Milan's Furniture Fair

I didn't get to attend the world largest furniture design show, but a friend (Keith Parker) did so I am still waiting for his first-person account of the show.

Video Review

And so until then, the reviews provided by the press will have to do.

"The dominant theme at the fair might best be described as survivalist: in piece after piece, designers explored how they can help us (and themselves) navigate the perils of contemporary life — in particular, the big problems of recession, environmental crisis and design’s neurosis about its role in a saturated consumer culture."

NYTimes Review


"...every so often a new chair comes along that confounds the cynics by proving its worth. The latest contender is the MYTO, a plastic chair, which is strong, comfortable, light, stackable, compact and comes in a coolly angular shape that is made from a single piece of plastic using (eco-responsibly, of course) the minimum material possible. In short, it's just about everything a new chair should be."

MYTO Chair

Design Director for NYTimes.com: Khoi Vinh

I've noticed some graphic elements like the colorful illustrations (see below) that run along side some of the feature articles that appear to be the handy work of a design professional. I wonder is it Mr. Vinh's?

"As design director, Mr. Vinh leads a group of 11 visual designers, information architects and design technologists in continually improving and extending the user experience at NYTimes.com. Mr. Vinh also writes and lectures extensively about design and technology, and serves on the national board of directors for AIGA, the professional association for design."


NYTimes Profile

Khoi Vinh Website

Student Design Competition: AIGA -DC

The local (DC) chapter of the professional graphic design organization AIGA is sponsoring its first design competition for student in the metro area.


Competition Details

AIGA-DC Website

Design Problem: How to Accomodate the New Oddly Shaped Toothbrush?

Well this very question followed me through graduate school.

My first design assignment during my foundation year (2001) brought the issue of storing toothbrushes to light. My early solution focused on protecting toothbrushes from contamination.

But, it was two years later that I returned to the opportunity to refine my solution to also address the changing needs of consumers by focusing on the varying shapes of brushes as well as the increasing variety of interior configurations.
(see prototypes below)

NYTimes Article

Fashion in Context

I came across this photo on a fashion blog site (see below) and thought that it reflected how fashion can work in concert with the environment within which exists. In this case the connections are obvious.

Here the graftti scribed walls of NYC are juxtaposed to the cool posture and stare a young man dressed in a hoodie and baggy faded jeans capturing the young urban aesthetic oh so well.

Fashion Blog

Architect: David Adjaye

It is rare that an architect becomes known beyond their profession and national boundaries, but David Adjaye is on his way to achieving international recognition for his designs.

This African born European trained designer has secured major comissions on this side to the pound, like the Denver Musuem of Contemporary Art (lower right corner).

Interveiw with David Adjaye

Dwell Interview

Adaye Associates

Rebuilding the Lives of the Frustrated and Bitter in PA

Here is a great story of the power of a vision and the creative arts to transform the lives of displaced people.



Video: Bill Stickland

Design's New Influence?

Style Conscious or Style Conscience? that is the question.

Product design has traditionally been very focused on function, in that aesthetics (in the sense of style for style sake) had a limited influence. But since the turn of the century the art world has placed an increasing value on the work of product designers. In particular product designer Mark Newson whose Lockheed Lounge chair recently became the highest priced item made by a living designer sold at auction.

Article: Style Conscious or Style Conscience?

Contest Winner: Reactiv - Cycling Jacket

James Dyson, the British Industrial Designer and creator of the Dyson vacuum continues to influence international design community.

His annual design competition recently awarded it top prize to the Reactiv cycling jacket that uses LCD lights to indicate the actions of a cyclist: braking, turning etc. Wow! what a great idea.

James Dyson Award

James Dyson Foundation

Dyson's School of Design Innovation

User Centered Design: The Role of the Researcher

The profession of Design continues to expand as a response to the complexity that often comes bundled with new technologies, as well as the insatiable desire of companies to penetrate ever more diverse markets.

As such new professional opportunities appear in the design process, hybrids if you will, such as the design (user) anthropologist. The article below describes the role of the researcher in providing insight into the lives of users that can then be included in the development of products.

NYTimes Article

Why Ethnography?

A Case Study: When Technology Fails to Count

It is interesting to see the project that help persuade me that working within the public sector offered opportunity for design professionals fails so miserably.

What I have found is that there is plenty of opportunity, but that the organization itself must be taught how to leverage the value of design professionals to assist in the achieving its goals. This is no small task in any large institution, but federal agencies present a unique challenge.

