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Where I live, upon hearing the word designer, most people presume fashion before industry. While that might also be a likely conclusion in Paris, I doubt that it's true in most of Scandinavia. America should ask itself why that is. Perhaps it's our culture or perhaps it's our scale. As a child, it didn't even dawn on me that one could study design. I just presumed that products appeared through spontaneous generation. The concept that someone actually sat down to design stuff seemed pretty far flung. If forced to pick who was responsible for America's industrial output, my best guess would have been engineers.
Sadly, most people in corporate America feel the same way. The gulfs between consumers, designers, engineers and corporate executives are all far too wide. The difference between designers and artists is that designers (occasionally) make art, but that in design there is always someone on the other end of the transaction, purchasing their work and then interacting with it. Into this confusing field, Jon Kolko, a Professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design has introduced Thoughts on Interaction Design. While designers have always needed to be jacks-of-all-trades, Kolko's book shows just how fuzzy the boundaries have become. Thus, although Thoughts on Interaction Design is not an industrial design book in the mold of Henry Dreyfuss or even Donald Norman, his Thoughts are just as important, because all industrial design is interaction design as well.
Posted by: Robert Blinn | Comments (5)
Right on time for the NBA Play-offs: The Portable-B-Ball, a hitch basketball system for your car.
Just add this in-car Golf Set so we can start looking forward to the next traffic jam!
via bright
Posted by: Aart van Bezooyen | Comments (1)
Photo: Big Bench, winner in the category 'products'.
"Big Bench is by the Danish duo Poul Christiansen and Boris Berlin (Komplot Design), a sofa that can be extended to a length of 6 meters. The composite materials used in the design give the sofa excellent support characteristics, despite its slim and elegant appearance. The sofa is available in semi-transparent composite or with a lacquered finish in a range of colours."
The International Composites Design Competition salutes designs in which composite materials have been used to the best effect and in an intelligent and innovative manner. The competition was open to professional designers from all over the world: individual designers, design agencies and corporate designers.
An exhibition comprises of the work of the winners of the competition, along with another twenty selected entries and a small number of items. See the website on this second edition of Composites on Tour for more information + agenda of this traveling exhibition.
Posted by: Aart van Bezooyen | Comments (0)
Ashley Gehman is a Philadelphia-based designer whose iArtifact project tempts Apple fandom with a logical extreme: non-functional iPod ear buds as silver jewelry. Exploring what happens when the icon is separated from its digital manifestation, the earrings provide a nice commentary on object obsession culture when it collides with fashion. Other projects in the series include a bracelet and wallpaper graphics.
See more of Ashely Gehman's work at ashleygehman.com
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (2)
This isn't the first time we've seen rogue plastic figurines on the streets of NYC, and this one doesn't involve turds or anything, but we're delighted by these uber-literal efforts better known as The Concrete Jungle. Here we see jungle animals scampering about this crazy city we call home--well, not really "scampering" since they've been affixed to their habitats with waterproof glue.
Directions:Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
1. Apply glue to animals.
2. Mix animals with city to taste.
Design Within Reach and Airstream have collaborated with architect/designer Chris Deam to serve up a tastefully outfitted trailer in June of this year. The overall look is to be "light and airy," and favorites like the Nelson clock, Tom Dixon's wire coat rack, and Paul Smith's Maharam fabric-covered cushions are sure to inspire nomadic design freaks to seriously save up for their next road trip.
via mocoloco
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Your narrow-space coat-hanging hang-ups can easily be relieved thanks to Schindlersalmeron's front-facing Kleiderleiste coatrack solution. The CNC-cut stainless steel fixture features grooves where hangers can be positioned to align garments along the wall as opposed to perpendicular to it. Kleiderleiste is produced in 60, 80 and 100cm lengths and can be custom-made up to 285cm.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Car-loving dorks, gather 'round. Fabrik's new SimpleDrive external hard drives were devised with sports cars in mind--not exactly surprising since Pininfarina, responsible for your favorite Ferrari, Maserati, and Peugot stylings (among many others), designed them. They don't have wheels and certainly won't transport you and your hot date to the club, but they can store up to 500GB of data!
