That's a yacht of work
That there is the Sentori 58R, a 58-foot flybridge motor yacht designed by Christian Gumpold and Christopher Gloning for their postgrad industrial design diploma thesis at the University of Applied Science in Graz, Austria.
"The target is serial production," says Gumpold, explaining that an actual prototype will be ready by February of 2009. He and Gloning are in the process of founding a design studio specializing in naval architecture.
"The exterior design of the yacht is strongly inspired by automotive design and communicates a simple, clear linework, with the emphasis on a coupe-like appearance," Gumpold explains. "The interior design has the language of modern interior architecture and contemporary living, together with a number of highly innovative detail solutions never seen on a yacht of this size."
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DesignPhiladelphia 2008: Matthias Pliessnig
Matthias Pliessnig's bent wood furniture has been seen here before, but last night he introduced some stunning new pieces during his Debut Solo Exhibit at the Wexler gallery. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a large steam bent oak seating sculpture titled Providence. It's the result of over 5 weeks of careful planning, prototyping, bending, and forming. Also included in the gallery is a collection of mixed media sculptural studies that Matthias creates along with his furniture.
Hopefully we will see more bent goodness from Matthias now that his new studio in Philadelphia is up and running.
>> more images
>> also check out : DesignPhiladelphia 2008: SOS Stool by Josh Owen
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1 Hour Design Challenge: VOTING BOOTH
This month's 1 Hour Design Challenge is timelier than timely, focusing on the theme of voting booths. Everyone is welcome to take part, so fire up those pencils, markers and tablets and get in the game! Cause hey, participation is a central component of this one.
THEME:
Voting Booth
DOORS CLOSE:
Thursday, October 30, 2008
9 PM PST (4 AM GMT)
BRIEF:
As we approach the upcoming November election, the role of design and experience will once again take center stage. The ballot design fiasco of the 2000 election taught us that the ramifications of design decisions can be profound, so for this Core77 1 Hour Design Challenge, we invite designers to submit design solutions for the "voting booth." Designs submitted can include both voting machines and environments, but we are looking for strong concepts that explore the way we vote, where we vote.
HOW TO ENTER:
Participants must execute their design in only 1 hour, based on an honor system. Upload images and a brief text description of your design to the designated discussion forum.
Jury:
Winners will be selected by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of Winterhouse, creators of The Polling Place Photo Project (now a New York Times project) and founding editors of Design Observer. Community discussion is encouraged to help ensure that the best designs win.
CRITERIA:
Judging will be based on quality of presentation, strength of concept, and ambition of idea.
PRIZE:
1st prize will receive a gift basket from Winterhouse, including maple syrup, t-shirt, a copy of Design For Democracy, boxes of Obama O's and Cap'N McCain's cereal, and other special surprises. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be featured in the Core77 November Newsletter and on the Core77 Blog.
>>Enter your submission here<<
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Design-for-All Voting System from Norway
Given our current 1 Hour Design Challenge: Voting Booth, we are particularly keen on the Design-for-All voting booth, which just won the States Design Competition and will be developed for a pilot study for next year's elections in Norway.
Designed as a collaboration between KADABRA Product Design, Innovativoli Industrial Design, and Blueroom Graphic Design (all of whom share a studio in Oslo), the project is the centerpiece of a comprehensive set of voting materials comprised of a ballot box, graphic profile, signage and ballot. Here's a bit more from the team:
A voting system is not truly democratic until everyone who has the right to vote can do so without encountering physical or mental barriers. As the initiator of this project, the Norwegian state wished to focus on inclusiveness--a good voting experience for everyone regardless of physical or mental impairments. By including "elite users" in the creative process, all the elements of the voting experience are designed to be just as available to the visually impaired, wheel chair users, or illiterates, as they are to an "ordinary" user. The proposed project lifts the elections to a higher functional level, and injects a feeling of solemnity and pride both for the voters and the volunteers.
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Reusable shopping bag for outdoor gearheads
Scruffy canvas bags with recycle symbols on the side not really your style? Lightweight tent manufacturer NEMO has a snappy alternative for the rip-stop loving gear geek in all of us: shopping bags made from factory second tents. Pick one up here, and while you're at it check out some of their other green-leaning innovations, like tents made with bamboo poles and 90% recycled fabric.
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Business Innovation Factory 4
We were at the Trinity Rep Theatre in Providence for the Business Innovation Factory 4, a 2-day "conversation, not conference" and collaborative innovation summit. Storytellers (not speakers) shared their tales that exemplify and demonstrate social engagement and deep business value. The lineup was a veritable who's who of movers and shakers in the business of innovation and social entrepreneurship (doing good while makin' bank). Highlights include a welcome from Saul Kaplan, and presentations by Marc Ecko of Marc Ecko Enterprises and Sweat Equity Enterprises, and Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz.
