Feast your eyes on Jet Blue's future food court

New York Mag's got a sneak peek of the spaces where Jet Blue passengers at JFK can soon grab some munchies and pass the time during those inescapable delays. These culinary destinations look, oh, just a tad snappier than most other airport eateries, but it would be an injustice to Saarinen's resurrected Terminal 5 to have anything less. You can even scan the menus which, of course, are devoid of price listings as of now.

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Design for Social Impact Workshop by Continuum

[from left, Dave Franchino of Design Concepts, Larry Keeley of Doblin, Dave Tait of Emerging Futures Lab and Maria Blair of the Rockefeller Foundation]

Continuum have just completed their report on the recent Design for Social Impact Workshop hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation at their Bellagio Conference Center and have it available for download from their website. Here's the intro,

How can we unleash and leverage the power of the global design community on some of the world's most intractable problems? How can we increase the collaboration between the design industry and the the social sector? And do so in a systematic and sustainable way? The Rockefeller Foundation engaged Continuum to lead a conversation with some of the world's top designers to explore questions like these - questions with big implications for the industry as a whole. Call it Design for Social Impact.

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1 Hour Design Challenge : Back to School Bag!

THEME:
Back to School Bag!

DOORS OPEN:
Wednesday August 20, 2008
12 PM PST (7 PM GMT)

DOORS CLOSE:
Monday, Sept 1, 2008
9 PM PST (4 AM GMT)

BRIEF:
It's back-to-school time...back to lugging books, art supplies, sports gear, and kegs around campus. Core77 is firing up this month's 1HDC just in time for the daily grind of school. We want to see what kind of over-the-shoulder carrying mechanism you can come up with. Knapsack? Shoulder bag? Book bag? Messenger bag? Hybrid? You tell us! We've enlisted the talents of the Timbuk2 design team to guest judge this month's gig. So pull that Rocko Ruler and Prismacolors out of your ratty backpack and take an hour to put your work up in front of the Timbuk2 crew and all your peers for the chance at this month's bragging rights and a sweet custom Timbuk2 bag!

CRITERIA:
Judging will be based on quality of presentation, strength of concept. (You need to execute your design in only 1 hour--on an honor system.)

PRIZE:
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be featured in the Core77 October Newsletter, on the Core77 Blog, and bragging rights. 1st prize will receive a Custom Timbuk2 bag, with custom fabrics and trim!

Jury:
Winners will be selected by the Timbuk2 Crew and Core77 Admin. From Timuk2: Bopanna Ulliyada, Senior Designer; Chris Chung, Head Developer; and Ryan Henbest, Marketing. Community discussion is encouraged to help ensure that the best designs win.

>>> Click Here to Enter Your Submission <<<

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Chrysler to distract kids and drivers with Wi-Fi

In addition to flip-down or back-o-the-headrest screens, PSPs, and DS Lites, Chrysler customers now have the option of distracting their little ones with Wi-Fi connectivity in new 2009 models. It's impossible to picture every driver resisting the urge to surf 'n drive, but Chrysler claims these particular internets are specifically tailored for children in the backseat and even provides "instructions" for proper use. Criticisms are a-plenty including this snappy comment by J. R. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington, in the NYT article:

"I can picture two teenagers in the front and the passenger pulls up a YouTube video. I can't imagine the driver saying, 'I'm going to pull over and stop so I can safely watch what you're laughing at."

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The rise and rise of 'anti-design'

Martyn Perks, a UK design consultant, and a writer and speaker on design, IT and business, is going after the current design and sustainability trend, which he calls "anti-design", arguing that "designers who focus on producing only meek and sustainable things are denying their own creativity and impact on the world."

In the process, he lambastes the new UK Design Council three-year national strategy, the Designers' Accord and Core77's very own Allan Chochinov:

"What underpins the general shift towards green design is a widespread sense of guilt and self-doubt felt by many designers about blighting the world with too much stuff. The paradox is that the big idea they turn to for salvation - environmentalism - means that rather than endeavouring to produce something new to solve the problem, one that makes use of the best possible processes, ideas and resources, designers will attempt to regain a sense of purpose and credibility by preaching to the rest of us to lower our horizons." [...]

"Isn't design always about making an impact? Not according to the green-design movement, or the 'design deniers' who argue for placing limits on human ingenuity and creativity. Put bluntly, they want less of it, not more. Of course, there is no ignoring climate change. While the science, causes and effects are by no means given (as discussed many times on spiked), placing limits on ingenuity will itself deny us imaginative and mature solutions. The greening of design will only contribute to more climate change panic if our hands are tied in finding the best means to deal with a warming world." [...]

"And amongst all the debate about limits, there is something else under attack, something distinctively human that is tied up with the idea of the designer: the degradation of objectivity." [...]

"Every so often, moments do arise which push the boundaries a bit further, or if you are lucky, by a long way. That's called innovation. And when it occurs, it must be seized upon. However, the greening of design 'thinking' only seeks the opposite effect: the deliberate curtailment of that freedom to think. The designer makes a virtue out of doing less and thinking small. This is 'anti-design'. Holding back ideas inevitably means crap solutions. And that affects us all."

>> read article

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UnsTable: A table that looks, um, unstable

Rafael Morgan's "UnsTable" gives the illusion that this piece of furniture may fall down, but in reality--and this isn't exactly giving away the recipe for making the Statue of Liberty disappear--each of the legs conceals a fixed metal bar, covered by movable cubes.

