Carleton University School of Industrial Design is hosting the 29th Annual Design Seminar on January 12th and 13th. The topic is "balancing the equation between technology, people and design," and will include both local and international design professionals, as well as the fourth-year industrial design students. (Do they have their own separate ID's? Yowza!)
Confirmed lineup includes:
Keynote - Isao Hosoe
Wearables & SuperPowers - Adrian Chan
The Circuit of Life - Anne Galloway
ARTech - Heidi Overhill
Jouko Karkkainen, best known for his textured plywood products and large-scale installations, has taken a compact turn with a positive eco-impact. Tree Seedlings are containers made of curly birch, pine, alder, spruce or aspen. Each cube is made from the wood of the same tree that the contained seed will grow into. The entire cube is buried, eventually rotting and exposing the seed to the vital elements necessary for growth.
Jeremy Faludi's got another awesome overview of materials design up at Worldchanging. This time, he writes about "Metal vs. Plastic"—breaking down the pros and cons of aluminum, steel, titanium—even touching on annodizing and powder-coating. Here's the intro:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been doing some green product design advice & research for a startup doing a consumer-electronics device. This post compares the impact of aluminum to two other metals, as well as plastic, and talks about the options for coating/finishing the metal.
and here's a fact-packed para on the former:
Anodization is a microns-thin layer of oxidation on the surface of the aluminum. It involves some nasty chemicals (depending on the color, these can include sulphuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, nickel acetate, and others; some use hexavalent chromium, but we will definitely avoid that), but small amounts of them (because the oxidation layer is so thin). The coating is non-toxic to the user, the concern is the waste and worker safety in manufacturing; any decent modern plant has emissions/effluent controls, but it would be better not to use toxins in the first place. The main advantage of anodization is that it does not hurt recyclability of the aluminum--it is such a thin coating (and even that coating is mostly aluminum itself) that anodized parts can be thrown right in with bare parts in recycling plants, and their value as scrap is just as high as bare aluminum (according to the three recyclers I talked to).
Now that's some info for ya. Read the entire article here; Go back and read his piece on plastics here.
Shown above are two stunning images from Trazy's Zoomified Flickr set. The top image shows scotch tape torn from the dispenser and the bottom image captures Velcro being pulled apart.
UNIQLO shows off their playful side with Mixplay to promote their "15 color parker," which I believe could translate to "15 color parkas." Choose from a selection of parka colors, dancers, and musical sounds to create your own on-screen hipster jam sesh party.
The newest issue of WIRED prods at our geek fantasies of human perfection and a semi-cyborg existence. Read all about implants, surgery, gene enhancement, your best health, physical regiments, and even how to build a better baby.
Jill Fehrenbacher has reposted her Archinect manifesto on Inhabitat, and it resonates nicely with many of the objections we hear about ID education. Here's a sample:
What could possibly be so painful about having to address real world problems? The design world often acknowledges that constraints foster creativity, and that the groundbreaking design work is frequently born out of limited budgets and tight spaces. Real-world constraints force designers to be focused, resourceful and inventive – qualities necessary in fostering innovation. This rule applies as much to the constraint of sustainability as to economic or spatial constraints. Therefore I would argue that the constraint of “sustainability” should ultimately foster creativity and will make architecture better – not worse. Sustainability should be embraced as a design challenge, not shunned as just one more boring / mundane thing to worry about.
Her stats at the top are sobering too:
-Buildings consume 40% of the world’s energy every year.
-Buildings generate almost half of the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.
-40% of landfill currently comes from construction waste.
Rob Walker's got a nice Consumed column this past Magazine on everyone's favorite as-seen-on-tv icon. It's really a piece on language, but the knife and its history figures prominently. Oh: Don't forget about Rob's Blog: Murketing.
