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5 MAN — modular mounted bus interior for clearance height
6 GEBERIT — toilet flusher line
Your Products Are Your Best AdvertisementIn the overall design development process, I’m also focused on a systemic and comprehensible branding strategy for the respective service or product. By cre-ating a deliberate product that is easy and inspiring to use, you create real value for the customer. With additional effort, it's possible to implement the complex universe of a brand as the ‘soul’ of a product, further connecting itself to the user. I believe that this
holistic design approach is always highly sustainable. It creates a basis of trust with the customer and ergo, a strong bond with the brand itself. An excellent product means you produce the most convincing social marketing tool out there — word-of-mouth recommendation. Genuine, quality products are key, especially in the age of Amazon reviews, Youtube and tech-related blogs.
SET DESIGN 1 CENTER VIEW — new studio design in action
2 FINAL STUDIO DESIGN — desk-studio design evaluation
3 MANUFACTURED NEWS DESK — construction & final tests
New Identity for SAT1-News
V-Sion, a specialised agency for creating corporate designs for various TV formats, asked me to collab-orate on their redesign of the SAT1-news studio and come up with a smart news desk solution, that would cover several moderation scenarios and would adapt to the overall new studio design. Many revisions and models later the SAT1 executives choose the final de-
sign out of 3 proposals. Afterwards I built the whole construction in close collaboration with the manufac-turers, finally providing the required 3D-data for the CNC-mill. I'm quite happy with the final product, hav-ing had meaningful interactions with the various de-sign professionals involved, while working effectively together within a tight deadline.
6 RTL - ‘THE BIG IDEA’ — 18m, mega-bra for a TV-episode
7 RED DOT AWARD — 2,75m, helix logo as fair stand balloon
Another Dimension of BrandingI actually got into inflatables by accident. The first project I did was the giant bra you see there at the bottom. I was hired for the construction and evaluation of the surface area and volume, which is crucial when it comes to helium balloons, as there are certain re-strictions concerning the material's weight vs. the lift capabilities of helium. This is why construction pro-grams are really the only way to go, especially for
precise modeling, constructive parts and defined print patterns for production. Within 2 years of working with balloons, I introduced new plugins and developed tech-niques to improve the whole production and design process. I was then able to achieve more complex shapes, covered in photographic or realistically ren-dered textures on high-tech material. This would open things up significantly in the creative process.
1 RADIO MADONNAa hand-modeled version, casted & laminated, b 3D-scanned for further construction and manufacturing c first renders of the the life-size audio sculpture
2 COZY FURNITURE COLLECTIONa clay models, form finding using Photoshop rendering as reference b 3D-scanned data as 3D reference for construction of the flat planesc using Pepakura for unfolding, referencing sheets & sheet construction overview
3 PLAYMOBILa hand-carved foam models for finalising the animal figures’ shapesb later 3D-scanned for modeling and construction for final production
A Hybrid Workflow For Full Control Over The Final DesignsThese are 3 different projects that illustrate the ad-vantages of a hybrid analogue-digital workflow, dis-solving all limitations of the shape development and manufacturing process. As shown in the imag-es, I make use of manual model-making for intuitive sculpting, then using state-of-the-art digital tech-niques like 3D-scanning, 3D-printing, laser-cutting,
CNC-prototyping etc. to convert everything into pro-cessable 3D-data. For further development I would rely on several polyg-onal-modeling and NURBS applications being able to exchange 3D-data back and forth between them, en-suring an fast, intuitive and barrier-free design pro-cess with full control over the final designs.
VISUALISATION1 ESCADA — main shopping window, KADEWE, Berlin
2 KAHLA HEADQUARTER — interior, competition
3 KAHLA HEADQUARTER — exterior, competition
4 HOTEL RESSORT — competition, Stralsund
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Idea Selling PicturesHaving worked a variety of different projects over the years, I consider effective visualisation the No.1 tool for explaining, and above all selling your vision to your audience to seal the deal. So whether it’s an architectural competition or your startup needs a convincing product visualisation, a striking image is definitely worth a thousand words.
Working in tandem with 3D and 2D programs, togeth-er we can decide whether it's more effective to model and render for convincing realism, or simply retouch the media, and add details in Photoshop.
1 ESCADA - “TRAVEL” Event visualisation, 11 windows & main hall, Fashion Week Berlin, KADEWE, Berlin
2 ROLAND - 4 SEASONS, 4 WINDOWS window designs, visualisation and design e valuations of a seasonal decoration strategy for all ROLAND shops
A Playground for DreamsThose are 2 projects I worked on with Markus Mahren, currently creative director of Escada, and formerly heading up Hugo Boss and Karstadt. The project on the left was all about “Travel”, a special event during Berlin Fashionweek taking place in KaDeWe, which included a merchandising concept for all of their 10 windows, and the main hall.
In the project on the right, you see examples for a sea-sonal shopping window strategy for Roland, (a sub-brand of Deichmann) which would work in all of their different stores. What I love about VM is its great storytelling potential and the broad conceptional freedom.
