, movement of the tribe and their beliefs. The Egyptians and other more early advanced civilisations used hieroglyphics as a display system in a similar but more advanced mode of graphic display with engravings inside their pyramids/tombs, on their jewellery and also etching onto papyrus scrolls. Curses, laws and ritualistic beliefs were highlighted and remain for us still to see to this day.

Art (including graphic display systems) has always been and will always be an integral part of mans way of life. From Roman mosaics inside their dwellings to paintings in mediaeavil churches, graphic display systems and the presentation tools to display art have played highly important roles from early religious practises and to a lesser decree the promotion of news, laws and business matters.

Early graphic display systems can be seen in most museums

Friday 30 January 2009

History of Nomadic and the pop up


Ted Zeigler is the inventor of the Nomadic Instand display, the flagship product of Nomadic Display.

Over thirty years ago, Zeigler left a successful career as a graphic artist to pursue his personal fascination with designing folding forms. His research into mechanical physics yielded a number of patents...some of which were used to develop the Nomadic Instand. In 1975, he founded Nomadic Display to market his innovative display system.

Today, he guides the development of applying his technology to the creation of products for a number of other industries.

"I believe that everyone has imagination; a deep-seated need to dream of things you've never thought before. Your imagination can be a powerful force in your life, if you are willing to allow pure, free-ranging ideas to direct you...and if you have the faith to follow where your imaginings lead.

That's the way it's been for me and Nomadic Display. Through experimental research I invented and patented the Nomadic Instand, I founded Nomadic Display to manufacture and distribute the product. Both the company and the display are by-products of over thirty years of exploration.

I'm an inventor, an entrepreneur. I'm fiercely driven to create new things... to experiment... to explore new territory. I've spent years in single-minded devotion to my experiments with three-dimensional folding forms.

After more than a dozen years of manufacturing and marketing the Instand, I still review and refine its components and am at work on new designs... to maintain our position as the industry leader in high quality, portable display systems.

Today, I'm deeply involved in new ventures, in my endeavors, I put the creative process to work: I simply start with an idea, let it draw me along, and have faith that my next "toe hold" will be there when I reach for it. To me, that's the true wonder of IMAGINATION!"

From Ted Zeigler's fascination with mechanical physics almost thirty years ago... to the success of Nomadic Instand today... Nomadic Display's vision has maintained a powerful focus. Led by Zeigler's creative instincts and talents, Nomadic's commitment to pioneering display products has never wavered nor changed.

Today's Nomadic Instand evolved naturally from Zeigler's dedication to finding innovative solutions through progressive research. Nomadic Instand's success as the market-leading display system is a testament to the surprising practicality of IMAGINATION.

The discovery of Nature's pattern for fundamental building blocks.

In the late 1960's, commercial artist Ted Zeigler began experimenting with shapes and forms - building structures of blocks, folding paper into geometric shapes.

He became fascinated by the metamorphosis of solid objects: their ability to move and change. "Through pure experimentation," said Zeigler, "I uncovered a fundamental principle behind the geometric building blocks in Nature: two-dimensional, geometric shapes - when ganged together - become three-dimensional forms, called Polyhedrons."

Ted avidly studied the works of R. Buckminster Fuller; architect, engineer, philosopher, creative thinker... and the inventor of the geodesic dome. Fuller's domes were based on the same geometric shapes which fascinated Zeigler, and they inspired Ted to continue his research.

Early prototype collapse reveals a surprising design breakthrough.

Hurriedly assembling a three-dimensional structure made of wooden dowels, Ted used tape rather than glue to fasten the vertexes (where the dowels join). Not realizing the tape formed flexible hinges, he watched with rapt fascination as the form collapsed into a small, neat bundle.

"I was curious. Amazed... A whole new dimension of design opened to me". Zeigler envisioned forms that accordion into a small fraction of their expanded volume: large wall structures that fold in moments to suitcase size.

Zeigler's structure springs up, locks in place in an instant.

Through further research, Zeigler pursued the folding concept in earnest, and went on to develop enhancements. He discovered a way to harness the internal tension of his collapsible structure, once erected. Zeigler's patented self-locking geometry locked the structure rigidly in place without the use of fasteners or clips; much like "locking" your elbow by over extending your arm.

"My forms are true 'space structures'," says Zeigler. "They exist in three-dimensional space... and are structurally strong, rigid, and stable. Like Buckminster fuller's geodesic domes, the larger my structures are, the stronger they become."

A prototype becomes the first Nomadic Instand.

Zeigler built the first Nomadic Instand prototype using his structural design principles. With a gentle curve along its length, the prototype stood up with no exterior support. He realized it would make a fine display frame because of its light weight, stability, and compact portability. "I saw my pure research prototype turn into a unique and marketable product," says Zeigler.

