RSS Feeds:We all know that team-work is hard, right? Well, Janet Rae-Dupree calls on some experts from the team-driven innovation biz to clarify difficulties:
It's why engineers design products ultimately useful only to other engineers. It's why managers have trouble convincing the rank and file to adopt new processes. And it's why the advertising world struggles to convey commercial messages to consumers.
and to offer some solutions:
"I would ask my very, very basic questions," [Cynthia Barton Rabe] said, noting that it frustrated some of the people who didn't know her. Once they got past that point, however, "it always turned out that we could come up with some terrific ideas," she said.
Read the full article here.
via jon schull
AVO:Market founder Brit Kleinman got in touch with us about her new project which encourages discovery, sharing, and learning with a dynamic collection of imagery of marketplaces around the globe. As a recent grad from RISD, current designer for Samsonite, and avid traveler, Kleinman concluded that "nothing could ever be 'designed' to have the same raw energy and soul as a market." AVO aims to capture that energy and expose the world's continuity through its areas of commerce, photographically captured by willing contributors...like you!
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
No iPhone here, people. We're all up on the practical nature of Consumerist's Top 10 Products of 2007 list. Topping the charts is vinegar with its multipurpose gusto, followed closely by baking soda, coffee, and tea. The internet barely made it at a teetering #9, bitch-slapped by olive oil, shoes, and the spork, and beating ladders by a hair.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Literally interpreted as a potted plant turned upside down, J.C. Karich's sculptural Plant table lamp camouflages power wires amongst its many branches.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)Everyone's favorite decades of the past-loving channel, VH1, has filled us in on what that Encyclopedia Britannica kid's up to these days. Well, no longer a computer-loathing kid, grown man Donovan Freberg is the webmaster (not of Wikipedia or any other online reference, sadly) of a pornography blog site.
via gizmodo
Your next job could be...
Located at : MKG Productions in New York, NY
With the title of : Event Production Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
Ara Paterson's site-specific texture-scape from the "Art Positions" container at Art Basel is comprised of hand painted (gasp) laser-cut birch plywood pieces.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (1)
Ori Gersht's Time After Time series consists of photographs of bouquets frozen with liquid nitrogen captured at the moment of explosion. Extreme!
via coudal
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
frog employees aren't the only ones saving up their trash to raise awareness about consumption and the envrionment. Ari Derfel did it for an entire year.
The supposedly upcoming iPhone update being posted about on some blogs allegedly lets you move icons around, has a Google Maps self-locator, will let you add Safari bookmarks to your home screen, and has been confirmed as "real" by "experts."
Though not willing to stake Core77's rep on this, I can stake my own; I'm 95% sure said update and its attendant photos are fake. Some websites contain technical talk of why this update has to be real, and I can't address that stuff; but take a look at the pictures with me, from the perspective of an industrial designer and writer with a baseline familiarity with Apple design, and I think you'll agree.
1. The text in the "Edit Home Screen" pop-up is un-Apple-like and wordy. Also, when would this window pop up? Steve Jobs' whole product philosophy is to design things that don't require instructions. The notion that Apple, a company that specializes in minimalist copy, would make you read a pop-up this long every time you performed a fairly routine task seems like it came from someone who uses Windows.
2. Do enough product sketches and you know when the perspective's on and when it's off. Here, it's off and looks poorly Photoshopped. If the topmost screen line jives with the bottom line of the "Cancel" button, it creates an impossible vanishing point vis-a-vis the angle of the phone and the on-screen text. Also note that both words in "Home Screen" are capitalized; in the instructional copy in point 1, it was written "Home screens," with the second word lowercased. The photo's exposure also looks wonky to me, but I'm not a pro photographer (if you are, please pipe up).
3. The most damning piece of evidence is in this copy: "An icon will be added to your home screen so you can quickly access this web site." Boom, fake. "Website" should be one word, not two. Apple is pretty fastidious about their copy, and there's no way this would make it into a final product. Not to mention the icon at left, a sloppy grab of a portion of the website, that I can't see Apple deeming aesthetically acceptable.
Sure, it's possible that the gaffes in points 1 and 3 are just test copy inserted by an uneloquent Apple software engineer, and that the perspective in point 2 is correct and I've just got a bum pair of peepers. What do you think?
Addendum: Last night I was contacted by Andru Edwards, the owner of Gear Live, the guy who posted the original entry I'm questioning above, and the apparent owner of an iPhone with the 1.1.3 update...
(((Those gates were built in the era of the Emperor Augustus.)))
