2008 Annual Design Review Winners
I.D. Magazine's 2008 Annual Design Review winners are published on their website if you haven't had a chance to check out the latest issue. The biggest dilemma for judges this year was whether to acknowledge the iPhone or not; in the end they took a historical perspective and decided it had to be included. Good call!
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It's the Economy, Stupid: A macroeconomic primer for design(ers) and sustainability, by Robert Blinn
Last week the International Energy Agency called for serious investment into alternative energy and carbon sequestering. At the same time, United States Senate blithely blocked environmental legislation with many elected officials indicating that our suffering economy could not bear such a cost. While the gulf between these two modes of thinking seems irreconcilable, a reframing of terms may go a long way toward closing the philosophical distance.
Having studied economics as an undergraduate and then worked on Wall Street for nearly a decade, I feel relatively attuned to the economy and economic thought. Having read and studied design for the last four years, however, I've begun to realize that much of what I studied and practiced (in both design and economics) was based on misunderstandings and taxonomic differences between science, economics, politics, and design.
While it is tempting to treat sustainability as a production or a materials problem, such a view neglects the realities of our global economic system. To truly do "sustainable" design, the solution must reach beyond the drawing board and into economic reality. Economists and scientists have actually already paved the way toward robust arguments for sustainable energy and design, but to understand them it is first necessary to profoundly reframe the lens through which we view the world.
Politicians and naysayers will often object to sustainable initiatives on the grounds that they limit "growth" and increase "costs." While these arguments remain difficult to refute on a commercial level, two simple observations are enough to defuse or derail even the most economically sophisticated political arguments against sustainability. Market forces cannot align with the common interest of humanity so long as prices reflect costs and benefits that occur in: (A) displaced locations and (B) periods of time other than the present. This piece of knowledge casts an "inconvenient" shadow over our current system of production, but in doing so provides hope not only for the environment but also for our economic future.
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Samsung's Green phones
Last week Samsung released their green "Eco-Phone," made of corn-based bioplastics and lacking in harmful lead, mercury and cadmium. They're also Energy-Star-rated, and an alarm feature beeps when the battery's topped off, so you don't leave it plugged in and drawing juice. For now, the Eco-Phones are only available in South Korea.
via akihabara news
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1 Hour Design Challenge: WINNER ANNOUNCED!
It's big, it's brawny, it's dude heaven! (No - not mud wrestling!) Power Tools! This month we challenged Core readers to flex their skills and design the next greatest piece of mechanical muscle in one hour or less. Together with guest judge Brian Matt of Altitude, Inc. we've narrowed it down to a selection that would make Tim Allen proud. Here are the results:
First Place: Air Force
Second Place: Hacksaw
Third Place: Thor Chainsaw
>> continued...
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Cool tools: manhole magnet
Speaking of tools, if you've ever seen a construction worker hoist a manhole cover open, you know why they're built the way they are. Here to provide some assistance is the Magswitch Manhole Lifter System, an ingenious combination of a simple lever and an on-off magnet; the 23-lb. tool will hoist 400-lb. manholes with no problem. And the price? "Very affordable when compared to the cost of injury," says the manufacturer's website. Wonder if that means it costs an arm and a leg.
via tool monger
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Harvard study questions 'Long Tail' theory
The Long Tail theory, as explained by its creator, Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, holds that society is "increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of 'hits' (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail."
In a recent study Anita Elberse, a marketing professor at Harvard's business school, looked at data for online video rentals and song purchases, and discovered that the patterns by which people shop online are essentially the same as the ones from offline. Not only do hits and blockbusters remain every bit as important online, but the evidence suggests that the Web is actually causing their role to grow, not shrink.
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Photo Gallery Alert: 100% Design Shanghai
From June 26-28, the likes of Richard Hutten, Michael Young and Patrick Jouin joined creative directors Tobias Wong and Aric Chen in the Shanghai Exhibition Center to showcase design in one of the fastest developing parts of the world. Core 77's correspondent, Simon Husslein, was on hand to snap pics of this inaugural event. Take a look here.
