Readymade News

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 03 November 2009

Tasos has written an article for the November issue of Management Today; South Africa’s leading management Journal describing Design Thinking. The title is Design for future business: thinking like a designer to solve problems and create new solutions. Here is an excerpt: "Organizations everywhere are recognizing the need to change radically in a rapidly changing world. Unfortunately many of these attempts fail because traditional management systems lack the tools to innovate in complex environments and much less so when faced with wicked problems. However, some businesses have solved this dilemma and are able to consistently innovate and grow over the long term, despite temporary setbacks during economic downcycles. These include Apple, Dell, GE, P&G, Infosys. Tata, Toyota, Amazon and ebay. What these organizations all have in common is that they have used design thinking to help guide their traditional business processes. This has allowed them to concentrate on the factors that improve competitiveness rather than doing the wrong things very well.

Design thinking can radically change organizations by embracing complexity and constraints, working collaboratively and iteratively and using expanded logic to achieve this. Inherent in this approach is the ability to see issues as part of a system, with all of its components, relationships and maintaining a view of the overall context. Design thinking also is adept at cultivating a deep understanding of customers and using this together with the factors above to create synthesis, or resolution rather than compromise. Design implies something creative but this is not some sort of art school freeform wackiness, this is creativity in its true meaning as the act of creation. In that sense, design can be thought of as the careful conception of a plan and the disciplined execution of that plan to create something new. 

In fact, design has a process as structured and rigorous as anything in business. It is a process aimed at solving problems by using our ability to create new solutions. This design process consists of several phases. Firstly, creating common understanding by analyzing data and research. Secondly, creation, where the data and insights drawn from research guide the creation of new options. Thirdly, filtering, using critical thinking to select the most promising options. Fourthly, validation, where fieldwork is done to test assumptions. Fifthly, synthesis, where options are drawn into a business model and assembled into the strategic plan. Sixthly, engineering, which develops the idea technically. And finally, implementation where the chosen solution is built in totality."

For more on design thinking and what it means for business read The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger Martin, review here and if you happen to be in New York on the 11th of November catch Bruce Nussbaum talking to Roger Martin and Tim Brown of IDEO.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 27 October 2009

 
Apple has re-invented the mouse, literally. The Magic Mouse uses the same multi touch technology that iPhones, iPods and MacBooks use. People can do a lot more than simple point and click. It's been a long time since there has been any real innovation in one of the most commonly used pieces of hardware.

"It began with iPhone. Then came iPod touch. Then MacBook Pro. Intuitive, smart, dynamic. Multi-Touch technology introduced a remarkably better way to interact with your portable devices — all using gestures. Now we’ve reached another milestone by bringing gestures to the desktop with a mouse that’s unlike anything ever before. It's called Magic Mouse. It's the world's first Multi-Touch mouse." Apple. Earlier this month BusinessWeek reported that Apple's revenues grew 25% over the same quarter a year ago and profits that grew 46%. Brian Ling argues that Design is their key strategic competitive advantage.

D.light Design has developed a solar powered lamp that they hope will replace millions of kersosene lanterns used by household in developing countries. The Kiran can be charged using the integrated solar panels or be AC-charged with a standard 0.5mm Nokia phone adapter. The Kiran can last up to 8 hours on a full charge and should retail for $10. "The Kiran is designed to be extremely user-friendly and flexible. It has no detachable parts, including an integrated solar panel that makes recharging simple and easy. The product shape, portability, and a handle with 9 different settings give the customer many options for use. The Kiran can be carried, hung from the wall or ceiling, or placed on any surface to effectively illuminate the surrounding area." D.light Design.

Great review of Herman Miller's new Setu chairs and the design studio behind it on Core77. Studio 7.5 designed a chair that works for just about everybody and it only requires adjusting the height. The chair has a seemingly simple wave contour that was developed using several prototypes to develop the "kinematic spine" that flexes when a person sits in the chair, obviating the need for a metal hinge and springs.