ARTIFICIAL.DUMMIES from todo.to.it on Vimeo.
via Bruce Sterling
Posted by: Mark Vanderbeeken | Comments (1)
If you're feelin' a little bit spoiled from how the holidays are falling on the calendar, and aren't really getting back to work until Wednesday, why not get ahead of the game and start putting together your entry for our Greener Gadget Design Competition? Here's the pitch:
The Greener Gadgets Conference will take place on February 1st, 2008 in New York City. As part of the event, Greener Gadgets has partnered with Core77 to seek out design innovations for greener electronics. This design competition will engage established design firms, emerging designers, and design students to come up with new and innovative solutions to address the issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development. The top entries will be showcased live at the Greener Gadgets Conference for judging by a panel and the audience, and awards will be given out at the end of the night. Winners will also be showcased on GreenerGadgets.com, Core77.com, and Inhabitat.com.
Design Brief
For this competition we're inviting designers to explore the concept of "Greener Gadgets." Designs should seek to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product lifecycle. Areas to consider include, but are not limited to, materials, labor, assembly, packaging, transportation, retailing, use and disposal.
Participants are encouraged to consider their designs as part of the entire product ecosystem, and should think as holistically as possible. Designers may choose to focus their entries on a particular area of human enterprise (learning, playing, communicating, etc.), or a particular context (work, home, school, etc.), a particular material, or a specific device. Entries may also seek to create new paradigms for products and services.
Ultimately, we are looking for "great gadgets" of the greener kind.
Prizes
Grand Prize: US$2,500
Two Runners Up: US$1,000 each
>>MORE INFO + REGISTRATION HERE<<
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
Locally grown is great...but grown in your own backyard is even better and Food Map Design's Food Map Container facilitates just that.
The container is made from nontoxic High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), which contains post-industrial reused material. The frame is 40-100% recycled steel. The product is manufactured in Los Angeles County and is 100% recyclable. Home-grown foods reduce the need to buy heavily-traveled produce from Supermarkets.The container comes in two sizes: the larger raised container allows for gardening while standing; while the smaller one is great for kids and smaller scale settings. The container has rubber casters for mobility as weather and sunlight conditions change.
The Santa Monica, CA-based, young, and green-minded multidisciplinary design firm is making its debut with the Food Map Container but plans to expand their portfolio with products and projects that reconnect residential spaces with food cultivation.
Our design concept is to use new modern and green design principles to construct spaces, landscapes, and products that support locally and home grown foods. We believe that eating locally and home grown foods reestablishes the relationship between everyday life and a healthy and sustainable food source.Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Your next job could be...
Located at : Autodesk, Inc. in San Rafael, CA
With the title of : Senior Product Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
The first time we saw a chalk outline and its attendant crimson stain was outside an SRO on Lex and 24th, way back when. You don't want to live in an SRO (single-room-occupancy building) or the PJ's (housing projects), even if Le Corbusier thought they were a good idea.
But now architects are taking another...pass (we almost wrote "stab") at low-income housing, not just in Brad Pitt-sanctioned projects but all around the country, from Brooklyn to Wyoming. Why? "Issues of sustainability are more important in the affordable-housing field than in the luxury field," says one architect, while others realized they can use attractive architecture to battle community opposition to having low-income housing in their neighborhoods. The Journal's got a comprehensive explanation of the movement here, featuring a roundup of current developments going up in Chicago, LA, Seattle, New York, and other places.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
The new Normal Timepieces collection by Ross McBride proposes a fresh way to tell time for the analog-inclined. The clocks and watches recently debuted at 100% Tokyo.
via dezeen
When it comes to superiority complexes, Mac owners are kind of like New Yorkers: we have a hard time taking competing entities seriously, with an attitude of "I'm sure those places are fine for what you do, but we couldn't live anyplace else." For the design-appreciative, this trend is compounded--Apple has always appeared to hire actual and talented industrial designers, whereas most PCs appear to have been designed by engineers who maybe left their glasses at home that day.
Might that be changing? In his most recent column, techno-columnist and gadget kingmaker Walt Mossberg has crowned Dell's XPS One "the first Windows all-in-one desktop I've tested that I believe matches or exceeds the iMac in hardware design."
Something interesting is going on at Dell. The Texas personal-computer behemoth, long associated with boxy, boring machines, has started emphasizing industrial design.
