22 Jun Design Uncensored with Donald Strum
Ready for another inspiring discussion on trend & design with Stacy’s weekly live series Design Uncensored? On the fifth episode, Stacy hosts an intriguing conversation with Donald Strum, Principal of Product Development at Michael Graves Architecture & Design. With over 2,200 products under his belt, he has developed innovative design concepts, from healthcare to kitchen appliances, which have truly resonated with their customer base.
See 3 key takeaways from discussion below!
1. Personifying the Piece
According to Donald Strum, the beginning of the design process starts with deciding the brand language you want to create. Ask yourself, “What will be the identifying color? What will the distinguishing element be?” and What function will it serve?”. Once this is determined, it’s all about taking that ordinary object and uplifting it to a place of good design, making it accessible to everyone, even those with lower budgets. When Michael Graves was designing a line of many product categories for Target, the “egg” form became the true touch point for every product. Donald mentions that there needed to be one element that really “strikes the senses” of the customer, giving off both a sense of whim and clear purpose.
2. Entertainment Architecture
“Entertainment architecture” is a term Donald Strum and his team dubbed when designing a project for two major Disney hotels, the Swan Hotel and the Dolphin Hotel. This is the idea of taking a specific element, which in this case a Disney character, and letting it be seen in a new light. According to Donald, the design “can’t be too literal or too abstract” which is why they came to the decision to design the buildings as their own translation of the renaissance era…Disney edition. At the Disney headquarters in California they depicted the Seven Dwarfs on the main facade of building to appear as if they’re holding up the building in place of what would have been a woman figurine in Grecian times architecture.
3. Innovative Healthcare Design
One thing that is truly important to understand when designing for healthcare facilities, is that the healing process takes place in the patient room, not the public spaces. As this is often overlooked, Donald Strum and his team at Michael Graves developed a new approach which really put an emphasis on the major components such as the patient room furniture, the wheelchair and even the cane to make them evoke a sense of healing and wellness rather than illness. This idea translates back into residential design when considering medical products for the home that are safe, but also appealing and integratabtle with the aesthetic of the space. Donald gives the example of a grab bar, which is typically an “unsightly” piece of chunky metal, and explains how it can be designed in a new way that represents the idea of a lattice.
With Michael Graves Architecture & Design since 1984, Donald Strum is the Principal in charge of product, furniture, and graphic design and has played a key role in the development and the success of the firm’s product design practice. His first project for the firm was the now ubiquitous “Whistling Bird Teakettle” for the Italian manufacturer, Alessi. In 1997, under the leadership of Mr. Strum, the firm began a relationship with Target Stores that led to what many in the critical press have hailed as “the democratization of design”. In 2005, after witnessing firsthand the issues Michael Graves was experiencing with an illness that left him paralyzed, Mr. Strum and the product design group made a commitment to transform healthcare design services for the aging and physically disabled population, as well as for the people who care for them. Mr. Strum and his product design group have brought over 2,000 consumer products to market over the past three decades.
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