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)As if we weren't already way too obsessed with sliced bread--whether it be blessed, rolled through, or custom-printed, we sure love us some conceptual toast. The folks over at Evil Mad Scientist have decided to trump smaller-scale efforts by whipping up a CNC printing toaster, fitting the machine with a hot air gun and going X, Y, and Z like nobody's biz. The video demonstrates the hack's performance, replete with the novelty of watching Ze Frank's face emerge from bare bread.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
If you're the type to spend your savings on fancy footwear, then Jason Markk's $25 Premium Sneaker Solution set might be a smart investment to keep those kicks spic-and-span. It's 98.3% natural, completely biodegradable, and an 8 oz. bottle will spruce up about 50 pairs of sneakers. If the utility doesn't draw you in, the sweet packaging and designed details will certainly be the lure, you know, to gain a little more street cred.
via notcot
Being a couch potato just got easier. The All-Sounds Catch Cubic Pillow is a sound-absorbing headrest that diverts all ambient sound directly to your ear, in case you're too lazy to undertake the strenuous effort of pushing the "Volume-up" arrow on the remote control. Get this for your lazy loved ones and watch as their molecules actually become fused with the furniture.
[Via Tokyo Mango]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
If you drive a car with a manual transmission, you use slightly less gas than drivers with automatics. Now you can take this one step further with the Gaslock Indy Cater, a shift knob with an LCD readout that tells you the exact moment to shift in order to maximize your gas savings.
Of course, if you keep your eyes on this thing instead of the road, you might wind up with a bigger problem than losing a few bucks at the pump.
[Via Sci-Fi.com]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
The Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization is now accepting entries for their 2007 Good Design Awards. Founded by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1957, the competition is now in its 51st year. This year's chairperson is architect Hiroshi Naito. Details here.
For a look at some of 2006's winners, click here.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Remember that buzzphrase from the '90s, Universal Design? Margie Vinson is a nurse who designed a motorized cabinet that plugs into a regular outlet and raises or lowers at the press of a button, making life easier for those with disabilities. An article about her (linked at the bottom) lists 33 points, from keeping cabinets shallow-depth to using smooth rangetops that allow users to easily slide pots forward, that designers should keep in mind when undertaking Universal Design projects. Click here for the full article.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
We usually report on stuff you can actually make use of, however, we're content just appreciating Blythe Church's ironic plushy take on everyday, meant-to-be functional objects--especially the electronic devices. Plush You interviews the Nova Scotian crafter on her inspirations and her future creative plans.
via craftzine
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
The New York Times wraps up last week's Milan brouhaha by reporting on the head-to-head attendance of "neo-Surrealist designers whose sensational, impractical, often supersize work is more than anything a form of self-expression, and a more serious group of neo-rationalists, who hark back to old-school Modernists in their desire to make better products for everyday use." In the end, people love to see (and buy) from both movements, so it seems there's enough room for everyone...well there was enough of Milan to go around, at least.
"No one's going to win," said Murray Moss, the New York design impresario, of the war of ideas brewing at the Rho-Pero fairgrounds and at the fringe shows around the city. He seemed upbeat about his prediction, reflecting a mood that had taken hold across Milan: Finally, people seemed to feel, the furniture industry is healthy enough to support a little competition.
(pictured left: Dandelight by Drift, pictured right: Steelwood chairs by Bouroullec)
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
You may have spotted, admired, but certainly not stepped on Sprinkle Brigade's turds-turned-masterpieces on the streets of NYC over the past couple years. These "pooblic" displays aren't politically charged or anything, but they sure do crack smiles on faces, get people talking, and prevent rank poop-shoe casualties. Better yet, these creations have earned the Brigade its very first gallery show called "Welcome to the Office of Urban Beautification" at Neon in Lyon, France, opening on May 14.
Oh wait, there's more--keep an eye out in August for the first in a trilogy of Sprinkle Brigade books: Sprinkle Brigade Volume 1 : New York State of Mind. Behold! The power of poo.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
If you weren't able to check out the Urban Forest banners when they were hanging in Times Sqare (blogged here), you can now have them hanging over your shoulder--if you hurry. 185 banners from "some of the world's most celebrated designers and artists" x 2 totes each doesn't make a lot of bags!
Here's more:
The tree is metaphor for sustainability, and in that spirit the banners from the exhibition are now being recycled into totebags designed exclusively for the project by Jack Spade. Profits from sales of the totebags will benefit Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships and the AIGA/NY Mentoring Program to sustain the next generation of design talent.
Sale begins Monday, April 30th. All info here.
(Above image and bag by Chip Wass.)
ADDENDUM: If you're more of a t-shirt person than a satchel person, you will be able to order up a T with your favorite design printed on it!