If this trend keeps up, the only thing us Mac Yorkers will have to cling to is that Mossberg lives in DC. "DC! That's not a city!"
via mac observer
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (3)
Bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to usability. Sometimes simpler is the right way to go, especially you're talkin' TV remotes for the elderly. Check out this Senior Remote Instructable if you still haven't decided on a belated gift for your most beloved nearly blind/technologically unsavvy senior citizen.
via boingboing
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
As the Jaguar XF launches, here's a pretty short but good interview with Jaguar's head designer speaking on British design. Ian Callum sounds off on how wealth is created for nations vs. individuals, British restraint in design, and why a sports car is "a projectile that you wrap around two people."
For those more curious about RCA grad, 11-year Ford vet and self-described "car nut" Callum, there's an older article about him here.
via driving canada and pistonheads
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Jaga is a 45-year old factory of radiators in Eastern Belgium, which reinvented itself entirely and is now a seller of "warmth" rather than just a maker of radiators.
Under the visionary leadership of its eccentric director Jan Kriekels, an anthropologist by training, Jaga has embraced experience design, core values of arts, creativity and sustainability, and a radical choice for user-driven co-creation.
Posted by: Mark Vanderbeeken | Comments (2)
"You see, the longer the wheelbase, the more comfortable the ride. This thing soaks bumps up like nothing! Watch us take this bump up ahead...."
via luxury launches
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (2)
German architecture students in Stuttgart have come up with the NapShell, an egg-like bed featuring audio speakers and air conditioning, among other things. But wait a sec, haven't we seen this before?
We have! The NapShell combines three weird and frivolous beds from the recent past:
And last but not least, the Kuchofuku Air-Conditioned Bed!
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
Thomas Edison got tired of sitting in the dark, so he invented a long-lasting lightbulb. Alexander Graham Bell got tired of writing letters, Karl Benz got sick of walking. In other words, once upon a time people would examine real problems they had in their lives and design products and services to solve those problems. Ah, the Golden Era.
In contrast, here's how to design a new product these days:
1. Write the names of 12 different technologies on 12 different Post-Its
2. Cover a dartboard with the Post-Its
3. Throw a couple darts at it
4. Combine the two target technologies into some cockamamie thingamajiggy
It's this kind of rich thinking that's brought us the USB coffee warmer, the remote-controlled LED candle and now, the Projection Telephone. The latter, being sold on IP Mart, projects Caller ID info on the ceiling when the phone rings, in case you're lying flat on the floor and are too lazy to look at the display. Plus, who still has a landline? Isn't this kind of like putting airbags in the Model T?
Edison, Bell, Benz, we miss you guys.
via 2 day blog
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (3)Your next job could be...
Located at : Product Insight Inc. in Acton, MA
With the title of : Sr. Industrial Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)Boards moderator Richard Kuchinsky got to chatting with a non-designer friend the other day about that age-old topic: "why you do what you do." It seems like everyone agrees that passion and a drive to design are what push them as opposed to large sacks of cash (scoff). Read all the replies and add your own reasons for ID-ing at the Why Do You Do What You Do? discussion board.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)As more and more companies plant "greenery" on their products, consumers are presented with a wave of seemingly responsible choices--but without reading the very fine print and doing a bit of research, how can one deduce who's telling little green lies? After observing a steady surge of eco claims, the Federal Trade Commission wanted to know and clarify exactly that.
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, which advises companies on green product positioning, reviewed claims companies made about 1,018 widely sold goods. Using metrics from the FTC and the Environmental Protection Agency, TerraChoice concluded that all but one of the claims were false or could be misleading. "If truly green products have a hard time differentiating themselves from the fake ones, then this whole notion of a green market will fall apart," says Scot Case, vice-president at TerraChoice.
more at businessweek
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Though partially raised in Japan, Japanese-American Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles, educated in New York City, and assisted sculptor Constantin Brancusi in Paris. During World War II Noguchi was investigated by the FBI for the crime of having Japanese blood, and after a fallacious deportation order was dispelled by the ACLU, Noguchi worked on projects for Herman Miller and sets for Martha Graham in the late '40s.
On a trip to Japan in the '50s, Noguchi met interior designer Isamu Kenmochi, who worked for Tokyo's Industrial Arts Research Institute. Together the two began collaborating on a range of furniture, creating some of the first true east/west design hybrids and launching the style known as "Japanese Modern."
In a country where most people sat on the floor, chairs were not exactly a must-have item, but Noguchi and Kenmochi gave the object their full attention. Kenmochi used some of the techniques from his iconic Round Rattan Chair (picture at left) to fashion the seat and back of the Bamboo Basket Chair (center), with Noguchi fashioning the legs and support from iron rods. Kenmochi later went on to design the currently-very-hard-to-find Kashiwado Chair (right), inspired by the spirit of a sumo wrestler.
