Eyes on Design

By JEANNINE STEIN

May 31, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The young dad powering a stroller stops dead in his tracks at a store window on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. He stares at the streamlined, silver metallic speakers that have caught his eye before turning his attention to a futuristic, spoke-less bicycle. Intrigued, he swivels his head around as he wonders aloud: “What is this place?”

It’s Hennessey & Ingalls, a bookstore specializing in art and architecture, and none of the items in the window are for sale. They’re part of a display celebrating innovative product design and designers inspired by the book “Return on Innovation: Tools, Tactics & Talent for Implementing World-Class Product Development” (Dresselhaus Design Group Inc., 2000).

The informational guidebook to the design industry is the work of Oregon-based independent consultant Bill Dresselhaus, who is best known as the first in-house product/industrial designer at Apple Computer. The speakers and an MP3 player are courtesy of RKS Design Inc., a Thousand Oaks-based product design company; the bicycle, wireless headsets, a shoe, jacket, power saw and aerodynamic models are by students and alumni of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Alias/Wavefront Corp., an animation software company based in Santa Barbara, contributed a video exhibit, and Nokia offered a sampling of its wild-patterned cell phones.

According to store manager Douglas Woods, gawkers sometimes stand five- and six-deep during the Promenade’s peak hours. Considering Southern California is the land of the jaded, why the human pileups?

“Design has become a cultural phenomenon,” says Woods, who brainstormed the display idea as an alternative to a book-signing for Dresselhaus, who brought in the participants. “The lines are blurring between art and architecture and design. I’m really impressed with how people get it. And it’s amazing how it crosses age groups and demographics and everything.”

On a recent day the window attracted the attention of sculptor Brandon Bell, who was taken by the bicycle: “I saw the tires and thought it might be an exercise bike,” he says. “Then I saw the shoe--it sort of looks translucent. And those headphones look like they’d be comfortable.”

Massage therapist Bonnie DeJong was drawn by the sleek, sculpted, bright orange shoe, designed by Gretchen Wustrack, a graduate of Art Center, in conjunction with Reebok (its design incorporates acupressure points).

“It looks like something you’d buy off the Internet,” she says, sipping a cup of coffee. “Its lines really caught my eye and drew me over here.”

Although Woods says some people have come into the store asking about prices of the display items, they’re also inquiring about Dresselhaus’ $75 spiral-bound book, of which the store has sold 40 copies--good, he says, for a self-published book geared to design professionals and students.

This heightened awareness of design, says Dresselhaus, also can be attributed to the fact that the public has choices to make when buying products--and often the final decision comes down to design. “There’s an incredible technology explosion going on,” he says, “but the problem is that a lot of products use the same technologies. So design is becoming the market differentiator.”

He hopes the window brings attention not only to design, but also to those involved in the process: “People are very interested in how design works,” he says. “The process is somewhat isolated to the designers, but everybody should know how it’s done.”

Martin Smith, chairman of the product design department at Art Center, agrees. “I think a lot of people don’t know there’s such a thing as industrial design, and you can have a career in creating products that help people’s lives be easier or better. I think a display like this, whether it’s objects created by students from the school or the Nokia phones, is raising awareness one step at a time.”

Although the wireless phone headset that 26-year-old Art Center undergraduate Bryan Soriano created isn’t on the market, he’d still like people to know what went into its creation: His research included studying anatomy to determine which parts of the head and ears contain the most nerves and blood vessels, affecting the product’s comfort level.

“It gives more value to the product knowing how much research was involved. It’s not about just making it look cool,” he says. “Is this the right shape for the user? I focused on ergonomic design to make sure the user was as comfortable as possible, thinking that the person would be using the product for hours on a daily basis. I tried to avoid any funky attachments over the ear that would put pressure on it.”

Soriano would like to see more anatomy of design displays everywhere--even the supermarket. “The public should be informed about what’s going on. You have to have some kind of exposure, and there has to be some kind of communication between designer and public.”

The window display will remain until June 17 at Hennessey & Ingalls, 1254 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica. Phone: (310) 458-9074.