Tasos was a panelist at the Da Vinci Institute’s “Making Innovation Work” conference last week. The conference was run together with Breakthrough Management Group International (BMGI) and the Technology Top 100. “Dr Phil Samuel of BMGI  was with me on the panel. We discussed the need for organizations to design their own future rather than allowing circumstances to dictate their future. The conversation encompassed robust innovation processes and the link to Design Thinking though considering the human element. Creating the future requires collaboration, optimism, empathy, experimentalism, integrative thinking and storytelling. These are natural for most people; it’s the way we solve problems in our personal lives but organizational structures frequently don’t allow for them. This stifles innovation and positive change. The panel then placed this in the context of Systems Thinking.  It’s clear that solving problems in a holistic way is much more effective than dealing with symptoms.  The conclusion was that innovation processes, Design Thinking and Systems Thinking combine in very useful ways to solve the most pressing organizational issues.” Tasos Calantzis. 

Lastly we would like to mention Chic Cheat, a fashion blog, which shows people how to alter inexpensive clothing into their own versions of expensive fashion clothing. Nice bit of upcycling happening in the fashion design world. Charley Helfet is the daughter of Keith Helfet, the renowned automotive designer who spent most of his career at Jaguar, the company admired for its elegant design. At Jaguar, Keith designed cars such as the legendary XJ220 supercar, the show-stopping F-Type and many others. Most recently Keith has been involved with the design of the Joule.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 29 September 2009

IDEO is exploring the use of design thinking to tackle a very large problem, that of climate change. Living Climate Change "is a place where the most defining challenge of our time is explored through design thinking. It's also a place to show, discuss, and share compelling and provocative thoughts and ideas about the future." 

Nathan Lorenz and Tim Bauer of Envirofit have been hailed as one of Time magazines Heroes of the Environment 2009. "In 2003, the two founded Envirofit, a nonprofit that uses their research into clean two-stroke-engine technology to create greener auto-rickshaws for Southeast Asia and India. Their expertise, they realized, could be applied to stoves. "When you visit these countries, you know that people should not be dying just because they're cooking breakfast," says Lorenz."

Compared to traditional cooking fires, Envirofit cookstoves reduce emissions by as much as 80%, use up to 60% less fuel and reduce cooking cycle time by up to 50%. Built and engineered to address the unique cooking habits of our customers, Envirofit clean cookstoves are a result of over five years of market research, engineering R & D. Envirofit International’s goal is to develop affordable, aesthetic, well-engineered technology solutions that have significant global health and environmental impacts and economic payback incentives for users.

Luke Wroblewski has picked up an interesting article about Taiwanese handset maker, HTC's unique design relationship with the San Francisco-based firm One & Co in Forbes; "The relationship is an unusual one. After hiring One & Co for a consulting project in 2006, HTC acquired the firm in December 2008. Though now a wholly owned subsidiary, One & Co continues to operate as an independent consultancy. To keep their ideas fresh, One & Co designers rotate between HTC projects and jobs for other companies, including Microsoft, Kodak, Nike, and European furniture makers. "Phones are about capturing what's coming tomorrow, while furniture is about longevity," says Zellweger. "It's good to have that balance in your head." Some materials migrate between projects, such as a plastic mesh that found use as a lamp cover, a bracelet and the speaker cover in the Hero."

Seems like there is a trend lately for well known British designers to open shops, a while back it was Jasper Morrison converting part of his studio into a retail space. Now Tom Dixon has followed suit and employed Studio Toogood to kit out a space in the Wharf Building at Portobello Dock in West London.

The shop consists of a number of set like areas that showcase Dixons products with aged walls contrasting against chromed lights for example. "The design is in the form of a stage set which is a representation of Tom Dixon's industrial aesthetic. The set divides the space into rooms, and visitors are able to explore aspects of the shop by peering through various windows and doors which contain the individual room sets whose overall themes are derived from materials such as copper, cast iron and wood. The new 1800 sqft space showcases a series of products from Dixon's new 2009 collection 'utility' and is part of Tom Dixon's new office complex." DesignBoom.