We've covered Rafael's work here a couple times before--The Hope Table, and the Light Drop. Some nice touches of wit and delight.

Check out an animated gif of the table in action here!

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What defies defining, but exists everywhere?

Alice Rawsthorn, design critic of the International Herald Tribune, has written a nice short essay where she tries to define the very concept of contemporary design practice, and brings in some interesting examples in the process.

She structures her argument in four sections:

1. Design and things ("the process of conceiving and creating things in the hope of making life easier and more enjoyable")


2. Design and formulas ("designers are now also working more flexibly by developing formulas to produce things that can be interpreted differently by different people, rather than finished objects")


3. Design and behavior ("design's potential to regulate our behavior" which also covers social design or service design)


4. Meaningless design ("the use of the word 'design' as a marketing ploy")

>> read article

Photo: a low-cost Ceramic Water Purifier from Potters for Peace, a U.S. nonprofit network, republished in the International Herald Tribune

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Sam Buxton knits interior for Bordello Bar

Commissioned by owner Young J Song, product designer Sam Buxton, in collaboration with textile designer Emily Hiller, has knitted a new-look interior for the Bordello Bar in London's Soho.

Buxton's designs run through the bar's two main rooms, entrance area and stairs, the walls of which are covered with red curtains of hand-tied netting. According to the designer, the seating and lighting were integrated to make it appear as though the interior is constructed from a single surface. Together, the wall hangings and a sculptural installation in the bar's main room contain 2.5km of knitted, hand-knotted and woven cord.

>> see more

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A lovely piece to start this week from Armin at SpeakUp. Here's a taste:

Armin Vit's short short on experience

And, as we all know, experience is everything. Hiring a recent graduate with no experience is always a conundrum for employers: Will it work out? How much time will be spent on training? How much money spent on fixing mistakes? And on, and on, and on. What many employers forget is that, once, someone had to give them the opportunity. And that's where the following phrase resonated: "Young designers don't lack experience, they just lack opportunity [...]." --Bob Aufuldish

Read the rest here.

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Coalesse: Live/Work Office Furniture

Taking your work home is nothing new, but taking your home to work? A new furniture company is trying to do just that. Coalesse, part of the Steelcase family, is launching a new lifestyle of work -- one where offices are places of life, community and nuances. Partnering with the likes of Carl Hansen & Son (Denmark), Walter Knoll AG & Co. (Germany), Viccarbe (Spain), and PP Mobler (Denmark), as well as drawing on Steelcase's brands (Brayton, Metro and Vecta), the Coalesse collection offers beautifully executed alternatives - albeit at luxury price points - for the cubically challenged.

We've got some choice snaps from our recent tour of the showroom in the Chicago Merchandise Mart after the jump and must admit the detailing and craftsmanship are to die for, but we're still unsure of how the corporate world will respond to all this. Sure, design-y types get it -- beautiful, well made (and locally made! more on that soon) furniture deserves to be part of all our work-spaces, but with price points well beyond the reach of "normal" budgets, this collection seems to demand big corporate clients to succeed.

>> Check out more pictures and read on here.

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Stanford, German institute in research alliance on design thinking

Stanford University and the Hasso-Plattner-Institute (Potsdam, Germany) on Tuesday announced a $16 million research partnership in which they will investigate "design thinking," a methodology that melds an end-user focus with multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative improvement to produce products, services or experiences.

Science patron Professor Hasso Plattner, 64, is co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board of the global software company SAP.

>> article | German press release

via Design Observer

photo: Hasso-Plattner-Institute

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Duracell's new Daylite LED flashlights

It looks like Duracell wants to take on MagLite with their new superbright LED Daylite flashlight.

Besides a sturdy all-weather design, the Daylites feature TrueBeam technology that uses "both a lens and a reflector to capture and project up to 100 percent of the light," which they claim significantly enhances brightness. Plus, a 3:1 zoom eliminates the annoying dark spot typical of most flashlights.

After a quick scan of CNET's hands-on review, it seems the product is solid enough but the price point on the Chinese made Daylite will have to drop significantly to compete with the U.S. made MagLite. Thoughts?

via gizmodo

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Design vs. Innovation or Crowd-sourcing vs. Post-Industrial Design?

Like a somnambulist under hypnosis, I anxiously nodded in agreement in my sleep yesterday morning as WNYC ran a story close to top of the hour. I was sure that the male broadcaster was talking about how design practices were being superseded by "innovation" practices in the business world in a re-hash of Rick Poyner's article in the April issue of ID, Down with Innovation. But when I went to their website upon waking, the only thing I found was this feature (presented by a female narrator) about "crowd-sourcing" (what business speak) or community-based design.

Using the business models of RYZwear and Threadless T-Shirts, the feature goes on to explain how community based design is the next step in the post-industrial revolution.

>> read on

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Innovation on the rocks

This is by far the neatest, most clever take on the ice cube tray we've ever seen. The IceOrb, comprised of an outer mold and an inner bucket, uses the "Eureka" water displacement method: Fill the mold with water, then insert the inner bucket to squeeze the water up into the mold. After it freezes, you can empty the ice into the inner bucket and keep making more. You can also stick entire bottles into the whole kit 'n caboodle to keep them frosty.

Check out their site for a demo video.

via cool hunting

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The great outdoors, invaded by geometric shapes

And finally, occasionally you'll see, in any part of the world that has a system of government-funded public works and subcontractors, some structure that seems to use wayyyy more construction materials than were necessary. Locals will tell you the story--"Oh, the Councilman's brother runs a concrete company," hence there's a new public square slathered in concrete, while said Councilman's brother is driving around in a new SUV.

