Hacking the Physical World, by Carl Alviani. Carl Alviani takes a look at the similarities and differences between product designers and software designers--from sharing language and metaphors to teaching each other how to think about projects and prototyping. An exerpt:
I've found over the course of several years, and several conferences and business functions, that if I stop with the first sentence ("I design products."), the next question is often something like "Oh, on what platform?" Distinguishing the design of physical goods from virtual ones is a necessary step, and substituting "consumer goods" doesn't seem to make things any clearer. This isn't a huge problem either, confined as it is to these specific and predictable situations; and designers of the virtual are usually downright charmed to meet someone who does something as quaint as deal with entire atoms, and not just the electrons flowing between them...
Core77 Broadcasts: Edward Burtynsky + Jennifer Baichwal, Manufactured Landscapes. Edward Burtynsky has traveled the world documenting humankind's incursions on the natural landscape--quarries, ship breaking fields, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams. His internationally-acclaimed large-format photographs are both beautiful and horrifying, arresting and undeniable, offering a visceral entry point into thinking about industrialization, sustainability, and the human condition.
On a recent trip to China, filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal accompanied Burtynsky as he documented endless factories, dam building projects, waste dumping grounds, and other "evidence and effects of that country's massive industrial revolution." The resultant film, Manufactured Landscapes, stands as a must-see for anyone interested in our impact on the world, and will have particular resonance to industrial designers moving forward into a future where the ramifications of mass production become severe to the point of crisis.
Ed and Jennifer chat with Allan Chochinov about the twists and turns of how the film came to be, what it's like to try to get permission to shoot some of the photographs and footage, the challenges (and limits) of editorial mission, and seeing the work on the big screen.
Learn more about Edward Burtynsky at www.edwardburtynsky.com
More about Jennifer Baichwal at www.mercuryfilms.ca/jennifer_baichwal.html
More about Manufactured Landscapes at www.zeitgeistfilms.com/landscapes
For playdates, check here
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Coroflot launches "Creative Seeds" Blog. Coroflot has just launched a new blog at Coroflot.com, Creative Seeds, which is dedicated to creative work--and both uses of the word "work" to boot! There will be how-to's on finding design jobs and recruiting, advice on what leading designers are looking for, and showcases of great work from Coroflot portfolios. There will also be news from the creative employment industries, so check back often. Currently, we've got interviews with Stefan Sagmeister and Paul Budnitz, articles by Petrula Vrontikis and Robert Blinn, and a whole lot more. Here's a taste from Petrula's article titled "Taking Credit: What can creatives, studios and clients claim for the work they do?":
Who gets credit for a design? What can you show in your portfolio, and what should you say about it? Who owns the work that you completed while working for an agency? Is this about ethics, or about law? And what are your obligations as a client, having completed a project with a design studio? Well, when it comes to credit, things can seem like a custody battle. Here are a few words of advice on the topic...
Best Buy decides green building is the ticket. Best Buy will be the first major retailer of its kind and size to commit to mandatory green building for all its new stores beginning in mid-2008. The gadgets/gizmos giant is one in a group of companies, including Starbucks, Target, and Lowe's, participating in a pilot program for bulk LEED certification in association with the U.S. Green Building Council. There's no word on what level of certification Best Buy's shooting for (hopefully not the bare minimum dealie) but plans for eco-friendliness include, sustainable building materials, energy efficient lights, HVAC, and electronics, gray water recycling, and other implementations of renewable energy. Best Buy also plans to retrofit 20% of its existing stores with more efficient lighting while increasing recycling activity for cardboard, plastic, and consumer electronics.
International Journal of Design, Now Available Online. The International Journal of Design is published three times a year, the second issue is now available online. See www.ijdesign.org for downloads or submitting own manuscripts online.
Current articles
- Privacy in the United States: Some Implications for Design
- Imagining the Orient: Cultural Appropriation in the Florence Broadhurst Collection
- Metaphors in Design Problem Solving: Implications for Creativity
(+ case studies and reviews)
The International Journal of Design is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to publishing research papers in all fields of design, including industrial design, visual communication design, interface design, animation and game design, architectural design, urban design, and other design related fields.
Recreated monocycle. The "penny-farthing" bicycle, with its enormous front wheel and tiny rear wheel, is a common sight in cartoon scenes parodying the absurdness of antiquity; but less well-known is this amazing early version of a monocycle, pictured above, recreated by a modern-day Spaniard using 19th century plans. Check out the photo gallery of the contraption (which is on sale for thirteen large, by the way), here.
via gizmodo
50 manifestos. Just in case you missed it, Icon magazine's August edition features 50 manifestos from influential architects and designers. Here's a fave from John Thackara:
"We believe that 'content' is something you do--not something you are given by a person in a black T-shirt."
So read up and then (we encourage you to) write your own!
via do
Idea Generator. Don't know what to design next? Idea Generator may help you out, but if you get "jewel encrusted torture restaurant" like we did, you should probably spin again.
via coudal
Article on the evolution of gesture interfaces. From the Wii and the iPhone to the Wacom tablet and complex surgical systems you've not yet heard of, interfaces have gone way beyond pushing buttons and flipping switches, and it behooves us as designers to stay on top of the latest developments. Robert Cravotta, Technical Editor of Electronics Design, Strategy, News has a great article here on the evolution of gesture interfaces now being used in everything from games and phones to industrial systems.
