An Illustrated Weekly of World Design - February 12th, 2007

Barefoot and illiterate, but also accomplished solar engineers, these women are graduates of Bunker Roy's Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. Speaking at the DesignwithIndia conference last week, along with Dr. Vishakha Desai of the Asia Society and Bruce Nussbaum, Asst Mg Editor, BusinessWeek here are three different points of view on India's role in global design and innovation. Just in time, the Government of India has ratified the National Design Policy, even as ICOGRADA's Mumbai Design Week kicks off at the IDC at IIT, Powai. 

 

India's certainly taking the lead this week in the new 'green' revolution as the Beeb reports on this biofuel developed to power mobile phones in villages where there is no electricity supply.  Meanwhile,  our favourite researcher Jan Chipchase of Nokia  has just released some fascinating insights into literacy and mobile phone design, a subject close to your editor's heart. BusinessWeek adds that corporations need to be more responsible than just going green and how this helps their bottom line even as VC firms like Kleiner Perkin's Vinod Khosla break away to focus solely on this trend. What's the worst that can happen? Here's a possible answer.

    

Guess who is finally coming to dinner? The Smart ForTwo as it will be named for the US market, is rumoured to be launched finally by early 2008. One can hardly wait for a car just the right size. A "Cellular-Book Rollable Display Mobile Device" will be launched in Barcelona next week at the 3GSM Association Conference. From the sound of it this just may well be the precursor to the real $100 handheld that will bridge the digital divide. Eager not to be left behind by LG Prada and to leave Apple's iPhone behind, Samsung has just launched their version of a touchscreen phone. Incomprehensively, this late in the game, Kodak launches inkjet printers on a price leadership platform  while HP reiterates just why they're the leading brand in this segment  -  they design with the consumer in mind.

And in the "mobile phones you can't have" category we have a slide show of what's available in Japan as well as this patent filed for something that many are claiming is already in the market - an upside down mobile phone. BenQ Siemens has a product think tank envisioning future concepts and here's the droolworthy collection including the bracelet shown above. More concept design here. All links courtesy David Tait.

Around the design world - Carole Bilson, VP of Global design and usability at Pitney Bowes, has been selected to have her work showcased at Black Creativity 2007: Designs for Life, an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, which showcases 30 African-American industrial designers. The exhibit runs through Feb. 28. According to the museum's profile, Bilson is the "first black woman in the nation to hold an executive position to lead a design and usability department within a major corporation." Says Bilson,

"In Ghana I climbed mango trees, played soccer with boys on the street and I especially loved taking things apart and putting things back together," said Bilson, who is married to an attorney and is the mother of a 17-month-old daughter. "It was not unusual (in Ghana) for kids to make their own toys because you just couldn't run out and buy them. It was very typical to develop creativity and innovation at an early age."

Denmark is launching a new support and services network for user - driven innovation; a pilot project that is expected to start in May and last one year. IDEO's Iain Roberts speaks on good industrial design in Michigan even as Adrian Shaughnessy writes a searing essay on advertising and the commodification of creativity titled "I sold my soul and I love it" on Design Observer. Meanwhile Dean Takahashi writes a wonderful review of Steve Wozniak's autobiography which he assures us has the true story behind Apple's design genius. Meanwhile on a sober note Jack Yan points us to this documentary on Chinese sweatshop labour as does this Core77 article on one designer following the supply chain to the sweatshops of Manila to see who were the people who actually made his product designs. Eyeopening and thoughtprovoking.

The need for more rigor in design methodology and processes is made by Steve Portigal in this incisive look at bad survey design by students. He places the blame squarely on the professors who teach them. Whirlpool's design chief Chuck Jones talks to FastCompany about the biggest challenge facing the mature design industry - how to account for the return on your investment in design? Here's one look at calculating the ROI of design. Isabel Toledo's fashion design philosophy has been likened to the classical industrial design tradition of the Eames and Claire McCardell by the New York Times. And finally this "leaked memo" from Michael Dell to his employees on his plans to turn Dell around makes me want to post it just to be asked,

Product Group will shorten design cycles, increase speed and innovation/design that create real differentiated value for our customers. We will transition to a light touch ODM (original design manufacturer) model. [ed's note: what does this mean?]

We're going to introduce new brands and products with a focus on Consumer and Small Business. We will ensure quality, stability and predictability for our larger customers. We will complete our dual processor supplier strategy.

We'll restore loyalty and continue CE improvement focusing on the activities with the best ROI. We will bring excitement and pride back to our brand.

In emerging markets, we'll take new approaches and introduce new products. [ed's note: we can do this! call us now!]

 

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