Industrial Design Melbourne

This year, like every year at this time, a whole bunch of design students will leave university to enter the profession. And as with this time every year the prospect of making a living from design is scary!
So I said to myself I would do something about it. But what?
I could visualize projects – write [...]

on Design Forums

Why has the level of discussion in “design forums” degenerated so quickly? Maybe because they’re not populated by “designers.” Greenfield explains …
A List Apart: Articles: The Bathing Ape Has No Clothes (and other notes on the distinction between style and design)

I admit it: I’m one of those poor souls who likes to indulge [...]

Indigenous Australian Design

(picture above – David Lancashire)
On Monday I was asked to be a ‘respondent’ ( my first time as a respondent!) at this event – Culture Shift:

Culture Shift: An Indigenous Future for Design

There’s a global shift in design towards greater collaboration. In Australia, designers have learnt greatly from working with Indigenous communities. But as [...]

Sustainable Designs for a Living World

10 Awe-Inspiring, Sustainable Designs for a Living World: Showing Now at Cooper Hewitt (Slideshow) : TreeHugger
Not able to hoof it to New York City’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum for the Nature Conservancy’s Design for a Living World”? Fret not, because we’ve brought the exhibit to you through the magic of the Internet.
In our slideshow, you’ll find prominent [...]

A future led by corporate projects

Good on you Peter Jones. So well put. I will push for a more radical position – but ‘led by corporate’ is a damning statement. You slave you, designer you. You are part of the problem – but do go there (below) and read his words. And if it works for you – I will [...]

Integrated Design

I have been looking at the Bachelors in Integrated Design offered by the Koln International School of Design. This means I have considered it from many angles and there are many things I like about it.
1. I know many designers who trained as one kind of designer and then went on to practice as another [...]

The Table in Context

This is interesting and different from the studio as the location of design. But still valid as the consultant preoccupation. What may also be interesting is to focus upon what we do not speak about because we believe mistakenly that what we believe in as the ‘right way’ is ubiquitous or that our way of [...]

I hope we’re nearing the end of the product design mindset

Emergence 2007 » Blog Archive » What People Are Saying About the Emergence Conference
Todd Wilkens from Adaptive Path’s talk–”The End of Products”–was near to our hearts. Building the argument for ecosystems rather than products, he talked about the need for less service design than a “service mindset,” concluding with the admonition: “I hope we’re nearing [...]

I can do my take on Design Today

I make a proposition that Industrial Design is at a place where graphic design was in the 90s and photography was at the time of the digital camera. The line between the professional and the amateur is blurred. The amateur often explains better – and in the early days of the explainer these people were [...]

China Partly Blames Foreign Designs For Unsafe Toys

China Partly Blames Foreign Designs For Unsafe Toys
BEIJING (AFP)–China on Tuesday laid part of the blame for poor product safety on foreign companies whose designs were flawed, as millions of parents around the world prepared to buy Chinese-made toys for Christmas.
In a defiant response to a reporter’s question on toy safety, foreign ministry spokesman Qin [...]

Bonnie at the Melbourne Design Market

I went to the Melbourne Sunday Design Market – orgainsed by the Nationla Design Centre. This market happens twice a year. Here is a picture of Bonnie’s stall.

Artefact

artefact
Any object that has been used, modified, or manufactured by humans, such as a tool, weapon, or vessel. In art, an artefact is a product of human skill and creativity, while in archaeology, the object may be a simple item of importance and interest.
Armenian Architecture – VirtualANI – Glossary
Any small object that has been manufactured, [...]

Reviving Experimental Design, by Scott Klinker

Beyond Fashion: Reviving Experimental Design, by Scott Klinker – Core77
Today, if any realm can claim the conceptual high ground of design research, it is interaction design–the perfect intersection of objects, systems, and social behaviors. Interaction design has become a separate branch of design discourse, a friendly sibling of industrial design with it’s own unique vocabulary [...]