All of these objects and more are currently on display in a show entitled "Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi" at the Noguchi Museum in Queens, New York. The show runs through May of '08.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
The Greener Gadgets Conference will take place on February 1st, 2008 in New York City. As part of the event, Greener Gadgets has partnered with Core77 to seek out design innovations for greener electronics. This design competition will engage established design firms, emerging designers, and design students to come up with new and innovative solutions to address the issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development. The top entries will be showcased live at the Greener Gadgets Conference for judging by a panel and the audience, and awards will be given out at the end of the night. Winners will also be showcased on GreenerGadgets.com, Core77.com, and Inhabitat.com.
Design Brief
For this competition we're inviting designers to explore the concept of "Greener Gadgets." Designs should seek to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product lifecycle. Areas to consider include, but are not limited to, materials, labor, assembly, packaging, transportation, retailing, use and disposal.
Participants are encouraged to consider their designs as part of the entire product ecosystem, and should think as holistically as possible. Designers may choose to focus their entries on a particular area of human enterprise (learning, playing, communicating, etc.), or a particular context (work, home, school, etc.), a particular material, or a specific device. Entries may also seek to create new paradigms for products and services.
Ultimately, we are looking for "great gadgets" of the greener kind.
Prizes
Grand Prize: US$2,500
Two Runners Up: US$1,000 each
>>MORE INFO + REGISTRATION HERE<<
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
While the cars transformed in Pimp My Ride are all about form, it's nice to see some people still modifying their cars for function.
Here we have a classic Cold-War-era Zaporozhets, modified to make life in the rural Russian winter a little easier.
(Side note: the Zaporozhets, a Soviet car in production from 1958 in the Ukraine, was the VW Beetle of Russia and rather ahead of its time; different models had features designed for the disabled, such as all of the pedals being replaced with hand-only controls. These models were reportedly given to disabled war vets, for free, by the Soviet government.)
via english russia
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
From the Coroflot portfolio of : Jackie Bertelsen (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Featured project : Cubion office interior
Bonus points for the built-in mind-map wall!
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
What can you do with this simple sphere scene using your imagination and favorite 3D rendering program? CGSphere challenges you to make something extraordinary from a sphere, "one of the most basic and fundamental primitives in computer graphics."
via cpluv
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire, and if you ask us, the best door is one you never have to touch. Many stores in Japan share the latter opinion, with Star-Trek-like sensor-driven doors completely absent of human fingerprints, and even the taxis in Japan have doors that open and close automatically.
Now a non-Japanese company called Jatech claims they can install this rather amazing portal on your car, which is not only automatic, but seems to disappear altogether during entry and egress. Is it real? The video above and their website definitely raise some questions: the narration is in British English, yet the cars are left-hand drive. The company is also listed as an LLC, meaning it was created and registered in the 'States. With any luck the truth will soon come to light; in the meantime, enjoy a video of what is either brilliant engineering or clever CG.
via fahad
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (10)Your next job could be...
Located at : Positive Energy in Washington D.C.
With the title of : Lead Interaction Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)As the much buzzed about design publication Monocle wrapped up its first year, "Everyware" author Adam Greenfield felt ready to share his thoughts, now that he's got "a reasonable sense of what the magazine [is]." He points out his major peeves with the mag, clearly bulleted in a one-two punch yet non-ranting style, with a sprinkle of praise at the end (making the ratio of peeves to praise about 15 to 1). He delivers a foreshadowing booya by stating that contrary to its promise, Monocle never felt essential to him.
I'd argue that if I've come to feel as I do - as one of a mere 5,000 charter subscribers, and doubly as someone who must to a fairly close approximation reside center-mass of the Monocle audience in terms of taste, vocation, air miles, etc. - then something's wrong. In this, that piece in BusinessWeek strikes me as getting it just about right: the magazine "is either prescient, or steering sharply toward an audience that doesn't exist."
via unbeige
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)File this video under "We're truly living in the Age of Miracles!" Click to see the demo of a computerized sketch system developed by an MIT engineer. You can draw shapes that have virtual physical properties, assign gravity to the drawing, then hit the button and things start moving. Wish we had more information on this but accreditation is light.
via techeblog
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (3)
Design patents issued have been increasing steadily every year for the past thirty years. In 2007, Samsung Electronics received over 550 design patents - the most ever issued to a single company in one year. Sony holds the most design patents, and is followed closely by Nike. The following table shows the company awarded the most design patents each year:
Consumer electronics and Asian firms seem to dominate design patent applications, with Nike as the exception in the past two decades. Do these figures mean anything other than the fact that these companies like to patent their designs? Or does Samsung's sudden leap to the top over Sony's long held lead mean a shift of some sort with implications for the global design industry? What do you think?
