Washignton DC Redesigns its Website

One of the indicators of a well managed city is the ease of access to information provided to its residents. DC is demonstrating that it is serious about being a leader in its use of technology to make government more transparent and efficient.

Washington DC's Government Website

The Proposed New EPA Mileage Stickers

EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are updating this label to provide consumers with simple, straightforward energy and environmental comparisons across all vehicles types, including electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and conventional gasoline/diesel vehicles. The agencies are incorporating new information, such as ratings on fuel economy, greenhouse gas emissions, and other air pollutants, onto the label as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.

EPA Website

Design History: David Rowland

The design of the 40/4 space saving stacking chair was an alternative to the often used folding chair.

David Lincoln Rowland (1924 - 2010) an Industrial Designer who studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1951 and later worked with Norman Bel Geddes, designer known for popularizing the 1930's streamline aesthetic.

NYTimes Article on David Rowland

Social Design: What's in a Name?

I just came across another branch of design, the name social design is being used to describe design services applied to real "world" concerns.

Emily Pilloton

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This seems to be a move toward relevance for the product design professionals whose care for the profession is leading them to look for ways to be useful and use their skills. Architectural professionals have and are facing the lack of opportunity to practice their craft as technology has shifted building design planning into the hand of construction management. Likewise, traditional product designers are refocusing on new opportunities to provide value by taking on real world task.

Essay by Ramsey Ford

Design Impact website

NY Times Article: Project H in North Carolina

Project H website

Graphic Design: Analyzing Election Signage

Public radio, WAMU's Kavitha Cardoza spoke to Robb Springfield, former head of the Graphic Design department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He analyzed the signs of the DC mayoral race as an outsider, and has not been following the campaign.

Audio: Campaign Signs, What Do They Say About The Candidates?

Design Thinking: What Habits Do Designers Have that Allow Them ...

Warren Berger pens an article for Harvard Business Review that sums up his findings about the behaviors of successful designers.

Aricle: Four Phases of Design Thinking

The IDEO Approah:

2010 Winner of the James Dyson Award

This bike hub is said to transform any bike into a hybrid electric bike.



More information on the competition and the bike hub

Interview with Architect Richard Cook

The role to the architect has been replaced to a large extent by construction enginners, the move to more energy efficient buildings provides architects a new opportunity to regain a leadership role in making building.

Images of the Bank of America



Ricard Cook, a partnter in the firm behind the largest buidling to recieve a platinium LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)certification, the high rating possible.

The New Yorker's Interview with Richard Cook

What is Design?: Bill Moggridge Presentation

Bill Moggridge seems to be everywhere since being selected to head the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. The truth is he has been an instrumental player at key turning points for profession for more than forty years.



Video Presentation: What is Design?

Audio Interview: Technology and Design

New Material: Sensitile

This light responsive product (a polymer with embedded fiber optics) will offer creative opportunities, bringing interest and beauty to a variety of interior applications.



Sensitile Website

Design in Africa?

Noted Architect David Adjaye is leveraging his influence and is looking to Africa.

He has begun to document the richness of the continent's art and design.

Article: Drawing Inspiration from African Houses

Expo: GEO Graphics - Art Practices in Africa, Past and Present

2010 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards

It is nice to see the increased visibility of Design. See the first lady and the winners in the video below.

A Designer Reflects on the City of Detroit

The essay linked below considers the city in enlight of new technological paradigms.

"Borderland/Borderama" is excerpted from Distributed Urbanism: Cities After Google Earth, an anthology just published by Routledge.


This work explores the decentralized systems through which cities are increasingly organized.

"Distributed Urbanism highlights architectural practices that are emerging in response. Unlike early forms of urbanism, in which production, communication and governance entities were sited within a central business district, contemporary urbanism is shaped by distributed mechanisms such as information technologies, (i.e. Google Earth) cooperative economic models and environmental networks, many of which are physically remote from the cities they shape.

Distributed Urbanism presents a series of case studies highlighting the architectural implications of these remote design agencies on 21st-century cities. Edited by Gretchen Wilkins, Senior Lecturer at RMIT in Melbourne, it features work, both imagined and real, by leading architects and theorists worldwide, including projects in Rotterdam, Tokyo, Barcelona, Detroit, Hong Kong, Dubai, Beijing and Mumbai."