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (0)
If you hate rainy days, designers Frederik Molenschot and Susanne Happle might have just the thing to make you flip for a drizzle and wish for a storm. Direct contact with water reveals a floral pattern on these seemingly plain Solid Poetry patio tiles.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)Check out this video of a suitcase bike opening, closing, and peddling itself around. Surprisingly, it's not just another concept--a prototype was spotted last week at the Canton Fair in China. For about $399, the like-luggage bike can be all yours when they start to roll out later this year...and if you're a true connoisseur of low-tech Inspector Gadget-type toys, don't forget that briefcase grill.
via treehugger
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
Good news for us: Autodesk recently commissioned a survey of 2,000 people, and among the demographically-desirable 18-29 year olds ("millenials") a majority pay good attention to design. "Almost seven in ten respondents said that the last time they saw a product in a store that they 'just had to have,' it was because of its design."
Some of the highlights:
- Millenials are willing to pay more for an appealing product design, whether it's a car (67%), furniture (60%) or a video game system (31%)._
- They give serious thought to public spaces (66%), beauty and architecture (42%) when considering relocation to a new city._
- They are happier (74%), more motivated (64%) and more efficient (31%) in a well-designed workplace.
- An overwhelming 82% of survey participants would let the prospect of working in a beautifully designed building influence their decision to accept a job.
You can download the entire report here.
[Via IndustryWeek]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Here's a fun hack to turn the beloved moleskin into an 80GB drive.
via lifehacker
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (0)The latest essay on Design Observer, by Thomas de Monchaux, is a bit of a mash-up. Some very nice points, but then gets sucked into a vortex of formal critique. Or a cortex of vernal fatigue. Well, you decide. Here's a good bit:
The problem is, of course, complicated. First, there is the corruption of the word "design" itself, as it's generally applied to an Apple object. What distinguishes your iPod from your brand-x MP-3 player is not design: that brand x machine also is distinguished by design. By bad design. What is unique to Apple is more accurately called "style": a clear signature vocabulary of forms and materials, superabundant to the mere requirements of function, that convey a certain sensibility, atmosphere, association, vibe. Of course, all those rounded corners may aid in manufacture and structure, but they also say in a comfortingly Jetsonian way: "I'm from the future, and so are you."
Read the entire article.
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (0)
2 links from the amazing DaddyTypes blog: Fleurville's Mobi Stroller Bag (made from recycled pop bottles--pardon the pun), and Nika Zupanc's completely over-the-top acrylic cradles.
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (0)
When and where the umbrella originated is not quite clear. What we do know is that SENZ Umbrellas does a big step forward in the evolution of umbrellas.
Accordingly, "The aerodynamic SENZ Original is the first umbrella that will never go inside-out: It easily slices its way through all winds, from an afternoon breeze to strong autumn gusts. The SENZ Original is unique for always finding the best position in the wind, which requires minimum effort. Playing with the wind has become not only easy and comfortable, it's extremely fun too!"
Most surprisingly is probably its asymmetrical design that combines a perfect sight with rain protection. Just like airplane wings and Olympic speed-skating suits, the umbrellas have been tested at the wind tunnels of the Delft University of Technology - this one promises to be windproof up to wind force 10.
For these Dutch industrial designers, the rainy climate in the Netherlands was probably the perfect ingredient for this kind of innovation.
Posted by: Aart van Bezooyen | Comments (1)
The European Space Agency plans to send an iPod to the astronauts chillin' aboard the International Space Station this fall. The iPod will be transported via an unmanned spacecraft called the Automated Transfer Vehicle--and there's even a contest to add top-drawer spacetastic playlists onto that very cosmic iPod. If your intergalactic musical taste is up to par, (here's the kicker) and if you reside in one of the participating countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, or Switzerland), and if you're over 18 years of age...well, then you're eligible. As cool as the whole idea sounds, annoyed sighs and eye-rollings are sure to ensue when the 'nauts uncover the campy, predictable song selection...also disappointed to be deprived of the hot new Beyonce track.
via crave
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
While American consumers have their soon-to-launch iPhones, Japanese cell phone users have their own innovative handsets in the near future, courtesy of Japan's NTT. Is the difference in features cultural? You tell us:
1. NTT subsidiary Neomeit will release in September a technology you've doubtless heard about (but not yet actually used) before: using your cell phone as a remote control. For about four bucks a month, users can rent the "U-Consento" infrared transmitter to control their stereos, TVs and HVACs via cell phone.