"I poured energy into the Instand. It was exciting work that drew me along." The new product immediately attracted attention. With rapidly growing sales, it quickly became the leading portable display frame.

Nomadic Instand: The revolutionary new Display Frame.

Old-style displays are bulky, heavy constructions that can take several hours - up to half a day - to set up. The Instand is clearly a breakthrough: in under 15 seconds, the frame is up, securely locked in place, and ready for fabric or graphic panels. At any trade show, the first exhibit up - and the first one down is bound to be a Nomadic Instand.

There are other collapsible display frames on the market, but none compare to Nomadic Instand. Only Instand has complete cross-bracing throughout the entire frame for strength and stability. Only Instand has a steel-against-steel hub for long-life durability at all the critical high stress joints. And only Instand has a unique, patented self-locking feature.

The Nomadic Instand is the highest quality portable display frame on the market today, overwhelmingly superior to other displays. Nomadic Display backs this claim with a "No Questions Asked" Lifetime Warranty, providing coverage unmatched in the display industry.

The Nomadic Instand has come a long way: from a workshop phenomenon, to a leadership position in the display industry.

Ted Zeigler feels strongly about the rewards of following your own inner callings: "Nomadic Instand is the proof. If you let your creativity run free, and back it up with good, hard work, you may be surprised at the power of your own IMAGINATION!"

A History of Pop-up and Movable Books

"Mechanical books should look like ordinary books. Their success is to be measured by the ingenuity with which their bookish format conceals unbookish characteristics."

Because books are by design two-dimensional, it might seem impossible for a page to add motion or depth other than through illustrations with perspective and illusion. And yet, for more than 700 years, artists, philosophers, scientists, and book designers have tried to challenge the book's bibliographic boundaries. They have added flaps, revolving parts, and other movable pieces to enhance the text.

It is not known who invented the first mechanical device in a book, but one of the earliest examples was produced in the 13th century by Catalan mystic and poet Ramon Llull of Majorca who used a revolving disc or volvelle to illustrate his theories. Throughout the centuries volvelles have been used for such diverse purposes as teaching anatomy, making astronomical predictions, creating secret code, and telling fortunes.
Yet, while it can be documented that movable parts had been used for centuries, they were almost always used in scholarly works. It was not until the 18th century that these techniques were applied to books designed for entertainment, particularly for children.

F. J. Harvey Darton, English authority on childrens' books, wrote that before 1770 there were virtually no books "produced ostensibly to give children spontaneous pleasure, and not primarily to teach them, not solely to make them good, nor to keep them profitably quiet." London book publisher Robert Sayer changed that with the production of "metamorphoses" books. These books, which were also called "turn-up" books or "harlequinades," afforded amusement, not so much through their printed contents, but through their illustrations that changed and kept pace with the story. "Metamorphoses" books were composed of single, printed sheets folded perpendicularly into four. Hinged at the top and bottom of each fold, the picture was cut through horizontally across the center to make two flaps that could be opened up or down. When raised, the pages disclosed another hidden picture underneath, each having a few lines of verse.

Other early examples of movable books were the Paper Doll Books produced by London publisher S. & J. Fuller beginning in 1810; the "toilet book," and an early example of a lift-the-flap book, first illustrated and published by the artist William Grimaldi in the 1820's; and peep-show books. Little or nothing is known of the origin of the peep-shows but they appear to have evolved from the traveling exhibits that showmen featured at fairs and festivals. They were often quite elaborate constructions depicting scenes from famous stories or topical events and were viewed through a small hole in the cover.

The first true movable books published in any large quantity were those produced by Dean & Son, a publishing firm founded in London before 1800. By the 1860's the company claimed to be the "originator of childrens' movable books in which characters can be made to move and act in accordance with the incidents described in each story." From the mid-19th century Dean turned its attention to the production of movable books and between the 1860's and 1900 they produced about fifty titles.

To construct movable books, Dean established a special department of skilled craftsmen who prepared the hand-made mechanicals. The designers used the peep-show principle of cut-out scenes aligned one behind the other to give a three-dimensional effect. Each layer was fixed to the next by a piece of ribbon that emerged behind the uppermost portion, and when this was pulled, the whole scene sprang up into perspective.

Dean also introduced movable books with transformational plates based on the jalousie or venetian blind principle. The illustrations in these books had either a square or an oblong picture divided into four or five equal sections by corresponding horizontal or vertical slits. When a tab at the side or bottom of the illustration was pulled, the picture "transformed" into another picture.