Borderland/Borderama Part 1

Borderland/Borderama Part 2

Borderland/Borderama Part 3

India Redesigns it's Census Form

The U.S. is still in the process of counting its 300+ million inhabitants which is only a fourth of what India's census operation has to account for.

With a herculan task ahead it is good to see that the design of the form has been considered.

Article: India's Epic Head Count

DIY: Security Systems

Ok, the time has arrived were wireless technologies could allow apartment dwellers and homeowners alike a peace of mind that their domiciles are secure without the subscription fees required routinely by security firms like ADT and Brinks.

There are some products reaching the market that provide Do it yourself options for monitoring and securing your home.

NYTimes Article: Installing Your Own Home Security System

Simplisafe Website

Design Classic: Togo Sofa by Michel Ducaroy

In 1973 French designer Michel Ducaroy introduced the first fully foam settee for the furniture manufacture Ligne Roset. I find this sofa shouts causal comfort with a bold and modern design sensibility.

The question ask myself would this low profile couch fit into my living room space?

Ligne Roset

Auto Design: Update of the Jeep CJ3B

Entrepreneur Jonathan Ward is rethinking some auto industry classics. First out of the garage is an updated version of the army jeep.



Icon's Website

NYTimes Article: The $80,000 Army Jeep

Q&A with Icon CEO

Product Design: New Versions of The Air Multiplier

James Dyson continues to lead in producing innovative updates to practical household products. It is rare that a single person is able to maintain control from concept to manufacture. Dyson develops and patents the technology, design's and manufactures the product leverages his brand to secure top line distribution.



Product Video and Consumer Reactions

AM02 Tower Fan

Toy Design: The Vuvuzela

The talk of the World Cup Soccer Games is not the colorful uniforms of the players but the plastic trumpet, known as the vuvuzela.


According to SouthAfricainfo, the vuvuzela may be a descendant of the kudu horn - "blown to summon African villagers to meetings." One of its modern day chief manufacturers/distributors, however, Boogieblast, has an entirely different story:

"The vuvuzela was introduced to South Africa as a toy for kids to blow, and hardly got off the ground. Selling the vuvuzela proved almost impossible, until the full potential was realized by the local soccer supporters.

The first prototype was from America and changed somewhat for more comfortable blowing and effectiveness. We have researched the history of the Vuvuzela, and follows a trail back to a women's Chinese basketball team, AMAZING...

The word, VUVUZELA, was first used by a few soccer supporters. There are many claims to what the word really means, but more generally it means to pump up one's performance in a truly South African manner."

A High Volume Business

Getting a Product to Market?

After you have settled on a great idea what's next?

This is where so many aspiring designers have stop short of fully committing to their idea as a solution that others will purchase.

Article: Finding a Manufacture vs. Licensing the Design

Product Review: Composting Made Simple?

Caring for the environment is growing, and products that support that goal should do well in the marketplace.

Composting is one way to reduce food waste, energy and enrich the earth (literally). NatureMill is betting that consumers are ready to add a new appliance to their kitchens - a composer.

Product Review Food Composer

NatureMill's Website

Product Designer: Todd Bracher

As with most professions there are the rock stars and the rising stars, Todd Bracher falls into the latter category.

And as product designers go he is being anointed as the next great American designer. His intentional training balanced aesthetic does set him in a position to rock.

Todd's Studio Website

Conference: Designing Change/Changing Design

The Society of Environmental Graphic Design will hold there annual conference here in Washington DC June 2-5th.

If you ever wondered who designs store layouts, musuem exhibits, airport wayfinding signage that makes spaces navigable the members of this professional society are the ones.

SEGD Conference

Graphic Design: Album Art What Does it Mean?

Certain album covers can serve as meaningful expressions of a time, or a performers point of view as well as a visual extension of the music inside.

These released images of Eminem's soon to be available CD seem to be communicating a point of view?

The cleaver use of type in the way the title is presented and the photos of Detroit, Eminem's home, chosen as a back drop for his solitary figure is loaded with potential meaning.

Article: Eminem Album Image...

Fashion Design: Is Vensus Channeling Victoria Secrets?