2. DoCoMo will also release (date TBD) a line of phones targeted at the elderly. The phones will provide health-monitoring hardware like thermometers and blood pressure meters.
3. NTT DoCoMo's 904i series of phones due for May release feature accelerometers that enable Wii-like gaming, and/or functionality (i.e. shake your phone like an etch-a-sketch to retrieve your messages).
[Via Digital World Tokyo and Pink Tentacle]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
The fact is that honeybees, which we need as a species to pollinate our crops, are disappearing. Colony Collapse Disorder, the scientists are calling it.
Two weeks ago the cause was apparently cell phones; scientists speculated that radiation given off by our handsets was mucking with the bees' internal navigation systems. (This could speedily be solved if the bees would just hire a snotty flight attendant telling us in no uncertain terms to shut our phones off.)
But this week, they're saying the culprit is actually a virus, not Verizon.
What murderous force is actually causing bee colonies to collapse? No one yet knows, though we here at Core have our own theories.
You know, I sure do love getting the Sunday Times on the weekends, settling down at the table and GAAAHH! GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
(Apparently this thing is on the market.)
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (3)
NYC-based designer Harry Allen and Esque Studio have collaborated on a new line of blown glass and steel frame lighting and vases. Think the Blob meets 3-D wireframes, but styled into high-end housewares, and without the slimy mess. The organically designed vessels rest tensely within steel gridded frames, appearing to ooze despite being completely rigid. (Shown above from left to right: Jailbirds vase, Triple Grid Bubble vase, Grid Bubble lamp)
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (2)What else would you do with all these obsolete barf-beige PCs from 1997? These dudes end it "legit" by giving most of the PCs away to charity or recycling them as part of an overall hardware deal.
via arbroath
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
The Keyport Slide universal key fob lets you tote your house, office, car, and lock keys around in one streamlined casing where sliding modules push keys out from the shell. Integrated RFID allows for remote keyless entry and there's even a built-in alarm remote that's currently in development. Keyport hasn't launched yet, but you can sign up for alerts on the site if you're tired of those prickly-pokey keys in your pocket.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (5)
Of the many cord-keeping lighting concepts that exist today, Nicolo Taliani's Lamp No.1 really stands out as a simple and elegant solution. The lamp uses the excess cord length as an aesthetic element, gathering it into its clear glass belly for all to see. The shade holds a touch-sensitive dimmer plate near the top that controls various light intensity levels.
via pan-dan
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
We've got good news and... good news.
Firstly, the DESIGNMAI 2007 website has just been launched. From 12th to 20th May, this international design festival will transform the city of Berlin into a platform for it's design scene, a stimulating place for international exchange and a seismograph of the latest design trends. This year's fifth edition will be all about DIGITALABILITY or: "What are we doing with digital technologies?" and "What are they doing with us?"
Secondly, last year most events were centralized at one location creating a kind of designer ghetto (see last year's A Letter from Berlin) - this year will once again lead us through the streets of Berlin with eventful location in the middle of the everyday life.
Berlin itself is part of the show, so get your calendar and city maps (PDF) here to find your way through the design and the city.
P.S.
Again, the Designmai Youngsters will pushing the other side of the story at the 'Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben' in Berlin. This year stands for a 96 hour non-stop program marathon on DIGITAL
These three designers have been steadily working, putting pen to paper--or at least pen to graphic tablet--to create spirited, fresh and sometimes frightening images.
Leonardo Baptista Lopes
Balneário Camboriú, Brazil
Leonardo Baptista Lopes' digital paintings are reminiscent of the rotoscoped, tripped out characters from "A Scanner Darkly". Like their dark(ly) inspirer, Lopes' grim, brooding and freakish characters live in an introspective dystopia.
N.C. Winters
Escondido, California
Introspection, detachment and melancholia are key themes in the work of N.C. Winters. His designs display his need to fill ever blank space with visual stimuli--or at least tame it, prompting the viewer to stay a while and search through the details of these solitary environments.
Karo Akpokiere
Lagos, Nigeria
Like the Nigerian underground hip hop and graffiti scene, Akpokiere's work is forceful and irreverent. The designs are ornate and dense with text and images that co-exist and collide (check out his stool drawings).