Read and Ward & Lock, Darton were two other London publishers of movable books, but Raphael Tuck was the first publisher to seriously challenge Dean & Son. In 1870 Tuck and his sons founded a publishing business in London that produced luxury paper items including scrapbook pictures, valentines, puzzles, paper dolls, and decorated papers. In the genre of movable books, Tuck published "Father Tuck's 'Mechanical' Series." The series included stand-up items with three-dimensional effects as well as movable books. To produce these books, Tuck, like Dean, formed editorial and design studios in London where volumes of high pictorial quality were produced. All of the printing, however, was done in Germany. The Germans developed a mastery of color printing in the second half of the 19th century and their equipment and techniques superbly reproduced the finest art work.

Another 19th century publisher who specialized in movable books was Ernest Nister. His printing business, begun in 1877, was capable of producing works by all of the major processes of the time. However, despite his wide range of publishing endeavors, he is best known for his movable books that were published from 1890. Nister's works were similar to those produced by his contemporaries but Nister's illustrations stood up automatically. The books had figures that were die-cut and mounted within a three-dimensional peepshow framework. The figures were connected by paper guides so that as the pages were turned, the figures lifted away from the page within the perspective-like setting. Nister also produced movable books with dissolving and revolving transformational slats.

The distribution of Nister titles was not limited to European markets, the New York firm of E.P. Dutton worked in conjunction with Ernest Nister to promote and sell the publisher's titles in the United States.

The most original movable picture books of the 19th century were devised by Lothar Meggendorfer. The Munich artist had a rare comic vision that was transmitted both through his art and through ingenious mechanical devices. In contrast to his contemporaries, Meggendorfer was not satisfied with only one action on each page. He often had five parts of the illustration move simultaneously and in different directions. Meggendorfer devised intricate levers, hidden between pages, that gave his characters enormous possibilities for movement. He used tiny metal rivets, actually tight curls of thin copper wire, to attach the levers, so that a single pull-tab could activate all of them, often with several delayed actions as the tab was pulled further out. Some illustrations used more than a dozen rivets.

McLoughlin Brothers of New York produced the first American movable books. Innovators of printing techniques, McLoughlin issued two separate "Little Showman's Series" in the 1880's each containing three-dimensional scenes. These large, colorful plates unfolded into multi-layered displays.

Few movable books were produced once the first World War began. The manufacture of movable books was labor-intensive. Presumably, after 1914 the labor force in the German printing works was required for less frivolous tasks.

However, in 1929 a new series of movable books was initiated. British book publisher S. Louis Giraud conceived, designed, and produced books with movable illustrations described as "living models." While the term had yet to be used, these were authentic "pop-up" books. Each title contained at least five, double-page spreads that erected automatically when the book was opened and had illustrations that could be viewed from all four sides.

Unlike his German precursors, Giraud's books were moderately priced. They were produced on coarse, absorbent paper, employing crude photolitho printing and color reproduction techniques, and were finished with inexpensive covers and bindings. Between 1929 and 1949 Giraud produced a series of 16 annuals, first for the Daily Express and later as an independent publisher using the trade names "Strand Publications" and "Bookano Stories." Each annual included stories, verses, and illustrations as well as five or more pop-ups. Giraud's books reached a wide audience and were very popular.

As the Depression years deepened, American book publishers sought ways to rekindle book buying. In the 1930's Blue Ribbon Publishing of New York hit upon a combination that proved successful. They animated Walt Disney characters and traditional fairy tales with pop-ups. Blue Ribbon was the first publisher to use the term "pop-up" to describe their movable illustrations.

McLoughlin Brothers reentered the movable book market in 1939 with the publication of their first Jolly Jump-up title. The commercially successful Jolly Jump-up series included ten titles illustrated by Geraldine Clyne.

A new group of artists and publishers entered the movable book market in the 1940's. The exciting adventures of Finnie the fiddler was the inaugural book of a series of titles featuring the animation of Julian Wehr. Wehr's illustrations were printed on lightweight paper and had tab-operated mechanicals. By moving the tab, which extended through the side or lower edge of the illustrated page, the various parts of the animation were put in motion. The action was transmitted to as many as five different parts of the picture.

Beginning in the late 1950s a series of remarkably innovative pop-up books was produced by Artia in Prague, Czechoslovakia, a state-run import/export agency. Voitech Kubasta was their preeminent artist and the creator of dozens of pop-up books. Bancroft & Co. (Publishers) of London marketed the Czechoslovakian titles.

In the mid-1960s American Waldo Hunt, President of Graphics International, a Los Angeles-based print brokerage company, was creating dimensional pop-up magazine inserts and premiums. Inspired by the Czechoslovakian works, and deterred in an attempt to market them in the U.S., he began to produce his own pop-up books. This decision led to the renaissance of pop-up books as we now know them. Graphics International moved to New York in 1964 and with the publication of Bennett Cerf's pop-up riddles in 1965, began producing books for Random House.