So as the finger pointing intensifies I will not attempt to speak as I know all of the reasons why the program (to collect data from people living in this country with a small hand held computer will not be implemented) but I can speak to the possibility still being entirely achievable. Though it will not happen in 2010 as hoped the agency is further along than five year ago.

From my point of view, I would simply say that the strategy that focused on retro-fitting a commercial product to fit within the very specific needs and requirements of a census environment created was a faulty one.

In other words, the program would have had a much greater chance of succeeding if the strategy had focused on developing a product specific to the needs of the organization. The lesson for designers, get to know and understand your users; and for organizations technology is not the complete answer but how and what technology should be used. It is this latter lesson where designers talents are best suited to synthesize then shape products that people/organizations can use.

Wired Magazine Article

Popular Science Article

Logo Design

The center piece for Al Gore's newest campaign against global warming is a logo developed for the Alliance for Climate Protection, a advocacy group found with proceeds from his Nobel prize money.

Based on the context of how it will be used (as described in the NYT link below) the 'we' seems like an appropriate solution.

NYTimes Analysis

The Martin Agency

Designer : Frank Tyneski

I met Frank Tyneski at a design conference last year, a very talented designer and now the executive director of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

Here he talks about the changing landscape of mobile phones.

Logo Design: Washington Capitals

Washington D.C.'s hockey team the Washington Capitals new logo caught my eye as being an effective redesign of the teams logo.

The logo leverages national symbols: the eagle being the most dominate along with the colors red, white and blue supporting the reference to the position of the city as being the nation's capital. The color blue is given the shape of a "W" for a specific reference to Washington DC and whose center axis forms a negative space shaped to reflect the capital dome.

Washington Capitals Site

Automobile Design: The Smart Car

The hike in fuel prices has been met with increasing interest in smaller vehicles.

The smallest car now on American roads is the European "been there done that ten years ago " Fortwo Coupe (aka Smart Car) brought to the states by the Damlier Benz company.

Car and Driver Magazine

Safety Performance

Information Design: Visualizing Data

The image to the left is a product of Chris Harrison which maps 63,000 Bible cross references. His aim was simply to visualize the relationship of the text, forgoing functional possibilities for the simple aesthetics of what the cross reference create.

"The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect". Chris Harrison Website

I referenced the very same subject matter for content for a course in information design. My goal was to find a way to visualize various relationships presented in scripture so that meaning would be revealed to the viewer. Unlike Mr. Harrison my aim was to produce a functional tool for understanding.

The Death of Design by Phillippe Starck

It may sound a little mellow dramatic for a well known French product designer to utter the words "design is dead", but it is not the first time I have heard the sentiment.

Larry Kelley, professor at the Institute of Design uttered the same phase in 2001 during my design planning class. Yes it puzzled me, especially because this was news to me having had returned to school at great expense to study the very profession that I was being told was in its last throws.

What I have come to understand about these pronouncements is that they are true to an extent. The profession of design is shifting as is most things due to the far reach influences of technology and the rapid pace of globalization, just to name two factors. So Starck being the old school form focused product design, now looks at his creations as stuff that is ripe for landfills, is underestimating the value creating potential that design still offer the world.

Design's contribution in the 21st century is less about the shape of a physical product but how it contributes to shaping the life experiences of users. Lifestyle products like the proposed iFitness system (digital product)Apple is said to be developing is the new front of design. So in that regard Starck is missing the forest because he is focused on the trees.

Article on Starck

NYTimes Editoral

starck's Website

Designing Digital Products: iFitness Software

There is speculation that Apple is planning a interface like iTunes that would add value to owning an iPhone/iTouch.

This software platform would allow the planning and tracking of fitness routines among other things. Ninetendo's Wii added a fitness component (Wii Fit) that has extended the value proposition of its gaming system as would an Apple designed lifestyle package for its iPhone platform.

Up to this point the existing fitness monitoring systems which I am aware of are limited and/or expensive. Suunto offers a watch, heart monitor and software that tracks overall fitness, but is limited only to PC's which I have found it to be buggy and is not worth the headache. So I would welcome it if Apple designs a usable system of lifestyle that allow archiving fitness data.

Apple Insider

Product Design: The Flip Digital Video Recorder

Here is a idea whose time has arrived.

The Flip, by Pure Techonologies, is a digital video recorder that addresses the needs of the YouTube generation with it focus of ease of use, reasonable cost ($150) a good mix of basic features that allows the masses to capture motion images with ease...the iPod of video cameras. And just think you can't even make a phone call with it.

