An Old Dog Gets a New Look: Greyhound Bus Line

Raymond Lowey in 1937 put his design touches on the greyhound bus and logo helping to define this American icon.


And now in 2009 the company is leveraging design to recapture its place in the pubic imagination and the transportation industry. Their new strategy includes competitive pricing, free wifi and fewer seats, and therefore more room for their passengers.



Greyhound History

In Defence of Modernism, Properly Defined

The other day NPR did a great piece on how often the word "Modern" is misapplied in the world of reality television shows.

"Modern bespeaks the early-20th century interest in a certain kind of pared-down aesthetic...It does not mean a tiki bar put together for $100 on the HGTV show Design Star, says modernism expert Douglas Mao, chair of the English department of Johns Hopkins University. "

NPR Story (Audio)

The Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon Returns to DC

I found this competition between architecture programs a great source of creative ideas for small homes. This year I will be specing out the choice of appliances among a host of other features.

DOE Solar Decathlon

Product Design: Dyson Strikes Again

Dyson the United Kingdom's Henry Ford has picked the traditional household fan and brought it into the 21st century leaving the blades behind. Most known for his colorful update on the vacuum and in turn awaking an complacent industry.



Dyson Air Multiplier

Article: The End of an Era

Jon Kolko shares his reflections from the 2009 IDSA conference, concluding that the profession of Industrial Design is becoming less relevant with each passing year. As designers move away from their traditional strength of form making to now be called on to know more about the increasingly complex specialties of material science, digital components and networked services Industrial Designers need academic programs that would allow them to remain relevant.

The discipline of industrial design has had a long history of form giving, and the creation of objects and artifacts that relate to the incidental parts of life. Industrial designers make stuff, and the making of stuff is a commodity - a profession differentiated only by cost. That is, there are a huge amount of capable industrial design firms in the world (and increasingly in Asia), and these firms are only differentiated by the cost of their services. A commodity market affords only limited growth and only limited market share, and can never truly sustain itself in any meaningful manner.

The End of an Era