Japan's "tetrapod beaches" are a good example of this kinda thing:

Hit the beach anywhere in Japan, and you are likely to see endless piles of tetrapods - enormous four-legged concrete structures intended to prevent coastal erosion. By some estimates, more than 50% of Japan's 35,000-kilometer (22,000-mi) coastline has been altered with tetrapods and other forms of concrete. Critics, who blame the tetrapod invasion on decades of excessive government spending designed to bolster the construction industry, argue that in addition to posing a danger to swimmers, surfers and boaters, tetrapods actually accelerate beach erosion by disrupting the natural processes that shape the coastal environment.

Pink Tentacle has amassed all of the Flickrites who've captured the tetrapod beaches on film/pixel.
[Second photo: seotaro]
[Last photo: toru aihara]

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Special thanks to toolgirl, Niti Bhan and Mark Vanderbeeken for their contributions to this week's newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.

Sweet prototyping show to debut in October

When the co-host of a new TV show centered around conceiving of, designing, and testing prototypes of robots, gadgets, machines, and other things wears a T-shirt that says "It was on fire when I got here," you know you're in for a treat.

The Discovery Channel will launch Prototype This! on October 15th, featuring hosts Terry Sandin, Zoz Brooks, Joe Grand, and Mike North.

Sandin: "The show's machinist/fabricator/animatronics host."

Brooks: "Has a Ph.D. in robotics from MIT's famous Media Lab...he's the team's software specialist."

Grand: "The team's electrical engineer and self-styled 'hardware hacker,' a member of Make magazine's technical advisory board, he also runs his own product development and design firm, Grand Idea Studios."

North: "He's got a Ph.D. in material sciences, with a specialty in biomimetics."

Alas, industrial designer Scott Summit was subcontracted for a couple episodes, but is not a permanent host. Click here to read details about the show and their Pyro Pack project, pictured above.

via cnet

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The Crowd Will Save Us: How the green movement taps participatory networks to drive innovation, by Jennifer van der Meer

Before environmental issues became part of the mainstream, the role of a designer was already starting to get much more interesting. Product innovation used to be the exclusive purview of R&D, where scientists and engineers tinkered away on technology-centered, proprietary advancements. Designers were left to style products for consumption and marketers worked further downstream to stimulate demand.

The emergence of more user-centered-thinking has given designers an influence well beyond the old drafting table. Upstream in the product development process, designers can now leverage tools like ethnography and sophisticated needs analysis. When given the opportunity, these methods drive the whole development process towards more meaningful and commercially viable innovation. These user-centered methods are the precursor for solving the green problem.

On the other end of the chain, the consumer has not yet been fully blended into the process, so the benefits and value of these new design approaches are less understood, and even prompt some level of suspicion. The way we go about asking these questions, and translating consumer needs back into business and design requirements, creates a wariness that has been uttered by some of the most optimistic proponents of green business. Do consumers mean what they say? Do they really want a greener future if it means dramatically changing their way of life?

>> continue reading

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Core77 Photo Gallery : Ceramics and Sound

"Ceramics and Sound" brings together the works of artists and designers who have been working at the European Ceramic Workcenter. The exhibition is on show at the Neues Kunstforum in Cologne (July 12 - August 9) and showcases sound installations, ceramic sculptures, experiments and prototypes.

>> view gallery

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Book Review: Le Corbusier Le Grande

As advertised, Le Corbusier Le Grande weighs in at a whopping 20 plus pounds and measures 19.6 by 14.3 by 3.9 inches with over 600 pages. It stands (or lays) as a comprehensive archive of the work of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, otherwise known as Le Corbusier and arguably one of the most important modernist architects of the twentieth century. While I briefly wondered if the enormous dimensions were intended to be reflective of the architect's Modulor system of proportions (they were neither 3:4 nor the 4:5 of the Modulor, but closer to 5:6), the scale of the book more than reflects the enormity of Le Corbusier's ambitions and output.

Brimming with photographs of projects and crisp pictures of tattered notebook pages, Le Grande seems to compile every document from Le Corbu's life, leaving the reader with the impression that they've uncovered some lost shoebox of memories, and maybe a level of detail that they don't quite deserve to visit. I was unaware, for example, that Le Corbusier may have had an affair with Josephine Baker, or that his right thigh was savaged by a propeller blade in the Mediterranean. Those seemingly tiny details humanized an imposing historical figure. Stumbling into a casual photograph of a middle aged and pantless Le Corbu with visible leg scarring and hairless buttocks ... well, somehow it seemed that both he and I may have been victims of an unwanted intrusion into his private life. While many books have revealed the ideological themes of his manifestos or his constant ongoing struggle with politics and the press, the comprehensive scale of this tome illuminates the sorts of dark corners of life where the stark realities of human existence, foibles and all, tend to hide. Le Corbusier Le Grand works as a giant book full of little revelations.

>> continue reading

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Meet Jeppe, the Nokia-designed video conferencing pet

Jeppe is a Nokia prototype that explores how we might accept a different breed of video communication in our homes that's more compelling and breaks the mould of the traditional PC/webcam scenario.

The prototype has been designed by the Nokia Smart Spaces Lab to be a social robot creature that's treated more like an electronic pet than a rolling slab of soulless hardware. Jeppe is loaded with a two-way video camera, a digital compass sensor and sound sensor. The idea is that Jeppe encourages more relaxed "passive conferencing", so video chat becomes more like an activity you simply do when it feels right rather than a formal task.

