New Design Competition Launched! Design a Snowboard for Nidecker!
Nidecker Snowboards has partnered with Core77 to produce the Nidecker Snowboard Competition, an international design competition inviting designers to create custom snowboard graphics. The Grand Prize winner will receive $2500 and be included in the Nidecker 2010/11 line, and the Top 4 will be produced in a limited run and receive a snowboard with their own design. They will also all be displayed at the international SIA Show in Orlando and at the ISPO Tradeshow in Munich in February 2010, along with profiles of the winning designers. And...the designer's name will be featured on the side of their board!
Design Brief
For this competition, Nidecker is challenging designers to create the next generation of snowboard graphics. Designers can submit designs of any style or content, and participants have the entire topsheet of the board as their canvas. Just download the templates and create!
Competition Deadline
July 12th, 11:59 pm EST
COMPETITION IS OPEN! REGISTER NOW!!
Wave Sport Kayak Competition WINNER: Ben Nelesen!
And speaking of competitions, the voting ended last night and we have a winner for the Wave Sport Kayak Hull Trip-Tych Design Competition! The Grand Prize goes to Ben Nelesen, who receives $2500! The 4 Finalists, Sam Bevington, Mike Serafin, Jared Schmale, and Danny Louten will each receive a kayak with their own design, and all of the Top 5 designs will be displayed at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Show in Salt Lake City in July 2009.
Congratulations to the winner, and thanks to everyone who entered!
>>CHECK OUT THE GALLERY NOW to see the Grand Prize winner, the Finalists, the Semi-Finalists and all the Notables.
Portland Confab panel emphasizes diversity in experience, and in networking
A successful design team is rarely composed of single-talent professionals, and rarely comes from a single source of referrals. This was one of the recurring themes of the third Coroflot Creative Employment Confab, held this time in a pleasantly un-rainy Portland, Oregon, and featuring a panel drawn from some of the region's most renowned design-driven employers.
Nike, Intel, Ziba and Cinco Design have all achieved notoriety in their fields for churning out great ideas and great products at a reliable pace, and the representatives of those firms on hand last Thursday -- Beth Sasseen, Nick Oakley, Chelsea Vandiver and Kirk James, respectively -- each claim heavy reliance on professional diversity for their success. That diversity, it turns out, manifests not just within teams (Ziba's designer + engineer + researcher + social scientist groupings are a good example), but within individual designers.
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Apple's kick-ass App display wall at WWDC (and oh yeah, there's a new iPhone)
Apple had a brilliant, NYU-ITP-worthy display up at the Moscone Center (captured by TechCrunch): a grid of 20 Cinema Display monitors loaded with icons for iPhone apps available at the app store. The cool part: Every time an app was purchased, it pulsated on-screen, leading to a pebbles-dropped-in-water effect.
The new iPhone 3G S is on the way in a couple of weeks. The differences between this generation and the last are subtle and mostly internal: More RAM and storage, faster processor, better camera with video and touchscreen manual focus, voice control, digital compass neatly linked to map app.
The Last iPhone, by Robert Fabricant
And speaking of iPhones....
The Last iPhone
What if you are holding the last iPhone ever made?
What if the 3G-S looked no different than the 3G?
What if the 4G looked no different than the 3G-S and so on...?
What if all iPhones looked the same from now on?
What if it didn't matter that the iPhone could be made 1/16" thinner next year?
What if it didn't matter that the iPhone could be produced in a host of different colors and metallic finishes?
What if the design could not be improved upon?
What if Apple stopped releasing new iPhones?
What if you could expand the capabilities of the iPhone infinitely through software?
What if there were a billion different apps available to download instantly?
What if you could plug-in new hardware modules to extend the capabilities even further?
What if you could send in your iPhone to have the internal components upgraded each year?
What if you subscribed to the iPhone instead of owning it?
What if the iPhone was guaranteed for life?
What if you never bought another phone?
What if Apple really decided to think differently?
(What would you be willing to pay for a Continuously-Upgraded-iPhone-for-Life? I would love to hear your answers...)