Bell is a new alarm clock that has been designed by Industrial Facility for IDEA Japan. The alarm clock is a less is more design approach and the result is a much louder alarm clock, because the back ‘housing’ is the actual bell component. It is louder than a mobile phone, desk clock or watch and has simple controls, it may only tell the time and wake you up, but it does it very well. Via Dezeen.

There has been several good ideas for creatives to get started or to realize their projects, but it looks like Kickstarter is really working. Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, filmmakers, journalists, designers amongst others, it works on the premise that a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide and a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement. Some projects are so popular that  they are up to 1500% funded. Interesting projects on the site include The Wonder City a graphic novel that reimagines New York’s entire history and MakerBeam, an open source building kit. If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter will apply a 5% charge to the funds raised. If funding isn't successful, there are no charges. 

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 15 September 2009

     

Hack 2 Work, 'essential tips for design professionals' from Core77 has articles like On Being T-Shaped by Tim Brown, How to Look Bigger Than You Are by Allan Chochinov and 5 Keys to Successful Design Research by Steve Portigal. Image: Ernesto Rodriguez.

Hack 2 Work has everything from how not to design a business card to dealing with clients. Well worth the read.

For students and professional designers Design Droplets has a great compilation of sketching resources including IDSketching, Coroflot and links to books and tutorial DVDs.

 

Apple launched a new version of the iPod Nano at a special event called "It's Only Rock and Roll" early in September. The new iPod Nano now has added photo and video capabilities, the quality of the video is good enough, but what really stands out is battery life and storage capacity, the 16 GB version holds up to 16 hours of video. Not bad for a device you can keep in even the smallest of pockets.

Design Thinking for Startups from Amir Khella of Fictiv is a good explanation of design thinking and how innovation fits into it. Some quotes from the presentation-design thinking is: "a mindset of combining creative and analytical thinking, and applying it to solving a problem", "it's believing the best solution is yet to be found" and  "it's being comfortable going forward in a state of uncertainty". 

The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. Run by the James Dyson Foundation, as part of its mission to inspire young people about design engineering. The brief for the 2009 competition was put simply; design something that solves a problem.

One of the finalists was the Prio Paper Cast from American design student Nicholas Riddle. The products is a flat pack splint for disaster response that combines low-weight, ease of installation, and easy triage identification within a folding paper cast. The primary function of the paper cast is to immobilize injured limbs, in this case an arm. The problem that exists at the site of an accident or disaster is one of scarcity – of medical expertise, resources and communication.         

   

Congratulations to Clive Roux on becoming IDSA's (The Industrial Designers Society of America) new executive director on September the 14th. Clive was previously Chief Marketing Officer for Baumgartens and former design leader with internationally-renowned Philips Design. 

"With significant global experience across the design disciplines—including four years working in Africa, seven years in Europe, seven years in Asia and nine years in the US—Roux will bring both design thinking and business management skills to his new role, which will help him represent the Society both within the design world and to the business community." IDSA.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 08 September 2009

Reuters reports that Tesla Motors will collaborate with executives from around the world to reinvent the car-buying experience as part of the Customer-Focused Innovation executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tesla, a pioneer in electric vehicle manufacturing, will be featured as a week long class project to immerse participating executives in the practice of corporate innovation and "design thinking." Developed by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, Customer-Focused Innovation marries business school classroom models with the d-school's hands-on field research to help executives better understand customer experiences, develop deeper customer insights, diffuse customer learning throughout their organizations, and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Key features of the Stanford collaboration will have program participants conducting:

* Interviews of Tesla's key management and dealership personnel
* Observation of real car buyers at Tesla and non-Tesla dealerships
* Ideation, design, prototyping and iteration of new vehicle purchase models
* Presentation of proposed models to Tesla management

   

Nice one-pager explaining design thinking from Change by Design by Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO.