In the annals of completely ridiculous advertising, the original commercial on behalf of Ginsu knives has a special place. More than a quarter-century later, anyone old enough to remember it and many people who aren’t old enough to remember it will know the highlights — the guy karate-chopping a tomato, the knife sawing neatly through a tin can and the kind of hard-sell language we tend to associate with the most blatant forms of hucksterism. It’s a knife that will last forever. It’s a product no kitchen should be without. It’s the most incredible knife offer ever. And after the superlatives, the inevitable: But wait, there’s more.
Michael Barbaro breaks down the various advantages, issues, and resistances to the great CFL conversion, with attention to the might that WM is bringing to the table.
Light-bulb manufacturers, who sell millions of incandescent lights at Wal-Mart, immediately expressed reservations. In a December 2005 meeting with executives from General Electric, Wal-Mart’s largest bulb supplier, “the message from G.E. was, ‘Don’t go too fast. We have all these plants that produce traditional bulbs,’ ” said one person involved with the issue, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an agreement not to speak publicly about the negotiations.
The response from the Wal-Mart buyer was blunt, this person said. “We are going there,” the buyer said. “You decide if you are coming with us.”
The NYTimes has a good article entitled The Spine As Profit Center, outlining issues of both efficacy and incentive. Here's a juicy bit:
Within the medical device industry, it has been well chronicled how companies use consulting ties and other financial relationships to try to gain favor with the surgeons using their devices. But critics are especially troubled by the emerging trend in spinal devices, which so far has occurred largely under the radar.
Doctors' taking significant ownership stakes in spinal parts makers, critics say, provides an extra financial incentive for a doctor to recommend a surgery. It may be one of the most distinct examples yet of the way monetary considerations can play a role in the way doctors practice medicine.
Oh, and a single screw sells for approx. $1000--a ten-fold markup on what it actually costs to make it.
First Ive, now Dyson - awarded Knighthood by the Queen
Saturday, December 30
"Each failure, the 5,126 failures taught me so much," the 59-year-old explained. "Success teaches you nothing. Failures teach you everything.
"Making mistakes is the most important thing you can do."
The Queen certainly supports UK's designers and design industry, as demonstrated by her recent knighting of James Dyson. Just last year, Jonathan Ive, British born designer of the iPod received similar honours.
So far, Droog has rigorously avoided any semblance of a house style, while becoming famous for an attitude that seems to say, "Designers just want to have fun." As a result, it has probably generated more interesting discussion than useful innovation.
The show, itself a total Droog design, tries a little too hard to be amusing, but it mostly works. The objects are arrayed in 10 thematic groups with titles like "Simplicity," "Form Follows Process," "Use It Again" and "Irony." Each group is placed in an imaginary room or building whose full-scale plan is delineated on the floor by black and gray plastic strips.
Yves Behar, founder of Fuseproject will join Aliph, the headset company, as Vice President and Creative Director. Here's the snippet, Mr. Behar will lead Aliph's creative strategy, ranging from industrial design of the products to branding and communications. Mr. Behar is the founder of the San Francisco-based design studio fuseproject, which he will continue to lead in conjunction with his new position at Aliph.
[...]
"My design strategy involves focusing on the emotional experience of the user," explained Mr. Behar. "Our ability to communicate is what makes us human, which is why it is so exciting to be working with Aliph to improve the way people talk to each other."
Turnover overall fell by 6% from £4.6bn to £4.3bn, with most growth coming in the mid-sized companies, suggesting that smaller, newer companies and freelances are struggling.
Employee numbers for 2005/2006 are also down, this time by 8.4%. Over half the industry is still made up of companies with five or fewer staff. However, this has been falling over the past three years, down from 58% in 2003/2004 to 51% in 2005/2006.
The good news is that overseas income is up by 19% on last year to £800m, ahead of where it was in 2002/2003 when the industry took a tumble.
Sonny, as the designers at Zhejiang University in China, have named this unusual looking syringe, should represent less of a threat to the young ones. The syringe comes with a small thumb toy on the top, which can be removed and rewarded to the kid after the injection is performed. The syringe is also supposed to inject the liquid with a push of the fingers instead of a pull of the thumb, giving the idea of something less invasive.