Posted by: | Comments (5)Peter Hall's got a great piece in Metropolis on the crisis facing product design schools right now, summed up in the subtitle: "Design schools need to shift focus from the form of objects to understanding the systems that produce them." Here's a taste:
It seems to me that there are at least three responses from design schools to the current crisis: position product design as a business(week)-friendly, innovation-focused process (IIT and Stanford); focus on research rather than form making and align it with other humanities disciplines (Hunt); or take the art-school route epitomized by the Royal College of Art, in London, and Cranbrook Academy of Art, which have reputations for critical thinking and producing sexy imagery of objects--often more hypothetical than manufacturable.
Read entire article.
Thanks Jason!
Lonneke Gordijn of Netherlands-based design studio, Drift, has conjured up this delightful device that marries technology and nature. Dandelight is a battery-powered LED delicately adorned with a phosphorus-bronze stem and dandelion seeds. It looks exactly like an illuminated fuzzy dandelion that stays alive thanks to "batteryfood."
via dezeen
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Remember the Intel Challenge PC-designing contest we posted about a few weeks ago? One of the entries is pictured above. And while architect Won-Chul Kim's "Once Again in Front of the Mirror" will probably not be flying off the shelves at CompUSA, the guy gets points for originality. Or vanity. Or for receiving an undue amount of pressure from his girlfriend.
[Via Sci-Fi.com]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
These days it seems even the Amish are carrying digital cameras, and those of us that shoot in urban environments know it's not long before the lens gets dirty. Specks on the glass can foul your autofocus and light sensors, turning your $300 toy into a Lomo.
To keep the glass clean, we're supposed to use that space-age cloth thingy, which most of us fail to carry around. To solve this problem, Sigma has produced the Micro-Fiber Lens Cloth Keychain, which goes for less than four bucks. And don't worry; the cloth stays clean inside its own little pouch, so your pocket lint doesn't ruin your shot of those rule-bending Amish.
[Via ProductDose]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene, or ETFE, has been in use for 15 years, however, it may soon experience a surge in notoriety thanks to its major role in the design and structure of both the Beijing National Stadium and Aquatics Center, which are being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Related to Teflon, ETFE is a transparent plastic that has been selected in lieu of glass and plastic for the construction of many future-forward buildings and concepts.
ETFE can be made into glass-like sheets or inflated in pillows and is being used in some of the most innovative new buildings around the world....Compared to glass, it's 1% the weight, transmits more light, is a better insulator, and costs 24% to 70% less to install. It's also resilient (able to bear 400 times its own weight, with an estimated 50-year life-span), self-cleaning (dirt slides off its nonstick surface), and recyclable.
More info and a nice slide show at BusinessWeek.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (2)
The Carry and Go Briefcase BBQ and Fold Flat BBQ are both compact enough for grillin' on the go, however, mention of the giant bag of charcoal you'd need to lug around has been conveniently omitted from the promotional copy. Both grills are pretty affordable--just GBP19.95 for the Fold Flat BBQ and (if you really mean "business") GBP24.95 for the Briefcase BBQ...so you might be able to justify your purchase purely based on camp value.
via gizmodo
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
If you enjoy watching paint dry, then you'd be thrilled to get your paws on Thorsten Streichardt's Rasen shredder. It's been modified to operate at a severe fraction of its normal speed, closely matching the pace of growing grass. Rasen shreds less than 1 cm of paper over the course of 24 hours, so don't hold your breath. (If it's shred-tastic entertainment you seek, you might want to invest in a hamster or two.)
via vvork
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Nokia's got bored British commuters playing games, but Solo takes a different approach to interactive bus stop marketing by showcasing the phone's walkie-talkie feature. Under Vancouver-based agency Rethink's creative guidance, bus shelters in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary were equipped with built-in two-way radios that connect commuters between different cities, in real time, with just a push of a button.
via ad goodness
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
So, the ginormous Airbus A380 has finally made its way into the hands of the wealthy. An anonymous Middle Eastern "head of state" seeking some high-flying pimposity tapped design firm Edese Doret Industrial Design to deck his jet out. EDID made do, working within the tight framework of the $150 million budget.
The thing features guest suites, a cocktail lounge with movie viewing area, wet bar, dining room, multiple living rooms, you name it.
It's depressing when your apartment is nowhere near as nice as this thing that can land at JFK.
[Via Unbeige]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
In case you missed it: An interesting anti-pollution campaign run in China by the World Wildlife Federation. The balloon represents how much CO2 the average car generates on an average day, though we have a feeling the real amount was too large to construct a balloon for.