>> More also here

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Behind the design of the BMW 7 Series

The BMW Group's process of designing a new vehicle and finding the ideal shape is based on a concept of keen competition.

In the development of each new model, several design teams compete with one another in their design of the exterior and interior in a truly creative contest.

>> Read more

via dexigner

photo: bmwblog

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On the value of dissatisfaction

The Financial Times ran an article last week on happiness, arguing that if we all found it tomorrow, our economy would soon be in big trouble:

"Within weeks, the high-tech industry, which feeds on the creation of new and unfulfilled desires, would be in difficulties; the fashion world, which survives by persuading us that our perfectly good jeans are either too baggy or too tight, would start to flounder. The luxury goods industry would surely follow; new cars would be next. Before long, we'd be in a full-blown recession. Give it a decade and we'd be back in the Dark Ages."

"So we should be careful what we wish for," says the article's author Stehen Cave. "Perhaps there's something to say for dissatisfaction."

In Enough: Breaking Free From the World of More (Amazon), journalist John Naish concludes "that we are not designed to have happiness as our natural default state."

Or as Antonio Dini wrote in this review (in Italian): "Happiness, the nirvana of senses and aspirations, kills creativity and innovation that are born from needs and wants." In Naish's words: "Dissatisfaction is the driver of human endeavour".

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Interview: Dino Makropoulos, inventor of the EZ Smart Woodworking System

Ex-carpenter Dino talks to Core77 about jobsite creativity, designing better products, an almost-fatal woodworking accident, and two old Tonys who called him stupid.

Core77: Although most of the people we interview have backgrounds in industrial design, yours is in carpentry, which gave you the background to design the EZ Smart System. How long did you do carpentry for?
Dino: Twenty-five years total.

What types of projects did you work on?
I specialized in projects with historical restoration, special moldings, restoring fire damaged houses; we'd have to to duplicate existing designs and moldings--you couldn't just go to the store and buy replacements. You're forced to invent, you're forced to create, you're forced to make things different. Especially with old houses, you have to be very creative to bring it back to the original look and the methods that they used to use. You cannot use the same methods all the time but you have to find different ways, so that's what we did.

>> continue

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SolidWorks & Luxology cook up new renderer

It seems that SolidWorks and Luxology are working together to create a new rendering solution. This follows some news broken by Rob Rodriquez but confirmed by the folks at Luxology today. What is it? It's called PhotoView 360 and it's a quick and nimble rendering system that I'm told gets you results quick, very quick indeed. I'm also told that there's very little in the way of interface. This all sounds uncannily like HyperShot but I'll reserve judgement till I get a little peak at it tomorrow. The new tool is built on Luxology's Nexus rendering and modeling engine, which for those interested in architectural design, Bentley Systems has just adopted for Microstation too.

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New IDEO website launches

In good company with another famed site's relaunch last week (gratuitous use of the word "beta" on that one--unless it's the word-of-the-day), IDEO has revamped their online presence in the first overall site overhaul in 7 years. Led by core-fave Valerie Casey, the site plasters up its wares not unlike the post-it note sessions it's famous for. Indeed, comments Casey,

For me, the greatest achievement of the new IDEO.com is that it really manifests IDEO's culture--transparent, messy, highly creative. We are a family of observers and collaborators, builders and storytellers. For us, the site represents an opportunity area that we call 'networked culture,' by connecting people to content and each other in a dynamic way that builds communities, culture, and capabilities both online and offline.

There's a ton to explore here: The Focus pages take IDEO's areas of expertise and mix in proprietary content with links to outside resources; IDEO To Go is a tool for visitors to compile a customized information packet; the Culture section is fed continuously by the firm's 550 people (Yowza!) with observations and insights--check out Blinks.

Finally, be sure to take a wander through the now-rendered-prosaic Featured Work section. Easy nav, great slideshows, and a dashboard stat line that makes us feel a bit better about how many conference calls we indulge in.

Bonus: Take a peak at the firm's sweet 1996 homepage background tile below--a nice technical drawing riff on Paul Rand's logo. (In those days, you got to choose between "shocked" and "basic" versions of the site.)

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New website for designers: IDSketching.com

Speaking of sites, John Muhlenkamp and Spencer Nugent, uber-contributors to Core77, have launched IDSketching.com, a new site featuring videos and video tutorials on everything you need for design drawing, sketching, and rendering. The site is really well put together, with tons of content already up, and a sweet "sketchbook" section that should inspire novice and pro alike.

This thing comes just in time for the start of the new school year, of course, so if you're a teacher, send out the link; if you're a student, well, you might just want to keep it to yourself.

Congrats to John and Spencer on the site!

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Sydney Design Week 2008: Workshopped Exhibition Photos

One of the most interesting exhibitions at this year's Sydney Design Week is WORKSHOPPED, an annual design event now it's eighth year presenting furniture and objects from 32 young designers. Thanks to Leanne Gibson for sending us photos from the opening night. Pictured above: exhibitors Akira and Toshi, Angus McDonald and John Madden's 'Ferdinand Rocker' and opening remarks from Michael Young.

WORKSHOPPED 08
August 13-23, 2008
Chifley Plaza, CBD
Sydney

Click here to view more photos.