Robert Fabricant is the VP of Creative at frog design
The latest 21st century profession: the digital smuggler (currently very active in Iran)
The Guardian News blog reports on how Iranian people are turning into digital smugglers to spread their message, despite depleted phone and internet services.
"In days gone by, crushing a revolution was a lot easier. There were no mobile phones to co-ordinate street action or relay what was happening to the outside world. Even more importantly, there wasn't an internet. Now it is common to hear of "internet" or even "twitter revolutions" - as Andrew Sullivan on the Atlantic has already described the current protests in Iran.It is precisely for that reason that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to have - temporarily at least - shut down Facebook, Twitter, mobile phone networks and unsympathetic websites. Nevertheless, Iranians are still managing to feed out information, embracing the technology that the moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi employed during his ultimately unsuccessful election campaign."
>> Read article
Maverick's Nica bluetooth headset with the coolio dock
What initially drew our eye to the Nica bluetooth headset is the design of the docking solution: the disc-like earpiece attaches magnetically to the top of the Desk Dock, continuing its clean, cylindrical shape.
The company that produces it, Maverick Lifestyle Corporation, has a Modernist philosophy that re-examines "commonly held assumptions to make way for new - and better - ways of doing. Modernist objects tend to be clean, sleek, and highly efficient. Apparent simplicity often masks ingenious engineering."
The product designers have also paid careful attention to ergonomics, with a larger, open-air speaker (i.e. no ear canal insert) that's more comfortable to wear for prolonged periods, and a flat overall shape that fits neatly in a pocket. "The result is a less-geeky, iconic form, and also the most comfortable headset on the market," says Maverick CEO Craig Janik.
Previously available only online, Maverick will begin selling the Nica in stores this summer.
Post-it stop motion video
It's all over, but we'll post it (ha ha) anyway. DEADLINE, a clever little film from SCAD senior, Bang-yao Liu. Love the soundtrack from Royksopp (they capture the sound of design, don't they). Watch the video here.
Book Review: Sketchbook: Conceptual Drawings from the World's Most Influential Designers, by Timothy O'Donnell
After reviewing Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators and Creatives just a few weeks ago, it seemed premature to cover another one so soon, but any drawing teacher would concur: you can never do enough sketching. Sketchbook: Conceptual Drawings from the World's Most Influential Designers by Timothy O'Donnell covers similar material in a slightly different manner. While Brereton's book caught artists and ad execs at their most candid, O'Donnell documents primarily illustrators and designers doing real projects. Thus the art throughout is more precise, a little tighter and far less kooky. While this bodes well for the pencil chops of designers as a whole, it also means that looking at some of these sketchbooks is totally demoralizing.
Looking at the book as a whole, however, is beyond lovely. Laid out on a grid with four unrelated serif and sans fonts (no superfamilies here!) it coheres harmoniously ... and that's even with Johnny Hardstaff's frenetic sketches on the page. Hardstaff, however, is the only artist that appears in both O'Donnell and Brereton's books, probably because his skills with a felt tip are so damn tight. Lots of other talent abounds too. Ayse Birsel of Birsel+Seck says of her partner, "Bibi draws like a god," and although I don't know what god draws like, he (that would be Bibi) is as good as Mr. Hardstaff. Birsel+Seck are product designers to boot ... plus Yahweh might find Johnny Hardstaff's sketches a little risque. What Sketchbook: Conceptual Drawings from the World's Most Influential Designers does far better than The Hidden Art of Designers is illustrate the creative process. Each serves a different master. While Brereton's book was about love, O'Donnell's book is about results. Fortunately for the reader, viewing these conceptual sketches doesn't feel like work at all.