[Via Neatorama]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)Duct-Tape Sculptures. What will become of our society? And why is a dinosaur scaling the CN Tower?
Using Ants in Advertisements. Out of ink? Draw something with syrup, let the critters do the rest.
[Via DumpTrumpet]
Ex-IDSA President and designer Mark Dziersk is an expert speaker in the field of Industrial Design who holds over 100 US patents. He also runs an Essentials of Industrial Design class in Northwestern University's Master of Product Development program.
The five-year-old program was created as an out-of-your-comfort-zone hybrid to fill the gap between the finance, marketing, and leadership courses students get in business school and the topics they'd cover--materials selection, specification, and validation--at the university's engineering school. A soupcon of wacky design thinking leavens the innovation process and teaches creative risk taking.
Dziersk's MPD students at Northwestern have designed products that have won awards as well as received direct VC funding. An example of his teaching methods:
"Take out some paper," he instructs. "You have 30 seconds to write down 15 ways in which a cat is like a refrigerator."
Read an article about the class by FastCompany, here.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)Sure, everyone is blogging about Sheryl Crow's eco-focused one-square manifesto (but is it for poo or just pee, Sheryl? And if you're doing this tour with Laurie David, will this show up on a future episode of Curb?) but we bring you the design-y details, as Sheryl Crow turns fashion designer. Or perhaps that's "fashion" "designer."
Posted by: Steve Portigal | Comments (2)
I have designed a clothing line that has what's called a "dining sleeve." The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another "dining sleeve," after usage. The design will offer the "diner" the convenience of wiping his mouth on his sleeve rather than throwing out yet another barely used paper product.
Earlier this week, the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) saluted Earth Day by publishing this year's top ten list of sustainable projects that have invested in considerable modifications to exist more harmoniously within the natural environment. You might recognize one of the selections from a 2005 Studio Bullitt on Steven Holl Architects' Whitney Water Purification Facility.
The selected projects address significant environmental challenges with designs that thoughtfully weave architecture, technology, and natural systems. This year's COTE Top Ten include a model single-family home, sustainable master plan and library, two nonprofit headquarters, a school, and a water treatment facility that doubles as a park. In addition, public education of sustainable practices was a key component of most projects.Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Street art and design collective DOMA introduces 15 over-the-top vinyl toys in its new Acid Sweeties collection. The cracked-out characters appear as if they've escaped an acid trip only to find their way into some proper packaging, ready to be purchased for $7.95 each on April 26th at 11am EST at Kidrobot.
via notcot
Japanese toilet manufacturer Inax has just released their 2007 Satis Asteo Washlet toilet, which is a good example of how toilet design seems to be taken more seriously in Japan than elsewhere.
Some features:
A) The toilet has an SD card, pre-loaded with Bach, Chopin and Mendelsohn. Once you show up to take care of business, a sensor activates the tunes, either to relax you or to prevent houseguests in your thin-walled Japanese apartment from hearing anything other than Bach, Chopin or Mendelsohn.
B) The smoothly-designed exterior of the basin is easy to clean, absent of the dust- and grime-collecting nooks and crannies present in many Western toilets.
C) Another sensor figures out whether you're going to need the seat up or down (crikey, would love to know how this one works) and motorizes it into the appropriate position. After you leave, it automatically places the seat in the down position if it was up, preventing countless marital spats.
D) A nightlight in the bowl helps guide you during those 2am emergencies, though this feature may not be so desirable if you've had too much tequila and are making that other use of the toilet.
The (somewhat poorly Google-translated) webpage is here.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
Wet Foot Publications/Piebird press created these Paper Towel Flashcard sets as the first part of a series called "Know Your Household Products." The cards differentiate each brand by the unique dotted texture patterns on every roll. Before you know it, you'll be at dinner parties impressing your friends with your clean-up savvy. The group is currently developing a swatch card set inspired by dish soap colors.
via happy mundane
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Hobbling around on a lame leg no longer means bearing the cross of lame style. German design team qed has bestowed upon the trusty crutch a much-needed 21st century makeover. The Flexability crutch is composed of molded glass-reinforced plastic and sports a stackable, streamlined shape. (More qed goodness after the jump.)
When it comes to displays you've got LCDs, LEDs, and OLEDs; now make way for Hairy-Ds.
Electronics giant Philips has filed a patent for an as-yet-unnamed "display fabric" that operates by controlling hairs. Each pixel is made of fabric of a certain color, and embedded with hairs of a different color. When the hairs lay flat, all you see is their color; apply an electrostatic charge and the hairs stand up, revealing the color of the fabric beneath.
