Syntes Studio: A Product's Story
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Jonas Bylund is the Founder and Creative Director of Syntes Studio, the industrial design agency based in Stockholm, Sweden. The Syntes team has one mission: to reinvent brand communication through product design. Recent projects include the recently revealed 02 Cocoon handset as well as products for brands such as GANT and Jo Malone. Jonas took some time to share with Behance his insights on grounding creativity and the risks and rewards of collaboration.
In creative teams, the process of "being creative" can sometimes turn unwieldy. Syntes focuses less on creative extrapolation and more on focused discussion. Jonas explains, "At Syntes we seldom get stuck in the design processes. Instead of spending ages filling up all walls in our office with millions of sketches we tend to spend more time discussing the ideas. We never start designing before we know what to design."
Jonas is a real advocate for identifying and building upon particularly relevant ideas early on, rather than big blue-sky thinking. He believes that it is best to "define a story first and stick with it as long as you feel it is relevant." He encourages creative professionals to "learn to listen in the initial phases of the project and build your ideas on what you learn from this. If the idea is strategic for the brand and you get people to join the vision - not only will you stay focused, but so will the organization."
Collaboration can actually do harm when it results in the lowest common denominator. "Good design is a team effort and the best projects are always carried out by a group rather than an individual. This is obvious since you get more angles on the problem. But you need to have a process that creates a 'synthesis' rather than a 'compromise.'"
The Syntes Studio team is motivated by simple convictions. First, they believe that "it is much better to spend a marketing budget on creating interesting products that people love and talk about rather than spending it on advertising that nobody cares about." Their revolutionary view of product design as a means of messaging is making a great impact in the field of industrial design.
Advice for the broader creative professional community? "Learn to tell the story of what you have created. Be patient and don't give up - there are a lot of square-minded people out there, learn to speak their language and motivate your design based on their perspective."
In creative teams, the process of "being creative" can sometimes turn unwieldy. Syntes focuses less on creative extrapolation and more on focused discussion. Jonas explains, "At Syntes we seldom get stuck in the design processes. Instead of spending ages filling up all walls in our office with millions of sketches we tend to spend more time discussing the ideas. We never start designing before we know what to design."
Jonas is a real advocate for identifying and building upon particularly relevant ideas early on, rather than big blue-sky thinking. He believes that it is best to "define a story first and stick with it as long as you feel it is relevant." He encourages creative professionals to "learn to listen in the initial phases of the project and build your ideas on what you learn from this. If the idea is strategic for the brand and you get people to join the vision - not only will you stay focused, but so will the organization."
Collaboration can actually do harm when it results in the lowest common denominator. "Good design is a team effort and the best projects are always carried out by a group rather than an individual. This is obvious since you get more angles on the problem. But you need to have a process that creates a 'synthesis' rather than a 'compromise.'"
The Syntes Studio team is motivated by simple convictions. First, they believe that "it is much better to spend a marketing budget on creating interesting products that people love and talk about rather than spending it on advertising that nobody cares about." Their revolutionary view of product design as a means of messaging is making a great impact in the field of industrial design.
Advice for the broader creative professional community? "Learn to tell the story of what you have created. Be patient and don't give up - there are a lot of square-minded people out there, learn to speak their language and motivate your design based on their perspective."
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Posted On
July 10th, 2007 | E-Mail This
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