Most alarm clock sounds nearly make our ears bleed, enticing us to throw the damn thing across the room to put it out of its misery. Dallas, Hong Kong, and Taipei-based ID firm Ignition, Inc. has just released the iPod Alarm Clock design for Radio Shack under the Accurian brand. Get more details in our Studio Bullitts section.
"Thinking is so often overlooked, since many designers tend to enjoy doing: designing, creating, making. It's the leisure of unstructured time over these next few days that allow the opportunity for thinking."
Most designers take an extended breather around this time of year, however we'd be kidding ourselves to think we could ignore our work for the entirety of our break. Design Matters posts on exactly what thoughts we should focus on and avoid. For example, we should replace this:
"Will anybody notice if I don't send out a Christmas card?" or "How can I synchronize my font library across the network?"
with something like this:
"Where is your design business headed?" and "Are you content with your client relationships?"
..of a drawing that comments on "the difference between the little people architects draw on their sketches (little head, big body) and the little people interaction designers draw on their sketches (big head little body)."
Great comment by kaioshin:
"Each emphasizes the part that performs the navigation. A person needs to get their body around a piece of furniture and their head around a piece of content."
This conceptual marketing tool, by Saatchi & Saatchi, alerts those who are unaware of their gross dandruff problem, and in turn, suggests a remedy. Dandruff destroyer Head & Shoulders planted this photobooth that snaps pics of the tops of people's heads.
The book opens with "A New Beginning" spread from Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey (who purchased the company in 2003), and then Klausner takes the reader back to the beginning, tracing the history of the company that Edith Heath created in the mid-40s. After that, the images and essays come fast and furious, with stunning photography and a clever use of papers and varnishes. (Money shots are printed on coated; process shots on uncoated.) Indeed, the process photos are worth the price of the book alone, but the whole thing has been so well put together that you'll want to savor it all. Essays are from everyone from Steven Skov Holt & Mara Holt Skov (love that!) and Agnes Bourne, to Yves Behar, Rob Forbes and Alice Waters. This is a labor of love, and the photos in the final section of the people who have worked and still work at Heath is a wonderful testament to the power and pride of a durable and honest design icon. For the collector, design fan, or lover of books in general, this is most highly recommended.
Choosing between nonprofits is kind of, well, weird, but Worldchanging has asked us to help them get the word out about the looming deadline for the Yahoo! Charity Badge Offering. "The charity represented by the top-producing badge as of December 31, 2006 will receive a matching gift from Yahoo!--up to $50,000." That's some serious dough, and it's not won by the number of dollars, but by the number of donors. (Not as snappy as "three days or three plays," but darn close.)
Here's what you do: Go to this link. Click on the donate button, and you know the rest. Good luck to Worldchanging!
This is super-quick, and might just get you moving next Monday morning (or any morning!) You really need to read the intro to get the "science," but here's the upshot:
For the last few months, the most reliable technique I've found to help me get started is to take the work to a coffee shop and begin while sipping coffee. I've found that this allows me to get excited about whatever is in front of me at that time. My brain appears to misattribute the physiological response to coffee as excitement about whatever I'm working on at that time.
Of course, once I've started on the project, I get into a state where I'm chugging along well after the coffee has worn off. The interesting thing is that the excitement remains. [Link]
If you're a designer, design student, design teacher or design reader, you're probably keen on putting LEDs to work for you. But like the forgotten name of your workmate's kid, you probably feel like its embarassingly late to ask how to fire some up.