The Second Generation Flip

The Flip

Video Review

Design History: The Cubicle Turns 40

In 1968 the young designer Bob Propst after years of studying the work habits of people came up with a system he believed would improve worker's productivity.

The Action Office launched by the furniture manufacture, Herman Miller, was based on the concept that if people could see their work they would be more efficient. And so, by including a series of work surface, partitions and display shelving the new office work space was born.

Fortune Article

The Man Behind the Cubicle

IDEO's Ultimate Cubicle

Seeding Innovation: The iFund

Great design use to be defined by the form of an object, but in the 21st century that definition has expanded to include the business model, interface, user experience to name a few considerations. Apple has been a master exploiting technological opportunities to fulfill consumers desires. The iPhone challenged the industry standard for cell phones and the carrier's control over the choice of plans and hardware, as the iPod did for mp3 players and the music industry's control over format and distribution.

And so, spurred by the success of the iPhone and the need for a mobile platform that can maximize the technological opportunities for wireless communication and internet access the venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has invested $100 million to further stimulate development in support of the iPhone platform.

Interview

The KPCB Initiative

Business week Article

Design History: The Three Leg Stool

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) a Finnish architect and designer of furniture and glassware designed a stackable stool for the Muncipal
Library project Viipuri (now part of Russia) in 1932.

Aalto played a major part in shaping 20th Century furniture. Though his work was based on the Modern Movement his designs demonstrated a sensitivity for people, materials and imagination.

Aalto is remembered for humanizing the age of the machine.


Alvar Aalto

Packaging Design: Lighting up the Retail Shelf

Finding cleaver ways to keep a product from getting lost on crowded retailers shelves is part of what make a package design successful. Here is a case where technology is used to call attention to itself using light emitting diodes within the packaging to light the product.

NYTimes Article

Designers Salary Survey

The one bright spot in the survey is that design managers are paid well in comparison to the other design professionals and that their salaries continue to rise. The hope is that this reflects an increasing appreciation for their skills in aiding an organization to remain viable in a competitive marketplace.

Survey

Logo Design: How Google Got its Color

The designer, Ruth Kedar, of one of the most recognized logo's developed in the last decade explains how the logo changed before its final design.
Wired Article

Google 10 Year Anniversary

Exhibition: Design and the Elastic Mind

This show(Feburary 24 to May 12,2008) organized by MoMA's Paula Antonelli takes a look at the intersection of design and technology providing both micro and macro perspectives on the opportunities just around the corner.

NYTimes Article

MoMA Site

Designing Overseas

The following article highlights the point that gaining international experience is invaluable and if you can, just do it.


Article

Scot Laughton's Website

Fashion Design: The Question Still Remains

It is my opinion that fashion design is unique aomng the design professions, because it is affected by so many subjective influences it falls in a gray space between Art and Design.


Beyond my personal opinions, each year the compliants about NYC Fashion Week seem to repeat themselves and don't move far from past traditions.

But this year Sean John (aka: Puffy) is planning a show that will only feature models of color. This is in contrast to the runway shows of most every other designer showing in NYC, Paris and Italy. The complaint has been voiced for decades that models of color are rarely used during these fashion events. And so, it is a hiphop mogul who is hightlighting the narrowness of the conventional wisdom that shapes so many shows and how it doesn't reflect the potential of the marketplace.

Backstage Video

Sean John (Combs) Profile

Article: Backstage with Sean Combs

Article: The Independent

Vogue Italia - Black Spring

Multi-Media Design: A Different Type of Political Approach

Communication Design has replaced Graphic Design as the term that best describes the opportunity for designs to convey a message.

Technology has expanded the number of tools designers can leverage to reach an audience.

Here is a different type of campaign advertisement that effectively uses words, music, and graphics elements to reach a generation of voters through the internet. The target group could very well change the political direction of the country if they are moved to participate in this year elections.

Yes We Can Video

An Analysis of the Video

Time Article

Design Strategy: Apple's Influence

It is note worthy to follow the introduction of an Apple product and recognize the amount of free publicity it is afforded.

Their new products are met with anticipation and covered in media as diverse as can be desired: newspapers, local and national television programs, cable, online blog's etc.. This no doubt leaves other company marketing heads envious of the millions of dollars of free ink that is provided to what is sometimes a competitor.

So two weeks age when Apple unveiled its Macbook Air laptop at Macworld, an annual event crafted to present all things Apple to the marketplace. The Air, and its story as the thinnest computer on the market, is routinely given coverage in the financial media outlets because of the response the stock market has to their announcements.

