This weekend in Philly, two chefs will teach a room of software programmers and developers how to slice sashimi.
Umm… random, much?
Let me clarify. This weekend in Philly, two software consultants will teach a room of software programmers and developers how to “slice” their product ideas into plans using a three-course menu of sashimi-inspired techniques.
FIRST COURSE: Product to Feature Areas
Which major areas of the system are essential to delivering a complete, coherent product? Slice your product to essential feature areas.
SECOND COURSE: Feature Areas to Stories
Which specific features are most likely to get people to buy and use your product? Slice your feature areas to con Read More...
Last week, Ben paid a special visit to Miami Country Day School while in town for a conference. Read the Miami Herald article here — the kiddie quotes are too cute!
Join us on uStream for a live Q&A with Ben. Don’t be shy; ask anything!
UPDATE: Great questions, everyone! View the recorded version of today’s Q&A right here.
Make your design voice heard by participating in the selection process for this year’s 2010 People’s Design Award, sponsored by National Design Week and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Chatter by:
- Nominating a new design.
- Perusing the submissions.
- Voting for your favorite.
And after your voice is hoarse, learn about the agenda for National Design Week, happening from October 9-17. The Cooper-Hewitt is sponsoring most of the New York festivities (and offering free admission!). Check out what’s happening in your ‘hood.
First of all I want to thank you all for having me and please keep those great product submissions coming. Since meeting Ben and the Quirky team earlier this year, I have been very intrigued with the business model and the great potential it has.
My job here at Quirky is to head up our sales efforts and lead our push into mass retail and help get your products onto the shelves of some of the country’s largest retailers.
Previous to moving to NYC and working with Quirky I lived in Minneapolis, which by far is my favorite city (disagree if you want). I worked as a consultant and sales representative for a number of different companies, selling just about any product you can imagine to retailers like Read More...
Our newest Quirk of the Week is actually one of our oldest members! Matthew Smith joined the community last year when Quirky was just a lil quirkling. It’s something he’s used to, having been an early adopter of mp3 players (he has one that holds 32 MBs) and streaming video (he was one of the first 100 users of Hulu). In his time with us, Matthew has influenced more than half of all the products that Quirky’s worked on and has offered up a number of ideas for evaluation. He is a familiar figure on the forum who constantly seeks to learn from all the info and opinions he encounters there.
Matthew is involved with Quirky for all of the reasons that we love what we do here. “I am fascinated b Read More...
Do you have burning questions for the Quirky team? Ask, and we shall answer.
Join us tomorrow, September 28, at 6PM (EST) for a live Q&A session with Ben on uStream.
We’ll be responding to incoming queries on chat and Twitter. Got questions before then? Post ‘em to the forum.
Hope to see everyone there!
Put on your thinking caps… Quirky Briefs are live!
Watch the video and read the brief, then click here to submit your idea.
Remember, submissions are free!
Its been under a year and a half since we turned on this here quirky machine, and almost exactly six years since this journey began.
Many of you have heard me tell the story of seeing someone wear one of my first mophie products, and immediately realizing how lucky I was to have experienced the feeling of ‘i had a part in that’. Shortly after, I dreamed of a place where I could involve as many people into the product development process as possible.
Well here we are. Over 60 products in. Getting ready to launch version three of our website. Doubling our design output. 30 employees that walk in the door every day and fight like hell to bring the best ideas in the world to life.
The last year has been about i Read More...
Monday marks the launch of a new Quirky initiative: we are moving from developing one product per week to TWO products per week. Crazy, eh? We’ll be holding two concurrent ideation and evaluation phases each week: our regular free-for-all, anything goes round, and a more targeted brief-based project. Watch the video and read the description for Quirky’s first-ever brief below.
THE BRIEF:
Ever imagine how bland the world would be without stuff on our walls? Pictures, mirrors, clocks, shelves, storage, light fixtures, TVs, you name it — our world is a brighter and more interesting place because of our individual ability to decorate every inch of our homes.
But let’s be honest. Hanging stuff is no Read More...
When we read Tracie Beer’s idea submission for “the halter hanger” we couldn’t contain ourselves. Finally, an elegant solution for a widespread problem!
As to be expected, the idea resonated with all the gals in the room – I know I’ll commit to at least 10 – but the guys were maybe even more jazzed. Gaz got excited about the design potential and the possibility of turning this into a unisex hanger. Ben wanted to give it a 100 on viability (don’t worry, we didn’t let him). Chad let out a girlish squeal at one point in the conversation.
And it seemed like the community loved this idea as well. Not only did you guys give it the highest “Likeliness to Purchase” rating, but you also said the following:
“I think this i Read More...
Wrapster is moving forward with some new developments. Here’s the latest.
Wrapster progress since our last post:
- We selected the production material (a type of TPE).
- Finalized/reengineered Wrapster design based off of the samples we received earlier this month.
- Currently modifying the tooling to reflect the most recent engineered design.
- Finalizing packaging design.
Wrapster next week:
- Testing samples in final production material.
- Reviewing the final color ways (black, blue, Quirky purple, and pink).
About the product:
With Quirky’s Wrapster, you can say good-bye to tangled earbud headphones — we’ve created the ultimate cord management solution! The Wrapster’s unique design allo Read More...
Apple, iPad, iPhone, iPod and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Quirky, Inc. is an independent product development company having no affiliation or association with, endorsement from, or sponsorship by, Apple Inc.