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World's tiniest solar car

And finally, spotted on Inhabitots the other day and running all over the blogs (albeit slowly), the World's Smallest Solar Racing Car measures 33 x 22mm, and "will also work when close to a strong artificial light source." Now, we're not saying that you could drive this around by shining a flashlight on it, but we're not saying we wouldn't try it either.

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Special thanks to Al Dean and Mark Vanderbeeken for their contributions to this week's newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.

Western Civilization, You've Been Served - Chinese Olympic Opening Ceremony Best Ever

If you watched it, you know it. If you missed it, take a look.

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Flic your bic after you're done calling home

Desperately hoping not to become known as the "disposable phone company" BIC, wellknown makers of disposable razer blades, lighters and ballpoint pens have just launched the first 'off the shelf' mobile phone in France.

The BIC phone will cost 49 Euros (US$78) and is capable of just making phone calls and sending text messages. It comes with a SIM card, 60 minutes of free calls, a phone number included in the packaging and a fully-charged battery. Extra minutes can be bought through the use of a mobicarte and works the same way as most pay-as-you-go schemes. The phone will initially only be available to buy in France.

The BBC has a video announcement while others wonder how the phone will be disposed and whether there are any recycling facilities. A disturbing product to join the "throwaway and replace" category, although one could muse on the benefits of catching a lobbed iPhone 3G...

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(Re)make it New, by William Bostwick

Nostalgia is a tricky thing. Do we really miss what we miss, or do we just like missing it? Who among us would voluntarily go back to middle school, that dismal cornucopia of bad hair, braces, and trapper keepers? And yet...the '80s are back. It's not just music, and it's not just the last couple decades. Design has been going retro for years now as the recasting bug has swept the ID world, and everything's fair game, from turn-of-the-century hunting-lodge chic to baroque ornamentation. But enough is enough.

Design is a pendulum that swings from then to now as designers look for inspiration in old forms and new ideas, alternately embracing and rejecting the past. It's been this way forever. In the 19th century, they went nuts for ancient Greece: houses had columns and furniture was decorated with ropes and lion heads. Then Gropius and his cronies turned up their noses at history and riffed on the contemporary factory aesthetic. Post-modernism swung back again, and today designers are at the apex of that curve, recasting anything and everything from the past in modern materials. But things are about to change. They have to, because historicist design, in all its ironic, witty, and just plain cheesy incarnations, has jumped the shark.

>> view article

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Jan Chipchase on why Lagos is more interesting than London

The always insightful Jan Chipchase has a short and amazing essay up at Receiver, Vodafone's blog on user experience and mobile technology, and it manages in just a few paragraphs to make not one but two startling but hard to refute arguments.

First, a fresh perspective on user research in developing markets. There have been two common viewpoints on this topic for a while now: either a)it doesn't matter that much, because most of the money is still in the hands of the developed world, or b)it's going to matter soon, because the developing world is growing and adopting technology rapidly, and we're fools to ignore such an opportunity--and anyway, it's the nice thing to do. Chipchase offers a third that trumps them both:

Today over 3 billion of the world's 6.6 billion people have cellular connectivity and it is expected that another billion will be connected by 2010. But what is often overlooked is the disproportionate impact of mobile phones on different societies, which is one of the reasons why, as researchers, we increasingly prefer to spend time in places like Cairo and Kampala: there is simply more to learn.

>> continue reading

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Environmentally friendly materials for future technologies produced from plants

To reduce amount of products in stores that are manufactured of unrecyclable or poorly recyclable materials, a lot of world leading companies look at a farmer's fields to find an appropriate solution today. And they are not only guided by green tendencies. By using environmentally friendly materials companies can bring down taxes and costs of productions.

Five plants that are presented in Gadgets Reviews are essential for the future technology and they can be accessed in any part of the world.

>> read article

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Core77 Photo Gallery: Farnborough Airshow

From the 14th to the 20th of July, the greatest display of military, commercial and private aircraft on the planet -- oh yeah! -- gathered in Hampshire, UK, for a glimpse at the future of our skies in the Farnborough Airshow. Core-o-spondant Britt Leissler was on hand to capture every last bit. Check out her comprehensive coverage here.

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1 Hour Design Challenge: CYCLING SHOE WINNERS!

Carlos Sastre just spent 3 weeks of his life cycling over 3500 Kilometers (2200 Miles) to win the 2008 Tour de France. How better to celebrate with him than to spend an hour to design a spiffy new cycling shoe? That's right, this month we asked Core readers to design the next greatest cycling shoe. We even got Bill Cass to join the judging crew. He works for Nike designing cycling shoes for guys like Mark Cavendish and some guy named Lance Something-or-other. The results should make any pro proud.

First place:
Garmin-Chipotle American team, by fede21us (top)

Second place:
Classic International Bike Shoe, by beartoe (middle)

Third place:
Padilla Shoe, by cpvt1987 (bottom)

Honorable Mention:
Barloworld Cycling Shoe and Crampon, by tbaker (after the jump)

Click here to see the rest and get the inside scoop on Bill Cass' thoughts...

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LEDs everywhere, but has their time really come?

By now, plenty of us have read the NY Times' lengthy examination of the future of Light Emitting Diodes as low-consumption replacements for incandescent and fluorescent lighting. The article from last Monday's paper cites a number of indicators, from the famed New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square (pictured) to more pedestrian applications like factory and home lighting.

US fast food chain Chipotle has announced that it's currently installing all LED lighting in its new Minneapolis store, and a spokesman "expects LEDs to be in the overwhelming majority of new restaurants next year." In Detroit, a local bar uses LEDs and claims to light the entire place with the equivalent consumption of two incandescent bulbs (which they quote at "130kW" -- my physics is a little rusty, but I think "130W" might be more correct).