The IPhone Changes the Industry

Job's Interview

Product Design: Trash Can

Once again when a common problem is addressed so gracefully it then seems amazingly obvious.

This trash can is not only attractive, easy to manufacture, easy to clean it also allows the use of different sized plastic bags and hides them from view.

Tubelor Trashcan

Design History: Jan Tschichold

German type and book designer Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) revolutionized modern typography through his bold, asymmetrical designs and use of sanserif typography, both inspired by the work of the Bauhaus. He proclaimed his new design philosophy through a series of articles and books, including Die neue Typographie, published in Berlin in 1928. His international renown came largely as a result of his redesign of Penguin's entire series of paperback novels just after World War II. Any graphic designer practicing today owes a debt to Tschichold's innovation.

Typographic Glossary

Design for Democracy: Lessons Learned

As we head into the heat of a new political season it is good to know that weakness in the electoral process that where identified in 2000 have been looked into and lessons documented. The question now is will the various jurisdictions take heed of the best practices and improve the voting process in ways that builds confidence and minimizes confusion among the voting public.

AIGA

Article: Ballot Initiative

History of Voting

Article

Landscape Architect: Scape's Kate Orff

It would be important not to missed the direction that magazine's are heading with their online content. The interview below it part of a series on "Design Leaders" Dwell magazine has incorporated into its online content that adds value to its brand. And so for those with an interest in communication design, paper is only a small portion of the experience for which design can have impact.


Dwell Magazine Online

MoMA Exhibition: Design and the Elastic Mind

This exciting MoMA exhibition opens on Feburary 24, 2008; and is organized by Paola Antonelli, Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

One of design's most fundamental tasks is to stand between revolutions and life, and to help people deal with change. Designers have coped with these displacements by contributing thoughtful concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and technology evolve.


Several of them—the Mosaic graphic user's interface for the Internet, for instance—have truly changed the world. Design and the Elastic Mind is a survey of the latest developments in the field. It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.

Internet Pioneers

MoMA.org

A Beautiful Integration of Product and Interaction Design

I was first attracted by the form of this music mixer/player. The sysmetry and balance evidenced in the sculptual bevels circling its screen and touch sensitive dial, its matte black coloring, the holes at either end where this hand held device can be secured by a laynard are just a few of the things that caught my eye.
Created for the DJ's among us, but from what I can tell it has great potential to be the it device when it debuts in Feburary 2008.

Pacemaker®, is the world’s first pocket-size DJ system – a superior portable music player enabling the playing of two tracks simultaneously, equipped with an extensive range of professional audio manipulation features allowing for creative mixing between two independent channels. Any mix created can be saved for legal sharing.

Pacemaker Website

Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Update

The march towards a memorial to honor the legacy of a great American and a historical time in America continues.

Virtual Tour of the Memorial

Controversy over the Selection of a Chinese Sculptor

The Legacy of Dr. King Discussed

More controversy

New Paradigm: Open Source and the Long Tail

Chris Anderson presents his ideas on two models changing the landscape of how business win and keep costumers.He is a contributing editor to Wired magazine, and author of the best selling book, The Long Tail.

Video Presentation

Interview with Chris Anderson

Music Business Case Study Radiohead, a British band, charted new waters when it introduced its latest album online and allowing customers to pay a fee of their own choice for the download.

Radiohead Story

Typography Design: An Online Resource

It is so easy to overlook the detail of a well formed letter, which is the core of what Typography is.

The designing of letter forms that make up the words, phases, sentences etc.. that humans rely on to understand the world in which they exist.

Hoefler and Frere-Jones is a firm that has devoted itself to this exploration for two decades offers insight into the discipline by way of their website: www.typography.com

Article on the Firm

A Policy Battle: Patent Protection in the 21st Century

The Patent Reform Act goes before the Senate this year and has the potential to reshape our view of innovation and entrepreneurship for years to come.

NYTimes Article

Online Stratgey: Comparing Obama and Clinton's Approach

The following link provides a critque of the online strategies used by the Obama and Clinton campaigns. The philosophy/approach behind how they engage contributors can extend the relationship beyond financial support to creating true advocates for their cause if done properly.

Dr. John J. Sviokla Analysis

Auto Design: The Color of Green is Blue

Word from the 2008 North American International Auto Show is that the most noticeable new color is a saturated pale blue.

In addition, alternative energy options are being explored more cross the industry. So it should be an interesting decade to see which alternative technology will become the new standard following successful hybird fuel/battery system used by Toyota.