CATALYST Strategic Design Review
If you like strategic design thinking with a healthy dose of green, check out the new CATALYST Strategic Design Review, produced by the graduate Design Management Program at Pratt Institute (chaired by the amazing Mary McBride) and edited by Erin Weber. Here's the pitch:
CATALYST is designed to spark conversation about the role of strategic design in shaping successful business. Its intent is to provide an opportunity for design leaders and innovators to share theory and best practices for a future that's economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
The inaugural issue explores New York City "as an incubator for strategic design," and takes on issues of redesigning urban school systems, green architecture, and the High Line (opened yesterday!). Core77's Allan Chochinov has a (reprinted) piece in it as well, and don't miss the "9 Things to Know About Pro Bono."
Check out the publication here (online only), and explore additional topics on the CATALYST blog.
30 Essential Books for Industrial Designers
Looking for even more reading? Ditch the Jackie Collins and be the design geek at the beach with one of Design Sojourn's "30 Essential Books for Industrial Designers," which avoid the usual coffee-table claptrap in favor of meatier fare authored by the likes of Kenya Hara, Don Norman, Bill Moggridge, and other heavyweights.
The books are divided into three sections: Thinking, Process, and Designer Skills, with Amazon links provided. Just be sure to keep the sand out of your Kindle.
Good Guide helps you research how "green" products and materials actually are
The excellent website Good Guide, started by Dara O'Rourke (the UC Berkeley professor who first drew attention to Nike's Asian sweatshops), helps readers cut through marketing B.S. to find out what's actually in the products they buy. Click on a category under Food, Personal Care, Househould Chemicals or Toys and up pops a supply-chain analysis that shows you how green or healthy the product's ingredients actually are, beyond the often outrageous claims listed on the packaging.
The "News" section of the site occasionally has information directly pertinent to industrial designers vis-a-vis materials. Two recent examples: A link pointing out that bisphenol A (a plastic ingredient found in baby bottles, CD cases and sunglasses) can raise the risk of heart disease in women, and another highlighting the dangers of silver nanoparticles, which appear in toys, eating utensils, refrigerators, and footwear.
They've also got an iPhone app that lets you use the camera's phone to snap a product's bar code and get info on it.
Here's to hoping Good Guide expands their coverage to include consumer products like laptops, appliances and furniture.
sources: ny times, mail online, abc science
Interview with Zipcar's Robin Chase
Urban Omnibus and The Infrastructurist have teamed up to interview Robin Chase, the co-founder of Zipcar.
Robin talks about everything from founding Zipcar to her new ride-sharing project, Go Loco, to bigger visions about infrastructure, transportation and the internet. For example:
Infrastructure is destiny. Think about how we built out the national highway interstate network in the '50s. We built highways, we ripped out all the trolleys, and we didn't build any trains. We created our destiny as a car dependent nation because that's the infrastructure we built up. When we think about sprawl, we must remember that we built our houses on one-acre lots and now our choices for interaction are defined by that.
The whole thing is too long and rich to excerpt well, but be sure to read the whole thing here.
Patchwork 3D (rendering software) update on the way
Above are renderings done with Patchwork3D, French company Lumiscaphe's rendering software, which has been knocking around since 2003. The forthcoming version 3.2 update promises some type of "fast rendering technology" (that's as specific as they get) that lets users edit visual characteristics in real time and see results instantly.
So how does it work? We'll have to wait until August's SIGGRAPH, when 3.2 will be released, to see.
NEC's solution to multiple-monitor set-ups
Holy crow: Attendees of next week's InfoComm 09 in Orlando will get to see NEC's ridiculously huge 43" wraparound monitor, the CRV43, apparently inspired by those curved cab driver mirrors. The $8,000 beast is going on sale this July and was designed for those who use two- and three-monitor setups, as it provides all the real estate without those pesky seams.