LEDs are enormously appealing to designers for lots of reasons: the aforementioned efficiency, of course, but also their amazing flexibility and longevity.

>> continue reading

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Innovation made simple

Kevin Kelly's CT2 blog (Conceptual Trends, Current Topics) has an interesting entry up about innovation:

How to Make New Things

Paul Graham, an engineer who can write and think clearly, derived a reliable way to make new things: work on overlooked problems. I found the following bit of advice to not only be true, but profound.

Graham describes his strategy precisely: "Find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly." That seems simple, but it is not.

Definitely worth a read.

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Small but powerful

The Financial Times salutes the designers who focus on the 'supernormal', even as what they refer to as 'designart' makes too much noise and often drowns out the quality work quietly going on around the world. Here's a snippet,

A few years in, it is clear that designart, despite its bulky name, is here to stay. Larger manufacturers might be holding discreet credit crunch meetings but the panic has yet to trickle down to affect any tightening of purse strings when it comes to big-name creatives making lavish design. Yet, the often overpowering noise of designart does tend to drown out much other design. Which is why Wallpaper* has taken this opportunity to salute the designers that have trodden a more functional path: one that hasn't necessarily brought them fame, stardom or column inches but whose pieces are quietly being seen and, more importantly, being used every day.

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Bad product design: "We are the losers when form equals dysfunction"

Like many of us, Seattle Pi's Lawrence W. Cheek has been getting burned by poor product design, and is sick of it. He turned to Drew Carlson and Jerry Yamamoto, the industrial designers and founders behind Seattle's Slipstream Design, to figure out why bad design plagues us.

Their findings, in a nutshell:

- Product developers don't necessarily investigate how people use things in the real world.
- Consumers aren't demanding the right things.
- Feature creep has reached epidemic level.
- Novelty is masquerading as good design.
- So why buy a briefcase from a knife maker?

Of course, reading the bullet points alone won't do you (and the consumers you design for) nearly as much good as reading the entire article, here.

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Nike's 6.0 Ill Mobile Truck

Nike converted an amphibious armor-plated war-truck from 1959 into an extreme sports mobile HQ for Mountain Dew's Action Sports Tour.

The 8-wheeled ill-mobile is capable of crossing deserts, climbing mountains and taking the team to any secret spot. Racks for bikes, surfboards, wakeboards, skateboards, mean going anywhere for any scene. Rails to grind are featured on both sides, and a quarter pipe folds down for impromptu sessions. The stereo system requires 2 car batteries, a set of jumper cables and a little luck, but once it's blasting, it's like a stick of dynamite in your eardrum.

It's been picked up everywhere (that was the intention after all), via dvice.

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Artificial Cornea Shows Promise

Dvice points us to a new kind of artificial cornea developed by researchers at Stanford University published in May this year. The polymer-based cornea has not been tested in humans, but has shown promise in animal studies.

Developed by chemical engineer Curtis W. Frank, PhD, the cornea is made of two interwoven polymer gels, similar to the materials used in soft contact lenses. One layer is exceptionally strong while the other is able to absorb a tremendous amount of water. The result is a transparent, highly permeable substance with a water content similar to that of the natural cornea.

It's estimated that 10 million people worldwide suffer from blindness due to corneal disease. It's still early days though, the search for a safe and effective artificial cornea goes back as far as the French Revolution.

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2008 Australian International Design Awards Exhibition

Coinciding with the opening of Sydney Design 08, the Powerhouse Museum presents their annual selection from the Australian International Design Awards. Also on display are some favorite award-winning products from the past to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the award

Powerhouse Museum
From August 8th, 2008
Hours: 10.00am - 5.00pm daily
500 Harris St, Ultimo
Sydney

>> continue reading to get the details on the above images

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New Hamilton C2 Ventilator Breathes Hope

RKS, the Southern California-based ID consultancy, has just announced the launch of their new C2 ventilator, designed for Hamilton Medical. Based on recent studies from the Yale School of Medicine that emphasize, "the role of psychological factors [play an even bigger part in recovery] than expected," the C2 ventilator uses friendly shapes and minimal design to create a softer, more humane experience for the patient and visitor. Ravi Sawhney, RKS founder and C.E.O. noted,

When you see someone you love hooked up to these huge, industrial-looking machines, no matter what doctors say, a piece of you starts making funeral plans. That feeling can't help but affect everyone in the room.

It's always a welcome change to hear a design process inspired by emotions rather than dollars, and from the looks of this lil C2, we can't wait to see what the friendly futures of hospitals will look like...

>> see more images

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Living, Reinvented

ETech, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, goes green with its upcoming conference about "the tech of abundance and constraints".

We live in two worlds: one filled with abundance and the other with constraints. Each has its own favorite -- or essential to survival -- inventions and directions. Each has been deeply affected by technology.

The abundant world has access to the Internet and other educational tools, to the latest advances in medicine, to culinary choices from around the globe, and up until recently, access to "plenty of" energy. This abundance can lead to waste since most everyday objects are easier and cheaper to replace than fix. But sometimes this excess can lead to creation -- a reinvention of waste -- as we see in the pages of Make magazine.

The constrained world has to make do with what's available. Why scrimp and sacrifice for a computer when most people have mobile phones with an SMS server that can do the job just fine? With limited food, water, fuel, medicine, it's the people and their ideas that are often the cheapest part of the equation. Their technology looks to collaboration and connection with fewer resources -- almost the opposite of the industrialized world which seeks to make each individual as effective as possible.