Via Patently O, patent law blog
Your next job could be...
Located at : ASUSTek Brand Design Center in Taipei, Taiwan
With the title of : User Interface Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
Artnet puts this year's DesignMiami show online. Browse by galleries - by designers in alphabetical order - or by an interactive map of the exhibition's floor plan. For three months only.
Posted by: Niti Bhan | Comments (3)
Our visionary design concept is a mobile phone and compatible sensing device that will help you stay connected to your friends and loved ones, as well as to your health and local environment. You can also share the environmental data your sensing device collects and view other users' shared data, thereby increasing your global environmental awareness.
The sensor unit will be worn on a wrist or neck strap made from solar cells that provide power to the sensors. NFC (near field communication) technology will relay information by touch from the sensors to the phone or to or to other devices that support NFC technology. Both the phone and the sensor unit will be as compact as possible to minimize material use, and those materials used in the design will be renewable and/or reclaimed. Technologies used inside the phone and sensor unit will also help save energy.
More about the recycled materials usage, sustainable design concepts and renewable energy sources for this concept.
Posted by: Niti Bhan | Comments (0)
Just in time for the shoppy-days (a.k.a. Giftmas), Jonathan Dee's posted a looong piece (now that you've got the time off) at the NYT about the impact and loopholes of Corporate Social Responsibility in the toy industry. Yeah, yeah, not as fun as ripping open presents, we know. But it's a good excuse to grab some nog and avoid talking to Grammy about her new control top panyhose.
More on CSR here.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Hey all you slacker ID school-foolios: take note of 18 year-old high school seniors Danny (top sketch) and Robert (bottom sketch) who've taken the initiative to blog their entertainment design concepts and post the info on our discussion boards. And to all you hard-working star students and seasoned professionals: they'd love your comments and feedback so check them out--they're hands-down worth a visit. Danny and Robert are currently working on beefing up their portfolios to be admitted into the Entertainment Design program at Art Center. Good luck guys!
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Your next job could be...
Located at : Sunrise Medical in Boulder, CO
With the title of : Senior Industrial Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
A 13 shot "Venti" soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha with extra white mocha and caramel is the most expensive concoction money can buy at Starbucks, according to Billy Chasen. Undoubtedly sugary and chemical-laced, at a whopping $13.76 (or $12.70?), it qualifies as legitimate last-minute gift material for Starbucks junkies.
via design observer
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (3)
The lastest 1HDC had pages filled with some excellent eReader designs. We saw everything from paradigm-changing concepts to designs aimed at hiding the technology and preserving the look and feel of a common book as much as possible. The winner (and first to submit) is Kinl with the eScroll concept--an ultra-mobile device that challenges the obvious form factor.
Some notables: Special mention should go out to Yo! with his excellent bar-raising rendering of a leather bound i-something named nu*book. Callosum's exploration of eye tracking functionality could have had a clear shot at winning with a better rendering; (the bar was definitely raised for presentation quality this go around). KasinChan approached the problem from a student perspective--combining the best of low- and high-tech.
Check out these and other submissions right here.
And congrats, Kinl! Don't forget to get your knew NikeID shoes!
Posted by: core jr | Comments (5)
The Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center is an initiative to
promote Santa Cruz as a globally-recognized design destination. Why Santa Cruz? Because we have a unique collective vision of design, inspired by the beauty of our beaches and mountains, inspired by our youthful iconoclastic culture, and inspired by our commitment to innovation and sustainability.
The Center (at present, a concept more than an environment) is holding a "launch event" at the new Plantronics Design Studio on January 18. RSVP info at the link.
The assignment was wide open: Design something based on the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, and develop it into a prototype product. The results ranged from simple mechanical devices to complex electronic machines, but all served that central purpose in original ways.
Seven teams from MIT's Product Engineering Processes class came up with the following concepts:
1. A solar-powered bin that automatically sorts the recyclable bottles and cans dumped into it.
2. Insulation panels from discarded plastic bottles - includes income generation for the low income people for whom the solution is meant
3. Bicycle powered grinding machine for shea butter.
4. Coffee bean sorter for the developing world.
5. a shower system that automatically reduces the water flow while a person is lathering up. It does this by using photocells to detect when the person reaches for the soap, to address both water shortages and energy use.