"This book introduces design thinking, the collaborative process by which the designer’s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short, design thinking converts need into demand. It’s a human-centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and creative.

Design thinking is not just applicable to so-called creative industries or people who work in the design field. It’s an approach that has been used by organizations such as Kaiser Permanente to increase the quality of patient care by re-examining the ways that their nurses manage shift change or Kraft to rethink supply chain management. This book is for creative business leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service to drive new alternatives for business and society."

The book will be launched late September.

Via DesignBoom; Jasper Morrison has opened up a shop in part of his studio in London. The shop is open daily from 11AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday.

During the London Design Festival the shop will open its first exhibition, 'jugs, jars & pitchers' from September the 19th to the 30th.

Morrison has also done the latest Icon cover which is a handwritten note stating "design for life, not magazine covers" and initialed JM. The statement echos Morrison's thoughts on design as seen in his Manifesto #02:

'Design, which used to be almost unknown as a profession, has become a major source of pollution. Encouraged by glossy lifestyle magazines and marketing departments, it’s become a competition to make things as noticeable as possible by means of color, shape and surprise. Its historic and idealistic purpose, to serve industry and the happy consuming masses at the same time, of conceiving things easier to make and better to live with, seems to have been side-tracked. The virus has already infected the everyday environment. The need for businesses to attract attention provides the perfect carrier for the disease.

Design makes things seem special, and who wants normal if they can have special? And that’s the problem.'

A bunch of game controllers is the notepad for a book project about game controllers conducted by Nicolas Nova from liftlab/the near future laboratory and Laurent Bolli from Bread and Butter. The aim of the project is to focus and analyze "game pads" in terms of historical evolution as well as meaningful issues regarding their design. So far it has a few entries, but sure to become more interesting as time progresses.

An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 18 August 2009

If Apple were to release a product that matches the level of innovation the iPhone has managed to attain, what would it be? Macs are already popular among certain circles of users and iPhone and iPod users might need something a bit larger to tote around town, but not quite as heavy or large as a laptop. There has been rumors of an Apple tablet for years now, they just seem to be getting more credible.

The supposed 10 inch touch screen tablet looks a lot like a flattened iPhone that is not small enough to fit in a regular pocket, but large enough to become a very plausible 5th screen. The previous 4 being television, cinema, computers and the mobile phone.

And exactly why would anyone need this extra device? If Apple does launch their version of a netbook, whether it is now or next year, it will no doubt be used by a large number of fanboys, but there is more to it than that; there are hints that the device will benefit students too. "Other indications are that Apple is quietly striking deals with booksellers/textbook publishers for an "educational" version of the tablet, which would presumably target college students and serve as an e-reader." Core77. Apple are known for their secrecy, the ability to surprise and become the leader quickly in products they launch.

Great article from Fast Company on how Nokia's continuous plans to reinvent itself again with the help of Dave Stewart, open source and Ovi.

 

More computer related news, Microsoft's new OS, Windows 7 seems to be their best version yet, taking cues from other operating systems: "Finally, Microsoft creates a clean, modern look that competes with Apple's finely designed Mac OS X Leopard." Wired.co.uk.

Via DesignBoom, "artist Kevin Cyr built (a) pedal-powered camper. The camper sits on a modified bike frame with two back wheel and one up front. The rider sits on the bike and can pedal around, moving the camper from place to place. inside the camper features all the amenities needed in a small and compact envelope. The sculptural piece also became a subject in many of Cyr’s paintings"

Evoia, a small robot powered by two AA Evolta Panasonic batteries just set a world's record by traveling at Le Mans for 24hrs covering 23,736km. The robot pedaled its tricycle following an infrared beam projected by the lead car for 5.6 laps.In other robot news, cauliflower picking  bots in the UK, robots in Africa and for more serious stuff; BotJunkie.