>> more opening pictures
>> Business Innovation Factory 4: Day 1 Wrap-up
>> Business Innovation Factory 4: Day 2 Wrap-up
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Peugeot design comp winner announced
Peugeot has chosen the winner for their design competition. Top prize went to Colombia's Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar for his folding RD concept, video below.
His 3-wheeled design is called the RD and like most of the other entries, it is small and made for driving on narrow roads. During periods of heavy traffic or when space is limited, it can fold upward and shorten the overall length by a substantial amount.
>> check out the video
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FindDesign now a Firefox plugin
For those of you who (understandably) like your google searches design-biased, you might already be using Find: Design. But now you can get the filter built right into your browser with this plugin. Happy surfing!
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SENS concept: a cell phone for the blind
Recognizing that the so-called "blind man's dimple" on the '5' keypad of most cellular phones is actually of little use to the blind, designer Takumi Yoshida came up with the SENS concept.
To improve interaction between the user and the phone, SENS combines touch sensors and regular mechanical keys to provide real-time audio feedback. When the user touches a key, the phone tells them what key has been touched without actually registering it as an input. The user may hover across the keys to gain feedback on which key they are touching. Once the user is sure their finger is on the correct key, they can then press it just like on any other standard handset; a click sound is then fed back to confirm the input. In order to eliminate the need for other people in public to also hear the audio feedback from the phone, SENS has an integrated Blutooth headset which ensures it can't get misplaced.
The concept was developed in conjunction with students from the UK's Royal National Institute of Blind People. Click here for more info.
via gizmag
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Apple design, old vs. new
It's not that we dislike having smaller, sleeker objects, but with Apple's announcement yesterday of new laptops, we couldn't help but notice how small the visual difference is between this generation and the last. Why? Because as objects get "tighter," well, there's simply less to design. Everything goes into the details; broad design strokes seem to fade in importance.
To see what we mean, hit the jump and take a look at these older Apple products, manufactured during a time when there was still enough meat on the product to hang some design onto, so to speak.
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Helmet patch to track Soldiers blast history
A low-cost disposable strip of plastic that can record a soldiers exposure to explosions for up to seven days is hoped to help doctors learn more about brain injuries. Soldiers are increasingly injured by experiencing multiple shock waves from powerful explosives, not necessarily from being hit directly.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) signed a $5 million contract with Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to develop the strip of tape which will contain printed electronics, analog memory, and sensors.
The information collected will be added to a soldiers medical records making it easy to track their blast history. 25 prototypes to test components are scheduled for Spring next year and 1,000 units for field testing are planned for 2010.
via dvice.com
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How can I be more strategic?
Victor Lombardi has written 8 short bulletpoints addressed to designers keen on becoming more strategic in their work. Here's a snippet,
Designers often ask this question. Sometimes I think the question arises from a genuine desire to be doing something else which is more strategic in nature, and sometimes I think what is being asked is, how can I convince or influence others to do things my way?The answer might be the same or it might not. I've started to keep track of the answers I hear to shed some light here.
1. Change your title, brand identity, clothing, etc. in order to change perceptions of what you offer.
2. Charge more money so that only the people who have real strategic influence can afford you.
3. Bootstrap your way into different work.
4. Be strategic. In Porter's definition, strategic is long-term planning. Avail yourself of strategic tools both simple (e.g. roadmaps) and complex (futures analysis and design).
Have something to add? Go read the rest and comment here.
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Movable Braille timepiece by David Chavez wins Spark Design Award
Industrial designer David Chavez picked up a Spark Award for his movable Braille timepiece Haptica which displays a real-time readout in Braille using a military time format. He shares the Award with some industry-heavyweights including Fuseproject, Smart Design, Essential Design, James Dyson, One and Co, Pentagram and IDEO.
84 designs won bronze, silver, gold or the ultimate Spark! Award. The winning entries are on display until January 2009 at the Autodesk Gallery, One Market, San Francisco.
View Winners
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USA Lapel Pin designed by Michael Bierut
And finally, Men's Vogue magazine has commissioned Michael Bierut to design a "politically neutral" USA pin "in an attempt to end the flag-pin controversy." Comments Bierut, "I tried to defamiliarize a very familiar configuration of letters. A flag is a corporate logo. A monogram is much more private." 5000 of the pins are for sale with the proceeds benefiting a great nonprofit, Puppies Behind Bars.
Here's more on the organization:
The New York-based charity, which has been training prison inmates to raise service dogs since 1997, has recently turned its attention to veterans, with a new initiative called Dog Tags. The program provides dogs for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are physically injured or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The dogs, Labradors and golden retrievers, are trained to do everything from reminding their companions to take their medication to allaying combat-induced fears that make everyday life back home impossible.
Support the cause here.
More story here.
(Photo: Richard Pierce)
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Special thanks to Niti Bhan for her 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
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