Design Education: John Meada Joins RISD

Ater ten years of leading MIT's Media Lab John Meada heads to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to serve as the school's 16th president. He discusses why he decided to move from a program at the leading edge of technology reseach to a school whose history is steeped in the traditional visual arts.

AIGA Article


John Meada Moves to RISD: Interview

Panel Discussion: "The Power of Design"

Gensler's, an architectual firm, designers discuss what makes the firm unique.

Article and Video Link

Gensler's Homepage

An Eames Postage Stamp

In honor of the significant contribution made by Charles and Ray Eames,the husband and wife design team changed modern design. The United Postal Service has decided to issue a commemorative stamp this summer in their honor.

USPS News

"In recognition of their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing and photographic arts, designers Charles and Ray Eames will be honored next summer with a pane of 16 stamps designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC. If you’ve ever sat in a stackable molded chair, you’ve experienced their creativity. Perhaps best known for their furniture, the Eameses were husband and wife as well as design partners. Their extraordinary body of creative work — which reflected the nation’s youthful and inventive outlook after World War II — also included architecture, films and exhibits. Without abandoning tradition, Charles and Ray Eames used new materials and technology to create high-quality products that addressed everyday problems and made modern design available to the American public."


Article on the Eames Lounge Chair

MoMA Exhibition: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling

MoMA will turn a vacant lot next to its facilities in NYC into the site for the construction of five PreFab houses this summer.

The discussion and exploration into dwellings that can be easily and inexpensively built is finding a voice as new housing prices particularly in urban environs move out of the reach of the middle class.

MoMA Website

NYTimes Article

Design History: Nike and Jordan Changed the Game

Just to continue the theme of the influence of icons in capturing the minds of the consuming public when they endorse if not actually participate in the design of a product. In 1985 Micheal Jordan sign with Nike and release the first Air Jordan.

"The Air Jordan franchise created the most coveted basketball footwear in the world and changed the basketball landscape forever," said Nike Brand President Charlie Denson.

Unlike most basketball shoes to date, which were often white and utilitarian, the Air Jordan was a shock of black and red. It was initially banned by the NBA for not conforming with other players' shoes.

The shoe's pricing was also revolutionary in breaking the $100 mark, resulting in complaints of exploitation and profit gouging. This latest version will top $200, and is being sold as being ecologically sensitive.

Chicago Tribune Article

Rap Artist (Dr. Dre) Designs Headphones?

It was only a matter of time before hip hop moguls would begin to design consumer electronic products, or at least lend their name, as they have done so successfully in almost every other sphere (i.e. TV, movies, fashion, cosmetics etc.).

From what I can tell, Beats by Dr. Dre, is a well executed venture. The branding, name, graphics, website and accompanying music are all first rate. If the physical product is of good quality it really could establish itself in the marketplace along side the likes of Bose, but targeted at a different audience. At $399, its sleek style and unique features: push to listen/mute button; microphone/headphone adapter for iPhones and hip carrying case has a very good chance at succeeding.

And, for the designer that has a well developed hip hop sensibility they could leverage this opportunity and align themselves with a rap moguls that can green light projects and bring a series of products to the market (chua ching).

Site: Beats by Monster

Time Magzine Review (2008)

Another Review

Back from a Blogging Break: Happy 2008!

Wow! Its been weeks since I last posted an item. The end of year break from my routines, allowed for opportunity to travel, reconnect with family and friends and rest. I am not exactly sure what direction my postings will take this year, but we will both find out in the coming weeks.

But what I can say is that I am looking forward to an year of new beginnings.

Teaching Design: Introduction to Computer Graphics

At the conclusion of my second year teaching in the Visual Communication program at Prince George's Community College I can say I look forward to a long career teaching Design.

The rewards of building course content that provides an appropriate mix of information, instruction and inspiration through well thought out projects is in itself rewarding. The hope was that the students while learning, would also find their unique creative voice over the course of the semester.

Intro. to Computer Graphics is an entry level course in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. My goal with the course is to provide the appropriate balance between teaching design principals and software instruction that would allow the students to embrace the course assignments and produce meaningful (to the student) graphic products using the computer.


Assignment I (using Photoshop)
Create a Postcard using three elements: an image, text and a background.














Assignment II (using Illustrator) Create a color wheel organizing the colors to reflect the relationships between the primary, secondary and tertiary colors.


















Assignment III (using InDesign)
Create a multi-page brochure for a specific audience whose text content is the U.S. Constitution, two images manipulated in Photoshop and two objects created in Illustrator.