Instructables to the rescue! And if their first sentence doesn't get you to click, nothin' will:
"This instructable shows how to wire up one or more LED's in a in a basic and clear way. Never done any work before with LED's and don't know how to use them? Its ok, neither have I." [Link]
Seongho Kim's New Vision of Mobile Devices concept proposes the implementation of a private viewing port on the underside of the multimedia device. As a conceptual commentary on over-exposure of personal information, Kim's design succeeds at provoking emotion and debate. While the viewer retains their privacy, the act itself increases the curiosity of others, therefore drawing unwanted attention that the viewer was trying to avoid in the first place.
There's a ton for designers to enjoy in today's New York Times--from David Pogues Brilliant Ideas That Found a Welcome to Julie Iovine's High-Design Makeover for an Old Italian Firm. The real materials and structures folks (and probably some other folks too) will want to rush on over to Stephanie Rosenbloom's An Annual Letdown: The Strapless Bra. Apparently, this is the time when women are running around shopping for these things, so let's examine the design challenges in and around them.
Unlike other incredible feats of engineering--the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty--the strapless bra is an imperfect design. Just ask the legions of women who hook, wrap and suck themselves into such bras each New Year's Eve, then pray they do not drop like the crystal ball in Times Square.
The gals over at 3iYing have posted some intense femme-targeting tips on BW. "Girls are suckers for cute." I'd love to battle that comment, however (sigh) it's pretty much true. The 3iYing crew makes the correlation between character brands and healthy revenue, stressing the impact of victorious yum-yum cutie-pie character icons such as Paul Frank's Julius monkey or Sanrio's Hello Kitty, "because the right icon makes a compulsive shopper out of any girl." When zoning in on the female population, a superstar icon is not just any icon--it must properly reflect the brand at hand and also achieve the cuteness levels that ladies demand. Make sure to check out the step-by-step mock development of "Foxy Flirt."
Microwaves are tricky beasts. It's a nuisance to check, reheat, check, reheat, etc., and over-nuking isn't the greatest outcome either. These heat-sensitive spoons respond to a tasty temperature of 120 F by changing colors. Just nuke, peek, mix, and enjoi!
Attention cooks on the go & cooks at the office! These 3 colorful spoons are meant for microwave meal preparations only. Plastic spoons change color at (120 F) when food is hot. Simply heat, stir & serve.
Footstool Kuvat is a simple, lightweight plastic piece that utilizes used beverage bottles to form a basic stool. This playful object, by Studio Helsinki, is tapped on its underside for a secure connection to three bottles that act as legs. The top side is contoured for rear-end comfort and ergonomic portability.
The University of Michigan's (Tauber Manufacturing Institute) Integrative Product Development program shows great promise in the future of design, engineering, and manufacturing integration being implemented in schools to yield a more well-rounded and business-minded designer or engineer. The course challenged 8 teams of students to develop and present a superior product solution to help people with the use of one arm or hand with meal preparation. Each group yielded a working prototype along with an operational website to express both effectiveness and brand. The projects were released a few days ago, subject to a healthy influx of online voting as well as in-person voting and judging at a physical trade show. TMI hopes for these projects to receive constructive criticism as to set an example to motivate future IPD students to produce increasingly greater, more successfully integrated results.
Wired has published their annual list of most infamous vaporware products, and designers will be especially tickled by the Optimus Keyboard and the "IPod Killer." Here's a taste from the intro:
A couple of products narrowly escaped the podium of shame, most notably Microsoft Vista and Sony's PlayStation 3. While Vista has been promised and delayed ad infinitum, the operating system finally shipped to business customers in 2006 (Though home users won't see it till the end of January 2007). The PlayStation 3 also shipped--just because you weren't able to get your hands on one doesn't mean it qualifies as vaporware.
We received stacks of votes for Apple Computer's iPhone, but that doesn't count since Apple has never actually promised the iPod/phone combo. Except to maybe the board of directors.
Wieden + Kennedy is seeking out 12 extraordinary individuals to participate in their experimental advertising school. The agency, creating propaganda for big names such as Target, Nike, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks, will share their unorthodox methodology with the chosen group for the 4th year in a row. Visit WK12 to apply and learn more.
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