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Zero Tolerance for Decorative Design, the ±0 Electric Kettle
Whether you're a minimal purist or stuck in a small apartment with limited counter space, you might want to consider Plus Minus Zero's latest offering, an electric kettle. Bordering on the ordinary, the small cylindrical kettle would look perfect with a coupe of ±0 mugs.
View more from their 5th Collection.
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John Thackara on North and South
John Thackara's got a wonderful piece up on Design Observer, jumping off from his refusal to take part in a swanky trip to discuss "design and development" and instead to stay home and do more good "in his own backyard." Well, not literally, of course, but here's some of the sweet spots:
I've never forgotten the time when Jogi Panghaal, one of Doors of Perception's co-founders, took me to a sleepy hamlet an hour from Bangalore. We encountered a group of villagers standing around a wide patch of ragi (a grain that is used to make dark bread) spread thinly over the road in a neat circle. Six chickens appeared to be eating up the grain, while the villagers watched and chatted. Why, I asked, don't you feed the grain in a bowl? The villagers laughed, and then explained that the chickens are eating tiny maggots, smaller than our eyes can see, which need to be removed from the grain before it can be stored. It's a smart, low-tech solution to a practical issue faced by farmers everywhere. But when I recently Googled "clean bugs from grain," the first link was to the "Opico Model 595 Quiet Fan Batch Dryer With Sky-Vac Grain Cleaner." I can't help but find this to be a clunker solution than hens in the street.
Read the whole piece here.
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Starck sees the light (and feels the breeze)
Philippe Starck is back--apparently the reports of design's death were greatly exaggerated--and Inhabitat takes a look at his new project, a mini wind turbine coming out in September.
The windmill can generate 20-60% of the energy needed to power a home, at a price point of around 400 Euros ($633). Not realistically within everyone's budget, but by combining creativity and elegance with ecology Starck will hopefully encourage more people to take greener steps. And for those who don't want their conservation pieces to be conversation pieces, a subtler version has been proposed.The project was realized with the help of Pramac, a company better known for its petrol and diesel generator sets but one which has recently entered the renewable technology field. We can't help but think that Starck's latest design is a sign of his own transformation, marking the start of his new career as an advocate of sustainable design.
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"Fast" clothes
In this age of retail therapy, buying the right clothes is supposed to make you feel better. Can the right clothes also make you run faster? Nike seems to think so:
The Nike Swift System of Dress [increases] aerodynamic advantages on key parts of the body. Socks, gloves and arm coverings - an entire system of dress - were developed by Nike so sprinters could run faster. For example, the Nike Swift gloves and arm coverings have dimpled fabrics like a golf ball to cut wind resistance and allow arms to slice through the air faster. In testing, the design team found that compared with bare skin, the gloves and arm coverings reduce drag by 19 percent and the socks by 12.5 percent.
via businesswire
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"Toys for Pigs" by Sharon Geschiere Wins The First Design to Business Award
Dutch designer Sharon Geschiere receives the first Design to Business Award for designing the 'Wroezelaar', a play toy for pigs. The toys are made out of hollow cylinders filled with different kinds of food to stimulate the pigs' senses. She has been working with the LTO Nederland and the Dierenbescherming (a Dutch animal welfare group) to improve the modest lives of stalled pigs.
"Toys for pigs?" Yes, following European legislation, as from July 1st, 2007, pig producers in the Netherlands are compelled to offer some entertainment for their pigs. This decision was made because the animals could seriously harm each other when they get bored.
The Design to Business Award (D2B) is aimed at designers from Arnhem or the province of Gelderland and stimulates closer and more creative ways of working between designers and their clients.
via design.nl
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Student designers step it up: 2nd-year takes D&AD Awards
UK product design student Chi Shing Lo took first place in the D&AD Student Awards with his cell phone concept. And while his design is undoubtedly cool (large photos after the jump), we were more interested in the wake-up notice offered by D&AD Education Chairman Al Young, on the excellence of Shing and other students' work:
"The quality of work across the board was the best I have ever seen," said Young. "College standards have risen to such a height, that the judges agreed that much of the material exhibited by these students should have contended at a professional level."