What technologies cross the divide? How do the two interact and cross-pollinate?

Alex Steffen of Worldchanging is excited and so are we.

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Cows Herded With Headsets

And finally, cows and more cows! 2008 is turning out to be the year of bovine-methane-manipulation (poor things!) But things might be looking up for our fat-boned friends with the introduction of the Ear-A-Round, stereo earphones that transmit sounds directly into the cow's ears to guide its movement. Researchers are currently working on developing the prototype which has, as a goal, to "give farmers a much finer control of pastures, finer management of where animals are and a better use of the land," not to mention finding "out what the animals do all day." (Ahem....rock out to Madonna?).

Here are some choice sound bites from the lab:

The technology won't eliminate the need for cowboys; instead, the focus is to shift their labor from physical to cognitive.

Ranchers and cowhands will no longer have to spend time building and repairing fences.

[Lead researcher Dean M. Anderson] has sung his song during training exercises to get the animals to move. If they pause for longer than a few seconds, he will use the song cue to get them moving again.

If the sound cues fail, the headset can give a small electrical shock to move unresponsive cows.

[Andersen and his partner Daniela Rus] also plan to test other sounds as possible cues, including naturally repulsive sounds for cows such as barking dogs and hissing snakes.

Oh...you poor cows...What will they think of next?

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Special thanks to Niti Bhan and Mark Vanderbeeken for their contributions to this week's newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.

Giant laser-cut catepillars, dump trucks and concrete mixer

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye takes laser-cutting to a new scale with his sculptures of construction vehicles highly detailed in ornate patterns referencing the industrial revolution, gothic cathedrals, victorian architecture and to a degree steampunk culture.

The artist has an eclectic body of work including Cloaca (2000) an installation that produced feces, he's been tattooing pigs since the 1990s and in 2001, he took x-rays of his friends having sex after they painted small amounts of barium on parts of their bodies. The x-rays were presented as giant stained-glass church windows, abstracted until you got up close to see the details.

Take a trip through his isometric pixel land to learn more.

>> more pics

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New design cluster in Barcelona

Barcelona's Design Centre (BCD) has announced a new strategic initiative to strengthen Barcelona's image as a centre of innovation: an international design cluster, where they want to attract designers, corporate design centres and design companies from all over the world.

A BCD press release -- unfortunately clumsily written and clumsily translated -- contains more background, including the fact that the cluster will be located in the district of innovation of the city, 22@, and will take an "entrepreneurial approach aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises."

via Dexigner

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Advertisement

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Custom Sprinter Shoe from 3D technology

The next generation of sprint spikes may be as close as your home printer (3D printer, that is). The researchers at Loughborough University have developed a method to maximize the performance of elite runners by customizing the sole units of sprint spikes to match their individual characteristics. Using selective laser sintering (laser energy that sinters small particles of plastic to create precise, complex 3D components), the researchers can create the personalized outsoles with various stiffness to suit the specific requirements of elite sprinters. The need for expensive moulds and tooling is gone, revealing the possibility of a bespoke process for each athlete, harnessing the full potential of their power - critical for both sprinters and jumpers. With Beijing on the horizon, this technology won't stay in the lab for long.

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Strongest. Material. Ever.

You can be a materials geek if you want--you can think titanium's the coolest, or carbon fiber bike frames are full of awesome. Maybe you're a little more esoteric and dream about aerogels or aramids, or maybe nanocoatings. But in the end, the only title that really matters is Strongest Material in the World, and that title's just been granted to...something you've never heard of.

It's called graphene, and anyone familiar with molecular structures probably won't be surprised to know that the new Strongest Material Ever is mostly carbon, the same building block in diamond and buckytubes. The difference with graphene is it lays neatly in a sheet one molecule thick, like ultra-thin plastic wrap. If plastic wrap could do this:

[Columbia professor James] Hone compares his test to stretching a piece of plastic wrap over the top of a coffee cup, and measuring the force that it takes to puncture it with a pencil. If he could get a large enough piece of the material to lay over the top of a coffee cup, he says, graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop the pencil.

The catch, as you may have surmised from the quote, is that graphene has so far only been synthesized in extremely small pieces, making it useful for high-conductivity transistors, but not so much for physical applications. No word yet on when you'll be able to run to the fabric store and buy a yard or two for making the ultimate shred-proof parachute pants. Assuming you could figure out how to cut the stuff.

Via MIT Technology Review

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Thinking about design research?

Ever find yourself more interested in the thinking before the doing? What exactly should be designed and for whom rather than how should this shoe or television look like for this market? Thinking about design research, ethnography and becoming more human centered? Thinking of going back to school?

Wait, read these wise and insightful words from those who've trod the paths before you. Grant McCracken answers a newbie's questions on his blog, here is a snippet to think about and ponder,

I believe the success of Gladwell's career, and the value he has created for people inside and outside the marketing community demonstrates that while disciplinary and professional training matter, there is no substitute for a very smart person traveling by his own lights, patiently asking of the idea he/she encounters, does this help me think about the world, or is it in some way obfuscating. (My other exemplars are Victorian scholars. Lewis Henry Morgan, for instance. This guy managed to found American anthropology in his spare time. He was a lawyer by day.)

