Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day<\/em> by Todd Henry<\/p>\nAfter our daily discussion, everyone got into their groups to pitch each other our concepts. Each of us took a turn presenting our designs. We received feedback on what ideas to move forward with as we work on the next round of concepts.<\/p>\n
The rest of the day was spent in the studio working on our projects. My team (Team Wiggins) worked on our projects and met with our material designer to talk about the direction we want to take on our color and material story. For my project, I am designing an off court shoe for Andre Wiggins. I spent the evening sketching some ideas based on the feedback I received from my team. I worked on a rough prototype to help me understand the direction I am taking. So far, it has been an amazing experience at Pensole.<\/p>\n
-Jaime Rojas<\/p>\n Inspiration on the wall at Pensole\n Team Wiggins research\n Teams pitching their concepts\n Team Wiggins\n Afternoon in the studio\n
<\/p>\n
Thursday: Day 9<\/h2>\n As the end of week two nears, D’Wayne inspired us this morning with a quote from Billie Jean King: \u201cA champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.\u201d He followed this one up with Vince Lombardi\u2019s \u201cOnce you learn how to quit, it becomes a habit.\u201d And lastly, from the Pensole guru himself: \u201cIt\u2019s better to finish last than not to finish at all.\u201d We\u2019ve got one week left before the big presentation at the The Village, so these quotes are keeping us motivated and on track. Today\u2019s book recommendation is \u201cManage Your Day-to-Day\u201d by Jocelyn K. Glei, which ties into another of Pensole\u2019s mantras of focusing on the day.<\/p>\n
Following the morning meeting, D’Wayne presented to the footwear designers the ingredients of a successful resume. As my team\u2019s Color and Material Designer, I spent this time in the color and material side of Pensole, editing colorways and briefing with Suzette. The team is now reviewing its second round of concept sketches, honing in on the three strongest. I met briefly one-on-one with each of my team\u2019s designers, where we developed a material strategy.<\/p>\n
Thomas Hardings, footwear designer for Adidas football, met with the crew to share his eight years of experience with the company. He had many stories and great insight, summarized below:<\/p>\n
– Soak it all in at the beginning. With time, advice gets clearer and you learn to disseminate the good from the bad \n– Giving and getting feedback is crucial. Reach out! If you\u2019re stuck on a project, let it breathe, inspiration comes from unexpected places \n– Design and back it up with the consumer. It\u2019s more than your opinion \n-You can\u2019t think only what you like is good and you can\u2019t always work on what you want. Sometimes it\u2019s a challenge, but constraints can help you be more clever \n– Your designs are made by people – stay connected to them as you design \n– The best managers are those who put their teams first, are positive about potential and make sure that everyone feels valued<\/p>\n
With that, it\u2019s back to the studio to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n
-Sarah Rabeda \nCMD, Team<\/p>\n What’s for lunch guys? The team takes a break to check out the ‘fancy’ food trucks\n Getting some sun during our midday break before our visit with Thomas\n Thomas Hardings talks to the crew about his experiences working as an adidas footwear designer\n We gathered in the design space to talk with Thomas and hear his great advice\n
<\/p>\n
Friday: Day 10<\/h2>\n We started off the day with takeaways from our visit yesterday. Adidas veteran, Thomas Hartings, gave us some great insight on the design process. He mentioned that his favorite design directors were ones that always stayed positive and put their teams needs before their own. We discussed how important those qualities are in any leader and how we can all practice them within our own teams. Hartings also mentioned that he was lucky enough to be the sample shoe size and was able to personally wear test all his projects. D\u2019Wayne mentioned in the industry there\u2019s always one guy on the design team that happens to be the sample size and everyone would try to step on their shoes and mess them up out of jealousy. That was a perfectly timed reminder how important it is to test your product. We are about to start mocking up our designs today. One of the other big takeaways was about his experience visiting the Adidas factories. Hartings was impressed with the craftsmanship and speed of the line workers. Getting to see his designs brought to life in person made him realize how important it is to be mindful of the people making your shoe and their work flow.<\/p>\n
The quote of the day was: \u201cThe only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.\u201d The translation = do what you\u2019re supposed to do. If you get the job done and deliver what you promised you won\u2019t have to apologize for anything.<\/p>\n
A few of the color designers from Adidas came in to talk to our Material design team. They gave some great feedback and discussed how important it is to keep materials in mind while you\u2019re designing.<\/p>\n Suzette Henri sat with each of the teams for a preliminary materials meeting\n Tuan making revisions on his color and materials story\n Jaime making some preliminary mock ups for his lifestyle basketball shoe\n Robert working on his performance running shoe\n Victoria pulling material finishes to share with her designers\n Brandon working on a tape-up\n
<\/p>\n
Saturday: Day 11<\/h2>\n Apparently we have already been at Pensole for two full weeks\u2026 It feels like just yesterday I landed in Portland. It\u2019s a little hard to believe that we only have one week left. There is so much work to be finished before we head to the adidas village to present our concepts.<\/p>\n
Today each group sat down with D\u2019Wayne to present our final three concepts. He then gave us feedback and where we need to push our final designs. He stressed the idea of \u201cbe uncomfortable,\u201d meaning that if you are comfortable in your designs then you are not pushing them to the limits. A similar idea was discussed while at the adidas Village. They don\u2019t want to think outside of the box, they want to \u201cremove the box from the situation.\u201d If there is no box, you are free to open your mind and design unseen products for the future.<\/p>\n
The final week at Pensole is going to be filled with long nights but will be worth every minute. It is extremely exciting to see where everyone\u2019s designs are going and how they view the future of each individual sport. So much work\u2026so little time.<\/p>\n
-Brandon Coopman<\/p>\n Saturday grind\n Developing heel lockdown solutions\n Mapping out abrasion\/stress areas\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following the World Sneaker Championship, PENSOLE has partnered with adidas for the Earn Your Stripes program. This three week design…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2415,"featured_media":404660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1212632],"tags":[1211825,1220018],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
adidas x PENSOLE "Earn Your Stripes" Diaries - Week 2 | Snkrs Day<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n