Any_Voice Vs. David Whetstone: A sit down with Design Director and Industrial Designer
How does a new product’s design become so ubiquitous in pop culture to the point where all its predecessors seem old and outdated? That’s a question industrial designers ask themselves on a daily basis.
David is a Design Director and Industrial Designer based in the San Francisco area specializing in creating, elevating and rebranding products for the next wave. His work presents itself as a bold stature of approachability with hints of neoteric elegance.
He’s worked with brands like Shinola, Google, The North Face, Nike and more where he aims to shape a unique direction towards molding what sleek useable product should be and is. We sit down with David to discuss his process towards developing ideas into 3D, collaborative multifaceted workflow, and what it takes to elevate or exemplify product and its overall brand.
If you will David, can you introduce yourself to our readers and what it’s like to be involved in designing for product development?
It’s great to have this conversation with you. I’m an industrial designer based in San Francisco. I’ve spent the past few years working at the intersection of industrial design and brand design.
I never thought I’d be a designer. I’m from a small town in Ohio, and I always thought I’d be “next in line” at my dad’s accounting firm. Growing up, he’d take me to local football or basketball games almost every Friday and Saturday. I developed a natural interest in aesthetics around sport and that introduced me to adjacent cultures and aesthetics. At the same time my mom was teaching art classes, so I started drawing. The two interests just started to come together and design has taken me to places I’ve never imagined. That’s a long way of saying, “it’s amazing, unexpected, and I feel so lucky.” It’s so rewarding to go through the ups and downs of a project on the way to realizing a tangible thing. Those things then hold all the memories of making. The late nights, conversations, and sketches are all there in the finished product.
It’s always interesting to see how a peculiarity can transform into a career path. As you’ve moved forward, I’m curious to know what exactly is involved when it comes to initially sketching or introducing a new product idea or rebrand? What are the most important things that you are looking for when starting your creative process?
I feel like I’m never really “starting” a creative process. It’s just ongoing.
I’m always trying to understand the “why” behind the things I like / don’t like while constantly exposing myself to multiple sources of inspiration. Then, when a project is kicked off, I have a head start. You know, a “this just feels right” intuition. From there, I try to really understand a brand’s DNA and what that means. What is the brand’s voice? How is color used? How are physical forms treated? How are details applied? Where can we evolve it? This helps me further narrow my approach, so rather than exploring wide I’m able to explore within a focused path that inherently feels right. Informed sketches, inspiration images, and models representing a pointed perspective are much more valuable than a wide range of thoughts that are clearly off-brand. This leaves more time to zoom way into the micro details.
I’m obsessed with the little things like the size of a fillet on a pair of headphones or the etching applied to a functional piece. If those moments are right, a product really comes to life.
You’ve worked with products like turntables, sneaker wear, watches, apparel, headphones and more. These are all so vastly different from each other, have you picked up any lessons from working with different products? Or, are they all just treated as their own entity?
The goal, no matter the category, is to put the brand first. An object represents the physical manifestation of a brand, and that brand feeling or soul has to come through.
I always try to reduce a product down to its most basic elements and highlight key functionality. From there you can introduce brand specific form treatments, finishes, and materials. The Shinola Runwell Turntable, for example, is really just a rectangle and circle. Its substantial proportion was inspired by the brand’s hometown city of Detroit, material and color choices paid homage to other products in the brands catalogue, and micro details and elements were directly inspired by moments found on the brand’s watches, leather goods, or bicycles.
Whether the product is a turntable, sneaker, watch, or garment, it’s always a canvas for a brand to express itself.
What do you think the future of product design will be? Are there any trends that you have picked up that our audience should take notice of?
The future is here. Product design and development is changing so much especially with the capabilities of 3D printing. We’re able to sketch something, quickly build it in 3D, and then see 3D prints only hours later.
About a year ago I was working on a watch design. We started with dimensioned drawings and at the end of the day we sent three variations to print. The next morning we settled on a direction, and explored iterations within that version. By the end of the week we had worked through twenty plus versions all examining details down to the half millimeter. Our 3D CAD file was sent off to the factory, and our first prototype came back three weeks later exactly to specification.
With all of these years of success, I’m sure you have collaborated with like-minded creatives and directors. What’s something that you could pass on to our readers– learned from someone you’ve worked closely with?
Yes! I’ve been lucky to have some great mentors. I’ve found the best designers are the ones most willing to help, guide, and share ideas. There’s a confidence in that, and it only encourages collaboration and the free exchange of ideas.
Specifically, I’ll always remember a certain thought shared by one of my mentors. I was struggling with my path and the expectations I had for myself. He said, “School teaches you to find what you aren’t good at and practice that. That’s wrong. Find what you’re good at and try to do as much of that as possible.” I found that extremely empowering, and it gave me license to be even more myself rather than conform to what a specific title would expect of me.
What inspires you outside of your day-to-day work that helps you ideate on new projects?
Taking a break. I’m here in San Francisco with a close proximity to beautiful scenery just a few miles away. I’ve found a trail I like to go to, even when I feel too busy. It helps me slow down and prioritize what’s most important. I often design in my head in the quiet, then when I’m at work I’m just executing.
Give us 5 brands or objects that we should look into that correlate with what you think good product design is?
This is such a hard question! How about six objects that have had the biggest impact on my career?
- A basketball
- Air Jordan 1
- Ralph Lauren classic Oxford shirt
- Comme Des Garcons classic half zip wallet
- Teenage Engineering OD11
- Bertoia Chair by Knoll
They all represent simplicity, soul, honest use of material, and the ability to be reimagined in multiple iterations.
You can look more into David Whetstone’s work by clicking here.
Thank you for reading our sit down with David Whetstone. Any_ is an experience design studio in New York City focusing on digital creative platforms, human experiences, and a curated community. Any_Voice sits on the brink of what’s ahead in technology, design and culture. A platform where we set out to find individuals and topics who are paving the way in society and creation. Log onto weareany.com to contact us or find out more.