The initial applications are forecasted to be clothing with changeable displays on them, as there doesn't seem to be any use in having furry flatpanels. So we can continue to clean our laptop screens with electrostatic rags rather than, say, Pantene Pro-V.
[Via Oh Gizmo]
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Make:blog's got a great roundup of everyone's favorite DIY project, the crystal radio. We love the one up top, contructed from household items, but you'll find all kinds of creative enterprise in the post. Listen up here.
Posted by: Allan Chochinov | Comments (0)
We've all had the same fast food dining experience thought at one point or another: "This does not look anything like the [enter gimmicky fast food item name here] in the picture." But now you can feast your eyes on an entire collection of value meal misrepresentations thanks to this side-by-side comparison study. The real Big Mac up there looks like it's even grossing itself out.
via design observer
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (3)
BMW debuted their Concept CS car at last week's Shanghai auto show. A couple notable things:
- For a concept car, it doesn't look too concept, suggesting the high-end luxury ride may go into production soon. If you were to see one of these whipping down the road tomorrow, you would stare in awe, but not disbelief.
- BMW chose to debut the car in China. Surely familiar with the weight such a message carries in face-heavy China, BMW is probably trying to win some market share and consumer goodwill with the gesture.
The latter point is a sort of acknowledgement that the world's most desirable car market is steadily shifting from America to Asia. Manufacturing has already been going that way for a while--another article points out that Toyota has just outsold GM for the first time this year, in a trend that is expected to continue.
Aspiring auto designers, set your sights Eastward.
[In-depth coverage about the car in The New York Times]
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As of press time (9:57am Tuesday), Jonathan Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, is currently ranked 11th on Time Magazine's List of 100 Most Influential People. He's ahead of Brad Pitt and President Bush, but behind Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who currently tops the list. But internet participation can change these things, so vote now!
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (3)We've blogged about this before with the Pronto Condom, and truth be told, the Pronto video provides a longer, more satisfying experience, but here's another--the Pullit Condom. Cheers to industrial design solving the world's most urgent problems!
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EMUDE (Emerging User Demands for Sustainable Solutions) is a programme of activities funded by the European Commission, the aim of which is to explore the potential of social innovation as a driver for technological and production innovation, in view of sustainability. Behind the initiative are a consortium of partners, including the Milan Polytechnic, Doors of Perception and Philips Design.
Their newly published book, Creative Communities, sheds more light -- by adopting a design perspective -- on cases where subjects and communities use existing resources in an original way to bring about sustainable system innovation.
The book is available for download: low res. (46.6 mb) - medium res. (66.5 mb)
(via John Thackara)
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A packed RISD auditorium enjoyed one of the best-programmed conferences ever, with concentrations on Sustainability, Interaction and Experience, Research, and Creativity--exactly the issues most urgent in the growing and maturing field of what is still, stubbornly, being called industrial design.
After a Friday night "mixer" at DWR (Bob Brunner from Pentagram and Fuego North did their futile best to give a presentation amid the pandemonium), Saturday morning started off a bit groggy, but nevertheless inspired, with the theme "Major Shifts." A central thread was sustainability, (a highlight was Eric Rice from Patagonia), with the line up of Stephen Lane from Item NPD, Cynthia Smith (curator of the upcoming Design for the Other 90% at the Cooper-Hewitt), Meagan O'Neill from Treehugger, and Allan Chochinov from Core77.
[tons more pics after the jump]
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Summer's coming, and while all of us are looking forward to getting outdoors, New Yorkers will, as usual, dread having to take the subway. Poor ventilation makes temperatures on some of the underground platforms feel something like being in the center of the sun. A notable exception to this is last year's unveiling of air-conditioned platforms at Grand Central, but the coolness could only be felt if you stood directly underneath the huge (and hugely inefficient) blowers.
Now there's hope! Well, sort of; folks at the MTA are talking about installing glass-edged platforms on the upcoming 2nd Avenue line, like they kind they currently have on the Airtrain to JFK platforms and in Hong Kong's Kowloon, pictured above. This would enable air conditioning to be "locked in" to the platforms.
The reason we say "sort of" is because city officials have been talking about building a 2nd Avenue subway line since, wait for it...1929. The original schematics were probably drawn on a piece of slate with a rock.
In the meantime, we broil.