The tennis star Venus Williams a student of design recently launched her own clothing line, Eleven. As her designs are put on display on court tongues have begun to wag.

I can say that I can appreciate the expression femininity she bring to her sport wear line. This is in contrast to the WNBA who simple have cooped the masculine jerseys and shorts which fail to flatter its players and in many ways promote a stereo type of female athletes.


More Photos

Graphic Design: For the Love of Type

One of the latent benefits of having computers in our mist is an increased exposure to type styles by the masses.

With exposure comes some knowledge of the variety of choices and for the others that have grown to love typography many opportunities to cringe at how type is used.

Article: Mistakes in Typography Grate the Purists

Type Explorations

Aircraft Design

New FAA rules have spured a growth in small personal aircraft according to a featured piece on the CBS Sunday Morning program that took a wide ranging look at design.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

More Type Choices Coming to the Web

Several firms that own the rights to several popular type styles have decided to make the fonts available for the web. This means that more than the embedded fonts of your Apple or Microsoft operating system.

Article: The Changing Typography of the Web

Design Exhibition: Why Design Now?

The Smithsonian's National Design Museum: Cooper-Hewitt has opened its National Design Triennial exhibition celebrating significant design for 2006 to 2009.

Exhibition Website

Custom Capert Designer: Malene B

This NYC based textile designer has a way of capturing cultural references and reinterpreting them into floor coverings.



Malene B"s Website

Fashion Design Meets Technology

The tech friendly designer Diana Eng has melded LED's into her collection which is literally highlighting the potential wearable technology.


Video Fashion Show

Article: The Little Black Piezoelectric Dress - Magazine - The Atlantic

Architecture: A New Look for McDonalds

The restraunt chain will modernize over 450 of its 14,000 U.S. stores over the next year.

Chicago Tribune Article: McDonald's New Look

Documentary: BBC2's The Genuis of Design

If you happen to be in the UK you can watch a new 5 part series on Design. It looks like a fascinating program, let's hope it makes it way to the states sooner and later.

"The first episode of this new series tells the fascinating story of the birth of industrial design. Alongside the celebrated names, from Wedgwood to William Morris, it also explores the work of the anonymous designers responsible for prosaic but classic designs for cast-iron cooking pots to sheep shears - harbingers of a breed of industrially produced objects culminating in the Model T Ford. Includes interviews with legendary designer Dieter Rams and J Mays, Ford Motors' global head of design."

Ghost in the Machine, BBC2 Link

Exhibiton: Design for the Other 90%

One of the great things about living in Washington DC is that most Museum exhibitions are free. As is this Cooper-Hewitt curated exhibition on designing for the world population not situated in Europe or North America.

Design for the Other 90% will be at the National Geographic Museum through September 6, 2010.

National Geographic link

more info. on the exhibition

Graphic Design: Capturing Obama's Words

The progressive design firm, Hyperakt, of Brooklyn NY received recognition for it rhetoric poster series by the American Institure of Graphic Artist (AIGA) recently.

This series is a good example of the power of words and typography as communication tools. The highlighting of key words doubles the emphasis of the message while keeping it within the context to the original speech.


Hyperakt Studio Website

The New and Improved $100 Bill

The dominate design criteria shaping the look of U.S. paper currency is obviously security. The intent of the new security features are to make counterfeiting more difficult and easier to spot by the trained eye.

Security Features in U.S. Currency

Article: New $100 Bill

Research Leads to Glasses for Children in Mexico

"Research showed that 11% of children were not learning simply because they could not read blackboards or books. The company found that in schools in states such as Morelos, Sonora and Chiapas up to 70% of pupils needed glasses.

Augen teamed up with the Mexican government to launch a programme along the lines of Béhar's OLPC, called See Well to Learn Better."

The Guardian

The plan is to provide 400,000 free pairs of glasses every year.


Article: Popular Science Magazine

Graphic Design: Updating NASA Logo

Five designers share there revision of NASA's 51 year old logo. The logo remains me of a Jetison's cartoon aesthetic that anticipated 20 century space travel. Given that the space program is being revamp as I type, what might a 21st century space program embody?



New Logo Ideas

What Constitute's Good Design in the 21st Century?