If you choose to be a free standing anthropologist, there are two objectives: the culture below and the culture above. The culture below is the long standing ideas and assumptions with which we make the world make sense, the instrastructure, if you will, of thought and feeling. The culture above is the trends and innovations that pour through our world. We want culture above and below because too often anthropology is reduced to a kind of cool hunting, a search for the latest thing and an investigation of culture above. Certainly, we need to know what social networking is, but if that's all we know, all we can report to the client, we have removed ourselves from usefulness.

More to the point, we have sacrificed our disciplinary advantage. Any undergraduate can pursue cool. Only an anthropologist can observe the larger, richer cultural context from which cool springs and with which it must correspond if cool is to cool into something lasting. Indeed I would argue that it is precisely when culture above resonates with the culture below that things "take," that innovation has a chance to transform us in substantial ways. (And by this reckoning you could say that social networking is now finding its feet precisely because users have found a way to make it responsive to the logic of their social worlds. This is not to say it will not change these social worlds, but first it must find a way to resonate with them.)

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Mirror-Finish Tile Saw

Aspiring to set your workshop up to look like a sci-fi set, the new Revolution XT Tile Saw from Gemini will fit right in. Appearances aside, the 10" diamond ring blade allows you to cut curves as well as straight lines, can handle tile or stone up to 6cm thick and doesn't require a water pump, the unit is completely self contained. Nice! Good luck keeping it clean. The Revolution starts at $945 and blades are $100+.

via toolmonger

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Photo: Andy Manis for The New York Times

Rocket Man

Continuing the tradition of man's pursuit to fly, New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin showcased his jet pack at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After 27 years developing devices to fly, he hopes to start selling them next year for around $100,000 US.

Powered by a water-cooled, 200-horsepower engine which drives the downward facing fans on either side, Martin's machines can run for 30 minutes, not bad when you consider most alternatives get you about a minute of air time.

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Plus Minus Zero launch site for the rest of us

Fan's desperate to get their hands on the minimal product range from Japan's Plus Minus Zero can rejoice as they've just launched an international site to cater for all you overseas residents. There's no online shop yet but they've listed distributors in France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Good news for Europe, still doesn't explain the uncharacteristic eye-straining choice of red type on blue for the announcement though.

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The Good Design Plan

Building on its 2004 strategic plan, the Practical Power of Design, the UK Design Council has launched The Good Design Plan, a new three-year national strategy for design.

Defining good design as 'sustainable design', it highlights five objectives for the council:
1. business and public service innovation
2. public and community engagement
3. design skills development
4. design policy and promotion
5. organisational and operational efficiency

via Kate Andrews

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PHASE 8: Last Goodbye For Cologne's KISD Graduates

Last week, Cologne's graduate students celebrated their last goodbye. Each year, sixth semester students organize a last farewell party for their fresh graduates.

The Köln International School of Design, or KISD (pronounced as "kiss dee") is not meant for creative students who like to stay at home. Their academic program includes international courses and stimulates students to experience a part of their education abroad, which is quite uncommon for German education standards.

During a sunny afternoon in Cologne we enjoyed a refreshing graduation show with penguin-like yachts, magic tableware, and live presentations. See more photos and presentations after the here.

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Framing the digital landscape

We're seeing a lot of these organizational solutions for managing the endless sea of cords that come with a fulfilling digital lifestyle. Naolab's ChargerFrame applies the old design trick of making a feature out of a flaw and showcases a web of tangled cords in a picture frame--a true digital landscape. While some of us would prefer a door to hide all that mess, it does get a point for including a global kill-switch to save energy.

>> more pics

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Conduit Design

Making a silk purse from a sow's ear, architect Stanley Saitowitz has designed a warm, rich space from the systematic guts of a residential condominium building.

Conduit, a new restaurant in San Francisco, emerged from found circumstances. The ground floor commercial space had a low ceiling and a tangled maze of plumbing, sprinkler and electrical conduits serving the residences above. The interior features exposed tubes added to the existing plumbing pipes, sprinkler system and electrical ducts of the space, on the ground floor creating a uniquely sleek atmosphere.

Via Dezeen

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Objectified, a documentary about industrial design by Gary Hustwit

Due for release in early 2009, the site for Objectified went live today previewing issues discussed in the film. Type fans will already be familiar with the format from Hustwit's film Helvetica which debuted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface.

The term objectified has two meanings. One is 'to be treated with the status of a mere object.' But the other is 'something abstract expressed in a concrete form,' as in the way a sculpture objectifies an artist's thoughts. It's the act of transforming creative thought into a tangible object, which is what designers in this film do every day.

Objectified features:
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
and more participants TBA

www.objectifiedfilm.com

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Staple Design x New Balance 575

And finally, if you missed out on scoring a pair of Staple's now classic Pigeon Dunks (2005) the first time round, prepare yourself for the second coming, the iconic pigeon has manifested itself onto a pair of New Balance 575's. We recently saw the pigeon make another appearance on Lomo's Colorsplash camera which begs the question, is there a saturation point. Sneaker Freaker caught up with Jeff Staple for the lowdown.

It's double-edged. The fact that so many companies approach us is a blessing, but on the other hand, there is that dilution and you don't want to be the village whore, just banging everybody. I just look at myself and ask does the collaboration make sense? If there's one strength that I have, it's the ability to see if two people in the room make sense together or not. If it doesn't feel right, if it feels forced, fabricated or really obviously mashed together, I think the public nowadays is savvy enough to see through that right away.

read interview

>> more pics

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Special thanks to Niti Bhan and Mark Vanderbeeken for their contributions to this week's newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.