6.A TV remote that is self powering and doesn't need batteries anymore
7. Reuse and recyling discarded oil filters.
Read full article and more details .
Posted by: Niti Bhan | Comments (0)
Over at Coroflot's Creative Seeds blog, Nicolas Roope, founder and creative director of both Poke, a London based digital creative agency and Hulger, talks about what he looks for in a designer. Here's question #3:
3. What is your best interview "horror story"? This is technically not my story, but a colleague's at Poke. A friend at a rival agency was raving about a designer that they said, for purely financial reasons, they couldn't hire themselves, so passed them on to us for consideration. We eagerly approached them and organised an interview. He came in, opened his book and nearly burned our eyes out. It was horrific, and we had been royally duped. Of course you can't boot someone out of an interview on the grounds of offensive work, and certainly it wasn't his fault that he was there. So we sat it out, trying not to hurt his feelings. I'm tempted to expose the culprit, but he's now in a high position and don't think it would do his reputation much good...but YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! (If you are the designer I'm very sorry he put you through it.)
Read the full article
More Creative Seeds
Never mind What would Jesus drive; What would Yoda do if he had an RP machine? The building above is our closest guess.
In actuality it's a design by French architecture firm R&Sie(n) for a Swiss ice museum (which sounds only a little less weird than a Yoda RP house). The intended manufacturing process is quite fascinating: head architect Francois Roche managed to locate a special 5-axis CNC machine that can work a 5-meter by 40-meter area, and the museum will be constructed on-site, slice by slice. The raw materials for the slices will all come from locally-harvested trees.
When asked by a construction worker named Luc where to acquire the wood, Roche reportedly waved his hand and said "Use the forest, Luc." (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
via treehugger
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
NYC's Governors Island revitalization competition, also called Park at the Center of the World, has just named the winning proposal designed by the West 8, Rogers Marvel, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Quennel Rothschild, and SMWM team. The revamping of over 90 acres of land includes plans for a promenade and park featuring playgrounds, sports fields, ecological environments, open park space, an amphitheater, and--get this--hills created from preexisting buildings on the island! Awesome! The proposal even includes plans to integrate free bicycle rentals for visitors to use while exploring the island. (Yesss!) The Great Promenade will make the waterfront a true destination, offering a new perspective and sprawling views of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Press Release (pdf)
thanks jonathan!
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Well, "personal gifts" kinda sounds like "adult gifts" (although Agent Provocateur does make an appearance here), but these selections from our Ultimate Gift Guide are a little closer to home. So either buy them for yourself, or drop a strong hint to a loved one. And happy holidays!
Taste of Corky's Ribs & Pork
$69.99
We order from these guys every year, so we can promise that it's some of the best Q you'll ever have. Comes packed in dry ice (so you've got a few minute's thrill throwing that into a bucket of water), and if you say that" Elvis sent me " while you're ordering on the phone, they'll throw in a discount. Promise.
Thank you. I Love you.
$50 to start; more for more
Want some greetings with seasoning?Thank you I love you will turn your photos and movies into quirky, delightful, charming web movies to send to the ones you love. They also do cards. And games. And basically anything you need. Wanna see samples? Check out Jumping, Angela Eats, or the timely holiday greeting.
Flickr Pro
$24.95
This one's easy for those last-minute, no-time-to-shop or wrap situations. The photography enthusiast will appreciate this more and more, as the months (and photos) add up. And, dude. It's 25 bucks. Technically, you should be giving 3 of 'em!
Agent Provocateur Parfum
$65.00
If the lacy stuff is too expensive, you can still dazzle her with Agent Provocateur Perfume. (Or set the mood with the Strip scented candle for $40). Unbelievably nice scent either way.
Itsy-Bitsy Bracelet
$38.50
Packaged to look like it's floating, this block of magnets turns itself into a bracelet through some clever meandering. Check this out from the catalogue: "Each magnetic link has enough strength to actually move around on the other side of your hand while holding the end of the remainder of the bracelet beneath." Got no idea what that means, exactly, but it's got "bar trick" written all over it.
MATTERIAL Paper Goods
Various prices from $5 to $40 depending on what item
MATTERIAL's collection of eco-friendly paper goods are perfect for to-dos, to-doodles, and everything else worth jotting down. The beautifully designed pads and journals are made from recycled papers and are manufactured right in their Downtown, Denver studio. The perfect present for "designers and other thinking persons."