The conversation on what is good design seems to be adding another layer to the evaluation of products as good design or not, that of sustainability.


Article: Cool Green or Both?

Information Design: Airline Boarding Pass

Navigating a airport can be made easier if only a little design was applied to each step of the process. Here is a before and after view of improving the boarding pass, by organizing the information passengers look for in a way that supports their inquiry could make at least one piece of the experience less vexing.



See Other Designs Here

Package Design: Puma's Shoe Box/Bag

A step in the right direction, reducing waste by reducing the materials needed in the packaging of Puma products.

CNN Article: Clever Little Bag

Fashion Design: The Michele Obama Effect

The design industry has looked to Michele Obama as a means to boost it fortunes, the one's that know for sure are the designer's whose pieces Mrs. Obama has worn.

Her thoughtful choices have included a mix of high fashion, including some of the classic names in the business, as well as fresh newbies who are now the talk of the town where getting noticed is one of the greatest challenges.

If you would like to keep tabs on Michele's fashion choices see the site below.

Website Tracking Mrs. O's Fashions

Miniature Models of Design Classics

I love the idea of small models of furniture classics. I seem cool to be able to design a space in three dimension without committing to the cost of experimenting in full scale.

I love the idea of small models of furniture classics. I seem cool to be able to design a space in three dimension without committing to the cost of experimenting in full scale.

As a work to furnish a home this idea really resinates with me, to have a scale model of my living space so that I can move furniture, hanging art without the true cost and effort.

NYTimes Article: Modern Design, in Miniature

Apple iPad is Here

Ok now that Apple's latest device and software is here what does it mean?

Well the publishing world is waiting with baited breathe to see if it will change the tide of customers moving from print to web.

iPad Magazine Art Direction from Brad Colbow on Vimeo.

The video shows the potential for magazines to exploit this new media in a way that adds richness to the users experience. A published document will no longer be just what's on the printed page but now it will have the support of the internet just a few finger taps away. The opportunity for the designer is to fully make use of this tool in a way that allows users to explore beyond a static digital page.

Opinion: Typrography Overlooked on the iPad

2010 Winter Olympic Medals

I think the Olympic Medals for the Vancover games are the most attractive I ever noticed.



The etched pattern is part of a larger image, so each medal is ulitimately connected to the others. The undulating surface (not visible in the adjoining photo) is also a please surprise. As is the soft coloring of the gold, silver and bronze.

Architecture at the World Expo 2010

The United Kingdom's Pavilion, titled the Seed Cathedral, may be the most memorable if it comes out as the designer, Thomas Heatherwick, of London based Heatherwick Studio planned.

The Crystal Palace, which housed the first World Expo in 1851 in London, stunned visitors with its advanced, creative design, featuring 13,000 exhibits inside its glass and iron frame. For the more than six million people who visited the site during the Expo, the Crystal Palace portrayed the United Kingdom as a cutting-edge nation and British organizers are hoping that this year’s Seed Cathedral at Expo 2010 in Shanghai will do the same.

Pavilion Concepts Described

Digital Story Telling: How the Census Works

The census is described as the largest scientific undertaking by the federal government, outside of a military operation.

So how does the U.S.Census Bureau fulfill its constitutional mandate, to count each person in the country and associate them to an address? Very carefully one could say, using multiple strategies to identify individuals who might be between homes, persons not at their primary home (college students, or those incarcerated, in the military etc. but the key operation is the questionnaire mailout whereby questionnaires are mailed to homes and mailed back in.

2010 Census Website

NYTimes Article: The Importance of being Counted

(See the process explain in the video below)

Architecture: Frank Gerhy's Latest

The most distinctive architect of his generation has envisioned a structure to house the Cleveland Clinic for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NYTimes Profile on Frank Gerhy

Gerhy's design for the 34rd President's Dwight D. Eisenhower memorial was been selected by Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

Memorial Selection

Design History: Alexander Girard

An influential textile designer who's tenure at the furniture manufacture Herman Miller set a high water mark for the language of modern textile designs.

Alexander Girard Biography

Houseware Products by Casabella

I recently came across some well made house hold products by Cassbella. I have found the roll mop and outdoor broom comfortable, durable well made and attractive.

Casabella's Website

NYTimes Review of Mops