"Winning an award at this level is significant," said Michael Marsden, Subject Leader for Product, Furniture and Industrial Design at Shing's De Montfort University, "especially as Shing is only a second year student and much of the competition will be final year students with far more design experience."
Note to the professionals: The students are stepping it up, so it's time to bring that A-game!
>> check out the larger images here.
via cellular news
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Photo: David Maxwell for The New York Times
No use crying over spilt milk, it's the cost of being green
The New York Times reports on a new milk jug container designed with a flat top and rigid sides allowing the containers to be stacked on a pallet using cardboard bands and shrink wrap instead of milk crates. Introduced by Sam's Club last November, the cardboard and plastic can be recycled, it eliminates the need to maintain and wash milk crates and reduces the typical number of weekly deliveries from 4-5 trips down to 2.
The redesign of the gallon milk jug, experts say, is an example of the changes likely to play out in the American economy over the next two decades. In an era of soaring global demand and higher costs for energy and materials, virtually every aspect of the economy needs to be re-examined, they say, and many products must be redesigned for greater efficiency.
But not everyone's happy, consumers are complaining that the new square design is hard to pour without spilling the milk as the jug has no real spout. It seems like that's a small consideration for Sam's Club who estimate this method of shipping has reduced labor by half and water usage by 60-70 percent. Sam's Club can now store 224 gallons of milk in a cooler that used to hold 80.
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Perch - Ergonomic Furniture for Primary Schools
Irish designer Simon Dennehy has developed ergonomic furniture for primary schools targeting know problem areas of concern including posture, chair height and the relationship to the work surface. He undertook detailed research into this subject matter during his M.A. and hopes that Perch will alleviate poor posture in school children which is linked to obvious symptoms like back pain and possible issues of poor digestion, nausea, headaches and bad circulation.
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Michael Pollan on shortening supply chains
Yale 360 has a great interview with locavore Michael Pollan on the importance of shifting from environmentalism, which focuses on preservation, to sustainability, which focuses on a healthy relationship between industrial and biological systems. His argument for localizing food production also works for an argument to localize many other types of production:
One source of our sense of powerlessness and frustration around climate change is that we are so accustomed to outsourcing so much of our lives to specialists of one kind or another, that the idea that we could reinvent the way we live, change our lifestyles, is absolutely daunting to people. We don't know how to do it. We've lost the skills to do it . . . I think where climate change is taking us is to a point where many of us will need to take care of ourselves a little better than we do now. We will be less able to depend on distant experts and distant markets. We will need to re-localize economies all over the world because we won't be able to waste fossil fuel . . . These long supply chains are going to have to get shorter.
What do you think, designers? Is localized production possible? Comments please.
Pollan's garden-talk might not provide all the answers but it's sure got some good clues. Go ahead and read the full interview here
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A New "Super Glass" Material Discovered By Accident
A new kind of ceramic material has been discovered by the Swedish chemist Saeid Esmaeilzadeh who accidentally cooled down a ceramic substance too fast.
Instead of throwing away the results of the failed experiment, he decided to research the substance. This turned out to be a kind of "super glass" with unexpected properties such as extreme hardness (harder than steel) and high index of refraction.
Saeid started the company Diamorph to commercialize his discovery. Right now, the company is cooperating with the wind power industry to develop more strong and lightweight bearings for wind turbines that have to withstand tremendous pressure and poor lubricant condition.
Congrats to Saeid not just for his research but also for adding some user perspective in the world of research. Saeid earlier said: "If I talk about atoms and bonds and nitrides, people fall asleep at their desks. But if I talk about this wind power plant and the problems we're wrestling with, then everyone wants to join in!"
via product
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Cardboard bicycle
And finally, in thinking about how to thwart bicycle thieves, UK design student Phil Bridge reasoned that if the bike was only worth $30, it'd have a better chance of going unsnatched. His designed result? A fully functioning cardboard bicycle! Check it out at inhabitat.
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Special thanks to Mark Vanderbeeken and Xanthe Matychak for their contributions to this week's newsletter!
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