Gill Championsip Texting Gloves (Nee Sailing Gloves)
$27.90
Thumb and index finger holes so you can tap out messages while keeping hands warm! Hi-perfomance anti-slip material in the palm will keep you from dropping calls, literally!
Rite in the Rain all-weather field book
$16.00
The ubiquity of the Moleskine is starting to wear on those looking for some exclusivity. Well, now they can be unique and be outside! Consider the yellow rain-slicker style notebook for a bright change. (Add the all-weather Space Pen for 8 bucks on the same page.)
Find these and 70 other wonderful items in Core77's Ultimate Gift Guide 2007!
Posted by: core jr | Comments (2)
We're all for trying out new forms for old, staid products, but we're just not sure where this espresso maker is coming from. It seems designed purely to irritate Navy SEALs, who will invariably feel they must defuse the device before having a nice cup of joe.
As far as we can tell it's a one-off by Swiss artist/designer Carlo Borer, who has some rather amazing stainless steel sculptures available for viewing both here and here.
via boing boing
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)The techniques used in this video are not what BMW actually uses to make their cars, but if you've an industrial-manufacturing fetish, watching this will get those pleasure-center synapses firing. On the other hand if you're a UAW worker, it's bound to leave you fuming as the only human in this whole process is the driver.
Speaking of the driver, we love how he almost gets laser-sintered midway through, but miraculously ducks down to check out the glovebox at the right moment.
via techeblog
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)"Now we in the developed world want something that people in the developing world have. I like that idea!"
- Yves Behar on One Lap Top Per Child
Scribe Media caught up with Yves Behar for a quick interview about the OLPC last week at Design Miami. The designer himself runs through the meaning behind various design elements.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (2)Your next job could be...
Located at : PUMA North America, Inc. in Boston, MA
With the title of : Graphic Designer, Apparel
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
With strong expertise in water management, the Dutch may soon implement their know-how, not for export, but for their own benefit. A tulip-shaped island (much less intricate than a windmill or cannabis leaf as jokingly suggested by Bert Groothuizen of Dubai and some random blogger, respectively), about 50 kilometers (31 miles) long, is in the works to relieve overpopulation and maintain a barrier against rising sea levels.
The Dutch Parliament has asked a commission on coastal development to look into the idea of building islands in the North Sea that could be used for housing, farming or a nature reserve, while at the same time helping to protect the coast.
Hmm...we've certainly had our own battles with rising water levels in the US so what would be an appropriate silhouette for us? An SUV? Golden arches?
via coudal
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (4)
Gegenüberstellung der Erinnerung (Opposition of Memory)
by Nils Nova
Ink-jet print on blueback-paper pasted on the wall, painting on board
via cpluv
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
Speaking of smoking, some restaurant owners in Germany have come up with a novel workaround to the smoking ban; patrons can stay inside and smoke outside through "Smoking Points" that resemble a cross between a porthole and a stockade. Added bonus: it makes the smoker look like, well, a complete ass! (For the sake of full disclosure, your correspondent is a guilt-ridden smoker.)
via reuben miller
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
We used to love particle board at design school. That and MDF; it was cheap, relatively sturdy, easy to cut, had no grain, and became the source material for everything from quick coffee tables to chair mockups to desktop additions. Of course, back then we also had a professor who smoked cigarettes in class.
Now we all know particle board will kill you; the VOC off-gases leaking out of the laminates can cause everything from cancer to liver damage. Yet manufacturers continue to use PB and MDF, just as that professor's still smoking.
UK-based Pli Design (whom we previously wrote about for making chairs out of recycled game consoles) is now making furniture that would have typically been made from MDF--coffee tables and cabinets--out of a bamboo veneer with a wheat straw-board core. Essentially the ingredients in their Grass line have come from grass rather than wood, and the table is made without VOCs and all that other central-nervous-system-disrupting stuff.
"...Everyone needs to step back and reinvent the idea of modern manufacture," says Pli Product Manager Alex Whitney. "The 'Grass' series and up coming 'Reee' chair range, made using 100% recycled plastic, show where we see the future of product design."
Here's to hoping others get on board, or rather, on grass.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)The website that sought to bring advance news of Apple products is no more. Yesterday Think Secret confirmed they will be shutting down after reaching a settlement with Apple, which sued the rumor site in January of '05.