Vote on the Core77 One Hour Design Challenge.
A quick reminder that voting on the 1HDC will be closing today--Monday 1PM PST (8 PM GST). There were over 70 entries from around the world, all completed in under 1 hour. The theme was "Water-saving designs for the bathroom", and the prize is a Nintendo WII. Check it all out here; vote here. And turn off that tap while you're brushing your teeth!
Cima takes ladders to new heights. Step stools, painting ladders, the fancy ones you can buy from Moss, and of course, the old ladder in your closet held together by one rusty bolt--these are all different, but still, very much the same, stair-like contraptions. Barcelona, Spain-based designers Sergio Mahler and George Papadogiannis have developed the Cima Ladder, a height-enhancing object like no other. It is a single component composed of a carbon fiber composite and it's super light, visually and physically. Weighing in at less than a kilogram, Cima is easily transportable but also extremely strong and able to support the weight of the user who climbs in the spirit and formation of climbing a tree.
The composite materials gives us the opportunity to re-think and redefine the ladder, to come out of the closet and stand proudly in the salon of the house.This way of re-thinking the ladder brings life to a normally unnoticed but important tool that goes beyond the pure function.
Cima was selected as one of 20 products chosen for the Composites-on-Tour exhibition organized by Design Flanders, Belgium, and is currently making the second half of its international rounds.
Emerging Technologies and Housing Prototypes, by Salvador Perez Arroyo, Rossana Atena and Igor Kebel. Reviewed by Robert Blinn:
I remember my first time walking past the window of Issey Miyake's Pleats Please store in downtown New York City. The second, third and fourth times that I walked passed it happened only minutes later, because I paced back in front of it repeatedly in order to fully absorb the effect. The window of the boutique was made of Lumisty, a designer material that changed from transparent to translucent as the viewer's angle changed. The experience was transfixing, and I wobbled, wandered and changed my view all to watching Miyake's clothing appear and dissolve into mist in rapid succession.
Since those early days, innovative materials and construction methods have become progressively more integral to the design process. While at the turn of the century designer materials were relatively rare, they've now become common place enough that nearly everybody owns something made of carbon fiber, and certain shapes of monocoque multilayer bike frames have been banned professional cycling because they supply a competitive advantage thought unfair. All of these technologies and more appear in Arroyo, Atena and Kebel's book, Emerging Technologies and Housing Prototypes, with an emphasis on "more." Aluminum foam, heat sensitive compounds and color changing fabrics are all included, with details on the manufacturers, including addresses, websites and phone contacts. While I cannot guarantee that simply knowing the name of the manufacturer will provide entree into purchasing novel technologies like LiTraCon transparent concrete (that's TRANSPARENT CONCRETE folks), it certainly is a step in the right direction.
Trying to form a "design district" in Cleveland. How do you get Swedes to come to Cleveland? Sounds like the set-up to a joke, but it's the very real problem faced by Edward Hill and Daniel Cuffaro. Cuffaro, head of the ID program at Cleveland Institute of Art, and Hill, veep of Economic Development at Cleveland State University, are trying to set up a "design district" in a 24-block area of Cleveland.
The region's strong mix of designers and consumer-product companies, as well as proximity to some of the country's best industrial-design colleges, are reasons Cleveland can become the "Milan of the Midwest," say Hill and Cuffaro.
The pair are beginning by trying to establish "design embassies," where foreign companies would send their designers to establish a Stateside market presence. Design-friendly Sweden is first on the list:
A local chapter of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce heard the design-district pitch early this year, called business contacts back home and helped set up Hill and Cuffaro's trek.
"We want to help them bring some Swedish design to the district and, in reverse, bring some U.S. design to Sweden," said local businessman Lars Traner, secretary for the Swedish-American chamber.
We're all for cross-border design exchanges, and wish Cuffaro and Hill the best. Details of their efforts can be found here.
Yuta Watanabe's A Dozen Pencils. Ah, the humble pencil. After ages of bestowing upon us the gift of saving, sharing, and showing information, it remains the same wooden shell that cradles a stick of lead. Recent Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication grad Yuta Watanabe took it upon himself to enhance this utensil in a dozen ways, from sheathing it in a different familiar object to attaching other tools that speed and strengthen the process of sharpening. In creating A Dozen Pencils, Yuta "wanted to make something that people could intuitively understand. Because of the pencils' use and function the end result is interactive design. [He] made them from different points of view, including memory, behavior, humour and 'product language'."
And finally, wrenchware for the handy diner. This 3-piece stainless steel Wrenchware set is perfect for mechanics who work/dine on engine blocks, or even those newlyweds with a new apartment full of unpacked IKEA furniture. The set includes a fork/box wrench, knife/pliers jaws, and spoon/open ended wrench--all made of 18/10 polished stainless steel. These definitely give new meaning to "fixing a meal." Hee haw.
thanks roman!
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