An Illustrated Weekly World of Design, 07 July 2009

 

Often good design uses the bare minimum to achieve great solutions. Matthias Ries has developed the Bottleclip, a simple reworked bottle cap that attaches to a bicycle frame allowing most bottled drinks to be taken for that leisurely ride. We also like this design because it is a similar to one of our ideas, the Safer Paraffin Cap. Via designboom (and have a look at their amazing article on bamboo scaffolding).

More clever stuff, this time from Royal College of Art graduate Min-Kyu Choi, who has designed a folding version of the standard UK electrical plug. The solution seeks to address the problem of the large size of a standard UK plug, see how it works here. 'When people carry laptops with U.K plugs in a bag, it always causes problems such as tearing paper, scratching laptop surfaces and, sometimes, it breaks other stuff. The main problem is the UK standard 3-pin plug is not considered in the process of designing for mobility. Min-Kyu Choi has also designed a USB charger version and Multi Flat Plug, which allows three devices to share power from one plug that takes up more or less the same amount of space as a standard plug.' Dezeen.

Good interview at Product Design Hub with Mikael Lugnegård an industrial designer who prefers to be a called a concept artist. Here is some advice from Mikael; 'practice is without a doubt the key when it comes to this kind of craftsmanship. But I have found one other personal quality that is just as important. Passion!! You really need to love this stuff otherwise you won´t have the endurance to develop your skills, have the energy to experiment, spend long hours on intricate renderings etc etc. Passion is KEY. Sure practice is essential, but if you lack the "internal fire", the passion, your work will never be as charismatic as it really could be. It´s very easy to see if people love what they´re doing by just looking at their work. Just look at Slatan and Ronaldo, they love football and we love to watch them play. It´s the same thing with design. We love to watch passionate designers at work.' Read more on how to be the best designer in the world from Brian Ling writing for Yanko Design. 

Another interview worth reading, this time between Design Droplets' Raph Goldsworthy and Ralf Beuker discussing design and business, design management and strategic design. Ralf has some good slides from on flickr, the one above is Design Strategy, download the full size here.

We mentioned WikID last week, a wiki based site that documents design tools, methods and techniques, now the Design Council UK has launched Methodbank, an open source collection of design methods.

   

An Illustrated Weekly World of Design, 30 June 2009

 

The Sustainer is a unique solution to produce fuel and electricity in remote rural areas, for example in the African countryside where only 5 to 20 percent of the population have electricity. In many of these situations, access to energy would facilitate development, higher productivity and better education. Moreover, locally available resources can be used instead of expensive imports. 

Says Jan Hein Hoitsma: 'The Sustainer is a containerised installation which can be used in rural areas to convert oil-bearing crops and seeds into edible oil and biodiesel. The seeds are stored in an integrated bunker which feeds the oil press. After the oil has been extracted, it is then refined into edible oil or it can be used as raw material for the biodiesel process. The 'press cake' by-product can be used as livestock feed. Many nuts have shells/husks which can be used as fuel for cooking. An integrated tank unit allows for the biodiesel to be directly dispensed into, for instance, diesel vehicles. The Sustainer is fitted with 4 wind turbines and its side panels consist of foldable solar panels which generate electricity. The electricity can be supplied directly to the grid or can be stored/buffered in a battery pack which can, for instance, provide electricity in the evenings or at night. The Sustainer is also fitted with a 25 kVA generator which runs on diesel or biodiesel and which guarantees a constant supply of electricity. The availability of electricity can make life more comfortable in many areas - just think of a refrigerator, lighting and a computer.' Via Innovation Africa. 

On the topic of sustainable energy, there is continuing support for large farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert that could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region's renewable energy. The Desertec Foundation is proposing to erect 100 GW of concentrating solar power plants throughout Northern Africa. 

   

We have mentioned OXO before, more known for ergonomic kitchen tools. Now they have used their universal design expertise to innovate the medical syringe, a design that has not changed much in 40 years. The Cimzia pre-filled syringe uses several smart improvements to improve ease of use; a non-slip finger grip, over sized plunger and thumb pad, an oval syringe barrel magnifies graduation and a rounded finger loop for easy removal of pull cap. Via Core77 and Fastcompany. 