While details of the settlement weren't made public, Think Secret reportedly did not have to reveal any of their sources--sure to be a sore spot for Apple and Steve Jobs, who pursue (and presumably terminate) employee leakers with vim and vigor. Looks like the iWitchhunt will remain unrealized.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
The Board of Trustees of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) announced on December 21, 2007 that John Maeda, Associate Director of Research at the MIT Media Lab, has accepted the offer to become the 16th president of RISD.
- Video announcement and press release
- Interview (Business Week)
We stopped by the ITP Winter Show at NYU earlier this week and checked out the latest student work experimenting with almost every aspect of digital technology.
Posted by: squee.gee | Comments (0)
Blue Iris, or Pantone 18-3943, has been named color of the year for 2008.
Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, selected PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris, a beautifully balanced blue-purple, as the color of the year for 2008. Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.
Really? Feel more secure and amused? Sign us up.
For more in-depth coverage on this announcement, check out what the NYT has to say.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (2)
Herman Miller is finalizing their acquisition of Brandrud, a company that designs furniture for healthcare environments. (Pictured above is Brandrud's Cente Patient Chair, which mechanically assists the patient in sitting or standing.) Brandrud did estimated sales of $20 million in 2007--peanuts compared to HM's $41 million net earnings in the last quarter alone--but their acquisition should help furniture giant HM expand into an entirely new category. The ink should be dry on the contracts by February 2008.
via us stock @ jrj
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (0)
When a New York couple decided to renovate their Harlem row house, they had no idea the project would turn into a green design version of an Amish barn raising, with various elements of the green community pitching in.
Publicized by Dwell Magazine, the project gained attention from designers and companies eager for exposure; Kohler, NYLoft and Runtal donated dual-flush toilets, formaldehyde-free cabinets and radiant heating, respectively, and a group of Pratt Industrial Design students answered a Craig's List ad offering to design the couple's office.
Though this project reached its zenith last May, when 700 people toured the house in a Dwell-sponsored event, it seems to have kicked off a trend of the Green Show House, which you can read about here.
via ny times
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
While Greg Hinzman might not be a fan of the OLPC, ZDNet's Robin Harris insists it's "the best designed notebook in the world." Click here to read Harris' in-depth take on the machine, including testimony from a father whose son actually has--and uses, more importantly--one of the devices.
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
Karl Ulrich will be the keynote speaker at Cyon Research Corporation's Congress on the Future of Engineering Software event, a cross-disciplinary think tank "that brings executives from design, engineering, architectural, development and technology companies together to examine the role engineering technology plays in business success."
Professor, author and entreprenuer Ulrich, whose passion is human-powered transportation, invented the Xootr (picture at right) with his brother Nathan, and the company they founded later released the Swift Folder (picture at left). No mere desk jockey, Ulrich also enters competitions himself, having come in first place in the 2006 Mt. Washington Hill Climb (in the Folder category).
COFES will be held on April 10-13th in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can read about it here, but unfortunately that doesn't mean you can go; it's invite only. We'll post coverage as it becomes available.
thanks John!
Posted by: hipstomp | Comments (1)
With some insight from his forecasting crew, Bruce Nussbaum's made fourteen innovation predictions for 2008. We're gonna call some of them educated guesses rather than predictions; like Wi-Fi on planes, longevity as a means of (not "replacing" per se) sustainability, innovation as strategy, and an applications-rich leap in mobile communications. As for some other anticipations, like a Kindle comeback, we'll have to wait and see for ourselves. And if "people move to gated networks from Facebook and MySpace" should we still "watch the apps developed for Facebook on the iPhone?"
Anyhooz, '08 is just around the corner, so things'll pan out before our eyes in no time...and if any or all of the crystal-gazing comes true, at least we can say we'd heard that would happen.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)
There aren't many days left to shop and if you've managed to buy everything except the wrapping paper (doh), no worries--Wrap Art's got your back. Given you've got enough patience, random stuff, and junk mail, you can learn "how to wrap presents creatively,using fragments of paper and miscellaneous items from around your house." If you've got multiple "your name here" credit card offers piled up to the side, then the "Extra Credit" Credit Wrap is just the thing for you.
via lifehacker
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (0)Your next job could be...
Located at : Sasaki Associates, Inc. in Watertown, MA
With the title of : Environmental Graphic Designer
The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
Posted by: core jr | Comments (0)
This functional pizza-puter DIYer can obviously scarf down a pizza, but evidently, he's also embraced the sustainable practice of repurposing.
Posted by: Jeannie Choe | Comments (2)