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Meat, bones and neurons. That's what our discussion board members say is missing from D-schools after reading Dan Sheffer's article, ''Design Schools: Please Start Teaching Again.'' The consensus is that schools are putting too much emphasis on innovative thinking, polarizing designers and placing some at a disadvantage. So what do they want? Schools that teach the fundamentals of design, PERIOD. One member, who carried the discussion over to his blog, put it best when he said, ''If meat is knowledge, then bones are technical skills/craft. And of course the mind represents Thinking.'' You need all to make the Design body move.
A hot tip passed on from the one and only Yo!
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Designing in a vacuum is no good; it's always great to see how people actually use the products we crank out.
Jan Chipchase has got a great essay, based on three years of Nokia research, on where people from different cultures (11 countries, 4 continents) carry their phones, why, and what it all means.
[Via Textually]
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If you think your apartment is small, you need to visit Tokyo, where they've got domiciles that make submarine cabins look spacious. Perhaps that's why they've now got Tsubomi, a pre-fab system for adding spaces made out of aluminum and glass. Pictured above is an ad-hoc office parked over a parking spot, sent to Jean Snow by a reader. Click the link below for more info.
[Via Jean Snow]
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In an exploration of fictional tools for hibernators, Susanna Hertrich developed the Chrono_shredder, a product that serves as a reminder to live one's life productively. The 365-day calendar is dispensed day-by-day from a single roll, each day shredded over an exact 24-hour period.
The Chrono_Shredder's function is not to show the current moment, like a calendar. Instead, it shows the nearest future (the next day) - and all the time that has past from the time the device has been switched on. Whilst you spend your time in hibernation - the Chrono_Shredder messes up your space with wasted time!
via vvork
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Minimalism is hard to pull off when you've got the amount of crap on your desks that we do. So we're fans of this combination USB hub/tape dispenser, currently available only in Japan, as they seem to know from minimalism.
Please give us your suggestions: Which of the following indispensable desk items (or add your own) would you combine?
- stapler
- pen/pencil holder
- mouse
- paper clip dispenser
- mail in-box
- external hard drive
- digicam dock
- 750ml bottle of Jim Beam
- embroidered "Bless This Mess" sign
[Via Tokyo Mango]
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Lost Found Art is a company in the Tri-State area that that does installations and assemblages. "We put together complete collections of weird and unusual vintage and antique pieces for residential and commercial applications," is how one employee puts it. They also buy antiques, so if you've got some tchotchkes or grandpa's war medals lying around, drop them a line.
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Drivers in Tunisia might not be so annoyed with Ilyes Jaryan's under-the-wiper music school flyers if they're attentive enough to notice the conceptual touch. Let's hope takers don't show up with windshield wipers in lieu of horsehair bows.
via ad goodness
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)Check out this video of Nokia's new N95 campaign plastered on the sides of bus shelters in the UK. While waiting for transport, you can pass the time by playing an interactive touch-screen matching game. Unfortunately, this person didn't even come close to winning, so we have yet to find out what appears at the end.
via wired
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They don't light up or do anything jazzy like that, but Jim Woodring's Moleskine pop-ups definitely get some major homebrew points. What's even more impressive is the level of execution given that these were "done on the run with pocket tools and available light."
thanks bryman!
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Not to burst your Magic 8 bubble, but the secret's been revealed. You might already know this is if you busted yours open during your destructive inquisitive childhood years--it's not a spherical miracle! That's right folks, we've been duped by a cylindrical container and cheap fortune-telling piece of plastic...kinda makes sense as to not waste the extra mystery liquid blue-dyed water.
via boingboing
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail provides some perspective today on the current design movement.
The article contains short interviews with (Canadian) design "visionaries", such as Bruce Mau ("We live our lives inside of design"), Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management ("I tell CEOs that they don't need to understand designers, they need to be designers"), and computer interface design specialist Bill Buxton, as well as the non-Canadian IDEO co-founder Tim Brown.
Posted by: Mark Vanderbeeken | Comments (0)
If last looks mean anything, Milano Design Week 2007 leaves us with one thought: re-use, re-think, re-invent. Evidence below:
1) The signs posted around Zona Tortona reminded visitors to think about personal time and energy expenditure in terms of a carbon footprint. Part of the "Best Up" initiative, this signage played a part in raising awareness about equality and sustainability.
2) French designer Tete Knecht won a place in the Promosedia exhibit with her straw shoes. Materiality aside, her unconventional means of production make for a joyous product experience. Made b