D-Light

d.light – About Us
The use of kerosene lamps has caused countless disabilities and loss of lives. Kerosene lamps are a poor and unreliable source of light that emit smoke and create unhealthy home environments. They depend on kerosene fuel, which is expensive for the rural family. There are 1.6 billion people worldwide who still [...]

Research Publication – five years on

Looks like an interesting document. See – Five Years On. Victoria’s Design Sector 2003-2008
“5 December, 2008, Join us for the launch of the research publication that will provide a valuable knowledge bank on Victoria’s design sector.”

2nd Road

About us – 2nd Road
2nd Road is a training and consulting firm specialising in shaping large scale change.
Our methods and business philosophy have been developed over the past 20 years through our considerable consulting and training experience.
We believe that the key to shaping our futures lies in the arts of Conversation and Design:
[...]

Transnational

Meeting a Masters student two days ago I was thrown back to a stint I did in Lisbon in 2000. I spent a big aprt of that time reading and one of these was on the indea of the Transnational. Yesterday I saw work that was a classic in the realms of the transnational – [...]

Elements of a discourse on the Transnational

INT3160: Transnational culture in theatre, literature and film
Synopsis
This unit examines transnational culture in selected works of literature, film and theatre. Cultural production in these fields has shifted radically over the last generation as terms such as ‘postcolonial,’ ‘hybrid,’ ‘fusion,’ and ‘intercultural’ have become increasingly contested when applied to works that extend beyond national boundaries. A [...]

Use Your iPhone As A Wireless Numeric Keypad

NumberKey: Use Your iPhone As A Wireless Numeric Keypad | Mark’s Technology News
Here’s a neat solution for both on-the-go number-crunchers and gamers alike. Called the NumberKey, it is an iPhone App which displays an elegant numeric keypad and wirelessly transmits touchscreen keystrokes to your MacBook or MacBook Pro.
NumberKey was developed by Balmuda Design for people [...]

‘Second Life’ textiles

TED – TEXTILE ENVIRONMENT DESIGN: ‘Second Life’ textiles
TED team member Caryn Simonson was recently part of a panel discussion at the ICA in London as part of the Textile Futures Research Group (TFRG) Salon series.
‘What Future for Living Textiles within the Built Environment’ was exploring how textile designers inhabit other design fields and cohabit with [...]

3D Printer Feeds On Paper And Glue

Mcor Matrix 3D Printer Feeds On Paper And Glue | Mark’s Technology News
Finally, we’re getting closer to a consumer-level 3D Printer. This model, called the Matrix, is made by UK company Mcor and crafts intricate three-dimensional objects using nothing more than cheap sheets of standard A4 paper and glue.
The cost savings over plaster modeling and [...]

Learning to Ride the SBU – Self Balancing Unicycle

Self Balancing Unicycle – mad!

more about “Learning to Ride the SBU – Self Balan…“, posted with vodpod

Alligator-Like Vacuum Has LEDs For Eyes

Miele S7: High-Tech, Alligator-Like Vacuum Has LEDs For Eyes | Mark’s Technology News
German appliance manufacturer Miele have come up with an impressive new ultra-flexible vacuum cleaner called the S7, which features an array of bright LED lights on the suction head to floodlight all your dirt and dust. Apart from looking great, this simple addition [...]

Transformer furniture

Transformer Furniture: Quickie by Jared Dickey : TreeHugger
Transformer furniture lets people get more out of small spaces, and you are going to be a neat minimalist if you have to clean off your desk before you go to bed every night.

Implants Tap the Thinking Brain

Putting Thoughts into Action: Implants Tap the Thinking Brain: Scientific American
# Surgeons have implanted a novel neural prosthesis into a paralyzed patient’s brain. The high-tech device enables the patient to communicate his thoughts to a computer, which translates them into spoken words.# Nine people so far have received brain-implanted prostheses. In the past, patients have [...]