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?
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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.
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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.
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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!
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