Hallmark Cards purchased Graphics International at the end of the decade and the staff moved to Kansas City, Missouri. With more than forty successful titles produced for Hallmark, Hunt left in 1974 to return to California where he began a book packaging company, Intervisual Communications, Inc. Today there are a number of packaging companies such as Compass Productions, White Heat, Ltd., Van der Meer Paper Design, Sadie Fields Productions, and Designamation to name a few, and the number of pop-up books has grown tremendously. There are between 200 and 300 new pop-up books produced in English each year.

The publication of pop-up books is production involving the skills of a number of individuals. The creation of the book begins with a concept, story line and situation. Once the basics are worked out, the project goes to the "paper engineer" who takes the ideas of the author and the illustrator and puts motion into the characters, and action into the scenes. They may even add sound, as in a book where the opening and closing of the pages cause the teeth of a saw to run across a log.

The paper engineer's task is to be both imaginative and practical. The designer must determine how movable pieces attach to the page so they won't break, which points need glue and how much, how long pull tabs should be and how high a piece can pop up. The final step for the paper engineer is to lay out or "nest" all the pages and pieces so they fit onto the size sheet that will be run through the printing press.

All contemporary pop-up books are assembled by hand most in Colombia, Mexico, or Singapore. After printing, the nesting pieces of a book are die-cut from the sheets and collated with their pages. Production lines are set up, with as many as 60 people involved in the handwork needed to complete one book. These people fold, insert paper tabs into slits, connect paper pivots, glue and tape. Alignment of tip-on pieces with the printed page must be exact and angles must be precise. The most complex books can require over 100 individual handwork procedures.

The movable books of the last two decades have become increasingly complex with sophisticated pop-up illustrations and intricate mechanical devices. The addition of lights and music in some titles has contributed to the surprise of the mechanical illustrations. Pop-up and movable books are not ordinary books. For more than 100 years their ingenious mechanical devices have surprised and entertained readers of all ages.

by Ann Montanaro


References

Abrahamson, Richard F. "Movable books - a new golden age," Language arts, v.5 (April 1982), p. 342.

Carothers, Martha L., The design and production of children's novelty books [unpublished graduate research monograph]. Pennsylvania State University, 1980.

Carothers, Martha L., "Novelty books: Accent of images and words," University of Delaware Library Associates, Collections, 3:36Ä58, 1988.

Darton, F. J. Harvey, Children's books in England: Five centuries of social life. Cambridge University Press, 1958.

Dawson, Michael, "Checklist of books written, edited and/or published by S. Louis Giraud," Antiquarian book monthly review, 19:266Ä271, June 1992.

Dawson, Michael, "Children's pop-ups, movables and novelty books: A short history for collectors, part II," Movable stationery, 3:6, December 1995. p. 1, 8-10.

Dawson, Michael, "S. Louis Giraud and the development of pop-up books," Antiquarian book monthly review, 18:218Ä222, May 1, 1991.

Dawson, Michael, "S. Louis Giraud, the wizard of Bookano,"Antiquarian book monthly review, 18:250Ä256, June 1, 1991.

The genius of Lothar Meggendorfer. New York, Random House, 1985.

Haining, Peter, Movable books: An illustrated history. London, New English Library, 1979.

Krahe, Hildegard E., "The importance of being Ernest Nister," Phaedrus, 1988, pp.73Ä90.

Lindberg, Sten G., "Mobiles in books: Volvelles, inserts, pyramids, divinations, and children's games," Private library, 2:49Ä82, Summer 1979.

"Llull, Ramon," New encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1989.

Montanaro, Ann R., Pop-up and movable books: A bibliography. Metuchen, New Jersey, Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993.

Myrick, Frank, "It's child play!" Bookbinding, 36:25Ä29, November 1924.

Opie, Iona and Peter, "Books that come to life," Saturday book, 34:60Ä79, 1975.

Quayle, Eric, The collector's book of children's books. New York, Clarkson N. Potter, 1971.

The Renier collection of historic and contemporary children's books. "Occasional list no.3. Moveable books." London, Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, Spring 1988.

Sabuda, Robert. "So what do they package?" Movable stationery, 3:4, June 1995. p.1.

Seymour, Peter, "The resurrection of the pop-up book," Publishers weekly, 219:97Ä99, February 27, 1981.

Taylor, Sally A., "Intervisual Communications: Popping up all over," Publishers weekly, 238:217Ä218, July 26, 1991.

Whitton, Blair, Paper toys of the world. Cumberland, Maryland, Hobby House Press, 1986.

Yokoyama, Tadashi, The best of 3D books. Tokyo, Rikuyo-sha, 1989.