IDENTITY 1 COOOP — creative collective & furniture company
2 BRANDING 3D — product branding agency
3 REFINERY29 — biggest online fashion resource
4 UNDERGROUND QUALITY — dj label /identity
5 MATYLDA KRZYKOWSKI — personal identity
6 ANIMATCH™ — smart animal organ exchange network
7 VISUAL MERCHANDISING WORLD — visual merchandising
8 REAL SOCIAL DYNAMICS — #1 company for dating advice
Setting A SparkI consider a comprehensive and intelligible logotype as a crucial step in defining a brand. From a functional perspective it should work like an emotional seed, encompassing mere objects with the brand’s own story and philosophy — as a heraldic sign radiates the origin and values of a high-born family or a simple cross symbolizes the entire Christian church as a single icon.
In addition, I prefer a sustainable development of logos by expanding their potential usability, while keeping them functional and timeless. As Saint-Exupery explained: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
5 CUCKOO WATCH | the digitalisation of the cuckoo clock
6 STROKE TABLE | sketches-to-objects
Fundamental Design Research / Design ArtIn my conceptual work I use design as if it were its own complex language, dissecting sociological contexts or to confront existing perceptions. I consider the follow-ing projects as bridges between philosophy, the con-ceptual art world and design.I recently gave a talk and workshop on how to imple-ment strategies and techniques from graphic design into products and 3D-artwork, since currently there is
not much happening, due to a lack of interdisciplinary knowledge exchange. I believe that an applied, interdisciplinary design-art approach could in fact, be a catalyst for a change in design, regarding its experimental and explorative qualities.
A Contemporary Appearance For The Middle EastAfter a business trip to Dubai, I quickly came up with ideas and design strategies for an independent con-temporary Arabic design identity. Actually I always wondered, why, despite the large heritage of Arabic patterns and traditional crafts-manship, all current major architectural and design projects in the Middle East have been assembled, largely from European and American design imports
— a condition that can be only explained by a lack of local design education and related resources. In fact this project should emphasize the relevance of seri-ous knowledge transfer which would establish a sus-tainable Arabic design resource, over time develop-ing into a self-supplying design infrastructure. I could even imagine the same approach working for other emerging markets like Russia, India or China.
ABOUTMy name is Hannes Grebin, and I’m a product designer currently living and working free-lance in Berlin. I have enjoyed working in a variety of formats and media in my projects, and would consider myself a creative generalist.
FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN
Having spent several years studying, and developing my design sensibility, I have come to the conclusion that creating something for the simple purpose of beauty, is, in a word, excessive. In most cases, such projects would end up in hasty L’art Pour L’art. Some fancy stuff for fancy people, which doesn't really benefit the broader public. Design has value when it is based on sustain-ability, originality and meaning. I see design as a vital tool for collecting and effectively communicating a whole universe of informa-tion, in a concise, attractive and functional manner. The end goal being of course, a mean-ingful, and lasting experience for the user. It's my philosophy that when form follows function, all meaningful information that is compiled in a sophisticated, logical and sustainable package, the aesthetic comes naturally. I prefer a holistic design-thinking approach, to prevent short-sighted concepts, simply glossed over in a trendy package.
MUTUAL GROWTH
I love the expression 'Permanent Beta'1
because I believe that we are never finished learning and developing as a person. I love learning and trading knowledge with others, constantly working to improve myself. When you approach everything with the beginner's mindset, everything becomes more fulfilling
and authentic. In my daily work, I try to use my past experi-ences, skills and expertise to advise clients, while taking full responsibility for my part of the project. By providing clients with a sense of security and confidence in my work, it sets the foundation for an effective, symbiotic rela-tionship.
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I've included some work from my portfolio, which I hope gives you some insight into my creative process. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, I look forward to hearing back from you!
HELLO
Hannes Grebin | *1980product designerBerlin
“Good design has no ego. It’s happy to be invisible.”
1) PERMANENT BETA — Heard it the very first time in a talk by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn in Secrets Of Silicon Valley on ↗ www.creativelive.com — where he points out that like all Google products are planned as a permanent beta version, we'll always remain work-in-progress ourselves.
CLIENTS Symbiotic PartnershipsI love the challenge of working in a variety of different fields. It allows me to continue learning, while also building on existing skills. I'm convinced that most projects would benefit from an interdisciplinary work mindset. For me, it's important to be flexible within the design process, from ideation to production, as anything can happen. When I work with clients, I view them as design partners, with whom I collaborate,
each benefiting from one another's expertise. The following are some of the clients I’ve worked with so far, both as a freelancer and within design agencies.
Digital Tool PaletteThe following is the collection of programs I use in my daily work. My creative process starts with sketching out ideas on paper, multiple revisions of those scribbled ideas, combined with brainstorming and research. I then work on further developing selected ideas by creating semi-realistic renderings in Photoshop or Il-lustrator for first evaluation. I then bring the project into Rhino3D for NURBS-construction and Modo for
polygonal/SubD modeling and exchanging via TSplines or PowerSolids. After signing off on the final designs, we would develop the required 3D-data for final pro-duction or manufacturing, which could range from CNC-data for moulds, STL-files for 3D-printing, print patterns for balloon-welding, 2D-vectors for laser-cut-ting to technical drawings or even 3D-artwork for len-ticular lenses — actually, almost anything 3D-related.