February 2013

Greetings Design Fans,

February is usually a quiet month here at Core77 HQ but it just means that we're ramping up for a busy Spring! This month, we have dispatches from Seoul, Korea and CES in Las Vegas for two different views on what's happening in the world of product design now.

And while you might be enjoying a quiet month at work, take the opportunity to ready your best work for the Core77 Design Awards! With a little over a month to submit, we are looking forward to seeing your work. So don't delay—we are now accepting projects launched anytime between January 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013. Begin preparing your entry today.

Looking Forward to Seeing Your Work,

LinYee Yuan

Executive Editor

THE CRAFTING OF ANALOG DREAMS

Professor James Self visits Seoul-based SWBK and talks with Design Director Sukwoo Lee to find out if, within this tech-driven culture, design firms have decided it's time to finally kiss goodbye to dated, low-tech analogue design tools like hand sketching and model making in favour of a fully digital industrial design process.

CES 2013: FULL COVERAGE

We sent our intrepid editor hipstomp out to Las Vegas to check out the best and brightest products hitting the consumer electronics market. We covered CES 2013 with an eye on the industrial design.

CONFERENCE RECAP: HARVARDxDESIGN 2013

Core77 ventured up to Boston to check out the inaugural edition of the HarvardxDesign conference, a collaboration between the students of the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The conference explored ways to use the principles of design to transform business and education and included both a speaker series and a design challenge.

A VISUAL HISTORY OF CORVETTE LOGOS

A two-part visual history of the Corvette logo, starting from Robert Bartholomew's 1953 double flags to its most recent iteration debuting on the 2014 models.

TRON BASKETBALL COURT: ASB GLASSFLOOR FOR ATHLETIC APPLICATIONS

A look at ASB's GlassFloor system of reinforced glass panels set on an aluminum substructure that can be embedded with lighting. Originally designed for squash courts, the surface is designed to emulate hardwood courts with the advantage of flexible lane lines and markings for multipurpose gymnasiums and can also display video.

TEN THINGS EVERY DESIGNER SHOULD DO AT LEAST ONCE IN THEIR CAREER

Over on the Core77 boards Richard Kuchinsky, boards moderator and "Directive Creator" of The Directive Collective design consultancy, has posted an interesting topic: What ten things should every designer do, at least once during their career?

Russell Sims
Grosse Ile, Michigan

Veronica De La Rosa
Emeryville, California

Eric Harvey
Seattle, Washington

Elie Ahovi
Chicago, Illinois

Wayne Haag
Sydney, Australia

Service Design Strategist
UnitedHealth Group
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Industrial Design Intern
Tandem
Newport Beach, California

Visual Media Producer
Arc'teryx Equipment
Vancouver, Canada

Production Engineer
Shapeways
New York, New York

Sport Fashion/Textile Designer
Aqua Lung
Nice, France

Interior Designer
Steelcase
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Find more jobs on Coroflot!

Featured Competition:
App to the Future Design Challenge
Deadline: February 10

I HEART IP: Intellectual Property Forum for Entrepreneurs & Lawyers
February 14
New York, New York

International Home + Housewares Show
March 2–5 Chicago, Illinois

Stefan Sagmeister: The Happy Show
Through March 3 Toronto, Canada

Electrolux Design Lab 2013
Deadline: March 15

Compostmodern 2013
March 22–23
San Francisco, California

Find more design events on our calendar!

Points for Creativity: MONIKER Bicycle Handlebars

Quentin Debaene's Dyson-Powered Invisible Umbrella Concept

Impressive Animation of How "Manhattan West" Development Will Be Constructed Over Active Train Tracks

nCycle, the First Electric Bicycle Concept of 2013

Red Dot Award-Winning 'Saddle Lock': Yea or Nay?

IDEO on 60 Minutes
a recent 60 Minutes segment with David Kelley of IDEO has once again raised questions about "design thinking." Ray Jepson offers a fair assessment of the piece (spoiler alert): "I thought the whole piece was too much, 'this guy knew Steve Jobs.' A little too fluff, but always good to see ID in the news."
originally posted by scrotum

Explaining what you do for a living: Industrial Designer
“How do you explain to people what you do in a succinct quick few words? I usually have to explain at length what exactly ID is. I realize this is quite banal but was curious how others explained themselves...”
by studiomkllc

Interchangeable Footwear
“I have been wondering for a while about the idea of interchangeable footwear. I've been doing a little research on how current brands have been pulling it off, and its not very inspiring. The most common way and conventional way of being able to change the upper on a conventional outsole is through a zipper which is sewn onto the inside of the outsole sidewall.

Has anyone ever thought about this market or considered a more interesting way of approaching this idea?

Surely the idea of changing your upper to a nice fresh hi-top from a low chuck tayloresque style without the visual distraction of a huge zip running around the sole would be a pretty cool and ultimately useful purchase for alot of people...”
by nordmade

Difference Between User Research and Market Research
“I'm having a tough time putting the difference of these two different forms of research into words. At least words that demonstrates in lay terms what the difference is.

The problem I tend to run into, especially when I talk to marketing-folk, is that they say..."well, that's what we do"....when in reality it isn't.

I'm speaking to the front end research that is meant to inform the product development process. The Ethnographic and other user experience research techniques being used in the design industry vs. Market Studies or Mktg. user group research.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this...”
by jon_winebrenner

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