The 29th of June was World Industrial Design Day. 'This international day of observance is celebrated in order to raise awareness about the benefits of industrial design in improving our quality of life' icsid.

Plakkies are flip flops using recycled car tires for the soles, an initiative between KidsRights and students of the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. The result is fashionable footwear made by economically disadvantaged people in KwaZulu Natal. 'A special factory was established to facilitate the project with the aim to offer permanent employment in one of the most socially and economically neglected parts of South Africa. The factory now employs 70 untrained residents from slum areas, many of whom are infected with HIV. This job offers them a chance to rebuild their lives, often after years of unemployment' Design.nl. 

Other news from the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of the Delft University of Technology has developed an industrial design reference wiki; Wikid. Wikid aims to be a design tool, it has 142 articles so far, ranging from design theories to methods and techniques. Via Product Design Hub. 

Between 10 and 5 reports on the final three applicants for the 2009 South African International Young Design Entrepreneur (IYDE) award. The finalists are Given Gugulethu Nkuna, Majolandile Andile Dyalvane and Ricky Lee Gordon. The South African winner will join 8 - 10 other finalists who will visit the UK in September 2009 to undertake a common program where they will take part in valuable networking both with key UK design sector partners and amongst their IYDE peers. The tour will include elements of the London Design Festival program – openings, seminars, and events - concluding at 100% Design.

An Illustrated Weekly World of Design, 02 June 2009

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200 special tools were designed for astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope, the tools were designed to reduce fatigue and make sure nothing floats off into space. They include a workstation that mounts to the chest of a space suit, pretty awesome stuff, but then again, how often do people need to do repairs in zero gravity. Via Notcot. In other orbit related news; Stalinist pantsuits are the favored fashion piece of the 'Dear Leader'.   

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Nice short interview with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec on their design process at Spot.it. Good to know that the sketchbook is more important to the Bouroullec brothers than the computer. 

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More design brothers; Vincent and Paul Georgeson founded Misewell and have produced an outstanding first collection, with the belief that furniture should be simple, functional, and honest. Many of the pieces are a combination of metal and wood with interesting joinery methods. Via Designllama.  

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The Microsoft Zune HD looks a lot better than the last Zune, but will it be able to compete with other non mobile network devices? It would be great if it could make calls too. Via Dvice.

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An article on design thinking in the Harvard Business Review by TIm Brown and Ten Things to Demand from Design Thinkers by Mark Dziersk.   

An Illustrated Weekly World of Design, 19 May 2009

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OXO with design from Smart Design have launched a new line of office products exclusively for Staples, some of the more notable items are the Handheld Stapler (above) and a retractable permanent marker. Smart Design has been developing products for OXO Good Grips Kitchen Tools since 1990. Have a look at NeatDesk too.

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Have a look at Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business, the number one slot goes to Jonathan Ive,  Senior Vice president of Industrial Design, Apple. Jonathan Ive has been with Apple Industrial Design Group since 1997; products include the iPod, iPhone, iMac and the new unibody Macbook. BTW Dave Stewart comes in at position 69.

 

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the.brief.dvd explores how Industrial Designers work, it is a collaboration of "four professional Industrial Designers (who) were given the same Design Brief asking them to design a single cup coffee maker. All four Designers were videotaped as they worked, showing how they come up with their ideas and begin to realize them as a final product. The four Designers are: Michael DiTullo, Spencer Nugent, William Vespa, and Benjamin Lloyd.

the.brief.dvd is a glimpse into the mind of four Designers and an observation of the skill required to visualize a product. " Product Design Hub.

 

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Sungho Lee designed an LED light by removing everything that was non essential, the result is a modified paper clip, LED and watch battery. Via Yanko Design.

Ending with some South African competition news; Solve from Elle Decoration and Weylandts and The National Innovation Challenge.