The carefully chosen photographic angles above make it look as if the CRV43 is a flatscreen, but the orthographic views tell a different tale:
Man--how much must this thing weigh? I can imagine setting this thing up, then watching as my desk collapses and the monitor crashes through my floor and the three below me, leaving neat, crescent-shaped holes in each.
via gizmodo
Core-Toon: The BeGrommeter
Artist: lunchbreath
More: View all cartoons
Atoms For Bits: Designing physical embodiments for virtual content
"Hello, Dave." The LaCie 5big Network hard drive has a HAL-like presence
Embracing compression
After moving into a teeny New York studio and going through the psychically exhausting task of purging possessions, I found myself frozen in the middle of the room holding the dictionary in my hands, quickly coming to terms with an inevitable fact: it had to go. Many people gasp at the notion of doing away with books (clothes, yes, electronics, of course, but books—never!) but lets face it, dictionaries (aside from a few luscious grand, old tomes) don't age well. They aren't made for casual browsing, they don't reflect the dynamic nature of language, and they take up a lot of precious shelf space. I hesitated to admit it, but I knew I could manage just fine with an iPhone app or another online lexicon that pulled data from the mighty digital "cloud." Out it went. While I was at it, I wondered what other space saving digital conversions I could make. Could I compress all my CDs to MP3? Could I invest in one of many advertised services for digitizing every last one of my photographs? Where would it end? These thoughts then led me to the line of questioning that keeps designers up at night: "What would life be like in an object-less home?" "What physical artifacts would be spared cloud absorption?" and the grand daddy of all questions, "With more and more of our artifacts being replaced by digital files, when do physical objects matter, and why?"
Saving (inter)face: Tiny Shuffle needs chunky case
I'm told that aspirin is mostly powder, because the actual active ingredient is so miniscule that it needs to be surrounded by filler caked into the shape of a pill just so you can pick the darn thing up.
We're seeing a similar sort of thing going on with the iPod Shuffle, which is so tiny and button-less (the controls being a tiny plastic blip on the headphone cable) that operating it while driving would be nigh impossible. So a company called Scosche has designed the , which chunks it out a bit and more importantly, adds large(r) control buttons, making it easier to operate while behind the wheel.
If you think about it, the Shuffle's lack of a screen probably makes it a better choice for use while driving than a regular iPod, as you won't be tempted to take your eyes off the road to scan a playlist.
via geeky gadgets
LCD skins can now be applied to objects and change color
A company called Kent Displays has developed something called Reflex Technology, whereby a thin but rugged LCD "skin" can be applied to laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, etc. and change color. Most impressively, it only requires power for the instant you change the color; after that it keeps the new shade but draws no juice.
The demo video (unembeddable, alas) must be seen, it's absolutely nutty. Click here and check out the second vid featuring the Reflex Double Layer.
The reason we think this tech could be of huge importance to ID'ers is because it transmits feedback without us having to peer into a screen. It could also serve as a much better indicator than, say, a red LED indicator dot, in that the entire object changing color is much more obvious, easier to spot, and doesn't draw any power.
Some obvious uses of this tech I'd like to see:
- I want my cell phone to start changing color, like a banana going bad, when it's running out of juice. I'd also like it to change color depending on who's calling.
- I want my doorknob to change color when it's locked.
- I want my shop vac to change color when it's full or when the filter needs to be changed.
You get the idea. Have any of your own?
A new map for design
As the focus of design shifts from the production of finite goods to a practice of experimentation, ideas take precedence over products - a reflection by Paola Antonelli, senior curator of design and architecture at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
"There are myriad forms of design, many of which don't require movement of materials and artifacts; only curiosity, an internet connection, and the ability to seek, learn, and synthesize from other fields and cultures. These mutants are the future of design and the place to find them is not at big design trade fairs, but rather in interdisciplinary gatherings, pluralistic exchanges and, especially, in certain schools."
>> Read article
Photo: Kenichi Okada and Christopher Woebken's Animal Superpowers. Courtesy of the Royal College of Art
Cardboard Lumber
And finally, if you're looking for something to build, Instructables has you covered: Cardboard Lumber. The text on the glueing step is the best:
Lay our your cardboard on a flat surface and get your first layer ready. Apply a VERY large amount of glue to one section by POURING it on the surface and spreading it evenly. If you think you used too much, then you almost have enough glue on. Now apply glue to the piece to be put on for the second layer. Don't think of this as glueing cardboard together! Think of it as paper m
Special thanks to Mark Vanderbeeken, Robert Fabricant, Xanthe Matychak and Robert Blinn 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
